Theodore Gabras was a 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...

 governor in the Pontus

Pontus

Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...

 who was involved in a minor unsuccessful rebellion against the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

 around the year 1091.

Early life

Theodore originally hailed from the Theme of Chaldia

Chaldia

Chaldia was a historical region located in the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor . Its name was derived from a people called the Chaldoi that inhabited the region in Antiquity. Chaldia was used throughout the Byzantine period and was established as a formal theme, known as the Theme of Chaldia , in...

, and he had spent most of his adult life serving in the Byzantine army

Byzantine army

The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...

. A violent and energetic man, he had gained considerable fame as a gifted soldier, both courageous and cunning, with an outstanding record of success. It was reported that he rarely failed in any military task, and invariably got the better of his enemies. Already by 1067, when he commissioned a gospel preserved in St Petersburg, he had risen to the ranks of patrikios, topoteretes and hypatos. His crowning glory was the recapture of Trebizond from the Seljuk Turks during the 1080s, which he ruled for a time as if it were his own personal fiefdom.

By the late 1080s, Theodore was once again residing at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, where Alexios I was keeping a concerned eye on him. In order to avoid any unnecessary temptations, he formally appointed Theodore Dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

 of Trebizond and ordered him to take up his post. Leaving his eldest son Gregory

Gregory Gabras

Gregory Gabras was the son of the Byzantine governor of Trebizond, Theodore Gabras who was involved in a minor unsuccessful rebellion against the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos around the year 1091.- Life at Constantinople :...

 at the court with the sebastokrator

Sebastokrator

Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers whose states bordered the Empire or were within its sphere of influence. The word is a compound of "sebastos" Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used...

Isaac Komnenos, to whose daughter Gregory was engaged, he returned to Trebizond.

Soon afterwards his first wife died, so Theodore married, apparently in 1091, a "most noble" lady from "Alania

Alania

Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...

", and the first cousin of Isaac Komnenos's wife. According to Professor Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...

, the lady was the Georgian

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...

 Bagratid princess Mariam, daughter of the Georgian king Bagrat IV

Bagrat IV of Georgia

Bagrat IV , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuqid empires...

 and sister of the Byzantine princess Maria. When this became known the engagement between Gregory and the Komnenos daughter was broken off, as they were now considered close relatives and their marriage was prohibited by civil and ecclesiastic law. Alexios however was worried about Theodore’s reaction, so he kept Gregory at the court as a hostage in order to ensure Theodore’s continued good behavior.

Defiance against Alexios I

By 1091, Theodore had returned to the capital and was demanding the return of his son. Alexios refused, claiming he was contemplating marrying the boy to one of his own daughters. Disbelieving the emperor, Theodore hatched a plot to rescue his son and get him to safety at Trebizond in secret. He initially agreed to hand over his son; then on the eve of his departure he had dinner with the Sebastokrator, with whom he was now related through his second marriage. He begged to be allowed a further twenty-four hours with his son, which Isaac agreed to. The next day, he asked if Gregory could accompany him on the first stage of his journey to Sosthenium, where he intended to pitch his camp. His minders agreed, but when Theodore then proposed that Gregory accompany him further, they initially said no before Theodore managed to convince them. They made it to the port of Pharus when Theodore secretly boarded a merchant ship along with Gregory and fled onto the Euxine.

This act of rebellion stirred Alexios into action, and he sent a squadron of ships to overtake Theodore with orders to bring Gregory back to the capital no matter what. They overtook the ship near the town of Aeginus and advised Theodore that were he to refuse to hand over his son, he would be arrested as a rebel. Theodore, still distant from his seat of power and outnumbered, backed down and allowed Alexios’ emissaries to take Gregory back with them, while he continued on his way back to Trebizond. Gregory then formed another plot to escape but it too was discovered and he was imprisoned at Philippopolis

Philippopolis

The term Philippopolis , which translates as "Philip's Town," may refer to the following cities:*Plovdiv, Bulgaria *Shahba, Syria...

 for his troubles.

Career after 1091

A man of Theodore’s military talents was too good to waste, and by 1097 he was once again at the front line, this time fighting the Turks as part of the initial alliance with the Crusaders

First Crusade

The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

. While the Franks

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 were engaged at the Siege of Antioch

Siege of Antioch

The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098. The first siege, by the crusaders against the Muslim city, lasted from October 21, 1097, to June 2, 1098. The second siege, against the crusaders who had occupied it, lasted from June 7 to June 28, 1098.-Background:Antioch...

, Theodore was marching with Alexios and helping him recapture towns in western Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

. He was prominent in the capture of Palpert, which was subsequently besieged by the Turks who hoped to reclaim it. Turning around, Theodore contemplated a night attack against the enemy, but changed his mind. It is assumed that he was successful in the subsequent battle. There are no further details about Theodore after this encounter. His younger son Constantine Gabras

Constantine Gabras

Constantine Gabras was the governor or doux of the Byzantine province of Chaldia, around Trebizond on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia, in what is today north-eastern Turkey...

 succeeded him as Dux of Chaldia

Chaldia

Chaldia was a historical region located in the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor . Its name was derived from a people called the Chaldoi that inhabited the region in Antiquity. Chaldia was used throughout the Byzantine period and was established as a formal theme, known as the Theme of Chaldia , in...

.

Sources

• Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, translated E.R.A. Sewter, Penguin Classics, 1969
• George Finlay, 'History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 1057 - 1453', Volume 2, William Blackwood & Sons, 1854