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Einhard's Life of Charlemagne - Reading notes
Charlemagne - as a person- appearance/qualities and private/family life
Quote
" After his father's death, while
sharing the kingdom with his
brother, he bore his
unfriendliness and jealousy
most patiently, and, to the
wonder of all, could not be
provoked to be angry with
him
...
"

Analysis
Einhard implies here that
Charlemagne had the moral
high ground when it came to
his brother, and that any
disagreements between them
were the fault of Carloman
...

This illustrates the close ties
between Charlemagne and his
family
...


Other Sources
C
...
P Orton "a great
personality of truth and legend
is there enshrined
...
Its heroworship gives it warmth and
vigour"
E
...
Einhard had

"The plan that he adopted for
his children's education was,
first of all, to have both boys
and girls instructed in the
liberal arts, to which he also
turned his own attention
...
"

"The King gave a striking proof
of his fatherly affection at the
time of Pepin's death [810]: he
appointed the grandson to
succeed Pepin, and had the
granddaughters brought up
with his own daughters
...
g horsemanship for
boys and cloth-making for girls
This also shows the great
degree of interest and
enthusiasm Charlemagne
showed for his children, but
whether this was true paternal
devotion or a more pragmatic
self-interest in the continuation
of his dynasty is unclear
...
In this
chapter, Einhard effectively
portrays Charlemagne as a
loving family man, which is far

learned that the physical
description of the subject of
such a work, however highly
admired, should be as accurate
and detailed as possible, not
sparing bad teeth, a wizened
finger, a limp and gall-stones"
"the recreation of a historical
genre that had been extinct for
around half a millennium, that
of the biography of a ruler, was
no easy task"
"the rewriting of the history of
the rise of the family remains a
central feature of Frankish
historiography for the rest of
the 8th century and beyond
...
"

removed from the image of a
fierce war leader that has gone
down in history

"Strange to say, although they
were very handsome women,
and he loved them very dearly,
he was never willing to marry
any of them to a man of their
own nation or to a foreigner,
but kept them all at home until
his death, saying that he could
not dispense with their society
...
"

One of the biggest talking
points in scholarship about
Charlemagne to date has been
his refusal to marry his
daughters, and the reasons why
provoke many questions
...

After the death of his last wife
Some darker explanations have
been offered in that
Charlemagne exploited his
daughters as concubines to
noble dignitaries in return for
political gain or loyalty

" he upper part of his head was
round, his eyes very large and

This description of
Charlemagne from Einhard is

animated, nose a little long,
hair fair, and face laughing and
merry
...
Einhard includes
'nose a little long' and 'belly
rather prominent', maybe this
was earlier diplomacy in
including a 'warts and all' image
to try and make Charlemagne
seem more real, relatable and
likeable instead of a distant,
haughty and semi-divine
monarch

" He enjoyed the exhalations
from natural warm springs, and
often practised swimming, in
which he was such an adept
that none could surpass him;
and hence it was that he built
his palace at Aixla-Chapelle,
and lived there constantly
during his latter years until his
death
...
"

The description of Charlemagne
in an intimate and rather
vulnerable setting- e
...
The
image of ''a hundred or more
persons'' bathing with him
brings to mind scenes of
relaxation and decadence
reminiscent of the Roman eraperhaps Einhard was trying to
evoke this in the writing of itthe Carolingian dynasty
borrowed many customs and
names from the Roman era to

add legitimacy to their rule and
as a nostalgic tool to invoke
support

Warfare
Quote

Analysis

Other Sources

"Charles did not cease, after
declaring war, until he had
exhausted King Desiderius by a
long siege [773], and forced
him to surrender at discretion;
driven his son Adalgis, the last
hope of the Lombards, not only
-from his kingdom, but from all
Italy [774]; restored to the
Romans all that they had lost;
subdued Hruodgaus, Duke of
Friuli [776], who was plotting
revolution; reduced all Italy to
his power, and set his son Pepin
as king over it
...
He references
''restoring to the Romans what
they had lost'', meaning the
defeat of the Lombards in Italy
...
Nelson "Empires appear to
require rough things in the
making of them: it is perhaps
enough that the result is a boon
to mankind sufficient to
outweigh the cost and the
wrong
...
No war ever
undertaken by the Frank nation

The war between the Franks
and the Saxons is one of the
constant themes of Life of
Charlemagne and also many
other primary contemporary
sources, such as the Royal
Frankish Annals
...
T Meril "The account of the
Spanish expedition with the
disaster ''at Roncesvalles'' may
serve as an example
...
"

justifies the continued
hostilities and atrocities of war
by emphasising the supposed
barbarian nature and pagan
faiths of the Saxons, attempting
to turn a war for territorial gain
and hegemony into a righteous
religious war against devil
worshippers
...
It
could doubtless have been
brought to an end sooner, had
it not been for the faithlessness
of the Saxons
...
Therefore,
the losses and atrocities
perpetrated on both sides
become the error of the Saxons
and not the Carolingians
...
"

faithless behaviour to go
unpunished, but either took the
field against them in person, or
sent his counts with an army to
wreak vengeance and exact
righteous satisfaction
...
This passage is slightly
contradictory though, because
elsewhere in the book, Einhard
tells us that Charlemagne only
engages in two pitched battles
in his life, yet here is referenced
as taking the field against them
in person?

"Charles himself fought but two
pitched battles in this war,
although it was long protracted
one on Mount Osning [783], at
the place called Detmold, and
again on the bank of the river
Hase, both in the space of little
more than a month
...
Military strength was one
of the most primitive yet also
vital shows of strength and
dominance in the early middle
ages
...


and the rear guard in charge of
it, and hurled them down to
the very bottom of the valley
[at Roncevalles, later
celebrated in the Song of
Roland]
...
The
lightness of their armor and the
nature of the battle ground
stood the Gascons in good
stead on this occasion, whereas
the Franks fought at a
disadvantage in every respect,
because of the weight of their
armor and the unevenness of
the ground
...
Had this been
perpetuated by the Franks on
the Gascons, it would have
been recorded as a great feat
of battle planning and strategic
genius- instead, the implication
here is that the Gascons
defeated the Franks in a
cowardly and improper way
because they did not face the
enemy on an open field as per
usual
...
When
they refused to obey him, he
sent an army against them, and
compelled them to give
hostages, and to promise to do
his bidding
...
He so largely
increased the Frank kingdom,
which was already great and
strong when he received it at
his father's hands, that more
than double its former territory
was added to it
...

Charlemagne is perhaps most
remembered for vastly
expanding Frankish territories
...

Clearly, military success and
territorial expansion was a vital
part of making your name as an
early medieval King

Christianity/Religion
Quote
" He cherished with the
greatest fervor and devotion
the principles of the Christian
religion, which had been
instilled into him from infancy
...
W
...
Augustine's ideal
of the City of God on earth
received its first medieval
embodiment and was united, in
startling contrast to St
...
"

because of its lack of overly
religious rhetoric
...


"He was a constant worshipper
at this church as long as his
health permitted, going
morning and evening, even
after nightfall, besides
attending mass; and he took
care that all the services there
conducted should be
administered with the utmost
possible propriety, very often
warning the sextons not to let
any improper or unclean thing
be brought into the building or
remain in it
...

Whether Charlemagne actually
did go to Church twice or more
every day is debatable, but
Einhard wants him to look like
the picture of a devout
Christian king, worshipping
privately as well as publicly and
overseeing his church properly
...
It was then
that he received the titles of
Emperor and Augustus [Dec 25,
800], to which he at first had
such an aversion that he
declared that he would not
have set foot in the Church the
day that they were conferred,
although it was a great feastday, if he could have foreseen
the design of the Pope
...
In any case,
the coronation of Charlemagne
by the Pope in 800 is not gone
into great detail here, and the
reasons why are implied rather
than explained
...
"

the Frankish Empire for most of
his reign
...

Einhard is using explicit
Christian messages in
describing the death of
Charlemagne, as with a martyr
or saint

" the war that had lasted so
many years was at length
ended by their acceding to the
terms offered by the King;
which were renunciation of
their national religious customs
and the worship of devils,
acceptance of the sacraments
of the Christian faith and
religion, and union with the
Franks to form one people
...
Charlemagne and
the Franks thought they were
following the righteous will of
God in invading Saxony

" He cherished the Church of St
...

Charlemagne was keen to

silver, and precious stones
...
Peter, and to
beautify and enrich it out of his
own store above all other
churches
...

Developing and maintaining
useful and symbiotic alliances
with other kings was a vitally
important quality in medieval
Kingship
...
T Merril "the history of
Charlemagne is of marked
interest to the classicist on
account of the emperor's
devotion to letters, and the
widespread influence of his
''Palace School'' in which
Einhard was a shining light"

himself his man
...
Good foreign relations
with foreign Kings could also
give a king more kudos and
gravitas- for example,
Charlemagne receiving an
elephant from the Caliph of the
Abbasid caliphate
...

In fact, the power of the Franks
was always viewed by the
Greeks and Romans with a
jealous eye, whence the Greek
proverb "Have the Frank for

The extreme mistrust and epic
rivalry between the Frankish
Empire and the Byzantine
Empire did not mean that they
didn't often attempt peace
treaties or recognise each other
as formidable forces in Europe
...
Whether
the prerogative in making
friendships came solely from
the Greeks in question or it is a
case of classic Einhard
overstatement is debatable

E
...
For it was
he who, as a special emissary in
806, carried Charlemagn'e
spartition of the kingdom
between his three living sons,
the so-called "Division of the
Kingdom" to Pope Leo III in
Rome"

your friend, but not for your
neighbor
...
Among these, the
most deserving of mention are
the basilica of the Holy Mother
of God at Aix-la-Chapelle, built
in the most admirable manner,
and a bridge over the Rhine at
Mayence, half a mile long, the
breadth of the river at this
point
...
Charlemagne aimed to
make the Frankish Empire
organised and cohesive, and his
often targeted and constructive
use of royal funds was highly
important to not only the
public image of Charlemagne to
his subjects, but a pragmatic
approach that helped lines of
travel and communication and
also impressed the Catholic
Church

"He also fitted out a fleet for
the war with the Northmen;
the vessels required for this
purpose were built on the
rivers that flow from Gaul and
Germany into the Northern
Ocean
...
He recognised a
Viking threat from the North,
and so placed watches in all the
likely harbours
...
When his
deceit was discovered, and the
conspirators were punished, his
head was shaved, and he was
suffered, in accordance with his
wishes, to devote himself to a
religious life in the monastery
of Prüm
...
"

Charlemagne's most
troublesome illegitimate son,
Pepin the Hunchback, is shown
here being swiftly and
effectively dealt with
...

The fact that Charlemagne did
not have Pippin killed, but
confined to a monastery, shows
some degree of mercy for his
son and would have been seen
positively by the Church

" He liked foreigners, and was
at great pains to take them
under his protection
...
"

and puzzling here
...
Yet
ambivalence towards (some)
foreigners would have made
Charlemagne seem a more
generous and compassionate
monarch, and reads like a PR
operation

"He despised foreign costumes,
however handsome, and never
allowed himself to be robed in
them, except twice in Rome,
when he donned the Roman
tunic, chlamys, and shoes; the
first time at the request of
Pope Hadrian, the second to
gratify Leo, Hadrian's successor
...

Charlemagne chose to identify
himself with his people by
wearing his traditional Frankish
dress as much as possible, and
not dressing too expensively
too often
...
g wearing Roman
style garments for his

on other days his dress varied
little from the common dress of
the people
...
The King
spent much time and labour
with him studying rhetoric,
dialectics, and especially
astronomy; he learned to
reckon, and used to investigate
the motions of the heavenly
bodies most curiously, with an
intelligent scrutiny"

Charlemagne valued the
importance of intelligence,
education and knowledge as a
powerful tool of kingship
...

Charlemagne's keen interest in
education may have
contributed to his good
decision making and set him
apart from the rampant
illiteracy in early medieval
society

" It was after he had received
the imperial name that, finding
the laws of his people very
defective (the Franks have two
sets of laws, very different in
many particulars), he
determined to add what was
wanting, to reconcile the
discrepancies, and to correct

This passage alludes to
Charlemagne's attempted law
reforms and his creation of a
common law for the whole of
the Frankish empire- an
attempt at creating greater
cohesion and assimilation
...
However, he
went no further in this matter
than to supplement the laws by
a few capitularies, and those
imperfect ones; but he caused
the unwritten laws of all the
tribes that came under his rule
to be compiled and reduced to
writing
...
the biography likely was not written before the Abodrites revolted in 817 or the wooden
arcade at Aaechen collapsed on Louis and his company on Maundy Thursday 817, for both events seem to be alluded to by Einhard, though neither of
those references is beyond variant interpetation

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