Everything about The Empire Of Trebizond totally explained
The
Empire of Trebizond (
Greek: Βασίλειον τής Τραπεζούντας) was a
Byzantine Greek successor state of the
Byzantine Empire founded in 1204 as a result of the capture of
Constantinople by the
Fourth Crusade. Queen
Tamar of Georgia provided troops to her nephew
Alexius I, who conquered the
Pontic Greek cities of
Trebizond,
Sinope and
Paphlagonia. It is often known as "
the last Greek Empire".
Foundation
When Constantinople fell in the
Fourth Crusade in 1204 to the Western European and
Venetian Crusaders, the Empire of Trebizond was one of the three smaller Greek states that emerged from the wreckage, along with the
Empire of Nicaea and the
Despotate of Epirus. Alexius, a grandson of the
Byzantine emperor Andronicus I Comnenus, son of
Rusudan daughter of
George III of Georgia, made
Trebizond his capital and asserted a claim to be the legitimate successor of the
Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Emperor Andronicus I'd been deposed and killed in 1185. His son
Manuel was blinded and may have died of his injuries. The sources agree that Rusudan, the wife of Manuel and the mother of Alexios and David, fled Constantinople with her children, to escape persecution by
Isaac II Angelus, Andronicus' successor. It is unclear whether Rusudan fled to Georgia or to the southern coast of the Black Sea where the
Comnenus family had its origins. There is some evidence that the Comnenian heirs had set up a semi-independent state centred on Trebizond before 1204.
The rulers of Trebizond called themselves Grand Comnenus and at first claimed the traditional Byzantine title of "
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans." After reaching an agreement with the Byzantine Empire in 1282, the official title of the ruler of Trebizond was changed to "Emperor and Autocrat of the entire East, of the
Iberians and the Transmarine Provinces" and remained such until the empire's end in 1461. The state is sometimes called the
Comnenian empire because the ruling dynasty descended from
Alexius I Comnenus.
Trebizond initially controlled a contiguous area on the southern
Black Sea coast between
Soterioupolis and
Sinope, comprising the modern
Turkish provinces of
Sinop,
Ordu,
Giresun,
Trabzon,
Bayburt,
Gümüşhane,
Rise and
Artvin. In the
thirteenth century, the empire controlled
Perateia which included
Cherson and
Kerch on the
Crimean peninsula.
David Comnenus expanded rapidly to the west, occupying first
Sinope, then Paphlagonia and
Heraclea Pontica until his territory bordered the
Empire of Nicaea founded by
Theodore I Lascaris. The territories west of Sinope were lost to the Empire of Nicaea by 1206. Sinope itself fell to the
Seljuks in 1214.
Prosperity
While Epirus effectively disintegrated in the 14th century, and the Nicaean Empire succeeded in retaking Constantinople and extinguishing the feeble
Latin Empire, only to be conquered in 1453 by the
Ottoman Empire, Trebizond managed to outlive its competitors in Epirus and Nicaea.
Trebizond was in continual conflict with the
Sultanate of Iconium and later with the Ottoman Turks, as well as Byzantium, the Italian republics, and especially the
Genoese. 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 for marriage with generous
dowries, especially with the
Turkmen rulers of inland
Anatolia.
The
destruction of Baghdad by
Hulagu Khan in 1258 made Trebizond the western terminus of the
Silk Road. The city grew to tremendous wealth on the Silk Road trade under the protection of the
Mongols.
Marco Polo returned to Europe by way of Trebizond in 1295. Under the rule of
Alexius III (1349–1390) the city was one of the world's leading trade centres and was renowned for its great wealth and artistic accomplishment.
Climax and civil war
The small Empire of Trebizond had been most successful in asserting itself at its very start, under the leadership of
Alexius I (1204–1222) and especially his younger brother David Comnenus, who died in battle in 1214. Alexius' second son
Manuel I (1238–1263) had preserved internal security and acquired the reputation of a great commander, but the empire was already losing outlying provinces to the
Turkmen, and found itself forced to pay tribute to the
Seljuks of Rum and then to the
Mongols of Persia, a sign of things to come. The troubled reign of
John II (1280–1297) included a reconciliation with the
Byzantine Empire and the end of Trapezuntine claims to Constantinople. Trebizond reached its greatest wealth and influence during the long reign of
Alexius II (1297–1330). Trebizond suffered a period of repeated imperial depositions and assassinations from the end of Alexius' reign until the first years of
Alexius III, ending in 1355. The empire never fully recovered its internal cohesion, commercial supremacy or territory.
Decline and fall
Manuel III (1390–1417), who succeeded his father Alexius III as emperor, allied himself with
Timur, and benefited from Timur's defeat of the
Ottoman Turks at the
Battle of Ancyra in 1402. His son
Alexius IV (1417–1429) married two of his daughters to
Jihan Shah, khan of the
Kara Koyunlu, and to
Ali Beg, khan of the
Ak Koyunlu; while his eldest daughter Maria became the third wife of the
Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus.
Pero Tafur, who visited the city in 1437, reported that Trebizond had less than 4,000 troops.
John IV (1429–1459) couldn't help but see 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. While
Mehmed II was away laying siege to
Belgrade in 1456, the Ottoman governor of
Amasya attacked Trebizond, and although defeated, took many prisoners and extracted a heavy tribute.
John IV prepared for the eventual assault by forging alliances. He gave his daughter 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.
After John's death in 1459, his brother
David came to power and misused these alliances. 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.
Mehmed's response came in the summer of 1461. He led a sizeable army from
Bursa, first to Sinope whose emir quickly surrendered, then south across Armenia 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 the emperor David surrendered on
August 15,
1461.
With the fall of Trebizond, one of the last territories of the Roman Empire was extinguished.
* restored
List of Trapezuntine people
Further Information
Get more info on 'Empire Of Trebizond'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://empire_of_trebizond.totallyexplained.com">Empire of Trebizond Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
