Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German, 817-876 (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past)

Carolingian rulers did not know that by the year 888 death and the failure to produce legitimate heirs would so reduce their bloodlines that the Frankish nobles would turn elsewhere to enhance and authorize their own power. Thus they never gave up the dream of reconstituting Charlemagne's empire. Eric Goldberg's detailed and nuanced account of the life and reign of Louis the German nicely illustrates that fact, conveying both the success and the tragedy of the dynasty. This is a beautifully designed book, both in concept and in execution. The author uses a wide variety of sources-charters as well as chronicles, along with seals and clothing, books and paintings, and architectural and archaeological remains-to great effect. -Speculum

Louis the German is known mainly in the context of the Treaty of Verdun and the 'birth' of Germany. Eric Goldberg has written a valuable and stimulating book that scrapes away those anachronisms and puts Louis back into his proper context. Cornell has done a superb job producing this book, which has attractive illustrations. -German Studies Review

Struggle for Empire is enjoyable to read. Goldberg's approach is clear and the style of his prose will capture the attentions of even a nonspecialist audience. His knowledge of the sources and his willingness to incorporate a broad range of methodologies into his study provide a strong framework for the book. -H-German, H-Net Reviews

A highly readable and well-illustrated account of an important stage of the early Middle Ages. -American Historical Review

This is a wonderful book by a gifted historian. -International History Review

I predict the book will be a classic. -Medieval Review

Eric J. Goldberg's Struggle for Empire deserves to have a large impact in early medieval political and cultural history. While the ninth century has been reevaluated from various standpoints in recent historiography, this thoroughly contextualized, sinewy analysis of Louis the German and his regime has a distinctive contribution to make to our understanding of the making not only of Germany but also of Europe. Goldberg's success results from his thorough knowledge of the historiography and from his impressively mature command of the sources. His deployment of the charter evidence is especially remarkable. Louis the German certainly saw himself as Charlemagne's successor. The achievement of Goldberg's book is to show Louis as, at the same time, the creator of a kingdom of Germany, which needed not subjects but allies beyond its eastern frontiers. In both respects, his reign has some significance for the subsequent history of Europe. -Janet L. Nelson, King's College London

Eric J. Goldberg's book poses new questions about a crucial period in European history. Eschewing centuries of historiography, shaped by the eventual emergence of France and Germany, which have presented the ninth century in terms of Carolingian 'decline and fall,' Goldberg convincingly questions received assumptions about the coherence of the eastern and western Frankish kingdoms after the division of the empire. Through a closely observed study of the first east Frankish king, Louis the German, Goldberg reinstates court, dynasty, and kingship as basic political forces of the Carolingian world. Vigorously and lucidly written, Goldberg's book reflects all the best traits of the new historiography of early medieval Europe: close engagement with primary sources and insistence on understanding them in their original context. This is the first study to exploit the full potential of the documentary riches of the charters in addition to narrative sources such as the Annals of Fulda to explore Louis's kingship. Struggle for Empire is a must-read for all those interested in this formative period of the European past. -Matthew Innes, Birkbeck College, University of London