Alexios Axouch

Alexios Axouch or Axouchos, sometimes found as Axuch , was a 12th-century Byzantine nobleman and military leader of mixed Seljuk and Byzantine ancestry.

Biography Alexios Axouch was the son of John Axouch, the (chief commander) of the Byzantine army, boyhood friend and "right-hand man" of Emperor John II Komnenos . Alexios himself married Maria Komnene, the daughter of John II's eldest son and co-emperor Alexios, who died in 1142.

An experienced soldier, Alexios was awarded the rank of and participated in several military campaigns during the middle reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos . Modern scholarship considers this accusation unlikely. In addition, among other things, Alexios was also accused of "dabbling in sorcery" and conspiring with a Latin "wizard" to drug the Empress Maria of Antioch to prevent her from giving birth to an heir. The historian John Kinnamos maintained that the charges of conspiracy were genuine, but Niketas Choniates believed that Axouch had been set up by the insecure Manuel. In particular, Choniates reports that Manuel suspected both Axouch and his cousin, the future Andronikos I Komnenos , because of the AIMA prophecy, that stated that his successor's name would begin with an "A". Whatever the truth, Alexios was found guilty and confined to a monastery for the rest of his days, despite his wife's repeated efforts to secure his release by Manuel. Maria reportedly died from her sorrow over her husband's fate, while Alexios himself also dying a few years after his tonsure.

Alexios Axouch had two sons, one of whom, John Komnenos "the Fat", led an abortive revolt against Emperor Alexios III Angelos in July 1201, and was killed during it.