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Einhard life of charlemagne analysis
Einhard life of charlemagne analysis
Consequences Of Feudalism
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Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne details some important events of Charlemagne’s life as well as aspects of his character. Charlemagne was one of the most powerful and influential Frankish kings of the Early Middle ages. This was the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, there were few structured civilization. People gravitated away from big cities and began living in small local villages. Because of this people and towns were very isolated from one another. Feudalism became the social system during this time and it was incredibly important due to the isolation of society. Isolated towns were very vulnerable to attack. Feudalism solved this by establishing a …show more content…
This was not unusual for a king such as Charlemagne and Einhard speaks about Charlemagne’s father and grandfather also pursuing similar military careers. This shows a great deal about the type of society that existed during the middle ages. Today warfare is abhorred and generally only condoned as the last possible option, but during the middle ages, war seems to have been perfectly acceptable. Charlemagne used warfare as a way of building his reputation and growing his kingdom. Of Einhard’s thirty-three chapters ten are devoted solely to describing Charlemagne’s military triumphs; far more than any other topic. Einhard starts out with Charlemagne’s first military undertaking: the Aquitanian War. This war was originally started by Charlemagne’s father but failed to be ended until Charlemagne took the throne. This victory established Charlemagne as a powerful and respectable king. However, Charlemagne did not stop there, his next military pursuit was to provide aid to Hadrian, the Bishop of Rome against the Lombard threat. Like the previous conflict, Charlemagne’s father had attempted this conquest as well. Charlemagne had little difficulty in defeating the Lombards and unlike his father took steps to ensure that the Lombards would no longer pose a threat to the church. Einhard notes that the difference between Charlemagne and his father in the Lombard War was Charlemagne’s ceaselessness. Einhard recounts Charlemagne’s father compelling the Lombard king to surrender hostages, restore to the Roman’s what had been taken and promise to never seize Roman land again. Charlemagne, however, did not stop until the Lombard king surrendered and his heir driven from all of Italy. With this act, Charlemagne showed that he was a stronger king than even his father and gained a great deal of reputation as well as the favor of the church. With two impressive military triumphs
The feudal system was one that arose in England after the invasion and conquest of William I. It has been said that this was the perfect political system for this time period. Life was really hard back in the Middle Ages and safety and defense were really hard to come by after the empire fell. There were no laws to protect the poor, so they turned to their lords to keep them safe. The king was in complete control of the system and he owned all the land. One quarter was kept as private property and the rest was given to the church or leased
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.
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.
Every historian interprets the past differently and with distinctive perspectives, resulting in many sides to one story. Often the reader must decide which perspective is more logical, likely, or coherent. Recounting one war took a lot of time and effort because of the necessity to include all sides of the story. Becher, Barbero, Collins and Backman have approached the life of Charlemagne with different points of view; however, Barbero seems to have the strongest argument for the cause of the Saxon War. The other historians were less willing to see the Saxon war as a religious war. The life of Charlemagne was interesting to historians because it was filled with many vigorous wars that he fought including the infamous Saxon War. From the beginning of his life, Charlemagne was destined to rule a nation and lead his people into war, achieving both triumphant victories and devastating defeats. He died of sickness in old age, thus leaving the kingdom in the hands of his son. The Saxon war was the most persistent, yet hostile war he fought because of the determination and severity of the enemy. However, the questions remain: “What actually caused the Saxon war? What gave it life? What are all the different events that occurred during this war? What are some of the strategies used during this war?” The wars he fought resulted in his success as a ruler and as a historical figure to reflect on when considering the greatness of kings.
While expanding his empire across Europe, Charlemagne did remember that he was indeed a Christian, and converted many of the tribes he conquered, to Christianity. However, when 4,500 Saxons resisted, they were slaughtered ("Charlemagne"). But, for better or for worse, by 1000 AD Christianity had spread like wildfire throughout most of Europe, and the Catholic Church, who had crowned our friend Charlemagne the Emperor, had risen to power. Meanwhile, the Seljuk Turks had taken Jerusalem and were threatening Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire (“Crusades”). Near the end of the eleventh century, Emperor Alexius wrote a letter to Pope Urban the II that called for the assistance of his fellow Christians in West (“Crusades”). And, Pope Urban, was more than happy to assemble an army for such a worthy cause, and he also hoped that it might improve the relations between the two
Charlemagne accomplishes many deeds. One includes Charlemagne capturing the Breton’s. He conquers their land in the westernmost part of Gaul since they did not listen to him (25). Charlemagne, in his lifetime, will go through many wars. Many among those are listed in Notker. Notker his second book on Charlemagne goes into more detail about how the wars were brought about. Wars His rule is not limited to wars. Charlemagne sought out to initiate a sort of Renaissance period
“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.
Throughout the middle ages, many empires were working on expanding their territory, but it was not always a success unless they had the appropriate leadership to guide them in the right direction. The main empire that grew to extraordinary lengths is that of the Roman Empire. Through many conquests and battles and with an amicable government, it attained its fortune. However, on the other hand, there was another government that shared similarities with that of Rome; this was the empire of Charlemagne, otherwise known as the Carolingian Empire, but it failed to have a prosperous eternity.
He had a vision of what it meant to be a great king. He followed the history of the kings after Alexander the Great. He believed he had to increase the social, political and intellectual organization of his society. This distinguished himself from any other ruler from the past three hundred years. Charlemagne wanted to recreate what the Roman Empire once was capable of, but even better. As he traveled, he made sure he created a great educational system. He built a chain of schools and provided classes for chil...
Charlemagne’s reign as King of the Franks and as Holy Roman Emperor greatly influenced the course of Europe during the middle ages. The history of Charlemagne’s family and how they came to power had a large effect on how Charlemagne came to power. In the year 481 A.D, a warrior named Clovis claimed the title of King of the Franks (Abrams 185). He died in the year 511, and each of his four sons received a portion of his small Frankish empire (Abrams 185). Clovis’s death would later allow a clear passage to ensuring Charlemagne’s fate as future ruler of the Franks.
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
The Relationship of Political and Religious Societies in the Age of Charlemagne, Based of Einhard's The life of Charlemagne sections 15-33
Charlemagne can be described as “the greatest king of the middle ages,” and he became emperor or king around the year 768 A.D. after his brother died and left him as the only heir to his father. It all started about a century earlier with a Frankish warlord named Pepin. Pepin had come to power by forcing his way to become the Frankish kings trusted right-hand man. He would begin to use his authority while upholding that he was only a royal servant. After Pepin died his son Charles Martel would then govern Merovingian areas and the Frankish royal administration.
Europe’s social structure in the Middle Ages consisted of feudalism. A hierarchical society of Kings granting land to nobles, who would then give a fief to a knight in return for service. The knight would then have peasants or serfs working on their fief. However, as the plague spread, many peasants died and their labour could not be replaced. This loss of workforce had a significant impact upon the economy as grain was not being harvested and livestock roamed free. The agrarian economy had been severely damaged, the land became uncultivated and returned back to its natural state. This rural collapse eventually led to food shortages in towns and cities.