The collection Two Lives of Charlemagne contains two different biographies of Charlemagne who was a king of the Franks and a christian emperor of the West in the 8th century. The first biographical account was written by his courtier Einhard who knew him personally and well. On the other hand, the second account was penned by Notker the Stammerer was born twenty-five years after the king’s death. Even though these two versions indicate the same king’s life, there were many differences between the two. Einhard’s writing focused on the emperor’s official life and his military campaign. However, Notker provided more of a perspective about the king’s legacy and seemed more hyperbolic as well as mythical. This paper will compare and contrast the …show more content…
two biographies in terms of the style of writing, content, and the portrayal of Charlemagne.
The two narratives of Charlemagne’s life written by Einhard and Notker differed in the style of writing. Einhard wrote the biography mostly in a chronological order. He began with the history of the previous kings who governed the Franks before Charlemagne, went on with the birth of Charlemagne and his life, and ended with his death. This biography also indicated all the major events of his life that Einhard knew such as the war against the Northmen and the Aquitanian war. As a result, Einhard’s work was well organized and easy to follow. However, Notker’s work consisted of stories or tales that were not arranged systematically. Although the stories were certainly interesting, they were written in a random order which made them seem more like a leisure reading than a historical biography of a king. This difference in the style between the two biographies can be explained by the different purposes in which each writings had. Einhard wrote the memoir for history to remember his emperor. He stated, “but I had resolved rather to risk the judgements of men, and to endanger my own feeble talent by writing, than to neglect the memory of so great a man for the sake of sparing …show more content…
myself” (Einhard, p. 18). Einhard was willing to record the memory of his emperor for others to remember even if his writing would endanger his talent. Therefore, he wrote very carefully and chronologically. In contrast, Notker wrote to please his emperor, Charles the Fat who was a great grandson of Charlemagne. Notker said, “I had intended, most noble emperor, to weave my short little narrative only round your great-grandfather Charles, all of whose deeds you know well” (Notker, p. 107). Since Notker was writing to a Charlemagne’s relative, he included stories that would please his current emperor and excluded things that would bring disgrace to the Carolingian dynasty. As a result, his work was less organized and informative than Einhard’s. Based on the collection, the two biographies of Charlemagne illustrated difference in the style. Another difference between the two biographies was the content.
Einhard, as a servant of Charlemagne, had witnessed the entire life of his king. It made him possible to describe the personal life of his king in great detail. For example, he stated what activities his king chiefly enjoyed, what clothes he was accustomed to wear, and even what he used to do between meals. According to Einhard, “In summer, after the midday meal, he would take off his clothes and shoes as if it were night and would rest for two or three hours.” This indicated that Einhard described the adult life of his king with details and that Einhard knew the subject he was writing about extremely well. His writing also showed the military campaign that Charlemagne conducted. For instance, he stated, “While he was vigorously and almost constantly pursuing the war with the Saxons, and had placed garrison at suitable points along the frontier, he attacked Spain with as large a force as he could” (Einhard, p. 24). While Einhard’s work mostly focused on the official life of Charlemagne and his military campaign, Notker’s writing consisted of anecdotes about the king based on the stories he heard during his childhood. Notker, as mentioned earlier, was born twenty-five years after the death of Charlemagne and wrote the biography seventy years after the king’s death. In often cases, the anecdotes tended to be exaggerated; therefore, they seemed as if they were myths or fictional stories. Also, Notker’s writing was
filled with random stories that had no correlation with the life of Charlemagne. He even said, “Because the opportunity has offered itself, even though they are not related to the subject I want to record other matters which happened at the same time and are worthy of being remembered” (Notker, p. 71). In this quote, he even admitted that he wrote stories, not because they are related to the subject, but because they are worthy to remember. In addition, Notker’s stories always seem to start
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Charlemagne—Charles, King of the Franks—obviously has a fan in Einhard. His powerful work, The Life of Charlemagne, details the king’s life from the building of his empire, through the education of his children, and culminating in his final living words: the division of his possessions and the instructions for the preservation of his kingdom. At first glance, the inclusion of Charlemagne’s will seems an odd choice to end an essay that demonstrates thoroughly the specifics of the great man’s life. After all, who needs to know which child gets his gold, and which archbishop he favored the most. Einhard reveals the ignorance in this assumption by doing just the opposite: using Charlemagne’s will as the final and most convincing illustration of the king’s life and character.
Charlemagne is a known for his success to try to maintain his empire. This new empire will embrace the unity of Christian faith. Under Charlemagne, new lands are conquered and a Renaissance is embraced. He even tries to revive the Christian faith. Charlemagne is a man that hopes to be an inspiration to the next generation. These deeds of Charlemagne is seen in the Two Lives of Charlemagne. In the Two lives of Charlemagne, both Notker’s and Einhard’s goal is to portray Charlemagne as a man of good character, a man that accomplishes many deeds and a man that hopes to provide an outlet for the next generation.
After contemplating Einhard’s purpose for writing The Life of Charlemagne it is important to examine his qualifications for doing so. Early on in the introduction there is a brief history on Einhard and his education.
The most famous work about Charlemagne is a book entitled The Two Lives of Charlemagne which consists of two separate biographies published into one book and tells the story of Charlemagne's life as two different people experienced it. Apart from this, there are many other places you can turn to learn more about the life of the king of the Franks, including letters, capitularies, inventories, annals, and more. However, each of these sources seem to paint a different picture of Charlemagne. In one, he seems to be a very average guy; in another, a mythical being, almost god-like; and a strong and firm political leader in yet another. It is because of this of this that we will never really know exactly who Charlemagne was or what he was like, but we do have an idea of what he did and how he lived thanks to those who decided to preserve it.
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The Relationship of Political and Religious Societies in the Age of Charlemagne, Based of Einhard's The life of Charlemagne sections 15-33
The reason Einhard wrote his biography of Charlemagne was to explain to the world how this man, who was also his personal friend, was a great leader. Einhard begins by telling some history of Charlemagne’s family and ancestry. Einhard then goes on to tell about every war Charlemagne was ever involved in. Einhard’s main reason for writing this description of Charlemagne’s reign is just to inform people of what he believe to be the reign of the greatest ruler of all time. He seemed proud to have lived at the same time as Charlemagne. He thought Charlemagne made no mistakes in the wars he was involved with. Einhard was proud of what Charlemagne did for the churches at the time of his reign. “Whenever he discovered one in his kingdom that was old and ready to collapse he charged the responsible bishops and priests with restor...
Critical questions can arise about Einhard's work for the simple fact he was a palace official of Charlemagne. Einhard was a minister of his Royal Majesty. He was highly respected for his knowledge, intellect, brilliance, integrity and character. He shared a personal relationship with the King and his family. It can be believed that his book was to make sure that the greatness of Charlemagne was recorded for history and maybe not the facts. The way he recorded the history of Charlemagne could have been more ...
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“The apprenticeship of a King” describes how Charlemagne gained power through conquest and diplomacy. In 768, King Pippin died and his kingdom was divided between his two sons. Charles, the elder, and the younger was Carloman. The author says that little is known of Charles’ boyhood. When he was of the right age, it is recorded that he worked eagerly at riding and hunting. It was the custom of the Franks to ride and be practiced in the use of arms and ways of hunting. We may reasonably infer that acquiring these skills formed a major part of his early education. Charles was not a “man of letters” and the author makes no attempt at explaining this other than to point out that literacy was considered unimportant at that time for anyone other than the clergy and Charles didn’t become interested in “letters” until later in life. Bullough explains a number of experiences in public duties and responsibilities, which were assigned to Charles by his father, thus, giving him an apprenticeship to rule the kingdom. For some reason tension between Charles and his brother began shortly after their accession. The author explains a number of conflicts. The younger brother died however, at the end of 771 and a number of prominent people in his kingdom offered allegiance to Charles. Bullough names and explains those subjects. The result was the re-uniting of those territories, which helped to establish the kingdom of the Franks.
3. Bulfinch, Thomas, and Richard Martin. Bullfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, the Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Print.