Two Lives of Charlemagne

*note to self.copy from Al.

This small volume contains two biographies of Charlemagne, one by a man who knew him, the other written within 100 years of his death. The translated biographies are interesting for their style, attitudes and anecdotes. The commentary points out when the biographies make factual errors or omissions and the sources of some of the references to sources like the Bible or the Aeneid. The personalities of both writers and of the translator come through, which I sometimes found amusing and sometimes found annoying. ( )

I just can't write a review better than the one that "a customer" wrote over at Amazon:

As the title suggests, this book reveals the incredible 'two lives' of Charlemagne. By day, Emperor of the Franks - by night, a nightclub singer in the sleazy joints of downtown Aachen. ( )

Translations of two mediaeval works on the great emperor.

Sure, I could have googled and learned the 'facts' about Charlemagne in about 5 minutes; but then I wouldn't have found the pleasure in reading about greedy monks or stupid nobles being embarrassed in front of the court, ha ha; nor would I have learned how Charlemagne chastized his soldiers for wearing wimpy Gallic cloaks in favor of the superior Frankish sort ("What is the use of these little napkins?.... When I go off to empty my bowels, I catch cold because my backside is frozen!"). Did you know that Charlemagne had a pet elephant named Abu-l-Abbas, received as a gift from the king of Persia?

Read the rest of my review of Two Lives of Charlemagne on my blog, The Nerd is the Word.

http://nerdword.blogspot.com/2006/07/26-two-lives-of-charlemagne.html ( )