The Life Of Charlemagne By Einhard

The subject of this report is the book Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800. While reading this book, it seemed as if the author was quite biased towards Charlemagne, and he wanted him to look better than he really was. Also this book was written as if it were a novel, so it did not come across as a nonfiction book, even though the entire story was based on facts. The author’s main purpose of this book was to better Charlemagne’s image in history by, his portrayal of Charlemagne’s accomplishments, how well the author believes Charlemagne handled the problems that his empire faced, and the writing style that the author chose for this particular

Charlemagne, also known as “Charles the Great” is a significant figure in the history of Europe. Son of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne set out to be a great ruler. “The age of Charlemagne” as it was so called, started after the result of missions among Pagans. During his ruling he did some beneficial things for his people, but in the end mostly bad things. At first he was thought to be a great ruler and then people really started to dislike him.

In Einhard's Life of Charlemagne and Notker’s Deeds of Charlemagne, the authors express different views of Charlemagne however, they both portray Charlemagne as an influential king through the advancements he made for his kingdom as well as his work with the church. The Life of Charlemagne, written by Einhard, gives a detailed look into the professional life of the great king Charlemagne. Einhard was one of Charlemagne's servants who was able to give the readers a more closely analyzed view of the great leader reign. As one of Charlemagne's servants, Einhard displayed nothing but positive views on the king's accomplishments. Einhard says that Charlemagne was “most excellent and deservedly most famous king”(17) depicting just how fondly he thought of the king.

The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker are two medieval sources about the accounts of the life Charlemagne. Modern sources by Matthew Innes and Rosamond Mckitterick discuss how history was recorded during the medieval period and how it was suppose to be viewed in the early ages. Observing each of these sources helps get an understanding of how the writing of history is important in recorded history and how it affected how the history of Charlemagne was recorded.

Charlemagne is described by Janet Nelson as being a role model for Einhard. Einhard himself writes in the first paragraph of The Life of Charlemagne, “After I decided to write about the life, character and no small part of the accomplishments of my lord and foster father, Charles, that most excellent and deservedly famous king, I determined to do so with as much brevity as I could.” I feel that these are sincere words about the man who cared for Einhard. I feel that Einhard’s purpose for writing The Life of Charlemagne is to praise the works of his “foster-father” and create a historical document that would describe the great deeds of Charlemagne so that he would not be forgotten throughout time as a great leader and man.

The Life of Charlemagne, written by the Frankish scholar Einhard, is a biography on the personal life and achievements of Charlemagne, a ruler of the Franks and the king of Italy. He ruled from 774-800. Einhard, a male Frankish scholar, was born to noble parents in the Main Valley, around 770 A.D. He was educated in the monastery of Fulda, and shortly after sent to the palace school of Charlemagne in Aachen. Eventually becoming a personal adviser and a close friend to the king of the Franks, he influenced the king in all the ways of higher thinking and even inspired the king to desire a higher education for himself. The king even tried his hand at learning to write, however to no avail. Einhard was able to give deeper insight into the life of Charlemagne, as he was present during many of the events that took place. He also had the advantage of hearing firsthand accounts from the king. The Life of Charlemagne is thought to have been written between 829 to 836, composed by Einhard while living in Seligenstadt. Einhard wrote the accounts of Charlemagne so that there would be a historical account describing the emperor’s day to day life. “His two immediate reasons for writing were the personal knowledge which he possessed of Charlemagne, and the debt of gratitude which he owed to this remarkable king and emperor.” He was a man that possessed a drive for knowledge and insight into the future. By working under Charlemagne, he was able to grow in that knowledge and even

Charlemagne and Augustus used their large militaries to expand their vast empires. Charlemagne was considered a warrior king. He would lead his army into all of their battles. During the thirty three year war (772- 804) with the Saxons he lead every battle except for two. Those two battles were at Detmold and at the bank of the river Hase. The enemy were so routed and overthrown in these two battles that they never afterwards ventured to take the offensive or to resist the attacks of the King, unless they were protected by a strong position. The Saxon war is the Frank 's most well known war. The Franks and Charlemagne also fought in other

The first account of Charlemagne's life was by his courtier, Einhard, who thought it would be a tragedy if history forgot such a noble ruler. Furthermore, not only does he believe that it should be him to write about Charlemagne's life, but only him. He

The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker the Stammerer are very different accounts of the life of the great Emperor. Einhard gives us a historical overview of the life of Charlemagne who lived from 742 to 814 A.D. Charlemagne was also known as Charles the Great and the King of the Franks.Charles was one of four children born to Pepin the Short, A Mayor of the Palace of the Carolingian Empire. He had one brother, Carloman and two sisters, Gisela and Pepin.Since women at the time didn’t inherit power, when Pepin the Short died, the kingship of the Carolingian Empire was divided and shared by Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman. Unfortunately, Carloman died early and unexpectedly as a young man and

Einhard, born in 775 in an ancient Frankish homeland, in a valley of the River Main, was taken into Charlemagne’s court sometime between 791 and 792. After the scholar Alcuin retired to the monastery, Einhard became a go to source for answers for Charlemagne. After Charlemagne’s death Einhard felt compelled to write a biography about his king and friend, writing that, ○“In any event, I would rather commit my story to writing, and hand it down in posterity, in partnership with others, so to speak, that to suffer the most glorious life of this most excellent king, the greatest of all the princes of his day, and his illustrious deeds, hard for men of later times to imitate, to be wrapped in the darkness of oblivion” (Einhard 16). Einhard spent twenty-two years in Charlemagne’s court and ○“Although

After reading two versions of “The Life of Charlemagne”, one written by a person who lived with Charlemagne, and one who didn’t, it is evident that Charlemagne is portrayed in a negative way by the author, the Monk of St. Gall, and in a positive way by Einhard. Einhard was very close to Charlemagne. He lived at the same time and with Charlemagne himself. His version of “The Life of Charlemagne” was writing right after his death. The Monk of St. Gall wrote his version more than 70 years after Charlemagne’s death. He did not live with or even at the same time as Charlemagne. This is probably one of the reasons the view on the ruler are completely different.

The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family which managed to take control over the entirety of the Franks and form what is known as the Carolingian Empire. Being a Frankish noble family meant that they originally began as a Germanic tribe until 496 A.D when Clovis I, the first ruler of the Franks united all of the Frankish tribes underneath his rule. Charlemagne was born to Pepin the Younger, king of the Franks from the years 751-768 A.D who was also the first of the Carolingians to become King, and his wife, the Frankish queen, Bertrada of Laon. The day and month of his birth is agreed by scholars to be the 2nd of April but the year of his birth is a much discussed and debated topic amongst scholars since some sources claim that he was born in 742 (before the marriage of his parents meaning that he is a bastard not fit for the throne), 747 (his birthday would have fallen upon Easter day which would have been mentioned by historians at the time but was not) or more popularly the year of 748. The exact location of his birth is not known but is speculated to be either Aachen in Germany or Liege in Belgium amongst other cities.

By the Cross and the Sword : Charlemagne’s Impact on the West. “He who ordains the fate of kingdoms in the march of the centuries, the all-powerful Disposer of events, having destroyed one extraordinary image, that of the Romans, which had, it was true, feet of iron, or even feet of clay, then raised up, among the Franks, the golden head of a second image, equally remarkable, in the person of the illustrious Charlemagne. Notker the Stammerer, the monk of St. Gall, wrote these words in AD 844 to describe the reign of the most influential Frankish king Charlemagne ( Lectures 1). Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, ruled the Franks for 47 years (Koeller 1). The Carolingian Dynasty, of which Charlemagne was a member, was

Charlemagne also known as Charles the Great, was born around the 2nd of April 747 and died on the 28th of January 814. He was noted down in history as King of the Franks, a Germanic-speaking people who invaded western Rome residing in current day Germany, the King of the Lombards, Germanic people who resided in parts of the Italian peninsula, and finally was the First Holy Roman Emperor. Another name that has been bestowed upon Charlemagne was the title “Father of Europe”. Due to the Carolingian empires rule, Charlemagne was able to unite nearly all of western Europe. The last empire to do so was the Roman Empire and no other country would unite Europe until the eighteen hundred under napoleon. Charlemagne’s father was named Pepin the Short, a name that deceives most on the battlefield due to his incredible and unmatched strength. Pepin the Short was the predecessor to Charlemagne as the king of the Franks. Pepin also set up the Carolingian dynasty but did not peak its power until the crowning of Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s successor was his son, Louis the Pious, who would be dissimilar from Charlemagne. In fact, for most of his reign, Louis the Pious would have to deal with many civil wars which foreshadowed the diminishing strength of the Carolingian empire. Charlemagne would serve as the prototype for most of medieval western Europe for the next millennium until the founding of the new world.

The fall of Western Roman Empire in late 5th century led to its vast territory being divided in numerous kingdoms without any central authority. Charlemagne became the King of the Franks in 768. He then successfully led a series of campaigns throughout his reign to unite most of Western Europe under a sole emperor for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The expanded Frankish state Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire.