John II Orsini

John II Orsini, also John Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas (Greek: Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός Δούκας, Iōannēs Komnēnos Doukas, Italian: Giovanni II Orsini), was count palatine of Cephalonia from 1323 to 1324 and Despot of Epirus from 1323 to 1335.

John was the son of Count John I Orsini of Cephalonia by Maria, a daughter of Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas of Epirus by Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzene. His older brother Nicholas Orsini had made himself ruler of Epirus in 1318 by murdering their maternal uncle Thomas I Komnenos Doukas. In 1323 John murdered his brother and succeeded in both Cephalonia and Epirus.

In 1324 John's Angevin overlord, John of Gravina, stopped at Cephalonia on his way to fight the Byzantines in the Peloponnese and deposed John Orsini as count of Cephalonia, annexing the island to his own domains. Deprived from his family base, John had to conclude peace with Andronikos II Palaiologos of the Byzantine Empire and was allowed to establish his control over all of Epirus in exchange for recognizing Byzantine suzerainty. He married Anna Palaiologina, the granddaughter of Demetrios (Michael) Doukas, a son of Michael II Komnenos Doukas of Epirus, who had entered into Byzantine service. Like his brother, John joined the Eastern Orthodox Church, and was awarded the title of despotes by the Byzantine emperor.

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