700 treason
such as Niccolò Niccoli (1364–1437). He interceded for
Cosimo on the latter’s imprisonment in 1433. He trans-
lated into Latin works of some of the Greek fathers, espe-
cially BASIL THEGREAT, John CHRYSOSTOM, and DIONYSIUS
THEAREOPAGITE.
From 1431 to 1434, Ambrogio led the reform of his
own order as superior general. He was a papal legate at
the Council of BASEL, where he made a speech against the
ideas of CONCILIARISMon August 26, 1435. As an author-
ity on Greek, he participated in a decree of union
between the Eastern and Western Churches at the Coun-
cil of Florence of July 5, 1439. He was one of the Floren-
tine humanists who frequented the papal court at that
time. He was a great patron of art at the Monastery of
Santa Maria degli Angeli and sponsored an important
SCRIPTORIUMfor the new humanist script. He was impor-
tant in introducing Byzantine and early Christian ideas in
humanist philosophical and theological thought. On
October 21, 1439, Traversari died suddenly at Florence.
He was buried in the hermitage church at Camaldoli near
Florence.
See alsoEUGENIUSIV, POPE.
Further reading:Deno John Geanakoplos, Byzantine
East and Latin West: Two Worlds of Christendom in Middle
Ages and Renaissance(New York: Barnes & Noble, 1966);
Charles L. Stinger, Humanism and the Church Fathers:
Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) and Christian Antiquity
in the Italian Renaissance (Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1977).
treason SeeIMPEACHMENT AND ATTAINDER.
Trebizond Empire Medieval Trebizond was a former
classical Greek colony in northeastern ANATOLIAon the
south shore of the Black Sea and later an outpost on the
northeast frontiers of the Roman and Byzantine Empires.
Important in the emperor JUSTINIAN’s Armenian and
Georgian foreign and military policies, it had been well
fortified and thus had escaped Arab conquest. It then
became an outlet on a commercial route to and from the
Muslim world, for Persia or IRAN.SELJUKexpansion in
the 11th century increased its isolation, but it remained a
Byzantine outpost. In the 13th century MERCHANTSof
GENOAand VENICEwere very active in its markets. It suf-
fered periods of vassalage to the Seljuks and MONGOLSin
the 13th century but maintained considerable commer-
cial success by trading in cloth, WINE, silver, and iron.
After the town had refused to acknowledge the political
expulsion of the KOMNENOIdynasty from Constantinople
in 1185, two family members later retreated to Trebizond
and in 1204 made it the capital of the empire of the Great
Komnenoi or Trebizond. That empire lasted until 1461,
when the OTTOMANTURKStook and essentially destroyed
the city.
See alsoBESSARION, JOHNCARDINAL.
Further reading:Anthony A. M. Bryer, The Empire of
Trebizond and the Pontos(London: Variorum, 1980); Ray-
mond Mercier, An Almanac for Trebizond for the Year 1336
(Louvain-la-Neuve: Academia, 1994); William Miller, Tr e -
bizond, the Last Greek Empire (New York: Macmillan,
1926).Tribonian(d. ca. 542/545) legal scholar
Named quaestor by JUSTINIANin 529, Tribonian acted as
his legal adviser. He was one of eight members of a com-
mittee appointed to create a new collection of Roman
LAW formulated since the reign of the second-century
emperor Hadrian (r. 98–117). With 16 prominent lawyers
from BEIRUT, Tribonian issued in 534 a revised version of
the 529 compilation. He worked especially on the Digest
in which he attempted to systematize the rulings of legal
scholars based on 200 to 300 treatises of some 40 writers.
He also produced a handbook for students, the Institutes.
Justinian had to remove him from office because of his
reputation for dubious legal chicanery, but the emperor
soon restored Tribonian to office. He died between 542
and 545.
Further reading: Tony Honoré, Tribonian (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1978).Trinitarian doctrine Trinitarian doctrine has been
one of the central, but often disputed, mysteries and con-
cepts of Christianity. The Trinity was not designated
clearly in Scripture, but ultimately was defined in the first
centuries after Christ by the FATHERS OF THE CHURCH,
especially BASIL THE GREATand AUGUSTINE of HIPPO.
They definitively linked Christianity with a Trinitarian
monotheism. In their scheme, GODwas one being and
one substance made up of three persons, the Father, the
Son or Christ, and the HOLYSPIRIT. God was revealed to
humankind in three distinct equal modes of existence,
yet God remained one through all eternity. This doctrine,
difficult and disputed throughout the period before 1500,
remains a dogma of the Catholic Church.
See alsoANSELM OFLAON; AQUINAS, THOMAS, SAINT;
ARIANISM;BOETHIUS,ANICIUSMANLIUSTORQUATUSSEVER-
INUS; CHRISTOLOGY AND CHRISTOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY;
FILIOQUECLAUSE, DISPUTE OVER; PERSON.
Further reading:Matthew Alfs, Concepts of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit: A Classification and Description of the
Trinitarian and Non-Trinitarian Theologies Existent within
Christendom(Minneapolis: Old Theology Book House,
1984); Michel R. Barnes and Daniel H. Williams, eds.,
Arianism after Arius: Essays on the Development of the
Fourth Century Trinitarian Conflicts(Edinburgh: T. & T.
Clark, 1993); Richard S. Haugh, Photius and the Carolin-
gians: The Trinitarian Controversy(Belmont, Mass.: Nord-
land, 1975); Duncan Reid, Energies of the Spirit:
Trinitarian Models in Eastern Orthodox and Western Theol-
ogy(Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997).