Andronikos III of Trebizond

Andronikos III Megas Komnenos
Reign	1330-1332
Successor	Manuel II
Died	8 January 1332
Issue	Manuel II
Father	Alexios II Megas Komnenos
Mother	Djiadjak Jaqeli

Andronikos III Megas Komnenos, or Andronicus III (Greek: Ανδρόνικος Γ΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Andronikos III Megas Komnēnos), (died 8 January 1332) was Emperor of Trebizond from 1330 to 1332. He was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios II of Trebizond and his Iberian wife, Djiadjak Jaqeli of Samckhe. According to Michael Panaretos, he reigned for 15 months, which suggests that there was an interregnum of five months — from the death of his father in May to October 1330.^[1]

Rustam Shukurov suggested that Andronikos and his son Manuel were named for their distant ancestors, Andronikos I Komnenos and his son Manuel the Sebastokrator, arguing that their portraits appeared on the walls of the Imperial palace hall.^[2]

One of his first actions when Andronikos became emperor was to put to death his two younger brothers, George Azachoutlou and Michael Achpougas. His other brother Basil managed to escape to Constantinople, where his uncle Michael was probably already residing.^[3]

On January 8, 1332, he died of bubonic plague like his father.^[4]

Upon his death Andronikos was briefly succeeded by his son, Manuel II. The sources have preserved no other details on the circumstances of Andronikos' short reign.^[3]

References

1. Panaretos, Chronicle, ch. 7 Greek text in Original-Fragmente, Chroniken, Inschiften und anderes Materiale zur Geschichte des Kaiserthums Trapezunt, part 2; in Abhandlungen der historischen Classe der königlich bayerischen Akademie 4 (1844), abth. 1, p. 16; German translation, p. 45
2. Shukurov, "AIMA: the blood of the Grand Komnenoi". Byzantine and Medieval Greek Studies, 19 (1995), p. 165
3. William Miller, Trebizond: The last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era: 1204-1461, 1926 (Chicago: Argonaut, 1969), p. 43
4. Zehiroglu, Ahmet M. ; "Trabzon Imparatorlugu 2" 2016, Trabzon, (ISBN 978-605-4567-52-2) ; p.155