Empire of Trebizond
Empire of Trebizond | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1204–1461[1] | |||||||||||||
portolans[2] | |||||||||||||
). | |||||||||||||
Status |
| ||||||||||||
Capital | Trebizond | ||||||||||||
Common languages |
| ||||||||||||
Religion | Greek Orthodoxy | ||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
Notable emperors1 | |||||||||||||
• 1204–1222 | Alexios I | ||||||||||||
• 1238–1263 | Manuel I | ||||||||||||
• 1280–1297 | John II | ||||||||||||
• 1349–1390 | Alexios III | ||||||||||||
• 1459–1461 | David | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Fall of Trebizond | 15 August 1461[1] | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Today part of | Georgia Russia Turkey Ukraine | ||||||||||||
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 (
The Empire was formed in 1204 with the help of Queen Tamar of Georgia after the Georgian expedition in Chaldia and Paphlagonia,[3] which was commanded by Alexios Komnenos a few weeks before the Sack of Constantinople. Alexios later declared himself emperor and established himself in Trebizond (now Trabzon in Turkey).
Alexios and
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.[9] The ensuing wars saw the Empire of Thessalonica, the imperial government that sprang from Epirus, collapse following conflicts with Nicaea and the Second Bulgarian Empire and the final recapture of Constantinople by the Nicaeans in 1261.
Despite the Nicaean reconquest, the Emperors of Trebizond continued to style themselves as Roman emperor for two decades and 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 21 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 and Perateia".[10]
The Trapezuntine monarchy survived 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 Imperial dependency later inherited by Italians, ultimately falling to the Ottoman Empire in 1479.
The restored empire ended in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Trebizond lasted until 1461, when the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II conquered it after a month-long siege and took its ruler and his family into captivity.[11]
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 rulers 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.[12]
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, accepting 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
The core of the empire was the southern Black Sea coast from the mouth of the Yeşilırmak, a region known to the Trapezuntines as Limnia, possibly as far east as Akampsis, a region then known as Lazia. Anthony Bryer has argued that six of the seven banda of the theme "district" 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
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
The city of Trebizond was the capital of the theme of Chaldia, which according to the 10th century Arab geographer Abulfeda was regarded as being largely a Lazican 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 Komnene 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 record history before 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.[7] 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.[3][4]
Both men were the grandsons of the last
After marching from Georgia, and with the help of their paternal aunt Queen Tamar, Alexios and David occupied Trebizond in April 1204.[22] 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. Alexios ruled his new empire for the next twenty-two years, until his death in February 1222. The throne then passed to his son-in-law Andronikos I Gidos Komnenos.[23]
Up to the civil wars
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."[24]
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
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 and 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.[27]
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.[28] He was the first ruler to issue silver coins, which were known as aspers.
The
From the civil wars to the end of the 14th century
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
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."[32]
15th century
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, but from the dynasty of the Osmanli, a new Turkish power emerging from western Anatolia that would soon consolidate the
Alexios IV's eldest son,
John IV prepared for the eventual assault by forging alliances. He sent an envoy to the
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.[36]
Mehmed's response came in the summer of 1461. He collected a sizable army at
Culture
Religion
Christianity strongly influenced society in the Empire of Trebizond. According to the Acts of Vazelon, which were written by contemporary monks, most peasants in the Matzouka region of the Empire had first names relating to Christian religious figures. Last names often referred to Christian saints, trades, and place names.[38]
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:
In popular culture
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
In Italian, there exists the expression "to lose the Trebizond" (perdere la Trebisonda) which means "to be bewildered". Trebizond was a port reachable by all the routes that crossed the Black Sea, and therefore a safe shelter in case of storms.[43]
See also
- List of Trapezuntine emperors
- Komnenos dynasty and related family tree
- Hagia Sophia, Trabzon
- Sumela Monastery
- Dorothy Dunnett, a Scottish historical novelist, much of whose book The Spring of the Ram is set in Trebizond at the time of its fall.
- Lawrence Schoonover, an American historical novelist, much of whose book The Burnished Blade is set in Trebizond at its height.
- The Towers of Trebizond, a novel by Rose Macaulay (1881–1958)
Notes
References
- ^ 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
- ISSN 1012-0513.
- ^ S2CID 162791512.
- ^ a b Ostrogorsky, G., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού κράτους 3 (Athens 1997), pp. 102, 305.
- ^ Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Laz "Though Greek in higher culture, the rural areas of Trebizond empire appear to have been predominantly Laz in ethnic composition."
- ^ Rustam Shukurov (2016). The Byzantine Turks, 1204-1461. p. 289.
A remarkable feature of the Pontic situation in that some groups of nomad apparently wandered Trapezuntine territories as subjects of the Grand Komnenoi. According to Brendemoen, by the 14th century, a group of Pontic nomads was bilingual and spoke both Turkic and Greek. In addition to the case of the Christian Çepni, this is substantiated by linguistic data. Moreover, the earliest Turkic dialect of the Pontos was based on the Aqqoyunlu Turkic dialect under the influence of Pontic Greek.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56859-155-1.
- ^ Karl von Hahn, Известия древних греческих и римских писателей о Кавказе, II, pp. 205–210
- ^ Alexander A. Vasiliev (1958), History of the Byzantine Empire, Vol 2. 324–1453, second edition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 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."
- ^ "Establishment of the Empire of Trebizond by the Grand Komnenoi, 1204". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
- ^ William Miller, Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204–1461, 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 100–106
- ^ "Very Rare Issue of Interest to Both Byzantine & Crusader Collectors". CNGcoins.com. Classical Numismatics Group. February 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
- ^ Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 74
- ^ See the discussion in N. Oikonomides, "The Chancery of the Grand Komnenoi: Imperial Tradition and Political Reality", Archeion Pontou 35 (1979), pp. 299–332
- ^ Bryer, "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 29 (1975), pp. 117ff
- ^ As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor"
- ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 12
- ^ 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
- ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 13
- ^ Eastmond, Antony. "Narratives of the Fall: Structure and Meaning in the Genesis Frieze at Hagia Sophia, Trebizond". Dumbarton Oaks Papers 53 (1999), 219–36.
- ^ Michel Kuršanskis, "L'Empire de Trébizonde et la Géorgie", Revue des études byzantines, 35 (1977). pp. 243–247
- ^ 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
- ISBN 9780674986626.
- ^ Karpov, "New Archival Discoveries of Documents concerning the Empire of Trebizond", Gamer, 1 (2012), pp. 75f
- ^ Vasiliev, "Foundation", p. 19
- ^ Kuršanskis, "Trébizonde et la Géorgie", pp. 243–245
- ^ Hewsen, "Armenians on the Black Sea", p. 48
- ^ Maria Nystazooulou, "La dernière reconquête de Sinope par les Grecs de Trébizonde (1254–1265)", Revue des études byzantines, 22 (1964), pp. 241–9
- ^ 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
- ^ Zehiroğlu, A.M. "Astronomy in the Trebizond Empire", (2016), pp. 2–5
- ISBN 978-605-4567-52-2) ; pp.133–134
- ^ 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."
- ^ Miller, Trebizond, p. 85
- ^ Miller, Trebizond, pp. 87f
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Nicol, Last Centuries, p. 407
- ^ Nicol, Last Centuries, p. 408
- OCLC 260168166.
- ^ As documented by Charitopoulos Evangelos, "Diocese of Cerasous. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor", (3/7/2007)
- ^ Runciman, A History of the Crusades – the Kingdom of Arce and the Later Crusades (Cambridge: University Press, 1975), p. 126
- ^ Nicol, Last Centuries, pp. 402f
- ^ Miller, Trebizond, pp. 117ff
- ^ (in Italian)Perché si dice perdere la Trebisonda, nationalgeographic.it. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
Sources and research
Primary sources
- Basilios 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.
- Sergei Karpov, Трапезундская империя и западноевропейские государства, 1204–1461. ("The Empire of Trebizond and the nations of Western Europe, 1204–1461".) Moscow, 1981.
- Sergei Karpov, История Трапезундской империи ("A history of the empire of Trebizond"). Saint Petersburg, 2007.
- William Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire, (1926; repr. Chicago: Argonaut Publishers, 1968)
- Donald Queller, 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 (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.
- Eastmond, Antony, ed. (2016). Byzantium's Other Empire: Trebizond. Ege Yayinlari. ISBN 978-6059388009.
External links
- Media related to Empire of Trebizond at Wikimedia Commons