Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity
Charles West
This is an important book. It also a subtle, intricately constructed and challenging one, more difficult than it appears at first glance, demanding much from the reader but repaying effort invested. Emphatically neither biography nor new textbook synthesis, makes complex argument about Charlemagne his place in history, which, reflecting its bipartite title, can be understood as working on two levels. The most readily appreciable of these concerns stripping away assumptions which have accreted around iconic Frank, by concentrating those sources McKitterick puts it, ‘have merit being contemporary’, with secondary goal restoring sense movement to Charlemagne's long reign (768–814), has been too often considered static terms. intention not reconstruct personality; see how hard may worked, where limits their interpretation lie. As consequence emphasis strictly contemporary, this account famous biographer, Einhard, allotted only subsidiary role.
The English Historical Review