Anna Komnene (; 1 December 1083 – 1153Ashe, L., Biddlecombe, S., Frankopan, P., Kempf, D., Naus, J., Ní Chléirigh, L., . . . Sweetenham, C. (2014). Writing the Early Crusades: Text, Transmission and Memory (M. Bull & D. Kempf, Eds.). Boydell & Brewer. p 41.), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine Greek princess and historian. She is the author of the Alexiad, an account of the reign of her father, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Her work constitutes the most important primary source of Byzantine history of the late 11th and early 12th centuries, as well as of the early Crusades. Although she is best known as the author of the Alexiad, Anna played an important part in the politics of the time and attempted to depose her brother John II Komnenos as emperor in favour of her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger.Hanawalt 1982, p. 303.
At birth, Anna was betrothed to Constantine Doukas,Hanawalt 1982, p. 303. and she grew up in his mother's household.Neville 2016, p. 2. She was well educated in "Greek literature and history, philosophy, theology, mathematics and medicine." Anna and Constantine were next in the line to throne until Anna's younger brother, John II Komnenos, became the heir in 1092. Constantine died around 1094, and Anna married Nikephoros Bryennios in 1097.Neville 2016, p. 3. The two had several children before Nikephoros' death around 1136.
It is commonly believed that, following her father's death in 1118, Anna and her mother attempted to usurp John II Komnenos.Larmour 2004, pp. 203–205. Supposedly her husband refused to cooperate with them, and the usurpation failed. As a result, John exiled Anna to the Kecharitomene Monastery, where she spent the rest of her life, and in her confinement there she wrote the Alexiad.Larmour 2004, p. 204. However, there is no contemporary evidence of Anna's involvement in any assassination attempt.Neville 2016, p. 111.
Early life and family
Anna was born on 1 December 1083 to Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina. Her father, Alexios I Komnenos, became emperor in 1081, after usurping the previous Byzantine Emperor, Nikephoros Botaneiates. Her mother, Irene Doukaina, was part of the imperial Doukas family. In the Alexiad, Anna emphasises her affection for her parents in stating her relationship to Alexios and Irene. She was the eldest of seven children; her younger siblings were (in order) Maria, John II, Andronikos, Isaac, Eudokia and Theodora.Frankopan 2009, p. 479.
Anna was born in the Porphyra Chamber of the imperial palace in Constantinople, making her a porphyrogenita,Frankopan 2009, p. 536. which underscored her imperial status. She noted this status in the Alexiad, stating that she was "born and bred in the purple."Komnene 2009, p. 3. According to Anna's description in the Alexiad, her mother asked Anna to wait to be born until her father returned from war.Comnena 2001, p. 152. Obediently, Anna waited until her father came home.
At birth, Anna was betrothed to Constantine Doukas, the son of Emperor Michael VII and Maria of Alania.Garland and Rapp 2006, p. 115. The two were the heirs to the empire until sometime between c.1088 and 1092, after the birth of Anna's brother, John II Komnenos.Garland and Rapp 2006, p. 110. Various scholars point out that the betrothal was probably a political match intended to establish the legitimacy of Anna's father, who had usurped the previous emperor.Hanawalt 1982, p. 303; Neville 2016, p. 2.
Starting around 1090, Constantine's mother—Maria of Alania—raised Anna in her home.Garland and Rapp 2006, p. 108. It was common in Byzantium for mothers-in-law to raise daughters-in-law.Garland & Rapp 2006, p. 108. In 1094, Maria of Alania was implicated in an attempt to overthrow Alexios I Komnenos. Some scholars argue that Anna's betrothal to Constantine Doukas may not have ended there, as he was not implicated in the plot against Alexios, but it certainly ended when he died around 1094.
Anna's relationships to her mother-in-law Maria of Alania, her paternal grandmother Anna Dalassene, and her mother Irene Doukaina, have been noted as sources of inspiration and admiration for Anna. For example, Thalia Gouma-Peterson argues that Irene Doukaina's "maternal ability to deal with the speculative and the intellectual enables the daughter to become the highly accomplished scholar she proudly claims to be in the opening pages of the Alexiad."
Education Anna wrote at the beginning of the Alexiad about her education, highlighting her experience with literature, Greek language, rhetoric and sciences. Tutors trained her in subjects that included astronomy, medicine, history, military affairs, geography and mathematics. Anna was noted for her education by the medieval scholar, Niketas Choniates, who wrote that Anna "was ardently devoted to philosophy, the queen of all sciences, and was educated in every field."Choniates 1984, p. 8.Connor 2004, p. 255. Anna's conception of her education is shown in her testament, which credited her parents for allowing her to obtain an education.; referenced from Kurtz, Ed. "Unedierte Texte aus der Zeit des Kaisers Johannes Komnenos." Byzantinische Zeitschrift 16 (1907): 69–119. This testament is in contrast to a funeral oration about Anna given by her contemporary, Georgios Tornikes. In his oration he said that she had to read ancient poetry, such as the Odyssey, in secret because her parents disapproved of its dealing with polytheism and other "dangerous exploits," which were considered "dangerous" for men and "excessively insidious" for women. Tornikes went on to say that Anna "braced the weakness of her soul" and studied the poetry "taking care not to be detected by her parents."Browning 1990, pp. 404–405.
Anna proved to be capable not only on an intellectual level but also in practical matters. She gained considerable expertise in medicine through studying medical texts and treating her family and members of her household, and she worked with her father's physicians to treat him during his final illness. She was an expert on gout, and administered a huge hospital in Constantinople.
Marriage In roughly 1097, Anna's parents married her to Caesar Nikephoros Bryennios, a member of the Bryennios family that had held the throne before the accession of Anna's father, Alexios I. Nikephoros was a soldier and a historian.
Most scholars agree that the marriage was a political one—it created legitimacy for Anna's paternal family through Bryennios' connections to past emperor's family.Jongh 1953, quoted in . The two were an intellectual couple, and Nikephoros Bryennios tolerated and possibly encouraged Anna's scholarly interests by allowing her to participate in various scholarly circles.Neville 2016, p. 5. The couple had several children, of which many died in infancy. Of them the names of six are known: Eirene, Maria, Alexios, John, Andronikos and Constantine.Neville 2016, p. 4. Only Eirene, Maria, John and Alexios survived to adulthood.
Claim to the throne
In 1087, Anna's brother, John II, was born. Several years after his birth, in 1092, John was designated emperor. According to Choniates, Emperor Alexios "favoured" John and declared him emperor while the Empress Irene "threw her full influence on [Anna's] side" and "continually attempted" to persuade the emperor to designate Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna's husband, in John's place.Choniates 1984, p. 5. Around 1112, Alexios fell sick with rheumatism and could not move. He therefore turned the civil government over to his wife, Irene; she in turn directed the administration to Bryennios. Choniates states that, as Emperor Alexios lay dying in his imperial bedchamber, John arrived and "secretly" took the emperor's ring from his father during an embrace "as though in mourning."Choniates 1984, p. 6. Anna also worked in her husband's favour during her father's illness. In 1118, Alexios I Komnenos died. A cleric acclaimed John emperor in Hagia Sophia.
According to Dion C. Smythe, Anna "felt cheated" because she "should have inherited." Indeed, according to Anna Komnene in the Alexiad, at her birth she was presented with "a crown and imperial diadem."Komnene 1969, p. 197. Anna's "main aim" in the depiction of events in the Alexiad, according to Vlada Stankovíc, was to "stress her own right" to the throne and "precedence over her brother, John."Stankovíc 2007, p. 174.
In view of this belief, Susan C. Jarratt et al. record that Anna was "almost certainly" involved in the murder plot against John at Alexios's funeral.Jarratt 2008, p. 308. Indeed, Anna, according to Barbara Hill, attempted to create military forces to depose John. According to Choniates, Anna was "stimulated by ambition and revenge" to scheme for the murder of her brother. Smythe states the plots "came to nothing." Jarratt et al., record that, a short time afterward, Anna and Bryennios "organized another conspiracy." However, according to Hill, Bryennios refused to overthrow John, making Anna unable to continue with her plans. With this refusal, Anna, according to Choniates, exclaimed "that nature had mistaken their sexes, for he ought to have been the woman." According to Jarratt et al., Anna shows "a repetition of sexualized anger." Indeed, Smythe asserts that Anna's goals were "thwarted by the men in her life." Irene, however, according to Hill, had declined to participate in plans to revolt against an "established" emperor. Hill, however, points out that Choniates, whom the above sources draw upon, wrote after 1204, and accordingly was "rather far removed" from "actual" events and that his "agenda" was to "look for the causes" of the toppling of Constantinople in 1204.
In contrast, Leonora Neville argues that Anna was probably not involved in the attempted usurpation.Neville 2016, p. 111. Anna plays a minor role in most of the available medieval sources—only Choniates portrays her as a rebel. Choniates' history is from around 1204, almost a hundred years after Alexios I's death. Instead, most of the sources question whether John II Komnenos' behaviour at his father's deathbed was appropriate.Neville 2016, p. 112.
According to the account by Choniates (written after the Fourth Crusade), plots were discovered and Anna forfeited her estates. After her husband's death, she entered the convent of Kecharitomene, which had been founded by her mother. She remained there until her death.Jarratt 2008, p. 305.
Historian and intellectual
In the seclusion of the monastery, Anna dedicated her time to studying philosophy and history. She held esteemed intellectual gatherings, including those dedicated to Aristotelian studies.Browning 1990, pp. 397–399. Anna's intellectual genius and breadth of knowledge is evident in her few works. Among other things, she was conversant with philosophy, literature, grammar, theology, astronomy and medicine. It can be assumed because of minor errors that she may have quoted Homer and the Bible from memory when writing her most celebrated work, the Alexiad. Her contemporaries, like the metropolitan Bishop of Ephesus, Georgios Tornikes, regarded Anna as a person who had reached "the highest summit of wisdom, both secular and divine."
The Alexiad
Anna wrote the Alexiad in the mid-1140s or 1150s. Anna cited her husband's unfinished work as the reason why she began the Alexiad.Komnene 2009. Prologue, section 3, p. 5. Before his death in 1137, her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger, was working on a history, which was supposed to record the events before and during the reign of Alexios I. His death left the history unfinished after recording the events of the reign of Emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates. Ruth Macrides argues that while Bryennios' writing may have been a source of inspiration for the Alexiad, it is incorrect to suggest that the Alexiad was Bryennios' work edited by Anna (as Howard-Johnston has argued on tenuous grounds).