John II (Trebizond)

Coins issued in the name of John II

John II Komnenos (* around 1262 ; † August 16, 1297 in Limnia ) was Emperor and Grand Comnene of Trebizond from 1280 to 1284 and, after a short break, from 1285 to 1297 .

Life

John II was born the son of the Trapezuntian emperor Manuel I and his third wife, the noblewoman Irena Syrikaina . After his older brother Georg Komnenos , who had initially followed their father as emperor, was taken prisoner in Turkmenistan , Johannes took the opportunity to take over the rule himself as his successor in 1280.

During his reign he mainly had to devote himself to the relations with the Eastern Roman Empire under Emperor Michael VIII. Palaiologos, which was restored after the expulsion of Latin rule . This demanded that John should give up the title of Roman emperor, which he held and which had been taken over by his predecessors . The reason for this was that Michael still regarded the area ruled by Trebizond, which had previously belonged to the empire of Constantinople, as part of it and it was only reserved for the ruling regent in Constantinople to use the imperial title. Johannes did not give in to Michael's request, initially referring to the negative attitude of the Trapezuntian nobility, who did not want to tolerate a resignation of the title by Johannes, as well as the fact that this title had traditionally been used by his predecessors. John was also viewed by Michael as a potential threat to his own throne, as some of his opponents within the Eastern Roman Empire, who refused to accept Michael's acceptance of the union of the Orthodox Church with the Church of the West proclaimed in the Second Council of Lyon , saw John as possible Orthodox pretenders for the Eastern Roman throne. In addition, the Komnenen family had ruled the imperial throne of Constantinople for a little over a hundred years until 1185.

In order to put the relations between their two kingdoms on a new basis, Michael offered John the hand of his third daughter Eudokia Palaiologina . They married in Constantinople in 1282. Eudokia later gave birth to John’s two sons and later Emperors from Trapezun, Alexios II and Michael Komnenos .

Upon his return from the wedding ceremony, John gave up the title of Emperor of the Romans and in his place took the title of Emperor and Despot of the entire East, Iberia and the overseas provinces . He ignored the fact that Iberia, which was roughly in the area of ​​today's Georgia, had already been lost to Trebizond under the rule of Andronikos I. Instead of the new title accepted by Johannes, he, like his predecessors and successors, preferred to use the name Großkomnene (Megas Komnenos) derived from the family name as a ruler.

During John's absence, the Georgian King of Imereti , David VI. Narin , attempting to increase his influence on the Trebizond Empire, and besieged the capital. Although he did not succeed in taking the city of Trebizond himself, he was able to occupy some areas. From this position of strength, David helped John's half-sister, Theodora Komnene , a daughter of Manuel I and the Georgian Rusudan , to power in 1284 . However, as early as 1285 John succeeded in wresting the rule from Theodora and reassembling the throne.

In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV tried to persuade John to convert to the Catholic faith and therefore sent him two letters in which he invited him to participate in a new crusade to recapture the Holy Land and also to give him the position of ambassador for Christianity promised by the Tatars .

Johannes died in Limnia in 1297. His body was transferred to the capital and buried there in the Church of the Golden-Headed Virgin. His eldest son Alexios II succeeded him to the throne as Emperor of Trebizond.

swell

• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , Oxford University Press, 1991.
• W. Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era , Chicago, 1926.

predecessor	Office	successor
George	Emperor of Trebizond 1280–1284	Theodora Komnene

predecessor	Office	successor
Theodora Komnene	Emperor of Trebizond 1285–1297	Alexios II