Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne

Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne
1.
In regards to heroism, Charlemagne has been portrayed by Einhard as an individual who had mental and physical prowess. For instance, Charlemagne spent most of his time participating in regular exercises with the prime goal of protecting the society. Moreover, he was a heroic figure to his own daughter. This was seen when he increased the number of bodyguards who were detailed to protect his daughter. The pope also entrusted Charlemagne to protect Christian values that were under threat from small kings and local Roman rivals. Charlemagne also had a tendency of promoting a cultural renaissance in his reign. It was mostly noted that he used to consult people who were equipped with Latin, classical traditions, and he made the palace to appear more like a school for upcoming elites of the society.
One of the key attributes of a hero is that he or she foster hope to many people and Charlemagne indeed achieved this through promoting education, religion, regional securities and national pride through acquiring new territories. These actions gave hope to many of his subjects. In my opinion, Charlemagne heroic personality is more advanced compared to other heroic figures like Achilles who was popular in the Greek society. For instance, Achilles heroism is synonymous with the Trojan War where he killed Hector the beast and hero of Trojan. This means that Achilles heroism is based only on regional security. However, for Charlemagne, his heroic virtues include protections of education, religion, family, culture and the kingdom security as well.

2.
Consequently, the author ensured that Charlemagne life was reflected from childhood to adulthood. The author started by describing Charles father who died in the midst of protecting the kingdom from their perennial enemies. Furthermore, Charlemagne was described as a wise young man who was equipped with immense intelligence and talent. Therefore, upon his father death, the author describes his power-sharing skills with his brother Carolingian as bearable one that was filled with selflessness. However, his brother died a few a years after they were crown as joint kings. Charlemagne was left as the solemn king. In his reign, the author describes him as an intelligent, wise and a morally upright king. He occasionally consulted wise men, and he protected Christianity in the entire region. His greatness was portrayed when he battled the army of Spain, Saxony, Bavaria and Italy. He also unified the conquered armies to defeat the Avars. In my opinion, the author organized the life of Charlemagne in this order so that he can create a picture of a simple young boy rising to become the most legendary king of all times.
3.
Contrarily, one of most Charlemagne`s prime mission was the Christianization of the entire region. He used the church to propel his campaign of conquest. For example, he forced Saxon to adopt Christian as their new acquired faith. He ensured his Iris-English monastic and the pope had the facilities needed to spread the new faith vigorously. Besides, the pope also entrusted Charlemagne to protect Christian values that were under threat from small kings and local Roman rivals. In my opinion, Charlemagne was a radical extremist who used force and power to influence people into Christianity. Additionally, I acknowledge the fact that he was passionate about Christian and he used every means to ensure Christianity dominated the entire region.
4.
From the author`s account of Charlemagne`s life, it can be noted that his life was great due to heroic actions and consistency exhibition of wisdom. For example, the strength of Charlemagne biography is that he had a family, he was a strong king who expanded the vast kingdom borders, and he promoted social values such religion, culture, and education. In short, he was a heroic king who was admired by many people of his kingdom. He developed a brand name in his reign that succeeds his predecessors in the kingship duties. However, the weakness of Charlemagne biography is that he did not have the ability to be a political innovator. For instance, he did not know how to handle a multi-traditional Polyglot state like Frank and based his administration on the Merovingian pattern that always depended on the court for guidance. Moreover, the courts were biased due to the facts that they had links that benefit them in regards to their association with the king and his raw powers. He also allowed the courts and the church to lead the newly acquired kingdoms. The disadvantage of the Merovingian pattern of leadership was that it was hard to establish loyalty especially with new leaders appointed to rule the newly conquered kingdoms.
5.
Simultaneously, Einhard`s account of imperial coronation is that the Frank kingdom was based on a hereditary system of crowning and Charlemagne seemed to ascend into imperial leadership whenever a family member dies. Frank’s elders conducted the first coronation of Charlemagne after his father death. In this coronation, it is where he and his brother Carloman were crowned as joint kings. In their reign, Charlemagne ruled the region that was governed by Pepin who was their father while Carloman governed the land that was ruled by their uncle. In this joint leadership agreement, some conditions guaranteed them peace between the two kingdoms even though Carloman consultants occasional manipulated these understandings for their personal gain. They even tried to provoke a war between the two kingdoms. After two years of joint ruling, Carloman dies from a disease and Charles is elected the new king of the two kingdoms. Therefore, the death of his brother and father propelled him above the leadership hierarchy.
6.
Charlemagne approached his enemies with bitterness and persistence that was never seen before in the entire Frank nation war history. According to Charlemagne, Saxons were devil worshipers who violated human laws and divine principles. They conducted attacks that were more vigorously aggressive especially in the Spanish expedition, the battle in Italy, Bavaria and the defeat of Avars, this show how Charlemagne had common military tactics. Additionally, in these battles, the concept of Christianization was also incorporated as a major mission for the conquest. Therefore, the significance of this pattern during the war is that it guaranteed them to victory, and also it promoted the spread of their culture and religion to other regions.