Storia, memoria e storiografia. A proposito di una recente monografia su Carlo Magno e l’Europa

This article explores and discusses parts of the contents and implications of the recent book written by M. M. Tischler, Carlemany a Eu- ropa. Història i memòria, Barcelona 2022. Its analysis of the governing princi- ples, reception, and cultural impact of the Carolingians in Europe, and more specifically in Catalunya, is well documented. The idea we have today of Charlemagne is probably not strictly historical, but rather a historiographical idea that emerges gradually from its various chapters. The passion and in- terests of Charlemagne’s various biographers and historians – from Einhard to Alcuin to Pseudo-Turpin – thus offer us an image of a figure shaped by the historical and political context of the intellectuals who wrote about him, rather than of Charlemagne himself. The rich textual history detailed in this study and the implications of that history for an understanding of early European and Catalonian Carolingian culture are impressive and are duly highlighted in this article.