SOURCE: "Anna Comena, the Alexiad and the First Crusade," in Reading Medieval Studies, Vol. 10, 1984, pp. 20-2.

In the following excerpt, France contends that the Crusades were of interest to Anna only to the extent that they affected her father, and that Anna's biased accounts are of limited value.

Anna Comnena, the Alexiad and the First Crusade1

By her own account Anna Comnena began to write the Alexiad shortly after the death of her husband, Nicephoros Bryennios, in 1137. He had begun a life of Alexius, known to us as the Hyle, but had taken it no further than the end of the reign of Nicephoros Botaniates in March 1081. This inspired Anna to continue the unfinished life of her father.² Some 30 years after the death of Alexius, she tells us that she was still preparing the work.³ Those parts of Books X and XI which deal with the First Crusade...