Books on Life and Conquests of Charlemagne

Books on Life and Conquests of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor and the uniter of a large part of Europe during the Middle Ages.

Books in list (13)


Title: Charlemagne: Barbarian and Emperor

An absorbing biography of the great leader who was the bridge between ancient and modern Europe — the first major study in more than twenty-five years.Charlemagne was an extraordinary figure: an ingenious military strategist, a wise but ruthless leader, a cunning politician, and a devout believer who ensured the survival of Christianity in the West. He also believed himself above the rules of the church, siring bastards across Europe, and coldly ordering the execution of 4,500 prisoners. Derek Wilson shows how this complicated, fascinating man married the military might of his army to the spiritual force of the Church in Rome, thereby forging Western Christendom. This is a remarkable portrait of Charlemagne and of the intricate political, religious, and cultural world he dominated.
Author(s): Derek Wilson
ISBN 13: 9780307274809
Pages: 256

Title: The Greatest Conquerors of the Middle Ages: Charlemagne, Saladin and Genghis Khan

*Includes maps of each conqueror's empire and pictures depicting the conquerors and other important people and places. *Discusses legends and controversies surrounding the lives, deaths, and legacies of the conquerors. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. The most famous man of the Middle Ages was probably Charlemagne, and few would argue that he was also the most important man during those centuries. Upon the death of his father, Pepin the Short, in 768, Charlemagne became King of the Franks, and he proceeded to create one of the largest European empires since the collapse of Rome. Through his conquests across Western Europe and Italy, Charlemagne became the first Holy Roman Emperor after a famous imperial coronation by Pope Leo III. In becoming the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne essentially established the new order on the European continent, thereby directly influencing how European politics and royalty proceeded in the coming centuries. As if to demonstrate how large he loomed in life, Charlemagne was numbered Charles I in Germany, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne is also viewed as having brought about the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the Catholic Church that predated the Italian Renaissance by centuries. The Carolingian Renaissance helped establish a uniform European culture, helping Charlemagne earn the title “Father of Europe”. In a world fascinated by men like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan is one of history’s greatest and most famous conquerors. No man, before or since, has ever started with so little and gone on to achieve so much. From a noble family but raised in poverty that drove him to the brink of starvation, Genghis Khan rose to control the second-largest empire the world has ever known (the largest being, arguably, the British Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries), and easily the largest empire conquered by a single man. And while many empires disintegrate upon the death of an emperor, like Alexander the Great’s, Genghis Khan’s empire endured and was actually enlarged by his successors, who went on to establish dynasties that in some cases lasted for centuries. Though history is usually written by the victors, history was largely written by those who Genghis Khan and Saladin vanquished. And while that meant Genghis Khan became widely reviled, it had the opposite effect on Saladin. Saladin is widely considered one of the greatest generals in history and one of the most famous leaders of the Middle Ages, but he remains a paradox, both in personal and in historical terms. A military genius, he first served other generals and was overshadowed, late in life, by his greatest rival, Richard I of England. He was far more admired by his Christian enemies, who extolled his chivalry, than some of his Muslim rivals, who fought him for control of Egypt and Syria in the 12th century. His Christian enemies continued his name long after it was forgotten in the Middle East, only to spark a revival of his reputation in Arab culture in the 20th century. Revered as the flower of Arab culture, he was really a Kurd who nearly destroyed it. Taught to Egyptian children as a native born Egyptian hero, he was, in fact, Egypt's conqueror, the man who destroyed its native dynasty and suppressed the local Shi'ite sect. The Greatest Conquerors of the Middle Ages chronicles the amazing lives and conquests of the three men, while examining their empires and their enduring legacies. Along with pictures of important people, places and events, you will learn about Charlemagne, Saladin and Genghis Khan like you never have before.
Author(s): Charles River Editors
ISBN 13: 9781492936664
Pages: 98
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Life of Charlemagne

Author(s): Einhard, Sidney Painter
ISBN 13: 9780472060351

Title: Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A. D. 800

On Christmas morning in the year 800, Pope Leo III placed the crown of imperial Rome on the brow of a Germanic king named Karl—a gesture that enabled the man later hailed as Charlemagne to claim his empire and forever shape the destiny of Europe. Becoming Charlemagne tells the story of the international power struggle that led to this world-changing event, illuminating an era that has long been overshadowed by myth.

For 1,200 years, the deeds of Charlemagne inspired kings and crusaders, the conquests of Napoléon and Hitler, and the optimistic architects of the European Union. In this engaging narrative, Jeff Sypeck crafts a vivid portrait of the ruler who became a legend, while evoking a long-ago world of kings, caliphs, merchants, and monks. Transporting readers far beyond Europe to the glittering palaces of Constantinople and the streets of medieval Baghdad, Becoming Charlemagne brings alive an age of empire building that continues to resonate to this day.

Author(s): Jeff Sypeck
ISBN 13: 9780060797072
Pages: 304

Title: Two Lives of Charlemagne

Two revealingly different accounts of the life of the most important figure of the Roman Empire

Charlemage ?known as the father of Europe-was one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers. The biographies brought together here provide a rich and varied portrait of the king from two perspectives: that of Einhard, a close friend and adviser, and of Notker, a monastic scholar and musician writing fifty years after Charlemagne's death.

Author(s): Einhard
ISBN 13: 9780140455052
Pages: 160

Title: Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity

Charlemagne is often claimed as the greatest ruler in Europe before Napoleon. This magisterial 2008 study re-examines Charlemagne the ruler and his reputation. It analyses the narrative representations of Charlemagne produced after his death, and thereafter focuses on the evidence from Charlemagne's lifetime concerning the creation of the Carolingian dynasty and the growth of the kingdom, the court and the royal household, communications and identities in the Frankish realm in the context of government, and Charlemagne's religious and cultural strategies. The book offers a critical examination of the contemporary sources and in so doing transforms our understanding of the development of the Carolingian empire, the formation of Carolingian political identity, and the astonishing changes effected throughout Charlemagne's forty-six year period of rule. This is a major contribution to Carolingian history which will be essential reading for anyone interested in the medieval past. Rosamond McKitterick has also received the 2010 Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for History for her research into the Carolingians.
Author(s): Rosamond McKitterick
ISBN 13: 9780521716451
Pages: 478

Title: Charlemagne

Charlemagne—ruler of the vast Frankish kingdom from 768 to his death in 814 and Holy Roman emperor from the year 800—is considered the father of Europe. He founded the first empire in western Europe after the fall of Rome, and his court at Aix-la-Chapelle was a center of classical learning and a focus of the Carolingian Renaissance. This book is a splendid introduction to Charlemagne’s life and legend.
Matthias Becher describes Charlemagne’s rise to emperor and traces his political and military maneuvering against the Saxons, the Lombards, and others, as Charlemagne incorporated these lands into his own realm. Becher points out that under Charlemagne, jury courts were introduced, the laws of the Franks revised and written down, new coinage introduced, weights and measures reformed, and a Frankish grammar begun. Charlemagne tried to give his kingdom a spiritual basis by referring to antique traditions, says Becher, and he explores the tensions that existed in Charlemagne’s court between modern ideas and traditional thinking. He concludes by discussing Charlemagne’s kinship network, the evolving arrangements for his succession, the effects of his reign, and his posthumous fame.
Concise, insightful, and eminently readable, this biography of Charlemagne provides a wealth of information about a remarkable man and his times.

Author(s): Matthias Becher
ISBN 13: 9780300107586
Pages: 182

Title: Charlemagne's Courtier : The Complete Einhard

Author(s): Paul Dutton
ISBN 13: 9781551111346

Title: The Plantagenets

An epic history of the Plantagenet royal dynasty traces its first king's inheritance of a violence-stricken realm through the family's growth of a powerful empire that stretched from Scotland to Jerusalem, citing the enduring influences of ...
Author(s): Dan Jones
ISBN 13: 9780143124924
Pages: 560
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Charlemagne

This is a new account of the most important period in the history of Europe between the end of the Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. The reign of Charlemagne (768-814) saw the unification of many areas of France, Italy and Germany, Spain and central Europe, as well as the revival of the title 'Emperor in the West.' At the same time, the cultural and artistic revival that took place in western Europe under Charlemagne's rule both led to the preservation of much of the intellectual heritage of Antiquity and inspired succeeding generations of scholars and artists up to the time of the Renaissance. While the empire that Charlemagne created proved short-lived, the title 'Holy Roman Emperor' remained in continuous use until 1806, and his achievements have inspired a succession of both military conquerors and would-be unifiers of Europe up to the present day. Numerous ideas and institutions were revived or created in this period which would serve to shape the future development of western Europe throughout the Middle Ages and beyond.

Author(s): Roger Collins
ISBN 13: 9780802082183
Pages: 292

Title: The Life of Charlemagne

Hodgkin's biography is a comprehensive biography of Charlemagne, probably the most famous man of the Middle Ages and one of the most important man during those centuries. Upon the death of his father, Pepin the Short, in 768, Charlemagne became King of the Franks, and he proceeded to create one of the largest European empires since the collapse of Rome. Through his conquests across Western Europe and Italy, Charlemagne became the first Holy Roman Emperor after a famous imperial coronation by Pope Leo III. In becoming the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne essentially established the new order on the European continent, thereby directly influencing how European politics and royalty proceeded in the coming centuries. As if to demonstrate how large he loomed in life, Charlemagne was numbered Charles I in Germany, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne is also viewed as having brought about the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the Catholic Church that predated the Italian Renaissance by centuries. The Carolingian Renaissance helped establish a uniform European culture, helping Charlemagne earn the title “Father of Europe”.
Author(s): Thomas Hodgkin
ISBN 13: 9781499630169
Pages: 152

Title: The Emperor Charlemagne

Author(s): Russell Chamberlin
ISBN 13: 9780750934824

 


Next book list: Books on Theodore Roosevelt the 26th President of the United States >>