Anna Dalassene

Anna Dalassene (Greek: Ἄννα Δαλασσηνή; ca. 1025/30 – 1 November 1100/02) was an important Byzantine noblewoman who played a significant role in the rise to power of the Komnenoi in the eleventh century. As Augusta, a title bestowed upon her by her son, Alexios I Komnenos, rather than his empress-consort she guided the empire during his many absences for long military campaigns against Turkish and other incursions into the Byzantine empire. As empress-mother, she exerted more influence and power than the empress-consort, Irene Doukaina, a woman whom she hated because of past intrigues with the Doukas family.

Anna was the daughter of Alexios Charon, and a lady of the noble Dalassenos family. Her maternal grandfather was named Adrianos Dalassenos, evidently a son of the magistros and doux of Antioch, Theophylact Dalassenos. Very little is known about her father, who was an obscure imperial official in Italy. Her mother's family, the Dalassenoi, were a distinguished family of the Byzantine military aristocracy, beginning with Theophylact's brother Damian Dalassenos in the late 990s.

The date of Anna's birth is unknown, but is placed around the years 1025/30. Likewise the date of her marriage to John Komnenos is variously placed in ca. 1040, or ca. 1044/45. The couple had eight children, five sons and three daughters. These were, by order of birth, Manuel Komnenos (ca. 1045), Maria Komnene (ca. 1047),Isaac Komnenos (ca. 1050), Eudokia Komnene (ca. 1052), Theodora Komnene (ca. 1054),Alexios I Komnenos (1057),Adrianos Komnenos (ca. 1060), and Nikephoros Komnenos (ca. 1062).