In her work, the historian Anna Komnene (1083 to approx. 1153), daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I, deals with the period of her father's reign from his first successes as a youthful army commander and his successful rebellion up to his death. She includes an account of the First Crusade from a Byzantine perspective and draws impressive portraits of the protagonists. Together with the works of Michael Psellos and Niketas Choniates, her account belongs to the most brilliant achievements of Byzantine historiography.

This new critical edition contains numerous textual...