ABSTRACT
As one would expect, the port city of Famagusta, the major port of Cyprus from the late thirteenth century onwards and one of the chief trading entrepôts of the Eastern Mediterranean, had a considerable number of taverns. The notarial deeds of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries afford interesting information concerning the proprietors of these taverns. Most of those mentioned in the documents originate from Italy – Genoa, Venice, Milan and elsewhere – something perhaps due to the fact that the majority of deeds were drawn up by Genoese and, to a lesser extent, Venetian notaries, hence this bias. In some instances the tavern keepers simply appear as witnesses to a commercial transaction, but on other occasions they are alluded to as lenders or borrowers of money, while in particular and extremely interesting instances they and their taverns are mentioned in connection with some dispute.
