''Vita Karoli Magni'' (''Life of Charlemagne'') is a biography of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

King of the Franks The Franks, Germanic peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dux, dukes and monarch, reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Franks, Salian Mero ...

and Emperor of the Romans, written by

Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; ; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Franks, Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita Karoli M ...

.Ogg, p. 109 The ''Life of Charlemagne'' is a 33 chapter account starting with the full genealogy of the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

family, going through the rise of the Carolingian dynasty, and then detailing the exploits and temperament of King Charles. It has long been seen as one of the key sources for the reign of

and provides insight into the court of King Charles and the events that surrounded him.

Synopsis

The work begins with a preface that is mainly

explaining why he is writing the book, highlighting the idea that he feels it is his duty and that he had such love for Charles that he felt that it would be a tragedy if he was forgotten. The book then moves onto the fall of the

family and how the Carolingian came to power, briefly describing the kingship of Pippin and the years of joint rule between

and Carloman. A large section of the book is then dedicated to going through King Charles' many conquest and military campaigns.

goes to great efforts to frame all of the conquests as justified and even righteous; in most cases, however, he is vague on the details of how the wars went and simply summaries the reasons for why they started and what the outcome was.

then describes at length both

physical appearance and his personality, making sure to highlight all the good qualities of Charles, especially his piety and moderation in all worldly pleasures. In this section of the book

also takes time to talk about some of Charles' many children and seemingly tries to explain the reason that

never let his daughters marry was because he simply loved them too much to be parted from them. However it is Einhard's very brief description of the rebellion of Pippin the Hunchback that is of great importance as we know much more about Pippin than what

says and many historians have seen it as blatant historical revisionism by

. The final part of the book deals mainly with

being crowned Roman Emperor on Christmas day of the year 800 and it also lays out his death and will as well as the ascension of his son

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

. The book claims that Charles had no idea that he was to be crowned emperor going so far as to state that: "''He at first had such an aversion that he declared that he would not have set foot in the Church the day that they he imperial titleswere conferred, although it was a great feast-day, if he could have foreseen the design of the Pope''". There has been a great debate among historians as to whether this view put forward by Einhard is correct, with most modern historians having reached the conclusion that Charlemagne must have definitely known about the Pope's plans long before it happened. The work ends with a copy of Charlemagne's will and a description of his burial bringing the book to a close on a rather somber note.

Literary context

Historians have traditionally described the work as the first example of a biography of a European king. The author tried to imitate the style of that of the ancient Roman biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who is most famous for his '' Lives of the Caesars''. Einhard's biography used especially the model of the biography of Emperor Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire.

Date

The date of the work is uncertain, and a number of theories have been put forward. The inclusion of

's will at the end of the work makes it fairly clear that it was written after his death in 814. The first reference to the work, however, comes in a letter to

from Lupus of Ferrieres, which is dated to the mid-9th century. Dates have been suggested ranging from about 817 to 833, usually based on interpretations of the text in the political context of the first years of the reign of

and Louis's attitude to his father. No theory has yet emerged as an obvious frontrunner, and it is likely that debate will continue.

Author

Einhard's book is about intimate glimpses of Charlemagne's personal habits and tastes. He occupied a favoured position at Charlemagne's court so he had inside information. Einhard received advanced schooling at the monastery of

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

sometime after 779. He was an exceptional student and was quite knowledgeable. The word was sent to Charlemagne of Einhard's expertise. He was then sent to Charlemagne’s Palace School at

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

in 791. Einhard then received employment at Charlemagne's Frankish court about 796. He remained at this position for twenty some years. Einhard's book was expressly intended to convey his appreciation for advanced education. He wrote his biography after he had left

and was living in Seligenstadt. Some scholars have debated whether Einhard used the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'' in ''Vita Karoli Magni''. Scholars Justin Stover and George Woudhuysen have challenged that, arguing that the claim is "weakly grounded."

Einhard and Charlemagne

Einhard's position while with Charlemagne was that of a modern minister of

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

so he had intimate knowledge of his court. Einhard was also given the responsibility of many of Charlemagne's

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

s. It used to be suggested that Einhard's wife, Emma, was a daughter of Charlemagne; that can generally be disregarded as a twelfth-century fabrication, however, since there is no proof.

Reliability

Most biographies of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

related only good deeds of their subject, with many embellishments to improve their subject. Einhard's biography, however, is considered, for the most part, to be a trustworthy account of Charlemagne's life. It is considered an excellent account of earlier Medieval life. Despite Einhard's limitations, since it was his first attempt at a major writing, the British historian Thomas Hodgkin said, "almost all our real, vivifying knowledge of Charles the Great is derived from Einhard, and that the ''Vita Karoli Magni'' is one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."Hodgkin, p. 222

Notes

Sources

Translations

* Chiesa, P. ''Vita Karoli''. Florence: SISMEL / Ed. del Galluzzo, 2014. * * * * *

Studies

* * * * * * Latowsky, Anne A. (2013). ''Emperor of the World: Charlemagne and the Construction of Imperial Authority, 800-1229''. Ithaca, N.Y.–London: Cornell University Press. * * * *

External links

Full Latin text
at the Latin Library * , translated by A.J. Grant {{Authority control 9th-century books in Latin Charlemagne Biographies about royalty Biographies in Latin Carolingian historical texts in Latin