Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Byzantine Empire (the Empire of the Romans) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Chaldia

The Pontic coast from about Kotyora (Ordu) past Kerasous and Trebizond to Rizaion and the Laz shore, with the valleys behind it up to the passes, above all Matzouka and the Zigana road to Paipert (Bayburt) and Erzurum.

It is the old theme of Chaldia, once ruled almost independently by the Gabras family, the last of whom, Constantine Gabras, John II brought down in 1139-1140. Since then it has had imperial governors, but none is named for the 1190s, and the local landholders (archontes) of the Pontus, who will back the Komnenoi in 1204, are not named for 1200 either. The region is far from the capital and reached chiefly by sea; it borders the Laz and the kingdom of Georgia, now at its height under Queen Tamar, and the Turkish emirs beyond the mountains (the Saltukids of Erzurum, the Seljuk princes of Koloneia and Niksar).

On 1 January 1200 it is imperial. The great families asked about in the assignment have no attested hold here: no Gabras is known in the Pontus between 1140 and the thirteenth century.

Who he is

Title
The emperor's governor (doux) of Trebizond and Chaldia
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
low

No governor is named for 1199-1200; no Pontic archon family is named for that winter either. The Gabras dukes ended with Constantine Gabras (1139/1140).

Overlord

The emperor Alexios III Angelos (Byzantium).

What it holds

  • Trebizond (Trebizond)
  • Kerasous (Kerasous) and the coast west to about Kotyora
  • Rizaion (Rizaion) and the coast toward the Laz
  • Matzouka and the Sumela monastery; the Zigana pass road

How it was acquired

Imperial since the end of the Gabras dukes (1139-1140).

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: Georgia and the Laz to the east; the Saltukids of Erzurum (emi) and the Seljuks (rum) to the south.

How things stand that morning

Imperial; the governor's name and the strength of his hold are not pinned. In April 1204 the Komnenoi take it with Georgian troops (later).

Wealth

The overland trade with Erzurum and Georgia; sea trade; wine, fruit and timber.

Military

Trebizond's citadel and walls; coastal forts; no figures.

Threats

  • Georgian ambitions and the Komnenian claimants at Tamar's court
  • The Turks beyond the mountains

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. April 1204 (later)Alexios and David Komnenos, with troops from Queen Tamar, take Trebizond; Alexios is proclaimed emperor.Depends on: Georgian support and the capital's collapse. Stopped by: a firm imperial government.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Almost nothing is recorded of Chaldia between 1140 and 1204.

On the map: The governor's reach inland and on the Laz coast is not known; drawn to the watershed.

Primary sources for Byzantium

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
  • History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
  • The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. Read online
  • The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
  • The Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. Read online
  • History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
  • The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
  • The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Chaldia
  2. Wikipedia: Empire of Trebizond
  3. Wikipedia: Alexios I of Trebizond
  4. Wikipedia: Gabras
  5. Niketas Choniates, History, trans. H. J. Magoulias, O City of Byzantium (Detroit 1984): the reigns of Isaac II and Alexios III, read through the archive.org search of the scan

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.