Nikephoros Bryennios, the kaisar and husband of Anna Komnene, went on Ioannes II's expedition to Syria. In every moment of spare time, he worked on his book, the Historical Material. He contracted a mortal illness there and was carried back across Asia Minor to the capital, with his intestines swollen by the disease. Anna would not let him tell her what had happened, even if he had been fit enough to do so. He died soon after returning to Constantinople, a heartrending loss to Anna, which she could never recall without weeping. Her life had began in the porphyra and had gradually gone downhill, but nothing prepared her for the pain of losing Nikephoros. Engrossed as she was in pagan philosophy, she needed the strength of Christian belief to cope with her suffering