In April 1204, two grandsons of Andronicus I Comnenus rebelled against the Angeli and conquered most of the anatolian coast, taking advantage of the confusion caused by the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders. However, they were defeated by the Laskarids of Nicaia and had to give up their claim to the Byzantine throne when Michael VIII conquered Constantinople in 1261. In 1282, Michael VIII the Great Komnenos forced John II to surrender his byzantine titles, and from that time the prince of Trebizonde called himself "Emperor and ruler of the entire East, Iberia and Perateia, the Great Komnenus."

From this time, a golden double eagle appears on a red field as a symbol of Trebizonde. The oldest mention is in the role of Wijnbergen in which the weapons of the Latin and Byzantine emperors are also depicted. Further sources are the nautical charts from the 14th and 15th centuries on which Trebizonde always has a flag with the double eagle on a red cloth.

The double eagle for Trebizonde also appears in literature. There is a chrysobulla from Alexius III on which the robe's robe is adorned with double eagles. Ulrich Richental also gives the arm s with the golden double eagle on red for two princes from Trebizonde who were present at the Council of Konstantz.

The use of this eagle is shared by the Komnenen with the despots of Epirus and Mistra who had also claimed the byzantine imperial title for themselves. The epirotic eagle

occurs approximately at the same time as that of the Komnenes. The one from Mistra appears later in the 14th century. It can therefore be suspected that these three princes were simultaneously "aligned" by Michael VIII and thereby assigned a high rank in the Byzantine hierarchy (hereditary?).The sultan of Ikonion also carried a golden double eagle on red in the 13th century.

However, under the title "Die Keyser v Troppezunt", the authoritative weapons book of the Heraut Gelre gives a completely different weapon, namely Hermelijn with two blue bars and in a free quarter the weapon of the Latin emperors of Byzantium. Undoubtedly this is a confusion, but it is not possible to figure out (for the time being). It is probably that we have to search among the allies of the titular emperors of Byzantium, Robert and Philip of Anjou-Tarente and Jacques of Baux.

Eight years after the fall of Constantinople the 21st Comnenus, David, surrendered the city to the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II on 15 August 1461. Some parts however still resisted  until 1478 and the interior was difficult to submit. From this time a peculiar coat of arms is given by Conrad Grüneberg „Der kaiser von Trappesod stost an Kriechen vnd an das Kaisertum von Athen. Hat yetzn der turgisch kaiser gewunnen und den kaiser geköpft”.

Trebizonde fell eight years after the fall of Constantinople on August 15, 1461 when the 21st Komnenus, David, surrendered the city to Sultan Mohammed II. Some areas continued to resist until 1478 and the interior was difficult to subdue. A special weapon given by Conrad Grüneberg dates from this period.

In the Ottoman Empire, Trebizonde was an eyâlet under a beylerbeyi. The Traâzon eyâlet is mentioned for the first time in 1511.] In 1559 the Portuguese cartographer Diogo Homem gave a flag for Trabzon on a map of the Black Sea. This is light blue with a kidney-shaped symbol between four crescents. A map of Georgio Sideri from 1565 of roughly the same area, but without Trabzon, displays such flags as a crescent between five balla and this corresponds to the later use of flags for the beylerbeyis of the Ottoman eyâlets. ]

In 1665 the Matzouken tried to conquer the city and the so-called "Christians from the interior" fought for a long time for their freedom of religion, which they received in 1911.

During the Russian occupation of 1916 –‘18, the administration was taken over by Chrysanthos, the Metropolitan of Trebizonde, who also wanted to found a Pontic Republic. Probably in this time the façade of the Hagia Sophia was restored and a nimbused eagle was sculpured on the top.

Façade of Hagia Spohia, Trabzon

The Republic of Pontus existed from 1917 to 1919 but was never really proclaimed. The capital was Trabzon and the emblem consisted of an eagle The golden double eagle on a red field ended up in the arms of the Republic of Armenia. In 1922, Chrysanthos was forced to send 164,000 Pontic Christians to Greece during an exchange of the population. The exodus of these Christians certainly went on until the 80s of the 20th century.

The Republic of Pontus was a proposed Pontian Greek state in the north-eastern part of modern Turkey from 1917 to 1922. The Republic of Pontus was never officially proclaimed, but a central government of an embryonic state existed, though not occupying all the claimed areas. The Pontian Greeks rebelled against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, under the leadership of Chrysanthus, Metropolitan of Trebizond. In 1917 Greece and the Entente powers considered the creation of a Hellenic autonomous state in Pontus, most likely as part of a Ponto-Armenian Federation. In 1919 on the fringes of the Paris Peace Conference Chrysanthos proposed the establishment of a fully independent Republic of Pontus, but neither Greece nor the other delegations supported it. 

After the collapse of the Greek front in Asia Minor during the Greco-Turkish War the plan of a fully independent state in the region collapsed, and the subsequent Greek-Turkish population exchange removed the Pontic Greeks from their homeland and resettled them in Greece (chiefly in Macedonia).

The "Tylene 500" Irregular force carried this version of the Greek Pontus Republic flag

Between 1916-1923 the Greek Orthodox population then living in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey were subjected to harsh treatment by the Turkish authorities. Those that could escaped to Greece. A Paulovian volunteer battalion called the “Tylene 500”, sailed to the region in 1918 with noble intent and a desire to help defend the infant Greek Pontus Republic (1917-1919). This action was specifically against Prince Alexander's orders. However, the irregular unit was quickly destroyed by Turkish forces within a week of landing. The divided loyalty of the Tylene Islands led to their transfer to Greece in 1920 in exchange for the smaller and less strategic Andreas Islands. Tylene inhabitants wishing to retain their Paulovian nationality were transferred to their new home. 

House of Komnenos

Alexius I

In 1214 Kaikaus of Ikonion forced Alexis of Trabzon to pay tribute.

Andronicus I, Gidos

1222-1235

Johan I Axouchos

1235-1238

Manuel I

1238-1263

Andronicus II

1263-1266

Georgius

1266-1280

1272 ca Roll of arms Wijnbergen nr. 1298: le.Roi dalexandre. gules a two-headed eagle Or, billed and clawed Azure.

Johan II

1280-1284

In 1282 Michael III of Byzantium compelled John II to abandon his byzantine (imperial) titles and from that ime on the ruler of Trabzon called himself “Emperor and ruler of all of the East, Iberia and Perateia, the Great Komnenos".

(Iberia (Georgia) was never conquered by the Komnenes and Perateia (Southern Krim) was only in the 13th century for a short time in their hands

The territory consisted of a strip of the Black Sea coast with the cities Cerasus (Giresun), Tripolis (Tirebolu) and Rhizaion (Rize).

Theodora

1284-1285

John II

1285-1297

Alexius II

1297-1330

1320 ca. (Petrus Vesconte or Mario Sanudo): Gules, a two-headed eagle Or

Pietro Vesconte, Mappa Mundi 1321

Andronicus III

1330-1332

Manuel II

1332

Basil

1332-1340

Portolan of 1339, Angelino Dulcerta: Trabzon: Gules, a two-headed eagle Or

Irena Paleologina

1340-1341

Anna Anachoutlou

1341

Michael

1341

Anna Anachoutlou

1341-1342

Michael

1344-1349

Alexius III

1349-1390

Gelre fol 105 r^o

1486 Die Keyser v Troppezunt: d'hermines a 2 fasces d'azur au fr. quartier de Constantinople (=1484) [Alexis III Komnenos 1349-1390)]

In Gelre Armorial there are no arms with two-headed eagles.

1385 (GS): Trabzon: Rood, een gouden dubbele adelaar.

Chrysobulla of Alexius II. His empress dressed in red, strewn with two-headed golden eagles

Munt met een dubbele adelaar.

Manuel III

1390-1417

Ulrich Richental: Chronik des Konzils zu Konstantz 1414-1418

Fol. 135b: Hertzog Philipp von Tropy in kriechen voz selb ze Costentz: Rood, een gouden dubbele adelaar. Kroon: 5 fleurons.

Fol. 136: Hertzog Michel von Tropy uss kriechen sin syn voz och ze Costentz.

Alexius IV

1417-1429

Calojoannes

1429-1458

1456 (JB): Trabzon: Rood, een gouden dubbele adelaar

David

1458-1461

Fall of Trabzon, 1461. Turkish rule until present

After the fall of Trabzon some coats of arms were ascribed to it. In 1478 Alonso de Torres (in: Martin de Riquer: Heraldica Castellana) thinks:  Nr. 407:  El enperador de Trapesondas. Traya por armas de plata con cuatro fasas negras y con un cuartel de Constantynobla.  (Argent, four fesses Sabel and a quarter of Constantinople, which is desribed in n° 408. as: El enperador de Costantynopla. Trae de colorado con una cruz de oro y en cada un cuartel un fyrmal de oro y más cuatro cruzetas de oro recruzetadas.

A coat of arms of a golden two-headed eagle on a red field is by the same author ascribed to n°. 427: El rrey de Por de Rromania. Trae de gulas con el agila de oro de dos cabeças. = Arms: Gules, a two-headed eagle Or.

By Conrad Grüneberg in his „Wappenbuch” a quite a different coat of arms is ascribed to the Emperor of Trabzon This is:

Argent, a basilisk Or, blled, combed, clawed and jellooped Gules. . The legend reads:: „Der kaiser von Trappesod stost an Kriechen vnd an das Kaisertum von Athen. Hat yetzn der turgisch kaiser gewunnen und den kaiser geköpft”.(The emperoro of Trebisonde borders with Greece and with the empire of Athens, has been vanquished by the Turkish emperor and beheaded.

As the history of Trabzon and his emperor by Grüneberg may be true, the coat of arms given are not of Trabzon but of Kazan

After te conquest the flags as given by the portolanes is of Ottomna design, showing a crescent

Detail of a map of  Diogo Homem, 1559. Part of Asia Minor. In the lower right corner: „trapesonda

Flag of Trabzon on the Portolan of Georgio Sideri, 1565

Sinope

At Sinope in the easternmost part of Trabzon is a banner with a moor’s head on the map of Petrus Vesconte. The moor’s head  retrun at Ulrich Richental fo 130 b and is Arnent a but oa moor with black  scarf. And a crown of 3 leaves and 2 pearls. L. : Rex Zaldachie ist och under den grossen Khan. (= Shahrukh, 1405-1447.