Two Lives of Charlemagne
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Two Lives of Charlemagne (Penguin Classics) Paperback – September 30, 2008
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Language Notes
Text: English, Latin (translation)
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
EINHARD was born of noble parents in the Main valley around A.D. 770. He became a friend of Charlemagne and his family, and was chosen to invite Charlemagne to crown his son as his successor in 813. After Charlemagne's death he was a loyal servant of Louis the Pious, and he died in 840. NOTKER BALBULUS ( The Stammerer) was born near the monastery of St Gall, in Switzerland, around 840, and entered the monastery as a boy. He wrote his account of Charlemagne for the Emperor Charles the Fat between 884 and 887. He also composed a book of sequences with music, a Martyrology (897), and poems, letters and charters. He taught at the monastic school until his death in 912. David Gantz is Professor of English at Kings College, London.
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86 of 89 people found the following review helpful
By
A Customer
on December 8, 1999
Format: Paperback
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It's really bizarre how this book has gotten all those 1-star reviews. Most of them seem to have read it thinking it was a novel, though considering the book's title they must not be very perceptive. While Einhard's Life is a little dry in parts, I greatly enjoyed Notker's. The translator's notes are very informative, particularly on the battle of Roncevalles, where Charlemagne's general Roland was killed. To someone genuinely interested in learning more about Charlemagne than what is mere common knowledge, I suggest ignoring the bad reviews and get this book.
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84 of 89 people found the following review helpful
By
Robert Busek
on February 26, 2003
Format: Paperback
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Those of you who claimed this book bored you obviously thought you were picking up an Arthurian romance or some kind of fantasy/sci-fi epic. This is history, people, not an adventure story! What's more, it's history from the period in which it happened, what we call a primary source. Of course it's not going to read like a modern novel. People in the Middle Ages wanted solid content, not useless fluff. This work is great for introducing students to the life of a great leader written by someone who was actually there. I use it with my tenth grade students and they love it because it gives you a snapshot of the man under the crown.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By
Aziliz
on July 16, 2006
Format: Paperback
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Looking at the three 'one-star' reviews this book has received, I would point out they are all written in the same style, are close in date and look suspiciously like they were all written by the same person.
Yes, this is a wonderful primary source.
With Einhard's story you are actually reading the work of a person who knew Charlemagne (who lived approx. 742-814AD).
Prior to Charlemagne there basically was no Germanic literature. Charlemagne encouraged book learning and the writing of what had before then been either purely oral or simply not remembered. We are looking at the birth of Germanic Literature and also the birth of Germanic recorded history. Before this, (apart from a few glosses in the 7th Century) there is only the archaeological record and the writings of neighbouring literate cultures like the Romans about their Germanic neighbours to turn to for illumination.
These glimpses into the minds of people whose culture and outlook on the world are both so different to our own but also has so profoundly impacted the development of our modern day life are fascinating.
Charlemagne after all followed in the footsteps of the Roman Caesars in his attempt to create a great and literate civilisation and by doing so deeply influenced the Anglo-Saxons in England. Some of the earliest Saxon writings were commissioned by Charlemagne and his son, Louis the Pious. Alfred the Great was deeply influenced by his example. It was Alfred the Greats encouragement of Anglo-Saxon literature that established sound foundations for later developments in English literature.
I preferred Einhard as I think he succeeded in showing Charlemagne the man to a greater degree than Notker writing a hundred years later.Read more ›
Yes, this is a wonderful primary source.
With Einhard's story you are actually reading the work of a person who knew Charlemagne (who lived approx. 742-814AD).
Prior to Charlemagne there basically was no Germanic literature. Charlemagne encouraged book learning and the writing of what had before then been either purely oral or simply not remembered. We are looking at the birth of Germanic Literature and also the birth of Germanic recorded history. Before this, (apart from a few glosses in the 7th Century) there is only the archaeological record and the writings of neighbouring literate cultures like the Romans about their Germanic neighbours to turn to for illumination.
These glimpses into the minds of people whose culture and outlook on the world are both so different to our own but also has so profoundly impacted the development of our modern day life are fascinating.
Charlemagne after all followed in the footsteps of the Roman Caesars in his attempt to create a great and literate civilisation and by doing so deeply influenced the Anglo-Saxons in England. Some of the earliest Saxon writings were commissioned by Charlemagne and his son, Louis the Pious. Alfred the Great was deeply influenced by his example. It was Alfred the Greats encouragement of Anglo-Saxon literature that established sound foundations for later developments in English literature.
I preferred Einhard as I think he succeeded in showing Charlemagne the man to a greater degree than Notker writing a hundred years later.Read more ›
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By
A Customer
on December 1, 1999
Format: Paperback
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This book is a valuable historical resource. It contains two early medieval chronicles relating to the life of Charlemagne (it is not, by the way, a novel). Readers who are looking to be instructed about Carolingian France will find this book to be fascinating. Those who are looking only to be amused and entertained might not, but that does not diminish the value of the work.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By
Mithridates VI of Pontus
VINE VOICE on August 8, 2007
Format: Paperback
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The pairing of these vastly different accounts of the life and deeds of Charlemagne presents the reader with information about change of perception of the great emperor overtime. Charlemagne, in the many centuries after his death in 814, changes from a historical person into a legendary King Arthur-esque figure, a model chivalric knight and one of the Nine Worthies (a Medieval list of the most chivalric knights of all time), his paladins analogous to Arthur's Knights, and the subject of the first chansons de geste.
The first source, commissioned the request of Louis the Pious one of Charlemagne's successors, was written by Einhard, a monk, historian, and a dedicated servant of Charlemagne. His Life of Charlemagne, written between 817-830 is clearly in the vein of the famous Roman historian Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars (a text that existed at the monastery where the author worked). The work is brief, to the point, and for the most part does not include tangential information, and is biased. The bias is completely understandable and the introduction to the text points out where and why. His chronicle was written to make Louis the Pious' famous father look good. For example, one of the morally stained aspects of the Charlemagne's reign were the actions of his unmoral daughters, which Einhard carefully does not tell us about. Einhard, in short, sometimes deliberately obscures the truth. However, what is so appealing about Einhard's text is the fact that his most of his information was based off of 26 years as a servant of Charlemagne and his court, and information that he includes of actions before Charlemagne's reign most likely was gathered from sources and documents which he had access to.Read more ›
The first source, commissioned the request of Louis the Pious one of Charlemagne's successors, was written by Einhard, a monk, historian, and a dedicated servant of Charlemagne. His Life of Charlemagne, written between 817-830 is clearly in the vein of the famous Roman historian Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars (a text that existed at the monastery where the author worked). The work is brief, to the point, and for the most part does not include tangential information, and is biased. The bias is completely understandable and the introduction to the text points out where and why. His chronicle was written to make Louis the Pious' famous father look good. For example, one of the morally stained aspects of the Charlemagne's reign were the actions of his unmoral daughters, which Einhard carefully does not tell us about. Einhard, in short, sometimes deliberately obscures the truth. However, what is so appealing about Einhard's text is the fact that his most of his information was based off of 26 years as a servant of Charlemagne and his court, and information that he includes of actions before Charlemagne's reign most likely was gathered from sources and documents which he had access to.Read more ›
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