John Axuch

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John Axuch was the Commander-in-Chief, (Megas Domestikos), of the Byzantine army during the early part of the reign of Emperor John II Comnenus.

John was a Turk by birth. As an infant he had been captured by Crusaders at Nicaea. He had been given to Alexius I Comnenus as a present and had been raised in the imperial household.

Growing up he was a constant companion of John Comnenus. When the latter ascended the throne, as John II, he put John Axuch in charge of the military. He was the emperor's only close personal friend and all members of the imperial family were required to make obeisance to him. After foiling a plot against his life and throne by his sister Anna and her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios (who betrayed the plot), John II tried to give his sister's confiscated lands to Axuch. Axuch wisely refused as he realised that it would have soured his relations with the imperial family and made him unpopular with the higher aristocracy.

The Emperor was an active soldier and often went on campaign, therefore he and Axuch often collaborated in their efforts. In the taking of Laodicea in 1119, Axuch conducted the siege, which then allowed John II a swift victory when he arrived on the scene.