Anna Komnina

In infancy, Anna was engaged to Konstantin Duka, son and co-ruler of Emperor Michael VII of Duka and Maria Alansky , her distant relative. It was assumed that after the death of Alexei, Constantine would inherit the throne of Byzantium, but after the emperor John was born, the need for this political union disappeared, Constantine was deprived of all privileges, and Anna, at the age of 14, married Caesar Nicephorus Vrienny . According to some reports, after the death of her father, she took part in a conspiracy to remove her brother John. In 1137, after the death of her husband, she retired to the monastery.

The author of Alexiada is a historical narrative about the era of the rule of his father, Alexy Komnin. "Alexiada" is one of the most famous sources on the history of Byzantium during the Crusades .

Already in infancy, Anna was engaged to Konstantin Duka, but he died at the age of 21. Anna later married Nicephorus Vrienny . Married to Caesar Nicephorus Vrienny, she gave birth to several children, including:

• Alexey Vrienny Komnin (about 1102 - between 1161 and 1167 )
• John Duca (c. 1103 - not earlier than 1173 )
• Irina II Dukena (about 1105 -?)

Contents

In his historical work, which was written after 1137 and until 1148, called Alexiade (or Alexiada), in 15 books he describes the career of Anna Komnina's father, Alexei I, or rather, in the years from 1069 to 1118. Her work is a continuation of her work the husband of Nicephorus (Historical Notes), they described the time of Roman IV. Nicephorus did not finish his work due to death. Anna described portraits of the main participants of the First Crusade, for example, Boemund I of Tarents and Count Raimund IV of Toulouse .

Sources

Anna writes that she herself was a witness to a number of events and took into account the opinions of those who came from the war, who accompanied the emperor in his campaign. She had access to the archives and could talk with many eyewitnesses, for example, General Tatikiy , her uncle George Paleolog, her cousin John Komnin, uncle John Duka and many others.

Rating

For historical science, this work is one of the main sources on the history of the Crusades from the point of view of the Byzantines. Of course, this is not always objective in relation to the participants in the crusade. Sometimes the chronology at Alexiada is clearly erroneous, and the geographical indications are vague. As a rule, the significance of the source of work, which is also complex and literary, is very high in modern research. It represents the most extensive and most reliable source for the study of Byzantine history at the turn of the XI and XII centuries.

Impact

The historical work of Anna Komnina is largely based on classical models, especially Thucydides and Polybius . In her work, you can find quotes from Homer , Herodotus , Sophocles , Plato , Aristotle . The text is riddled with numerous direct subjective comments, similar to Mikhail Psell .

•   Walter Scott " Count Robert of Paris . " The artwork of the Alexiada was also spoofed in the work (Chapter IV, fragment Retreat from Laodicea ).
• Nikolai Gumilev , poem "Anna Komnina":

An alarming fragment of ancient darkness,
A child of the kings forgotten by the people,
With a blink of an eye on the swollen Bosporus
Watching the carefree flight of ships.

Fine and rough lips attracting
And a strangely beautiful curved nose,
But the eyes are dull, like the cold of a grave,
And the scattered gloom of hair is terrible ...

• In the film “The Knightly Romance ” (2000), the role of Anna was played by Irina Bezrukova .

• Peter Frankopan: Perception and projection of prejudice. Anna Comnena, the Alexiad and the First Crusade . In: Susan B. Edgington, Sarah Lambert (Hrsg.): Gendering the crusades . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 2001, S.45-59, Columbia University Press, New York 2002. ISBN 0-231-12598-4
• Dil C. Byzantine portraits / Transl. with fr .: M. Bezobrazova. M .: "Art", 1994.
• Anna Komnina. Alexiada. / Vst., Trans., Comment. Y. N. Lyubarsky. - M., 1965.
• Lyubarsky, Y. N. , About the sources of the "Alexiad" by Anna Komnina. (in collection Y. N. Lyubarsky. Byzantine historians and writers. St. Petersburg, "Aletheya", 1999.).
• Lyubarsky Ya. N., "Alexiada" by Anna Komnina - a masterpiece of Byzantine literature. (In collection Y. N. Lyubarsky, Byzantine historians and writers. St. Petersburg, "Aletheya", 1999.).
• Byzantine literature. M., 1974
• Aleksidze A. D., The world of the Greek chivalrous novel of the XIII – XIV centuries. Tbilisi, 1979.

• Anna Komnen // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Anna Komnina. Alexiada