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Charlemagne

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Charlemagne

By: Johannes Fried, Peter Lewis
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
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About this listen

When the legendary Frankish king and emperor Charlemagne died in 814 he left behind a dominion and a legacy unlike anything seen in Western Europe since the fall of Rome. Johannes Fried paints a compelling portrait of a devout ruler, a violent time, and a unified kingdom that deepens our understanding of the man often called the father of Europe.

©2016 The President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2017 Tantor Europe Historical Medieval Middle Ages Western Europe Royalty Imperialism Italy Ancient History Middle East Crusade Africa

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Critic reviews

"This is a magisterial study of the life and times of the Frankish king who became the first Holy Roman Emperor." ( Publishers Weekly)
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An interesting and very informative listen covering many aspects of Charlamagne, his father Peppin the Short and his son Loius the Pious, as well as his daughters, wifes, family, reforma he tried to make, his advisors Alquin of York and Einhart, campaigns against his enemies although not much of single battles is covered, if anything even survives. Certainly worth a listen.

2 comments would be it sometimes lacked chronological order, often jumping from one timeframe to another, mostly because the chapters were topic based... I think
It could also have been edited and condensed a bit more. Overall worth getting but 4 stars because of the above reasons.

Informative but had chronological issues

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The story of Charlemagne is epically and thoroughly described in this detailed and scholarly book.

Un...for...tune...ate...ly, James...Cam...eron...Stew...art's na...ra..tion is soooo la...boured...it...is...hard...to...list...en...to.

Great book shame about the narrator!

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I listened to this at x2 speed and this made it much easier to deal with the monotonous delivery of the reader

Very good

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Captivated me from the first sentences. The book is interestingly written, author has the talent for storytelling. All book concentrates on one person, which is easier to follow than if it was bunch of dates. If you want to know more about Charlemagne, it is good place to start. The only bad thing - book ended too soon! Will check other books by author and about Charlemagne, highly recommend!

Captivating

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While the subject matter of this book was very interesting, I found it very difficult to get beyond chapter six. This was due to the narrator,who's sounded so uninterested in what he was reading. Sorry but I found his voice so monotone it was a great struggle to concentrate

Charlemagne

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This book is fascinating, and allowed me to learn so much about a world i previously had only the faintest pictures of. The author does a superb job of telling the story of a man about whom we know little, often describing the world around him and the changes he brought about in order to understand the man.

It's a long listen, and can be quite overwhelming, but I'm very glad i have it a listen.

Excellently put together, but dense work.

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There seemed to be a great deal made of the fact that there was little verifiable evidence of Charlemagne‘s birth, life and life events. I found the content very dry.

Very heavy going

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