A detailed and political work, it has been underused by historians of the late Carolingians. It may have been written at the bequest or insistence of Odo of France, who appears as the hero and "future king" ("rex futurus") in the poem. The poet views Odo through the lens of the 890s. He praises Odo as "the noblest" of the city of Paris, more so than Askericus or Joscelin. Abbo also presents the Emperor Charles III, whom he refers to as "basileus Francorum" ("emperor of the Franks"), in a positive light. The poem stresses the magnitude and diversity of the united Frankish empire. Significantly, he places no blame on the emperor for the siege of Paris nor for the subsequent harrying of Burgundy, which he actually considered to be appropriate for the Burgundians' refusal to aid the city. Abbo even warns the Neustrians not to use "the purple to keep warm", a reference to overreliance on imperial protection, purple being an imperial colour. The term "basileus" is likewise a distinctly Byzantine term.