Alexios V Komnenos of Trebizond

Alexios V Megas Komnenos (1454 to 1463) was, for a very short time, in April 1460, emperor of Trebizond, after his uncle John IV. He was deposed almost at once by his other uncle, David, and was executed at Constantinople on 1 November 1463, together with David and David's sons, by order of Sultan Mehmed II. In July 2013 he was numbered among the saints by the Church of Greece and then by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as a martyr, together with David and his sons.

Family and the succession

Alexios was born in 1454, the only known child of Alexander Megas Komnenos, co-⁠emperor of Trebizond, called Skantarios in some sources, and Maria Gattilusio, daughter of Dorino I Gattilusio, lord of the island of Lesbos. Alexander was a son of Emperor Alexios IV Megas Komnenos (1417 to 1429) and had been his chosen heir. But Alexios IV was murdered in 1429, and the throne was taken by Alexander's elder brother, John IV Megas Komnenos (1429 to 1460). At first enemies, the two brothers were reconciled, and in the 1450s Alexander seems to have been named co-⁠ruler by his brother, since John had no sons and preferred Alexander to their other brother, David. Alexander died before John, so the young Alexios was named John's heir. It was once believed he was John's son, but present genealogical research rejects this view.

The brief reign

After his uncle's death, in April 1460, Alexios was emperor for a very short time, but almost at once his uncle David overthrew him and took the throne. David was a man in his prime and a proven commander, and must have thought himself the more suitable candidate. His usurpation, supported chiefly by the aristocratic Kabazites family, was so swift that some contemporary and near-⁠contemporary sources say David followed John IV directly. But the contemporary historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles writes that David took the throne from his young nephew.

Under Ottoman rule

Alexios's life from his deposition to his death is poorly known. Conflicting sources say either that he lived in exile at Pera, near Constantinople, or that he remained in Trebizond. Later sources say that Sultan Mehmed II, who had conquered Constantinople in 1453, took the young Alexios at some point as one of his pages. On 15 August 1461 Mehmed II conquered Trebizond. He allowed David and his family to settle near Adrianople, and took Alexios prisoner with the rest of David's household. David gave up the throne and lived with his family near Adrianople.

In 1463 the sultan accused them of treason. Laonikos Chalkokondyles writes of a letter that Theodora, wife of the Turkoman ruler Uzun Hasan of the Ak Koyunlu and niece of David, sent that year to her uncle through George Amiroutzes. In it she had asked that David send to her court Alexios or one of his sons. George betrayed the Komnenoi's trust and gave the letter to Mehmed. This gave the sultan the pretext to accuse the former emperor of collusion with the rulers of the Ak Koyunlu, with whom he was at war. As one scholar supposed, the accusation was strengthened by the fact that Uzun Hasan then held Trebizond for a time. Alexios, who then lived beside David and his sons, converted to Islam for a short while after the charge of treason, but returned to Christianity before the execution.

Martyrdom and veneration

On 1 November 1463 the Turks executed at Constantinople David, his three sons and Alexios. In July 2013 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and then the Ecumenical Patriarchate, numbered them among the saints as martyrs, for their cruel death in the former capital of Byzantium. The initiator was Metropolitan Paul of Drama. The day of commemoration was set on the day of their death, 1 November.