Early Lives of Charlemagne
Einhard and Notker the Stammerer c. 850 CE
Two ninth-century accounts describe Charlemagne's life, one by a courtier and one by a monk. Einhard tells how Charlemagne kept writing tablets under his pillow to practice forming letters.
151 pages 2h 55m reading time
- The first known biography of a medieval European ruler, and the main source for what we know about Charlemagne as a person.
- Einhard models his account on ancient Roman lives of the emperors, showing a king as a real man with habits, flaws, and family troubles, not just as a saint or a hero.
- Notker, writing decades later, collects stories and legends that show how Charlemagne was already turning into a figure of myth within a lifetime of his death.
- Einhard's book was copied widely across medieval Europe, and its Roman-style portrait shaped how later writers wrote about kings.
- Together the two accounts helped build the lasting image of Charlemagne as the founding father of Europe, an image still used today.
Stories from an old soldier
Notker said many of his tales came from Adalbert, a soldier who had fought in Charlemagne's wars.
Requested by a great-grandson
Notker wrote at the request of Charles the Fat, Charlemagne's great-grandson, after his visit to Notker's monastery.
A falsely modest preface
Einhard called his Latin rough and plain, yet he borrowed polished phrases from the Roman writer Cicero.
Notker's book is unfinished
The surviving text of Notker's book stops partway through, and the third part he planned is missing.
Translated from Latin by A. J. Grant