page_title: John Komnenos Asen
section_title: Origin and Serbian vassalage
hierarchical_section_title: John Komnenos Asen / Origin and Serbian vassalage
caption_attribution_description: Shqip: Kishat e Kalasë: Godina e Kishës së Shën Triadhes This is a photo of a monument in Albania, number: BR091 English: Churche Castle: Building of the Church of the Holy Trinity. The population of the fortress was Christian, and it had about 20 churches (most built during the 13th century).
context_page_description: John Komnenos Asen was the ruler of the Principality of Valona from circa 1345 to 1363, initially as a vassal of the Serbian Empire, and after 1355 as a largely independent lord. Descended from high-ranking Bulgarian nobility, John was a brother of both Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria and Helena of Bulgaria, the wife of Tsar Stephen Dušan of Serbia. Perhaps in search of better opportunities, he emigrated to Serbia, where his sister was married. There, he was granted the title of despot by Stephen Dušan, who placed him in charge of his territories in modern south Albania.
  As the despot of Valona, John established commercial ties with Venice and Ragusa, and he became a citizen of the former in 1353. After the death of Dušan in 1355, he took the side of the unsuccessful Simeon Uroš in the ensuing conflict for the Serbian throne. With Venetian assistance, John maintained the essentially independent status of the Principality of Valona. He probably died of the plague in 1363 and he was succeeded by Alexander Komnenos Asen, who was likely his son from his unknown first wife. John's second marriage was to the former Epirote queen-consort Anna Palaiologina.
context_section_description: While the birth date of John Komnenos Asen is unknown, his origin is clearly documented in the sources. On both sides, he descended from the highest ranks of 14th-century Bulgarian nobility. He was born to Keratsa Petritsa, a daughter of despot Shishman of Vidin, and Sratsimir, the despot of Kran. John's mother was a descendant of the Asen dynasty as a grand granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Asen II. His siblings were Ivan Alexander, who would ascend to the Bulgarian throne in 1331, and Helena, who married Serbian ruler Stephen Dušan in 1332. Even though John was commonly referred to as a Komnenos in the sources, his relations to that Byzantine family are rather scarce. He had rights to that name either through his mother's descent from the Asens, themselves related to the Komnenoi, or through his marriage to Anna Palaiologina.
  It is uncertain as to exactly why John emigrated to Serbia instead of assuming a high-ranking position in Bulgaria, as his ancestry and family ties would suggest. Bulgarian historian Ivan Bozhilov is of the opinion that John was not seeking political refuge in Serbia. Instead, it is most likely that he moved to that country with the belief that Serbia's territorial expansion and political influence in that period would secure him better career opportunities. Presumably, John accompanied his sister Helena when she moved to Serbia to marry Stephen Dušan in 1332.
  John was first mentioned as the despot of Valona in 1350 and his documented presence in the Albanian lands only dates to 1349. However, he was most likely bestowed the title as early as 1345 or 1346, when Stephen Dušan was proclaimed Emperor (Tsar). American scholar John Fine believes this happened immediately after Stephen Dušan's coronation in 1346. Along with Stephen Dušan's half-brother, Simeon Uroš, and Jovan Oliver, John was one of three people to bear that title under Stephen Dušan.
  John was installed as ruler of Valona in late 1345, in the wake of the Serbian conquest of south Albania from the Byzantine Empire, which was concluded no later than August 1345. Besides the Adriatic port of Valona (modern Vlorë), John's appanage included nearby Kanina and the inland castle of Berat to the northeast. Other than that, the extent of his domain is uncertain. Estimates of the area John ruled over range from all of central Albania to only the three cities mentioned, with the rest remaining under the government of local Albanian nobility, who owed allegiance either to John or to Stephen Dušan directly. To the south, John's appanage bordered on the lands of Simeon Uroš, the ruler of Epirus.
caption: Berat Castle (13th century) was under the rule of John Komnenos Asen in the mid-14th century
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