Gabras

The Gabras were a Byzantine aristocratic family from Chaldia, the mountainous region around Trebizond. Theodore Gabras recaptured Trebizond from the Turks in 1075 and ruled Chaldia as a virtually autonomous governor from 1081 until his death in battle in 1098; he was later venerated as a saint.

Constantine Gabras held Chaldia as a quasi-independent prince from about 1126 until Emperor John II Komnenos subdued him in 1140. The family's Crimean branch ruled the Principality of Theodoro, also called Gothia, from its cliff capital of Mangup.

Prince Stephen emigrated to Moscow with his son Gregory in 1391 or 1402; the Russian Khovrin and Golovin families claimed descent from them. The Theodoro Gabrades balanced vassalage to the Golden Horde with rivalry against the Genoese colonies on the coast, until the Ottomans stormed Mangup and extinguished the principality in 1475.