The Principality of Theodoro (Greek: Αὐθεντία πόλεως Θεοδωροῦς καὶ παραθαλασσίας), also known as Gothia (Γοτθία) or the Principality of Theodoro-Mangup, was a former Roman principality in the southern part of Crimea, specifically on the foothills of the Crimean Mountains. It represented the final rump state of the Eastern Roman Empire and the last territorial vestige of the Crimean Goths until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire by the Ottoman Gedik Ahmed Pasha in 1475. Its capital was Doros, also sometimes called Theodoro and now known as Mangup. The state was closely aligned with the Empire of Trebizond.
Geography
The Theodoro principality wíth its capital Theodoro (also known as Mangup) was located in the Crimean Mountains in southern Crimea. From the first half of the 15th century it also included parts of the coastline, now stretching from Kalamita Bay in the west to possibly as far east as modern Rybache just west of Kanaka.
Nomenclature
The name "Theodoro" (in the corrupted form Θεοδωραω) appears for the first time in a Greek inscription also dated to c. 1361/1362, and then again as "Theodoro Mangop" in a Genoese document of 1374. It was suggested by A. Mercati that the form is a corruption of the Greek plural Theodoroi 'the Theodores', meaning Saints Theodore Stratelates and Theodore Tiro, but N. Bănescu proposed the alternative explanation that it resulted from the definitive Greek name τὸ Δόρος (to Doros) or τὸ Δόρυ (to Dory), after the early medieval name of the region. Whatever its provenance, the name stuck: by the 1420s the official titulature of the prince read "Lord of the city of Theodoro and the Maritime Region" (αὐθέντης πόλεως Θεοδωροῦς καὶ παραθαλασσίας), while colloquially it was called Θεοδωρίτσι (Theodoritsi, 'little Theodoro') by its inhabitants. Local Greeks called the narrow strip of the coastal land from Yamboli (Balaklava) in the west to Allston (Alushta) in the east Parathalassia (Greek: Παραθαλασσια, "seashore"), while under Genoese rule it was known as Captainship of Gothia.
History
Origins and early history (until 14th century)
In the late 12th century, the Crimean peninsula had seceded from the Byzantine Empire, but soon after the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, parts of it were included in the Trapezuntine Gazarian Perateia. This dependence was never very strong and was eventually replaced by the invading Mongols, who in 1238 poured into the peninsula, occupied its east and enforced a tribute on the western half, including Gothia. Their influence was limited, leaving administrative matters in native hands.
The Principality of Gothia is first mentioned in the early 14th century, with the earliest date offered by the post-Byzantine historian Theodore Spandounes, who records the existence of a "Prince of Gothia" in the reign of Andronikos III Palaiologos (1328–1341). Further references occur over the 14th century, with several scholars identifying the "Dmitry", one of the three Golden Horde princes in the Battle of Blue Waters (c. 1362/1363), with a Prince of Gothia. The name, in this case, may be the baptismal name of a Tatar lord of Mangup, named Khuitani. The historian Alexander Vasiliev identifies the first prince as Demetrios, attested at the Battle of Blue Waters in c. 1362/3. According to Vasiliev, he is possibly to be identified with the hekatontarches Khuitani, who erected the stone inscription mentioning the name "Theodoro" on the walls of Mangup at about the same time.
The princes following after Demetrios are known solely through Russian sources. A branch of the Greek dynasty Gabras were the rulers of Theodoro and are commonly identified by scholars with the family known from Russian sources as "Khovra". The prince Stephen ("Stepan Vasilyevich Khovra"), emigrated to Moscow in 1391 or 1402 along with his son Gregory. His patronymic implies the existence of a father named Basil, who possibly preceded him as prince (and was in turn possibly Demetrios' son). Stephen and Gregory became monks, and Gregory later founded the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. The Russian noble families of Khovrin and Golovin claimed descent from them.
The principality had peaceful relations with the Golden Horde to its north, paying an annual tribute as vassals, but was in constant strife with Genoese Gazaria colonies to the south over access to the coasts and the trade that went through the Crimean harbors.
In 1395, the warlord Tamerlane invaded the Crimean peninsula, destroying several towns including Gothia's capital Theodoro.
Hieromonk Matthew traveled to the capital of Theodoro in the late 14th century, recording his observations along the way in his work The Story of the City of Theodoro (Διήγησις τῆς πόλεως Θεοδώρου). He describes Theodoro as having endured a prolonged and devastating siege by the "Hagarites" (Muslims), emphasizing the severe conditions faced by its inhabitants. Modern archaeological research has largely confirmed the accuracy of Matthew's descriptions, and scholars associate the destruction he describes with the conflict between Tamerlane and Tokhtamysh in the region.
Peak (15th century)
After Tamerlane's death in 1404 Gothia grew to become one of the most significant powers of the Black Sea, profiting from a period of Genoese instability and the neglect of its Black Sea colonies, but also the rise of the Crimean Khanate. In about 1410/1411 at the latest prince Alexios ascended the throne, apparently with Genoese help. He soon began to challenge the Genoese for control over the Genoese province of Gothia, which comprised the coastal strip from Cembalo to Lusta. In 1423 prince Alexios attacked and the Genoese had to spend a large sum of money to repel him. While Alexios lost Cembalo it seems that he retained the rest of his conquests. Soon after he established relations with Venice, Genoa's archenemy. In 1431 Venice attacked Genoa, while Alexios supported a Greek rebellion in Cembalo in February 1433. A Genoese force reconquered Cembalo in June 1434 and plundered Kalamita, which had been abandoned, but was soon after annihilated by a Tatar army. Kalamita was reclaimed by Theodoro, while Cembalo revolted once more in 1439.
Alexios died in 1444–45 or 1447. His heir was his eldest son John, who was married to Maria Asanina, a woman connected to the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Palaiologoi and the noble lines of Asanes and Tzamplakon. The couple had a son, also named Alexios, who died young c. 1446/7, probably at Trebizond. His epitaph, titled "To the Prince's son" (τῷ Αὐθεντοπούλῳ), was composed by John Eugenikos and offers unique genealogical data on the family. John's reign appears to have been very short, or he may indeed not have reigned at all – A. Vasiliev speculates that he left Gothia for Trebizond as soon as Alexios I died – so another son of Alexios I, Olubei, succeeded as prince in c. 1447 and ruled until c. 1458. A daughter of Alexios I, Maria of Gothia, became in 1426 the first wife of the last Trapezuntine emperor, David.
In 1458 and again in 1472 Genoa considered the lord of Theodoro (dominus tedoro) to be one of the several powerful parties dominating the Black Sea (the others being the Crimean Khanate, Moldova and, until its fall in 1460, the Empire of Trebizond) and advised the consul of Caffa to seek peaceful relations with him.
Olubei is no longer mentioned after c. 1458, and no princes are known by name for some while; Genoese documents only mention "the lord of Theodoro and his brothers" (dominus Tedori et fratres ejus). In 1465, Prince Isaac is mentioned, probably Olubei's son and hence possibly reigning already since c. 1458. In the face of the mounting Ottoman danger, he engaged in a rapprochement with the Genoese at Caffa and wed his sister Maria Asanina Palaiologina to Stephen the Great, ruler of Moldavia. His increasingly pro-Ottoman stance in later years, however, led to his overthrow by his brother Alexander in 1475, with Stephen the Great's backing.
During 1474, the people of Caffa appeared to have been on the verge of rebellion; official documents from this year describe the damage done to Gothic landowners and farmers or the burning of buildings in the border districts of Alushta and Cembalo. The prince at the time, Isaac (Italian documents write him Saichus or Saicus and the Russian Isaiko), fearing a war with Caffa, presented a formal complaint to the Genoese.
Ottoman conquest (1475)
On 20 May 1475, an Ottoman fleet left Constantinople and headed off to Crimea. By 6 June, Gedik Ahmet Pasha, the fleet's Ottoman Albanian commander, had conquered Caffa after five days of siege. The prince sent a message on 20 June informing the Hungarian king that Theodoro had been captured by Alexander, brother-in-law of Stephen the Great; however, he also mentioned that Caffa had been captured by the Ottomans, while the khan of Crimea had allied with the sultan.
The siege of Theodoro castle began sometime in September. The prince had three hundred Wallachians fighting in the defense. According to Vasiliev, the city endured five major assaults during the siege; in the end, Theodoro's food supply was blockaded and the people began to succumb to famine. At the end of December 1475, Mangup surrendered to the Ottomans under the condition that the Prince, the people, and their property would be spared. While much of the rest of Crimea remained part of the Crimean Khanate, now an Ottoman vassal, the former lands of Theodoro and southern Crimea were administered directly by the Sublime Porte.
According to the Ottoman historian Ashik Pasha-Zade, after Mangup surrendered the Ottomans treated it the same way as Caffa. The Ottomans took the chiefs of the city and brought them to Constantinople where they were executed. Their treasures were handed over to the Sultan, while their wives and daughters were given as presents to the Sultan's officials. Alexander and his family were also taken to Constantinople, where the prince was beheaded. His son was forcibly converted to Islam, and his wife and daughters became part of the Sultan's harem. After the city's capitulation, one of the churches was converted into a mosque, where a prayer was said for the Sultan. According to an Ottoman chronicler, "the house of the infidel became the house of Islam."
With the fall of Mangup, the principality ceased to exist; the last political remnant of the Roman Empire disappeared after 2,228 years of Roman civilization since the legendary founding of Rome in 753 BC.
Ethnic origins
Experts have developed several points of view on the ethnic origins of the rulers of the principality.
Greek claim
The claim that the rulers of Theodoro were of Greek origin is the traditional historiographical position, a view primarily supported by the Greek names of the majority of the state's monarchs. Historians such as A. A. Vasiliev, N. V. Malitsky, and A. L. Yakobson advanced the theory that the ruling dynasty belonged to the Gabras (Gavras) family, a prominent Byzantine aristocratic house of the Komnenos era that had previously ruled the Empire of Trebizond. Vasiliev pointed to the historical existence of a village named Gavra in Crimea as onomastic evidence. He further noted that the surname Gavras (or its variant Tavrad) persisted into the modern era among the Christian populations along the northern shores of the Sea of Azov, who had been resettled there at the end of the 18th century from former Crimean Gothic and Theodorian territories.
According to Vasiliev's hypothesis, a member of the Gabras family was exiled to Crimea, and a branch of his descendants, close relatives of the 15th-century rulers of Gothia, subsequently migrated to Moscow around 1399, entering the court of Grand Duke Vasily I of Moscow. In Russian records, their surname was corrupted into the nickname Khovra, eventually developing into the noble Khovrin family, who in turn founded the Golovin boyar lineage. This connection is supported by the Velvet Book (a comprehensive genealogical register of the Russian nobility compiled around 1687), which states that the Khovrins arrived in Moscow "from the hereditary estates of Sudak, Kafa, and Mangup."