Probably identical with a certain Asan, who was according to the anonymous pamphlet written after 1344, a member of a secret organisation (Ἀσὰν κρατοῦντος ἀνεψιὸς πρῶτος, ἐκ Βυζαντίου, μύρων ἀπόζων, αὐτάδελφος τούτου Βιζύηθεν, τῶν φιλικῶν οἴκων ἐπίτροπος ἅγρυπνος, θεῖός τε τούτων Πομφόλυξ Ἀσὰν). He is mentioned in the sources between 1343 and 1345. He appears as κῦρ in the sales contract of Konstantinos and Athanasios Georgilas . He was the son of Ioannes III Mytzes Asanes and Eirene Asanina Komnene Palaiologina. His brothers were Michael Palaiologos Komnenos Asanes, Andronikos Palaiologos Komnenos Asanes, Isaakios Palaiologos Asanes and Konstantinos Palaiologos Asanes. His sisters were Theodora Palaiologina Asanina and Maria. He was the uncle of the empress Eirene Kantakuzenos, the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes VI Kantakuzenos. He owned some houses at Serres in the vicinity of the estates, which were sold by Konstantinos and Athanasios Georgilas to the Monastery of Saint John Prodromos near Serres in 1343 (μέχρι καὶ τῶν οἰκημάτων τοῦ περιποθήτου θείου τοῦ βασιλέως αὐθέντου ἡμῶν κὺρ Μανουὴλ τοῦ Ἀσάν). During the siege of Serres in 1345 he was the leader of the party, which succeeded in delivering the city to the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (Φεραῖοι, τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας ἀποστάντες, προσχωρήσουσιν ἑκόντες Τριβαλοῖς, τοῦ Κράλη αὐτοῖς ὑποσχομένου τῆς πόλεως ἀποδείξειν ἄρχοντας, ἂν τοιαῦτα τοὺς πολίτας πείθωσιν· ὧν ἦν κεφάλαιον Ἀσάνης ὁ Μανουὴλ, θεῖος πρὸς πατρὸς Εἰρήνῃ τῇ βασιλίδι).