perception and projection of prejudice: ana comnena, the alexiad and the first crusade- peter...

8/3/2019 Perception and Projection of Prejudice: Ana Comnena, the Alexiad and the First Crusade- Peter Francopan

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5Perception and Projection of Prejudice:Anna Cornnena. the Alcxicu! and the First

Crusade,

PETER FRA:-':K(}PAN

T he .'Ill' l'i'll; II I Anna C'urnncnn i n l l l .111 C:


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her attempt tll diminish her readers " 1 1 ~ p i e i \ ) I 1 ~ that the account \)1'Alexin- reign as;\ whole I l l a ~ ' be biased." While: the: author's cundouris l . ' a ~ y to di-';llliss a discngcnuou-, it IS il l 01>\ ious dissonance withthe unqucst oniug ,1I1d llllap..-d"lCl"tic lut in chroniclcr-, who lollowcdtheir lords un L T l h ~ l l k . and seem unaware of their \)1\11 subjectivity.let :1 I(\l1l' mukc : 1 I l ~ eXl'USC" for it. i"Irouicnllv. ,1\ cour-; ,\I1I1;\'s p m l L ' , I ~ I I I l \ I l S about her desire


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( , l'rn:R I ' I { \ ~ K ( ) " Y " " the concl usiou that. tor one reason 01' anot her. Alexius neitherenjoyed extensive popuhJrit) Juring the L'OLtrSe or his reign, nor washe particularly successful ill sausfying the demands or the arisiocral') il l Byzantium in thi period. 1(. That the author \ \ ;IS prepared toinclude and develop Sll negative a theme to run through the coursellf the text should go SO!11e \\iIY III countering claims that th e text issimply a pauegyric to the emperor Alcxiu-, Comnenus by a lov ingdaughter, determined to sholl him only In it lavourablc light.

Naturally, th e issue of Anna's honesty and or the reliability o!' the:l{e.Yi"d as ;1 whole- is or considerable significance to any analysis orthe chapters which deal with the First Crusade, The text does poseproblems. For example, Anna Cornnena rails to discuss till' origins orthe crusade, simply stating. that I l l ) sooner had the emperor cornplcted an engineering project by Nicomcdia than he 'found himselfunable tll relax. hearing a rumour that countless Frankish armieswen: appronching." As we ha w seen. this is often seized Oil as beinga dear case of the author favouring her Iarher h) omiuing tll mention the role he played in the genesis of the lirst Crusade." Theremay, 11OWC\'L'r. he another. simpler, explanation here. namely thatAnna, writing in her convent xomc lin) ycur after the events shedescribes, genuinely did not know of her rather's involvcmcn t inauracring armed pilgrims to Constuntinoplc and beyond in {heI(ll)()s.IJ At least some weight can be gi'\l"n \0 {his hypothesis bypointing. out {hat Anna not llnl) fails hI mention till' role played byher father. but also rails tll mention that played hy the pope, UrbanII: 1I1L' author is quid elsewhere in the text to


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capture or Jerusalem hy the crusadcr-, urc mentioned tlnly in passing. while the fall uf Edessa is no t noted at 0111 ...1 Annas account Ill'the period utter Antioch also contains lactual errors. For example,the author reports that (;Ildfrq 01 Blluilhll1 not tlllly Iought al hutW,IS captured during the cour-c or the buulc of Rumlch in 1102. even Ithough it is known that he IwJ died 1 \ \0 y\.'"rs cnrlicr." Other.:pisod..:s arc also surprisingly orniucd. such as t i l l ' capture Ill'Boh':I1lIIl111 by the Dunishmcnicls \\ hich Anna \\llllid surd) haveincluded in her account had she known about it. given rhc consuuuhostilit) shown towards this individual in the course 0" the text."

IOTile mistakes, errors and onus-iun-, in Anna's 1:00.:ra!:!\.' Ill' events

t ) X alter early presumably rcilcct the problems of her source matcria] and above all the 1,I\;k of evidence which the author had at 111:1'disposal here, In (hi,.; way, the l l h \ ious explanation fill' the dramaticIall-otl' in the qUillity of information is that Al1n,1 had lound it ditlicult t t l gal he I" material that \ ' a ~ relevant a 11:- J1l1lhesi,.; which hal.'bup the view which ha-, been Ircqucntly expressed that till' authorobtained OIl k';ISI SIHIl\.' of her information ubout the crusade andabout the crusaders from Taticius: ill other word .., il j ... no coincideuce that the departure Ill' the IlY/anlinL' general from Antioch inI09X corresponds Sl l neatly with a marked decline in the quality Ill'Anna's information. Put Sil1lpl}. the author had been dcprivcu of ake: source of information."

But while Taticiu ap(X',t l 'S III han: been a \l 'ry important sourcefor Anna Comncna and p.m icularly lo r her coverage or I I l l ' eventswhich took 1'1:1(."1: Irorn till' Iall o!' :\il..'al'a up tll Antioch he was ccrtuinly not the only source Oi l \ \ hid) the author WilS able to draw [orher "Cl'O II 11 I of the crusade a:- " \\ hole. 1-,,1' if we can nominurcI;lli\.,ius ,IS the supplier of at least some information. then we can"Iso s u g g e ~ l other llgllres who may have provided Annu with rcliublcal l t ! accurate c\ idcncc elsewhere in this section of the (LxI. And, ofcourse, the close analysis of the .llcxiud which enable ... l l In do thishas a ..rucial by-product. to r it enables us no! ouly to draw sonic conelusions about the I'L'liability and accuracy III' Anna's coverage of thecrusade. hut also tll lInder... lal ld hllw and \\ hy ,hl' texl \\,a,.; pill1llgcl her.

Thl' author herself is Iw l \.'lwrrnollsly hdpl'lIl ,,1)L'n it Ctlllll?" torL'\l'alillg hl'l' ll\\n ";OUl'l:l'S dthL'r l ~ l r th.: crllsal.k or !ll!' her father'sreign in g \ . ~ n < : l ' a l . TO\\'ards Iht: \.'IHI of lh\.' A/('.\"illd. Anna slatcs thaI shehad hl'l:n ahle tl> r d 011 an UllsrL,t:il"iL'd numher of a\.'collllls written

Questia Media America, Inc. WM'f.questia.comBook Title: Gendering the Crusades. Contributors: SusanB. Edgington - editor, Sarah Lambert - editor.PUblisher:UnMrsltyof WalesPress. Place of Publication: Cardiff, Wales. PUblicationYear: 2001. PageNumber: 63. This material is protected by cOP\ifightand, with the excelilion Offair use, may not be furthercopied, dist ributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.

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and \\ Ill' ~ \ a ~ another Ill' : \ n n a ' ~ uncles, Illa;. have provided 11K'author wit]: a substantial amount 1'1' the mutcriul which ~ l p p l : a r ~ inthe .l!nillJ " ~ Meanwhile. Aun.rs husband. Nicephorus Brycnuius.whom SPIlW suspect of ha\ ing d l ' ~ i 1 k d the .,l/n/1Il1 ir not I)" h,1\ ingaduall;. written it. \\as involved in ncgoti.uing with .unl supl:nisingthe crusaders \\ hen Ihl:;' \ \,'r e camped h:- Con-annuuoplc ill JOin,und \ \ ,IS therefore well pbc:ed II I PI 'P\ ide the uuthu:: \ ith iutorm.ui. .nabout some i f no t ull thc-c III .u 11:1':-. ,"

Ir these three individuuls (\1'1: the most I l h \ iou- SOUI\:l:s 1'01' snatchesIll' intorm.uion 01' rpr larger -Ial, or C\ idcucc which appear il l thetext. then the: an.' h:- no means th e only ones to whom \\'L' should1111lk Ill! the material which :\nna used in her account or the hrsl('ru:-ade, For ill addition lp [Ill' episodes where Taticiu-; (i.:nrl:!'-'Pnlacologu-, John Comucnu-, John Doucas an d :\icephl11'llSHrycuuius tcature prominently. there urc ab'l Cl clutch or incidents\\ hich 'II'\.' reported ut \;11';' i l l ~ knglh and lklail \\ hidl centre till 'Il! urcs such as Consuuu inc luphorbcnu-, ('aI


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(1(1 1'1 n.R I R \ ; - " ~ ( ) P . \ ' ----.__ ......- .the sequence tlj" events is sound, The narrative Ilow is also smooth,an d there ar c lew gaps ill the l,..hapier-, concerned. :'1 or IIll' four lacunae which have been ilkntified h Rcilfcrschcid. Lcib andl.iuburskii, one appears ll) rcprcs ...nt a single word \\hidl is I l l i s s i n ~ from the c,trlil:,l manuscripts."! Another appears al the very cnd nfthe report ol Alcxiu-,' .rctivitic-, ill western Asia :\" inor." TIll' other1\\0 represent gaps which the author had left l ~ l I ' a specific piece l ) l 'inlorm.u it'll 10 he inscrtcd once Iurt her r.:, ...'a rch had been cornplctcd, While il is not Known \ \ h ~ Anna was unable tll lind the rclcvant dl.'lails an indic tion number anti a measurement or distancercspcctivcl, the fact thut these arc the only tll'casion, where thenurr.uivc is inter rupted prov ides a dear indicarion that the author has


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about the crusade before Antioch. Ccrlainl). the interpretation "l 'cvcm-, dillcr SlIh"wllliall): however, there should be little doubtabout the quulitv ,,1' 1111.' m.ucrial contuincd ill the .I/nitld for thej1l:ri,)d between (he arrivul Ill' Peter the l lcrmit in B}/;tllliull1 ;tnd thedeparture ot Taticiu at the ,,1;11't Ill' I 0 9 ~ . In fact. comparison with111l' Latin ';l1ur,','" sh,'\\S that there arc 11


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commentutor-, the \ i-ibilit , ll f thl: author and of the all thor's opiniou-, ill the IL'XI is not a churactcrisuc unique III the .'/Iniac!, and.COIlSl'QUL'J1lly. CiIllIlOI he n:asollHhly labelled H feminine atlrihUle,I.,And. secondly, there arc O!WiOllS dangers lll' over-interpreting andreading 100 much into Anna ... work, s i m p l ~ because the author \ \ ~ t s a wom.ui."

If we L'HIl lind al l : I n : l l o ! ! ~ Ill!" Anna's intervention. then we shouldalso add that it is possible to lind parallels ttl!" ut least some of heropinions, and particularly those about Westerners. Again. Ihis allowxus In present a context I'M the author's views, which is of someimportanee ttl our uudcrstn nding ol the Alcviui!s coverage or theFirst Crusade, 1'01'. rat her I han dismissing Anrla':> views of I l l l ' crusaders as being turuished by the tall-out after Antioch a:> well as bythe fiasco of the Second Crusade (and therefore all example of hiastowards her luther), it should be stressed tluu on e finds similarexpressions Ill ' .lI1il11osily towards Westerners, and identical chargesthat all Latins were obsessed hy money, that they were fickle andunrrustworthy and cruel. ill a large number l l f By/antiIlL' sourcesfrom the second hall' of till' l"1L'YClIlh century onwards.'>

In Ihis respect. then. the . j l n i w / i ~ an .. \ l ..-Ilcnt cxarnplc of a highqU;llity source which reveals a glHld deal about Hyzauunc attitudesill the eleventh and twelfth centuries g e n e r a l l ~ , And even il' it is 11111pl)s:>iblc II I scparutc the isxuc of whether Anna wrote as sIll' did andhad the opiniou- thai she did because she wu-, a woman. or because"he was un imperial woman, M simply because she \Va:> a Byzantine.this conclusion alone gnes some \\ay to r..dres"ing the undeservedreputation lor hia:> and inaccurucv which both the II:X( and theauthor have acquired over the L'omSL' ot more than tw o hundred~ L ' a l ' : > , In a neut turn Ill' irony. therefore, it is 11t)[ :\(1 much the . lie";".!hU I rather commentaries on thi-, text \\ hid) prove III be biased andprejudiced: Anna Cornncna and her text have long been pulled apartby those \\ho o n l ~ Sl'\ ' what it is that thl'Y want til Sl'e. without consilk-ring the context Ior this remarkable account and withoutstoppiill:! tt l question just ho\\ !;thlll and valuable a le\t it is lo r ourunder ...t:llldillg or 111L' reign Ill ' Alexius I Comncnus in gCI1L'ral ;md ofthe hrst Crusade in particular.

ouestra Meala America, Inc. \lIWoIV.questla.comBook Title: Genderlng the Crusades. Contributors: susan B. Edgington - editor. S'arahLamben - editor.Publisher: University of WalesPress. Place of Publication: Cardiff. Wales. Publication Year: 2001 . PageNumber. 70. This material is protected by coWight ana, with the exc&!)tion of fair use, may not be furthercopied, distri butecl or transmit ted In any form or by any means.

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perception and projection of prejudice: ana comnena, the alexiad and the first crusade- peter...

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