Charles, the most serene, the God-crowned, great and peace-bringing Augustus, as the beginning of his extensive title stated since 801, this peace-bringer and also per misericordiam Dei (by the mercy of God) governing emperor, who called himself from 802 imperator christianissimus (most Christian emperor) and (supposedly) died with the words of the 31st psalm: Into your hands, Lord, I commit my spirit, this man organized one massacre after another during his 46-year reign, from 768 to 814. He conducted almost continuous wars, nearly 50 campaigns, and only for two years, 790 and 807, did he not slaughter.
(. . .) He fought in coldly calculated, almost exclusively aggressive wars, and with these actions he drove countless people to death, often in a horrific, torturous manner. But he did not only kill in war; he also executed 4,500 captives and caused thousands of families to be displaced.
[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]
