EGINHARD, or EINHARD, in'hard, German historian : b. East Franconia, now the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, about 770; d. Seligenstadt, 14 March 840. He was educated in the schools of the abbey of Fulda. When about 25 he entered the service of Charlemagne and thereafter was in all things the confidant of the emperor and one, of the principal ministers. One of his great charges was the construction and repair of the public buildings. He. was inseparable from the em peror, residing in the palace and accompanying him in all his journeys and expeditions: the only time when they were temporarily separated was when, in 806, the secretary — for such he has always been called — went to Rome to obtain the approval of the Pope of a provision of Charle magne's testament or will for a division of the empire among his sons after his death. That Eginhard possessed considerable learning appears from his extant writings. During his many years of study at Fulda he acquired all the secular knowledge obtainable in his time, and in the palace of Charlemagne enjoyed the advantage of converse with the celebrated Alcuin. It was on the advice of the secretary that Charlemagne in 813 made his eldest son, Louis, his partner in the empire; and when Louis, on his father's death, became sole emperor, he retained Eginhard in all his high offices and appointed him tutor of his son Lothair. In 830 he withdrew from the court and retired to his large estates at Mulinheim, where he had erected a splendid basilica and founded various religious institutes, and there passed the remainder of his life. He changed
the name of the place to Seligenstadt (City of the Saints, namely, of Saints Marcellinus and Petrus). In this basilica he was entombed, be side his wife, Emma, who died four years be fore him. According to an old legend Emma was a daughter of Charlemagne, and as time went on the story of their love adventures was added to from the fount of romantic imagina tion: in fact, Charlemagne had no daughter named Emma, and the lady Emma who was Eginhard's wife was the sister of Bernharius, bishop of Worms. Eginhard's 'Life of Charle magne (Vita Caroli Magni), written in Latin in a style and imitative of Suetonius"Lives of the Cmsars,) is one of the most notable literary monuments of the Middle Ages; it was long used as a manual of school instruction and hence has survived in a multitude of manu script copies. Another work of his is a history of the Franks, 'Annales Regum Francorum, Pippini Caroli Magni et Hludowici Imperatoris' (Annals of the Frankish Kings Pippin, Charle magne and Louis the Emperor). There are extant 62 of his 'Letters' (Epistoke), and a narrative of the translation from Rome to Seligenstadt of the relics of Saints Marcellinus and Petrus Historia Translationis Beatorum Christi Martyrum Marcellini et Petri)). To the narrative he appends a poem on the same subj ect.