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The Empire of Trebizond was a monarchy that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, comprising the far northeastern corner of Anatolia and the southern Crimea. Originally formed during a revolt against the usurpation of the imperial throne by the grandsons of Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, Trebizond became a Byzantine Greek successor state established after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus.〔Alexander A. Vasiliev, ''History of the Byzantine Empire, Vol 2. 324 - 1453'', second edition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958), p. 506: "... on the territory of the disintegrated eastern empire, three independent Greek centers were formed; The empire of Nicaea and the empire of Trebizond in Asia Minor and the Despotat of Epirus in Northern Greece."〕 The Emperors of Trebizond pressed their claim on the Imperial throne for decades after the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople in 1261. The Trapezuntine monarchy survived the longest of the Byzantine successor states. The Despotate of Epirus slowly disintegrated through the 13th and 14th centuries, coming under the control of the restored Byzantine Empire . While the Empire of Nicaea had become the resurrected Byzantine Empire, it came to an end in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire. The Empire of Trebizond continued until 1461 when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered it after a month-long siege and took its ruler and his family into captivity.〔William Miller, ''Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461'', 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), pp. 100-106〕 Its Crimean principality, the Principality of Theodoro, lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in 1475. == Overview == Geographically, the Empire of Trebizond consisted of the narrow strip along the southern coast of the Black Sea and the western half of the Pontic Alps, along with the Perateia, or southern Crimea (Principality of Theodoro). Its demographic legacy endured for several centuries after the Ottoman conquest in 1461 and the region retained a substantial number of Greek Orthodox inhabitants until 1923. These are usually referred to as Pontic Greeks. The eastern branch, who settled around Kars and Georgia, are often referred to as Caucasus Greeks, and the Crimean branch, resettled by Catherine the Great on the north shores of the Sea of Azov, are referred to as Mariupolitan Greeks. The Pontic Greeks remained along the eastern Black Sea coast and its hinterland in the Pontic Alps, as well as in northeastern Anatolia, until the years immediately following the First World War, when those who had retained their Christian Orthodox faith and Greek identity fled, or were killed in, the tumultuous Pontic genocide (1917-1921). Their displacement was formalized, and the few still remaining were required to leave, in 1923 with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Many were resettled in Greek Macedonia. Those living in the Crimea and the Russian province of Kars Oblast, much of which lies in modern Georgia, stayed longer, with some Greek speaking villages remaining in both locations today. The core of the empire was the southern Black Sea coast from the mouth of the Yeşilırmak River, a region known to the Trapezuntines as Limnia, possibly as far east as Batumi; a Genoese document records the seizure of one of their ships at that port in 1437 by a military Galley at the orders of Emperor John IV.〔S. P. Karpov, ("New Documents on the Relations between the Latins and the Local Populations in the Black Sea Area (1392-1462) )", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers: Symposium on Byzantium and the Italians, 13th-15th centuries'', 49 (1995), p. 39〕 Anthony Bryer has argued that six of the seven ''banda'' of the Byzantine theme of Chaldia were maintained in working order by the rulers of Trebizond until the end of the empire, helped by geography. Geography also defined the southern border of this state: the Pontic Alps served as a barrier first to Seljuk Turks and later to Turkoman marauders, whose predations were reduced to a volume that the emperors could cope with.〔Bryer, ("Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception" ), ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', 29 (1975), pp. 117ff〕 This territory corresponds to an area comprising all or parts of the modern Turkish provinces of Sinop, Samsun, Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon, Bayburt, Gümüşhane, Rize, and Artvin. In the 13th century, some experts believe the empire controlled Perateia, which included Cherson and Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. David Komnenos, the younger brother of the first Emperor, expanded rapidly to the west, occupying first Sinope, then coastal parts of Paphlagonia (the modern-day coastal regions of Kastamonu, Bartın, and Zonguldak) and Heraclea Pontica (the modern-day Karadeniz Ereğli), until his territory bordered the Empire of Nicaea. The expansion was, however, short-lived: the territories west of Sinope were lost to Theodore I Laskaris by 1214, and Sinope itself fell to the Seljuks that same year, although the emperors of Trebizond continued to fight for its control over the rest of the 13th century.〔As documented by Michel Kurskanskis, ("L'empire de Trébizonde et les Turcs au 13e siècle" ), ''Revue des études byzantines'', 46 (1988). pp. 109-124.〕 The rulers of Trebizond called themselves ''Megas Komnenos'' ("Great Comnenus") and – like their counterparts in the other two Byzantine successor states, the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus – initially claimed supremacy as "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans." However, after Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the Komnenian use of the style "Emperor" became a sore point. In 1282, John II Komnenos stripped off his imperial regalia before the walls of Constantinople before entering to marry Michael's daughter and accept his legal title of despot.〔Nicol, ''Last Centuries'', p. 74〕 However, his successors used a version of his title, "Emperor and Autocrat of the entire East, of the Iberians and the Perateia" until the Empire's end in 1461.〔See the discussion in N. Oikonomides, "The Chancery of the Grand Komnenoi: Imperial Tradition and Political Reality", ''Archeion Pontou'' 35 (1979), pp. 299-332〕 The Empire of Trebizond acquired a reputation in Western Europe for being "enriched by the trade from Persia and the East that passed through its capital," according to Steven Runciman, "and by the silver-mines in the hills behind, and famed for the beauty of its princesses."〔Runciman, ''A History of the Crusades - the Kingdom of Arce and the Later Crusades'' (Cambridge: University Press, 1975), p. 126〕 Donald Nicol echoes Runciman's observations: "Most of the emperors were blessed with a progeny of marriageable daughters, and the beauty of the ladies of Trebizond was as legendary as the wealth of their dowries."〔Nicol, ''The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453'', second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), pp. 402f〕 Its wealth and exotic location endowed a lingering fame on the polity. Cervantes described the eponymous hero of his ''Don Quixote'' as "imagining himself for the valour of his arm already crowned at least Emperor of Trebizond." Rabelais had his character Picrochole, the ruler of Piedmont, declare: "I want also to be Emperor of Trebizond." Other allusions and works set in Trebizond continue into the 20th century.〔Miller, ''Trebizond'', pp. 117ff〕 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「Empire of Trebizond」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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