Dokumentarische Quellen zur Geschichte von Trapezunt (13. - 15. Jh.)

FWF Projekt AP 3024221
Head of project: Prof. Dr. Andreas E. MÜLLER
Project staff: Dr. Rudolf STEFEC
Project start: 1. August 2017
Project end: 31. Juli 2020

Sources on the history of Byzantium are scarce; this applies in particular to one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, Trebizond. Most of our information does not come from Byzantine sources, which show little interest in the small empire or report tendentiously, but from a short palace chronicle from the Trapezuntine court. Hagiographical texts and individual pieces of news contained in the writings of scholars active in Trebizond are valuable, albeit not very productive.  More important is the information handed down by Western authors (Genoese and Venetian merchants, travellers, diplomats); oriental (Turkish, Arabic, Persian) sources, which have been insufficiently consulted to date, are also of great importance. However, all this material has one thing in common, namely an external perspective; only authentic documentary material (charters from the imperial chancellery of the Trapezuntine rulers), supplemented by seal finds and inscriptions, is suitable for illuminating the self-portrayal of the Trapezuntine rulers, the will to position themselves as favourably as possible in the ‘race’ of the three Greek territorial states of Nikaia, Epeiros and Trapezunt for the Byzantine inheritance.  Not only the ruler's title, but also the external appearance of the documents (four originals, four Greek copies, several Latin translations and three forgeries have survived), such as the writing material and a special style of writing, are a deliberate link to the glorious history of the Komnenen dynasty, a means of legitimising power. In addition, this documentary material, supplemented by the dossier of documents from the Vazelon Monastery, offers unique insights into the political and economic history of the southern Black Sea region. The project has two main objectives: (1) to create new, solid working tools to fill existing research gaps and (2) to shed light on the imperial ambitions of local rulers with the help of the analysed documentary material. Concrete research results to be expected are:  (1) Full regesten of the Trapezuntine emperors modelled on the regestenwerk by F. Dölger (in which only documents of the Nicene Empire are listed), compiled on the basis of a renewed, careful evaluation of all available sources, to be published in article form; (2) a new critical edition of all documents of the Trapezuntine emperors that have survived in the original Greek text (with German translation and commentary), including a study of the Trapezuntine imperial chancery and court titles, in monographic form. Preliminary results of (1) and (2) will be made available on the Internet as soon as possible.