Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/670

ANNA COMNENA. the Alexiad. The first two books treat of the history of the Empire from the time of Isaac Comnenus; the remaining thirteen books are devoted to the reign of Alexius. Chronologically, Anna is sometimes at fault, and she omits purposely many events; but as a whole her work has great merit. The best edition is that of Schopen and Reifferscheid, 2 volumes (Bonn, 1839-78). Consult: Chalandon, Règne d'Alexis I. (Paris, 1900); and Oster, Anna Komnena (Rastatt, 1868-71).

ANNA IVANOVNA, (1693-1740). Empress of Russia. She was the second daughter of Ivan, the elder brother of Peter the Great. She was married in 1710 to the Duke of Courland, the last of his race, who died in the following year. The throne of Russia was offered to her by the Supreme Council on the death of Peter II. in 1730, on conditions which greatly limited the power of the monarchy, terms which she soon broke. Her elevation was greatly due to the intrigues of the chancellor, Ostermann, who had had the charge of her education, but who was disappointed in finding her not so grateful and tractable as he had expected. For some years, however, her rule was tolerable. Abroad, Russia fought successfully in the War of the Polish Succession. Internally the army was reformed, greater liberty was allowed to the landed gentry, and government debts were paid, though to do so the peasants were crushed down with taxes. But her paramour, Biron, a German of low extraction, for whom she had obtained the Duchy of Courland, having determined to govern the nation as well as the Empress, a sudden and deplorable change ensued. This man, a blood-thirsty and avaricious wretch, established something like a reign of terror through the land. He is said to have banished not less than 20,000 persons to Siberia; numbers were knouted, had their tongues cut out, or were broken alive on the wheel. Eleven thousand perished in this way. Prince Basil Dolgoruki and others of his family suffered the ignominy of the scaffold. At length the health of the Empress gave way. She died on October 28, 1740, and left the throne to her grand-nephew Ivan, with Biron as regent. See, and.

ANNA KARENINA,. One of Count Tolstoy's novels, which first appeared serially in a Moscow publication, from 1875 to 1878. It is a powerful study of the effects of passion upon human life, and is by many considered the author's greatest work.

ANNA KARLOVNA,, or frequently, (1718-46). Regent of Russia during the minority of her son Ivan. She was the daughter of Charles Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg, and of Catharine, sister of the Russian Empress, (q.v.). In 1730 she married Anthony Ulric, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Her son, Ivan, born August 24, 1740, was appointed by the Empress Anna Ivanovna as her successor. The Empress died in October, 1740, and Biron, whom she had made regent, was overthrown within a month. Anna Karlovna now proclaimed herself Grand Duchess and Regent of Russia; but she showed no capacity for managing the affairs of a great country, spent her time in indolent enjoyments, and resigned herself very much to the guidance of one of the ladies of her court, Julia von Mengden. A conspiracy was formed by a party desirous of

raising to the throne Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine, and this was accomplished on December 6, 1741. The infant Ivan was sent to the castle of Schlüsselburg, where he was afterward murdered; Anna and her husband were condemned to prison for life and conveyed to Kholmogory, on the White Sea, where she died in childbed. Her husband remained a prisoner for thirty-nine years, and died in 1780.

AN'NALS (Lat. annales, from annus, year). In the original sense, records of public events arranged year by year. In the early days of Rome, such records were kept by the priests, and known as the annales pontificum, or annales maximi, because prepared by the pontifex maximus. In later times, public men interested in history wrote crude chronicles of events, also known as annales; such annalists were Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus. When Ennius (q.v.), the "father of Roman poetry," wrote the deeds of Rome in heroic verse, he called his poem Annales; and finally Tacitus (q.v.) thus designated his story of Rome from Tiberius to Nero.

AN'NALS OF A QUI'ET NEIGH'BORHOOD. The title of a novel by George Mac-Donald (1866).

ANNALS OF THE PAR'ISH. The title of a novel by the Scottish writer John Gait (1821).

ANNAM, (Nhan-nam, Peace of the South). The central division of French Indo-China and formerly the designation of an independent empire, which included the provinces of Annam, Tongking and Cochin China. It embraces the greater part of the east coast of Indo-China (washed by the South China Sea), and stretches from Cochin China on the south to Tongking on the north, its southernmost point being about lat. 10° 30' N. and its northern extremity about lat. 20° 30', at the delta of the Song-koi or Red River. On the west it is bounded by the country of the Laos, Siam and Cambodia. The area is about 50,000 square miles. The much larger figures until recently current for the area have been curtailed by the organization of the French Laos country. The coast, about 750 miles long, is deeply indented and fringed with many islets.

Annam is traversed throughout its entire length from north to south by a mountain chain which slopes precipitously toward the sea, but declines gently toward the Mekong valley in the interior. It reaches in the peak of Pu-san an elevation of about 9000 feet. Pu-atuat is about 1000 feet lower. The country has two hydrographic zones. On the west is the basin of the Mekong; on the east are numerous coast rivers, shallow and nearly impracticable for navigation. The Mekong River rises in Tibet, flows through the extreme south of China, traverses the Indo-Chinese peninsula with a rapid current, gathering many tributaries on its way, and forms the boundary between Annam and Siam. It is navigated by steamboats along the Annam frontier. The largest city and the capital of Annam is Hué. The productions of Annam include rice and other cereals, cinnamon, sugar-cane, coffee, tobacco, tea, and cotton. A considerable quantity of silk is produced, and the forests yield valuable woods. The buffalo is domesticated and used in tillage. The Chinese hog is reared in large numbers. The large game characteristic of the wilds of India abounds in Annam. One of