Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, was one of the world's greatest military leaders. He became the leader of the Franks (who lived in modern-day France) in 768. Under his command, Frankish armies conquered most of Western Europe in the following decades. In 800, he was crowned emperor by Pope Leo XII. His greatness rested on more than military prowess. He was always interested in education, both for himself and for his subjects. He assembled many of the most noted scholars in Europe at his capital in Aachen, Germany, and began the Carolingian Renaissance. This was a period of heightened learning, innovations in architecture, and the preservation of many priceless books from earlier centuries.
Charles I, often known as Charlemagne, is one of the most extraordinary figures ever to rule an empire. Driven by unremitting physical energy and intellectual curiosity, he was a man of many parts, a warlord and conqueror, a judge who promised 'for each their law and justice', a defender of the Latin Church, a man of flesh-and-blood. In the twelve centuries since his death, warfare, accident, vermin, and the elements have destroyed much of the writing on his rule, but a remarkable amount has survived. Janet Nelson's wonderful new book brings together everything we know about Charles, sifting through the available evidence, literary and material, to paint a vivid portrait of the man and his motives. Charles's legacy lies in his deeds and their continuing resonance, as he shaped counties, countries, and continents, founded and rebuilt towns and monasteries, and consciously set himself up not just as King of the Franks, but as the head of the renewed Roman Empire. His successors--in some ways even up to the present day--have struggled to interpret, misinterpret, copy, or subvert his legacy.
Two revealingly different accounts of the life of the most important figure of the Roman Empire Charlemage, known as the father of Europe, was one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers. The biographies brought together here provide a rich and varied portrait of the king from two perspectives: that of Einhard, a close friend and adviser, and of Notker, a monastic scholar and musician writing fifty years after Charlemagne's death. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
When Charlemagne died in 814 CE, he left behind a dominion and a legacy unlike anything seen in Western Europe since the fall of Rome. Distinguished historian and author of The Middle Ages Johannes Fried presents a new biographical study of the legendary Frankish king and emperor, illuminating the life and reign of a ruler who shaped Europe’s destiny in ways few figures, before or since, have equaled. Living in an age of faith, Charlemagne was above all a Christian king, Fried says. He made his court in Aix-la-Chapelle the center of a religious and intellectual renaissance, enlisting the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin of York to be his personal tutor, and insisting that monks be literate and versed in rhetoric and logic. He erected a magnificent cathedral in his capital, decorating it lavishly while also dutifully attending Mass every morning and evening. And to an extent greater than any ruler before him, Charlemagne enhanced the papacy’s influence, becoming the first king to enact the legal principle that the pope was beyond the reach of temporal justice—a decision with fateful consequences for European politics for centuries afterward. Though devout, Charlemagne was not saintly. He was a warrior-king, intimately familiar with violence and bloodshed. And he enjoyed worldly pleasures, including physical love. Though there are aspects of his personality we can never know with certainty, Fried paints a compelling portrait of a ruler, a time, and a kingdom that deepens our understanding of the man often called “the father of Europe.”
An incisive and absorbing biography of the legendary emperor who bridged ancient and modern Europe and singlehandedly altered the course of Western history. Charlemagne was an extraordinary figure: an ingenious military strategist, a wise but ruthless leader, a cunning politician, and a devout believer who ensured the survival of Christianity in the West. He also believed himself above the rules of the church, siring bastards across Europe and coldly ordering the execution of 4,500 prisoners. Derek Wilson shows how this complicated, fascinating man married the military might of his army to the spiritual force of the Church in Rome, thereby forging Western Christendom. This is a remarkable portrait of Charlemagne and of the intricate political, religious, and cultural world he dominated.
Charlemagne was the first emperor of medieval Europe and almost immediately after his death in 814 legends spread about his military and political prowess and the cultural glories of his court at Aix-la-Chapelle.
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ...guile." So anxious was Charles that the revival of learning should not fail for want of teachers, that we hear that on his return from Rome, of which we shall speak in another chapter, he brought back with him several teachers, well known as men of genius. These he distributed among the principal Frank monasteries, and shortly afterwards, A.d. 787, sent round a famous letter or capitulary, addressed to the Abbot of Fulda, from which we will quote a few extracts. the ark and the tabernacle. Either in the lifetime of their royal patron, or after his death, all these scholars became great dignitaries of the Church, or ended their lives in monasteries of note.--" Guizot's History of France," Black's translation, He heads it thus: --" Charles, by the grace of God, King of the Franks and of the Lombards, and Patrician of the Romans, to Bangolfus, Abbot, and to his whole congregation, and to the faithful committed to his charge." After exhorting the Abbot to see that those under his charge not only led a regular life and one conformable to holy religion, but also gave time to the "study of letters," he goes on to say: "During past years we have often received letters from different monasteries, informing us that at their sacred services the brethren offered up prayers on our behalf; and we have observed that the thoughts contained in these letters, though in themselves most just, were expressed in uncouth language, and while pious devotion dictated the sentiments, the unlettered tongue was unable to express them aright! Hence there has arisen in our minds the fear lest, if the skill to write correctly were thus lacking, so too would the power of rightly comprehending the Holy Scriptures be far less than was...
Discusses daily life during the time of Charlemagne, examining such topics as housing, clothing, food, childbearing, the economy, leisure times, and religion.
