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Alexios I of Trebizond

Type Figure Region Trebizond Time 1182–1222 Also known as Alexios I

Founding emperor of the Empire of Trebizond (r. 1204–1222), a descendant of the Byzantine Komnenoi;…

Timeline

  1. 1182–1203Constantinople · MarmaraAlexios was a grandson of Andronikos I, born in the Constantinople court. After his family's failed coup in 1185 he went into exile, and between 1201 and 1203 was still active in Byzantine successor political circles, awaiting a chance to restore the state.
  2. 1204–1210Trebizond · Black Sea coastAfter the crusaders partitioned the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Alexios seized Trebizond and proclaimed himself emperor, claiming succession to Roman legitimacy. In the empire's early years he received Georgian military aid and consolidated the southern Black Sea alliance by marrying Rusudan, daughter of Queen Tamar; by 1210 he had largely secured control of Trebizond and its surrounding fortresses.
  3. 1211–1222Trebizond · Black Sea coastThereafter Alexios devoted himself to domestic statecraft and balanced diplomacy with the Seljuks and Georgia, making Trebizond an important Greek Orthodox power on the eastern Black Sea during the crusader era; he died in 1222 and was succeeded by his son.

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