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Anna Dalassena was an important Byzantine noblewoman who rose to position of sort of Empress-Mother during the reign of her son Emperor Alexius I.

She married Johannes Komnenos, a nephew of Emperor Isaac I Comnenus (Emperor from 1057 to 1059).

Her younger son Alexius rose to the throne after vicissitudes of politics. Alexius was for many years under the strong influence of her eminence grise. She is described as a wise and immensely able politician.

She was in a uniquely irregular fashion, crowned as Empress Augusta by her son the emperor, instead of the rightful claimant to the title, Alexius' wife Irene.

Anna Dalassena was the effective administrator of the Empire during Alexius' long absences in war campaigns: she was constantly at odds with her daughter-in-law Irene Ducaena and had assumed total responsibility for the upbringing and education of her granddaughter Anna Comnena.



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