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Anna Anachoutlou

Συγγραφή : Vougiouklaki Penelope (27/11/2003)
Μετάφραση : Velentzas Georgios

Για παραπομπή: Vougiouklaki Penelope, "Anna Anachoutlou",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7278>
Άννα Αναχουτλού (4/2/2008 v.1) Anna Anachoutlou (11/7/2008 v.1) 
 

1. Biography

1.1. Descent

Anna Anachoutlou was born into the family of the Grand Komnenoi, being the eldest daughter of Alexios II Grand Komnenos (1297-1330) and Djiadjak, the daughter of the Laz sovereign Azachoutlou. She was the sister of Michael Anachoutlou and half-sister of Eudokia Grand Komnene, George Achpougas and the subsequent emperors Andronikos III (1330-1332) and Basil (1332-1340) Grand Komnenoi. Anna first appears as a nun, possibly in the monastery of St. Euthymios in Jerusalem.1 At some point before 1340 she gave up her monastic vows and returned to Trebizond.

1.2. Political Activity

Anna Anachoutlou was actively involved in the political matters of the Empire of Trebizond when she created a pocket of resistance in the region of Lazica in the Pontos against the Empress Eirene Palaiologina (1340-1341). In 1341, taking advantage of the attacks launched by the Türkmen of Amida2 against the Empire of Trebizond, as well as the inability of Eirene Palaiologina (1340-1341) to deal with the impending collapse of the state, Anna laid claims to the throne of Trebizond as a descendant of the Grand Komnenoi.

Significant role in the ascension of Anna also played the civil conflicts that afflicted the empire after the murder of Manuel II Grand Komnenos (1332) and mainly after the ascension of Basil’s (1332-1340) first wife, Eirene Palaiologina (1340-1341), to the throne. The factions of the trapezuntine aristocracy were chiefly represented by the Scholarios family (related to the Constantinopolitan tradition) and the native Amytzantarios family, both eager at the time to become more powerful.

2. The Reign

2.1. Anna’s Policy

Anna’s resistance to the central administration, in combination with the public rage against Eirene Palaiologina (1340-1341) over the arson of Trebizond during the last attack of the Türkmen of Amida on July 4, 1341, made Eirene abdicate her throne. So, on July 17, 1341, Anna entered Trebizond triumphantly, followed by Laz warriors of the Georgian King George V (1314-1346) as well as by trapezuntine Laz of the bandon of Greater Lazia, and ascended to the throne. She was crowned empress, supported, on the one hand, by the Amytzantarios family and, on the other, by the Laz, the Tzan3 and, in general, the people of the provinces of the Empire of Trebizond.

The supporters of Anna Anachoutlou expected that she would deal energetically with the external enemies of the empire and, on the other hand, that the central administration would be favourable to the native population as regards internal affairs. Indeed, in August 1342 Anna repelled successfully the new Türkmen raid, amid serious political disorder. But her economic and internal policy disappointed her supporters.

2.2. The Opposition to Anna

The conflicts between the aristocratic families of Trebizond marked the reign of Anna, who was continuously under the threat of being deposed by the Scholarios family, as well as other aristocratic circles related to Constantinople. The attempts of the Scholarios family were supported by Constantinople, which was disappointed with the fall of Eirene Palaiologina and the ascent of Anna, the Venetians and the Genoese. On the other hand, Anna was initially supported by the Amytzantarios family.

On July 30, 1341, Michael Grand Komnenos, the subsequent emperor (1344-1349), aided by the Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1341/1347-1355), sailed from Constantinople to Trebizond with three battle ships and the company of Niketas Scholares and Gregory Meizomatis in order to marry the former empress Eirene and assume the authority of the empire.4 At first the dignitaries and the metropolitan Akakios accepted him with all solemnity as an emperor. However, the people revolted against him and the Laz soldiers of Anna Anachoutlou set his ships to fire and burnt members of his entourage. On August 7, 1341, Michael was arrested and sent off initially to Oinaion and then to Limnia. A few days later, on August 10, Eirene was forced to get to Constantinople on a “Frankish” ship according to the sources, possibly from Marseilles.

Anna's victory against the Türkmen of Amida, which took place in that period, did not discourage her opponents, the supporters of Constantinople, who insisted on her dethronement. On the other hand, it was in that period that the Amytzantarios family stopped being her apparent allies.

3. The Deposition

After the unsuccessful attempt of Michael Grand Komnenos to ascend to the throne, Niketas Scholarios, Constantine Doranites, the brothers Gregory and Michael Meizomatis and others, fled on a Venetian ship to Constantinople, where they met John Grand Komnenos, Michael’s son, and offered him the throne of the Empire of Trebizond. John, subsequent John III (1342-1344), sailed with three Genoese ships and two of his own, leading the new campaign of trapezuntine aristocracy against Anna. In the same period (late August - early September 1342), the Scholarios family in Trebizond managed to depose the empress. Anna Anachoutlou was strangled on September 3, 1342.

4. Succession

John Grand Komnenos arrived at Trebizond on September 4, 1342, and was crowned emperor in the church of Theotokos Chrysokephalos on the same day. The ascension of John III to the throne was followed by persecutions against members of the aristocracy. The Scholarios family, who had supported him from the start, took advantage of the power they held after his ascension to the throne and turned against their rival Amytzantarios family, who had joined Anna Anachoutlou. They also murdered notable descendants of this lineage and massacred Anna’s followers in the provinces.

1. Miller, W., Trebizond. The Last Greek Empire (London 1926), p. 49.

2. On the Türkmen of Amida and their appellation, see Zachariadou, E.A., “Trebizond and the Turks (1352-1402)”, Αρχείον Πόντου 35 (1979), p. 333-358, esp. p. 340-341.

3. On the historical background of the Laz and the Tzan, see Bryer, A., “Some notes on the Laz and the Tzan (1) (2)”, in Bryer, A., People and Settlement in Anatolia and the Caucasus, 800-1900 (VR, London 1988), pp. 161-168 (=1), 174-195 (=2). They were native inhabitants of the northeastern Pontos, descending from the Colchians and the Macrones. They used to meddle in the political affairs of the Empire of Trebizond.

4. In 1341, Michael Grand Komnenos started from Constantinople as the future husband of Eirene Palaiologina, according to the diplomatic plan of John VI Kantakouzenos. Before he reached Trebizond, the revolt instigated by Anna Anachoutlou, which ended in the forced resignation of Eirene and the ascension of Anna to the throne, had already broken out. See Χρύσανθος, μητροπολίτης Τραπεζούντος (Chrysanthos of Trebizond), "Η Εκκλησία της Τραπεζούντος" Αρχείον Πόντου 4-5, (1933), pp. 241-242.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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