Set in the Eastern Roman Empire (more widely known as Byzantine) at the turbulent times of the First and the Second Crusades, Anna Komnene’s story as an imperial princess and the medieval era’s first female historian unfolds.

Both admired and reviled for her extraordinary intellect and education and her strong, confident authorial voice, unprecedented for a woman, Anna was mislabelled as over-ambitious and power-hungry by generations of historians – until now.

She composed the epic history of her father’s, Alexios I Komnenos, reign and the Alexiad still remains today the most popular account of the First Crusade and the first complete history written by a woman.

Princess, daughter, wife, mother, historian, philosopher, author, Anna is one of the great women writers and intellectual foremothers of modern women.