Komnene, Anna

   Historian; eldest daughter of Alexios I Komnenos (q.v.). Her Alexiad, which is a tribute to her father, encompasses the years 1069-1118, and it is a chief source for the 11th century. Until her brother John (II) (q.v.) was born, and subsequently recognized (in 1092) as heir to the throne, Anna was herself heir to the throne through her betrothal to Constantine Doukas, son of Michael VII (qq.v.). After Constantine's premature death, Anna married Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger (q.v.) and schemed with her mother, Anna Dalassene (q.v.), to make Bryennios emperor (q.v.). Nevertheless, after her father's death in 1118 her brother John became emperor and she was forced to retire to a monastery. There, embittered by her fate, she wrote the Alexiad, one of the great Byzantine historical works, and the only work of its kind written by a woman during the Middle Ages.