1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Manuel I., emperor of Trebizond

MANUEL I. (d. 1263), emperor of Trebizond, surnamed the Great Captain (ὁ στρατηγικώτατος), was the second son of Alexius I., first emperor of Trebizond, and ruled from 1228 to 1263. He was unable to deliver his empire from vassalage, first to the Seljuks and afterwards to the Mongols. He vainly negotiated for a dynastic alliance with the Franks, by which he hoped to secure the help of Crusaders.

Manuel II., the descendant of Manuel I., reigned only a few months in 1332–1333. Manuel III. reigned from 1390 to 1417, but the only interest attaching to his name arises from his connexion with Timur, whose vassal he became without resistance.

See G. Finlay, History of Greece (ed. 1877, Oxford), iv. 338–340, 340–341, 386; Ph. Fallmerayer, Geschichte des Kaisertums Trapezunt (Munich, 1827), i. chs. 8, 14, ii. chs. 4, 5; T. E. Evangelides, Ἱστορία τῆς Τραπεζοῦντος (Odessa, 1898), 71–73, 87–88, 126–132.