Life of Charlemagne: Einhard

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of this forced conversion when describing a war Charlemagne had with the Saxons. “The war that had lasted so many years was at length ended by their acceding to the terms offered by the King; which were renunciation of their national religious customs and the worship of devils, acceptance of the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion, and union with the Franks to form one people,” (Life of Charlemagne, 248). After waging a war and defeating the Saxons, he then forced them to surrender to his terms on which they were to convert to Christianity. This shows Einhard’s biased as Charlemagne was truly a brutal ruler committing sins and forcing others to convert to Christianity; he wasn’t as devoted and loyal as Einhard portrays him.In addition to showing the brutality of Charlemagne, Einhard also shows another aspect of Charlemagne which didn’t prove

him to be so devoted. Charlemagne had many wives and kids, which was not permitted under Christianity. “After her death [Jun4 4, 800] he had three concubines - Gersuinda, a Saxon by whom he had Adaltrud; Regina, who was the mother of Drogo and Hugh; and Ethelind, by whom he lead Theodoric,” (Life of Charlemagne, 258). Having so many relations with different women does not seem to be very Christian at all, and proves Einhard wrong when describing Charlmeagne as a devoted Christian.

During Charlemagne’s reign, Einhard credits some of his successes to his ability to make foreign relations and alliances with nearby Kings and Nations. “The Emperors of Constantinople, Nicephorus [I 802-811], Michael [I, 811-813], and Leo [V, 813-820], made advances to Charles, and sought friendship and alliance with him by several embassies,” (Life of Charlemagne, 252). In this quote, Einhard shows how Charlemagne made alliances in Constantinople, or the Eastern Roman Empire, which could have been due to Christianity. Constantinople had a very dominant Christian population, which shows how Christianity played a role in alliances and strategic economic decisions. When describing some of these strategic alliances, Einhard portrays Charlemagne to be very generous to Christians of other descent. Einhard emphasized how Charlemagne made overseas alliances in order to help Christians living in poverty. “But when he discovered that there were Christians living in poverty in Syria, Egypt, and Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, he had compassion on their wants, and used to send money over the seas to them. The reason that he zealously strove to make friends with the kings beyond seas was that he might get help and relief to the Christians living under their rule,” (Life of Charlemagne, 258). This quote shows Charlemagne’s generosity to be unrealistic as it would be hard to donate to only the Christian’s of a foreign nation.

In addition to his generosity to Christians, Charlemagne also devoted time and various resources to beautifying aspects of the Christian Church. “He sent great and countless gifts to the popes; and throughout his whole reign the wish that he had nearest at heart was to re-establish the ancient authority of the city of Rome under his care and by his influence, and to defend and protect the Church of St. Peter, and to beautify and enrich it out of his own store above all other churches,” (Life of Charlemagne, 256). This quote from Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne shows the role that the Christian Church played at the time. It shows how Charlemagne was trying to unify Rome under one religion, which was playing a large economic role at the time. This generosity is further portayed by Einhard when describing public works done by Charlemagne; “Among these, the most deserving of mention are the basilica of the Holy Mother of God at Aix-la-Chapelle, built in the most admirable manner, and a bridge over the Rhine at Mayence, half a mile long, the breadth of the river at this point,” (Life of Charlemagne, 253). As various resources were used to build the Aix-la-Chapelle, it shows the role and importance of the Church at the time. It also shows how Einhard is portraying the Godliness of Charlemagne in building such great structures and performing such great acts.

In Conclusion, in Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne, his opinion comes off as biased creating a Godly image of Charlemagne. Although most of the information he gave may have been accurate, the information was presented in a biasedly as it did not describe the faults or brutality of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was truly a brutal ruler, as he conquered many people, forcing them to convert to Christianity. He also had many wives, which prove Einhard wrong when describing Charlemagne as a devoted Christian. Einhard had a bias when writing Life of Charlemagne due to his close friendship with Charlemagne portrayed in