The Empire of Trebizond, or Trapezuntine Empire, was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Despotate of the Morea and the Principality of Theodoro, that flourished during the 13th through to the 15th century, consisting of the far northeastern corner of Anatolia and portions of southern Crimea. The empire was formed in 1204 with the help of the Georgian queen Tamar after the Georgian expedition in Chaldia and Paphlagonia, commanded by Alexios Komnenos a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople. Alexios later declared himself Emperor and established himself in Trebizond. 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 later Byzantine emperors, as well as Byzantine authors, such as George Pachymeres, Nicephorus Gregoras and to some extent Trapezuntines such as John Lazaropoulos and Basilios Bessarion, regarded the emperors of Trebizond as the "princes of the Lazes", while the possession of these "princes" was also called Lazica. Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the Laskaris and later with the Palaiologos dynasties, the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.
The House of Komnenos, Latinized as Comnenus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. The family returned to power under Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 who established their rule for the following 104 years until it ended with Andronikos I Komnenos in 1185. In the 13th century, they founded and ruled the Empire of Trebizond, a Byzantine rump state from 1204 to 1461. At that time, they were commonly referred to as Grand Komnenoi, a style that was officially adopted and used by George Komnenos and his successors. Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukas, Angelos, and Palaiologos, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world.
Manuel III Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 20 March, 1390 to his death in 1417.
Manuel I Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 1238 until his death. He was the son of Emperor Alexios I and his wife, Theodora. At the time Manuel reigned, the Empire of Trebizond comprised a band of territory stretching along the southern coast of the Black Sea. Although Michael Panaretos, a 14th-century Trapezuntine chronicler, calls Manuel "the greatest general and the most fortunate" and states he ruled "virtuously in the eyes of God", the only event he documents for Manuel's reign is a catastrophic fire striking the city of Trebizond in January 1253. The major events of his reign are known from external sources, most important of which is the recovery of Sinope in 1254, which had been lost to the Sultanate of Rum forty years before.
Andronikos II Megas Komnenos, or Andronicus II Grand Comnenus, was the Emperor of Trebizond from 1263 to 1266. Despite being the designated successor of his father Manuel I, Andronikos' tenure was short due to premature death from unrecorded causes. The major event of his reign was the definitive loss of Sinope to the Seljuk Turks under the regency of Mu'in al-Din Suleyman, also known as the Pervane, in the summer or fall of 1265. The capture of Sinope by the Turks gave them the best port on the Black Sea, allowing them to create a navy and compete with the Trapezuntines for influence in the Black Sea.
George Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 1266 to 1280. He was the elder son of Emperor Manuel I and his third wife, Irene Syrikaina, a Trapezuntine noblewoman. He succeeded his half-brother Andronikos in 1266 and ruled for 14 years. George was the first Trapezuntine emperor to officially use the style Megas Komnenos, which had previously been merely a nickname.
Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Megas Comnenus was, with his brother David, the founder of the Empire of Trebizond and its ruler from 1204 until his death in 1222. The two brothers were the only male descendants of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I, who had been dethroned and killed in 1185, and thus claimed to represent the legitimate government of the Empire following the conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Although his rivals governing the Nicaean Empire succeeded in becoming the de facto successors, and rendered his dynastic claims to the imperial throne moot, Alexios' descendants continued to emphasize both their heritage and connection to the Komnenian dynasty by later referring to themselves as Megas Komnenos.
John II Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from June 1280 to his death in 1297. He was the youngest son of Emperor Manuel I and his third wife, Irene Syrikaina, a Trapezuntine noblewoman. John succeeded to the throne after his full-brother George was betrayed by his archons on the mountain of Taurezion. It was during his reign that the style of the rulers of Trebizond changed; until then, they claimed the traditional title of the Byzantine emperors, "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans", but from John II on they changed it to "Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, the Iberians, and the Transmarine Provinces", although Iberia had been lost in the reign of Andronikos I Gidos.
Alexios IV Megas Komnenos or Alexius IV, Emperor of Trebizond from 5 March 1417 to 26 April 1429. He was the son of Emperor Manuel III and Gulkhan-Eudokia of Georgia.
Alexios II Megas Komnenos, was Emperor of Trebizond from 1297 to 1330. He was the elder son of John II and Eudokia Palaiologina.
Manuel II Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond for eight months in 1332. Manuel was the son of Emperor Andronikos III, whom he succeeded at the age of eight in January 1332.
Andronikos III Megas Komnenos, or Andronicus III, was Emperor of Trebizond from 1330 to 1332. He was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios II of Trebizond and his Iberian wife, Djiadjak Jaqeli of Samckhe. According to Michael Panaretos, he reigned for 15 months, which suggests that there was an interregnum of five months — from the death of his father in May to October 1330.
Basil Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from August 1332 until his death in 1340. Although Basil's reign was a period of stability during the civil war that dominated the pocket empire during the second quarter of the 14th century, some of that conflict had its origins in his marital actions.
Anna Anachoutlou ruled the Empire of Trebizond from 1341 to 1342. She was the eldest daughter of the Trapezuntine emperor Alexios II Megas Komnenos and had joined a convent as a nun during her father's reign. After the death of her father, Anna's brother Andronikos III, her nephew Manuel II and her other brother Basil reigned in rapid succession. After Basil's death, his widow Irene Palaiologina, genealogically unconnected to the ruling Grand Komnenos dynasty of Trebizond, seized power as empress regnant. In June/July 1341, Anna escaped from her convent and rapidly began rallying support to fight against Irene. Despite being a woman and up until recently a nun, and there being several possible male heirs of her dynasty, Anna attracted considerable support from the provincials of the empire, from ethnic minorities such as the Laz and Zan peoples, and from Georgian soldiers, either mercenaries or forces sent by King George V of Georgia.
John III Megas Komnenos or Grand Comnenus was emperor of Trebizond from September 4, 1342, to May 3, 1344. He was a son of Emperor Michael of Trebizond and Acropolitissa, a daughter of Constantine Acropolites.
Michael Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 3 May 1344 to 13 December 1349. He was a younger son of Emperor John II of Trebizond and Eudokia Palaiologina.
David Komnenos was one of the founders of the Empire of Trebizond and its joint ruler together with his brother Alexios until his death. At least two lead seals and an inscription found on a tower in Heraclea Pontica attest that he was the first of his family to use the style Megas Komnenos. Ηe was the son of Manuel Komnenos and grandson of the Emperor Andronikos I.
John Komnenos, nicknamed "the Fat", was a Byzantine noble who attempted to usurp the imperial throne from Alexios III Angelos in a short-lived coup in Constantinople on 31 July 1201. The coup drew on opposition to the ruling Angelid dynasty among rival aristocratic families and the common people, who were dissatisfied by the dynasty's failures against external foes. John had previously been an obscure figure, but he became the figurehead of the uprising because of his imperial blood, as he was descended from the illustrious Komnenian dynasty (1081–1185). However, the real driving force behind his coup was probably the ambitious Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos. With the support of the capital's populace, the plotters managed to seize most of the Great Palace in Constantinople's southeastern corner, which the mob proceeded to loot, and John Komnenos was crowned in the Hagia Sophia. Alexios III, however, was secure in his residence in the northwestern Palace of Blachernae, and he sent forces by sea to land in the part of the Great Palace still held by the loyal Varangian Guard. Most of the urban mob dispersed for the night, and the Varangians had little difficulty in suppressing the coup. John Komnenos was captured and executed with many of his followers.
Alexander Megas Komnenos, also recorded as Skantarios, was co-emperor of the Empire of Trebizond alongside his elder brother John IV Megas Komnenos c. 1451–1459. Alexander was the second son of the Trapezuntine emperor Alexios IV Megas Komnenos. John was exiled after a failed rebellion against their father in c. 1426, and Alexios made Alexander the designated heir. John returned to Trebizond in early 1429 and seized the throne, killing Alexios and forcing Alexander into exile.
Alexios V Megas Komnenos was very briefly Trapezuntine emperor in April 1460, succeeding his uncle John IV, until his deposition by his other uncle, David. Alexios was the son and only known child of Alexander, a brother of John IV and David. Alexander served as co-emperor with John IV but died prior to 1460, which left the young Alexios as John IV's heir. Almost immediately after Alexios's accession, David, with support of the influential Kabazites family, deposed Alexios and took the throne for himself.
