Medieval Christianity: Charlemagne

"Charlemagne remains one of the most compelling figures in European history. In this lively, vivid portrait of an extraordinary monarch and his achievements, Roger Collins profiles the most powerful and significant ruler in Western Europe between the end of the Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. While his achievements were in some ways ephemeral (after all, his great empire soon broke up), he can still clearly be seen as the figure who transformed the nature of Europe and ushered in a period which has an explicit and comprehensible connection with our own."--Jacket.

"Charlemagne - ruler of the vast Frankish kingdom from 768 to his death in 814 and 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 an introduction to Charlemagne's life and legend."--Jacket.

"The most important study of Charlemagne in a generation, this biography by distinguished medievalist Alessandro Barbero illuminates both the man and the world in which he lived. Charles the Great - Charlemagne - reigned from a.d. 768 to a.d. 814. At the time if his death, his empire stretched across Europe to include Bavaria, Saxony, parts of Spain, and Italy. With a remarkable grasp of detail and a sweeping knowledge of Carolingian institutions and economy, Barbero not only brings Charlemagne to life with accounts of his physical appearance, tastes and habits, family life, and ideas and actions but also conveys what it meant to be king of the Franks and, later, emperor. He recounts how Charlemagne ruled his empire, kept justice, and waged wars. He describes the nature of everyday life at that time, how the economy functioned, and how Christians perceived their religion. Barbero's analysis of how concepts of slavery and freedom were subtly altered as feudal relations began to grow underscores the dramatic changes that the emperor's wars brought to the political landscape. This latest account provides a new and richer context for considering one of history's most fascinating personalities."--Jacket.

Professor Robert Folz unravels the events which surround one of the most complex and least understood occasions in the whole history of western Europe.In doing so,he answers questions which are crucial to the understanding of medieval history,explaining how the king of a Germanic people reached an eminence that made him the equal of the Byzantine Emperors and describing the true nature of the "Carolingian Renaissance".He appraises the chaos of Europe after the collapse of the old Roman Empire and shows how the building of a state with a eveloped system of administration saved Western Europe from disintegration.He reveals the factors-thegrowing weakness of Constantinople,the territorial ambitions of the Holy See,the extension of Frankish power to Italy,the widespread longing for a return to the stability and grandeur of ancient Rome-which contributed to an event that was as dramatic as it was fundamental to the future of Europe.-Flap cover.

Discusses daily life during the time of Charlemagne, examining such topics as housing, clothing, food, childbearing, the economy, leisure times, and religion.

This book then opens up the documents concerning one moment of his life,towards the end,when he took up the question of the preparation and celebration of baptism in his realm.This may seem to be rather an insignificant item,but it proves to be revelatory on many levels.By looking at the letter he writes on baptism,and at the responses he receives to his letter,we see how he deals with the issues surrounding baptism,we get a glimpse into what kind of empire he ran,what kind of church he longed to have and ow he saw his role was in salvation history.-Preface.

"Beyond the Empire is a narrative which recounts the key role Rome had when Christians were discovering what it meant to live their faith as a recognized church. They were part of a city identified with an empire, which at first was self-assured but later in disarray. They learnt from it as well as partially transforming it. This enabled the Church, when the empire crumbled, to open to the new peoples beyond the Alps, mediating what it had received from classical and biblical sources to the nucleus of the modern world being formed in Western Europe." "Beyond the Empire points out the similarities between the earlier period and ours; asks if Rome can have a similar function today; and shows how much of pagan and early Christian Rome are still extant."--Jacket.

The field of medieval archaeology,almost unheard of a few decades ago,has recently become one of the most active sectors of research on the Middle Ages.This book reviews Pirenne's famous thesis in the light of recent archaeological discoveries in the Mediterranean,Western Europe,and the Middle East,and offers an invaluable overall account of what we now know.It shows that the collapse of the Roman world was a prolonged agony,which began long before the arrival of the Arabs;that the reign of Charlemagne coincided with a renewal of long-distance trade in Europe and Scandinavia;and that the Carolingian revival-so far from happening on its own-coincided with a boom in the foreign trade of the Abbasid caliphs,whose world economy extended from China to the Baltic.-Flap cover.