The gens Anicii, was by the time of the later
Empire, the most august family within the Roman
world. They claimed Republican origins to affirm
their antiquity, they were intermarried with all
highest families of the Roman nobility, they had
branches of the family throughout the Empire, and
their wealth was proverbial. Beyond political
prominence, they represented one of the first
senatorial families to adopt Christianity and
contributed Church leaders, philosophers, and patrons
of the arts, throughout the Empire. Though they were
most prominent in the West, they survived the fall of
the Western Empire, continuing on in
Constantinople.
But who were the Anicii? Perhaps the most famous
members of this family, who are still remembered
today, were
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
(475-524) who was the leading philosopher of his age;
and the Western "shadow" Emperor,
Anicius Olybrius
(d. 472). But this family was already at the zenith
of its power when these two people made their entries
into history. Who were they? Where did they come
from? How did they become the most prominent family
in the Roman world? What else did they contribute to
their world?
Many years ago I discovered that the most
enjoyable way, in my opinion, to learn the history of
a given age and place, was by following the actions
of the leading families. Through the leading families
one often finds not only the accepted leaders, but
also the leading dissidents, one gets a picture of
the minor battles that had to be fought to reach the
conclusions they did. For example, when studying
Norman England, one gets a much clearer picture of
the times by not only reading the conventional
histories and royal actions, but also the histories
of the nobility, who actually ran much more of
England than the Crown did. In this way, one gets a
more thorough picture of the events that led to the
actions reported in the conventional histories, such
as the Norman conquest of Wales.
It is this desire to study history through the
medium of the nobility which has aroused my interest
in the Anicii. This family, even if Republican links
cannot be confirmed, was still old enough to see the
conversion of the Roman world from paganism to
Christianity, to see the Western Empire disintegrate
and the Eastern Empire consolidate. What I wish to do
is reconstruct the history of this family, not merely
a genealogical chart, nor a synopsis of its leading
members actions, but a complete and comprehensive
history.
The reason I have chosen to put this research on
the Internet is because I am actively seeking those
with information to share on this topic. I encourage
anyone who has something valid to
contribute or intelligently takes issue with anything
on this site to contact me with their thoughts.
However, be warned that I am a stickler
for source information. If you see something wrong
and want me to correct it, bear in mind I will not
even consider it unless you can cite your sources. I
have found far too many historically incorrect or
blatantly fabricated genealogies on the Internet to
allow myself to be hoodwinked by those who cannot
give their sources.
I have decided to format this site on an
individual basis. Each person will be given a page,
and I intend to give as much information as possible
on these pages. However, it should noted that I may
not have discovered much, or even any, information
for many of the people listed; this is one of the
drawbacks to ancient and early medieval history.
Unlike some other sites on the Internet that are
formatted in a similar fashion, I cannot claim that
every person listed can be genealogically connected
to the whole. Genealogical information will be given
when possible, but as this is an ongoing project and
inevitably a great deal of information will have been
lost, I cannot draw up a complete stemma for this
family. It should also be noted that many of the
people listed are not actual members of the Anicii
family, but are related to it. As new information is
being constantly added, I am including a "last
update" date at the end of each page.
There are also a number of links provided in this
site to other sites of interest. Among these, two
sites are repeatedly referred to and I would like to
acknowledge them briefly. The first is the
DIR site which is an online encyclopedia of Roman
Emperors composed of a number of generally excellent
essays on particular Emperors. As my area of interest
is more refined than general history, whenever
possible I will provide a DIR link for any Emperor I
mention. The second is the
Imperium site which is primarily concerned with
the genealogical connections of the early barbarian
dynasties and others. As I am familiar with this
subject, I can confirm that most of the information
provided is correct and as many of these genealogical
links are too far removed from the subject of my
study, I will refer those interested in genealogical
connections to this site.
One may enter the site in either of two ways;
through the
historical synopsis or through the
directory. I also make my
Bibliography available to anyone interested.
Bear in mind that this is an on going project,
which means that new information will be contributed
frequently. Feel free to send me any questions,
comments, or criticisms via e-mail.
A kind word to my host...
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