nobility, who had hoped that the accession of the young princes would lead to the nobility being able to gain further wealth and power. Soon, two conflicting factions had formed in the nobility: the and the , formed around the noble families of the same names. Irene was supported by the , as well as Italian and Byzantine mercenaries. The considered themselves champions of the memory of Basil and their native rights, according George Finlay opposing Irene as a "Constantinopolitan stranger". Irene held the city of Trebizond itself, but the based themselves in the nearby, and nearly impregnable, monastery dedicated to Saint Eugenios of Trebizond. According to Nicephorus Gregoras, some among the Trapezuntine nobility who opposed Irene hoped to proclaim one of Basil's young illegitimate sons as emperor and rule through him as a puppet. Irene realized that as both a woman and a foreigner without any legitimate connections to the Trapezuntine throne she would not be able to hold on to power for long. As such, she sent messengers to her father in Constantinople, requesting him to send her a noble whom she could marry and maker her co-ruler, and who would command her armies, lead her administration and help her to suppress her enemies. Unfortunately for Irene, her messengers reached Andronikos at a time when he was busy preparing for a campaign against the Despotate of Epirus, and he died on 15 June 1341, without having had the time to aid Irene in finding a husband. At the same time, Irene's policy of granting favors to only select courtiers alienated some of her supporters and divided her court into several factions of its own. In June/July 1341, Anna escaped her convent, persuaded by elements of the Trapezuntine nobility, and travelled to the lands of the Laz people, east of Trebizond, where she was proclaimed empress in opposition to Irene. The deaths of her brothers had made Anna and her younger sister Eudokia, married to a Turkish noble, the sole remaining children of Alexios II, and as the eldest sister, Anna was the nearest legitimate heir of Basil. Anna was preferred as empress by the ethnic minorities of the empire, such as the Laz and Zan peoples, as well as most of the provincial population, given that she belonged to the Grand Komnenos dynasty, rather than the foreign Palaiologos family. Anna was also supported by a large contingent of