, a lady of extraordinary talents in an age of barbarism, was the
, a lady of extraordinary talents in
an age of barbarism, was the daughter of the emperor
Alexius Comnenus I. and after his death in 1118, conspired to dethrone his brother John, and place the crown
on the head of her husband Nicephorus Briennius; but
while she displayed the spirit and intrigue of the most politic of the male sex, her designs were baffled by the want
of vigour, and the effeminacy of her husband. She applied herself, however, to such studies as could be prosecuted in that age, and associated much with the learned
men of Constantinople, whose fame she endeavoured to
rival by the “Alexiad.
” or “The life of the emperor Alexius Comnenus,
” her father, which she wrote in a style
that was much admired. It is divided into fifteen books;
and, making some allowance for the flattering portrait
given of her father, her frequent digressions, and inaccuracy as to dates, contains a very curious assemblage of
facts, and many spirited remarks on the Roman pontiff,
whose pretensions to spiritual sovereignty she treats with
very little respect; nor does she ever mention the French
nation but as a barbarous people, whose name would Hefile the beauty and elegance of history. The president
Cousin, however, published a very correct and elegant
French translation of the life of Alexius, which is in the 4th
volume of the Byzantine historians. There was also an
edition printed at the Louvre, with the learned notes of
David Hoeschelius, 1651, fol. Her husband died in 1137;
but the time of her own death has not been ascertained.