Ebook: Vita Karoli Magni = The Life of Charlemagne

The Latin Text. With a New English Translation, Introduction, and Notes by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow and Edwin H. Zeydel.

Einhard’s 'Vita Karoli Magni' is a unique document of the early Middle Ages, both from a historical and a literary point of view. It is a personal account by a close associate of the life, character, and achievements of the greatest ruler of his time, Charlemagne, a man who had a decisive impact on the history of Western Europe.

Charlemagne’s character, wisdom, courage, and actions shaped the political map of Europe in a way that would decisively mark the trend of Western culture for centuries to come. This alone would explain why the study of his life remains perpetually fascinating to the general public as well as to the historian.

But what of Charlemagne as a human being — what of his personal likes and dislikes, his relationships, the ordinary details of his everyday existence? These questions are answered in this concise biography by Einhard, who spent most of his life in the court as an associate and close friend of the emperor.

We learn of a man who liked to dress modestly and felt uncomfortable when the occasion called for pomp and ceremony; a man who preferred hunting and swimming to any other form of recreation; and a man who, already a king and a mightv conqueror, accepted the imperial crown only because Pope Leo thrust it on him during a celebration in Rome.

Charlemagne was a family man who loved his women and his children, yet he abandoned his first wife 'for unknown reasons' after a year of marriage and thereafter had several wives and concubines. A sincerely and deeply religious man, Charlemagne suffered silently because of the questionable behavior of his unmarried daughters. The biography contains many other details of the private life of Charlemagne without neglecting to describe his activities as a ruler of men and nations.

This new translation is presented side-by-side with the original Latin text and is enhanced by the translators’ introduction, which tells us about Einhard’s life and clarifies questions that have been posed about his work.