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NICEPHORUS See also:BRYENNIUS (1062-1137)
, See also:Byzantine soldier, statesman and historian, was See also:born at Orestias (See also:Adrianople)
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His See also:father, of the same name, had revolted against the feeble See also:Michael VII., but had been defeated and deprived of his eyesight
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The son, who was distinguished for his learning, See also:personal beauty and engaging qualities, gained the favour of Alexius I
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(See also:Comnenus) and the See also:hand of his daughter See also:Anna, with the titles of See also:Caesar (then ranking third) and Panhypersebastos (one of the new dignities introduced by Alexius)
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See also:Bryennius successfully de-fended the walls of See also:Constantinople against the attacks of See also:Godfrey of See also:Bouillon (1097); conducted the See also:peace negotiations between Alexius and See also:Bohemund, See also:prince of See also:Antioch (11o8); and played an important See also:part in the defeat of Malik-Shah, the Seljuk See also:sultan of See also:Iconium (1116)
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After the See also:death of Alexius, he refused to enter into the See also:conspiracy set on See also:foot by his See also:mother-in-See also:law and wife to depose See also: In addition to See also:information derived from older contemporaries (such as his father and father-in-law) Bryennius made use of the See also:works of Michael See also:Psellus, John Scylitza and Michael Attaliota . As might be expected, his views are biased by personal considerations and his intimacy with the royal family, which at the same See also:time, however, afforded him unusual facilities for obtaining material . His See also:model was See also:Xenophon, whom he has imitated with a tolerable measure of success; he abstains from an excessive use of simile and See also:metaphor, and his See also:style is concise and See also:simple . Editio princeps, P . Possinus, 1661; in See also:Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Hist . Byz., by E . See also:Meineke (1836), with du Cange's valuable commentary; See also:Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cxxvii.; see also J . Seger, Byzantinische Historiker See also:des so. and zi . Jahrhunderts (1888), and C . See also:Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897) . The estimate of his work in R . See also:Nicolai, Griechische Literaturgeschichte, iii. p . 76 (1878), is too unfavourable . |
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