Comnenus

Comnenus, family of rulers of the Byzantine and Trabzon empires. The Byzantine dynasty began with the accession of Isaac I Comnenus (1005?-1061) in 1057 at Constantinople (present-day İstanbul). Other rulers of the dynasty were Alexius I Comnenus, John II Comnenus, Manuel I Comnenus, Alexius II Comnenus, and Andronicus I Comnenus. In 1204 the grandsons of Andronicus I, Alexius and David, left Constantinople when it fell to the Crusaders and established an empire at Trabzon, or Trebizond, on the south shore of the Black Sea. The Comnenian dynasty of Trabzon lasted until 1461, when Emperor David (?-1461?) surrendered to the Ottoman sultan Muhammad II.