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 Hampden-Sydney College

Western Culture 101

Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne

Instructor:  M. Prevo
 


Prevo's Home Page


Click here for full text of Einhard's Life of Charlemagne

Reading Questions

  • Who was Einhard?
  • What was his relationship to Charlemagne?
  • What are his sources?
  • What are his standards for historical accuracy?
  • What parts of Europe did Charlemagne bring under his control?
  • How did he do this?
  • What did he require of lesser nobles as signs of fealty?
  • What did he require of defeated peoples, the Saxons, for example?
  • What was his relationship to the church and the pope?
  • What two peoples on the periphery of Europe did he never conquer?
  • With what empires did he have diplomatic relations as an equal or near equal?
  • How does Einhard characterize Charlemagne?  What evidence does he give to back up his claims?
  • Is Einhard an historian?  What aspects of his writing sound modern?  What sound medieval?  

Extra credit question

  • The image on this page was made for Drogo, Archbishop of Metz.  According to Einhard, what was his relationship to Charlemagne?

 

Initail D with the Three Marys at the Tomb from the Sacramentary created for Drogo, Archbiship of Metz, c. 850.Colors and ink on velum.  Bibliothèque Nationale (Ms. lat. 9428, fol. 71v), Paris.

Maintained by Mary Prevo

Page last edited 11/26/13