John IV of Trebizond
| John IV Megas Komnenos | |
|---|---|
Asper of John IV
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| Reign | 1429–1460 |
| Successor | David Megas Komnenos |
| Born | c. 1403 |
| Died | 1460 |
| Issue | Alexios, Theodora, Eudokia |
| Father | Alexios IV of Trebizond |
| Mother | Theodora Kantakouzene |
John IV Megas Komnenos (Greek: Ιωάννης Δ΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Iōannēs IV Megas Komnēnos) (c. 1403 – 1460) was Emperor of Trebizond from 1429 until his death. He was a son of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene.
John had been designated despotes, or heir apparent, by his father as early as 1417, but had come into conflict with his parents. According to a passage considered to be an interpolation in the history of Laonikos Chalkokondyles, he accused his mother Theodora of having an affair with an unnamed protovestiarios, whom he killed, then held his parents captive in the citadel until the palace staff released them. John then fled to Georgia. As a result, his brother Alexander was designated despotes in his place.
While in Georgia John married Bagrationi, a daughter of King Alexander I, but he could not obtain sufficient support to establish himself in Trebizond. A Genoese document dated November 8, 1427 orders the consul at Caffa in the Crimea to keep on good terms with the Emperor of Trebizond for news of John arriving at Caffa had reached Genoa. Here he found a large vessel full of arms, and in exchange for appointing its owner his protostrator the vessel and its crew brought him home in 1429.
Landing at Saint Phokas (the modern Kordyle), John and his supporters made their base in the monastery. His father Alexios rode out with his retinue and camped nearby. An important family, the Kabasitai, offered to act as intermediaries; however, an interpolator of the History of Chalkokondyles, or Pseudo-Chalkokondyles, states that they were John's "secret accomplices" for some of the Kabasitai had agreed to allow two of John's archontes into Emperor Alexios' tent, and once inside the archontes murdered Alexios around midnight. According to Pseudo-Chalkokondyles, John had instructed them to only bring his father to him, but the men thought John would be more grateful if they killed his father the Emperor, and did so. They learned they had misunderstood John's wishes: he had the eyes of one man put out and the hand of the other cut off.
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