Anna Notaras: Difference between revisions

'''Anna Notaras''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] '''Ἄννα Νοταρᾶ''') was the daughter of [[Loukas Notaras]], the last [[Megas Doux]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. She left [[Constantinople]] between 1440 and 1449 and went to [[Rome]] with her two sisters, avoiding the [[fall of Constantinople]] and the massacre of her family.<ref>[[Donald M. Nicol]], ''“The Byzantine Lady Ten Portraits 1250—1500)“'', [[Cambridge]], 1994. ISBN 0-521-45531-6</ref> In Italy, with the fortune her father had wisely invested abroad, she became the center of the Byzantine expatriate community in [[Venice]]. She established, with two others (Nikolaos [[Vlastos]] and [[Zacharias Calliergi|Zacharias Kalliergis]]), one of the first printing presses for Greek books in Venice (in 1499). In their correspondence with her, the council of [[Siena]] referred to her as widow of the last Byzantine emperor, [[Constantine XI]] (1449—1453), but this was untrue. There is no mention of such a marriage in any other contemporary source, especially in the writings of [[George Sphrantzes]], his chancellor.