Einhard--- having received a solid education in biblical studies and Latin classics, at monastery whose founder was closely tied to the Carolingians--- came to serve under Charlemagne--- Charles the Great, in English--- when the writer was quite young. Growing up in his servitude, Einhard gained a strong admiration for the king, practicing a kind of hero-worship. Charlemagne was more than a king; he was a king of kings, strong, dependable, wise and worthy. In Einhard’s eyes, he could do no wrong
Charlemagne’s Will: Church, Empire, and Intellect “…and [I] shall first give an account of his deeds at home and abroad, then of his character and pursuits, and lastly of his administration and death, omitting nothing worth knowing or necessary to know.” – Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne 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
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
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
Most people have heard the timeless adage “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This sentiment applies perfectly when describing the relationship between Charles the Great’s Carolingian Dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth century CE. These two expanding empires faced mutual enemies in both the Ummayad Caliphate as well as the Byzantine Empire. The Ummayad Caliphate had been disrupting Charlemagne’s empire from Spain; this eventually led to the creation of the Spanish March, a buffer zone
is a historical text that also involves fiction. It recalls the event of Battle of Roncesvals that take place in 778 century among Christian Franks and Muslim Saracens. The non-fictional outline of The Song of Roland can be found in Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni “Biography of Charlemagne” written in 817-30 and from Damaso Alonso’s Nota Emilianense. Both historical accounts give little detail of the battle in which Charlemagne’s (Holy Roman Emperor) army face a minor setback while returning back to France