Andronikos I Gidos

Andronikos I Gidos
Reign	1222–1235
Successor	John I of Trebizond
Died	1235
Spouse	a daughter of Alexios I of Trebizond

Andronikos I Gidos or Andronicus I Gidus (Greek: Ανδρόνικος Α΄ Γίδος), was an Emperor of Trebizond (1222–1235). He is the only ruler of Trebizond who was not a blood relative of the founder of that state, Alexios I Megas Komnenos. George Finlay suggests he may be the same Andronikos who was a general of Theodore I Laskaris. During his reign, Trebizond successfully withstood a siege of the city by the Seljuk Turks, and later supported the Shah of Khwarizm in the latter's unsuccessful battle with the Seljuks.

The Gidos family appears briefly in Byzantine history at the turn of the 12th/13th century. The etymology of the surname is uncertain, but one view considers it to be from the Greek word for "goat" ('Gida' γίδα f., γίδι), another speculative view suggests that the etymology of the surname may be of Latin origin, and is the hellenized form of the Italian name Guido. This in turn led some scholars to theorize that there may be a connection with the Gidos family and Guy/Guido, a son of the Norman conqueror of southern Italy, Robert Guiscard, who defected to the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (ruled 1081–1118) centuries earlier, entered his service and possibly married into the imperial family. Byzantine sources do not treat the family as having a foreign origin and it has not been possible to demonstrate any connection with the son of Robert Guiscard or a Latin origin. W. Hecht casts doubt on a Latin origin of the family.

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