GIORGIO AMIRUTZES. – An official (protovestiarios) at the court of the emperor of Trebizond, Davide (1458–62), and adviser to the Byzantine emperor Giovanni VIII Paleologo at the Council of Florence. There he was a defender of the Union; indeed, he issued a profession of Catholic faith recently published by M. Jugie (v. BIBLICA). Upon returning to Trebizond, he became a fierce opponent of Rome, as is shown by a letter of his to Demetrio, duke of Nauplia (published by L. Mohler and subsequently by M. Jugie [V. BIBLICA.]). After the conquest of Trebizond by the Turks (1461), he did not display strength of character, but converted to Islam,
toward which he was also driven by his less than edifying private life. Some of his writings are still preserved, in addition to those mentioned above.