John Asen

John Asen was probably the first-born son of Andronikos Asen and a brother of Empress Irene Kantakouzene and of Despot Manuel Asen. Like them he tied his fortunes to the house of Kantakouzenos.

At the start of the civil war John and his brother Manuel spent six years imprisoned in the fortress of Vira, until in the autumn of 1341 their sister Irene set them free. John accompanied his brother-in-law John VI Kantakouzenos on the march to Thessalonica (1342), and after Kantakouzenos's second coronation (1347) he was granted, together with his brother, the dignity of sevastokrator. He later bore the title of despot as well, and is mentioned until the late 1350s among the prominent participants in the palace struggles of Byzantium.