ANNA LEOPOLDOVNA

anna leopoldovna, sometimes called anna carlovna (1718-1746), regent of russia for a few months during the minority of her son ivan, was the daughter of catherine, sister of the empress anne, and charles leopold, duke of mecklenburg-schwerin. in 1739 she married anton ulrich (d. 1775), son of ferdinand albert, duke of brunswick, and their son ivan was adopted in 1740 by the empress and proclaimed heir to the russian throne. a few days after this proclamation the empress died, leaving directions regarding the succession, and appointing her favourite ernest biren, duke of courland, as regent. biren, however, had made himself an object of detestation to the russian people, and anna had little difficulty in overthrowing his power. she then assumed the regency, and took the title of grand-duchess, but she knew little of the character of the people with whom she had to deal, was utterly ignorant of the approved russian mode of government, and speedily quarrelled with her principal supporters. in december 1741, elizabeth, daughter of peter the great, who, from her habits, was a favourite with the soldiers, excited the guards to revolt, overcame the slight opposition that was offered, and was proclaimed empress. ivan was thrown into prison, where he soon afterwards perished. anna and her husband were banished to a small island in the river dvina, where on the 18th of march 1746 she died in childbed. annalists (from lat. _annus_, year; hence _annales_, sc. _libri_, annual records), the name given to a class of writers on roman history, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the second punic war to that of sulla. they wrote the history of rome from the earliest times (in most cases) down to their own days, the events of which were treated in much greater detail. for the earlier period their authorities were state and family records--above all, the _annales maximi_ (or _annales pontificum_), the official chronicle of rome, in which the notable occurrences of each year from the foundation of the city were set down by the pontifex maximus. although these annals were no doubt destroyed at the time of the burning of rome by the gauls, they were restored as far as possible and continued until the pontificate of p. mucius scaevola, by whom they were finally published in eighty books. two generations of these annalists have been distinguished--an older and a younger. the older, which extends to 150 b.c., set forth, in bald, unattractive language, without any pretensions to style, but with a certain amount of trustworthiness, the most important events of each successive year. cicero (_de oratore_, ii. 12. 53), comparing these writers with the old ionic logographers, says that they paid no attention to ornament, and considered the only merits of a writer to be intelligibility and conciseness. their annals were a mere compilation of facts. the younger generation, in view of the requirements and criticism of a reading public, cultivated the art of composition and rhetorical embellishment. as a general rule the annalists wrote in a spirit of uncritical patriotism, which led them to minimize or gloss over such disasters as the conquest of rome by porsena and the compulsory payment of ransom to the gauls, and to flatter the people by exaggerated accounts of roman prowess, dressed up in fanciful language. at first they wrote in greek, partly because a national style was not yet formed, and partly because greek was the fashionable language amongst the educated, although latin versions were probably published as well. the first of the annalists, the father of roman history, as he has been called, was q. fabius pictor (see fabius pictor); contemporary with him was l. cincius alimentus, who flourished during the hannibalic war.[1] like fabius pictor, he wrote in greek. he was taken prisoner by hannibal (livy xxi. 38), who is said to have given him details of the crossing of the alps. his work embraced the history of rome from its foundation down to his own days. with m. porcius cato (q.v.) historical composition in latin began, and a livelier interest was awakened in the history of rome. among the principal writers of this class who succeeded cato, the following may be mentioned. l. cassius hemina (about 146), in the fourth book of his annals, wrote on the second punic war. his researches went back to very early times; pliny (_nat. hist_. xiii. 13 [27]) calls him _vetustissimus auctor annalium_. l. calpufnius piso, surnamed _frugi_ (see under piso), wrote seven books of annals, relating the history of the city from its foundation down to his own times. livy regards him as a less trustworthy authority than fabius pictor, and niebuhr considers him the first to introduce systematic forgeries into roman history. q. claudius quadrigarius (about 80 b.c.) wrote a history, in at least twenty-three books, which began with the conquest of rome by the gauls and went down to the death of sulla or perhaps later. he was freely used by livy in part of his work (from the sixth book onwards). a long fragment is preserved in aulus gellius (ix. 13), giving an account of the single combat between manlius torquatus and the gaul. his language was antiquated and his style dry, but his work was considered important.