Anna of Trebizond

Anna Anachoutlou (died 1342) was Empress regnant of Trebizond from 17 July 1341 to 4 September 1342. Anna was the elder daughter of Emperor Alexios II of Trebizond and his Georgian wife, Djiadjak Jaqeli.

Anna Anachoutlou
Empress and Autocrat of all the East and Perateia
Empress of Trebizond
Reign	17 July 1341 – 4 September 1342
Predecessor	Irene
Successor	John III
Died	September 1342
Dynasty	Komnenos
Father	Alexios II Megas Komnenos
Mother	Djiadjak Jaqeli

Life

Anna's only notable act before becoming empress was to endow a small monastery in Jerusalem dedicated to St. Euthymios. This monastery is recorded in a single document, the Testament of a monk Gerasimos, dated 18 November, 1344.[1] When she first made this endowment is not known, but Anna had taken monastic vows during the reign of Irene Palaiologina. Scott Kennedy explains her surname, Anachoutlou, as a combination of her name Anna and Turkish Kutlu, thus meaning "Blessed Anna".[2]

Trapezuntine aristocrats persuaded her to abandon the cloister and seize the crown; she was proclaimed empress in Lazia and her supporters escorted her to Trebizond. Wherever she went, according to William Miller, the people joined the revolt and when Anna, reinforced by the troops sent by the Georgian king George V, arrived at the walls of Trebizond on 17 July 1341, she was admitted without resistance and acclaimed empress, while Irene was deposed.[3]

Three weeks later three Byzantine galleys arrived at Trebizond with troops under the leaders of the Scholarioi faction, Niketas Scholares and Gregory Meitzomates. With them came Anna's uncle Michael, who was the husband chosen for the now deposed Irene by the regents of her half-brother John V Palaiologos. The Metropolitan Akakios and some of the nobility seemed to accept Michael as the legitimate ruler of Trebizond. Not wishing to be governed by a forceful man of mature years, Anna's supporters, the nobles of the Lazian faction, promptly imprisoned Michael in the palace, while Anna's Lazic troops dispersed the crowd supporting Michael and plundered his ships.[4][5]

The next day Michael was sent off in exile to Oinaion where he was guarded by megas doux John the Eunuch, and Anna's predecessor Irene was sent to Constantinople on a western ship. Although Anna was now on the throne, William Miller points out that the aristocrats who put her there – "the senatorial party"—had the ascendancy: "Two or three of the senators governed behind the scenes, while Anna Comnena sat on the throne, the people insulted the ruling clique and plotted another insurrection, and the Turkomans had seized the opportunity of these internal troubles to make another, providentially fruitless, raid."[6]

Niketas and Gregory, the leaders of the Scholarioi, returned to Constantinople with Constantine Doranites and others, and convinced the government to give them Michael's young son, John, as a claimant to the throne of Trebizond. In September 1342, with the help of the Genoese, John's small fleet of five galleys made their way to Trebizond. Although Anna and her courtiers prepared to defend themselves, they were sabotaged by a popular revolt. John's supporters took control of the city on 4 September, 1342, and crowned John III emperor. The Scholarioi executed many of their rivals, and Anna was strangled soon after her deposition.[6]

References

1. Testament of Gerasimos about monastery founded by Anna at Jerusalem
2. Kennedy, Two Works on Trebizond, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 52 (Cambridge: Harvard University, 2019), p. 233
3. Miller, Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire of the Byzantine Era (Chicago: Argonaut, 1926), p. 49
4. Miller, Trebizond, p. 50
5. Finlay, George. The History Of Greece From Its Conquest By The Crusaders To Its Conquest By The Turks And Of The Empire Of Trebizond, 1204–1461. 1st ed. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and sons, 1851. Clarendon Press, 1877. OCLC 10269130. pp. 366–367
6. Miller, Trebizond, p. 51

External links

• Discussion of the Testament of Gerasimos
• Vougiouklaki Penelope, "Anna Anachoutlou", Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World: Asia Minor