"...Following Monomach tradition, Vsevolod held land in a frontier state – Trebizond – ever since he left childhood, under the tutelage of prominent general Theodore Ariminicos (of Goth Crimean descent, and a friend of his father’s). Natural talent and early experience made him into one of the most formidable warriors that ever held the Byzantine throne; he was nominal general in the famously successful campaigns against the Latins since before he was twenty, and sole general not long after. The army became his chief source of support, and he added two tagmata to the royal guard – the same two that formed the bulk of the army that let him take the throne, formed largely from Turks and Caucasians. His difficult experience with the church and opposition to his rule by (largely) Greek and Bul