she is frankly not reliable when she deals with events that occurred outside the boundaries of the Empire , where she allows her prejudices fullrein ,as in her account of the career of pope Gregory Vii.But modern historians are too ready to belittle her . She was an intelligent and very well-educated woman ;and she was a conscientious historian ,who tried to verify her sources. Though she wrote ''in old age ,she had long intended ''to be her father,s biographer and must have collected most of her material during his lifetime , when she had full access to his official papers.