Background
Despite being the designated successor of his father Manuel Komnenos, Andronikos" tenure was short due to premature death from unrecorded causes.
Despite being the designated successor of his father Manuel Komnenos, Andronikos" tenure was short due to premature death from unrecorded causes.
The major event of his reign was the definitive loss of Sinope to the Seljuk Turks under the regency of Mu‘in al-Din Suleyman, also known as the Pervane, in the summer or fall of 1265. The capture of Sinope by the Turks gave them the best port on the Black Sea, allowing them to create a navy and compete with the Trapezuntines for influence in the Black Sea. And he died in 6774 (1266)." In his list of the Emperors before Alexios II, Constantine Loukites fails to mention Andronikos.
North. Oikonomides speculates that Loukites omitted Andronikos from his list because the Emperor was excluded from the official gallery of Emperors of Trebizond.
Little more is known of his brief reign. Trebizond continued to flourish as a trading center — two merchants from Marseilles were there in 1263 and 1264 carrying a letter of introduction from Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence.