UN-FRANKISH ACTIVITIES: CHARLES THE FAT IN THE EYES OF CONTEMPORARY ANNALISTS
Simon MacLean
From the reams of pages which have been devoted by historians to practice Carolingian kingship, perhaps only Charles Fat has emerged with reputation a ‘failed king’. This judgement is all more striking in similarity terms it postulated. The uniformity opinion proved remarkably impervious changes time, fashion and historiographical genre. Thus while tone William Stubbs's rather extreme judgement, that was ‘dangerous unmanageable; diseased, idiotic raving madman … who probably put out way for his own good’ could easily be down Victorian sensibilities ideas about asylum, significant judgements even vastly subtle sophisticated recent studies expressed using similar idiom. Likewise, specialised articles on reign are no less likely comment negatively Charles's personality abilities than textbook summaries period.
Cambridge University Press eBooks