The life of an empire is very cyclical: the birth of a people group united under one ruler, the empire’s expansion through conquest, and ultimately its demise. When we think of empires, we often think about the Roman and British empires, but another significant one in medieval Europe is the Carolingian Empire. It was an empire that hit its zenith with the reign of Charlemagne in the 9th century, but within two generations, it fell due to forces inside its court. What happened to this once glorious empire that fell after the Carolingian Civil War? Matthew Gabrielle and David M. Perry tell how a once glorious empire fell quickly after its height in their latest book, “Oathbreakers: The Wars of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe.”
I want to thank David M. Perry and Harper for sending me a copy of this book. I don’t know much about the Carolingian Empire other than Charlemagne and his coronation on Christmas day in the year 800, so when I saw the premise of this book, it was intriguing to me.
Before we have the fall of an empire, we must understand the rise of the empire and how the empire worked. Gabriele and Perry begin their book by explaining the origins of the empire starting with the Franks and how they gained power. It starts with a legendary hero named Merovech, the Merovingians, and his grandson King Clovis I who converted to Christianity around the year 500. The Merovingians did not last long because Charles Martel would begin the reign of the Carolingians with a battle, which is almost a bit of foreshadowing of how the Carolingians fell. After Charles Martel came Pepin III and after the death of Pepin III, the kingdom was split between two co-emperors, Carolman and Charlemagne; ultimately Carolman died leaving Charlemagne to be the sole Roman emperor and was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 800.
Charlemagne’s reign was by no means perfect as his son Pepin I the Hunchback, staged a failed rebellion. Like Pepin III before him, Charlemagne decided to divide the empire between his three legitimate sons because sharing is caring. His son Louis the Pious would succeed his father and this is where the troubles ramped up to a civil war between Louis’s sons, Lothar I, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald. It was a time full of chaos, revolts, the Battle of Fontenoy, and oaths that could not save an empire.
As someone relatively new to this subject material, I thought it was a decent read. It took me a while to figure out which Pepin was which (because, shockingly, there are multiple Pepins as well as Louises and Charles all in one family, not confusing at all). I think it was interesting to read about a dynasty that I have heard mentioned in passing in other historical books about great kings, but I never personally dived into until now. In short, the Carolingians were a messy empire and I think they should get more attention. If you want a solid nonfiction book that tells the tale of one of the major empires of Europe, I suggest you read, “Oathbreakers: The Wars of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe” by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry.
When we think of the term “Viking”, we often get images of battle-harden warriors, covered in guts and dirt, with horned helmets. We also believe that Vikings are warriors primarily from the Scandinavian world and that the Viking age ended in 1066 with the Norman Invasion of England. Our assumptions, thanks to television and a certain operatic cycle, are wrong. The Viking Age is a complex period of the past that spans centuries over half the known world. Using archeological evidence and written records, Eleanor Barraclough tells the tale of the Viking Age in her book, “Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age.”
I am pleased to welcome JR Tomlin to my blog today to share a guest post for her latest novel, “On a Sword’s Edge.” I want to thank JR Tomlin and the Coffee Pot Book Club for allowing me to be part of this blog tour.
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The stories of queens have been told in numerous ways for centuries, but one of the most famous queens in human history is the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. The daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII who famously decided not to marry any man and instead devout her entire life to serve England’s people. That does not mean she was subservient to others she demanded respect and adoration from her subjects. Most stories of Elizabeth I begin in her golden years, but what could a novel about the queen’s silver years tell us about her personality, her reign, and the people who choose to follow or rebel against the famous queen? Margaret George gives her readers an innovative look at the titular queen in her novel, “Elizabeth I.”
When we think about the period known as the Renaissance, we often think about Italy and the artists like painters and sculptors. However, other craftsmen made Italy their home. Take, for example, tailors and seamstresses. These skilled craftsmen and women can create art you can walk in with their hands. However, there are gender barriers between tailors and seamstresses in that only men can be tailors and only women can be seamstresses. One orphan girl from Bologna not only challenges what it means to be a woman tailor but also challenges one of the wealthiest merchants in the entire city who has a dark connection to her past. This is the premise for Glennis Virgo’s debut novel, “City of Silk.”
When we consider the issue of succession, we often imagine the crown being passed to the next legitimate heir, regardless of gender, but that was not always the case. We think about the struggles that women like Mary I and Elizabeth I endured to secure and stay on the throne, but one woman came before them so close to becoming England’s first ruling queen. She was the daughter of King Henry I and the next in line to the throne after her brother tragically died, but after her father passed away, it was her cousin Stephen who usurped the throne. The war for the crown which would last decades would be known as The Anarchy is the primary focus for Sharon Kay Penman’s novel, “When Christ and His Saints Slept.”
A young woman catches the attention of a king already married to a princess from a faraway kingdom. The king desires the young lady and divorces his wife to marry her. However, there is a catch. The young lady spent some time in the French court of Francis I and Claude of France, whereas the king’s wife was the daughter of the Spanish King and Queen as well as the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Great Matter of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine of Aragon is considered one of the messiest divorces in English history and rightfully so when you consider the diplomatic consequences that this divorce would have across Europe. Estelle Paranque highlights the connection between Anne Boleyn and the French court in her latest book, “Thorns, Lust, and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn.”
English royal history is filled with fantastic stories of triumphs and tribulations, grand romances, and divorces that shook the foundations of the monarchy. It is also filled with struggles over religion, wars both inside England and with foreign nations, and heartbreaking child losses. We often think about the spouses of the Plantagenets and the Tudors when we think about royal romances, but we shouldn’t forget about the dynasties that came after, like the Stuarts. So how did the Stuart dynasty come to be and how did the unions between monarchs and their significant others affect the dynasty and England? Heather R. Darsie explores this often-overlooked dynasty and the stories of their marriages and romances in her latest book, “Stuart Spouses: A Compendium of Consorts from James I of Scotland to Queen Anne of Great Britain.”
I am pleased to welcome Elizabeth St John to my blog to share a guest post about her latest novel, The King’s Intelligencer. I want to thank Elizabeth St John and The Coffee Pot Book Club for allowing me to participate in this blog tour.
The timing of the discovery raised questions about whether the bones were used to manipulate public opinion and strengthen Charles’s position. Further research revealed more secrets. I explored the details of the Secret Treaty of Dover, a clandestine agreement between Charles II and Louis XIV of France. In this treaty, Charles promised to declare himself a Catholic in exchange for financial support. This hidden agreement, uncovered years later, underscores the precarious balance of power in 17th-century England and allowed me to link national concerns to my family history.
In this climate of political maneuvering, espionage became crucial. Intelligencers gathered information covertly, often operating unofficially, and reported back to their patrons the news and gossip that was circulating. This secretive world provided the perfect backdrop for my protagonist, Franny Apsley, who navigates the hidden loyalties, treaties, and espionage of 17th-century England. A friend remarked that these intelligencers hung around coffee shops and eavesdropped on other people…which sounded just the kind of thing Franny would have done. 
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Adventures of a Tudor Nerd 