John Doukas Komnenos

Life

Born in 1126 as the oldest child of the sebastokrator Andronikos Komnenos and his wife Irene, John was orphaned in 1142 when his father died. John came under the protection of his uncle, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), to whom he remained close throughout his life: in his opulent palatial residence in Constantinople, John commissioned mosaics depicting the martial deeds of the emperors of the Komnenian dynasty, with an inscription that lauded Manuel as his "spiritual father" and even a "second God". In his youth he was lauded for his beauty, his pale complexion and blond hair.

John is first mentioned on campaign in 1146, against the Sultanate of Rum. In 1148 John took part in a Western-style tournament in Heraclea, where he was wounded and lost an eye to the lance strike of an Italian knight. As a recompense, Emperor Manuel I gave him the high rank of protosebastos and appointed him to the office of protovestiarios. This provoked the envy and enmity of the future Andronikos I Komnenos. This rivalry deepened in the following years, as Andronikos became the lover of John's younger sister, Eudokia, and as a result of a public quarrel in 1154; in the same year, John accused his cousin of intending to assassinate Emperor Manuel, while Andronikos openly proclaimed that he wanted to "cut the head of my biggest enemy", meaning John. This statement led Emperor Manuel to imprison Andronikos.

John fought in the Byzantine–Hungarian wars in 1150, winning a victory against a Hungarian detachment near the Strymon river. It may be during this campaign that he received a wound to the thigh, and lost the little finger of his left hand. In 1151, John was doux (military governor) of Sardica (modern Sofia, Bulgaria), was doux of Naissus (modern Nish, Serbia) c. 1154/1155, and then governor of Cyprus in 1155.