“The Empire of Trebizond was the result of an accident.” With these words, George Finlay begins to write about this medieval kingdom.

This peculiar state, a product of the turbulent era that marked the transition from the twelfth to the thirteenth century for Romania, although aspiring to liberate Constantinople from the Crusaders, was quickly limited, territorially, to the southeastern coastline of the Black Sea.

As a result, it had to carve out its own path and fight hard for its survival throughout its two-and-a-half centuries of existence. Due to this isolation from the European West, the history of the Empire of Trebizond, even today, is characterized by dark spots.

In his work, Finlay is one of the first historians of the Modern Era who attempts to shed light on many of these. Drawing on a wealth of different sources and providing rich descriptions of the character of its inhabitants, the monuments of the empire, as well as the actions of the family of the Great Comneni, the British historian transports us to an almost forgotten past.

The glory of the far-flung Empire of Trebizond and the desperate struggle of the last remnant of Byzantium, as recorded by the fighter of 1821 and distinguished British historian George Finlay.