Summary: The Life Of Charlemagne By Einhard

Charlemagne in the historical context made many contributions to the modern world as well as the Carolingian dynasty during his reign. After his father passed away, he united the Franks and went to several conquest to expand his kingdom in 768 (Coffin, 176). Charlemagne was believed to be a very serious Christian king. In one of the longest conquest in Saxon, which lasted about 20 years, he had forced conversion to all the people who

Known as The King of the Franks, Charlemagne inherited half of his father’s kingdom at his death in AD 768 and took over the other half at his brother’s death in AD 771. In keeping with the tradition of his predecessors, Charlemagne’s reign was characterized by three decades of military campaigns. During his reign, Charlemagne led campaigns against the Saxons, the Lombards, Spain and Bavaria. His empire extended from Saxony in the North to the Spanish March in the South and Italy in the West. Charlemagne was officially named as the first Roman Emperor by the Pope in late AD 800. He remained emperor until AD 814.

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 dark ages, a time period spanning from 500 AD until 1500 AD, is commonly perceived as the worst time in history, solely because of its name. When asked “What is the dark ages generally known for?” many people respond with the black plague or great famines. The main reason for this title is in fact due to a lack of written records and documents lost to history. In reality, the dark ages were not really that dark because a humanitarian king shaped European ideals, religion kept culture alive, and many historical and scientific progressions occurred.

Notker wrote his book seventy years after the death of Charlemagne in the form of a series of anecdotes about Charlemagne from the stories he heard as a child. Some of these anecdotes go more in-depth on basic information provided by Einhard. In other cases, the anecdotes tend to be exaggerated, therefore, making it hard to give Notker a lot of credibility. Yet, his work is widely read and studied as one of the works that describes the accounts of Charlemagne life.

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the great was a ruler in times of turmoil in Europe during the middle ages. Charlemagne came from a powerful family tree which made a huge impact on why he rose to power. His family history and their backgrounds is what prepared him to take on the task of becoming King of the Frankish Empire and protecting it from intruders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his reign. He focused on bringing education back into medieval Europe but, also discovered a more efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire is what lead to his expansion and spreading his Empire across most of Europe which he eventually established the Carolingian Empire in the later years of his supremacy. This also led to strong relationships with the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s goal was to spread Christianity throughout all of Europe and was willing to fight for his religion. One group in particular he fought with the most was the Saxons who he nearly eliminated their whole population.

Sypeck, gave a very good overview of the accomplishments of Charlemagne, even though he may have glorified him a little more than necessary, but his accomplishments were quite extravagant. However the author left out bad things such as, how Charlemagne had tribes of local Germans killed. The author gave a large amount of information on the other kingdoms of that time, almost as much as he did on Charlemagne. He did however, show how one man could influence so many people even hundreds of years later.

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.

During that time he practically doubled the land given to him by his father. He successfully waged war against many including the Bretons, Bavaria, the Slavs, Esthonians, Danes and an especially long thirty-year war against the Saxons. He was a respected and feared by many of the rulers of other lands.

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

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.

We now leave this in-depth description of Charlemagne given by Einhars, and take a look at a new essay by Fichtenau entitled "A New Portrait of Charlemagne." Instead of describing Charlemagne as Einhard does, we find that Fichtenau's essay rather rebuilds Charlemagne. Fichtenau talks about how things like his personality were strung together in the wrong way by Einhard. He talks about how his personality is predictable, because all Emperors must have the same values. He talks of how in generosity, as Einhard's description showed as being out of the kindness of his heart, was actually a result of what actions would follow his generous jesters. Fichtenau uses his whole essay to rebuild Charlemagne to what kind of ruler he believes he is. He does say that without the great ruling and personality of Charlemagne, then it would have taken generations for this empire to reach its peak. "What remains is

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

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned during a time of much turmoil and upheaval in Europe during middle ages. Charlemagne’s background and family history contributed much to his rise to power. The triumphs of his past lineage prepared him to take on the task of governing the Frankish Empire, and defending it from invaders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his supremacy. He not only brought education back into medieval Europe, but also invented an efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the many adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire expanded his empire across the majority of Europe. His conquests also formed strong ties between the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s drive to convert Europe’s primitive

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