Civil War
The first round of the civil war began shortly after her accession. Three opposing parties had formed: first was that of Irene, the family of Amytzantarants, and her Byzantine mercenaries provided courtesy of her father; second was of the opposing nobles under the Lord of Tzanich, the captain-general of the Scholarioi and a part of the imperial bodyguard loyal to the memory of their late Emperor, and the third party was that of the Grand Duke John the Eunuch of Limnia. The rebel nobles encamped themselves in the Monastery of St. Eugenios in the capital, but Grand Duke of Limnia decided to join Irene and helped her deal with the rebels. They bombarded the monastery, destroying it almost completely, and defeated the rebels in early July 1340.
In the same time, affairs of the Empire went worse as the Turkmen attacked Trebizond and marched up to the walls of the capital itself. A first attack was repelled but the second could not be stopped by the demoralized army of Irene, and the Turkmen set fire to much of Trebizond without being able to capture it. The catastrophe was exacerbated by the outbreak of an epidemic, which Panaretus states as having come about from the foul stench of the rotting corpses of horses and men.
Read more about this topic: Irene Palaiologina Of Trebizond
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“A war between Europeans is a civil war.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The utter helplessness of a conquered people is perhaps the most tragic feature of a civil war or any other sort of war.”
—Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835–1930)
“Luxury, or a refinement on the pleasures and conveniences of life, had long been supposed the source of every corruption in government, and the immediate cause of faction, sedition, civil wars, and the total loss of liberty. It was, therefore, universally regarded as a vice, and was an object of declamation to all satyrists, and severe moralists.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)