[2] His mother, Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, named him in honor of the god Janus, the founder of Genoa according to mythological tradition.

As the Cypriot historian Leontios Makhairas writes, James ordered a special tax which required the Cypriots—both nobles and commoners—to purchase an amount of salt in order to collect the money needed to release his son from Genoese captivity; this was achieved on October 1392, when Janus was 18 years old.

However, at the last moment the plan was betrayed, and the conspirators were arrested at Famagusta; 28 of them were executed and the city remained in Genoese hands.

In 1403, the governor of Genoa, Jean Le Maingre, had talks with Janus' representative Giorgio Billi which ended in an agreement by which the cities remained under Genoese hands.

Later, he forced the Cypriot people to pay special taxes to assemble an army and siege machines, and he besieged Famagusta for three years but in vain, since there was access from the sea to the city.

Because the king was very distraught about her death, the body of the dead queen was moved out of the palace where her funeral was, in order not to be seen by Janus.

Led by Atallah Muhammad and Inal al-Kakimi, their diverse army contained over 3,000 men and included Mamluks, Circassians, Kurds and Arabs and arrived at the island with 180 ships near Avdimou.

He asked in vain for help from the Christian forces in Europe: the Genoese were his enemies, and the Venetians and others did not want to destroy commercial relations with the Egyptian sultan.

That disaster, together with the previous raids, the war operations of Janus against Genoese, the epidemics and the invasion of locusts caused the Cypriot serfs, who lived in conditions of utter poverty, to revolt.

Meanwhile, Janus was humiliated in Cairo: they took him, tied up with chains and riding a donkey, in front of the sultan, after which he was forced to kneel and worship nine times the soil on which he stepped.

The rebels' leader was arrested and after terrible tortures was executed in Nicosia on 12 May 1427, the same day that King Janus arrived in Paphos from Cairo.