Anna Comnena (1083–after 1148)

Byzantine historian, daughter of the emperor Alexius I. After a number of abortive attempts to alter the imperial succession in favour of her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius (c. 1062–1137), she retired to a convent to write her major work, the Alexiad, the history of her father's reign. It describes the Byzantine view of public office, as well as the religious and intellectual life of the period.