Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe - Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry

An Ælfgif-Who? Review

A couple of weeks ago I read a tweet that said ‘Reading for pleasure implies the existence of reading for pain’, to which someone had added, ‘They’re calling it a PhD’.

Since completing my thesis in July I’ve finally had the time and mental space to read simply because I want to, and not just because I’m desperately trying to finish an important project. Among the various classic novels, biographies and political non-fictions I’ve miraculously had the attention span to read, I’ve been delving into some fascinating history books.

Occasionally I read a history book that I think readers of Ælfgif-who? would be very tempted to pick up, due to the period it covers, the themes it explores, or the interesting women it aims to highlight. It makes good sense from here on to review these books on Substack.

The first book I’ll be reviewing is Oathbreakers, a new release from Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry, authors of the 2021 medieval history bestseller The Bright Ages.

Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe (Harper, 2024) - Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry

ISBN: 9780063336674. Release: December 10 2024 (US), January 15 2025 (UK)

The towering figure of Charlemagne, with his vast and seemingly ever-expanding Carolingian Empire, dominates our understanding of early medieval European geopolitical power. But not long after the death of Charlemagne, his empire, now in the hands of his sons and grandsons, was in pieces. Oathbreakers explores this rise and crashing fall, highlighting the familial infighting and ultimate civil war that shattered the empire and altered the borders of Europe beyond recognition.

Oathbreakers begins with the rise to power of Charlemagne’s father Pepin the Short, a usurper, and goes on to recount an attempted coup against Charlemagne by his son Pepin the Hunchback. The authors then relate, with mounting tension, the difficulties encountered by Charlemagne’s son and imperial heir Louis the Pious, as he tried to retain authority while his powerful sons launched successive rebellions against him. The book’s historical narrative culminates in the unprecedented internal violence of the Battle of Fontenoy in 841, which took place a year after the death of Louis the Pious, in which three of his surviving sons (Lothar, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald) fought each other over the division of power. The fallout of this bloody battle precipitated the permanent fracture of their grandfather’s empire.

From the outset of Oathbreakers, it is clear that the power of the Carolingian Empire, whether waxing or waning, was always tied up with the success or failure of insurrections. The two stand-out themes of this history as told by Gabriele and Perry are the swearing and breaking of solemn oaths, and the persistent creation and re-creation of political ‘truths’, which the authors deftly contrast with actual facts. The authors do an excellent job of relaying the dramatic flair (and sometimes outright weirdness) of the contemporary partisan narrative sources, while remaining critical and objective about their reliability.

The analysis by the authors of historical events is somewhat repetitive in places - the unprecedented nature of the Battle of Fontenoy for example, in which Carolingian fought Carolingian as opposed to external threats, though an important point, is repeatedly asserted. However, as a fellow historian of the early middle ages, a period in which everyone had the same names, and complex events can come thick and fast with conflicting, fragmentary sources (or even worse, no surviving sources at all), I can see the advantage to such narrative breathers in which the historians can really hammer home the significance of certain twists and turns. Even as someone already familiar with the major players and events of the period under consideration, I found these breaks in pace both helpful and necessary.

Perhaps most interesting to the readers of Ælfgif-who?, the narrative of Oathbreakers is inclusive of many important and interesting women, whose centrality to early medieval politics is by no means glossed over, as is sadly too often the case with primarily political or military histories. Women such as the Byzantine Empress Irene, the first regnant female ruler in Byzantine and Roman History; the Empress Judith, second wife of Louis the Pious, accused of witchcraft while acting as a politician and advocating for her son Charles the Bald; and Dhuoda, Duchess of Septimania and author of the Liber Manualis, the only known surviving Carolingian text written by a woman, all cut interesting figures in the narrative. This is in no way a book for readers in pursuit of detailed portraits of these interesting women, but it might operate as a springboard for those who are itching to know more.

Oathbreakers is informative yet entertaining, with a subtle sense of humour that does not try so hard as to overwhelm the historical narrative (spot, for example, the hidden Rage Against the Machine reference). Ultimately, the triumph of this book is its ability to convey a narrative about extremely complex events that is neither inaccessible nor patronising. Gabriele and Perry explore the nuances of contemporary sources out loud rather than simply doing all the historical work behind the scenes and then telling a simplified story. In this way the authors build a sense of mutual trust between themselves and the reader - we see their expert analysis come to fruition in real time while feeling respected enough to be let in on the process.

Let me know in the comments what you thought of Oathbreakers, and please suggest other books that you’d like me to review!