Anna Komnene

Byzantine princess and historian

1083 – 1153 · 70 years · Constantinople · Middle East

Daughter of Emperor Alexios I and author of the Alexiad, one of the first histories written by a woman.

Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Hildegard of Bingen — abbess, mystic and composer, 15 years younger
Averroes (Ibn Rushd) — philosopher, commentator on Aristotle, 43 years younger
Henry IV — emperor humbled at Canossa in his struggle with the pope, 33 years older
Henry II — first Plantagenet, builder of the Angevin Empire and of common law, 50 years younger
Conrad III — first Staufer king, unlucky leader in the Second Crusade, 10 years younger
Stephen of Blois — king of the Anarchy, the civil war with Empress Matilda, 11 years younger

Yuri Dolgoruky — prince of Rostov-Suzdal, founder of Moscow, 16 years younger
Vladimir II Monomakh — Grand Prince of Kiev, 30 years older
Andrey Bogolyubsky — prince who moved the centre of Rus to Vladimir, 28 years younger
Mstislav the Great — last ruler of a united Kievan Rus, 7 years older
Nestor the Chronicler — monk and chronicler, 27 years older
Sviatopolk II — prince of Kiev, participant in the Congress of Liubech, 33 years older