Review
Anna Comnena (1083-1153), daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas, was heir to the throne until her brother, the future John II, was born. The women in her family circle provided her with a great deal of knowledge and supported her in her quest to become empress. Her husband Nicephorus Brienius did not support her in the plot to dethrone her brother, who sent her to a monastery. There she devoted herself to the study of history and philosophy, formed and maintained a notable literary circle, sponsored other scholars, and wrote the Alexiad, the work of her father's reign. She was the first woman to recount a crucial moment in medieval history. The intellectuals of her time admired her vast education and solid knowledge.
Justifications
- Byzantine princess of great culture, advised by the women of her family circle.
- She struggled throughout her life to ascend the throne to which she was entitled as a first-born.
- She was one of the first Western women historians.
- She wrote the Alexiad, a history of the reign of her father, Emperor Alexius I.
- Her work was a medieval model of Byzantine historiographical discourse.
- She sponsored other scholars and enjoyed great prestige among the intelligentsia of her time.
Biography
Anna Comnena (1083-1153) was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas. She was born in the Purple Room of the Imperial Palace and was considered the heir to the throne, but being a woman was an obstacle to her accession. She was betrothed to Constantine Ducas to consolidate the family alliance and ensure a legitimate heir to the throne. After the birth of her brother John, who was named heir, and the death of her fiancé, she married Nicephorus Briennius, a statesman and historian, with whom she had two sons and two daughters. She always interceded for him to be appointed successor to Alexius I.
The women in his family circle provided her with an excellent cultural education and great support in the succession dispute. In addition to courtly knowledge, he studied the trivium (grammar, dialèctic, and rhetoric), the quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy), and military strategy. During the funeral of Alexius I, with the support of her mother, she attempted to assassinate the new emperor John II, who sent them to the monastery of the Virgin Kecharitomene; instead, she made her husband an adviser, as he was not involved in the plot.
At the monastery, she devoted himself to studying philosophy and history, formed and supported a notable literary circle, and patronised other scholars such as Eustratius of Nicaea and Michael of Ephesus.
At the age of sixty-five, she decided to continue the work her husband had begun on the reign and feats of the Comnenus. She wrote an extensive history known as the Alexiad (1148). In it, she recounts the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of her father Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118), including his military campaigns against the Turks, Pecheneg Cumaeans, Normans, and Crusaders. This work is one of the most important primary sources on the history of Byzantium known. The Alexiad documents the interaction of the Byzantine Empire with the First Crusade and highlights the conflicting perceptions of East and West in the early 12th century.
Although Anne tries to write an impartial work, she does not describe all the characters with the same sympathy. She loved her family, but detested her brother John II and his successor Manuel. Nor did she like the qualities of the Pope of Rome, the Latin priests (Latin means inhabitant of Rome as opposed to Roman, referring to the Greco-Byzantines), or some Western nobles.
In her work there is evidence of her knowledge of medicine. Previously, she had directed the great hospital and orphanage of Constantinople, where she taught medicine to the nurses, and was part of the medical council that assisted his father. The description of the emperor's last days of life has the accuracy of a medical report and recalls the descriptions of the plague epidemic in Athens and Constantinople by Thucydides and Procopius, respectively.
Her fondness for the classics (Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Thucydides and Polybius, the tragedians, orators, etc.) and the Bible is evident. Divinations and omens also attract her, but she strongly critisises them. It is likely that she had experience in the plastic arts, especially in painting, from the descriptions of the physique of some characters such as Maria of Alania, Irene Ducas, or Alexius I.
The author stresses the importance of an effective education for her contemporaries which would prevent the evils of humanity and be part of the civilising and expanding current of medieval Hellenism.
Anne Comnena did not fulfil her desperate wish to become empress, but she became the first woman to recount one of the most fascinating moments in medieval history.
Jorge Torniques considered her to have reached "the highest heights of wisdom, both secular and divine".
Works
English
Spanish
Catalan
Bibliography
-Comnena, Ana. (1989) “La Alexíada”. (Emilio Díaz Rolando, Trad.). Seville: University of Seville, Enciclopedia Mercabá, (retrieved on 19/11/2022),
<https://www.mercaba.es/bizancio/alexiada_de_ana_comneno.pdf>
-Comnena, Ana. (2020) La Alexíada. Una historia del imperio bizantino durante la primera cruzada (Emilio Díaz Rolando, Trad.). Barcelona: Ático de los libros.
-Díaz Rolando, Emilio (1992). "Ana Comnena y la historiografía del periodo clásico: aproximación a un debate", Erytheia, 13, págs. 29-44, (retrieved on 19/11/2022), <http://interclassica.um.es/var/plain/storage/original/application/f22b2e22e41c895842980d1f0840a6bc.pdf>
-Escribano Velasco, Consuelo (2015). “Ana Comneno, la princesa que no pudo reinar mas que en la historia”, Ermitiella (retrieved on 19/11/2022), <http://ermitiella.blogspot.com/2015/09/ana-comneno-la-princesa-que-no-puedo.html>
-Iommi Echeverría, Virginia. (2015). “La medicina en los siglos XI y XII a partir de la Alexiada de Ana Comneno”, in Byzantion Nea Hellás, 23, págs. 175-210, (retrieved on 19/11/2022),
<https://byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RBNH/article/view/37824/39458>
-Reed-Leal, Andrea (2021). “La historia en femenino”, en Revista de la Universidad de México, (retrieved on 18/11/2022), <https://www.revistadelauniversidad.mx/articles/22f5c08e-84d6-43cc-a2e4-64954f843cd4/la-historia-en-femenino>
Didactic approach
-CUC: Block Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art, and science.
-Greek Baccalaureate: Block The text: comprehension and translation; Block Literary education.
-Spanish Language and Literature ESO: Literary Education Block.
-Universal Literature 1st Baccalaureate: Interpretation of fragments from the Byzantine period of different genres and themes.
-History 2 ESO: Societies and territories block, referring to the Byzantine Empire.
Documents
