The Life of Charlemagne

Written in the ninth century by a lay courtier who had served in the palace, this Latin life of Charlemagne describes the king's wars in Aquitaine, Italy, Saxony, and against the Avars and Slavs, then his government, piety, and private habits. Einhard records appearance, dress, food, speech, the education of his children, the imperial coronation of 800, and the succession of Louis. The model is Suetonius, compressed into a short vita. The work is a contemporary biography of one ruler, not a chronicle of the whole Frankish people.

Bound in full cream vegetable parchment, cover blocked with a gold cypher. Pink gilt cypher printed endleaves. Dark red or purple slipcase. The Presentation Volume for 1971.