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John II Orsini (Italian:Giovanni II Orsini), alsoJohn Komnenos Doukas orComnenus Ducas (Ancient Greek:Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός Δούκας,romanized: Iōannēs Komnēnos Doukas), was a Greek-Italian noble man who rose tocount palatine of Cephalonia from 1323 to 1324 andDespot of Epirus from 1323 to 1335.

John was the son of CountJohn I Orsini of Cephalonia byMaria, a daughter ofNikephoros I Komnenos Doukas of Epirus by Maria Laskaris. His older brotherNicholas Orsini had made himself ruler of Epirus in 1318 by murdering their maternal uncleThomas I Komnenos Doukas. In 1323 John murdered his brother and succeeded in both Cephalonia and Epirus.

In 1324, John's Angevin overlord,John of Gravina, stopped at Cephalonia on his way to fight the Byzantines in thePeloponnese and deposed John Orsini as count of Cephalonia, annexing the island to his own domains. Deprived from his family base, John had to conclude peace withAndronikos II Palaiologos of theByzantine Empire and was allowed to establish his control over all of Epirus in exchange for recognizing Byzantine suzerainty. He marriedAnna Palaiologina, the granddaughter ofDemetrios (Michael) Doukas, a son ofMichael II Komnenos Doukas of Epirus, who had entered into Byzantine service. Like his brother, John joined theEastern Orthodox Church, and was awarded the title ofdespotes by the Byzantine emperor.

In 1331, John was attacked byWalter VI of Brienne, the titular duke of Athens, and a son-in-law of the AngevinPhilip I of Taranto andThamar Angelina Komnene. When Walter besiegedArta, John was forced to accept Angevin suzerainty. This situation was reversed when Walter returned to theItalian Peninsula; further, in 1332, John felt strong enough to invade and annexThessaly, which had fallen into anarchy after the death of Stephen Gabrielopoulos. John's success provoked the immediate reaction of EmperorAndronikos III Palaiologos, who asserted his control over at least the eastern portion of the region. Back in Epirus John was divided between pro-Byzantine and pro-Angevin factions among the nobility. He died suddenly in 1335, perhaps poisoned by his wife Anna.

By his wifeAnna Palaiologina, John II Orsini had two children:

• Nikephoros II Orsini, who succeeded as ruler of Epirus
• Thomais Orsini, who marriedSimeon Uroš Palaiologos, emperor (tsar) of Serbians and Greeks, who succeeded as ruler of Epirus in 1359. Their daughterMaria married the later rulers of EpirusThomas II Preljubović andEsau de' Buondelmonti, ruling Epirus herself after Thomas's death until Esau was madedespotes.

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• Miller, William (1908).The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece (1204–1566). London: John Murray.OCLC 563022439.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1984).The Despotate of Epiros, 1267–1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-13089-9.
• Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996).Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.

• 1335 deaths
• 14th-century despots of Epirus
• Orsini family
• Christians of the Crusades
• Counts palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos
• 13th-century births
• People of Byzantine descent
• 14th-century counts in Europe
• 14th-century Byzantine people
• Fratricides
• Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy

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