Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great is known as one Europe's best and most powerful leaders. His actions helped to get Europe together under one ruler. At the time of his coronation, he was already king of the Franks and the king of the Lombards#. Now he added a new title under his belt, which was Charles Augustus, Emperor of Rome. There many accounts of the coronation and two of them, the one written by Einhard and the other which was recorded in the Royal Frankish Annals are popular sources for the event. However, both show two different accounts. With the discrepancies between the two, it puts the reliability and validity into question. It is not fair to say that one is superior to the other or that they are both right or wrong. This essay will examine the reliability of both accounts through their history, closeness, and interaction with Charlemagne himself.
Who was Einhard to begin with? Einhard was born about 775 with a Frankish background and was raised and educated at the monastery of Fulda which was a main center for learning#. Charlemagne being a man who loved learning and studying gathered around him people who were able to educate him in subjects from Greek and Latin to astronomy# and this is how Einhard had come to be in the company of Charlemagne. With Einhard's description of Charlemagne from his physical attributes and his personality to his eagerness for learning, one would say that he was very fond of Charlemagne. Einhard was obviously writing to honor Charlemagne.
How accurate though is his telling of the coronation? Today, people will never know what happened at the coronation. Yes Einhard was alive at that time and also a personal confidant of Charlemagne. So this being true, he would have a first hand account of Charlemagne's thoughts and feelings towards the situation directly from Charlemagne himself. Yes some aspects of his portrayal may seem a little bit overblown such as when he described the Pontiff Leo, the one who had crowned Charlemagne as Emperor, had his eyes gouged out their sockets and his tongue cut out#.