Charlemagne: The Legend and the Man

by Harold Lamb

The emperor's personality is brought to life against a background rich with the varied cultures he united through Christianity

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Medieval

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Harold Albert Lamb was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.

Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a review the other night on my iPhone, but then it got erased, and I was too tired to rewrite it, so here goes!
I enjoy Lamb's writing style. It can be difficult to follow at times, but the feature of his prose that I enjoy the most is the way in which he makes a novel out of an historical account. Reading about Charlemagne was like reading about a character in a story rather than about the first Holy Roman Emperor.
In the Afterword of my edition, Lamb states that he wanted to describe Charlemagne the man, to set the scene of where and how he lived, and to convey his goals, along with his failure to accomplish them. In my opinion, Lamb achieved his own goals by making Charlemagne more than a legend and turning him into a person, by describing Frankland, modern-day Spain, and Rome in detail, by painting a vivid picture of the habits and customs of 8th/early 9th century Europe, and by shattering misconceptions that generations and generations of Christians have held concerning the first Holy Roman Emperor.
I recommend this book to history buffs, to Christians who care about the development of Christian Europe, and to fans of Harold Lamb.

[James (JD) Dittes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preparing to spend the summer in Ingelheim on the Rhine, Germany, site of one of Charlemagne's palaces, I read several books on the 8th-century ruler. Lamb's was one of the best, as it focused on the man--and the legends, which are among the amplifiers of the great king's legacy--while minimizing current analogies.

Charlemagne took a huge empire, that of the Merovignian Franks, and turned it into an enduring one. He used the tools of his day: war and marriage, but he was also perceptive enough to see Christianity as a unifying principle, and the Pope as a convenient tool.

We don't think much about it today, but Charlemagne's era brought to an end the centuries known as the Dark Ages. Christianity had a foothold in northern Europe, little more. The Saxons were ascendant in the 8th century, ruling Britain along with their German homeland; the Vikings threatened Europe's northern coasts, and Muslims controlled Spain and were less than 50 years removed from their most recent push beyond the Pyrenees. It would be an interesting act of historic revisionism to imagine a world without Charlemagne: where Christianity remained a feature of southern Europe and the north had remained a polyglot mix of traditional, Christian, and even Muslim cultures.

Lamb dramatizes different moments of Charlemagne's life. This isn't a conventional biography, but a popular one, entertaining, informative, ennobling.

[Jlnpeacock Peacock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lamb's writing style is not always an easy one for me, but I consistently appreciate all the information I gain from reading his books. I have others of his in the past, but recently picked this one up. It is good to be reminded of the tensions earlier Christians faced as they moved from overwhelming pagan cultures to establishing Christian cultures. In our modern thinking, we tend to forget that it was a transition and some of the heroes seemed to have feet of clay since they did not properly follow true Biblical principles. It is true that some of their decisions were highly questionable. It is also true that it is easy to see clearly truth and sound Biblical doctrine from the distance of time and in the safety of a culture that has been Christian for a good while. I think it is worth the time to read.

[Joanne G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came away interested in learning more about Charlemagne, but Harold Lamb's apparent dislike of the man ruined the book for me. I would rather have read an unbiased report, and I will have to find another biography for that. As a result, I will avoid reading any further non-fiction from Mr. Lamb.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusto mucho el libro, de fácil lectura y entendimiento. Enfocado en la vida del Carlo Magno de carne y hueso, sus aportes y fracasos y lo que lo hizo convertirse en una leyenda .

[Charles Pehlivanian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harold Lamb's writing is filled with detail, the characters taciturn so much of the book is narrative, or establishing setting. Character development is not through dialogue, but comes out of the description. The going is tough, dense and without anecdotes or dialogue it is easier to forget some of the details. The subject matter was interesting, but the book was a bit dry. Only for fans of the subject.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find Harold Lamb’s writing style not the easiest to read but I learned a lot about Charlemagne from his book that I didn’t know before. For instance, I always perceived Charlemagne to be a great leader in battle who fought at the head of his warriors but, in actual fact, he rarely led his troops into actual battle. His greatest victories were ones where his enemies “stood down” and pledged allegiance to him without any bloodshed. So it was an interesting book.

[Alberto Redondo Miró · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro informativo y que se lee con facilidad, sin embargo se queda a medio camino entre la novela histórica y el ensayo. Como novela histórica es un libro pobre porque apenas hay diálogos y los personajes no se construyen en absoluto; y como ensayo histórico no está lo suficientemente documentado. Al quedarse a medio camino entre las dos, sin llegar a ser ninguna de ellas, hace que la lectura sea en cierta manera insatisfactoria.

[Manuel Fontana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente biografía. Lo que más me agradó fue que el autor intenta todo el tiempo de desmitificar la figura de Carlomagno endiosada y exagerada a punto tal que le otorgarsen cualidades que le eran antagonistas. Si buscan un Carlomagno de carne y hueso, con defectos, limitaciones, pero con sus pasiones, sus luchas, sus triunfos, sus búsquedas más allá de toda posibilidad real, lean este libro.

[Adam Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lamb's biographical novel of Charlemagne. True to his style, Lamb provides a lot of historical details as he also weaves into the narrative various stories and exchanges which take poetic license but based on researched facts. The main focuses of the book are Charles' rise to power, his connection to the papacy, and the various marriages for political power and self-interest.

[Oscar Ronda Prieto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biografía genial! Ágil de lectura y fácil para conocer al gran emperador

[Juan Mesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un muy bien relato, sin caer en novelar el personaje, e imponer una falsa personalidad da una narrativa que no cae en el acartonamiento de un libro de historia clásica y en cambio es ameno.

[Benedict · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book with Audible.com.

I really enjoyed the history of Charlemagne. I admire Charlemagne as one of the great leaders in history. He was a great warrior and cared about his people and appreciated the value of education.

If I were to hold a great party with some of the greatest people in history, I would invite Jane Austen first, then Charlemagne and Hannibal (read his Harold Lamb biography!)and work out from there. Plato, of course, along with his buddy Socrates.

Jane Austen, of course, would be the great "get"!

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book by Lamb as it did seem a bit slow at times. But, I appreciated the opportunity to read about an extremly influential leader. Lamb discusses some of the legends about Charlemagne and the more likely truth based on his research as well as telling the story Charlemagne. Lamb typically excels at relating biography/history with a novel like twist.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work reads more like historical fiction than it does a comprehensive history. Lamb pieces together verifiable events with scene and dialogue. He does so with a good sense of the craft and, if anything, I would recommend this book for the ending alone.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book. Most of Lamb's work reads like historical fiction to me, although I know that for the most part his facts are pretty accurate. This is not my favorite one by him, perhaps because I don't find the time period as fascinating.

[Georgene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives a good picture of the real Charlemagne, not the Charlemagne of legends. It seems to have been well researched, based upon my readings of other books concerning this period of European history.

[Tomas Rivera gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante novela historica, el autor se pierde con tantos nombres de personajes y fechas, esto claro le da un apego mas real mas sin embargo hace en si que la historia sea mas dificil de llevar. La verdad en lo personal disfrute mucho la vida de este gran rey, gran novela!!!

[Mona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a slow read but interesting.

[Jönathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novelisation of the historical Charlemagne, as opposed to that of the later Chansons De Geste, so don't expect any wizards riding on hippogryphs.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una muy buena reflexión sobre la vida y las circunstancias de la época del reinado de Carlomagno.

[Juan Moreno · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more a biography than a novel which is what I was expecting.

[Eleanor Groom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history lesson.

[Max Solis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiene lo suyo. Aunque hay mejores libros de historia, este tiene narraciones de pasajes interesantes de la vida del prota.