Komnenos Asen

The Komnenos Asen family sprang from the Bulgarian nobility. John Komnenos Asen was a son of Sratsimir, despot of Kran, and Keratsa Petritsa, a descendant of the Asen tsars, and a brother of Tsar Ivan Alexander and Helena, wife of the Serbian ruler Stephen Dušan.

Around 1345, after Dušan's conquest of southern Albania, John was granted the title of despot and put in charge of Valona, Kanina and Berat. He adopted the Byzantine surname Komnenos and married Anna Palaiologina, widow of the Epirote ruler John II Orsini.

After Dušan died in 1355 he ruled Valona as an effectively independent lord, growing rich on Adriatic trade, until he died of the plague in 1363. His likely son Alexander succeeded him and ruled until about 1371; after his death Valona and Kanina passed to Balsha II through marriage.