Somewhat appropriately, we are kicking 2021 off with the story of the first female historian, Anna Komnene. Her work, the Alexiad, is one of the most important primary sources of 11th and 12th century Byzantine history. Anna was also highly involved in politics at the time and was implicated in several attempts to depose her brother, John, and take the throne for herself. The Alexiad is not an unbiased account and it pushed the boundaries for what history was defined as which has brought criticism upon Anna – yet perhaps it is this that makes her and her work so important.

Anna was born in 1083 in Constantinople to Alexios I Konmenos and Irene Doukaina. She was the emperor’s eldest child and thus became his heir along with her betrothed, Constantine Doukas. Unfortunately for Anna, her brother was born in 1087, removing her from the line of succession.

Starting around 1090, Anna was sent to live with her future mother-in-law (Maria of Alania), as was common practice for the time. She received an education befitting a princess, studying mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and military strategy, among many other things. According to medieval scholar Niketas Choniates, Anna “was ardently devoted to philosophy, the queen of all sciences, and was educated in every field.” She even, allegedly, went against her parents’ wishes to read ancient poetry such as the Odyssey, which was believed to be ‘insidious’ for women due to its polytheism.

Anna’s time with Maria of Alania was likely formative for her, and modern readings of her life suggest that she drew inspiration from female influences in her life. She speaks highly of her grandmother, Anna Dalassene, in the Alexiad, and her mother encouraged her political ambitions.

One of these ambitions was the Byzantine throne. Constantine Doukas died before Anna’s marriage to him, so she instead wed Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger in 1097, aged fourteen. Bryennios, also an intellectual, had some claim to the throne, so Anna and her mother joined forces in an attempt to persuade her father to name Anna as his heir. Their attempt, unfortunately, failed.

Alexios did hold affection for his daughter, however. Noting her intellectual capabilities, he appointed her head of a 10,000-bed hospital and orphanage which he had built in Constantinople. There, Anna taught medicine and eventually branched out to other hospitals. She was considered an expert in gout, and used this expertise to treat her father of this illness. She was the one who administered Alexios’s treatment in his final days; he died despite her best efforts in 1118. 

It is the mark of a bad general, when all is peaceful to incite his neighbours to war intentionally – for peace is the object of all wars.

Anna Komnene, in Book XII of the Alexiad

Upon their father’s death, John became emperor. Anna and her mother plotted to overthrow him, but the attempt was doomed to failure as Anna’s husband remained loyal to John. The plot was uncovered and Anna was forced to forfeit her estates. She and her husband were barred from court.

Bryennios died in 1137 after 40 years of marriage. They had had four children. Anna, aged 55, was sent to live in a convent which was devoted to learning. There, she began her work on the Alexiad, a 15-volume account of her father’s reign for which she would go down in history.

The Alexiad is the only historical work of Anna’s time which was written by a woman. She would have been aware of this fact, and there has been significant debate over whether or not her gender affected her writing. The more personal nature of the book points to yes – Anna expresses extreme levels of grief for her father, mother, and husband throughout which are demonstrative of lamentation expected of women at the time. Yet, she also manages to tell the story of her father’s reign accurately and precisely, displaying that readers can trust her account.

Her position at court meant that she was privy to conversations and details which an ordinary historian would not have been, and her account of the First Crusade is the only Byzantine eyewitness account available. Her descriptions of clothing, battles, and weaponry have also proved invaluable to modern historians. The book was written in Greek, and was first translated into English in 1928 by Elizabeth Dawes, herself the first woman to receive a doctorate in literature from the University of London.

Anna remained in the convent where she wrote the Alexiad until her death sometime in the 1150s. Historians today owe much to Anna Komnene; without her and her work, we wouldn’t understand quite so much about the Komnenos dynasty.

Sources:

• Anna Komnene – Ancient History Encyclopedia
• Female Hero: Anna Comnena (Women in World History Curriculum)
• Biography of Anna Comnena, the First Female Historian (thoughtco.com)
• Neville, Leonora, ‘Lamentation, History, and Female Authorship in Anna Komnene’s Alexiad‘, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 53.1 (2013), 192–218