Alexios IV (Trebizond)

Alexios IV. Komnenos (* 1382 , † 1429 ) was emperor and Grand Comnene of Trebizond from 1417 until his death in 1429 .

Life

Alexios was the son of the Trapezuntian emperor Manuel III. After the death of his father, in the end of which he should not have been indifferent, he ascended the throne. While the new emperor was primarily indulging in luxury, he tried to appease the external opponents of the state he directed with a clever marriage policy.

As a result of the loss of power of the Mongols in Asia Minor , which began with the death of Timur , there were new power struggles there. The Turkmen of the Qara Qoyunlu tribe under Qara Yusuf devastated large parts of Armenia . After they had also defeated the Emir of Erzincan and the rival Turkmens from the Aq Qoyunlu tribe , they had to be considered as a considerable power by Alexios. For example, he married several of his daughters to Jahan Shah , the son of Qara Yusuf, and guaranteed him tribute payments in the amount that had previously been granted to Timur. He married further daughters with the leader of the Aq Qoyunlu and with the Emir of Erzincan, and his daughter Maria of Trebizond became the third wife of the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos .

Alexios died in 1429. He is said to have been murdered by his own son and successor, John IV, due to a conflict that sparked off his wife's adultery, which Alexios allegedly tolerated.

literature

• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 150-151.

predecessor	Office	successor
Manuel III	Emperor of Trebizond 1417–1429	John IV