George Amiroutzes

George Amiroutzes (Greek: Γεώργιος Αμιρουτζής) (1400–1470) was a Pontic Greek Renaissance scholar, philosopher and civil servant. Although praised and respected for his outstanding knowledge not only of theology and philosophy, but also of the natural sciences, medicine, rhetoric and poetry, all of which earned him the epithet the Philosopher (o Φιλόσοφος), he is considered as a controversial figure of the late Byzantine era due to his role in the fall of Trebizond and his later behavior as a servant for Mehmed II.

Amiroutzes was born in Trebizond. His first appearance in the historical record was as a lay advisor to the imperial delegation from Trebizond to the Council of Ferrara-Florence. There he strongly supported the union of churches but upon return to Constantinople he made statements against the papal primacy and Filioque. According to a papal document 100 florins were given to protonotarios George as a subsidy; it was conjectured that Amiroutzes was thus bribed to support the union.

The Genoese archives document Amiroutzes leading a diplomatic mission on behalf of Emperor John IV, seeking marriage alliance between a member of the Komnenos family, and a daughter of the Genoese doge Lodovico di Campofregoso.

However, he was denounced by his fellow Greeks as an opportunist, a traitor and a renegade for his familiarity with Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. He was a nephew to the Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha of the Ottoman Empire, and while serving as protovestiarios Amiroutzes helped speed the fall of the Empire of Trebizond by persuading Emperor David to surrender to the Ottomans to prevent bloodshed to its inhabitants. Sultan Mehmed sent the Emperor, his family and nobles (including Amiroutzes himself) on one of his ships and sent them to Constantinople. The rest of the inhabitants of Trebizond he divided into three classes: the first became the servants and slaves of Mehmed and his followers; the second were transported to Constantinople to settle there; and the third part were exiled from the city.

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