John III (Trebizond)

John III Komnenos (* around 1321 ; † 1362 ) was Emperor and Grand Comnene of Trebizond from 1342 to 1344 .

Life

Johannes was the son of the Trapezuntian emperor Michael and a noblewoman from the family of the Acropolitans.

Until 1342 he spent most of his life in Constantinople . Michael had gone there after the death of his brother, the emperor Alexios II , and the seizure of power by his nephew Andronikos III. who wanted to kill all possible rivals for the throne, had to flee with his family. The brief reign of Andronikos III. ushered in a period of instability in Trebizond. After several changes on the imperial throne, Michael had the opportunity in 1341 to dispute the throne from Empress Anna Komnene . Although he briefly succeeded in taking over the throne after his return from exile, he was immediately overthrown by Anna's supporters and held captive by the governor of Lymnia .

The influential general Niketas Scholarios , who had supported Michael against Anna, refused to accept Anna's renewed takeover of the throne. He therefore went to Constantinople in 1342 and convinced John, who remained there, to try to seize power in Trebizond himself. Johannes sailed to Trebizond with only five ships, three of which were manned by Genoese mercenaries. Once there, his men succeeded in taking the city after a brief, difficult battle. Then Johannes was crowned emperor, his predecessor Anna strangled and her followers executed.

However, John soon turned out to be a weak ruler who only indulged in his amusements and indulged in luxury. In addition, he showed no interest in freeing his father Michael, who was still imprisoned in Lymnia. In 1344 Niketas, dissatisfied with the situation, marched with some men to where he succeeded in liberating Michael. Together with this he returned to Trebizond. When they arrived in the city, Johannes was deposed and his father was again made emperor.

John was forced to enter a monastery and finally exiled to Adrianople .

literature

• William Miller : Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era. Chicago, 1926.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , p. 367.

predecessor	Office	successor
Anna	Emperor of Trebizond 1342–1344	Michael