Manuel III of Trebizond

Manuel III of Trebizond
Emperor of Trebizond
Reign	1390–1417
Born	1364
Died	1417
Spouse	Eudokia
Dynasty	Komnenos
Father	Alexios III Megas Komnenos
Mother	Theodora Kantakouzene

Manuel III Megas Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Γ΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός, Manouēl III Megas Komnēnos) (December 16, 1364 – March 5, 1417) was Emperor of Trebizond from March 20, 1390 to his death in 1417.

The major event of Manuel's reign was the arrival of the Central Asian conqueror Tamerlane to Anatolia. This led to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Ankara, which had threatened the existence of Manuel's domain. Although the Ottomans reconstituted their state after 10 years of civil war, this defeat extended the life and security of the Empire of Trebizond for several more decades.

Manuel was the son of Emperor Alexios III of Trebizond by Theodora Kantakouzene. He was made heir apparent in 1377, after the death of his elder brother Basil.

Manuel's domain had come under the growing threat of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Bayezid I, who in 1398 had led his army along the Black Sea coast as far as the border of the Empire of Trebizond. Tamerlane, who had campaigned in eastern Anatolia in 1394, returned and captured Sivas (27 August 1400), slaughtering all of its defenders. Tamerlane demanded that Manuel and his army join him in the coming war with the Ottoman Turks, but somehow the Emperor avoided this demand, although he did contribute twenty galleys to Tamerlane's general effort. Bayezid and Tamerlane finally met in the Battle of Ankara, where Tamerlane crushed the Ottoman forces and made the Sultan his prisoner. For the next eight months Tamerlane moved about Anatolia, restoring the old Turkish beyliks and plundering Ottoman territories, thus dismantling the Ottoman Empire. It would not be until 1413, when Mehmet I defeated his last surviving brother, that the Ottoman Empire would once more be a threat to any of its neighbors.

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