Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor

By: in60Learning

Narrated by: William Kenny

Length: 1 hr and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Smarter in 60 minutes.

Get smarter in just 60 minutes with in60Learning. Concise and elegantly written nonfiction books and audiobooks help you learn the core subject matter in 20 percent of the time that it takes to read a typical book. Life is short, so explore a multitude of fascinating historical, biographical, scientific, political, and financial topics in only an hour each.

Charlemagne's name means "Charles the Great", a title he earned after an impressive life filled with military conquests. After the fall of the Roman Empire, invaders came from all sides, and Charlemagne fought out of loyalty to his people and the Catholic church. While he led many campaigns that helped to reunite Europe during the Migratory Period, Charlemagne primarily aimed just to claim land where he and his people - the Franks - could live in peace.

His life inspired countless tales, including the legends that he was 20 feet tall, that he slept under the guard of 100 armed knights, and that he rose from the dead to aid in the Crusades. While these fantastical tales are false, the truth is equally fantastic: By the end of his life, Charlemagne had been king of the Franks, king of the Lombards, and the first emperor of the newly formed Holy Roman Empire.

©2018 in60Learning (P)2018 in60Learning

Great Read

Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor by in60Learning was a good read. Charlemagne earned the name "Charles the Great" with his military conquests. This was a great informative read about Charlemagne.

Charles The Great

This is another one of those misunderstood characters from history and if you don’t know much about Charlemagne then take sixty minutes and listen to “Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor”.

Charlemagne gave us modern day France and so much more. Cruel only to his enemies (and he was cruel to some of his enemies) Charlemagne brought education and enlightenment to his people and seemed to truly care about those he led and governed.

His is a complicated history at a complicated time in history when there was no separation of church and state but “Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor” helps sort a lot of that out in a mere sixty minutes. Well worth your time.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A quick dose of knowledge.

This is a typical subject that may have put you to sleep in School.

But in a short span of time you can learn about subjects you may have missed without entering Slumberland.

With a good Narrator you can quickly become Acquainted With The Holy Roman Empire and Charlemagne.

This Company is doing great work in bringing these Audio Books to the public and many people will benefit from
them.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

An excellent primer on Charlemagne.

While I normally do reviews of Fantasy novels, I have always had a passion for history. Ancient Greece and Rome, Indian history, Medieval and renaissance history, history of the Middle East, I love it all. This book is a primer on the life and times of Charlemagne, covering the highlights of his life and reign.

The book starts off with the some basic information about Charlemagne (Charles the Great), including his family's history, the time and area he ruled in southern Germany and all of France, as well as a chunk of Italy. It showed how he came to the throne after the death of his father Pippin the Short, and how he expanded his rule throughout the region. It describes his various battles and conquests, and his ruling style, which was defeat your enemy, then let them rule themselves with his as their overall leader. His various alliances are described, as well as the one defeat he ever had in battle, fighting through the Basques of Northern Spain on his way back to France. His death and subsequent dynastic issues are also described, as well as his legacy on French and German history.

William Kenny did a nice job narrating. He has a smooth voice, and he has excellent pacing, never dropping into the dreaded monotone. He definitely brought an added dimension to the material.

While it is a short primer, I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for some basic information about Charlemagne's life and times.

I am voluntarily reviewing this title I received for free from the author, Narrator or Publisher.

A major turning point in history

in60 Learning is a great way to quickly learn something about a topic which you know very little. 60 minutes is not enough to give you an in depth look, but it's a cheap and quick way to get an overview and determine if you want to pick up that larger tome about the subject. They are well researched, and densely packed for such a small book. And for that alone, in60 learning books will likely always get my tick.

Charlemagne is very good, one of the best in60 books I have listened to. It covers his history, personality, offspring, battles etc. in a fair bit of details (considering the small size of the book). It acknowledges we cant know details too well, because of the limits of time and the available texts.

What I really liked about it is that it took the time to give background on all the players, explaining all the groups and who they are (franks, saxons, moors, saracen etc.) and where they fit in the context of Charlemagne and his life.

The narration by William Kenny is good. It is well paced, clear and easy to follow. No issues at all with it.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Charlemagne

I enjoyed this short history of Charlemagne.William Kenny was a fine narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Quick and Informative

I enjoy the quick, informative lessons from in60Learning. They cover a variety of topics in sufficient, but not overwhelming detail, and they are often topics that are not touched in normal schoolrooms. I like knowing more about olden-time historic kings and events. I found it especially interesting to learn how this particular individual furthered written language, writing, and schooling. I was also fascinated by the role he played in the formation of the country of France.

The narration was good. The delivery was even and well-paced, and kudos to Mr. Kenny for his efforts in properly pronouncing the tongue-twisting names.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Charlemagne

Another historical figure I knew so much yet so little about. Who doesn't know about Charlemagne, right? Though, I was left with even a few more questions about him, I did find out so much more than I knew about him as a person. He's such a huge historical figure that I mostly knew about his dealings with the Saxons, Romans, and uniting the Germanic tribes that later became France. But, there are so many things about the man himself that I didn't know. This was a really interesting and fun listen that covered quite a bit in an hour. Definitely worth the listen.

Easy History

Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor is the 2nd of these books I've listened to. It's a great concept, really well researched and the facts presented in a way that makes gaining new knowledge so easy. Charlemagne is a king whose name is known by many, but few know why he is considered a great king, perhap the father of France.
I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my own request, and voluntarily leave this review.

Good Concept, Too Much Editorializing

I like the concept in60Learning is aiming for, sort of a Reader's Digest crash course in historical events and figures. Obviously such a short work isn't going to make you an expert (or even an amateur) on a given subject, but as a means of becoming passingly acquainted with a topic or person, and possibly sparking deeper interest, these works can have value.

Having said that, I have a few issues with this work, 'Charlemagne: Father of the Franks, Leader of the Lombards, and Premier Holy Roman Emperor'.

My biggest gripe is the excessive editorializing. There are numerous instances in which modern moralistic judgments are passed on people groups and individuals, as well as repeated instances in which the author attributes motives and feelings to historical figures that are almost certainly imagined. Descriptions like "brutal and bloodthirsty savages" or "an angry sadistic people who gloried in the sight of blood" are found throughout, often with no indication as to which people group the author is referring. While such descriptions might be dramatic, they are out of place in a work that is intended to be educational.

The structure is also more topical than chronological, which I don't think worked in this case. Being biographical a chronological approach might have done a better job of familiarizing the listener with Charlemagne as a person, as well as better contextualizing the events of his life.

The narration by William Kenny is passable, but often halting and stilted. He sounds like he is taking great care in his reading which makes it sound wooden and uncertain, with frequent oddly placed pauses that disrupt the flow.

Given the historical nature of the work the inclusion of sources or a recommended reading section would have been nice. I know audio books are not really conducive to proper citation, but it would be helpful if the listener desired to learn more. The information (apart from the editorialized parts) seems reasonably solid, but there's really no substitute for good citations.

Overall I like the concept, but the execution needs work. Despite these issues, I would certainly be willing to check out more of in60Learning's work.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.