Manuel III Komnenos, emperor of Trebizond

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_III_of_Trebizond

-http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/TREBIZOND.htm#ManuelIIITrebizond

3. MANUEL Achpugas Megas Komnenos (16 Dec 1363-5 Mar 1412, bur Theoskepastos). The Chronicle of Michael Panaretos records the birth 16 Dec 1363 of "a son…to the emperor who was named Manuel"[122]. He succeeded his father in 1390 as MANUEL III Emperor in Trebizond. He submitted to the Mongol suzerainty of Timur/Tamerlan in [1400], but freed himself following the latter's death in 1405 only to fall under the power of Kara Yussuf Turkmen Emir. The Chronicle of Michael Panaretos records the death 5 Mar 1412 of "the emperor lord Manuel the Grand Komnenos" after reigning for twenty-seven years and his burial "in the Theoskepastos"[123].

m firstly (Trebizond 6 Sep 1377) GULKHAN of Georgia, daughter of DAVIT IX King of Georgia & his wife Sindukhtar of Samtzkhe (-5 May 1395). The Chronicle of Michael Panaretos records that "the son of the emperor, the despot Lord Andronikos the Grand Komnenos" had been betrothed to "the king of Tbilisi´s daughter, the niece on the sister´s side of Achpougas", that she was then betrothed to "the younger and legitimate and lawful son of the emperor, the younger emperor Lord Manuel the Grand Komnenos", arrived in Trebizond "around…Sep 5" in 1377, was "crowned in the imperial [chapel] and named Eudokia, as she was previously called Koulkanchat" and married 6 Sep by the "metropolitan of Trebizond Theodosios"[124]. She adopted the name EVDOKIA. The Chronicle of Michael Panaretos records the death 5 May 1395 of "the empress Lady Eudokia from Iberia, mother of the emperor Lord Alexios"[125].

m secondly (after 14 Sep 1395) ANNA Philanthropena Kyra, daughter of MANUEL Angelos Philanthropenos Lord in Trikkala, Thessaly & his wife ---. The Chronicle of Michael Panaretos records that "the emperor Manuel who was a widower" married "Philanthropenos´s daughter the Lady Anna" after she was brought back from Constantinople by his sister "the empress lady Eudokia"[126]. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo records that "the emperor of Trebizond…Germanoli" was married to "a relation of the Emperor of Constantinople", in 1404[127].

Emperor Manuel III & his first wife had [two] children: 

Emperor Manuel III & his second wife had [one child]:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_III_of_Trebizond
Manuel III Megas Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Γ΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Manouēl III Megas Komnēnos), (December 16, 1364–March 5, 1417), Emperor of Trebizond from March 20, 1390 to his death in 1417. He was the son of Emperor Alexios III of Trebizond by Theodora Kantakouzene.

Manuel became the heir of his father in 1377, after the death of his elder brother Basil. In the same year he married Gulkhan-Eudokia of Georgia, the widow of his elder half-brother Andronikos, and a daughter of King David IX of Georgia. His second wife, whom he married in 1395, was Anna Philanthropene of the Byzantine Doukas family.

Manuel III became emperor in 1390. In 1391 and 1396, he confirmed the privileges of the Venetians, though his relations with the Genoese were more strained, and he came into conflict with them in 1416. Manuel came under the overlordship of the Central Asian conqueror Tamerlane by 1402, while the Ottoman Turks were encroaching on his western frontier. Tamerlane demanded that Manuel and his army join him in the coming war with the Ottoman Turks, but somehow the Emperor avoided this demand, although he did contribute twenty galleys to Tamerlane's general effort. The Battle of Ankara in 1402 and defeat of Sultan Bayezid I was a considerable benefit to Empire of Trebizond, since the expanding Ottomans were a serious threat to it.

When Tamerlane left Asia Minor in 1403, part of his army detached from the whole to visit the city of Kerasous and it was presumably by their ravages that the rule of Melissenos at Oinaion was destroyed. Only the mountains around Kerasous prevented them from venturing any further, much to the relief of the people of Trebizond. Tamerlane also put his son Mirza Halil in charge of the affairs of Armenia, Trebizond, and Georgia, but with his father's death in 1405 Halil rushed off to assume the throne at Samarkand leaving Trebizond and the local Turkmen princes of the region effectively free.

The last years of Manuel's reign were clouded by discord with his own son Alexios IV, although he had been associated in authority as despotes. Manuel had for a time taken into his service a young man as his page. The favor shown to him, however, aroused the anger of the native aristocracy because of his humble birth so they poisoned the minds of the people against the page. At the same time, Alexios, covetous of the throne, raised the flag of revolt and demanded that the favorite be banished. The nobles joined him and besieged Manuel in the upper citadel, finally forcing him to concede and banish the favorite from the palace. The people then dispersed, but Alexios, who was still seeking the crown, was forced to reconcile with his father. Ironically, the price of reconciliation was that Alexios take the young page into his service. Manuel III died in March 1417, and was succeeded by Alexios IV.

The ambassador to Tamerlane Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo was received by Manuel while passing through Trebizond in April 1404 and wrote the following of him:

The Emperor and his son were dressed in imperial robes. They wore on their heads tall hats surmounted by golden cords, on the top of which were cranes' feathers; and the hats were bound with the skins of martens ... This Emperor pays tribute to Timur Beg, and to other Turks, who are his neighbours. He is married to a relation of the Emperor of Constantinople, and his son is married to the daughter of a knight of Constantinople, and has two little daughters.1

Manuel, "like his father, took an active interest in buildings of a religious nature. In the year of his succession he presented an ornate cross believed to contain a holy relic (stavrotek), in this case a piece of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, to the Soumela Monastery."2

[edit]References

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.

W. Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era, Chicago, 1926.

[edit]Notes

Clavijo's Embassy, translated by C. R. Markham (1859), quoted in The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, by Donald M. Nicol (1972).

From an article on the website of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the Sumela Monastery, retrieved December 28, 2004.

The major event of Manuel's reign was the arrival of the Central Asian conqueror Tamerlane to Anatolia. This led to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Ankara, which had threatened the existence of Manuel's domain. Although the Ottomans reconstituted their state after 10 years of civil war, this defeat extended the life and security of the Empire of Trebizond for several more decades.

Manuel was the son of Emperor Alexios III of Trebizond by Theodora Kantakouzene. He was made heir apparent in 1377, after the death of his elder brother Basil.

Manuel's domain had come under the growing threat of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Bayezid I, who in 1398 had led his army along the Black Sea coast as far as the border of the Empire of Trebizond.[1] Tamerlane, who had campaigned in eastern Anatolia in 1394, returned and captured Sivas (27 August 1400), slaughtering all of its defenders.[2] Tamerlane demanded that Manuel and his army join him in the coming war with the Ottoman Turks, but somehow the Emperor avoided this demand, although he did contribute twenty galleys to Tamerlane's general effort.[3] Bayezid and Tamerlane finally met in the Battle of Ankara, where Tamerlane crushed the Ottoman forces and made the Sultan his prisoner. For the next eight months Tamerlane moved about Anatolia, restoring the old Turkish beyliks and plundering Ottoman territories, thus dismantling the Ottoman Empire.[4] It would not be until 1413, when Mehmet I defeated his last surviving brother, that the Ottoman Empire would once more be a threat to any of its neighbors.

When Tamerlane left Asia Minor in 1403, part of his army detached from the whole to visit the city of Kerasous and it was presumably by their ravages that the rule of Melissenos at Oinaion was destroyed. Only the mountains around Kerasous prevented them from venturing any further, much to the relief of the people of Trebizond.

Tamerlane also put his nephew Mirza Halil in charge of the affairs of Armenia, Trebizond, and Georgia, but with his father's death in 1405 Halil rushed off to assume the throne at Samarkand.

Mirza Halil's departure created a power vacuum which was filled by the Kara Koyunlu, or the "Black Sheep" Turkmen. Manuel handed this threat through diplomacy, following the established practice of his family of absorbing them into his family through marriage. One of his daughters became the wife of the most dangerous rulers, Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu. Another was wedded to Ali Beg, Khan of their rivals the Aq Qoyunlu, or the "White Sheep" Turkmen. His oldest daughter became the third wife of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos while his youngest became the first wife of George Brankovich of Serbia.