Anna Komnene
Encyclopedia
Anna Komnene, Latinized as Comnena was a Greek princess and scholar and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium
and Irene Doukaina
. She wrote the Alexiad
, a historical account of her father’s reign, which is unique in that it was written by a princess about her father.
and was thus a porphyrogenita. She notes her imperial heritage in the Alexiad by stating that she was “born and bred in the purple." She was the eldest of seven children and her younger siblings were (in order of birth) Maria Komnene, John II Komnenos
, Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac Komnenos, Eudokia Komnene, Theodora Komnene.
In the Alexiad Anna emphasizes her affection for her parents in stating her relation to Alexios and Irene. Additionally, Anna demonstrates her close familial ties in describing the scene when her mother, Irene, was pregnant, waiting for two days to give birth so that Alexios could be there. Historian Angeliki Laiou
states that Anna presents this “as evidence of the obedience she showed her parents,” and as a demonstration of her familial affection. Anna notes in the Alexiad in her early childhood that she was raised by the former empress, Maria of Alania, who was the mother of Anna’s first fiancé, Constantine Doukas
. The fact that Anna was raised by her future mother-in-law was a common custom.
, in secret because her parents disapproved of its dealing with poly-theism and other “dangerous exploits,” which were considered “dangerous” for men and “excessively insidious” for women. Tornikes goes on to say that Anna “braced the weakness of her soul” and studied the poetry “taking care not to be detected by her parents.”
, the son of Emperor Michael VII and Maria of Alania. Because at the time of the engagement Emperor Alexios I had no rightful male heirs to inherit the throne, young Constantine was proclaimed the co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
. However, in 1087 a blood heir, John II
, was born, and Constantine had to forfeit his imperial claims. He died shortly thereafter.
In 1097, 14-year-old Anna Komnene married an accomplished young nobleman, the Caesar Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. Nikephoros Bryennios was the son of an aristocratic family that had contested the throne before the accession of Alexios I. Nikephoros was also a renowned statesman, general, and historian. Anna claimed that the marriage was a political union rather than one of love. For the most part, however, it proved to be a successful union for forty years, and produced four children—Alexios Komnenos, John Doukas, Irene Doukaina, and Maria Bryennaina Komnene.
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.” 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.”
In view of this belief, Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt record that Anna was “almost certainly” involved in the murder plot against John at Alexius’s funeral. 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. Dion C. Smythe states the plots “came to nothing.” Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt, record that, a short time afterward, Anna and Bryennios “organized another conspiracy.” However, according to Barbara Hill, Bryennios “refused” to overthrow Alexios, making Anna unable to continue with her plans. With this refusal, Anna, according to Choniates, exclaimed “that nature had mistaken the two sexes and had endowed Bryennius [Bryennios] with the soul of a woman.” According to Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt, Anna shows “a repetition of sexualized anger.” Indeed, Dion C. 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.
Barbara 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 the end, after her husband’s death, Anna went to a convent of Kecharitomene, which was founded by her mother, where she remained until her death.
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."
Being a historian, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger had been working on an essay that he called “Material For History,” which focused on the reign of Alexios I. He died in 1137 before finishing the work. At the age of 55, Anna took it upon herself to finish her husband's work, calling the completed work the Alexiad, the history of her father's life and reign (1081–1118) in Greek
. Alexiad is today the main source of Byzantine political history of the end of the 11th century to the beginning of the 12th century.
In the Alexiad, Anna provided insight on political relations and wars between Alexios I and the West. She vividly described weaponry, tactics and battles. It has been noted that she was writing about events that occurred when she was a child, so these are not eye-witness accounts. Her neutrality is compromised by the fact that she was writing to praise her father and denigrate his successors. Despite her unabashed partiality, her account of the First Crusade
is of great value to history because it is the only Hellenic
eyewitness account available. She had the opportunity to glean events from key figures in the Byzantine elite. Her husband Nikephorus Bryennios had fought in the clash with crusade leader Godfrey of Bouillon
outside Constantinople
on Maundy Thursday
1097. Her uncle George Palaeologus was present at Pelekanon in June 1097 when Alexius I
discussed future strategy with the crusaders. Thus the Alexiad allows the events of the First Crusade
to be seen from the Byzantine elite's perspective. It conveys the alarm felt at the scale of the western European forces proceeding through the Empire, and the dangers they may have posed to the safety of Constantinople
.
Special suspicion was reserved for crusading leader Bohemond of Taranto, a southern Italian Norman who, under the leadership of his father Robert Guiscard
, had invaded Byzantine territory in the Balkans
in 1081. Though she considers him a barbarian and makes him the villain of her piece for his enmity with her father and his subsequent possession of formerly Byzantine Antioch
, there is more than a hint of infatuation for this 'habitual rogue'.
The book also contributes to understanding of the female mentality, mindset, and perception of the world during the Byzantine times.
Anna Komnene's literary style is fashioned after Thucydides
, Polybius
, and Xenophon
. Consequently, it exhibits struggle for an Atticism characteristic of the period, whereby the resulting language is highly artificial. For the most part, the chronology of events in the Alexiad is sound, except for those that occurred after Anna’s exile to the monastery, when she no longer had access to the imperial archives. Nevertheless, her history meets the standards of her time.
The exact date of Anna Komnene’s death is uncertain. It is inferred from the Alexiad that she was still alive in 1148. Moreover, the Alexiad sheds light on Anna’s emotional turmoil. She wrote that no one could see her, yet many hated her. Thus, she loathed the isolated position in society that exile had forced upon her.
and the 1999 novel for young people Anna of Byzantium
by Tracy Barrett. A novel written in 2008 by the Albanian writer Ben Blushi called "Living on an island" also mentions her. The novel Аз, Анна Комнина (I, Anna Comnena) was written by Vera Mutafchieva, a Bulgarian writer and historian. She is also a minor character in Nan Hawthorne's novel of the Crusade of 1101
, Beloved Pilgrim (2011).
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
and Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the mother of the emperor John II Komnenos and of the historian Anna Komnene.-Succession of Alexios and Irene:...
. She wrote the Alexiad
Alexiad
The Alexiad is a medieval biographical text written around the year 1148 by the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius I....
, a historical account of her father’s reign, which is unique in that it was written by a princess about her father.
Family and early life
Anna was born in the Porphyra Chamber (the purple chamber) of the imperial palace of ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and was thus a porphyrogenita. She notes her imperial heritage in the Alexiad by stating that she was “born and bred in the purple." She was the eldest of seven children and her younger siblings were (in order of birth) Maria Komnene, John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as Kaloïōannēs , he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina...
, Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac Komnenos, Eudokia Komnene, Theodora Komnene.
In the Alexiad Anna emphasizes her affection for her parents in stating her relation to Alexios and Irene. Additionally, Anna demonstrates her close familial ties in describing the scene when her mother, Irene, was pregnant, waiting for two days to give birth so that Alexios could be there. Historian Angeliki Laiou
Angeliki Laiou
- Life :Laiou was born in Athens on 6 April 1941 to a Pontic family, refugees from the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey. She studied at the Athens College and continued her studies in the Philosophy School of the University of Athens , where she studied under the Greek Byzantinist Dionysios...
states that Anna presents this “as evidence of the obedience she showed her parents,” and as a demonstration of her familial affection. Anna notes in the Alexiad in her early childhood that she was raised by the former empress, Maria of Alania, who was the mother of Anna’s first fiancé, Constantine Doukas
Constantine Doukas
Constantine Doukas or Ducas , was Byzantine co-emperor from c. 1074 to 1078 and from 1081 to 1087. He was the son of Emperor Michael VII Doukas and his Georgian wife Maria of Alania....
. The fact that Anna was raised by her future mother-in-law was a common custom.
Education
Anna writes at the beginning of the Alexiad about her education, highlighting her experience with literature, Greek language, rhetoric, and sciences. 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." Modern historian Carolyn L. Connor states that, “education is central to Anna’s self-definition.” Anna’s conception of her education is shown in her testament, which credits her parents for allowing her to obtain an education. This testament is in contrast to a funeral oration about Anna given by her contemporary, Georgios Tornikes. In his oration he says that she had to read ancient poetry, such as the OdysseyOdyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, in secret because her parents disapproved of its dealing with poly-theism and other “dangerous exploits,” which were considered “dangerous” for men and “excessively insidious” for women. Tornikes goes on to say that Anna “braced the weakness of her soul” and studied the poetry “taking care not to be detected by her parents.”
Betrothal and marriage
As was customary for nobility in the medieval times, Anna was betrothed at infancy. She was to marry Constantine DoukasConstantine Doukas
Constantine Doukas or Ducas , was Byzantine co-emperor from c. 1074 to 1078 and from 1081 to 1087. He was the son of Emperor Michael VII Doukas and his Georgian wife Maria of Alania....
, the son of Emperor Michael VII and Maria of Alania. Because at the time of the engagement Emperor Alexios I had no rightful male heirs to inherit the throne, young Constantine was proclaimed the co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. However, in 1087 a blood heir, John II
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as Kaloïōannēs , he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina...
, was born, and Constantine had to forfeit his imperial claims. He died shortly thereafter.
In 1097, 14-year-old Anna Komnene married an accomplished young nobleman, the Caesar Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. Nikephoros Bryennios was the son of an aristocratic family that had contested the throne before the accession of Alexios I. Nikephoros was also a renowned statesman, general, and historian. Anna claimed that the marriage was a political union rather than one of love. For the most part, however, it proved to be a successful union for forty years, and produced four children—Alexios Komnenos, John Doukas, Irene Doukaina, and Maria Bryennaina Komnene.
Claim to the throne
In 1087, Anna’s brother, John II Komnenos, was born. Several years after his birth, in 1092, John was designated emperor. According to Niketas Choniates, Emperor Alexios, Anna’s father, “favored” John and declared him emperor. On the other hand, Anna’s mother, Irene Doukaina, according to Choniates “threw her full influence on the side of [Anna]” and “continually attempted” to persuade the emperor to designate Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna’s husband, as emperor. Around 1112, Alexios fell sick with rheumatism and could not move. He therefore turned the civil government over to his wife, Irene Doukaina, who directed the administration to Anna’s husband, Nikephoros Bryennios. As Emperor Alexios lay dying in his imperial bedchamber, John, according to Choniates, arrived and “secretly” took the emperor’s ring from his father during an embrace “as though in mourning.” In 1118, Alexios I Komnenos died. A clergy in Hagia Sophia acclaimed John emperor thereafter.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.” 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.”
In view of this belief, Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt record that Anna was “almost certainly” involved in the murder plot against John at Alexius’s funeral. 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. Dion C. Smythe states the plots “came to nothing.” Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt, record that, a short time afterward, Anna and Bryennios “organized another conspiracy.” However, according to Barbara Hill, Bryennios “refused” to overthrow Alexios, making Anna unable to continue with her plans. With this refusal, Anna, according to Choniates, exclaimed “that nature had mistaken the two sexes and had endowed Bryennius [Bryennios] with the soul of a woman.” According to Ellen Quandahl and Susan C. Jarratt, Anna shows “a repetition of sexualized anger.” Indeed, Dion C. 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.
Barbara 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 the end, after her husband’s death, Anna went to a convent of Kecharitomene, which was founded by her mother, where she remained until her death.
Historian
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. 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 HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
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."
Being a historian, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger had been working on an essay that he called “Material For History,” which focused on the reign of Alexios I. He died in 1137 before finishing the work. At the age of 55, Anna took it upon herself to finish her husband's work, calling the completed work the Alexiad, the history of her father's life and reign (1081–1118) in Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
. Alexiad is today the main source of Byzantine political history of the end of the 11th century to the beginning of the 12th century.
In the Alexiad, Anna provided insight on political relations and wars between Alexios I and the West. She vividly described weaponry, tactics and battles. It has been noted that she was writing about events that occurred when she was a child, so these are not eye-witness accounts. Her neutrality is compromised by the fact that she was writing to praise her father and denigrate his successors. Despite her unabashed partiality, her account of the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
is of great value to history because it is the only Hellenic
Medieval Greece
Greece during the Middle Ages:*Byzantine Greece *Northern Greece under the First Bulgarian Empire *various High Medieval Crusader states :**Latin Empire**Kingdom of Thessalonica**Duchy of Athens...
eyewitness account available. She had the opportunity to glean events from key figures in the Byzantine elite. Her husband Nikephorus Bryennios had fought in the clash with crusade leader Godfrey of Bouillon
Godfrey of Bouillon
Godfrey of Bouillon was a medieval Frankish knight who was one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until his death. He was the Lord of Bouillon, from which he took his byname, from 1076 and the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1087...
outside Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
on Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great & Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels...
1097. Her uncle George Palaeologus was present at Pelekanon in June 1097 when Alexius I
Alexius I
Alexius I may refer to:*Alexios I Komnenos , Byzantine Emperor *Alexios I of Trebizond , great-great-grandson of the above, Emperor of Trapezunt...
discussed future strategy with the crusaders. Thus the Alexiad allows the events of the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
to be seen from the Byzantine elite's perspective. It conveys the alarm felt at the scale of the western European forces proceeding through the Empire, and the dangers they may have posed to the safety of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
.
Special suspicion was reserved for crusading leader Bohemond of Taranto, a southern Italian Norman who, under the leadership of his father Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
, had invaded Byzantine territory in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
in 1081. Though she considers him a barbarian and makes him the villain of her piece for his enmity with her father and his subsequent possession of formerly Byzantine Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, there is more than a hint of infatuation for this 'habitual rogue'.
The book also contributes to understanding of the female mentality, mindset, and perception of the world during the Byzantine times.
Anna Komnene's literary style is fashioned after Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
, Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, and Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
. Consequently, it exhibits struggle for an Atticism characteristic of the period, whereby the resulting language is highly artificial. For the most part, the chronology of events in the Alexiad is sound, except for those that occurred after Anna’s exile to the monastery, when she no longer had access to the imperial archives. Nevertheless, her history meets the standards of her time.
The exact date of Anna Komnene’s death is uncertain. It is inferred from the Alexiad that she was still alive in 1148. Moreover, the Alexiad sheds light on Anna’s emotional turmoil. She wrote that no one could see her, yet many hated her. Thus, she loathed the isolated position in society that exile had forced upon her.
Depictions in fiction and other media
Fictional accounts of Anna Komnene’s life appear in the 1928 novel Anna Comnena by Naomi MitchisonNaomi Mitchison
Naomi May Margaret Mitchison, CBE was a Scottish novelist and poet. She was appointed CBE in 1981; she was also entitled to call herself Lady Mitchison, CBE since 5 October 1964 .- Childhood and family background :Naomi Margaret Haldane was...
and the 1999 novel for young people Anna of Byzantium
Anna of Byzantium (novel)
Anna of Byzantium is a historical novel by Tracy Barrett originally published in 1999.-Plot introduction:The novel places Anna Comnena in the convent where she was exiled by her brother and Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus after her failed attempt to poison him. The story is told from Anna's...
by Tracy Barrett. A novel written in 2008 by the Albanian writer Ben Blushi called "Living on an island" also mentions her. The novel Аз, Анна Комнина (I, Anna Comnena) was written by Vera Mutafchieva, a Bulgarian writer and historian. She is also a minor character in Nan Hawthorne's novel of the Crusade of 1101
Crusade of 1101
The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First...
, Beloved Pilgrim (2011).
Family
By the Caesar Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna Komnene had several children, including:- Alexios Komnenos, megas douxMegas DouxThe megas doux was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of the later Byzantine Empire, denoting the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine navy. It is sometimes also given by the half-Latinizations megaduke or megadux...
, c. 1102–c. 1161/1167 - John Doukas, c. 1103–after 1173
- Irene Doukaina, c. 1105–?
- Maria Bryennaina Komnene, c. 1107–?
Primary Sources
- Niketas Choniates, O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates (Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1984)
- Anna Komnene, The Alexiad, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, ed. Peter Frankopan, (New York: Penguin, 2009)
- Georgios Tornikes, 'An unpublished funeral oration on Anna Comnena', English translation by Robert Browning, in Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence, ed. R. Sorabji (New York: Cornell University Press, 1990)
Secondary Sources
- Carolyn R. Connor, Women of Byzantium (Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2004)
- Lynda Garland & Stephen Rapp, “Maria ‘of Alania’: Woman & Empress Between Two Worlds,” Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience, ed. Lynda Garland, (New Hampshire: Ashgate, 2006)
- Alexander Kazhdan, 'Komnene, Anna', in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium ed. A. Kazhdan, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Angeliki Laiou, “Introduction: Why Anna Komnene?” Anna Komnene and Her Times, ed. Thalia Gouma-Peterson, (New York: Garland, 2000)
- Diether R. Reinsch, “Women’s Literature in Byzantium?—The Case of Anna Komnene,” Anna Komnene and Her Times, ed. Thalia Gouma-Peterson, (New York: Garland, 2000)
- Dion C. Smythe, “Middle Byzantine Family Values and Anna Komnene’s Alexiad,” Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience, ed. Lynda Garland, (New Hampshire: Ashgate, 2006)
Further Reading
- Ed. Kurtz, 'Unedierte Texte aus der Zeit des Kaisers Johannes Komnenos, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift 16 (1907): 69-119 (Greek text of Anna Comnene’s testament)
- K. Varzos, Ē genealogia tōn Komnēnōn (Thessalonikē, 1984) ( information about Comneni family relations )
- Niketas Choniates, O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates (Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1984), 5-6.
- Barbara Hill, “Actions speak louder than words: Anna Komnene’s attempted usurpation,” in Anna Komnene and her times (2000): 46-47.
- Susan C. Jarratt and Ellen Quandahl, ““To recall him…will be a subject of lamentation: Anna Comnene as a rhetorical historiographer” in Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric (2000): 305-308, accessed April 21, 2011. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/stable/pdfplus/10.1525/rh.2008.26.3.301.pdf?acceptTC=true.
- Anna Komnene, The Alexiad (London and New York: Penguin, 1969), 197.
- Vlada Stankovíc, “Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna Komnene and Konstantios Doukas. A Story of Different Perspectives,” in Byzantinische Zeitschrift (2007): 174.
- Dion C. Smythe, “Middle Byzantine Family Values and Anna Komnene’s Alexiad,” in Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience (2006): 125-127.
- Dion C. Symthe, “Outsiders by taxis perceptions of non-conformity eleventh and twelfth-century literature,” in Byzantinische Forschungen: Internationale Zeitschrift für Byzantinistik (1997): 241.
External links
- Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, translated by Elizabeth A. Dawes in 1928
- Anna Comnena, The Alexiad of Anna Comnena, edited and translated by E.R.A. Sewter. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969. (This print version uses more idiomatic English, has more extensive notes, and mistakes).
- Georgina Buckler, Anna Comnena: A Study, Oxford University Press, 1929. ISBN 0-19-821471-5
- John France, "Anna Comnena, the Alexiad and the First Crusade", Reading Medieval Studies v.9 (1983)
- Thalia Gouma-Peterson (ed.), Anna Komnene and her Times, New York: Garland, 2000. ISBN 0-8153-3851-1.
- Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades, London: Hambledon, 2003, pp. 53–73. ISBN 1-85285-298-4.
- Levin, Carole, et al. Extraordinary Women of the Medieval and Renaissance World. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000.
- The Oxford Dictionary of ByzantiumOxford Dictionary of ByzantiumThe Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium is a three volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. It contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzantine Empire. It was edited by the late Dr. Alexander Kazhdan, and was first published in 1991...
, Oxford University Press, 1991. - Paul Stephenson, "Anna Comnena's Alexiad as a source for the Second Crusade?", Journal of Medieval HistoryJournal of Medieval HistoryThe Journal of Medieval History is a major international academic journal devoted to all aspects of the history of Europe in the Middle Ages....
v. 29 (2003) - "Anna Comnena" in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
- Female Heroes From The Time of the Crusades: Anna Comnena.1999. Women in World History. 12 Dec. 2006. < http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine5.html>.
- K. Varzos, Ē genealogia tōn Komnēnōn, Thessalonikē, 1984.