Editing Anna Komnene (section)

== The ''Alexiad'' ==
{{main|Alexiad}}
[[File:Anna comnena, alexiade, forse da costantinopoli, XII secolo (pluteo 70.2).jpg|thumb|Anna Komnene's ''[[Alexiad]]'' (12th century manuscript, [[Laurentian Library]])|280x280px]]
Anna wrote the ''Alexiad'' in the mid-1140s or 1150s.<ref name=":5"/> Anna cited her husband's unfinished work as the reason why she began the ''Alexiad''.<ref name=":11">Komnene 2009. Prologue, section 3, p. 5.</ref> Before his death in 1137, her husband, [[Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger]], was working on a history, which was supposed to record the events before and during the reign of Alexios I.<ref name=":11" /> His death left the history unfinished after recording the events of the reign of Emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates.<ref name=":11" /> [[Ruth Macrides]] argues that while Bryennios' writing may have been a source of inspiration for the ''Alexiad'', it is incorrect to suggest that the ''Alexiad'' was Bryennios' work edited by Anna (as Howard-Johnston has argued on tenuous grounds).{{sfn|Macrides|2000|p=70}}

In a statement on how she gathered her sources for the ''Alexiad'', Anna wrote, "My material ... has been gathered from insignificant writings, absolutely devoid of literary pretensions, and from old soldiers who were serving in the army at the time that my father seized the Roman sceptre ... I based the truth of my history on them by examining their narratives and comparing them with what I had written, and what they told me with what I had often heard, from my father in particular and from my uncles … From all these materials the whole fabric of my history – my true history – has been woven".<ref>Komnene 2009. Book XIV, section 7, p. 422.</ref> Beyond just eyewitness accounts from veterans or her male family members, scholars have also noted that Anna used the imperial archives, which allowed her access to official documents.<ref>Neville 2016, p. 78.</ref>

In the ''Alexiad'', Anna provided insight on political relations and wars between Alexios I and the West. She vividly described weaponry, tactics, and battles. It has been noted that she was writing about events that occurred when she was a child, so these are not [[witness|eye-witness account]]s. Her neutrality is compromised by the fact that she was writing to praise her father and denigrate his successors. Despite her unabashed partiality, her account of the [[First Crusade]] is of great value to history because it is the only [[Byzantine]] eyewitness account available. She had the opportunity to gather information from key figures in the Byzantine elite; her husband, Nikephorus Bryennios, had fought in the clash with crusade leader [[Godfrey of Bouillon]] outside [[Constantinople]] on [[Maundy Thursday]] 1097; and her uncle, [[George Palaeologos]], was present at Pelekanon in June 1097 when Alexios I discussed future strategy with the crusaders. Thus, the ''Alexiad'' allows the events of the [[First Crusade]] to be seen from the Byzantine elite's perspective. It conveys the alarm felt at the scale of the western European forces proceeding through the Empire, and the dangers they might have posed to the safety of [[Constantinople]]. 

Anna referred to the crusaders as "Celts", reflecting old Greek terminology for western barbarians.<ref name="Pocock2002">{{cite book |author1=J. G. A. Pocock |author1-link=J. G. A. Pocock |editor1-last=Pagden |editor1-first=Anthony |title=The Idea of Europe From Antiquity to the European Union |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780511496813 |chapter=Some Europes in Their History |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/idea-of-europe/some-europes-in-their-history/261CF37C1E49E93280878F816D4483F1 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511496813.003 |pages=61}}</ref>

The ''Alexiad'' was written in Attic Greek,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Anna Comnena|last=Dalven|first=Rae|publisher=Twayne Publishers, Inc.|year=1972|location=New York|pages=155}}</ref> and the [[literary style]] is fashioned after [[Thucydides]], [[Polybius]], and [[Xenophon]].{{sfnp|EB|1911}} Consequently, it exhibits a struggle for an [[Atticism]] characteristic of the period, whereby the resulting language is highly artificial.{{sfnp|EB|1911}} Peter Frankopan argues that the lapses in some of the chronology of events can in part be attributed to errors in, or lack of, source material for those events.{{sfn|Frankopan|2002|p=63}} Anna herself also addressed these lapses, explaining them as a result of memory loss and old age.<ref>Komnene 2009, Book V, section 9, p. 151.</ref> But regardless of errors in chronology, her history meets the standards of her time.<ref>''Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref>

Moreover, the ''Alexiad'' sheds light on Anna's emotional turmoil, including her grief over the deaths of her father, mother, and husband, among other things. At the end of the ''Alexiad'', Anna wrote "But living I died a thousand deaths … Yet I am more grief-stricken than [Niobe]: after my misfortunes, great and terrible as they are, I am still alive – to experience yet more … Let this be the end of my history, then, lest as I write of these sad events I become even more resentful."<ref>Komnene 2009, Book XV, section 11, pp. 472–473.</ref>