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The '''Empire of Trebizond''' or the '''Trapezuntine Empire''' was a [[monarchy]] and successor state of the [[Byzantine Empire]] that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, consisting of the far northeastern corner of [[Anatolia]] (the [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]]) and the southern [[Crimea]]. The empire was formed in 1204 after the [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian]] [[Georgian expedition to Chaldia|expedition]] in [[Chaldia]],<ref>A. A. Vasiliev, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2846872 "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)"], ''Speculum'', '''11''' (1936), pp. 18f</ref> commanded by [[Alexios I of Trebizond|Alexios]] [[Komnenos]] a few weeks before the [[Sack of Constantinople (1204)|sack of Constantinople]]. Alexios later declared himself [[Byzantine emperor|Emperor]] and established himself in Trebizond (modern day [[Trabzon]], Turkey). Alexios and [[David Komnenos]], grandsons and last male descendants of deposed Emperor [[Andronikos I Komnenos]], pressed their claims as "Roman Emperors" against Byzantine Emperor [[Alexios V Doukas]]. The Byzantine emperors, as well as Byzantine authors, such as [[George Pachymeres|Pachymeres]], and to some extent Trapezundines such as [[John Lazaropoulos|Lazaropoulos]] and [[Basilios Bessarion|Bessarion]], regarded the [[List of Trapezuntine emperors|emperors of Trebizond]] as the “sovereigns of the [[Laz people|Lazes]]”, while the possession of these "sovereigns" was also called [[Lazica]].<ref>Karl von Hahn, Известия древних греческих и римских писателей о Кавказе, II, pp. 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210</ref> Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the [[Laskaris|Lascaris]] and later with the [[Palaiologos]], the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.<ref name=":0">Finlay, George. The History Of Greece From Its Conquest By The Crusaders To Its Conquest By The Turks And Of The Empire Of Trebizond, 1204-1461, By George Finlay. 1st ed. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and sons, 1851. Print.</ref><ref name=":1">Vasilev, A. A. The Foundation Of The Empire Of Trebizond 1204-1222. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1936. Print.</ref>
The '''Empire of Trebizond''' or the '''Trapezuntine Empire''' was a [[monarchy]] and successor state of the [[Byzantine Empire]] that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, consisting of the far northeastern corner of [[Anatolia]] (the [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]]) and the southern [[Crimea]]. The empire was formed in 1204 after the [[Georgian expedition to Chaldia|Georgian expedition]] in [[Chaldia]],<ref>A. A. Vasiliev, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2846872 "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)"], ''Speculum'', '''11''' (1936), pp. 18f</ref> commanded by [[Alexios I of Trebizond|Alexios]] [[Komnenos]] a few weeks before the [[Sack of Constantinople (1204)|sack of Constantinople]]. Alexios later declared himself [[List of Byzantine emperors|Emperor]] and established himself in Trebizond (modern day [[Trabzon]], Turkey). Alexios and [[David Komnenos]], grandsons and last male descendants of deposed Emperor [[Andronikos I Komnenos]], pressed their claims as "Roman Emperors" against Byzantine Emperor [[Alexios V Doukas]]. The Byzantine emperors, as well as Byzantine authors, such as [[George Pachymeres|Pachymeres]], [[Nicephorus Gregoras|Nicephorus]] and to some extent Trapezundines such as [[John Lazaropoulos|Lazaropoulos]] and [[Basilios Bessarion|Bessarion]], regarded the [[List of Trapezuntine emperors|emperors of Trebizond]] as the “princes of the [[Laz people|Lazes]]”, while the possession of these "princes" was also called [[Lazica]],<ref>Karl von Hahn, Известия древних греческих и римских писателей о Кавказе, II, pp. 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210</ref> in other words, their state was known as the '''Principality of the Lazes'''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/43154237|title=The foundation of the Empire of Trebizond 1204-1222|last=1867-1953.|first=Vasilʹev, A. A. (Aleksandr Aleksandrovich),|date=1936|publisher=Medieval Academy of America|oclc=43154237}}</ref> Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the [[Laskaris|Lascaris]] and later with the [[Palaiologos]], the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.<ref name=":0">Finlay, George. The History Of Greece From Its Conquest By The Crusaders To Its Conquest By The Turks And Of The Empire Of Trebizond, 1204-1461, By George Finlay. 1st ed. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and sons, 1851. Print.</ref><ref name=":1">Vasilev, A. A. The Foundation Of The Empire Of Trebizond 1204-1222. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1936. Print.</ref>


After the crusaders of the [[Fourth Crusade]] overthrew Alexios V and established the [[Latin Empire]], the Empire of Trebizond became one of three Byzantine successor states to claim the imperial throne, alongside the [[Empire of Nicaea]] under the [[Laskaris]] family and the [[Despotate of Epirus]] under [[Despotate of Epirus#Komnenos Doukas dynasty|a branch of the Angelos family]].<ref>Alexander A. Vasiliev, ''History of the Byzantine Empire, Vol 2. 324–1453'', second edition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958), p. 506: "... on the territory of the disintegrated eastern empire, three independent Greek centers were formed; The empire of Nicaea and the empire of Trebizond in Asia Minor and the Despotat of Epirus in Northern Greece."</ref> The ensuing wars would see the [[Empire of Thessalonica]], the imperial government that sprung from Epirus, collapse following conflicts with Nicaea and [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] and the final recapture of [[Constantinople]] by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Despite the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople, the [[List of Trapezuntine emperors|Emperors of Trebizond]] would continue to style themselves as "Roman Emperors" for decades and continued to press their claim on the Imperial throne. Emperor [[John II of Trebizond]] officially gave up the Trapezuntine claim to the Roman imperial title and Constantinople itself 11 years after the Nicaeans recaptured the city, altering his imperial title from "[[Basileus|Emperor]] and [[Autokrator|Autocrat]] of the Romans" to "Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberia]] and [[Perateia]]".<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/Forms/fLemmaBody.aspx?lemmaId=8823|title=Establishment of the Empire of Trebizond by the Grand Komnenoi, 1204|work=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor|publisher=Foundation of the Hellenic World|access-date=2018-01-21}}</ref>
After the crusaders of the [[Fourth Crusade]] overthrew Alexios V and established the [[Latin Empire]], the Empire of Trebizond became one of three Byzantine successor states to claim the imperial throne, alongside the [[Empire of Nicaea]] under the [[Laskaris]] family and the [[Despotate of Epirus]] under [[Despotate of Epirus#Komnenos Doukas dynasty|a branch of the Angelos family]].<ref>Alexander A. Vasiliev, ''History of the Byzantine Empire, Vol 2. 324–1453'', second edition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958), p. 506: "... on the territory of the disintegrated eastern empire, three independent Greek centers were formed; The empire of Nicaea and the empire of Trebizond in Asia Minor and the Despotat of Epirus in Northern Greece."</ref> The ensuing wars would see the [[Empire of Thessalonica]], the imperial government that sprung from Epirus, collapse following conflicts with Nicaea and [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] and the final recapture of [[Constantinople]] by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Despite the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople, the [[List of Trapezuntine emperors|Emperors of Trebizond]] would continue to style themselves as "Roman Emperors" for decades and continued to press their claim on the Imperial throne. Emperor [[John II of Trebizond]] officially gave up the Trapezuntine claim to the Roman imperial title and Constantinople itself 11 years after the Nicaeans recaptured the city, altering his imperial title from "[[Basileus|Emperor]] and [[Autokrator|Autocrat]] of the Romans" to "Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberia]] (i.e. Lazica) and [[Perateia]]".<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/Forms/fLemmaBody.aspx?lemmaId=8823|title=Establishment of the Empire of Trebizond by the Grand Komnenoi, 1204|work=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor|publisher=Foundation of the Hellenic World|access-date=2018-01-21}}</ref>


The Trapezuntine monarchy would survive the longest among the Byzantine successor states. The Despotate of Epirus had ceased to contest the Byzantine throne even before the Nicaean reconquest and was briefly occupied by the restored Byzantine Empire {{circa|1340}}, thereafter becoming a [[Serbian Empire|Serbian]] dependency later inherited by Italians, ultimately falling to the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1479. Whilst the Empire of Nicaea had restored the Byzantine Empire through restoring control of the capital, it ended in 1453 with the [[Fall of Constantinople|conquest of Constantinople]] by the Ottomans. Trebizond would last until 1461 when the Ottoman Sultan [[Mehmed II]] conquered it after [[Siege of Trebizond (1461)|a month-long siege]] and took [[David of Trebizond|its ruler]] and his family into captivity,<ref>William Miller, ''Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461'', 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 100-106</ref> marking the final end of the Roman imperial tradition initiated by [[Augustus]] 1,488 years previously. The Crimean [[Principality of Theodoro]], an offshoot of Trebizond, lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in 1475.
The Trapezuntine monarchy would survive the longest among the Byzantine successor states. The Despotate of Epirus had ceased to contest the Byzantine throne even before the Nicaean reconquest and was briefly occupied by the restored Byzantine Empire {{circa|1340}}, thereafter becoming a [[Serbian Empire|Serbian]] dependency later inherited by Italians, ultimately falling to the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1479. Whilst the Empire of Nicaea had restored the Byzantine Empire through restoring control of the capital, it ended in 1453 with the [[Fall of Constantinople|conquest of Constantinople]] by the Ottomans. Trebizond would last until 1461 when the Ottoman Sultan [[Mehmed II]] conquered it after [[Siege of Trebizond (1461)|a month-long siege]] and took [[David of Trebizond|its ruler]] and his family into captivity,<ref>William Miller, ''Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461'', 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 100-106</ref> marking the final end of the Roman imperial tradition initiated by [[Augustus]] 1,488 years previously. The Crimean [[Principality of Theodoro]], an offshoot of Trebizond, lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in 1475.
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[[File:Byzantium1204.png|thumb|left|280px|Successor states of the [[Byzantine Empire]] after the 4th Crusade: The Empire of Trebizond, [[Empire of Nicaea]] and [[Despotate of Epirus]].]]
[[File:Byzantium1204.png|thumb|left|280px|Successor states of the [[Byzantine Empire]] after the 4th Crusade: The Empire of Trebizond, [[Empire of Nicaea]] and [[Despotate of Epirus]].]]


The core of the empire was the southern Black Sea coast from the mouth of the [[Yeşilırmak (river)|Yeşilırmak]] river, a region known to the Trapezuntines as [[Limnia (Pontus)|Limnia]], possibly as far east as [[Çoruh River|Chorokhi]] river, a region then known as [[Lazia (Pontus)|Lazia]]; [[Anthony Bryer]] has argued that six of the seven ''[[bandon (Byzantine Empire)|banda]]'' of the Byzantine theme of [[Chaldia]] were maintained in working order by the rulers of Trebizond until the end of the empire, helped by geography. Geography also defined the southern border of this state: the Pontic Alps served as a barrier first to [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk Turks]] and later to [[Turkmens|Turkoman]] marauders, whose predations were reduced to a volume that the emperors could cope with.<ref>Bryer, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291371 "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception"], ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', '''29''' (1975), pp. 117ff</ref> This territory corresponds to an area comprising all or parts of the modern [[Provinces of Turkey|Turkish provinces]] of [[Sinop Province|Sinop]], [[Samsun Province|Samsun]], [[Ordu Province|Ordu]], [[Giresun Province|Giresun]], [[Trabzon Province|Trabzon]], [[Bayburt Province|Bayburt]], [[Gümüşhane Province|Gümüşhane]], [[Rize Province|Rize]], and coastal parts of [[Artvin Province|Artvin]]. In the 13th century, some experts believe the empire controlled the Gazarian Perateia, which included [[Cherson (theme)|Cherson]] and [[Kerch]] on the [[Crimea|Crimean peninsula]]. [[David Komnenos]], the younger brother of the first Emperor, expanded rapidly to the west, occupying first Sinope, then coastal parts of [[Paphlagonia]] (the modern-day coastal regions of [[Kastamonu Province|Kastamonu]], [[Bartın Province|Bartın]], and [[Zonguldak Province|Zonguldak]]) and [[Heraclea Pontica]] (the modern-day [[Karadeniz Ereğli]]), until his territory bordered the Empire of Nicaea. The expansion was, however, short-lived: the territories west of Sinope were lost to [[Theodore I Laskaris]] by 1214, and Sinope itself fell to the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuks]] that same year, although the emperors of Trebizond continued to fight for its control over the rest of the 13th century.<ref>As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, [http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaID=8828 "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor"]</ref>
The core of the empire was the southern Black Sea coast from the mouth of the [[Yeşilırmak (river)|Yeşilırmak]] river, a region known to the Trapezuntines as [[Limnia (Pontus)|Limnia]], possibly as far east as [[Çoruh River|Chorokhi]] river, a region then known as [[Lazia (Pontus)|Lazia]]; [[Anthony Bryer]] has argued that six of the seven ''[[bandon (Byzantine Empire)|banda]]'' of the Byzantine theme of [[Chaldia]] were maintained in working order by the rulers of Trebizond until the end of the empire, helped by geography. Geography also defined the southern border of this state: the Pontic Alps served as a barrier first to [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk Turks]] and later to [[Turkmens|Turkoman]] marauders, whose predations were reduced to a volume that the emperors could cope with.<ref>Bryer, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291371 "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception"], ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', '''29''' (1975), pp. 117ff</ref> This territory corresponds to an area comprising all or parts of the modern [[Provinces of Turkey|Turkish provinces]] of [[Sinop Province|Sinop]], [[Samsun Province|Samsun]], [[Ordu Province|Ordu]], [[Giresun Province|Giresun]], [[Trabzon Province|Trabzon]], [[Bayburt Province|Bayburt]], [[Gümüşhane Province|Gümüşhane]], [[Rize Province|Rize]], and coastal parts of [[Artvin Province|Artvin]]. In the 13th century, some experts believe the empire controlled the Gazarian Perateia, which included [[Cherson (theme)|Cherson]] and [[Kerch]] on the [[Crimea|Crimean peninsula]]. [[David Komnenos]], the younger brother of the first Emperor, expanded rapidly to the west, occupying first Sinope, then coastal parts of [[Paphlagonia]] (the modern-day coastal regions of [[Kastamonu Province|Kastamonu]], [[Bartın Province|Bartın]], and [[Zonguldak Province|Zonguldak]]) and [[Heraclea Pontica]] (the modern-day [[Karadeniz Ereğli]]), until his territory bordered the Empire of Nicaea. The expansion was, however, short-lived: the territories west of Sinope were lost to [[Theodore I Laskaris]] by 1214, and Sinope itself fell to the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuks]] that same year, although the emperors of Trebizond continued to fight for its control over the rest of the 13th century.<ref>As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, [http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaID=8828 "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor"]</ref>


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 18:01, 26 January 2019

Empire of Trebizond
1204–1461[1]
Map of the Empire of Trebizond shortly after the foundation of the Latin Empire in 1204, featuring the short-lived conquests in western Anatolia by David Komnenos (later reconquered by the Empire of Nicaea) and Sinope (later conquered by the Sultanate of Rum).
Map of the Empire of Trebizond shortly after the foundation of the Latin Empire in 1204, featuring the short-lived conquests in western Anatolia by David Komnenos (later reconquered by the Empire of Nicaea) and Sinope (later conquered by the Sultanate of Rum).
StatusSuccessor of the Byzantine Empire,
client state of the Kingdom of Georgia (1204–1212/13),[A] vassal of the Mongol Empire (1243–1336)
CapitalTrebizond
Common languagesGreek (official)
Laz, Western Armenian
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy
GovernmentRepublican monarchy
Notable emperors1 
• 1204–1222
Alexios I
• 1238–1263
Manuel I
• 1280–1297
John II
• 1349–1390
Alexios III
• 1459–1461
David
Historical eraLate Middle Ages
1204
April 13, 1204
• Submission to the Mongol Empire
1243
• Permanent loss of Sinope
1265
1340–1349
15 August 1461[1]
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty
Trebizond Eyalet
Gazaria (Genoese colonies)
Principality of Theodoro
1 the full title of the Trapezuntine emperors after 1282 was "the faithful Basileus and Autokrator of All the East, the Iberians and Perateia"

The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was a monarchy and successor state of the Byzantine Empire that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, consisting of the far northeastern corner of Anatolia (the Pontus) and the southern Crimea. The empire was formed in 1204 after the Georgian expedition in Chaldia,[5] commanded by Alexios Komnenos a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople. Alexios later declared himself Emperor and established himself in Trebizond (modern day Trabzon, Turkey). Alexios and David Komnenos, grandsons and last male descendants of deposed Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, pressed their claims as "Roman Emperors" against Byzantine Emperor Alexios V Doukas. The Byzantine emperors, as well as Byzantine authors, such as Pachymeres, Nicephorus and to some extent Trapezundines such as Lazaropoulos and Bessarion, regarded the emperors of Trebizond as the “princes of the Lazes”, while the possession of these "princes" was also called Lazica,[6] in other words, their state was known as the Principality of the Lazes.[7] Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the Lascaris and later with the Palaiologos, the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.[8][9]

After the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade overthrew Alexios V and established the Latin Empire, the Empire of Trebizond became one of three Byzantine successor states to claim the imperial throne, alongside the Empire of Nicaea under the Laskaris family and the Despotate of Epirus under a branch of the Angelos family.[10] The ensuing wars would see the Empire of Thessalonica, the imperial government that sprung from Epirus, collapse following conflicts with Nicaea and Bulgaria and the final recapture of Constantinople by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Despite the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople, the Emperors of Trebizond would continue to style themselves as "Roman Emperors" for decades and continued to press their claim on the Imperial throne. Emperor John II of Trebizond officially gave up the Trapezuntine claim to the Roman imperial title and Constantinople itself 11 years after the Nicaeans recaptured the city, altering his imperial title from "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" to "Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, Iberia (i.e. Lazica) and Perateia".[11]

The Trapezuntine monarchy would survive the longest among the Byzantine successor states. The Despotate of Epirus had ceased to contest the Byzantine throne even before the Nicaean reconquest and was briefly occupied by the restored Byzantine Empire c. 1340, thereafter becoming a Serbian dependency later inherited by Italians, ultimately falling to the Ottoman Empire in 1479. Whilst the Empire of Nicaea had restored the Byzantine Empire through restoring control of the capital, it ended in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Trebizond would last until 1461 when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered it after a month-long siege and took its ruler and his family into captivity,[12] marking the final end of the Roman imperial tradition initiated by Augustus 1,488 years previously. The Crimean Principality of Theodoro, an offshoot of Trebizond, lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in 1475.

Origins

Trebizond already had a long history of autonomous rule before it became the center of a small empire in the late middle ages. Due to its natural harbours, defensible topography and access to silver and copper mines, Trebizond became the pre-eminent Greek colony on the eastern Black Sea shore soon after its founding. Its remoteness from Roman capitals gave local rules the opportunity to advance their own interest. In the centuries before the founding of the empire the city had been under control of the local Gabras family, which - while officially still remaining part of the Byzantine Empire - minted its own coin.[citation needed]

The rulers of Trebizond called themselves Megas Komnenos ("Great Comnenus") and – like their counterparts in the other two Byzantine successor states, the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus – initially claimed supremacy as "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans." However, after Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the Komnenian use of the style "Emperor" became a sore point. In 1282, John II Komnenos stripped off his imperial regalia before the walls of Constantinople before entering to marry Michael's daughter and accept his legal title of despot.[13] However, his successors used a version of his title, "Emperor and Autocrat of the entire East, of the Iberians and the Perateia" until the Empire's end in 1461.[14]

Geography

Geographically, the Empire of Trebizond consisted of the narrow strip along the southern coast of the Black Sea and the western half of the Pontic Alps, along with the Gazarian Perateia, or southern Crimea (soon losing to Genoese Gazaria and Theodorite Gazaria).

Successor states of the Byzantine Empire after the 4th Crusade: The Empire of Trebizond, Empire of Nicaea and Despotate of Epirus.

The core of the empire was the southern Black Sea coast from the mouth of the Yeşilırmak river, a region known to the Trapezuntines as Limnia, possibly as far east as Chorokhi river, a region then known as Lazia; Anthony Bryer has argued that six of the seven banda of the Byzantine theme of Chaldia were maintained in working order by the rulers of Trebizond until the end of the empire, helped by geography. Geography also defined the southern border of this state: the Pontic Alps served as a barrier first to Seljuk Turks and later to Turkoman marauders, whose predations were reduced to a volume that the emperors could cope with.[15] This territory corresponds to an area comprising all or parts of the modern Turkish provinces of Sinop, Samsun, Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon, Bayburt, Gümüşhane, Rize, and coastal parts of Artvin. In the 13th century, some experts believe the empire controlled the Gazarian Perateia, which included Cherson and Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. David Komnenos, the younger brother of the first Emperor, expanded rapidly to the west, occupying first Sinope, then coastal parts of Paphlagonia (the modern-day coastal regions of Kastamonu, Bartın, and Zonguldak) and Heraclea Pontica (the modern-day Karadeniz Ereğli), until his territory bordered the Empire of Nicaea. The expansion was, however, short-lived: the territories west of Sinope were lost to Theodore I Laskaris by 1214, and Sinope itself fell to the Seljuks that same year, although the emperors of Trebizond continued to fight for its control over the rest of the 13th century.[16]

History

Background

Fortification plan of Trebizond

The city of Trebizond was the capital of the theme of Chaldia, according to the 10th century Arab geographer Abul Feda it was regarded as being largely a Lazian port. Chaldia had already shown its separatist tendencies in the 10th and 11th centuries, when it came under the control of a local leader named Theodore Gabras, who according to Anna Comnena regarded Trebizond and its hinterlands "as a prize which had fallen to his own lot" and conducted himself as an independent prince. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos confirmed him as governor of Chaldia, but kept his son at Constantinople as a hostage for his good conduct. Nevertheless, Gabras proved himself a worthy guardian by repelling a Georgian attack on Trebizond.[17] One of his successors, Gregory Taronites, also rebelled with the aid of the Sultan of Cappadocia, but he was defeated and imprisoned, only to be made governor once more.[18] Another successor to Theodore was Constantine Gabras, whom Niketas describes as ruling Trebizond as a tyrant, and whose actions led Emperor John II Komnenos in 1139 to lead an expedition against him. Although that effort came to nothing, this was the last rebel governor known to recorded history prior to the events of 1204.[19]

Foundation

The empire traces its foundation to April 1204, when Alexios Komnenos and his brother David took advantage of the preoccupation of the central Byzantine government with the encampment of the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade outside their walls (June 1203 – mid-April 1204) and seized the city of Trebizond and the surrounding province of Chaldia with troops provided by their relative, Tamar of Georgia.[4] Henceforth, the links between Trebizond and Georgia remained close, but their nature and extent have been disputed.[20] However some scholars believe that the new state was subject to Georgia, at least in the first years of its existence, at the beginning of the 13th century.[21][22]

Both men were the grandsons of the last Komnenian Byzantine emperor, Andronikos I Komnenos, by his son Manuel Komnenos and Rusudan, daughter of George III of Georgia. Andronikos I had been deposed by Isaac II Angelos, while Manuel was blinded (a traditional Byzantine punishment for treason) and died not long after. Alexios and his brother, David, ended up at the court of Queen Tamar of Georgia, who gave them military support to return to Byzantine territory. Vasiliev explains that she had been motivated to do so after the Emperor Alexios III Angelos stole the gifts Tamar had given to a group of visiting monks as they passed through Constantinople.[23] While Michel Kurskanskis has argued in support of Vasiliev's interpretation, he disagrees with Vasiliev over the intent of Tamar's intervention: Vasiliev has argued that the Queen intended to create a buffer state to protect the Georgian Kingdom, while Kurskanskis believes she supported the brothers in their attempt to reclaim the Byzantine throne in Constantinople.[24]

After marching from Georgia, and with the help of their paternal aunt Queen Tamar, Alexios and David occupied Trebizond in April 1204.[25] That same month Alexios was proclaimed emperor at the age of 22, an act considered by later writers as the moment the Empire of Trebizond was founded.

Up to the civil wars

Alexios III, from the chrysobull he granted to the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos.

The date Alexios entered Trebizond may be narrowed down even further. Sergey Karpov has identified a lead seal of Alexios, on one side "the image of a strategos in the peaked helmet led by hand by St. George" with the inscriptions Ἀλέξιος ὁ Κομνηνός [Alexios Komnenos] and Ὁ Ἅ(γιος) Γεώργιος [Saint George] on either side; on the obverse is a scene of Ἡ Ἁγία Ἀνάστασις [The Holy Resurrection] with the corresponding inscription. Karpov interprets the significance of this image and the inscription as portraying the most important achievement of his life, St. George inviting the victorious prince to enter Trebizond and opening the gates of the city with his left hand. The importance of St. George was that Easter—the date of the Resurrection—in 1204 fell on 25 April, while the memorial date of St. George was 23 April. "So I dared to assume," writes Karpov, "that the seal points out the date of the capture of Trebizond."[26]

Vasiliev points out that the brothers occupied Trebizond too early to have done so in response to the Crusaders capturing Constantinople; Alexios and David began their march on Trebizond before news of the sack of Constantinople on 13 April 1204 could reach either Trebizond or Georgia. According to Vasiliev, however, their original intention was not to seize a base from which they could recover the capital of the Byzantine Empire, but rather to carve out of the Byzantine Empire a buffer state to protect Georgia from the Seljuk Turks.[27] Kuršanskis, while agreeing with Vasiliev that Tamar was motivated by revenge for Alexios Angelos's insult, proposed a more obvious motivation for the brother's return to Byzantine territory: they had decided to raise the banner of revolt, depose Alexios Angelos, and return the imperial throne to the Komnenos dynasty. However, not long after they had gained control of Trebizond and the neighboring territories, news of the Latin conquest of Constantinople reached them, and the brothers entered the competition for recovery of the imperial city against Theodore I Laskaris in western Anatolia (ruler of the "Empire of Nicaea") and Michael Komnenos Doukas in mainland Greece (ruler of the "Despotate of Epirus").[28]

For most of the 13th century Trebizond was in continual conflict with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and later with the Ottoman Turks, as well as Constantinople, the Italian republics, and especially the Republic of Genoa. It was an empire more in title than in fact, surviving by playing its rivals against each other, and offering the daughters of its rulers, who were famed for their beauty, for marriage with generous dowries, especially with the Turkish rulers of inland Anatolia. The common view is that the Empire of Trebizond relied heavily upon wealth gained from its trade with Genoese and Venetian merchants to secure for itself the resources necessary to maintain independence.[29]

The second son of Alexios I, Manuel I (1238–1263), preserved internal security and acquired the reputation of a great commander. His accomplishments included capturing Sinope in 1254.[30] He was the first ruler to issue silver coins, which were known as aspers.

The destruction of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan in 1258 diverted the western terminus of the Silk Road north to the Black Sea, and due to its link with their local capital at Tabriz, Trebizond accumulated tremendous wealth under the suzerainty of the Mongols.[31] Western travelers used Trebizond as their starting point for journeys into Asia; these travelers included Marco Polo, who returned to Europe in 1295 by way of Trebizond. The troubled reign of Manuel's youngest son John II (1280–1297) included a reconciliation with the restored Byzantine Empire and the end of Trapezuntine claims to Constantinople. Trebizond enjoyed a period of wealth[32] and influence during the long reign of John's eldest son Alexios II (1297–1330). During his reign, the city of Erzurum was also under Trebizond Empire occupation for a while around the 1310s.[33]

From the civil wars to the end of the 14th century

Main article: Trapezuntine Civil War
The Hagia Sophia church of Trebizond, today a museum.

Following the death of Alexios II, Trebizond suffered a period of repeated imperial depositions and assassinations, despite a short period of stability under his youngest son Basil (1332-1340). Two groups struggled for ascendency: the Scholaroi, who have been identified as being pro-Byzantine, and the Amytzantarantes, who were identified as representing the interests of the native archontes. The years 1347-1348 marked the apex of this lawless period. The Turks took advantage of the weakness of the empire, conquering Oinaion and besieging Trebizond, while the Genoese seized Kerasus. In addition, the Black Death spread from Caffa to ravage Trebizond and other Pontic cities. Bending under the weight of the disasters that accumulated on his states, Emperor Michael abdicated in 1349 in favor of his nephew, Alexios III, who gradually brought the partisans of both factions under control.

Under the rule of Alexios III, Trebizond was considered an important trade center and was renowned for its great wealth and artistic accomplishment. It was at this point that their famous diplomatic strategy of marrying the princesses of the Grand Komnenos to neighboring Turkish dynasts began. However, Anthony Bryers has argued against thinking this empire was a wealthy polity, stating that while the income from taxes levied on this trade was "by Byzantine standards" substantial, as much as three quarters of the income of the Emperor came from land "either directly from the imperial estates or indirectly from taxes and tithes from other lands."[34]

In the 15th century

A reduced Trebizond with surrounding states in 1400

The last years of the fourteenth century were characterized by the increasing Turkish threat. This threat was not from the small Turkmen emirates that bordered Trebizond's borders, but from the dynasty of the Osmanli, a new Turkish power emerging from western Anatolia that would soon consolidate the Ottoman Empire. Although their expansion was temporarily checked by Tamerlane at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, by the 1430s the Ottomans had recovered their fortunes, seizing large segments of Greece and finally capturing Constantinople itself on 29 May 1453. Manuel III (1390–1417), the second son and successor of Alexios III, had allied himself with Tamerlane, but the mighty conqueror soon left Anatolia, and the empire he had built crumbled with his death. His son Alexios IV (1417–1429) continued the tradition of political marriages by marrying two of his daughters to rulers of two neighboring Muslim empires: Jihan Shah, khan of the Kara Koyunlu, and Ali Beg, khan of the Ak Koyunlu. His eldest daughter Maria became the third wife of the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos.

Alexios IV's eldest son, John IV (1429–1459), could not help but see that his Empire would soon share the same fate as Constantinople. The Ottoman Sultan Murad II first attempted to take the capital by sea in 1442, but high surf made the landings difficult and the attempt was repulsed.[35] While Murad's son and successor, Mehmed II, was away laying siege to Belgrade in 1456, the Ottoman governor of Amasya attacked Trebizond, and although defeated, he took many prisoners and extracted a heavy tribute.[36] Genoese document records the seizure of one of their ships at that port in 1437 by a military Galley at the orders of Emperor John IV.[37]

A 14th-century miniature Greek manuscript depicting Byzantine Greek soldiers from the Empire of Trebizond.

John IV prepared for the eventual assault by forging alliances. He sent an envoy to the Council of Florence in 1439, the humanist George Amiroutzes, which resulted in the proclamation of the Union of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, but this proclamation brought little help. He gave his daughter Theodora (also known by the name of Despina Khatun) to the son of his brother-in-law, Uzun Hasan, khan of the Ak Koyunlu, in return for his promise to defend Trebizond. He also secured promises of help from the Turkish emirs of Sinope and Karamania, and from the king and princes of Georgia.[38] Through Theodora and the daughter of Alexios IV of Trebizond (also named Theodora), the Safavid dynasty of Iran that succeeded the Ak Koyunlu, would be of direct partial Pontic Greek ethnicity from its very beginning.

After John's death in 1459, his brother David came to power. David intrigued with various European powers for help against the Ottomans, speaking of wild schemes that included the conquest of Jerusalem. Mehmed II eventually heard of these intrigues and was further provoked to action by David's demand that Mehmed remit the tribute imposed on his brother.[38]

Mehmed's response came in the summer of 1461. He collected a sizable army at Bursa, and in a surprise move marched on Sinope, whose emir quickly surrendered. Then the Sultan moved south across eastern Anatolia to neutralize Uzun Hasan. Having isolated Trebizond, Mehmed quickly swept down upon it before the inhabitants knew he was coming, and placed it under siege. The city held out for a month before David surrendered on August 15, 1461. With the fall of Trebizond, the last independent remnant of the Byzantine Empire, as well as the Roman Empire from which the Byzantine Empire sprang, was extinguished. In December 5 1475, the Empire of Trebizond's offshoot the Principality of Theodoro, would also fall to Ottoman rule.[39]

In the relatively limited territory of the kingdom of the Grand Komnenoi (known as the “Empire of Trebizond”) there was enough room for three dioceses: Trebizond, which was the only diocese established far in the past, Cerasous and Rizaion in Lazika, both formed as upgraded bishoprics. All three dioceses survived the Ottoman conquest (1461) and generally operated until the 17th century, when the dioceses of Cerasous and Rizaion were abolished. The diocese of Rizaion and the bishopric of Of were abolished at the time due to the Islamisation of the Laz and of the region respectively. Possibly the diocese of Cerasous was deactivated for the same reasons.[40]

The Empire of Trebizond acquired a reputation in Western Europe for being "enriched by the trade from Persia and the East that passed through its capital," according to Steven Runciman, "and by the silver-mines in the hills behind, and famed for the beauty of its princesses."[41] Donald Nicol echoes Runciman's observations: "Most of the emperors were blessed with a progeny of marriageable daughters, and the beauty of the ladies of Trebizond was as legendary as the wealth of their dowries."[42] Its wealth and exotic location endowed a lingering fame on the polity. Cervantes described the eponymous hero of his Don Quixote as "imagining himself for the valour of his arm already crowned at least Emperor of Trebizond." Rabelais had his character Picrochole, the ruler of Piedmont, declare: "I want also to be Emperor of Trebizond." Other allusions and works set in Trebizond continue into the 20th century.[43]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Some scholars believe that the new state was subject to Georgia, at least in the first years of its existence, at the beginning of the 13th century."[2][3]

References

  1. ^ This is the date determined by Franz Babinger, "La date de la prise de Trébizonde par les Turcs (1461)", Revue des études byzantines, 7 (1949), pp. 205-207 doi:10.3406/rebyz.1949.1014
  2. ^ Vasiliev, A.A., “The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond 1204-1222”, Speculum 11 (1936), pp. 3-37·
  3. ^ Ostrogorsky, G., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού κράτους 3 (Athens 1997), pp. 102, 305.
  4. ^ a b Hewsen, Robert H. (2009). "Armenians on the Black Sea: The Province of Trebizond". In Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.). Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, Inc. pp. 47, 37–66. ISBN 1-56859-155-1.
  5. ^ A. A. Vasiliev, "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)", Speculum, 11 (1936), pp. 18f
  6. ^ Karl von Hahn, Известия древних греческих и римских писателей о Кавказе, II, pp. 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210
  7. ^ 1867-1953., Vasilʹev, A. A. (Aleksandr Aleksandrovich), (1936). The foundation of the Empire of Trebizond 1204-1222. Medieval Academy of America. OCLC 43154237. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Finlay, George. The History Of Greece From Its Conquest By The Crusaders To Its Conquest By The Turks And Of The Empire Of Trebizond, 1204-1461, By George Finlay. 1st ed. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and sons, 1851. Print.
  9. ^ Vasilev, A. A. The Foundation Of The Empire Of Trebizond 1204-1222. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1936. Print.
  10. ^ Alexander A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, Vol 2. 324–1453, second edition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958), p. 506: "... on the territory of the disintegrated eastern empire, three independent Greek centers were formed; The empire of Nicaea and the empire of Trebizond in Asia Minor and the Despotat of Epirus in Northern Greece."
  11. ^ "Establishment of the Empire of Trebizond by the Grand Komnenoi, 1204". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  12. ^ William Miller, Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461, 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 100-106
  13. ^ Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 74
  14. ^ See the discussion in N. Oikonomides, "The Chancery of the Grand Komnenoi: Imperial Tradition and Political Reality", Archeion Pontou 35 (1979), pp. 299-332
  15. ^ Bryer, "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 29 (1975), pp. 117ff
  16. ^ As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor"
  17. ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 12
  18. ^ Some authorities identify Taronites with the known son of Theodore Gabras, Gregory Gabras. See Anthony Bryer, "A Byzantine Family: The Gabrades, c. 979 – c. 1653", University of Birmingham Historical Journal, 12 (1970), p. 176
  19. ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 13
  20. ^ Eastmond, Antony. "Narratives of the Fall: Structure and Meaning in the Genesis Frieze at Hagia Sophia, Trebizond". Dumbarton Oaks Papers 53 (1999), 219–36.
  21. ^ Vasiliev, A.A., “The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond 1204-1222”, Speculum 11 (1936), pp. 3-37·
  22. ^ Ostrogorsky, G., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού κράτους 3 (Athens 1997), pp. 102, 305.
  23. ^ A. A. Vasiliev, "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204-1222)", Speculum, 11 (1936), pp. 18f
  24. ^ Michel Kuršanskis, "L'Empire de Trébizonde et la Géorgie", Revue des études byzantines, 35 (1977). pp. 243-247
  25. ^ Michael Panaretos, Chronicle, ch. 1. Greek text in Original-Fragmente, Chroniken, Inschiften und anderes Materiale zur Geschichte des Kaiserthums Trapezunt, part 2; in Abhandlungen der historischen Classe der königlich bayerischen Akademie 4 (1844), abth. 1, pp. 11; German translation, p. 41
  26. ^ Karpov, "New Archival Discoveries of Documents concerning the Empire of Trebizond", Gamer, 1 (2012), pp. 75f
  27. ^ Vasiliev, "Foundation", p. 19
  28. ^ Kuršanskis, "Trébizonde et la Géorgie", pp. 243-245
  29. ^ Hewsen, "Armenians on the Black Sea", p. 48
  30. ^ Maria Nystazooulou, "La dernière reconquête de Sinope par les Grecs de Trébizonde (1254-1265)", Revue des études byzantines, 22 (1964), pp. 241-9
  31. ^ E.S. Georganteli, "Trapezuntine Money in the Balkans, Anatolia and the Black Sea, 13th-15th centuries", in T. Kyriakides (ed.), Trebizond and the Black Sea (Thessaloniki, 2010), p. 94
  32. ^ Zehiroğlu, A.M. "Astronomy in the Trebizond Empire", (2016), pp. 2-5
  33. ^ Zehiroğlu, Ahmet M. ; "Trabzon Imparatorluğu 2" 2016, Trabzon, (ISBN 978-605-4567-52-2) ; pp.133-134
  34. ^ Bryer, "The Estates of the Empire of Trebizond. Evidence for their Resources, Products, Agriculture, Ownership and Location", Archeion Pontou 35 (1979), p. 371. He also includes revenue from such typical medieval sources as "the profits of justice, imperial trade and mining, confiscations and even piracy."
  35. ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 85
  36. ^ Miller, Trebizond, pp. 87f
  37. ^ S. P. Karpov, "New Documents on the Relations between the Latins and the Local Populations in the Black Sea Area (1392-1462)", Dumbarton Oaks Papers: Symposium on Byzantium and the Italians, 13th-15th centuries, 49 (1995), p. 39
  38. ^ a b Nicol, Last Centuries, p. 407
  39. ^ Nicol, Last Centuries, p. 408
  40. ^ As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor", (3/7/2007)
  41. ^ Runciman, A History of the Crusades - the Kingdom of Arce and the Later Crusades (Cambridge: University Press, 1975), p. 126
  42. ^ Nicol, Last Centuries, pp. 402f
  43. ^ Miller, Trebizond, pp. 117ff

Sources and research

Primary sources

  • Johannes Bessarion: The praise of Trebizond
  • Michael Panaretos: Chronicle

Secondary sources

  • Anthony Bryer & David Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (DOS. XX), vol. 1–2, Washington, 1985.
  • Anthony Bryer, Peoples and Settlement in Anatolia and the Caucasus, 800–1900, Variorum collected studies series, London, 1988.
  • Bryer, Anthony (1980). The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos. London: Variorum Reprints. ISBN 978-0-86078-062-5.
  • Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer, Geschichte des Kaiserthums Trapezunt (Munich, 1827–1848)
  • George Finlay The History of Greece, from Its Conquest by the Crusaders to Its Conquest by the Turks, and of the Empire of Trebizond: 1204–1461. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1851.
  • Émile Janssens. Trébizonde en Colchide. Bruxelles: Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1969,
  • Sergei Karpov. L' impero di Trebisonda, Venezia, Genova e Roma, 1204–1461. Rapporti politici, diplomatici e commerciali. Roma, 1986, 321 P.
  • Sergei Karpov. Трапезундская империя и западноевропейские государства, 1204–1461. ("The Empire of Trebizond and the nations of Western Europe, 1204–1461".) Moscow, 1981, 231 pp.
  • Sergei Karpov. История Трапезундской империи ("A history of the empire of Trebizond"). Saint Petersburg, 2007, 656 pp.
  • William Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire, (1926; repr. Chicago: Argonaut Publishers, 1968)
  • Donald Queller, Thomas F. Madden, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2nd ed., 1997. ISBN 0-8122-3387-5
  • Savvides, Alexios G. K. (2009). Ιστορία της Αυτοκρατορίας των Μεγάλων Κομνηνών της Τραπεζούντας (1204-1461). 2η Έκδοση με προσθήκες [History of the Empire of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond (1204-1461). 2nd Edition with additions] (in Greek). Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis Brothers S.A. ISBN 978-960-467-121-2.
  • Rustam Shukurov. Великие Комнины и Восток (1204—1461) ("The Megas Komnenos and the Orient (1204–1461)"). Saint Petersburg, 2001, 446 pp (in Russian), ISBN 5-89329-337-1
  • Levan Urushadze, The Comnenus of Trabizond and the Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia. — J. "Tsiskari", Tbilisi, No 4, 1991, pp. 144–148: in Georgian.
  • Fyodor Uspensky, From the history of the Empire of Trabizond (Ocherki iz istorii Trapezuntskoy Imperii), Leningrad, 1929, 160 pp: a monograph in Russian.
  • Zehiroğlu, Ahmet M. (2016). Trabzon İmparatorluğu 2 [The Empire of Trebizond (Vol.2) (1222-1382)] (in Turkish). Istanbul. ISBN 978-6054567522.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Zehiroğlu, Ahmet M. (2018). Trabzon İmparatorluğu 3 [The Empire of Trebizond (Vol.3) (1382-1451)] (in Turkish). Istanbul. ISBN 978-6058103207.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

  • Eastmond, Antony (2004). Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium: Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond. Routledge. ISBN 0754635759. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Eastmond, Antony, ed. (2016). Byzantium's Other Empire: Trebizond. Ege Yayinlari. ISBN 6059388000. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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