with each other, Alexios despaired of security in his capital and retired to the coastal castle of Tripolis. The young emperor was supported by his mother and some loyal generals and courtiers, including Michael Panaretos, whose laconic chronicle is the principal source on the political history of the Empire of Trebizond. With them he subdued insubordinate nobles one by one. Alexios and his court further strengthened their position by fostering peaceful relations with the Turkmen with marriage alliances such as that between the emperor's oldest sister Maria and Fahreddin Kutlubeg of Aq Qoyunlu in 1352. As Alexios' position improved, he relied less on the kingmaker Niketas. By June 1354 the megas doux was forced to flee to Kerasous, where he prepared a fleet consisting of one galley and eleven smaller vessels that sailed against Trebizond in March 1355. The rebels realized that they would be unable to win and abandoned their expedition. Alexios fitted out his own fleet of galleys and several smaller crafts, and in May sailed to Kerasous with the company of his mother and the Metropolitan of Trebizond, and conquered the town in the absence of Niketas. The emperor's cavalry besieged the last fortress loyal to the megas doux, Kenchrina, and obtained its surrender. Niketas and his aristocratic supporters were taken captive and brought to Trebizond, where he died in 1360. With the imprisonment of Niketas, Michael Panaretos' leaves off writing of the civil war. Most writers conclude this means the civil war itself ended, but an attempt by the Kabasites and other nobles to assassinate Alexios III in 1363 may be part of that conflict. Alexios escaped their ambush and later, with the help of loyal soldiers, arrested all of them. The Metropolitan Niphon was deposed for his complicity in the plot and died confined in a monastery the following year. He was replaced with the emperor's supporter John Lazaropoulos, who became Metropolitan of Trebizond under the monastic name Joseph. In spite of his victories over the nobles, Alexios showed restraint and willingness to compromise by granting charters to noble families confirming them in possession of their lands. External affairs Alexios III began dealing with strengthening the frontier against the Turkmen before the end of the civil unrest. In this he was less successful, and suffered a major defeat in battle in 1355. Alexios and Panaretos barely escaped with their lives. A raid on Matzouka by