Anna Komnene (1083 to ca.1153/1154) was a Byzantine writer, historian, biographer, and hagiographer. The eldest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina, Anna Komnene is the author of the Alexiad. Written around 1148, it is a significant historical document which remains the principle source of our knowledge of the period in history which saw the restoration of Byzantine power and the encounter of Byzantium with the West in the First Crusade. Furthermore, it is the only text written by a woman in the whole of the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. As the author of the Alexiad, an epic biography of her father, Anna Komnene made a singular contribution to the story of Byzantium, particularly of the First Crusade, as it is remembered today.