Timeline Thursday 15 August 1461

Events on Thursday 15 August 1461 1

• 1461 Fall of Trebizond -- the last Byzantine state The Empire of Trebizond -- the last surviving Byzantine successor state, established after 1204 on the Black Sea coast -- falls to Mehmed II on 15 August 1461. Its emperor David Komnenos surrenders after a brief siege; he and his family are initially spared, then executed in 1463. Trebizond's fall is sometimes cited as the true end of Byzantine civilisation; the city's unique cultural tradition (it preserves aspects of Byzantine court culture that even Constantinople had abandoned) disappears. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople survives under Ottoman rule, maintaining a degree of ecclesiastical autonomy that preserves Greek cultural identity.