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Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Megas Comnenus ((ギリシア語:Αλέξιος Α΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, ''Alexios I Megas Komnēnos''); c. 1182 – February 1, 1222) was, with his brother David, the founder of the Empire of Trebizond, which he ruled 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 referring to themselves as Megas Komnenos or Grand Komnenos.〔R. Macrides, "What's in the name 'Megas Komnenos'?" ''Archeion Pontou'' 35 (1979), pp. 238–245〕 While his brother David conquered a number of Byzantine provinces in northwestern Anatolia, Alexios defended his capital Trebizond from an unsuccessful siege by the Seljuk Turks around the year 1205.〔Kuršanskis, ("L'empire de Trébizonde et les Turcs au 13e siècle" ), ''Revue des études byzantines'', 46 (1988), pp. 110f〕 Further details of his reign are sparse. Muslim chroniclers record how, in 1214, Alexios was captured by the Turks in the field while defending Sinope; despite sending an envoy to seek their surrender the city refused to capitulate to Sultan Kaykaus I, and Alexios was tortured in sight of the Sinopians. The city submitted to Kaykaus and Alexios was freed after becoming Kaykaus' vassal. Alexios died at the age of forty. ==From Constantinople to Georgia== Alexios was the eldest son of Manuel Komnenos, and a grandson of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I (reigned 1183–1185). Andronikos had taken refuge at the court of King George III of Georgia in the 1170s, and was a governor in the Pontus when his cousin the emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180) died; upon hearing the news, he marched on Constantinople and seized the imperial throne. His reign was a turbulent one, and in 1185 Andronikos was dethroned and killed while his son Manuel was blinded and may have died from this mutilation.〔A. A. Vasiliev, ("The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)" ), ''Speculum'', 11 (1936), pp. 5–8〕 Manuel left two children, the ''Caesars'' Alexios and David. Their mother's name is not recorded in the primary sources; Byzantinist Alexander Vasiliev speculates that it is "possible" that their mother was a Georgian princess.〔Vasiliev, "Foundation", p. 17〕 Somehow the boys arrived at the court of their relative Queen Tamar of Georgia; scholars have speculated when and how they made their way there. One school of thought endorses the hypothesis of Fallmerayer, who believed the boys were taken from Constantinople during the chaos of their grandfather's fall from power in 1185, when Alexios was about three years old, and came to Georgia early in Tamar's reign. Another school of thought follows George Finlay's belief that the boys remained in Constantinople, and although educated in the capital, were somehow safe from Andronikos' successor, emperor Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–1195 and 1203–1204); Finlay argued that they were not at risk from "a government which, like that of the Byzantine empire, was recognized to be elective, and in which their father had been excluded from the throne by the exercise of an acknowledged constitutional prerogative."〔George Finlay, ''The History of Greece and the Empire of Trebizond, (1204–1461)'' (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1877), p. 317〕 Older writers who had no knowledge of the chronicle of the Trapezuntine chronicler Michael Panaretos nor access to Georgian records, such as Edward Gibbon, assumed the brothers were simply made governors of Trebizond, and when the Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople, Alexios declared himself emperor there. Vasiliev discussed these opinions in an 1936 article published in ''Speculum'' and considered Fallmerayer's hypothesis as closer to the truth.〔Vasiliev, "Foundation", pp. 9–12〕 Exactly how Alexios and Queen Tamar of Georgia were related is not clear. According to Michael Panaretos, Queen Tamar was Alexios' "paternal relative" (προς πατρός θεὶα), a phrase that has baffled scholars. As early as 1854 the Russian scholar Kunik proposed that this phrase meant that Alexios' mother was Rusudan a little-known sister of Tamar, a theory Vasiliev endorsed.〔 Cyril Toumanoff argued that their grandfather Andronikos, while in Georgia, had married an unnamed sister of king George III.〔Toumanoff, ("On the Relationship between the Founder of the Empire of Trebizond and the Georgian Queen Thamar" ), ''Speculum'', 15 (1940), pp. 299–312〕 More recently Michel Kuršanskis has argued against Toumanoff's theory, producing evidence that Alexios' mother and/or grandmother were daughters of the houses of Palaiologos or Doukas, yet failing to offer an explanation why Panaretos describes Tamar as Alexios' paternal aunt.〔Kuršanskis, ("L'Empire de Trébizonde et la Géorgie" ), ''Revue des études byzantines'', 35 (1977). pp. 237–256〕 Despite the research of Vasiliev, Toumanoff, Kuršanskis and others, Alexios' life is a blank between 1185, when Andronikos was deposed and murdered, and 1204 when he and David arrived at Trebizond—although this lack of information has not prevented scholars from proposing various hypotheses. All authorities agree that Alexios and his brother found refuge at Tamar's court. Vasiliev even speculates that "Georgian became their native tongue" and that they "were thoroughly Georgian in language and education as well as in political ideals", but possibly "some Greeks were among their attendants in order that they might be familiar with the language of their own country".〔Vasiliev, "Foundation", p. 18〕 However, Kuršanskis notes that there are few traces of Georgian influence in the administration and culture of the Empire of Trebizond, and points out that its elite always looked towards Constantinople for their political and religious models.〔Kuršanskis, "Trébizonde et la Géorgie", p. 238〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alexios I of Trebizond」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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