Einhard - Einhart (English spelling)

Frankish court scholar and biographer of Charlemagne. Born into an East Frankish noble family, he studied Greek and Latin classics at the Fulda Abbey and under the English theologian Alcuin. He succeeded his teacher as a teacher at the court school and promoted the Carolingian Renaissance. He was also well versed in architectural classics such as Vitruvius, and in addition to supervising the design of the royal palace in Aachen, he also served as a political advisor to Charlemagne and served as an envoy to the Pope (806). He was also highly trusted by the successor Louis I (Emperor Louis the Pious), who entrusted him with the education of the emperor's eldest son, Lothair I, and appointed him abbot of several large monasteries as a layman. To avoid being embroiled in the conflict between Emperor Louis the Pious and his sons, he retired to Seligenstadt in 830 and wrote the "Life of Charlemagne" ( Vita Caroli Magni) . This book was modeled after Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars, and has had a major influence on later generations as a representative work of the Carolingian Renaissance. Along with the many letters he left behind, it is also an important source of political history of the period.

[Shosuke Hirajo]

"The Life of Charlemagne, translated by Kunihara Yoshinosuke (World Literature Series 66, Collection of Medieval Literature 2, 1966, Chikuma Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランク王国の宮廷学者で、カール大帝の伝記作者。東フランク貴族の家に生まれ、フルダ修道院やイギリスの神学者アルクインのもとでギリシア、ラテンの古典を学び、師の後継者として宮廷学校の教師となり、カロリング朝ルネサンスを推進した。ウィトルウィウスなど建築学の古典にも通暁し、アーヘンの王宮の設計を指導したほかに、カール大帝の政治上の助言者としても活躍し、ローマ教皇への使節も務めた（806）。続くルイ1世（敬虔(けいけん)帝）の信任も厚く帝の長子ロタール1世の教育をゆだねられ、俗人の身でいくつかの大修道院の院長に任命された。敬虔帝と息子たちの抗争に巻き込まれるのを避け、830年ゼーリゲンシュタットに隠退、『カール大帝伝』Vita Caroli Magniを執筆した。本書はスエトニウスの『ローマ皇帝伝』に範をとり、カロリング朝ルネサンスを代表する作品として後世に大きな影響を与え、また彼の残した多くの書翰(しょかん)とともに、この時代の政治史の重要な史料でもある。

［平城照介］

『国原吉之助訳『カール大帝伝』（『世界文学大系66　中世文学集2』1966・筑摩書房）』

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