Poets and Emperors Frankish Politics and Carolingian Poetry

Among the most original and exciting features of the Carolingian Renaissance is the reemergence of political poetry and the development of a vital tradition of verse which comments reflectively and contentiously on the course of public events. The rise of a circle of authors who gathered about Charlemagne, and maintained a close and reciprocal relationship with his imperial successors, marks a turning point in the intellectual history of the Middle Ages, and the work of these able and ambitious writers shed light on the cultural and political ambitions of successive Carolingian emperors. Peter Godman's analysis focuses on the character of the classical tradition in the early Middle ages--creatively adapted to "barbarian" literary tastes--and the refashioning and invention of poetic form in response to contemporary political affairs.