Einhard

Einhard
or Eginhard

born с 770, Maingau, Franconia
died March 14, 840, Seligenstadt, Franconia

Frankish historian and scholar.

An adviser to Charlemagne and to Louis I the Pious, Einhard was made abbot of several monasteries and held extensive lands. His biography of Charlemagne (с 830) analyzed Charlemagne's family, achievements, administration, and death and exemplified the classical renaissance at the Carolingian court.

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▪ Frankish historian
also spelled  Eginhard 
born c. 770, , Maingau, Franconia [Germany]
died March 14, 840, Seligenstadt, Franconia

      Frankish historian and court scholar whose writings are an invaluable source of information on Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire.

      Einhard was educated after 779 in the monastery of Fulda; his brilliance was soon recognized, and he was sent to Charlemagne's Palace School at Aachen in 791. He quickly became the trusted friend and adviser of the king and even proved to have a good deal of architectural skill, which he applied to the construction of the royal palace at Aachen. His political prominence increased after Charlemagne's death in 814 and the succession of Louis I the Pious, whom Einhard had been influential in raising to the throne. At that time Einhard was made abbot of several monasteries and was granted extensive lands.

      Einhard probably wrote his Vita Karoli Magni (“Life of Charles the Great”) about 830–833, after he had left Aachen and was living in Seligenstadt. Based on 23 years of service to Charlemagne and research in the royal annals, the book was expressly intended to convey Einhard's gratitude for Charlemagne's aid to his education. Following the model of Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars, and particularly the “Life of Augustus,” the work was composed in an excellent Latin style and analyzed Charlemagne's family, his foreign and domestic achievements, his personal tastes, the administration of his kingdom, and his death.

      The Vita Karoli Magni is brief and limited in scope and detail, but it provides a generally accurate and direct account of the period. As an example of the classical renaissance at the Carolingian court and as the first medieval biography of a lay figure, the work was highly admired and copied in its own time.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Einhard — in den Grandes Chroniques de France, 14. Jahrhundert Einhard (nach eigener Schreibung Einhart; auch Einhardt, in den romanischen Sprachen (mit nicht palatalisiertem g ) Eginhard, Eginardo usw., * um 770 im Maingau; † 14. März 840 Kloster… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Einhard — (also Eginhard or Einhart) (c. 775 ndash; March 14, 840 in Seligenstadt, Germany) was a Frankish courtier, a dedicated servant of Charlemagne, of whom he wrote his famous biography, and Louis the Pious. Public Life Einhard was from the eastern… …   Wikipedia

  • Einhard — • Historian, born c. 770 in the district watered by the River Main in the eastern part of the Frankish Empire; d. 14 March, 840, at Seligenstadt Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Einhard     Einhard …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Einhard — (Eginhart, Einhart), der Biograph Karls d. Gr., der bedeutendste Geschichtschreiber jener Zeit, um 770 im Maingau in Ostfranken geboren, gest. 14. März 840, ward im Kloster zu Fulda gebildet und von dort seiner hervorragenden Befähigung wegen an… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Einhard — Einhard, so v.w. Eginhard …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Einhard — (nicht Eginhard), Biograph Karls D. Gr., Geheimschreiber und steter Begleiter desselben, Oberaufseher der öffentlichen Bauten, geb. um 770 im Maingau, zog sich nach Karls Tode mit seiner Gemahlin Imma (gest. 836) nach Michelstadt im Odenwald… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Einhard — Einhard,   nichtzeitgenössische Namensform Eginhard, fränkischer Geschichtsschreiber und Gelehrter, * im Maingebiet um 770, ✝ Seligenstadt 14. 3. 840; kam um 794 aus dem Kloster Fulda an den Hof Karls des Großen (dort Schüler Alkuins) und wurde… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Einhard — (c. 770 840)    Frankish writer and biographer who was a member of Charlemagne s court school. One of the great success stories of Charlemagne s efforts to revive learning in his empire, Einhard is best know for his Vita Karoli (Life of… …   Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe

  • Einhard — (ca. 770–840)    The life of the Frankish emperor CHARLEMAGNE is best recorded by the Benedictine monk Einhard in his biography, Vita Karoli Magni Imperatoris (ca. 830). Einhard was born around 770 in Seligenstadt in the area of the Maingau as… …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • Einhard — althochdeutscher Ursprung, Bedeutungszusammensetzung aus: »allein« und »stark«. Namensträger: Einhard von Mainfranken, Künstler am Hofe Karls des Großen …   Deutsch namen

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