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Theodora Azuchina

Theodora Azuchina

Female - Yes, date unknown    Has no ancestors but more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Theodora Azuchina 
    Gender Female 
    Death Yes, date unknown 
    Person ID I488238  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 12 Nov 2009 

    Family Alexios Megas Komnenos, I,   b. 1182   d. 1 Feb 1222 (Age 40 years) 
    Children 
    +1. John Megas Komnenos   d. Yes, date unknown
    +2. Manuel Megas Komnenos, I,   b. 1218   d. Mar 1263 (Age 45 years)
     3. NN Komnene   d. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F195970  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 14 Oct 2004 

  • Notes 
    • "Theodora Axuchina" is supposed by some to have bethe wife of Alexios I of Trebizond . She is not mentionned in any source an both her first name and surname are just guesses made by modern genealogists
      Her name appears in the Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten (1978) by Detlev Schwennicke and has since found its place in several modern genealogies. However the name does not seem to appear in primary sources.
      That her family name was "Axuch" is considered possible because the full name of her eldest son was " John I Megas Komnenos Axouchos ". Komnenos was the name of the reigning family of the Empire of Trebizond . "Megas" (the Grand) was the name assumed by their particular branch of the family, in contrast with other existing lines of the extended Komnenoi family. The "Axuchos" in the name is thus considered to possibly reflect maternal ancestry.
      The first name Theodora is a guess based on the name of her best known granddaughter, Theodora of Trebizond . Under Greek naming conventions, the eldest daughter of a couple is named after her paternal grandmother. However it is not proved at all that the younger Theodora was the eldest daughter of her parents. : she had at least two sisters. . So there is no evidence to even hypothezise that Theodora was the first name of Alexios' wife.

      She was perhaps a daughter of John Komnenos Axuch. John was a short-lived rival emperor to Alexios III Angelos . On 31 July 1200 , John was proclaimed Emperor in Hagia Sophia . He was betrayed and killed by his own soldiers, defecting back to the service of Alexios. "A Genealogy of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond" by Kelsey Jackson Williams, gives his nickname as "John the Fat". Williams theorises that John had married a daughter of John II Komnenos and Piroska of Hungary . However, and whatever could be Williams' arguments, such couple can obviously not have begotten emperor Alexis' wife: a daughter of Pyroska could not have been born later than in the 1120', and her own daughter would not be born after ca 1170 at the latest. So "Theodora" would be more than 12 years older than her supposed husband, which is highly unlikely, and she would have had her firstborn son when she was more than 35 years old (since he was still a minor in 1212), and her second son when she was more than 48 (since he is supposed to be born around 1218), which is obviously impossible. Moreover, if John Axuch was a son of Maria Komnene, granddaughter of John II, he can not have married his own aunt: such unions between close relatives were strictly prohibited at the time.
      Her paternal grandparents would be Alexios Axuches and Maria Komnene. Alexios served as Duke of Cilicia , protostrator and pansebastos . Hovever he fell out of favor with Manuel I Komnenos in 1167. John Kinnamos and Niketas Choniates report that the accusations against him included practice of witchcraft . He and an unnamed " Latin " wizard were accused of causing the pregnancy of Maria of Antioch , the Empress consort, to result in a miscarriage . They supposedly managed to do so by providing drugs to Maria . Alexios ended his life as a monk. Maria Komnene, "wife of Alexios the protostrator" was mentioned in a seal. According to the Dictionnaire historique et Généalogique des grandes familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople (1983) by Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, this Maria was suffering from insanity by the end of her life.
      Alexios is considered to have been a son of a senior John Axuch , founder of the Axuch family. This John Axuch served as Commander-in-Chief , ( megas domestikos ), of the Byzantine Army during the early part of the reign of John II Komnenos. John Axuch was originally an Oghuz Turk , born in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm . In 1097, as an infant, he was among the population of Nicaea when the city fell to the forces of the First Crusade . He was sent as a present to Alexios I Komnenos and was raised as a member of the imperial household.
      The seal of Maria Komnene identifies her as a daughter of Alexios Komnenos , co-emperor from 1122 to 1142. He was the eldest son of John II Komnenos and Piroska of Hungary. He was an older brother of Isaac Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos. The identity of his wife is uncertain. The Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten suggests two wives. The first being Dobrodjeja Mstislavna of Kiev , a daughter of Mstislav I of Kiev and his wife Christine of Sweden. The second being Katay of Georgia, a daughter of David IV of Georgia by either of his two wives, Rusudan and Gurandukht. While both women are known to have married members of the Komnenoi family, several theories have been suggested as to the identities of their husband or husbands



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