Irelan Bailey

Professor Blake

HIST 1100

March 11, 2020

The Life of Charlemagne

The Life of Charlemagne is a biography written by a

scholar named Einhard. Einhard had close relations with

Charlemagne both as a close friend and being a part of

Charlemagne’s household circle. This document was written

between Charlemagne’s death in 814 and Einhard’s death in 840.

The document does not provide an exact date and location when

it was written and published. This biography covers the great qualities, strengths, and attributes

of Charlemagne and much of his private life according to Einhard.

The purpose of this biography is to praise Charlemagne and

recognize his likable qualities to be remembered for future

generations. However, Einhard does this by bringing great

emphasis only to Charlemagne’s strengths and masking the

emperor’s weaknesses.

Einhard focuses on describing the positive qualities of

Charlemagne throughout the text. The two main qualities are how

caring and loving Charlemagne was with people and his children.

Einhard depicts Charlemagne as only a loving father throughout the

beginning of the biography by mentioning multiple times how much Charlemagne cared for his

children. For example, “Char-lemagne gave clear proof of the affection he bore them all” (p.

249), “These girls were extraordinarily beautiful and greatly loved by their father” (p. 249), and

“Considering the strength of his character; for his emotions as a father, which were very deeply

rooted, made him burst into tears” (p. 249). His loving characteristic is further expanded on

throughout the biography multiple times. Einhard mentions that Charlemagne was loving

towards foreigners even though they were a burden on the entire realm. Near the end of the

biography, Einhard states “Charlemagne cared more for the church of the holy Apostle Peter…

he sent so many gifts to the Pope that it was impossible to keep count of them “ (p. 252). Einhard

only focused on the caring attributes of the emperor and never dwelling on anything potentially

negative about him.

 Einhard does not write anything about the emperor having

any negative characteristics. Anything potentially putting

Charlemagne in a negative spotlight is dismissed by an ethical

reason. For example, Einhard explains how the emperor dealt with

the conspiracy against him in Germany by exiling the plotters,

taking out some of their eyes, and three of them are killed. Einhard

backs up the emperor’s decision to have three of them killed by

stating “These resisted arrest, drew their swords and started to

defend themselves. They slaughtered a few men in the process and had to be destroyed

themselves, as there was no other way of dealing with them” (p. 250). Einhard goes to lengths to

not taint Charlemagne’s caring and loving image by emphasizing how killing them was the only

option given.

Along with positive characteristics, the emperor is

portrayed as being skillful with little faults. Einhard

continuously portrays the emperor as the best and being

extremely talented. Einhard states “He spent much of his

time on horseback and out hunting, which came naturally

to him” and “He was an extremely strong swimmer and in

this sport no one could surpass him” (p. 250). The

emperor once attempted to learn to write and Einhard

explains that the emperor put forth great effort to master

the skill, but the reasoning for his failure is covered by Einhard saying “he had begun too late in

life” (p. 251).

Throughout the Life of Charlemagne, the emperor’s positive attributes are constantly

praised by Einhard and he is never put under a negative light. The society in which this was

written shows that there was such potential for those to serve a royal figure and have extreme

loyalty or devotion towards them. Both devotion and loyalty are crucial for any leader and their

followers to be successful. Alexander the Great and the devotion of his men is what made him

successful in his fighting tactics and having a powerful influence on Greek culture. Einhard’s

work shows his devotion towards Charlemagne and he documents the greatness of his emperor

for future generations to know of Charlemagne’s legacy.