CORNARO, CATERINA (1454-151o), queen of Cyprus, was the daughter of Marco Cornaro, a Venetian noble, whose brother Andrea was an intimate friend of James de Lusignan, natural son of King John II. of Cyprus. On the king's death in 1458 the succession was disputed, and James, with the help of the sultan of Egypt, seized the island. It was important that he should make a marriage such as would secure him powerful support. Andrea Cornaro suggested his niece Caterina, famed for her beauty, as that union would bring him Venetian help. The con tract was signed in 1468. Caterina was solemnly adopted by the doge as a "daughter of the Republic" and sailed for Cyprus in 1472 with the title of queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. In 1473 her husband died of fever, leaving his kingdom to his queen and their child as yet unborn. In August the child James III. was born, but as soon as the Venetian fleet sailed away a plot to depose him in favour of Zarla, James's illegitimate daughter, broke out, and- Caterina was kept a prisoner. The Venetians re turned, and order was soon restored, but the republic was medi tating the seizure of Cyprus, although it had no valid title what ever, and after the death of Caterina's child in 1474 Venice really governed the island. In 1488 the republic, fearing that Sultan Bayezid II. intended to attack Cyprus, and having also discovered a plot to marry Caterina to King Alphonso II. of Naples, decided to recall the queen to Venice and formally annex the island. Caterina at first refused, for she clung to her royalty, but Venice would not be gainsaid; she was forced to abdicate in favour of the republic, and returned to Venice in 148g. The Government conferred on her the castle and town of Asolo for life, and there in the midst of a learned and brilliant little court, of which Car dinal Bembo was a shining light, she spent the rest of her days in idyllic peace. She died in July 151o. Titian's famous portrait of her is in the Uffizi gallery in Florence.