Bryennios or Bryennius (), feminine form Bryennissa (Βρυέννισσα), was the name of a noble

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

family which rose to prominence in the 11th and 12th centuries, mostly as military commanders. The etymology of the name is uncertain. The first members of the family appear in the 9th century, with the ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' Theoktistos Bryennios. None are known for the 10th, but they reappear in the latter half of the 11th century, when they rose to high military commands and became associated with the

Komnenian dynasty The House of Komnenos ( Komnenoi; , , ), Latinized as Comnenus ( Comneni), was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. Th ...

. Members of the family retained high positions through the 12th century, and are documented up to the 15th century.

Notable members

* Alexios Bryennios, '' megas doux'' in 1156 *

Joseph Bryennios Joseph Bryennios () was a learned Byzantine monk of the 15th century. He was a monk at the Monastery of Stoudios. He wrote many important works of scholarship in support of Orthodoxy, and against the Union of Churches. He died sometime between 14 ...

(c. 1350 – 1430), Byzantine monk and writer * Manuel Bryennios (fl. 1300), Byzantine scholar *

Nikephoros Bryennios (ethnarch) Nikephoros Bryennios (), Latinized as Nicephorus Bryennius, was an important Byzantine general who was involved in rebellions against the empress Theodora and later the emperor Michael VI Stratiotikos. Career Nikephoros Bryennios hailed from ...

(fl. 1050s), Byzantine general *

Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder (), Latinized as Nicephorus Bryennius, was a Byzantine Greek general who tried to establish himself as Emperor in the late eleventh century. His contemporaries considered him the best tactician in the empire. Ea ...

(fl. 1070s), Byzantine general, son of the ethnarch, who made an attempt on the throne of

Michael VII Doukas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...

in 1077–1078 *

Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger Nikephoros Bryennios (or Nicephorus Bryennius; Greek: Νικηφόρος Βρυέννιος, ''Nikēphoros Bryennios; ''1062/82–1137) was a Byzantine general, statesman and historian. He was born at Orestias (Adrianople) in the theme of Macedonia ...

(1062–1137), son or grandson of the preceding, Byzantine general, statesman and historian, husband of

Anna Komnene Anna Komnene (; 1 December 1083 – 1153), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine Greek historian. She is the author of the '' Alexiad'', an account of the reign of her father, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Her work constit ...

* Theoktistos Bryennios, (fl. 842), ''strategos'' of the Peloponnese

Sources

* * {{Authority control