Manuel I of Trebizond
Encyclopedia
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: Μανουήλ Α΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Manouēl I Megas Komnēnos) (c. 1218 – March 1263), Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
of Trebizond
Empire of Trebizond
The Empire of Trebizond, founded in April 1204, was one of three Byzantine successor states of the Byzantine Empire. However, the creation of the Empire of Trebizond was not directly related to the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, rather it had broken away from the Byzantine Empire...
from 1238 to 1263, surnamed the "Great Captain", was the second son of Alexios I
Alexios I of Trebizond
Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Comnenus was Emperor of Trebizond from 1204 to 1222. He was the eldest son of Manuel Komnenos and of Rusudan, daughter of George III of Georgia. He was thus a grandson of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I. Andronikos was dethroned and killed in 1185...
, the first emperor of Trebizond, and Theodora Axuchina
Theodora Axuchina
"Theodora Axuchina" is supposed by some to have been the wife of Alexios I of Trebizond. She is not mentioned in any source and both her first name and surname are just guesses made by modern genealogists.-Name:...
. He succeeded his brother, John I Axouchos
John I of Trebizond
John I Megas Komnenos Axouchos was Emperor of Trebizond from 1235 to 1238.He was the eldest son of Alexios I of Trebizond and Theodora Axuchina, and was perhaps still a minor at the time of his father's death in 1222, as the throne passed to his brother-in-law, Andronikos I Gidos.John succeeded on...
. In spite of his alleged military abilities, Trebizond became or remained a vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
to the Seljuk Turks and, after the Battle of Köse Dag
Battle of Köse Dag
The Battle of Köse Dağ was fought between the Seljuk Turks of Anatolia and the Mongols on June 26, 1243 at the defile of Köse Dağ, a location between Erzincan and Gümüşhane in northeast Anatolia, modern Turkey, and ended in a decisive Mongol victory....
in 1243, to the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
of Persia. Trapezuntine forces served in the battle as Seljuk tributaries. The Seljuk forces were shattered in the defeat and the Sultanate of Iconium began to decline.
In 1253, Manuel negotiated for a dynastic alliance with King Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
, by which he hoped to secure the help of the Crusaders against the Seljuks and Laskarids of Nicaea, but Louis advised him to seek a wife from the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Jean de Joinville
Jean de Joinville
Jean de Joinville was one of the great chroniclers of medieval France.Son of Simon de Joinville and Beatrice d'Auxonne, he belonged to a noble family from Champagne. He received an education befitting a young noble at the court of Theobald IV, count of Champagne: reading, writing, and the...
testifies to Manuel's wealth, saying he sent Louis: "various precious things as a gift; amongst others, bows made of the wood of the service tree, whose arrow-notches screwed into the bow, and when they were released, one saw that they were very sharp and well made."
The destruction of Baghdad
Battle of Baghdad (1258)
The Siege of Baghdad, which occurred in 1258, was an invasion, siege and sacking of the city of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate at the time and the modern-day capital of Iraq, by the Ilkhanate Mongol forces along with other allied troops under Hulagu Khan.The invasion left Baghdad in...
by Hulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü, Hulegu , was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia...
in 1258 revived the trade route running north from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and the upper Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
valley to Erzerum and then through the Zigana Pass to Trebizond. This trade route caused the beginnings of Trebizond's commercial prosperity, because goods from the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
were now transported to Trebizond and the Black Sea, instead of to the Mediterranean. Although some bronze coins have been attributed to Alexios I, and silver aspers were certainly coined by John I, Manuel struck both bronze coins and a large silver currency. Trapezuntine coins circulated widely outside the empire, especially in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
.
Manuel rebuilt the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia, Trabzon
The church of Hagia Sophia , now the Hagia Sophia Museum, is a former Chalcedonian church located in the city of Trabzon in the north-eastern part of Turkey. It dates back to the 13th century when Trabzon was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond. It is located near the seashore and 2 miles west...
monastery in Trebizond between 1250 and 1260. Eastmond describes Manuel's church as 'the finest surviving Byzantine imperial monument of its period.' 1 When Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...
recaptured Constantinople from the Latin Empire in 1261 he unsuccessfully demanded that Manuel abandon his claim to the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
succession.
Manuel married three times and left several children, four of whom reigned after him.
By his first wife, Anna Xylaloe
Anna Xylaloe
-Name:"Xylaloe" is a Greek language term for agarwood, the resinous heartwood from Aquilaria trees, large evergreens native to Southeast Asia. Pedanius Dioscorides mentioned it as an Aloe from the Indian subcontinent, probably a confusion resulting from the similarity in name of the two products....
, a Trapezuntine noblewoman he had:
- Andronikos IIAndronikos II of TrebizondAndronikos II Megas Komnenos or Andronicus II , . Emperor of Trebizond from 1263 to 1266. He was the eldest son of Manuel I of Trebizond by his first wife, Anna Xylaloe, a Trapezuntine noblewoman....
, who succeeded as emperor.
By his second wife, Rusudan of Georgia
Rusudan of Georgia, Empress of Trebizond
Rusudan of Georgia, Empress of Trebizond was the second Empress consort of Manuel I of Trebizond.-Family:Rusudan was a member of the Bagrationi dynasty, but there are at least two theories concerning the identities of her parents....
, he had:
- TheodoraTheodora of TrebizondTheodora Megale Komnene , , Empress of Trebizond from 1284 to 1285. She was a daughter of Emperor Manuel I of Trebizond by his second wife, Rusudan, a Georgian princess....
By his third wife, Irene Syrikaina
Irene Syrikaina
-Name:The male form of her family name has been suggested being either "Syrikainos" or "Syrikos". The name may be related to the island Syros or to the terms "Syrios", "Syrikos", "Syriakos", all Greek language for Syrian. The geographic term Syria also applied to Coele-Syria and...
, another Trapezuntine noblewoman, he had four children:
- GeorgeGeorge, Emperor of TrebizondGeorge Megas Komnenos , , 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....
- Anonymous daughter, who married King Demetre II of GeorgiaDemetre II of GeorgiaSaint King Demetrius II the Self-sacrificer , from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Georgia in 1270–1289.-Life:...
- Anonymous daughter
- John IIJohn II of TrebizondJohn II Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 1280 to 1297. He was the youngest son of Emperor Manuel I and his third wife, Irene Syrikaina, a Trapezuntine noblewoman...
.
Online References
- Latin and French Documents on the Empire of Trebizond available at http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/971835