[7] For the years Manuel held this port, the Seljuk Turks were landlocked, making Trebizond once again the major naval power in the Black Sea.

[8] A few years later, in October 1256, one of the three brothers who inherited the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Kaykaus II, was defeated by Baiju and fled to sanctuary in the Nicaean Empire, moving Anatolia from the sphere the Golden Horde controlled firmly into the Ilkhanite.

In 1253, Manuel sent envoys to King Louis IX of France, who was then at Sidon after his defeat at the Battle of Fariskur, seeking to marry a daughter of his house.

"The King had no French princesses with him on the crusade," writes William Miller, "but recommended Manuel to make a matrimonial alliance with the Latin Empire of Constantinople, to which the aid of 'so great and rich a man' would be useful against Vatatzes, the Greek Emperor of Nicaea.

"[10] Jean de Joinville testifies to Manuel's wealth, stating he sent Louis "a present of various jewels, and also, among other things, some bows made of cornel-wood.

Kuršanskis has pointed out that the timing of the embassy would make sense if his first wife, a Trapezuntine noblewoman Anna Xylaloe, had died before that year and thought a matrimonial alliance with the French king was desirable; and after Louis sent his regrets, Manuel wed Irene Syrikaina.

[18] Michel Kuršanskis has suggested some of these types were struck during the reigns of Manuel's successors—Andronikos and George—because their Mongol overlords forbade them from minting silver coins in their own names.

The destruction of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan in 1258 revived the trade route running north from Armenia and the upper Euphrates valley to Erzerum and then through the Zigana Pass to Trebizond, instead of to the Mediterranean.

[19] However, Anthony Bryer has pointed out the volume of trade carried on this route was minuscule, and taxes and duties extracted from the goods passing through Trebizond (known as the kommerkion) would at most have been 30% of the Empire's total revenues in a busy year, and more often 6%.