Charlemagne Analysis

As an official in the palace and one of the king’s friends, Einhard had one of the best possible views of Charlemagne and his rule. In this “public history of this most distinguished and deservedly most famous king” (Einhard 51), Einhard writes to Charlemagne’s descendants and the rest of posterity about the fame of the Frankish Empire and to preserve the memory of its mightiest ruler. Einhard is an extremely biased author, however. Once upon a time, Charlemagne offered shelter and kindness to Einhard in his court, and in return Einhard ignored the more shocking facts about Charlemagne, like his true motives in practicing Catholicism and his dysfunctional family, specifically his daughters and grandchildren, even after Charlemagne’s death in

He had schools built in monasteries and cathedrals so clergymen would be able to study and he surrounded himself with scholars from various countries (Hanawalt 41). Many of these scholars were given high honours from Charlemagne (Einhard 79). Charlemagne most likely kept these scholars as advisors, using them for their wisdom in ruling his kingdom. But regardless of Charlemagne’s motives, the flourishing of intellectual life in the Frankish empire caused the creation of Carolingian Miniscule (Hevelone-Harper), a new form of penmanship that added spaces, lines, and lowercase letters to writing, an invention that still exists in modern times. The emperor himself had a hand in creating new words for the months and the winds in the Frankish dialect (Einhard 82), helping to create a common language throughout his vast empire. Charlemagne’s love of literacy and the Roman culture also resulted in many ancient texts being translated into Latin and therefore preserved (Hevelone-Harper). Without Charlemagne’s influence on scriptoriums, modern libraries would be lacking hundreds of texts that might otherwise have been

He knew his heir’s demeanor and strengths as a ruler and was wise enough to set his son up for success. He never went anywhere without his sons and daughters, and he had “hand-picked guards” (Einhard 75) watching over them at all times. Einhard attributed this to a father’s love, but it might be more accurate to say that Charlemagne was mostly trying to keep his children well supervised to prevent them from conspiring to take the throne. The formation of their marches supports this idea, appearing almost prison-like with the sons in line with their father, then the daughters riding behind them, and the guards who “closed the line of march” (Einhard 75). This formation gives more of an idea of a strict hierarchy rather than a family trip. Charlemagne also refused to marry off his daughters, “maintaining that he could not live without them” (Einhard 75). While he may have strong feelings for his family, Charlemagne was more likely hoping to have less men clamoring for the throne after his death. Louis the Pious was not a great warrior like his father, and might not have been able to defend his claim to the throne against his brothers and brothers-in-law (Hevelone-Harper). The less men in the line of succession, the better off Louis would be, as Charlemagne was well aware. Einhard did however gloss over the fact that Charlemagne’s daughters were anxious to be wives and mothers, against their