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Einhard's Distortions In The Life Of Charlemagne

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The Carefully Crafted Legend: Einhard’s distortions in The Life of Charlemagne

Einhard’s The Life of Charlemagne is a famous biography that provides a firsthand account of the deeds and character of Charles the Great. Einhard was a close contemporary to Charlemagne and his court, with Walahfrid Strabo’s preface describing how there “was almost no one else among the many officials of the king’s majesty to whom the king . . . . Entrusted so many secrets.” Despite Einhard’s seemingly well researched and honest biography, there are far too many distortions and inconsistencies in this work to completely trust this work. Einhard’s information on Charlemagne’s birth and early childhood is suspect. He states that there was “nothing written down …show more content…

In 777 the Muslim governor of Barcelona by the name of Suleiman convinced Charlemagne to campaign against the Omayyad ruled Spain. Perhaps Charlemagne’s pride forced him to follow in his ancestor Charles Martel’s steps, who previously defeated the Saracens. Whatever his motives were, Charlemagne’s “great crusade” came to an embarrassing end. While the catastrophic loss at the Basque ambush was recorded by Einhard the obvious omission made by him was done in all likelihood because this was Charlemagne’s only war that was “completely …show more content…

He briefly mentions a son named Pippin who had a hunchback and attempted to rebel against Charlemagne. Einhard refers to this child’s mother as a nameless concubine. The truth however is the Pippin the Hunchback was Charlemagne’s first born son, and that his mother named Himiltrude could have been a possible lawful wife of Charlemagne. Pippin’s attempted rebellion against his father was not completely unprovoked, Charlemagne “disinherited pippin on grounds of his deformity” after he had healthy sons by another wife and in response created an enemy out of his eldest son.
Charlemagne’s first wife Desideria faced a similar fate. Einhard explains that after a year and for no reason at all, Charlemagne dismisses her. The reason for her dismissal was meant to be a retaliatory insult to King Desiderius who insulted Charlemagne by marching an army into Rome and taking

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Once one compares this account to the events told in Roland approximately 300 years later, it becomes clear that

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