Anna Of Byzantium

Anna of Byzantium is a 1999 middle grade historical fiction novel by children’s author Tracy Barrett. The novel’s protagonist is the Byzantine princess, historian, and revolutionary Anna Komnene. The story follows her through her formative teenage years at the imperial palace in Constantinople and her eventual exile to a convent following her attempt to overthrow her brother, John II Komnenos. As Anna navigates the complex political environment that she was born into, she encounters the ethical dilemma of Lust for Power in a Religious Society and Competing Definitions of Family, and she is forced to reconcile with her own Youthful Impressionability in Politics within these events.

This guide refers to the 2011 Kindle edition of the text, published by Laurel Leaf Books.

Note on Spelling: Anna of Byzantium uses the commonly Latinized spelling “Comnenos” of the Greek name “Komnenos” (Κομνηνός). Unless quoting the text, this guide will use the latter spelling, which is now the widely accepted transliteration of the original Greek. Other Greek names will also be spelled with up-to-date transliterated forms.

Content Warning: Anna of Byzantium contains depictions of enslavement and child marriage.

Plot Summary

Anna Komnene is a princess of the Byzantine Empire and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She has been exiled to a convent as punishment for her plot to overthrow her younger brother, Emperor John II Komnenos, and assume the throne following her father’s death. At the convent, Anna seeks permission to assist the nuns who work in the scriptorium, a space devoted to document production and copying. She begins using the writing materials from this work to write down as many of her memories as she can.

In the earliest years of her childhood, Anna remembers being doted upon as the heir to the Byzantine throne. Though emissaries from other cultures find it strange that a woman has been granted this position, Anna is secure in knowing that the Byzantine right of inheritance does not favor boys over girls. Things begin to change, however, when her younger brother John is born. Anna immediately dislikes John because of how much attention he gets, but also because of his entitled and cantankerous behavior. John is uncooperative with tutors’ attempts to teach him how to read, and because she is so studious, Anna remains the favorite of the head tutor, Simon.

Anna soon gains the attention of her paternal grandmother, Anna Dalassene, who seeks to mold her into the “ideal” future empress. Dalassene begins to give Anna private lessons about political strategy, warfare, and imperial history. These lessons differ vastly from Simon’s, which focused primarily on literature, mythology, and morality. Anna feels special, receiving her grandmother’s attention, and fails to notice Dalassene’s manipulative, cutthroat ways. Her mother, Irene Doukaina, quickly realizes that Dalassene is teaching Anna to value power above all else and that Dalassene is continuously presenting Anna with a malicious narrative about the Doukas family to turn mother and daughter against each other. Anna does not fully understand this conflict, but initially sides with her grandmother, believing that her political tutelage is more important than Irene’s concerns about morality and spirituality.

Meanwhile, Anna’s father, Alexios, and her betrothed, Constantine Doukas, are abroad fighting in the First Crusade. When they return, spoils of war are brought back with them, including a Turkish girl named Sophia, who was enslaved and brought to Constantinople as a servant for Anna. At first, Anna bristles at Sophia’s seeming inability to understand her place as an enslaved person in the imperial household, but the two girls begin to bond when Sophia helps Anna hide a ceremonial chalice that she has stolen. The same evening as the theft of the chalice, Irene tries to inform Alexios of Dalassene’s harmful influence over Anna, but having been raised and taught by Dalassene himself, the emperor is dismissive of his wife’s warnings.

Alexios formally reunites with the family and brings exotic gifts for all of them, including a beautiful parrot for Anna. Anna treasures the bird, but she is dismayed when John orders it to be killed for biting him. Constantine also returns with the emperor, and a banquet is held shortly thereafter to celebrate their betrothal. During this party, John mocks a romantic conversation he overheard between Anna and Constantine, delighting Alexios but humiliating Anna. While Irene tries to soothe Anna, Dalassene scolds her for behaving in an undignified way. Subsequently, Anna is haunted by nightmares in which John takes the throne away from her. Dalassene begins to realize that Anna might not be as compliant and easy to manipulate as she had hoped and shifts her favor to John.

John continues his malicious habit of eavesdropping. He catches Anna telling Simon that she plans to exile him as soon as she becomes empress and that as a child she wanted to kill John. He and Dalassene use this information to accuse Anna of conspiring to murder him, and Alexios chooses to punish Anna by revoking her right to the throne and dissolving her engagement to Constantine. Shortly thereafter, Constantine is killed in battle, and Anna begins to lose hope for her future. She turns to helping Sophia reunite with her childhood love, Malik.

Some time later, Anna is betrothed to Nikephoros Bryennios, a renowned historian and soldier. Anna is glad that she shares an interest in history with him but still longs for Constantine. She begins to focus on her study of medicine and her writing pursuits since her authority in the palace is increasingly limited by John and Dalassene. The emperor is called away to another war and returns home two years later, gravely ill. Anna is not allowed to visit him until he is beginning to feel better, at which point she observes his doctors administering a potentially poisonous medicine to help him heal.

Anticipating that she might need poison in the future, Anna steals a vial of the medicine and gives it to Simon for safekeeping. After a brief period of recovery, the emperor’s health declines steeply, and he refuses to reinstate Anna as heir to his dying breath. John hurries away to be crowned the new emperor, and Irene and Anna are distraught knowing that the young ruler will likely try to have them killed. Irene loses all hope for the future and tells Anna that they need to attempt to assassinate John if they are to ever find happiness again. Knowing that her mother could be tortured and killed if she was caught, Anna commits to enacting this plan to protect her.

She demands that Simon bring the vial of poison to her, though he warns her not to make any bad decisions with it. She goes to the banquet hall, where she pours a deadly dose of it into John’s chalice. Unfortunately, John and Dalassene catch her in the act—having been informed by Simon of the plot—and imprison her. Learning of Anna’s failure, Irene makes a last-ditch effort to attack John with a knife, but she seems to go insane as soon as she is captured. John has her sent away to a convent, and even though Dalassene wants Anna to be executed, John goes against her wishes and has her sent to a convent too. As a parting gift, Anna sets Sophia free, declaring that she can never be enslaved again.

Returning to Anna’s time at the convent, she has managed to integrate herself well into the nun’s community. Her medicinal skills have proven very useful, and she begins to treat villagers from the surrounding farmlands. One day, Anna is surprised to see that Sophia and Malik have come to visit her, with their newborn baby who they have named after her. Sophia is delighted to report that John has stripped Dalassene of all her powers, restricting her to the women’s quarters of the palace. The couple also brings with them Anna’s manuscript of the Alexiad, which John had previously ordered destroyed at the palace; Simon kept it safe by fleeing from the palace with it and giving it to Malik to pass on to Anna as one of his dying wishes.

Anna is filled with remorse for her previous anger over Simon’s betrayal and realizes that Simon, Malik, and Sophia had been true family members to her all along. She vows to finish her work writing the Alexiad as the ultimate act of defiance against John and Dalassene.