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Av. Customer Rating:
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based on 83 ratings)
Program Type: Audiobook; Unabridged
Narrator:
Charlton Griffin
Publisher:
Audio Connoisseur, 2004
Length: 14 hours and 32 min.
Audio Format:
"It
remains the best life of Charlemagne in English." (The
Saturday Review)
Charlemagne was easily one of the most fascinating
figures in Western civilization, as well as the most
heroic and romantic. The 47 years of his reign marked
some of the most significant and far reaching events of
the Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, it was his enlightened
vision for Europe that resulted in the Carolingian
Renaissance, a period of cultural flowering that never
really ceased to develop, and which led in a straight
line directly to that period of astonishing achievement
we now call the High Gothic. It is almost impossible to
conceive what Europe might have been like without him.
Indeed, even in the 21st century, we still hear the
echoes of his deeds in the hurly-burly of historical
events that unfold today.
This incredible biography, without question the best
ever written about Charlemagne in the English language
and one of the greatest biographies of the 20th century,
is a thrilling and poignant chronicle of the greatest of
Medieval kings. We follow the young king in his early
years as he assumes control over a divided kingdom, as
co-ruler of the Germanic Franks along with his brother
Carloman. When Carloman dies, Charlemagne assumes sole
ownership of the crown and immediately begins his
expansionist policy, first subduing the Lombards in
Italy, then taking on the savage pagan Saxons. As his
empire grows, Charlemagne proves himself a genius at
military and civil administration. The Byzantine Emperor
and Caliph of Baghdad held him in high esteem and
acknowledged him as the successor to the western Roman
emperors. But it was his great Christian faith and
compassion that marked him out for greatness. He was a
first rate scholar-humanist and surrounded himself with
the greatest minds of Europe. As a fervent son of the
church, it was Charlemagne more than anyone else who
charted the course of the Catholic Church. As never
before or since, Charlemagne held an empire in thrall as
both its temporal and spiritual leader.©1954 Estate of
Richard Winston; (P)2004 Audio Connoisseur |
