einhard wrote the life of charlemagne sometime between 817 and 830.
einhard wrote the life of charlemagne sometime between 817 and 830.
when did einhard write the life of charlemagne?
sometime between 817 and 830
the most famous of einhard's works is his biography of charlemagne, the "vita karoli magni", "the life of charlemagne" (c. 817–836), which provides much direct information about charlemagne's life and character, written sometime between 817 and 830. in composing this he relied heavily upon the royal frankish annals. einhard's literary model was the classical work of the roman historian suetonius, the "lives of the caesars", though it is important to stress that the work is very much einhard's own, that is to say he adapts the models and sources for his own purposes. his work was written as a praise of charlemagne, whom he regarded as a foster-father ("nutritor") and to whom he was a debtor "in life and death". the work thus contains an understandable degree of bias, einhard taking care to exculpate charlemagne in some matters, not mention others, and to gloss over certain issues which would be of embarrassment to charlemagne, such as the morality of his daughters; by contrast, other issues are curiously not glossed over, like his concubines.
einhard
einhard was from the eastern german-speaking part of the frankish kingdom. born into a family of landowners of some importance, his parents sent him to be educated by the monks of fulda - one of the most impressive centers of learning in the frank lands. perhaps due to his small stature, which restricted his riding and sword-fighting ability, einhard concentrated his energies on scholarship, especially the mastering of latin. he was accepted into the hugely wealthy court of charlemagne around 791 or 792. charlemagne actively sought to amass scholarly men around him and established a royal school led by the northumbrian scholar alcuin. einhard evidently was a talented builder and construction manager, because charlemagne put him in charge of the completion of several palace complexes including aachen and ingelheim. despite the fact that einhard was on intimate terms with charlemagne, he never achieved office in his reign. in 814, on charlemagne's death, his son louis the pious made einhard his private secretary. einhard retired from court during the time of the disputes between louis and his sons in the spring of 830.
einhard