Siege of Trebizond (1222–1223)
The Seljuq assaults were repulsed, and their army was annihilated on its retreat through the attacks of the Matzoukaites, fierce mountain tribes under Trebizond's rule, and Melik was captured.
[1] However, more recent scholarship that considers the context of Seljuk Turkish history suggests that this battle should be seen as one episode in a struggle between Trebizond and Iconium over control of Sinope, the northern coast of Anatolia, and access to the Black Sea and its hinterlands that lasted for most of the 13th century.
The Trapezuntine fleet anchored off Karousa (modern Gerze)[9] and pillaged the countryside up to the marketplace of Sinope, seizing the ships in the harbor and killing or capturing their crews.
Rais Etoumes was pressured to ransom the captives by releasing Paktiares, the ship, and its goods, and the expedition returned to Trebizond, elated by their success.
Emperor Andronikos learned of the Sultan's mobilization and prepared for the coming conflict, gathering soldiers "from Soteropolis and Lazica to Oinaion"—which is commonly assumed to define the borders of the Empire during his reign.
[10] The date of the attack on Sinope and the ensuing siege of Trebizond can be determined from three sources: John Lazaropoulos, Michael Panaretos, and Ali ibn al-Athir.
Beyond providing the sequence of actions, he gives no information on how much time passed between the rapacious acts of Etoumes, the Trapezuntine raid on Sinope, and the beginning of the siege itself, making it possible the first two happened earlier—perhaps years—before 1223.
Fortunately, our third source, Ali ibn al-Athir, mentions that in 1223, a ship of refugees from the Mongols sank off Anatolia, which the Seljuks then plundered; so it is clear all three events happened over these six months between February and September 1223.
Moreover, Lazaropoulos has been shown to have introduced new details elsewhere that may be his own invention; the purpose of his account is not to offer an objective history but to glorify Trebizond's patron saint, Eugenios.
[13] At some undefined time after the raid on Sinope, Sultan Melik brought his forces through Katoukion, which lies between Bayburt and Zailousa, where his men camped.
The Emperor Andronikos had sent Theodore Polemarches with a band of reliable men to keep watch at the Narrow Pass; these encountered the advancing Seljuk force and skirmished with them.
[16] Although his 500 horses were outnumbered four-to-one by the Sultan's scouts, Andronikos won the first major engagement, scattering the enemy; but seeing that this was only a portion of his foe, after he secured the castle of Labra, the Emperor withdrew into the city of Trebizond.
After ringing Arabic cymbals, rattles, and Libyan percussion instruments, they attacked with a single cry, shooting arrows and throwing javelins, stones, and other missiles.
Again the Sultan vented his resentment against the church of St. Eugenios, inviting his men to make their quarters in the building while "some lascivious women" entertained them by "exciting themselves to frenzy", much to the horror of Lazaropoulos.
The Sultan then gathered his forces as quickly as he could and led them towards the city, expecting to meet his night-time visitor who would open the gates to him; instead, a mighty storm caught his unprepared men, who were subjected to thunder, hail, lightning, and high winds.
A pact was made between them that in the future, the tie of vassalage, which had previously bound Trebizond to Iconium, should cease and that the Trapezuntines should no longer be obliged either to perform military service to the sultan or to render tribute or gifts.
The Sultan Melik is reportedly so impressed by this moderation that he sent an annual present of Arab horses to Andronikos and money to the St Eugenios monastery.
[33] Melik is mentioned as the leader of the Seljuks who besieged Trebizond in three primary sources: the Encomium on Eugenios of Constantine Loukites,[29] the Chronicle of Michael Panaretos,[3] and Lazaropoulos' Synopsis.
