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Alexios II Megas Komnenos〔Lampsidis Odysseus has published a note written in 1332 where the writer calls Alexios "Alexios Grand Komnenos Palaiologos". (("Grand Comnène Paléologue" ), ''Revue des études byzantines'', 42 (1984), pp. 225-228) It is uncertain if this was the proper style of his name.〕 or Alexius II ((ギリシア語:Αλέξιος Β΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, ''Alexios II Megas Komnēnos''), Sept./Dec. 1282–3 May 1330), was Emperor of Trebizond from 1297 to 1330. He was the elder son of John II and Eudokia Palaiologina. Alexios proved to be a skillful and energetic ruler, under whose rule the Empire of Trebizond reached the climax of its prosperity. He rebuffed the inroads of the marauding Turks, and adequately handled the encroachment of Genoa and Venice. He also cultivated the arts and sciences at his court, serving as a patron to the Byzantine astronomer Gregory Choniades and the scholar Constantine Loukites.〔Jan Olof Rosenquvist, "Byzantine Trebizond, A Provincial Literary Landscape," (''Byzantino-Nordica 2004: Papers Presented at the International Symposium of Byzantine Studies Held on 7-11 May 2004 in Tartu, Estonia'' ), ed. Ivo Volt, Janika Päll (Tartu: University Press, 2005), pp. 39-41〕 == Life == He ascended the throne at the age of 14 after the death of his father. He came under the care of his uncle, the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. The latter wanted to marry his young ward to a daughter of the high court official Nikephoros Choumnos, but Alexios without asking for the permission married an Iberian princess, Djiadjak Jaqeli, the daughter of Beka I Jaqeli, atabeg of Samtskhe, around 1300. Andronikos appealed to the Church to annul the marriage but the Patriarch refused to oblige, on the ground that the young man’s wife was reported to be already pregnant. Alexios' mother Eudokia, who now returned to Trebizond on the pretext of inducing her son to dissolve the marriage, advised him to keep his Iberian wife.〔William Miller, ''Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461'', 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 32f〕 In 1301 or 1302 he defeated a Turkoman invasion, who after conquering province of Chalybia, had penetrated deep into Trebizond's territory to sack Kerasous (modern Giresun), the second most important city of the Empire. Alexios captured their general and built a fort overlooking the sea to secure his possession of the city.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 33〕 Another problem were the Genoese, who had established virtual economic monopoly in the Black Sea area following the Treaty of Nymphaeum with Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. Their settlement had outgrown Daphnous, the coastal suburb to the east of Trebizond, and the Genoese demanded more room; the Genoese merchants refused to allow the emperor's customs officials to inspect their wares. After Alexios refused the Genoese demands for further concessions in 1306, they threatened to leave Trebizond altogether. When they denied his demand for dues on any goods they took with them from Trebizond, Alexios ordered his Georgian mercenaries to attack them. Although the emperor's troops were successful, the Genoese set fire to the suburbs of Trebizond and damaged much of their own and the citizens' property. Eventually the two parties made peace, confirmed in a surviving treaty from 1314 and another from 1316.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', pp. 33-35〕 This did not put a complete end to the tensions between the Genoese and the Emperor of Trebizond. So, in 1319 he concluded a treaty with the Venetians, the Genoa's main rivals, granting them the same privileges as the Genoese as long as they paid their dues.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', pp. 38f〕 The Byzantinist Donald Nicol observed that Alexios, as well as his successors, "did better out of the foreigners than their colleagues in Constantinople, since the Italian merchants were not allowed to trade tax-free."〔Nicols, ''The last centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453'', second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 402〕 Trouble for the Empire came also from the pirates of the Emirate of Sinope, whose targets were Christian traders, including the Genoese. The pirates even set fire to Trebizond itself (1319); to protect his people from these raiders, Alexios built sea walls for the city's harbour in 1324. He had already organized a police force to guard the city at night over a decade earlier.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 39〕 Like his father before him, Alexios II was also the target of the Pope's efforts to convert to Catholicism.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', pp. 39f〕 The letter was sent by John XXII in 1329, but five months later the Emperor died after a reign of 33 years and the throne passed to his eldest son, Andronikos. Two works survive written on the topic of the Emperor's death: a funeral oration written by his ''protonotarios'' and ''protovestiarios'', Constantine Loukites; and a later eulogy by Joseph, the Metropolitan of Trebizond (born John Lazaropoulos).〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 41〕 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 II of Trebizond」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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