George, Emperor of Trebizond
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| George Megas Komnenos | |
|---|---|
| Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans | |
 Bronze coin of George Megas Komnenos | |
| Emperor of Trebizond Claimant Byzantine Emperor | |
| Reign | 1266–1280 |
| Predecessor | Andronikos II |
| Successor | John II |
| Died | After 1284 |
| Dynasty | Komnenos |
| Father | Manuel I Megas Komnenos |
| Mother | Irene Syrikaina |
George Megas Komnenos (Greek: Γεώργιος Μέγας Κομνηνός, Geōrgios Mégas Komnēnos; c. 1255 – after 1284) was Emperor of Trebizond from 1266 to 1280. He was the elder son of Emperor Manuel I and his third wife, Irene Syrikaina, a Trapezuntine noblewoman.[1] He succeeded his half-brother Andronikos in 1266 and ruled for 14 years. George was the first Trapezuntine emperor to officially use the style Megas Komnenos ("grand Komnenos"), which had previously been merely a nickname.[2]
The details of the internal affairs of his reign are sparse. Beyond the length of his reign, all Michael Panaretos relates explicitly about George is the cryptic statement that he "was treacherously betrayed by his officials on the mountain of Taurezion and taken captive in June [of 1280]".[3] Although three different Armenian chronicles state he was killed by Abaqa Khan of the Ilkhan, along with the atabeg of Lori,[4] he was very much alive in 1284 when he returned to Trebizond and attempted to recover his throne during the reign of his brother John II, when Panaretos states he was known as "the Vagabond".[5]
Michel Kuršanskis has pointed out that his father's embassy in 1253 to King Louis IX of France, who was then at Sidon, seeking to marry a daughter of his house was the act of a widower. Kuršanskis then convincingly argues that Manuel's marriage to Irene Syrikaina occurred after that year, which means George was no older—and likely several years younger—than 13 at the time of his coronation. So for the first several years of his reign he relied on a regent to govern the Empire.[6]
The details of the foreign affairs of his reign are relatively more abundant. One factor was that his rival for the claim to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, Michael VIII Palaiologos, had agreed to unify the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and an agreement was signed at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274; as a result George was increasingly seen as the champion of the anti-Unionist faction. George found himself directly threatened by Mu‘in al-Din Suleyman who controlled Sinope to the west and the Georgian state of Samtzkhe-Meschla to the east; Imereti was also a potential threat, and its ruler, David the Clever had married one of Michael's daughters in 1267. Michael had also married another daughter to Abaqa Khan of the Ilkhan. Consequently, George was forced into negotiations with Michael Palaiologos' enemies. As early as 1266-7 Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, wrote to George; George's response is not known. The protonotary Ogerius reported to Pope Nicholas III that George was upsetting the Union of Churches that Michael Palaiologos promoted. "It was not so much that Charles of Anjou had a quixotically loyal ally in Trebizond," writes Anthony Bryer, "as that while Michael was forcing his subjects into the union, George was pushed by anti-Unionist refugees from Constantinople into posing as champion of Orthodoxy and into seeking to replace the 'heretical' Michael as emperor in Constantinople."[7]
The Annals of Bishop Stephen state that George had an unnamed daughter, who married a Georgian nobleman.[8] Another possible daughter (or sister) married King Demetre II of Georgia.[9]