Principality of Theodoro

Infobox Former Country
native_name = Θεοδόρο, Γοτθία
conventional_long_name = Theodoro, Gothia
common_name = Theodoro, Gothia
continent = Europe
region = Crimea
country = Ukraine
era = Late Middle Ages
status = Principality
status_text =
empire =
government_type = Monarchy
year_start = around 1204
year_end = 1475
event_start = Fourth Crusade
event_end = Ottoman conquest
p1 = Byzantine Empire
flag_p1 = Flag of Palaeologus Emperor.svg
p2 = Empire of Trebizond
flag_p2 =
s1 = Ottoman Empire
flag_s1 = Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1844).svg


image_map_caption = Crimea in the middle of the 15th century. legend|#00FF00|Theodoro shown in green.
capital = Mangup (Doros, Theodoro)
latd=44 |latm=35 |latNS=N |longd=33 |longm=48 |longEW=E
common_languages = Greek (official), also Crimean Gothic, Kipchak and others
religion = Orthodox Christianity
currency =
leader1 = Alexander of Theodoro
year_leader1 = 1475
title_leader = Prince
footnotes = The Principality of Theodoro ( _el. Θεοδόρο), also known as Gothia ( _el. Γοτθία), was a small principality in the south-west of Crimea from the 13th through 15th centuries. Its capital was Doros, which was also sometimes called Theodoro and is now known as Mangup. The state was closely allied with the Empire of Trebizond.

History

The Principality was formed after the Fourth Crusade out of parts of the Byzantine "thema" of "Klimata" which were not occupied by the Genoese. Its population was a mixture of Greeks, Crimean Goths, Alans, Kypchaks and other nations, which confessed Orthodox Christianity. The principality's official language was Greek. The territory was initially under the control of Trebizond, and possibly part of its Crimean possessions, the "Perateia". Theodore II Gabras, a scion of the noble Gabras family (also called Chowra in Turkish) of Armenian descent was appointed as the governor.

The Gabras family soon refortified Doros, and named the new citadel St. Theodore ( _el. Άγιος Θεόδωρος), after its patron saint. This became the administrative center of the new principality, from which it took its name. The principality had peaceful relations with the Golden Horde to its north, paying an annual tribute as vassals, but was in constant strife with the Genoese colonies to the south over access to the coasts and the trade that went through the Crimean harbours. A narrow strip of the coastal land from Yamboli (Balaklava) in the west to the Aluston (Alushta) in the east initially part of the principality soon fell under Genoese control. Local Greeks called this region Parathalassia ( _el. Παραθαλασσια - sea shore), while under Genoese rule it was known as Captainship of Gothia. After they had lost harbours on the southern coast Theodorites built a new port called Avlita at the mouth of the Chernaya River and fortified it with the fortress of Kalamita (modern Inkerman).

In May 1475, the Ottoman commander Gedik Ahmet Pasha conquered Caffa and at the end of the year, after five months of besieging Mangup, the city fell to the assailants. 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 was administered directly by the Sublime Porte.

Princes of Theodoro

* Demetrios (after 1362 — before 1368)
* ?
* Basil
* Stephen, son of Basil, (?—1402)
* Alexios I, son of Stephen, (1402—1434)
* Alexios II, son of Alexios I, (1434—1444)
* John (Olubey), son of Alexios I, (1444—1460)
* ?
* Isaac, son of Alexios I, (1471—1474)
* Alexander, son of Alexios II, (June — December 1475)

Sources

* А. В. Васильев, М. Н. Автушенко «Загадка княжества Феодоро» Севастополь, 2006
* Т. М. Фадеева, А. К. Шапошников «Княжество Феодоро и его князья» Симферополь, 2005