Einhard seems never to have been a clergyman, but, according to the custom of the time, led the above-mentioned monasteries and convents as a lay abbot. In the course of time Muhlinheim received the name Seligenstadt because of the relics of the abbey. Once established there, they proved to be miracle workers. Once there, the relics made it known they were unhappy with their new tomb and thus had to be moved again to Mulinheim. Once in Rome, Ratleic robbed a catacomb of the bones of the Martyrs Marcellinus and Peter and had them translated to Michelstadt. There is an interesting story related to this. Einhard sent a servant, Ratleic, to Rome with an end to find relics for the new abbey. He founded an abbey near Michelstadt in the Odenwald, the Einhard Basilica in Steinbach. In the struggles of the sons against their father, Einhard, as a representative of the idea of imperial unity, strove for a peaceful solution to the conflicts. The latter also trusted Einhard and gave him as advisor to his son Lothar I in 817. Einhard was Charlemagne’s companion on all his journeys, went to Rome as Charlemagne’s envoy in 806, and in 813 his advice is said to have persuaded Charlemagne to appoint his son Louis emperor. His pupil Brun Candidus of Fulda was active as a biographer as well as a monumental and book painter.

Manuscript depiction from 1050 Rome and Charlemagne’s Heirs Mary’s Church in Aachen.Įinhard as scribe. It served as a pedestal for a cross and exhibits stylistic touches with the bronze grids of St. What has not survived is the so-called Einhard Arch, a triumphant arch-shaped reliquary that he commissioned after 815 as a lay abbot for his abbey in Maastricht. It is unclear to what extent he himself was active in the arts or crafts, but he seems to have done at least conceptual work. In 794, Abbot Baugulf of Fulda sent him to the court school to further perfect his education, where he became a student of Alcuin and soon belonged to the inner circle around Charlemagne.Įinhard oversaw the construction of many of Charlemagne’s buildings, such as the bridge at Mainz, the palaces at Ingelheim and Aachen, and the Palatine Chapel at Aachen. He is documented as having written documents there between 788 and 791. Einhard’s Family Background and EducationĮinhard, who came from a noble East Franconian family in the eastern German-speaking part of the Frankish Kingdom, was initially educated in the monastery of Fulda. A dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious, Einhard’s is best known for “ Vita Karoli Magni“, a biography of Charlemagne, one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages. On March 14, 840, Frankish scholar and courtier Einhard passed away. Einhard (770 – 840) in the Grandes Chroniques de France, Paris, BnF, lat.

The life of charlemagne