Editing Komnenos (section)

==Later family==
The widespread branches of the Komnenoi were severely culled in the turmoils of the late 12th century: first Andronikos I executed many of his own relatives because they opposed his own policies, while the opposition by the Komnenian-led aristocracy to  [[Isaac II Angelos]] also resulted in the death of many family members.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=27}} Coupled with the chaos after the [[Sack of Constantinople]] and the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade, the exact genealogical connections of the various Komnenoi mentioned in later sources are difficult to determine.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=27}}

Several weeks before the occupation of Constantinople by crusaders in 1204, one branch of the Komnenoi fled back to their homelands in Paphlagonia, along the eastern [[Black Sea]] and its hinterland in the [[Pontic Alps]], where they established the [[Empire of Trebizond]]. Their first 'emperor', named [[Alexios I of Trebizond|Alexios I]], was the grandson of Emperor Andronikos I.<ref>A. A. Vasiliev, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2846872 "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)"], ''Speculum'', '''11''' (1936), pp. 3–37</ref> These emperors—the '''Grand Komnenoi''' ({{transliteration|el|Megaloi Komnenoi}} or {{transliteration|el|Megalokomnenoi}} in Greek) as they were known{{efn|On the various theories on the origin and significance of the name, cf. indicatively {{harvnb|Lampsidis|1967}}, {{harvnb|Hemmerdinger|1970}}, {{harvnb|Schreiner|1971}}, {{harvnb|Macrides|1979}}}}—ruled in [[Trabzon|Trebizond]] until 1461, when the empire [[Fall of Trebizond|fell]] to the Ottomans. The last emperor,  [[David of Trebizond|David Komnenos]] was, and his family were executed two years later by the [[Ottoman sultan]] [[Mehmed II]].{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|pp=28–29}} Mehmed himself claimed descent from the Komnenos family via [[John Tzelepes Komnenos]]. The Trapezutine branch of the Komnenos dynasty also held the name of Axouchos as descendants of [[John Axouch]], a Byzantine nobleman and minister to the Byzantine Komnenian Dynasty. A princess of the Trebizond branch is said to have been the mother of prince [[Sultan Yahya|Yahya]] (born 1585),{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} who reportedly became a Christian yet spent much of his life attempting to gain the Ottoman throne.

Another branch of the family, descendants of [[Constantine Angelos]], founded the [[Despotate of Epirus]] in 1204, under [[Michael I Komnenos Doukas]], great-grandson of Emperor Alexios I. This branch adopted the surnames '''Komnenos Doukas''' and are known as such in modern scholarship. Helena Doukaina Komnene, a child of that branch of the family, married [[Guy I de la Roche]] thereby uniting the Komnenos and the [[de la Roche]] houses, with Komnenos family members eventually becoming [[Dukes of Athens]].

One renegade member of the family, also named [[Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus|Isaac Komnenos]], established a separate "empire" on [[Cyprus]] in 1184, which lasted until 1191, when the island was taken from him by [[Richard I of England]] during the [[Third Crusade]]. His daughter, called the [[Damsel of Cyprus]], married [[Thierry of Flanders (flourished 1197–1207)|Thierry of Flanders]] during the [[Fourth Crusade]] and tried to claim the island.

When the Byzantine Empire was [[Reconquest of Constantinople|restored]] in 1261 at Constantinople, it was ruled by a family closely related to the Komnenoi, the [[Palaiologoi]]. The Palaiologoi ruled until the [[fall of Constantinople]] to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

The last descendant of the dynasty is often considered to have been [[John Komnenos Molyvdos]],{{sfn|Varzos|1984a|p=32}} a distinguished [[Ottoman Greeks|Ottoman Greek]] scholar and physician, who became [[metropolitan bishop]] of [[Side, Turkey|Side]] and [[Dristra]], and died in 1719.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} During the Ottoman period, the name "Komnenos", like that of the Byzantine imperial dynasties of Laskaris and Palaiologos, began to be given as a first name.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=29}} These names often were turned into surnames, whence many modern-day bearers of the name.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=30}}

Many later Greeks claimed Komnenian descent, but this is almost certainly fiction.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=30}} This is the case for Patriarch [[Dionysios IV of Constantinople]] and the scholar [[Niccolò Comneno Papadopoli]] in the 17th century.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=30 (note 97)}} Likewise, in 1782, the [[Greeks of Corsica|Corsican Greek]] notable [[Demetrio Stefanopoli]] obtained [[letters patent]] from [[Louis XVI|Louis XVI of France]] recognizing him as the descendant and heir of the Emperors of Trebizond,<ref>{{cite journal | first = Hervé | last = Rousseau | title = La duchesse d'Abrantès, Napoléon et les Comnène | journal = Revue des Deux Mondes|  year = 1966 | pages = 44–52 | jstor= 44592112 }}</ref> but such a descent is a later invention.{{Sfn|Varzos|1984b|p=30 (note 97)}}