Though Anna Komnene was the firstborn child of Alexios I, his favourite was Ioannes (II), his eldest son, whom he proclaimed emperor, so as to leave him as his successor. His empress Eirene Doukaina, on the other hand, fervently supported her daughter Anna, slandering her son Ioannes for his rash character and moral laxity, trying to change her husband's mind. She also regularly praised Anna's husband Nikephoros Bryennios as an educated person who was also a man of action. The sickness which affected Alexios in the last years of his life gave her great power, and it seemed likely that she would have a strong role in the succession. Ioannes was well aware that this posed dangers for his rule, perhaps even for his life itself, and lobbied the male members of the Komnenian clan to support him when the crisis came. His brother Isaakios was favourable to him. Nikephoros Bryennios, as husband of the firstborn, the favoured candidate of the empress and a man of considerable personal authority, seemed likely to play an important role, but showed little ambition for the throne. Alexios himself usually ignored his wife's pleas, but sometimes replied that he would be crazy to replace an able son and legitimate successor by his son-in-law, especially as his own rise to power had been unorthodox. Much of the time he hid his real feelings