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Anna Komnene (Latinised to Anna Comnena) was the daughter of Emperor Alexios I and Irene Ducas. She was born in Constantinople in 1083 and died 1153. The exact date of her death is unknown.
Because of her royal heritage, Anna was tutored in literature, philosophy, medicine, astronomy and history. She also taught medicine at the hospital her father had built for her. She was well-known for her medical knowledge, in fact, she treated her own father during his illness that eventually led to his death.
She was set to inherit the throne after her father’s death but her brother, John, was born in 1087 which stopped that from happening. Many sources say that she was very bitter about this and believed that she was the rightful heir to the throne. Her mother and herself tried to get Anna’s husband, Nikephoros Bryennios, to become emperor but Alexius favoured John.
When her father died in 1118, Anna and her mother conspired to dispose of the new emperor, John. Anna’s husband however refused to take part.
The conspiracy was soon found out and so Anna and her husband had to retire from court and political life. After Nikephoros Bryennios's death in 1137, she and her mother moved to a monastery. It was there that she worked on The Alexiad.
Anna Comnena wrote The Alexiad. This fifteen-volume book is a highly important historical book about her father and the First Crusade. She described in detail the daily life at court, her family life, and the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire.
Throughout the book, Anna maintains that she has an impartial view on what she is writing about, even though the main subject matter is her father.
A quote from one of the volumes says "It is high time I should turn to my father's reign and relate how and why he became ruler. I should not spare him for being my father if anything he did struck me as not well done; nor shall I gloss over his successes to avoid the under-current of suspicion that it is a daughter writing about her father, for in either case I should be wronging truth."
She says this to prove that she will show no bias towards her father or the Byzantine Empire.
Anna directed most of her contempt toward the Crusaders from the West in her books. To her, the Crusaders looked and acted like barbarians.
She wrote the book from her perspective of the topics she wrote about. The preface is almost entirely about herself and her life.
Anna Comnena was a very influential woman in the time that she lived. She is seen as the world’s first woman historian. She was a skilled doctor and broke the gender stereotypes of not only the time but for a long period of time afterwards. She had a great education which allowed her to be a successful academic in later life. This is important because most women at the time did not receive any education and were expected to only marry and bear children. She had to work hard for the things she achieved, harder than the men of the time because she was a female and would not have been considered as capable as a man in her position. She produced a highly important historical text which has greatly helped modern day historians understand the time she lived in and the early crusades.
She wanted to become the ruler but because she was female she could not. Her mother thought she was just as capable, if not more than, as her brother to become the ruler. It was only the men in her family that disagreed with her ability to lead.
Anna Comnena made great strides not only for history and medicine but also for women and their place in society. She showed a great amount of courage when fighting for her role of becoming a leader and when her brother took that from her, she focused on documenting history as it happened and the life of her father and the Byzantine people.
Books:
Fidler, R.F (2016). Ghost Empire. Australia: Harper Collins.
Cameron, A.C (2006). The Byzantines. England: Blackwell Publishing.
Norwich, J.J.N (1998). A Short History of Byzantium. England: Penguin Books.
Gouma-peterson, T.G.P (2000). Anna Komnene and Her Times. [Online]. United States of America: Garland Publishing. [3 September 2017]. Available from: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=edShAwAAQBAJ&dq=Anna+Komnene
Komnene, A.K (1148). The Alexiad. [Online]. Constantinople. [3 September 2017]. Available from: http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/alexiad_dawes.pdf
Websites:
Dangerouswomenprojectorg. 2016. Dangerous Women Project. [Online]. [26 August 2017]. Available from: http://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/04/20/anna-komnene/
Womeninworldhistorycom. 2017. Womeninworldhistorycom. [Online]. [2 September 2017]. Available from: http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine5.html
Thefamouspeoplecom. 2017. Thefamouspeoplecom. [Online]. [2 September 2017]. Available from: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/anna-comnena-4635.php
Bookragscom. 2017. Bookragscom. [Online]. [2 September 2017]. Available from: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-alexiad-of-anna-comnena/
Bookragscom. 2017. Bookragscom. [Online]. [3 September 2017]. Available from: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-alexiad-of-anna-comnena/quotes.html