Charlemagne's court library revisited.

The article focuses on Charlemagne's, King of Franks, court library. The penultimate section of the Emperor's testamentary "breviarium," with which the "Life" concludes records that: 'he decreed that the books of which he had assembled a great collection in his library' (magnam in bibliotheca sua copiam congregavit) were to be available for purchase at the appropriate price by anyone who wanted them, and the proceeds distributed to the poor. Most of those luxury books were, almost certainly, created to be given away to specially favoured recipients, like gold rings and jewelled belts.