John Doukas (son of Michael II)

John Doukas (Greek: Ἰωάννης Δούκας, Iōannēs Doukas) was a son of the Despot of Epirus, Michael II Komnenos Doukas, and a general in Byzantine service.

John was the second-born son of the Despot of Epirus, Michael II Komnenos Doukas, and Theodora Petraliphaina.^[1][2] In 1261 his mother brought him as a hostage to the Byzantine court at Constantinople, where he married Tornikina Komnene (of unknown first name), the second-born daughter of the sebastokrator Constantine Tornikios.^[1][3] The couple had at least one daughter, Helena, but the marriage was unhappy, with John apparently despising his wife. As a result, he was imprisoned and blinded in 1280, and committed suicide shortly after.^[1][3]

References

1. PLP, 205. <῎Αγγελος>, ̓Ιωάννης ∆ούκας.
2. Polemis 1968, pp. 94, 95.
3. Polemis 1968, p. 95.

Sources

• Polemis, Demetrios I. (1968). The Doukai: A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography. London: The Athlone Press.
• Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit (2001). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). I, 1–12, Add. 1–2, CD-ROM Version. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-3003-1.