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Einhard's Two Lives of Charlemagneis an absorbing chronicle of one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers, written by a close friend and adviser. In elegant prose it describes Charlemagne's personal life, details his achievements in reviving learning and the arts, recounts his military successes and depicts one of the defining moments in European history- Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 800AD. By contrast, Notker's account, written some decades after Charlemagne's death, is a collection of anecdotes rather than a presentation of historical facts.… (más)
Penguin Books’ Two Lives of Charlemagne collects Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charles the Great), written between 817-833 CE, and the Gesta Karoli (“deeds of Charlemagne”) written by the Monk of Saint Gall in the 880s, whom scholars believe to be Notker the Stammerer. Charlemagne lived between 2 April 748 and 28 January 814, and was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the Holy Roman Emperor from 800, uniting most of Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476.
Einhard sought to evoke classical works, specifically Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars. He worked in Charlemagne’s court and so had good knowledge of his source, drawing upon first-hand accounts while using his book to promote education. Unlike other biographies from the Middle Ages that focus on their subjects’ good deeds, scholars such as F.A. Ogg (1907) and Thomas Hodgkin (1897) consider the work a faithful account and a starting point for modern biographers.
Notker wrote his account of Charlemagne’s life for Charles III, known as “The Fat,” the great-grandson of Charlemagne who visited Gall in 833. The work demonstrates the effect of that patronage, as Charles III sought to emulate his great-grandfather, even modeling his palace at Sélestate in Alsace after Charlemagne’s Palace at Aachen. Notker’s work compiles anecdotes of Charlemagne rather than attempt to offer a proper biography, invoking the virtues of Charlemagne in order to please his patron. At times, he cites nonexistent sources or mistakes dates, using parables to teach lessons while criticizing the pride of high-born bishops.
Taken together, the two biographies offer insight into the Middle Ages as well as the process of historical writing at this time. They resemble Plutarch’s Roman Lives or some other European sagas, like that of Egil or Snorri Sturluson’s saga of King Harald. Historians and classicists will find this particularly useful, but Penguin’s paperback editions also help make this history available to laypeople seeking to broaden their own reading. ( )
The lives are well served by their translator. The prose seems lively, and the introduction is very informative. These lives were originally written by Einhard between 824 and 836, and by Notker in 883 84. Einhard's work was a personal memoir, as he spent at least twenty-three years in the service of the Frankish king. ( )
This small volume contains two biographies of Charlemagne, one by a man who knew him, the other written within 100 years of his death. The translated biographies are interesting for their style, attitudes and anecdotes. The commentary points out when the biographies make factual errors or omissions and the sources of some of the references to sources like the Bible or the Aeneid. The personalities of both writers and of the translator come through, which I sometimes found amusing and sometimes found annoying. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
For Adrian Thorpe
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Charles the Great, King of the Franks and later ruler of the Carolingian Empire, may at first sight seem comparable with that other famous medieval figure, Arthur of Britain, for in both cases the fictional hero into which each later developed tends to obscure the original historical personage.
Introduction.
It is generally accepted that it was Einhard who wrote this life of the most glorious Emperor Charlemagne, together with the description of the historical events which form the background to the life.
Einhard : Walahfrid Strabo's prologue.
Having once made up my mind to describe the life and the day-to-day habits of Charlemagne, my lord and patron, and to write the public history of this distinguished and deservedly most famous king, I have determined to be as succinct as possible.
Einhard's introduction.
The Merovingian dynasty, from which the Franks were accustomed to choose their Kings, is thought to have lasted down to King Childeric III, who was deposed on the order of Stephen II, the Pope of Rome.
Einhard : Book I. The early Carolingians.
He who ordains the fate of kingdoms and 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 : Book I. The piety of Charlemagne and his care of the Church.
Citas
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Charlemagne's son Lewis, who succeeded him by divine right, read this statement and acted upon it with complete scrupulousness as soon as he possibly could after his father's death.
Einhard's Two Lives of Charlemagneis an absorbing chronicle of one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers, written by a close friend and adviser. In elegant prose it describes Charlemagne's personal life, details his achievements in reviving learning and the arts, recounts his military successes and depicts one of the defining moments in European history- Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 800AD. By contrast, Notker's account, written some decades after Charlemagne's death, is a collection of anecdotes rather than a presentation of historical facts.
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Einhard sought to evoke classical works, specifically Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars. He worked in Charlemagne’s court and so had good knowledge of his source, drawing upon first-hand accounts while using his book to promote education. Unlike other biographies from the Middle Ages that focus on their subjects’ good deeds, scholars such as F.A. Ogg (1907) and Thomas Hodgkin (1897) consider the work a faithful account and a starting point for modern biographers.
Notker wrote his account of Charlemagne’s life for Charles III, known as “The Fat,” the great-grandson of Charlemagne who visited Gall in 833. The work demonstrates the effect of that patronage, as Charles III sought to emulate his great-grandfather, even modeling his palace at Sélestate in Alsace after Charlemagne’s Palace at Aachen. Notker’s work compiles anecdotes of Charlemagne rather than attempt to offer a proper biography, invoking the virtues of Charlemagne in order to please his patron. At times, he cites nonexistent sources or mistakes dates, using parables to teach lessons while criticizing the pride of high-born bishops.
Taken together, the two biographies offer insight into the Middle Ages as well as the process of historical writing at this time. They resemble Plutarch’s Roman Lives or some other European sagas, like that of Egil or Snorri Sturluson’s saga of King Harald. Historians and classicists will find this particularly useful, but Penguin’s paperback editions also help make this history available to laypeople seeking to broaden their own reading. (