1. Biography

Alexios IV Grand Komnenos was born on 19 January 1382 in Trebizond.¹ He was the son of Manuel III Grand Komnenos (1390-1417) and Koulkahad (renamed Eudokia), daughter of David VII, king of Georgia (1318-1360). In 1395 he married Theodora Kantakouzene, with whom he had four daughters² and three sons: Alexander and the future emperors John IV (1429-1458) and David (1458-1461). His daughters’ names remain unknown, except Maria Grand Komnene, wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V Palaiologos (1425-1448) and Irene Grand Komnene, wife of the Serbian despot Đurađ Brancović (1427-1456). In 1395 he was already co-emperor and he became emperor of Trebizond after his father’s death in 1417.³

In 1429 Alexios was murdered by his son’s supporters in the area of Achanti, near the town of Trebizond. He was buried at the monastery of Theotokos Theoskepastos and later his relic was moved to a magnificent tomb, built by John IV at the back of the Bema of the temple of the Panagia Chrysokephalos. After the Greek campaign in Asia Minor, Alexios IV’s remains were transferred to Greece and placed in the monastery of Panagia Soumela in the Macedonia region.

2. Dynastic conflicts

Some time before 1427, while John was co-emperor, he attempted to dethrone his father Alexios IV. Written sources indicate that he intended to murder his parents, but his efforts were thwarted by the people and members of the aristocracy.⁴ After this unsuccessful attempt, John fled to Georgia, where he married the daughter of the Georgian king Alexander (1413-1443).

During his absence from Trebizond, his younger brother Alexander (1413-1443), second son of Alexios IV, was made co-emperor; it was this action that turned John against his father for a second time. In this second effort, John had the military support of the Georgian king, and he was joined by the Kabasitai and the Scholarios family; the two aristocratic families were often present in the political scene of Trebizond, constantly striving to obtain more power. John was also discretely supported by Genoa.

In 1427 John moved from Georgia to the area of Kaffa, where he remained for a short while, trying to gain support from Genoa. However, the Genoese did not wish to aid him officially, despite the fact that they offered him a heavily armed ship. John boarded this ship in 1429 in Agios Phokas, with a plan to arrest the emperor.

However, the archontes executing the plan did not follow his orders and murdered Alexios IV Grand Komnenos, who at the time was awaiting his son’s military forces in Achanti. John entered the city of Trebizond immediately after his father’s murder and was crowned emperor. His first act was to severely punish his father’s murderers and to bury Alexios IV with suitable honours.

3. Imperial patronage

Alexios IV Grand Komnenos (1417-1429), like his predecessors, was the benefactor of many monasteries and churches. In 1427 he built a tower in the courtyard of the monastery of St Sophia and he restored the monastery of St George Peristereotes; with a chrysobull he issued with his son John, he also gave land and paroikoi to the monastery of the Panagia of Pharos. In 1426 he confirmed the right of the monastery of St Dionysios in Mount Athos to receive the annual sum of 1000 silver coins directly from the monastery of Chaldos and not from the imperial treasury, as was the practice until then.⁵ A depiction of the emperor had survived until recently in the chapel of the tower that he had build in the monastery of St Sophia.

4. Foreign policy