Tom's Learning Notes

The Life of Charlemagne or Life of Charles the Great (Latin: Vita Karoli Magni) is a biography of the great Frankish ruler and founder of the Holy Roman Empire. It was completed some time between the death of its subject in 814 CE and the death of its author in 840.

Einhard was a prominent member of the Frankish court, and adhered closely to classical models in a way which vindicated Charlemagne's imperial status. His work is nevertheless still well-regarded as providing a wealth of authentic detail.

The Life of Charlemagne at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Gutenberg: Early Lives of Charlemagne, translated by A. J. Grant. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Life of the Emperor Karl the Great, translated by William Glaister (1877 edition). EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Early Lives of Charlemagne by Einhard and the Monk of St Gall, translated by A. J. Grant. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Wikisource: Vita Karoli Magni, translated by A. J. Grant. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Internet Archive: Einhard's Life of Charlemagne (1915 Clarendon edition). EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Wikisource: Vita Karoli Magni. HTML and other formats.

The Chronicles (French: Chroniques) of Jean Froissart are a prose history centred on the first part of the Hundred Years' War between England and France but incorporating developments across Western Europe between the 1320s and the end of the Fourteenth Century.

In his early life, Froissart was a courtly poet, patronised by Philippa of Hainault, wife of the English King Henry III. In the Chronicles, he turned to a prose form which was beginning to become the accepted medium for serious history. Nevertheless, his work is animated by the chivalric spirit of earlier romances.

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Free online texts