Draft:Georgian expedition to Chaldia

Georgian expedition to Chaldia
Part of Byzantine-Georgian wars
Kingdom of Georgia during its Golden Age.
Date 1204 Location Trabzon, Chaldia, sinop, Turkey Result Decicive Georgian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Georgia Empire of Trebizond	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Tamar the Great Alexios I Komnenos David Komnenos	Unknown

The Georgian expedition to Chaldia (Georgian საქართველოს ლაშქრობა ხალდიაში) refers to a military campaign led by the Kingdom of Georgia against the Byzantine Empire, specifically targeting the region of Chaldia (also spelled Khaldia), a province on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea, centered around Trebizond (modern Trabzon, Turkey).

Background

Map of Georgian expedition to Chaldia

Kingdom of Georgia in 1220, at the peak of its territorial expansion

Despite the territorial losses to Basil II, the Georgian kings succeeded in retaining their independence and in uniting most of the Georgian lands into a single state. Many of the territories ceded to the empire were conquered by the Seljuk Turks towards the 1070s-1080s, securing the theme of Iberia by the help of Byzantine governor, Gregory Pakourianos, who began to evacuate the region shortly after the disaster inflicted by the Seljuks on the Byzantine army at Manzikert. On this occasion, George II of Georgia was bestowed with the Byzantine title of Caesar, granted the fortress of Kars and put in charge of the Imperial Eastern limits.

Relations between the two Christian monarchies were then generally peaceful except for the episode of 1204, when Emperor Alexios III Angelos seized a sizable donation of the then Georgian regent Queen Tamar, that was meant for the monks of Mount Athos. Infuriated by this action, Tamar used this hostile act as a pretext for her expansion along the southwestern coast of the Black Sea, populated by a large Georgian-speaking population.

Tamar's ambitions were aided by the ongoing Fourth Crusade, which eventually fractured the Byzantine Empire.

Foundation Trebizond empire

The path of the Fourth Crusade and the political situation of what once was the Byzantine Empire in 1204 AD.

A Georgian army under the command of Alexios and David Komnenos attacked the Byzantines from the east in late March or early April 1204. According to Georgian chronicles the expedition took eight days, it reached Trebizond via Lazona and seized Trebizond in April. The local commander doux Nikephoros Palaiologos, did not put up an effective defence against the Georgian forces.

On April 13, 1204, Constantinople fell to the Crusaders, where they established the Latin Empire. According to medieval sources, newly incorporated territories were given to Alexios and David Komnenos, where they founded a pro-Georgian state, the Empire of Trebizond. Alexios was proclaimed emperor, while David was appointed strategos. Some scholars believe that the new state was subject to Georgia, at least in the first years of its existence, at the beginning of the 13th century.

The following year, David Komnenos commanded the Georgian troops in a successful campaign that resulted in the conquest of territories between Trebizond and Heraclea Pontica, while Alexios defeated the Seljuks and recaptured Amisos, Sinope, Oinaion and Chalybia.

Tamar's political involvement in the Fourth Crusade, her exploitation of the Byzantine decline, and military campaigns, decisively expanded the Kingdom of Georgia's influence and number of tributaries, turning her kingdom into one of the most powerful Christian states at the time.

References

Holmes, Catherine (2005), Basil II and the Governance of Empire</ref>(976–1025), p. 482. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-927968-3.

Alemany, Agusti (2000). Sources of the Alans: A Critical Compilation, p. 222. Brill Publishers, ISBN 90-04-11442-4.
Robert Bedrosian, "Liparit IV Orbēlean", p. 586. In: Joseph Reese Strayer (1983), Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Scribner, ISBN 0-684-16760-3.
Paul A. Blaum (2005). Diplomacy gone to seed: a history of Byzantine foreign relations, A.D. 1047-57. International Journal of Kurdish Studies. (Online version) Archived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine