Alexiad

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The Alexiad is a medieval biographical text written around the year 1148 by the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius I.

Within the Alexiad, she describes the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of her father (1081-1118), making it one of the most important sources of information on the Byzantium of the Middle Ages. As well as this, within the Alexiad, the First Crusade's interaction with the Byzantine Empire is documented (despite being written nearly fifty years after the crusade), which highlights the conflicting perceptions of the East and West in the early 12th century.

The text was written in Byzantine Greek, and it is one of only a few examples of a woman writing about the political and military history of her own country, and it is also a valuable source as to ascertain the Byzantine perception of the Crusaders.

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