Anna Dalassene

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Anna Dalassene ( Middle Greek Ἄννα Δαλασσηνή ; * 1025 ; † November 1, 1102 [?] In Constantinople ) was the mother of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos .

Life

Anna Dalassene had been the wife of the Domestikos of the Scholen Johannes Komnenos since 1044 and therefore sister-in-law of Emperor Isaac I. When he abdicated in 1059, Anna tried in vain to get her husband to succeed Konstantin Dukas . After Constantine's death she supported his widow Eudokia Makrembolitissa and the usurper Romanos Diogenes . In 1072 Anna was banished to the Prince Island of Prinkipo together with her sons who were still alive . The reason was the accusation that together with Romanos , who had been deposed after the battle of Manzikert, they had gone against Michael VII.and his uncle, the emperor Johannes Dukas , conspired.

At the instigation of the new de facto regent Nikephoritzes , Anna Dalassene returned to Constantinople in 1073 . At court, she used her influence on Empress Maria of Alania to bring the members of her clan into leading positions. When the Komnenen in 1081 against Emperor Nikephorus III. raised, Anna's son Alexios, who was directly connected to the imperial dynasty of the Dukai through his marriage to Irene Dukaina , was proclaimed a basileus .

Anna Dalassene turned out to be an energetic supporter of her son, who awarded her the dignity of Augusta in gratitude . In the Byzantine court hierarchy, she competed with his adoptive mother Maria of Alania and her daughter-in-law Irene Dukaina for power and influence, including the upbringing of her granddaughter Anna Komnena . When Alexios I took action against the Normans , who had invaded the subject of Dyrrhachion under Robert Guiskard, immediately after his assumption of power , his mother acted as regent in his absence , as well as in 1094 and 1095 during the wars against the Serb prince Vukan and the Cumans under the pretender Pseudo-Diogenes .

At the end of her life, Anna Dalassene went to the Christos Pantepoptes monastery in Constantinople, which she founded, as a nun .

family

From her marriage to Johannes Komnenos, Anna Dalassene had five sons and three daughters:

  • Manuel († 1070)
  • Isaak , * around 1047, † 1102/1104, Byzantine general and Sebastokrator ∞ Irene, Georgian princess
  • Alexios , * 1048, † August 15, 1118, Byzantine Emperor, ∞ Irene Dukaina
  • Adrianos
  • Nikephorus
  • Maria
  • Eudokia
  • Theodora

swell

literature

  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. T. 20α, ZDB -ID 420491-8 ). Τόμος A '. Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984, pp. 51-57, digitized version (PDF; 280 MB) .
  • Jean-Claude Cheynet, Jean-François Vannier: Études Prosopographiques. Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1986, ISBN 978-2-85944-110-4 , pp. 95-99.
  • Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204. Routledge, New York / London 1999, ISBN 978-0-415-14688-3 , pp. 186-193.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
  • Matoula Kouroupou, Jean-François Vannier: Commémoraisons des Comnènes dans le typikon liturgique du monastère du Christ Philanthrope (Ms. Panaghia Kamariotissa 29) . In: Revue des études byzantines 63, 2005, pp. 41–69 ( digitized version ).
  • Steven Runciman : The End of Anna Dalassena . In: Annuaire de l 'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves 9, 1949, pp. 517-524.
  • Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 268-269.
  • Basile Skoulatos: Les Personnages Byzantins de l'Alexiade. Analysis Prosopographique et Synthèse (= Recueil de Travaux d'Histoire et de Philoloqie. Sér. 6, Fasc. 20, ZDB -ID 437846-5 ). Nauwelaerts, Louvain-la-Neuve 1980, No. 14 (also: Louvain, Universität, Dissertation, 1978).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Anna Dalassene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἄννα Δαλασσηνή (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine empress, mother of Alexios I Komnenos
DATE OF BIRTH 1025
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: November 1, 1102
Place of death Constantinople