depart on that expedition."--_Alexiad_, Book x. pp. 237, 238.

Ducange, as is mentioned in the novel, identifies the church, thus
described by the crusader, with that of _Our Lady of Soissons_, of
which a French poet of the days of Louis VII. says--

Veiller y vont encore li Pelerin
Cil qui bataille veulent fere et fournir.
DUCANGE _in Alexiad_, p. 86.

The Princess Anna Comnena, it may be proper to observe, was born on the
first of December, A.D. 1083, and was consequently in her fifteenth
year when the chiefs of the first crusade made their appearance in her
father's court. Even then, however, it is not improbable that she might
have been the wife of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom, many years after his
death, she speaks of in her history as [Greek: ton emon Kaisara], and
in other terms equally affectionate. The bitterness with which she
uniformly mentions Bohemund, Count of Tarentum, afterwards Prince of
Antioch, has, however, been ascribed to a disappointment in love; and
on one remarkable occasion, the Princess certainly expressed great
contempt of her husband. I am aware of no other authorities for the
liberties taken with this lady's conjugal character in the novel.

Her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, was the grandson of the person of
that name, who figures in history as the rival, in a contest for the
imperial throne, of Nicephorus Botoniates. He was, on his marriage with
Anna Comnena, invested with the rank of _Panhypersebastos_, or
_Omnium Augustissimus_; but Alexius deeply offended him, by
afterwards recognising the superior and simpler dignity of a
_Sebastos_. His eminent qualities, both in peace and war, are