Oathbreakers
The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
“Fascinating.” — The Wall Street Journal
“An enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset.” — Publishers Weekly
The authors of The Bright Ages return with a “real-life Game of Thrones” (New York Times Book Review)—the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that would end an empire, upend a continent, and redefine the future of Europe
By the early ninth century, the Carolingian empire was at the height of its power. The Franks, led by Charlemagne, had built the largest European domain since Rome in its heyday. Though they jockeyed for power, prestige, and profit, the Frankish elites enjoyed political and cultural consensus. But just two generations later, their world was in shambles. Civil war, once an unthinkable threat, had erupted after Louis the Pious’s sons tried to overthrow him—and then placed their knives at the other’s neck. Families who had once charged into battle together now drew each other’s blood.
The Carolingian Civil War would rage for years as kings fought kings, brother faced off against brother, and sons challenged fathers. Oathbreakers is the dramatic history of this brutal, turbulent time. Medieval historians David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele illuminate what happens when a once unshakeable political and cultural order breaks down and long suppressed tensions flare into deadly violence. Drawn from rich primary sources, featuring a wide cast of characters, packed with dramatic twists and turns, this is history that rivals the greatest fictional epics—with consequences that continue to shape our own world.
Oathbreakers offers lessons of what deep cracks in a once-stable social and political fabric might reveal, and the bloody consequences of disagreeing on facts and reality. The Civil War at the heart of this tale asks: who is “in” and who is “out”? And what happens when things fall apart?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vicious family feuds, destabilizing coups, and brutal violence were the reigning values of the ninth-century Frankish Empire, according to this intricate account. Historians Gabriele and Perry, coauthors of The Bright Ages, begin with Pepin the Short, who seized power in what they suggest, contrary to anodyne royal annals, was a bloody coup. They move on to Pepin's storied son Charlemagne, who snuffed out another coup plot led by his son Pepin the Hunchback. Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious ruled next, and the bulk of the narrative deals with rebellions that his sons Lothar, Pepin of Aquitaine, and Louis the German launched over their status as subordinate kings and their antagonism toward their stepmother, Judith. Lothar inherited the throne after his father's death but faced yet more family-backed rebellions (Louis the German again, plus a son of Judith's), which eventually led to the breaking up of the empire. Through subtle readings of biased chronicles and documents, Gabriele and Perry dispel the romantic aura of the Carolingian era, depicting it as an entertaining but gruesome medieval picaresque of power-hungry plots, murders, and—stomach-churningly—blindings. The authors also shrewdly explore the Franks' genuine belief in the sacredness of kingship—and especially of royal oaths—that kept such a violent system in motion. The result is an enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset.
