Anna Comnena wrote The Alexiad as an account of the reign of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. It is also an important source of information on the Byzantine war with the Normans, and on the First Crusade, in which Alexius participated. Her character sketches are shrewd and forthright--from the Norman invader Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond to Pope Gregory VII. The Alexiad is a vivid and dramatic narrative, which reveals as much about the character of its intelligent and dynamic author as it does about the fascinating period through which she lived.
