About

Magistrissa Anna Dokeianina Syrakousina came to the Barony of the Bridge in the East Kingdom by ways of Trimaris in 2002, where she had been playing on and off for a few years during high school and college.  She is painfully obsessed with all things Greek, Roman, and Eastern Roman/Medieval Greek (Byzantine), and enjoys blabbing about her recent projects and teaching classes. She is married to Dominus Gieffrei de Toesni, known as Jeff the Moneyer. He is a Norman, but we won’t hold it against him.

While her primary focus is Byzantine clothing and material culture, Anna often wears Roman or Greek clothing when the weather is less suitable for being in perfect persona, and does occasionally cross over into the clothing of the Normans to suit her husband’s tastes. In addition to sewing (a lot), she practices painting Byzantine icons, and has begun exploring vitreous enamels. She is also a brewer, a weaver, and has been authorized in both armored and rapier combat.

She is a member of the Freehold of the Riverkeep, Haus von der Insel, and Feileacan Ghardin.

Anna replaced her missing cousin, Anna Dauzzano da Siracusa at court during Bridge Birthday 2012.

She moved to the Barony of Stonemarche in February of 2014, to the Barony of Calafia in the Kingdom of Caid in May of 2016, and now resides in the Barony of Castlemere, in the Kingdom of Trimaris, as of January 2018. In November of 2020, they relocated to the Barony of Marinus in the Kingdom of Atlantia.

Persona

Magistrissa Anna is a lady born of a high-ranking Greek family living in Saracen-controlled Sicily in the mid 11th century. She was married to a lower ranking prince of the Imperial family by proxy and moved to Constantinople in her early teens. She was rapidly caught up into dangerous court intrigue, and after nearly 20 years of grandiose Imperial life, her husband was mysteriously killed while turmoil reigned during a shifting of power in the Purple. Being that her family was of an opposing political view to the Emperor, she was placed under house arrest and is confined to the grounds of the Great Palace Complex overlooking Propontis (The Sea of Marmara).

Anna befriended several men of the Varangian Guard during her life in Constantinople, who often plot to get her out of the city. Unfortunately, their oath to the Emperor put their lives and pay in jeopardy, and the endangerment of her family is too great. So she spends her time dressing in expensive silks and linens, watching games at the Hippodrome, reading the classics, and flirting with the Norsemen.

She was betrothed to Lord Gieffrei de Toesni, a Norman soldier, as capitulation following the Battle of Dyrrachium in 1081 and they both live in the border marches of Andalusia with the Freehold.

Awards

Award of Arms – 06/2010
Order of the Burdened Tyger, East Kingdom (Autocratting a royal progress event and going above and beyond the required service.) – 06/2011
Award of the Lotus, Barony of the Bridge, East Kingdom (Arts and Sciences) – 12/2011
Seamstress to the Crown, East Kingdom (Kenric and Avelina I) – 09/2012
Pillar of the Bridge, Barony of the Bridge, East Kingdom (baronial highest order of service) – 12/2012
Order of the Lodestone, Barony of Smoking Rocks, East Kingdom (Service award given to non-baronial populace.) – 02/2014
Seamstress to the Crown, East Kingdom (Kenric and Avelina II) – 03/2014
Order of the Maunche, East Kingdom (highest kingdom award for A&S): 05/2014
Seamstress to the Crown, East Kingdom (Omega V and Etheldreda IV): 07/2015
Queen’s Esteem of Merit, East Kingdom (Etheldreda IV): 08/2015
Queen’s Order of Courtesy, East Kingdom (Ethedreda IV): 08/2015
Court Baroness with a Grant of Arms, East Kingdom (Omega V and Etheldreda IV): 08/2015
Queen’s Champion of Arts and Sciences, Kingdom of Caid (Marisa I): 08/2016
Order of the Lux Caidis, Kingdom of Caid (highest kingdom order for A&S): 11/2017
Arts and Sciences Gulf Wars Champion, Kingdom of Trimaris: 3/1/2020
Arts and Sciences Populace Acclaim, Kingdom of Trimaris: 3/1/2020
Non-Pareil, Kingdom of Trimaris (awarded for museum-like quality piece in A&S): 3/1/2020
Order of the Laurel: 10/17/2020

Heraldry

Arms: Argent, dolphin naiant sable, a bordure gules.

Badge: Fieldless, a dolphin naiant sable.
Badge: Fieldless, A crocodile tergiant fesswise contourny sable gorged of an antique coronet Or.

You can learn more about Anna at the East Kingdom Wikipedia page here: http://www.eastkingdom.org/mediawiki/index.php/Anna_Dokeianina_Syrakousina

Mundane Life

Angela Costello holds a BA in History with a minor in Classics from the University of Rhode Island, and an MA in History with an option in Museum Studies from the University of New Hampshire. She academically focuses on archaeology and anthropology of Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, predominately of Rome and her successor, Byzantium. Her master’s thesis is a study of the inventory belonging to Kale Pakouriane, a Byzantine patrikia (lady patrician) from the late 11th Century, it was published as Compleat Anachronist #177.

She is the author of the book, Of Summer and Winter, which is one perspective into the life of her persona, and is available through most major retail websites, or through her mundane blog at www.angband.me.

She currently lives in Jacksonville, FL while her husband, Jeff, is stationed at nearby Kings Bay. They are cat parents to a rescued blue Maine Coon mix named Harald Hardrada, who is a big foofy mama’s boy.