Customer Reviews

Charlemagne: Father of a Continent

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Mr. Barbero has produced a comprehensive and insightful work, while keeping the book relatively brief and accessible to those who have only rudimentary knowledge of the early Medieval period. The book is organized thematically, not chronologically, but the author maintains a consistent perspective on events, with the result that the reader does not feel as though he/she is wandering aimlessly in a period of time of more than forty years. Mr. Barbero occassionally references modern scholarly debate, adding to the issues his own viewpoints, which are usually quite convincing.

I have found only two caveats:

(1) The book is fairly breif; it is not an expansive guide to Charlemagne's life.

(2) The author spends a great deal of time on the social history of the period, leaving the king far behind. In this respect it is more a history of the kings reign; it is not strictly biography.

All in all this is a solid piece of scholarship.

Barbero's recent text on Charlemagne is by some called "the most important work on Charlemagne in a generation." While I don't feel qualified to make such an assertion, there can be little doubt in my own mind that Barbero's work is a solid, scholarly, and ultimately, successful addition to the collection of works available on Charlemagne.

I ran across this book in Paris in 2004, right after the book had come out in print. A brief perusal of the pages told me that this would be a book in which I would be interested. This was not only because I was interested in Charlemagne per se, but because I was wishing to study more about the educational reforms and policies Charlemagne initiated during his reign, and the effect those movements had on subsequent history. I was delighted to discover that Barbero's book had much of its text dedicated to Charlemagne's educational reforms, and the volume has served well in learning about this important aspect of Charlemagne's reign.

The book is scholarly in its approach, and there can be little doubt that it will serve as a foundation work for subsequent scholarly investigations on Charlemagne. In addition, the work is translated from the original Italian. These two facts - a scholarly orientation and a work translated from one language into another - tend to make the text a slightly more difficult read than a truly popular history. This is in no way to denigrate either: Barbero's scholarship and authority on the subject is easily established, and the translation is first rate, nearly flawless. Nevertheless, there is a somewhat "elevated" (for lack of a better word) style at work here that can make moving through the volume a bit slower than one would expect. Perhaps this is not bad, because there is so much content present here that reducing the speed can bring about greater rewards. But it is indeed something that the reader should be aware of before diving in.

Ultimately an excellent addition to any medievalist's library (or anyone else wishing to learn more about "The King of the Franks"), Barbero's Charlemagne is worth every penny spent and every minute invested.

This book at times seems dry because of the descriptions of bureaucracy,government,etc. and at time comes off as being like an encylopedia,although one on a specialty subject,specifically:the reign of Charlemagne.It is a thorough job on his reign and I can see the reason for the subtitle,"Father of a Continent",since Charlemagne put into motion most of the organization and ruling qualities that eventually evolved into a European nation.The first part of the book shows how closely Charlemagne was tied to the institutions inaugurated by the Roman Empire and added Frankish tribal mores into these institutions.While Charlemagne spoke Frankish(a celtic-germanic type dialect) he was also fluent in Latin although he couldn't write it.i was never able to figure out how Charlemagne managed the numerous reforms whether he "micromanaged" of just picked good legislators.At times the reforms seem like they were forces by themselves and Charlemagne was smart enough to flow with the tide.The case could also be made Charlemagne was another "petty tyrant" from which Europe would recover from and rise to the status of today. The stereotype "Dark Age" ruler is too often portrayed as a greasy bearded,wine inbibing,concubine chasing,warlord who every once in a while lets "common folk" into his prescence for an amnesty or to give out presents.Then the ruler rides off into the sunnset with a pack of hounds for the hunt all the while making ribald jest.However this book shows an intelligent,justice seeking,education minded,artistic side to the "Dark Age" ruler.As a matter of fact after reading this book,I don't see how Charlemagne could have possibly had time to squeeze in a concubine as pressed for time as he was.In regard to Charlemagne and the pope,the book says that this relationship was not as close as dramatic accounts have previously said.Instead Charlemagne and his counselours primarily looked to their own interests when it came to political issues and church doctrine,and the author suggests that Charlemagne's reverence for the pope was more due to King Charles magnaminous nature than to fear or superstition of divine wrath.Or maybe with all that barbarian cunning he was smart enough to not "upset the apple(or plum) cart.The book is fine tuned down to showing how Charlemagne's administators dealt with the "Darkage" equivalent of today's "draftdodgers" to the details of how slavery issues were treated.I found it interesting how small livestock animals were back then before steroids and that by 800 pretty much all of Europe was settled and claimed so there was little room for hunters and pillagers to operate "riskfree"without stepping on someone else's toes.This is basically still a"barter" economy,coinage not very marked.This book is not a critical bio,because of the lack of sources from this era to compare Charlemagne to so if you lived before the era of the "critical bio",you pretty much have a cakewalk on your position in history due to a lack of or complete abscence of records beyond some scribblings of monks.While the monk could no doubt do a good critique,there would considerations of keeping a good head on one's shoulders.

Rather than a linear narrative, this book is more of a thematic analysis of Charlemagne and his times. Chapters correspond to different subjects, such as military (administration, recruitment, army size...), church (church-state relations, the deep integration between the 2 spheres), economy, and so on. The first few chapters function as a brief narrative history, although within the thematic arrangement, the author skips about considerably. Each topic is intended to buttress Barbero's convincing argument that Charlemagne's rule was fundamental to all of European history that followed. Unlike Ozymandias disappearing into the depths of history, Charlemagne's works endure to this day.

The book is well-written and well-researched. Within the second or third chapters, either the translation or the original wording was awkward, but it did not affect the overall conveyance of the subject matter.

I picked up this book by accident when looking for something else. I'm glad I did because it was well worth it. Alessandro Barbero is an excellent writer whose previous books include The Day of the Barbarians and The Battle: A New History of Waterloo. What I really love about the guy is the range of eras he can cover, his ability to express important facts briefly and clearly, and the fact that his enjoyable and readable style comes through even in translation. That last one is no mean feat! This book is on the level as those previous two. It covers the reign of Charlemagne and is more about his reign than the man himself. Usually I prefer the chronological approach but this book is divided by subjects. Some other reviewers have complained about that but it is a fairly standard scholarly method of biographical writing adapted from the German school. For my part I think it works quite well here. There have been many biographies of the man but I cannot recall seeing many that dealt with how society functioned beneath him. There is a fair amount of social history here which is all fairly interesting. Charlemagne's life is covered too as well as his military campaigns and his rise to become Emperor. In fact, Barbero gives a more convincing character portrait of the man in the short section dedicated to that than any of the full-length books I've seen. That man can really cut to the core of the issue. If none of this appeals to you then I can suggest as a more typical biography that of Derek Wilson. It's a popular biography that is very readable and covers the basics quite well but without any of the brilliance of Barbero.

Comprehensive coverage of the subject. I had little previous knowledge of the Roman Empire of Charlemagne and I find it critical to an understanding of European history, as well as that of the Roman Catholic church. Well written, but it does not read rapidly because of the quantity of important facts it contains.

There was a Twilight Zone episode called How to Serve Man. At the end, as the people were boarding the spacecraft, there is guy yelling, Don't Go, It's a COOK BOOK!! Well, I'm the guy yelling, IT'S A BORING TEXT BOOK!!! If you're into text books, then I'd imagine it's a great read. But, I was expecting a friendlier read and something more of a biography. Charlemagne and his three kids are fascinating. But, I suggest you find another book to confirm that.