David of Trebizond

David Komnenos (r. 1458-1461; † November 1, 1463 in the castle Yedikule in today's Istanbul) was the last ruler of the Empire of Trebizond.

Life

A native of the dynasty of David Komnenos was crowned emperor in 1459. Its located on the northeast coast of Asia Minor was little empire after the conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 and the destruction of the last remnant East Roman rule in the Peloponnese in 1460 by the Ottomans, the only still remaining refuge of the Eastern Roman culture.

1461 the imperial capital of Trebizond by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II was besieged. David surrendered the city in August this year and has been associated with his family to Constantinople to Adrianople Opel Opel later, where he first lived as a " pensioner " of the Ottoman Empire. On March 26, 1463, he was however arrested and imprisoned. The reason for this was that Mehmed II a possibly forged letter had fallen into the hands that seemed to testify either contacts David to Uzun Hasan, the ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu and husband of the daughter of David's brother John IV, or connections to Rome, where a new crusade against the Turks was planned. By Adrian Opel David was brought Yedikule in the Ottoman " state prison " in the castle and there executed on November 1, 1463 with almost all male members of his family.