გაბრასები – მცირეაზიელი ტოპარხები (ტენდენცია და ანალოგიები)

Abstract

Some researchers consider the setting up of the Trebizond Empire in 1204 to have been a mechanical outcome of the obtaining international situation (the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders), others attribute it to the successful foreign policy of Queen Tamar of Georgia. The issue is discussed in the paper with an eye on the process of the formation of the Chaldian theme into a semi-independent entity in the same territory four centuries prior to the setting up of an independent political unit of Trebizond. From this point of view the following questions are identified: the significance of the Chaldian theme as a Byzantine province and the degree of its autonomy; the role of the Gabrades as the rulers of the Chaldian theme; the ethnic affinity of the Gabrades and the significance of this factor; analogies through the study of the political status and political orientation of the local rulers of other provinces of Asia Minor (Theodore Macaphas, Manuel Maurozomes, Philaretos Brachamios, Leo Sgouros); decentralization of Byzantium. Special significance attaches to the activity of the Gabrades, the ruling house of the Chaldian theme and the political, economic, geographic and ethnic foundations of their constitutional or institutional power. The policy of the Gabrades regarding to the Byzantine Imperial court and the Seljuk Turks is the case of special study. Numismatic material: a cross on Georgian king David IV’s coin found on one emission by Theodoros Gabras is adduced as an indirect proof of relations between the Chaldian theme and the Georgian royal house. The process described shows that gradual secession of the Chaldian theme was inevitable. The setting up of the independent Empire of Trebizond by the Komneni early in the 13th century was a logical outcome of these tendencies.