The Medieval Church · c. 1148
The Alexiad
Anna Komnene · 1083–1153
What it is
A daughter's history of her father's reign, including the arrival of the First Crusade described as an unwelcome flood of armed and unpredictable Latins.
Why it lasted
The first substantial history written by a woman in the European tradition, and the essential Byzantine account of the crusades.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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