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Nicephorus Bryennius (Greek language|Greek
Νικηφόρο&#
962;
Βυρέννιο&#
962;, 1062-1137), Byzantine soldier, statesman and
historian, was born at Orestias (Adrianople).

His father, of the same name, had revolted against
the feeble Michael VII, but had been defeated and
deprived of his eyesight. The son, who was
distinguished for his learning, personal beauty
and engaging qualities, gained the favour of
Alexius I Comnenus and the hand of his daughter
Anna Comnena|Anna, with the titles of Caesar
(title) | Caesar (then ranking third) and
Byzantine aristocracy and
bureaucracy|Panhypersebastos (one of the new
dignities introduced by Alexius).

Bryennius successfully defended the walls of
Constantinople against the attacks of Godfrey of
Bouillon during the First Crusade (1097);
conducted the peace negotiations between Alexius
and Bohemund I of Antioch|Bohemund, prince of
Antioch (the Treaty of Devol, 1108); and played an
important part in the defeat of Malik Shah of
Rüm|Malik Shah, the Seljuk Sultanate of
Rüm|sultan of Iconium (1116).

After the death of Alexius, he refused to enter
into the conspiracy set on foot by his
mother-in-law and wife to depose John II
Comnenus|John II, the son of Alexius, and raise
himself to the throne. His wife attributed his
refusal to cowardice, but it seems from certain
passages in his own work that he really regarded
it as a crime to revolt against the rightful heir;
the only reproach that can be brought against him
is that he did not nip the conspiracy in the bud.
He was on very friendly terms with the new emperor
John II, whom he accompanied on his Syrian
campaign (1137), but was forced by illness to
return to Byzantium, where he died in the same
year.

At the suggestion of his mother-in-law he wrote a
history ("Materials for a History") of the period
from 1057 to 1081, from the victory of Isaac I
Comnenus over Michael VI to the dethronement of
Nicephorus III|Nicephorus Botaniates by Alexius.
The work has been described as rather a family
chronicle than a history, the object of which was
the glorification of the house of Comnenus. Part
of the introduction is probably a later addition.

In addition to information derived from older
contemporaries (such as his father and
father-in-law) Bryennius made use of the works of
Michael Psellus the Younger, John Skylitzes 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
time, however, afforded him unusual facilities for
obtaining material. His model was Xenophon, whom
he has imitated with a tolerable measure of
success; he abstains from an excessive use of
simile and metaphor, and his style is concise and
simple.

Editio princeps, P Possinus, 1661; in Bonn Corpus
Scriptorum Hist. Byz., by E Meineke (1836), with
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange|du Cange's
valuable commentary; Jacques Paul Migne|Migne,
Patrologia Graeca, cxxvii.; see also J Seger,
Byzantinische Historiker des 10. und 11.
Jahrhunderts (1888), and Karl Krumbacher,
Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897).

1911