Eginhard

Eginhard (770-840), the biographer of Charlemagne, was born near the river Maine, and educated at the monastery of Fulda. As he was of noble family and displayed-talent, he was introduced at Court, and was much trusted by the empecor, who made him a Minister, and gave him charge of public buildings. In 806 he went to Rome as Charlemagne's ambassador, and Charlemagne's son, the emperor Louis, made him tutor to his son, and retained him in his public office. Eginhard's wife was Emma or Imma, whom tradition upon very slight foundation represents as a daughter of Charlemagne, and the heroine of a romantic story.

Eginhard retired from Court in 830, and soon after his wife, who gave him valuable aid in his work, died. Besides his Vita Caroli Magni, there are extant Annates Franeorum; Epistola: and a history of the translation of the relics of SS. Marcellinus and Peter.