Death and testament of Charlemagne in the Vita Karoli Magni

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The Vita Karoli Magni , description of the life of Charlemagne , also contains documents on the death and testament of Charlemagne.

overview

The last part of Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni deals with the death and the will of Charlemagne. Four chapters (chapters 30 to 33) deal explicitly with the various aspects to be considered in connection with the death of Charles.

content

Chapter 30 is about the last months of the life and finally the death of Charles. Karl had his son Ludwig called to him “towards the end of his life, when illness and old age were already depressing him,” and in 813 made him co-emperor. Charles's health deteriorated further, he did not recover from a fever at the beginning of 814 and "died after receiving Holy Communion on January twenty-eighth in the third hour, seven days after his illness."

The following chapter (Chapter 31) is dedicated to the burial of Charlemagne. Einhard makes it important to mention that everything went according to the rules and traditions of the time. In doing so, he makes Karl a role model for his people. He also refers to the mourning of the people, which further strengthens the image of Charles as the ideal ruler and emphasizes his popularity. The burial took place on the day of his death in the Palatine Chapel of Aachen built by Karl , although the emperor originally intended the church of the monastery of Saint-Denis , where his ancestors were buried, as the final resting place.

Chapter 32 contains the omens for Charlemagne's death. “Numerous omens had indicated his approaching death, so that he and other people felt it. There have been many solar and lunar eclipses in the last three years of his life ; For seven days a black spot was seen on the sun ; the portico between the church and the palace, which he had built with great difficulty, suddenly collapsed completely on the day of Ascension . "

Chapter 33 contains Charles' will. It describes the distribution of his possessions. The beneficiaries included the empire's 21 dioceses, his descendants, the poor (alms) and the servants of his palace. The witnesses at the drawing up of the will, the enumeration of which concludes the will, are for the most part high-ranking members of the clergy .

interpretation

The signs described before the death of Charlemagne are very striking. It is not the content that stands out, but the form. The chapter on the omens of death is placed within the Vita after the descriptions of death and funeral, although this order of the chronological sequence of events is inconsistent. The placement gives the impression of adding the accidentals afterwards, which in turn creates a very constructed impression. Einhard therefore created a sequence of events corresponding to the ideal image, probably with the intention of portraying the emperor as an idealized model for his subjects.

The Vita Karoli Magni is the only place where the will of Charlemagne has been handed down. Due to Einhard's position at Karl's court, historical research assumes that Einhard was involved in the drafting of the will. In terms of content, however, the will does not correspond to what might be expected from a ruler's will. The political regulations in the sense of a succession are completely missing, which makes the will appear more like that of a private individual.

context

The period of origin of the Vita is now dated between 830 and 836 AD. This means that the vita was not written immediately after Karl's death, but with a delay of a good 20 years.

The form and structure of the vita have clearly recognizable similarities with the biographies of the Roman imperial biographer Suetonius . In addition, the vita was not written in Einhard's mother tongue, but in Latin. It is assumed that Einhard got to know Sueton's work during his training. By imitating it, Einhard recorded aspects that were rather unusual for the Middle Ages and enable a very special insight into the life of Charles.

swell

  • Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996).

literature

  • Arno Borst: An exemplary death in: Arno Borst, Gerhart v. Graevenitz, Alexander Patschovsky u. a. (Ed.): Death in the Middle Ages. Konstanz 1993, pp. 25-58 (Konstanzer Bibliothek 20).
  • Mireille Chazan: Les testaments de Charlemagne dans les chroniques françaises du Moyen Âge in: Brigitte Kasten (ed.): Testaments of rulers and princes in the Western European Middle Ages. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar u. a. 2008, pp. 331–359 (Norm and Structure. Studies on Social Change in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 29).
  • Achim Thomas Hack: Age, Illness, Death and Rule in the Early Middle Ages: The Example of the Carolingians. Stuttgart 2009 (monographs on the history of the Middle Ages 56).
  • Sören Kaschke: Tradition and Adaptation. The "Divisio regnorum" and the Franconian succession in: Brigitte Kasten (Hrsg.): Testaments of rulers and princes in the Western European Middle Ages. Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar a. a. 2008, pp. 259–289 (Norm and Structure. Studies on Social Change in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 29).
  • Max Kerner: Charlemagne. Unveiling a Myth. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-412-10699-2 .
  • Diethelm Klippel: rule, testament and family. Legal historical coordinates of rulers and princes wills in: Brigitte Kasten (Ed.): Rulers and princes wills in the Western European Middle Ages. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar u. a. 2008, pp. 15–34 (Norm and Structure. Studies on Social Change in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 29).
  • Hans Martin Schaller: The emperor dies in: Arno Borst, Gerhart v. Graevenitz, Alexander Patschovsky u. a. (Ed.): Death in the Middle Ages. Konstanz 1993, pp. 59-76 (Konstanzer Bibliothek 20).
  • Adrian Schmidt-Reclam: Early medieval dispositions of death - legal terms and definitions in: Brigitte Kasten (Hrsg.): Rulers and princes wills in the Western European Middle Ages. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar u. a. 2008, pp. 35–65 (Norm and Structure. Studies on Social Change in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 29).

supporting documents

  1. ^ Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996), p. 55.
  2. ^ Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996), pp. 58–59.
  3. ^ Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996), pp. 59-61.
  4. ^ Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996), p. 59.
  5. ^ Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Latin / German, ed. by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow, Stuttgart 2010 (Reclam 1996), pp. 61-69.
  6. ↑ Max Kerner : Charlemagne. Unveiling a Myth. Cologne, Weimar, Böhlau 2000, ISBN 3-412-10699-2 , pp. 76-77.
  7. ↑ Sören Kaschke: Tradition and Adaptation. The "Divisio regnorum" and the Franconian succession in: Brigitte Kasten (Ed.): Testaments of rulers and princes in the Western European Middle Ages Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar a. a. 2008, pp. 259–289 (Norm and Structure. Studies on Social Change in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 29), pp. 263–268.
  8. ↑ Evelyn Scherabon Firchow: Afterword in: Dies. (Ed.): Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Latin / German, Stuttgart 2010, pp. 87-94 (Reclam 1996), p. 90.
  9. ^ Arno Borst : Summary in: Arno Borst, Gerhart v. Graevenitz, Alexander Patschovsky u. a. (Ed.): Death in the Middle Ages. Konstanz 1993, pp. 391-404 (Konstanzer Bibliothek 20), p. 393.
  10. ↑ Evelyn Scherabon Firchow: Afterword in: Dies. (Ed.): Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne Latin / German, Stuttgart 2010, pp. 87–94 (Reclam 1996), pp. 89–90.