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The Carolingians : A Family Who Forged Europe

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For those of you who think that the Dark Ages was characterized by illiterate drunk men dressed and acting like Thor, Pierre Riche's The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe will come as welcome releif.

By tracing the evolution of this one family from obscurity to the zenith of power under Charlemagne and decline under the late pre-Capetian kings of France and the Ottonians of Germany, Riche has in essence captured the spirit of Western/Central Europe itself. Plentiful notation and research not only documents the world of Late Merovingian Sub-Roman Gaul, but that of the early Middle Ages as well. We learn about Byzantine politics, assasination, love affairs, the Church, Basques, Moors, political crises, architecture, international relations, war, scholarship, barbarians, beauty, decay, petty dynasts, torture, and literacy.

Family histories are difficult to write. There is a tendency to speculate on interpersonal relationships, petty rivalries, recurring family traits, fighting over the family business, etc. However, the Carolingians were a family whose business was Europe. It is interesting to see how cooperation and organization could help the Caroligingians to climb the lofty heights of power and recover from disaster, including an abortive attempt to place one of their members on the French throne about a century before Pippin the Short took the crown from the Merovingians. However, a century after Pippin, his great-great grandchildren were the masters of most of Europe and spent most of their energy fighting each other and ultimately became politically impotent and insignificant. Their last known family members either married into the Capetian/Ottonian families or simply vanished into the mists of time never to rule again.

Riche is adept at combining the history of this remarkable family with that of Europe as a whole. After reading The Carolingians, one will have a much clearer notion of what life was like during the Dark Ages

Riche's treatment of the Carolingian dynasty and era is masterful, and towers above other such treatments. Beginning with the late Merovingian kings and the slow rise of the Carolingians, and ending with the establishment of the new regional dynasties this book covers almost three hundred years of history in dramatic fashion. Riche focuses on who the Carolingians were as persons and as rulers, giving his descriptions of events a feeling of real truth. At the same time, Riche rises above merely writing a narrative history. Woven into the story of the Carolingians is much academic discussion of policies, administration, linguistics, economics, military science and technology. Riche goes so far as to end the book with an eighty-page discussion of Carolingian society, focusing on the Church, the features of kingship, economics, and the "Carolingian Renaissance."

For those of you wary of Romance-language scholarship, know that the book does lack notes, but the sources are clearly stated within the text. As far as translation goes, this is the best French-into-English translations out there.

Given that there is only one map, it would be a good idea to get a historical atlas to accompany this book.

An excellent book, with sufficient detail for professional historians yet presented clearly and engagingly enough for the non-expert. I highly recommend this for anyone with an interest in European history, and particularly in the Middle Ages, as the noble families who rose to power across Europe under the Carolingians -- the dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine; the house of Anjou, etc. -- figure prominently in the following centuries. The family trees at the back were invaluable -- but I was irked to note that the number of maps had been cut badk "at the request of the publisher," so there was only one...and it was inadequate.

The author seems to be more preoccupied with describing countless abbeys, monasteries, shrines and convents than in taking the reader to the political and economic manifestos that Charlemagne - and much less so his descendants - fueled Western Europe with. Truly, Pepin the Short, Charlemagne and maybe Charles the Bald forged the transition from "Roman" to medieval Europe with imperative and dignified gusto, but no credit should be bestowed upon the more infamous Louis the Pious, Emperor Lothar and Louis the German. At times it appeared like Europe was going to implode, rather than explode during the reigns of some of these powerless rulers; and it was thanks to Ottonians, Capetians and Northern Spanish monarchs that Europe did attain a permanent "forging".

Agree with all of the great reviews. Great starting point for an academic study of this period but as noted footnotes are lacking. Writing style is enjoyable and structure of the book creates an easy to understand narrative. Good first buy if you have a basic knowledge of this period and desire further illumination.

I hate to break the consensus about this book, but I found it terrible, and tedious to the extreme. Riche' is a well-published historian, but in this book he fails to write a "history". He has no major, over-arching argument about this important family, except that it was, indeed, an important family. The task Riche'sets for himself is to track down the Carolingians in any byway he can find them. So the book is not analytical but overwhelmingly descriptive. It focuses on minutia rather than on major points, let alone trends.

If you're interested in learning about what the Carolingians achieved; how they failed in halting the pattern of a creative outburst in government, preceded and followed by anarchy, like the Merovingians before them; what the impact of their rule was, and such matters, this is not the book for you.

Hodges by himself and with Whitehouse, to mention only a few oter scholars, have been able instead to connect the Carolingians to larger themes in the history of Medieval Europe (like the Pirenne thesis [stated in MOHAMMAD AND CHARLEMAGNE], urbanization, international trade in a big loop north to the Viking lands, down the Volga and over to Baghdad, no less). And lots of writers, starting with Marc Bloch have traced the roots of Feudalism to (among other factors)the disintegration following Charlemagne's death and the violent warfare between his three feckless grandsons. If you care for history and meaning, these are the books to start with.

Pierre Riché established his reputation as one of France's leading medieval scholars with works exactly like this. Reading only the first chapter makes it easily possible to understand the scholarship of this man: the book presents a rich detail that is supported with a wealth of primary and secondary source documents. The book, as it's title implies, is an examination of each of the members of the Carolingians (looking at them as a royal line), with whole sections of the text dedicated to Pippin, Loius the Pious, Charles the Bald, and, of course, Charlemagne himself. The book is divided into six sections, divided by history (the rise of the Carolingian family, the reign of Pippin II and Charlemagne, the pre- and post- Treaty of Verdun period, Carolingian collapse, and the rise rulers in the New Europe), but within each section is a detailed and scholarly discussion that focuses on each of the Carolingian family members who made up the clan. Scholarly, however, does not imply dry or inaccessible: this book is a wonderful read, with clear and interesting writing that highlights the subject matter as one progresses through the text. It is a fascinating read, and easily earns a five star rating.

A note on translation ...
Although this book was originally written by Pierre Riché in French, this translation by Allen is excellently done, and is free of any of the difficult sentence structures that so frequently plague lesser French to English translations. The text of the book is clearly and exactingly crafted, and I presume that it is very loyal to the original French while simultaneously presenting an excellent English version. You should not hesitate at all on this book if you are simply concerned about translation issues. This is an excellently done translation.