List of Trapezuntine emperors

This is a list of the Trapezuntine emperors from the foundation of the Empire of Trebizond in 1204 to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1461. The Trapezuntine Emperors ruled Trebizond (Greek: Trapezus), one of the three Byzantine Greek states that claimed direct succession to the Byzantine Empire, which had been usurped by the Latin Empire in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Out of the three states, the Empire of Nicaea succeeded in displacing the Latin Emperors in 1261 and restoring the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty. The Empire of Trebizond would come to outlast the restored Empire centered in Constantinople, and continued to use the imperial title, albeit slightly changed, until its fall.

Emperor of all the East, of the Iberians and of Perateia
Imperial
Alexios III 13 December 1349 – 20 March 1390
Details
First monarch	Alexios I Megas Komnenos
Last monarch	David Megas Komnenos
Formation	1204
Abolition	15 August 1461
Residence	Trebizond
Appointer	Not specified, de facto hereditary[1]

The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. As such, the Byzantine Emperors continued to style themselves as "Roman Emperors", the term "Byzantine" being coined by Western historiography in the 16th century, long after the Empire had fallen. By the time of the Fourth Crusade, the standard title used by the Byzantine ruler was "[Name] in Christ the God, faithful Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" (in Greek: [Name] ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, πιστός βασιλεὺς καὶ αὐτοκράτωρ Ῥωμαῖων). This title was adopted by the Emperors of both Nicaea and Trebizond in 1204 following the establishment of the Latin Empire, and by the short-lived Empire of Thessalonica in 1225, becoming rival claimants to the Roman imperial title.[2]

After the recapture of Constantinople by Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea in 1261, envoys were sent to John II of Trebizond, requesting that he cease using the imperial emblems and titles, and offering the third daughter of the Emperor, Eudokia, in marriage along with the title of Despot. John married Eudokia in Constantinople in 1282. From then on, the Trapezuntine rulers adopted the formula "in Christ the God, faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all the East, of the Iberians and of Perateia" (ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, πιστός βασιλεὺς καὶ αὐτοκράτωρ πάσης Ἀνατολῆς, Ἰβήρων καὶ Περατείας), rather than "... of the Romans". This title first appears in legislative texts in the signature on a chrysobull by Alexios III.[2] "Of all the East" and "of the Iberians" are overstatements seeing as the region of Iberia (referring to caucasian Iberia, or "Kartli", not to the Iberian Peninsula) itself had already been lost by the Empire at this point. "Perateia", which was preserved in the title until the very end of the Empire (unlike "Iberia" which was dropped c. 1334), refers to the lands under Imperial rule in the Crimean peninsula.[2]

The rulers of Trebizond also styled themselves as Megas Komnenos ("Grand Komnenos") to emphasize their descent from the Komnenos dynasty, which had ruled the Byzantine Empire in 1081–1185.[3]

Byzantine authors, such as Pachymeres, and to some extent Trapezuntines such as Lazaropoulos and Bessarion, regarded the Trapezuntine Empire as being no more than a Lazian border state. Thus from the point of view of many of the Byzantine writers, particularly those connected with the ruling Laskaris and later Palaiologos dynasties, the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.[4][5]