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The Medieval Church · c. 828–836
The Life of Charlemagne
Vita Karoli Magni
Einhard · c. 775–840
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What it is
A short life on the model of Suetonius by a courtier who knew him — his campaigns, his family, his swimming, his failure to learn to write, his dislike of foreign clothes.
Why it lasted
The finest biography of the Middle Ages and the beginning of secular life-writing in Europe.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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