Anna Of Byzantium

After the meeting with her grandmother and father, Anna is intercepted in the hallway by Simon, who wants to show her some new books in the library’s collection. He shows her the works of Nikephoros Bryennios, an emerging historian and soldier who Simon believes will one day be recognized as one of history’s greatest scholars. Anna pronounces that she, too, wants to make history someday and that she will begin by exiling John and forcing Dalassene to submit to her rule. She also recalls wanting to kill John when she first saw him. John overhears this conversation, having intentionally followed her to the library to eavesdrop, and tells Dalassene that Anna is plotting to kill him. The charges are brought before Alexios, who promises not to kill Anna for her crimes because she is his daughter.

Alexios deliberates and decides that Anna’s status as heir to the throne will be revoked and that John will take her place as punishment. Furthermore, her betrothal to Constantine is dissolved. Anna begins to understand that she has been bested by her grandmother’s manipulation tactics. Irene protests the sentence, accusing John of being unfit to rule, but Alexios accuses her of being a traitor and an “unnatural mother who does not love her son” (119).