Manuel Anemas was an aristocrat and military commander in theByzantine Empire during the reigns ofJohn II Komnenos andManuel I Komnenos.

Manuel Anemas was a member of theAnemas family. Four Anemas brothers were involved in a serious conspiracy againstAlexios I Komnenos in 1105.^[1] It is remarkable that in the next generation a member of the same family, Manuel, married theporphyrogenita princess Theodora Komnene, daughter of John II and his empress,Eirene of Hungary. By this marriage John II may have been seeking to politically neutralise the threat of a potentially dangerous family. He was certainly pursuing a policy of bringing 'new blood' into the imperial family and governing circles.^[2]

Manuel was celebrated by the Byzantine court poetTheodore Prodromos, who described him as a wise general and the "great tower of theRhomaioi",^[3] Rhomaioi being the Romans, as the Byzantines referred to themselves. Though Anemas appears to have been a prominent soldier little information on his exploits has survived.

Manuel Anemas died in 1148; a funerary lament dated to Holy Week of that year by Prodromos, for "'Kyrios Manuel Anemas, the most fortunate son-in-law of the latebasileus andautokrator of the Romans John thePurple-born", is extant.^[4]

Manuel Anemas and Theodora Komnene had a number of children:^[5]

• Alexios Komnenos^[6] (c. 1131 orc. 1133/35 – 1155/57), married Anna Komnene Doukaina, a great-grandniece of Alexios I (possibly a granddaughter of Alexios' brotherIsaac Komnenos). He died of some disease, possibly tuberculosis, and died at a young age; his wife followed soon after. The couple had one child, of whom nothing further is known.^[7]
• A daughter, possibly named Irene (bornc. 1132), she married an unknown husband, and had at least one daughter, Theodora, the wife ofAndronikos Lapardas.^[8]
• A daughter, possibly named Maria (bornc. 1133), she marriedJohn Angelos, a nephew ofConstantine Angelos and distinguished military commander. The marriage remained childless.^[9]
• Eudokia (bornc. 1142), she married the scholarTheodore Styppeiotes, who became Manuel I's chief minister. The couple had several children, but only the name of one, Manuel, is known.^[10]

• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Kazhdan, A.P. and Epstein A.W. (1990)Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, University of California Press
• Magdalino, Paul (2002) [1993].The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143–1180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-52653-1.
• Varzos, Konstantinos (1984).Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi](PDF) (in Greek). Vol. A. Thessaloniki:Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Thessaloniki.OCLC 834784634.
• Varzos, Konstantinos (1984).Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi](PDF) (in Greek). Vol. B. Thessaloniki:Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Thessaloniki.OCLC 834784665.

• 12th-century Byzantine people
• Komnenos dynasty
• 1148 deaths
• Byzantine generals
• Generals of Manuel I Komnenos

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Year of birth unknown