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Anna Komnene Contributions

Critiques discussed in Talk Page

• Personal opinions
• Confusing grammar
• Many quotations
• Few citations
• More in depth discussion/research
• Hasn't been edited since 2016

I can rewrite to improve citations, remove personal opinions and quotations, as well as provide a deeper discussion of Anna Komnene's life.

Annotated Bibliography

Gouma-Peterson, Thalia. Anna Komnene and Her Times. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 2201. Garland Medieval Casebooks ; Vol. 29. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000.

Discusses Komnene's life and context of her writing

Pizzone, Aglae. The Author in Middle Byzantine Literature : Modes, Functions, and Identities. 2014.th ed. Byzantinisches Archiv, V. 28. Berlin: DE GRUYTER, 2014. doi:10.1515/9781614515197.

Chapter that focuses on Komnene as an author and her self-presentation -- how did gender affect how she portrayed herself.

BUCKLEY, PENELOPE. Alexiad of Anna Komnene. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2017.

Had to request through interlibrary loan -- appears to be a biography, recent + Cambridge suggests legitimate.

Neville, Leonora Alice. Anna Komnene : The Life and Work of a Medieval Historian. Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Another biography.

Vilimonovic, Larisa. Structure and Features of Anna Komnene's Alexiad. Emergence of a Personal History. Central European Medieval Studies. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018.

Recent biography/dicussion of Anna Komnene -- not sure if I can get my hands on it. Few copies.

Frankopan, Peter1, peter.frankopan@worc.ox.ac.uk. "Turning Latin into Greek: Anna Komnene and the Gesta Roberti Wiscardi." Journal Of Medieval History 39, no. 1 (March 2013): 80-99. Humanities Source, EBSCOhost(accessed February 22, 2018).

Dicussion of Latin/Sicily/Norman influences on Komnene's work.

Neville L. "Lamentation, History, and Female Authorship in Anna Komnene's Alexiad." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 53, no. 1 (2013): 192-218.

Discusses why Alexiad is an unusual piece of work.

Smythe, Dion C. "Middle Byzantine Family Values and Anna Komnene's Alexiad." In Byzantine Women : Varieties of Experience 800-1200, edited by Lynda Garland,125-140. Publications for the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College, London, 8. Aldershot England: Ashgate, 2006.

Lead for Anna Komnene Article

Anna Komnene (Ancient Greek: Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Ánna Komnēnḗ; 1 December 1083 – c.1150), commonly latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine princess, scholar, physician, and historian. She was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and his wife Irene Doukaina. She is most known for her attempt to usurp her brother -- John II Komnenos -- and her work The Alexiad -- an account of her father, Alexios I Komnenos’, reign.

At birth, Anna was betrothed to Constantine Doukas, and grew up in his mother's household. She was well-educated in "Greek literature and history, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and medicine." Anna and Constantine were next in the line of succession until Anna's brother, John II Komnenos, became the heir in 1092. Constantine died around 1094, and Anna married Nikephoros Bryennois in 1097. The two had several children before Nikephoros' death around 1136.

Following her father’s death in 1118, Anna and her mother attempted to usurp her brother – John II Komnenos – hoping to make Anna and her husband rulers. Her husband, Nikephoros Bryennois, refused to cooperate with them, and the usurpation failed. As a result, John exiled Anna to a monastery -- Kecharitomene -- where she spent the rest of her life.

Title page of the Alexiad from 1846.

In confinement there, she wrote the Alexiad. She stated in the Alexiad that she wished to write this account of her father’s life for two reasons – (1) to honor her father and (2) to continue the history of her father’s reign that her husband had begun writing before his death.

She died sometime in the 1150s; the exact date is unknown.

Family and early life

Alexios I Komnenos, Anna's father.

The seal of Irene Doukaina -- Anna's mother.

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 Doukai family. The couple had seven other children after Anna: "Maria, John, Andronikos, Isaac, Eudokia, Theodora, Manuel, and Zoe."

Anna's birth in the Porphyra Chamber of the imperial palace of Constantinople made her a porphyrogenita, underscoring her imperial status. She notes this in the Alexiad, stating that she was "born and bred in the purple."

According to Anna's description in the Alexiad, her mother asked Anna to wait to be born until her father returned from war. 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. 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. Various scholars point out that the betrothal was probably a political match intended to establish the legitimacy of her father, who had usurped the previous emperor.

Starting around 1090, Constantine's mother -- Maria of Alania -- raised Anna in her home. 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.

Marriage

In roughly 1097, Anna's parents married her to Caesar Nikephoros Bryennios. Nikephoros Bryennios a member of the Bryennois 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 Bryennois' connections to past emperor's family. 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. The couple had six known children: Eirene, Maria, Alexios, John, Andronikos, and Constantine. Only Eirene, John, and Alexios survived to adulthood.

Claim to the Throne (editing section, do not look at)

In 1087, Anna’s brother, John II Komnenos, was born. In 1092, John was designated emperor (CITE).

Around 1112, Alexios fell sick with rheumatism and could not move (CITE). He therefore turned the civil government over to his wife, Irene; she in turn directed the administration to Bryennios (CITE). Most scholars agree that after Alexios's death in 1118, Anna and her mother attempted place Anna and Nikephoros Bryennios on the throne (CITE). Anna raised an army to overthrow her brother (Hill). The usurpation was unsuccessful, because Bryennios remained loyal to John, foiling Anna's plans (CITE). Scholars debate the extent of Anna's involvement.

The Alexiad seems to support Anna's involvement. Stankovich argues that Anna’s "main aim" in the depiction of events in the Alexiad was to "stress her own right" to the throne and "precedence over her brother, John." Similarly, Smythe argues that Anna "felt cheated" because she "should have inherited" (CITE).

Niketas Choniates' history also portrays Anna as a usurper. According to Niketas Chroniates, Emperor Alexios "favored" John and declared him emperor while the Empress Irene prefered Anna and Nikephoros Bryennios. He describes how when Emperor Alexios lay dying in his imperial bedchamber, John arrived and "secretly" took the emperor’s ring from his father. Anna also worked in her husband's favor during her father's illness.

Similarly, Jarratt et al. argue that Anna was "almost certainly" involved in the murder plot against John at Alexios’s funeral. Indeed, Anna, according to 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. 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.

In contrast, Leonora Neville argues that Anna probably not involved in the attempted usurpation. 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' behavior at his father's deathbed was appropriate.

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need to check dictionary of the middle ages citation. Make sure all have page ranges.

-triple check all citations text + reference

-ask Ellen about citation method -- currently using journal template with additions for for chapters in anthologies.

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