Vita Karoli Magni

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Historiated initial V zu Einhard, Vita Karoli from the manuscript Paris, BnF , Latin 5927 fol. 280v, Abbaye Saint-Martial de Limoges, ca.1050 (?)

The Vita Karoli Magni is a vita of the Frankish king and emperor Charlemagne , written by the Frankish scholar Einhard in the 9th century . It is a literary work of art of Middle Latin literature from the Carolingian Renaissance of high rank and programmatic importance. In a letter to Einhard, Lupus von Ferrières expressed his admiration for the elegant language of this biography . The original title of the biography was probably Vita Karoli imperatoris .

overview

In the foreword ( prologus ) Einhard explains the purpose of the company and justifies his claim to appear as an author with three main arguments: 1.) with his eyewitness ( oculata fide ), 2.) with the importance of Karl's brilliant life and his outstanding, the People of the present hardly imitable deeds ( regis excellentissimi et omnium sua aetate maximi clarissimam vitam et egregios atque moderni temporis hominibus vix imitabiles actus ), which should not be withdrawn from the memory of posterity ( posteritatis memoriae ), 3.) with the personal obligation to Karl because of the upbringing he received at court ( nutrimentum [...] in me inpensum ) and the friendship that connects him with the emperor and his children ( perpetua [...] cum ipso et liberis eius amicitia ) and by so many Beneficiaries ( tot beneficiorum in me conlatorum ) as debtors ( me debitorem ) oblige to gratitude ( merito ingratus videri et iudicari possem ). Finally, there follows a broadly elaborated modesty topos typical of ancient and medieval prefaces , which, with reference to a warning by the master of ancient rhetoric Cicero , provides a justification for doing literary work without the necessary skills, if necessary with allegedly inadequate education to get to work.

The vita itself begins with a historical excursus, which contains a description of the transition of the Franconian royal rule from the Merovingians to the Hausmeier Pippin . Then, in the first main part of the work, the author describes the deeds of Charles, in particular the wars he waged and his buildings. The second main part contains information about Karl's appearance, his lifestyle, his education and his family. Karl's measures to maintain culture, religion and law are also described. Only in this context, as a footnote to the reasons for his last trip to Rome, is there a brief reference to the imperial coronation. Allegedly, Karl is said to have said that he would not have entered the church despite Christmas if he had known the Pope's plan. The passage (c. 28) plays a key role in the discussion about Charlemagne's coronation as emperor . He emphasizes Karl's literary collecting activities of old traditional songs with heroic material about royal ancestors in the book of heroes' songs (c. 29). At the end of the work there is an account of the death of Charlemagne and his will .

The structure of the work is strongly influenced by the ancient emperor's biographies Sueton , which also explains the categorizing process (following thematic schemes) instead of a chronological narrative. However, the work clearly shows panegyric tendencies, which also result in style differences compared to Suetonius: Charlemagne is portrayed and glorified exclusively in a positive way. At the same time, Charles's example was meant to be an exhortation for his sons, especially Ludwig . Whether the work can be read as a criticism of Ludwig the Pious, which requires late dating, is just as controversial in research as the question of dating. The approaches range from 817 to 836. Most recently, Matthias Tischler (828-830) and Steffen Patzold (spring 829) opted for late dating, while Rosamond McKitterick (817, at the latest 823) and Karl Heinrich Krüger (until summer 823) opted for early dating have presented.

The question of the image of the ruler that Einhard conveys is also controversial. The widespread view that the downplaying of the imperial coronation , the imperial title and the imperial regalia and ceremonial as well as the importance of the Pope should be viewed as Einhard's commitment to the tradition of Frankish kingship and thus to be seen as proof of his aversion to the Roman empire, was last asserted that a distinction must be made between the dignity of the emperor and their forms of representation. The devaluation of the latter only serves the goal of contrasting a true empire of Charles, expressed in outstanding achievement and virtue, which does not need such forms of representation, with a pseudo-empire of the Eastern Roman emperors, which, for lack of foundation through achievement and virtue, could rely solely on external forms. Einhard presented the paradigm for his view of things in the Merovingian excursion and left it to the reader to decide the question of the real emperor on the basis of the assessment criteria developed there.

Despite the bias of the author, which must be taken into account in the interpretation, the source value of the vita is to be assessed as extraordinarily high due to the fact that he has belonged to the ruler's immediate environment for decades, his excellent information opportunities as a member of court society and the proximity of the time of writing to the events. The Vita is an important addition to the other sources from the Carolingian era and also contains information that has not been passed down anywhere else.

Lore

The immense interest in Charlemagne and the extraordinary literary success of his biographer can also be seen in the handwritten tradition. With 123 preserved manuscripts or fragments, 105 of them from the Middle Ages, and other attested but lost copies, Vita Karoli Magni belongs to the top group of texts in Latin literature of the Middle Ages, which has the widest handwritten tradition. Mostly it was passed down in collective manuscripts together with other texts about Charlemagne and other historiographical material. Nevertheless, it took three quarters of a century after the invention of the printing press until the editio princeps , the first printed edition by the historically interested humanist Beatus Rhenanus, was published by Johannes Soter, Cologne in 1521.

Editions and translations

  • Hermann von Neuenahr (ed.): Vita Et Gesta Karoli Magni per Eginhartum descripta . Johannes Soter , Cologne 1521 ( editio princeps )
  • Oswald Holder-Egger (Ed.): Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni . (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 25). Hahn, sixth edition Hannover 1911 (online) (decisive critical edition)
  • Paolo Chiesa (Ed.): Eginardo, Vita Karoli. “Personalità e imprese di un re grandissimo e di meritatissima fama” (SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo per la Fondazione Ezio Franceschini 180), Florence 2014 (critical edition with Italian translation and commentary as well as profound introduction), ISBN 978-88-8450-537- 8th
  • Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni . Lat./Dt. Transl., Note and Follow-up by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow. Reclam-Verlag, Ditzingen 1986 (and NDe), ISBN 3-15-001996-6
  • Einhard: The life of Charlemagne (Latin and German). In: Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages (Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe) , Vol. 5, Darmstadt 1955, pp. 157–211.

literature

  • Gereon Becht-Jördens: Einhart's "Vita Karoli" and the ancient tradition of biography and historiography. From genre history to interpretation. In: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 46, 2011, pp. 335–369.
  • Gereon Becht-Jördens: Biography as salvation history. A paradigm shift in the genre development: Prolegomena to a formal historical interpretation of Einhart's Vita Karoli . In: Andrea Jördens et al. (Ed.): Quaerite faciem eius semper. Studies on the intellectual-historical relationships between antiquity and Christianity. Thank you for Albrecht Dihle on his 85th birthday from the Heidelberg “Church Fathers Colloquium” (= Studies on Church History. Vol. 8). Kovac, Hamburg 2008, pp. 1–21.
  • Walter Berschin : Biography and Epoch Style in the Latin Middle Ages, Vol. 3 Carolingian Biography 750–920 AD (= sources and studies on the Latin philology of the Middle Ages. Vol. 10). Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1991, pp. 199-220.
  • Helmut Beumann : Studies in the history of ideas on Einhard and other historians of the early Middle Ages. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1962.
  • Claude Carozzi: Eginard et les trois fonctions de la royauté . In: Claude Carozzi, Huguette Taviani-Carozzi: Le pouvoir au Moyen Age. Ideologies, pratiques, représentations. Publications de l'Université de Provence, Aix-en Provence 2005, ISBN 2-85399-601-8 , pp. 237-256.
  • David Ganz: Einhard's Charlemagne. The Characterization of Greatness. In: Joanna Story (ed.): Charlemagne. Empire and Society . Manchester University Press, Manchester et al. 2005, pp. 38-51.
  • Siegmund Hellmann : Einhard's literary position . In: Siegmund Hellmann: Selected treatises on the historiography and intellectual history of the Middle Ages . Edited by Helmut Beumann. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1961, pp. 159–229.
  • Karl Heinrich Krüger : New observations on the dating of Einhard's Karlvita . In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 32, 1998, pp. 124–145.
  • Anne A. Latowsky: Emperor of the World. Charlemagne and the Construction of Imperial Authority, 800-1229 . Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY / London 2013.
  • Heinz Löwe (editor): Wattenbach-Levison. Germany's historical sources in the Middle Ages. Prehistoric times and Carolingians. II. The Carolingians from the beginning of the 8th century to the death of Charlemagne. Böhlau, Weimar 1953, pp. 272-277.
  • Rosamond McKitterick : Charlemagne. The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2008 (German translation: Karl der Große . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008), here pp. 7–22. ISBN 978-0-521-88672-7 .
  • Steffen Patzold : Me and Charlemagne. The life of the courtier Einhard. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2013 ISBN 978-3-608-94764-9 , especially p. 193ff.
  • Steffen Patzold: Einhard's first readers: On the context and the intention to represent the "Vita Karoli". In: Viator 42 Multilingual, 2011, pp. 33–55 ( online ).
  • Hermann Schefers (Ed.): Einhard. Studies of life and work. Dedicated to the memory of Helmut Beumann (= work of the Hessian Historical Commission NF, vol. 12). Hessian Historical Commission, Darmstadt 1997, ISBN 3-88443-033-5 .
  • Nikolaus Staubach : "cultus divinus" and Carolingian reform. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 18, 1984, pp. 546-581, here pp. 562-572.
  • Francesco Stella: Aspetti letterari e fortuna critica della ›› Vita Karoli ‹‹. In: Paolo Chiesa (ed.): Eginardo, Vita Karoli. “Personalità e imprese di un re grandissimo e di meritatissima fama” (SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo per la Fondazione Ezio Franceschini 180), Florence 2014, pp. 21–44.
  • Matthias M. Tischler: Einhart's Vita Karoli. Studies on the origin, tradition and reception (= writings of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Vol. 48). 2 parts, Hahn, Hannover 2001, ISBN 3-7752-5448-X (At the same time: Heidelberg, University, dissertation, 1998 under the title: Tischler, Matthias M .: Einhardus redivivus). ( Technical discussion )
  • Heinz Wolter: Intention and image of rulers in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni. In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 68, 1986, pp. 295–319.

Web links

Wikisource: Vita Karoli Magni  - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Servatus Lupus, epistulae 1, 3; 5 (ed. Peter K. Marshall. Teubner, Stuttgart 1984).
  2. ↑ Cf. Matthias M. Tischler: Einhart's Vita Karoli. Studies on origin, tradition and reception. Hanover 2001, pp. 118f.
  3. ↑ Cf. Gereon Becht-Jördens: Einhart's "Vita Karoli" and the ancient tradition of biography and historiography. From genre history to interpretation. In: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 46, 2011, pp. 335–369, here pp. 347–356.
  4. ↑ On early dating, see Rosamond McKitterick: Charlemagne. The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge et al. 2008, pp. 19–32 (817, at the latest 823); Karl Heinrich Krüger: New observations on the dating of Einhard's Karlvita. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 32 (1998), pp. 124–145, esp. 145 (until summer 823). For late dating cf. Steffen Patzold: Me and Charlemagne. The life of the courtier Einhard. Stuttgart 2013, pp. 193-195 (spring 829); Matthias M. Tischler: Einhart's Vita Karoli. Studies on origin, tradition and reception. Hannover 2001, pp. 151-183, esp. 165-178 (828-830).
  5. ↑ Cf. Gereon Becht-Jördens: Einhart's "Vita Karoli" and the ancient tradition of biography and historiography. From genre history to interpretation. In: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 46, 2011, pp. 335–369.
  6. ↑ Cf. the catalog from Matthias M. Tischler: Einharts Vita Karoli. Studies on origin, tradition and reception. Vol. 1, Hannover 2001, pp. 17-44, especially p. 44; Vol. 2, pp. 1659-1661.
  7. ↑ Cf. Matthias M. Tischler: Einhart's Vita Karoli. Studies on origin, tradition and reception. Vol. 1, Hannover 2001, pp. 590-896.