Analyzing the collapse of the pan-European Carolingian Empire in 888 (as seen through the reign of its last ruler, Charles the Fat), this study argues against the generally pessimistic views of the vitality of late ninth-century politics. Its conclusions suggest a new way of looking at the political history of the period, and offer new interpretations of aspects of early medieval kingship, government and historical writing.

Analyzing the collapse of the pan-European Carolingian Empire in 888 (as seen through the reign of its last ruler, Charles the Fat), this study argues against the generally pessimistic views of the vitality of late ninth-century politics. Its conclusions suggest a new way of looking at the political history of the period, and offer new interpretations of aspects of early medieval kingship, government and historical writing.

Abbot Regino of Prum (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His 'Chronicle' is the essential account of the empire's collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time.
Regino's lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is...

Abbot Regino of Prum (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His 'Chronicle' is the essential account of the empire's collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time.
Regino's lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is...

This is the first major study in English of the queens of the Ottonian dynasty (919-1024). The Ottonians were a family from Saxony who are often regarded as the founders of the medieval German kingdom. They were the most successful of all the dynasties to emerge from the wreckage of the pan-European Carolingian Empire after it disintegrated in 888, ruling as kings and emperors in Germany and Italy and exerting indirect hegemony in France and in Eastern Europe. It has long been noted by historians that Ottonian queens were peculiarly powerful - indeed, among the most powerful of the entire...