A town in
Turkey, modern Turkish name
Trabzon, the ancient Greek colony of
Trapezos, but known in
mediaeval history as Trebizond. When
Constantinople fell to ravaging
Crusaders in 1204, when
the Fourth Crusade turned horribly wrong, one branch of the
Byzantine dynasty fled to this town, and proclaimed an Empire of Trebizond, supported by the great Queen
Tamara of
Georgia, to whom they were related by marriage.
They only ever ruled the coast, what is now the eastern part of Turkey's Black Sea coast, and a little bit of the interior, but they generally maintained friendly relations with neighbouring Ottomans and later Mongols, surviving as a valuable trade route.
But after supporting a conspiracy against the Ottoman Emperor, the little empire was crushed on 16 August 1461 and the whole dynasty later put to death. Nevertheless it outlasted the Byzantine Empire itself, which had fallen in 1453.
- Alexius I 1204-1222
- Andronicus I Gidos 1222-1235
- John I Axouchos 1235-1238
- Manuel I 1238-1263
- Andronicus II 1263-1266
- George 1266-1280
- John II 1280-1284
- Empress Theodora 1284-1285
- John II again 1285-1297
- Alexius II 1297-1330
- Andronicus III 1330-1332
- Manuel II 1332
- Basil 1332-1340
- Empress Irene Palaeologina 1340-1341
- Empress Anna Anachoutlou 1341
- Michael 1341
- Anna Anachoutlou again 1341-1342
- John III 1342-1344
- Michael again 1344-1349
- Alexius III 1349-1390
- Manuel III 1390-1417
- Alexius IV 1417-1429
- John IV Calojoannes 1429-1458
- David 1458-1461
After the First World War there was talk of re-creating a Greek state of
Pontus in the area, but the Greek population was removed in the forcible exchanges of those times.
Rose Macaulay wrote a novel The Towers of Trebizond in 1956.