I work on the Carolingian Louis the Pious and on for years (I even made the subject of my thesis) and it was not my surprise and joy to see that an academic had written a biography of the heir to Charlemagne! Alas, my disappointment was at the height of hope. Provided directly read editions of Thegan, Ermold or the Astronomer, the contemporary biographers of Louis (which was never named Louis 1, by the way) who had at least honest enough to try the Emperor at its fair value. Certainly, he was betrayed by his son and was not necessarily the height of the overwhelming task bequeathed to him by Charlemagne, but it was a great ruler, who sought to consolidate the unity of the empire, not by war (although he led several campaigns against the Britons and Saracens), but by religion, by the Unification of the monasteries under the rule of St Benedict of Aniane and the christening, Harold King of the Danes, for example.
Ivan Gobry merely rehashing old moons of the Third Republic, which used the term "meek" instead of "Pious" Emperor and made responsible for the loss of the unity of the Christian Empire. A leap back more than a century that takes no account of recent work Philippe Depreux (among others) that have proven that Louis was more than a puppet manipulated by his second wife Judith.
Working as a modern journalist, excluding any positive testimony, and especially modern overlay of feelings about a character living 1200 years ago, tells the Gobry "Here is" the life of a man much smarter than the puppet that described. If one adds to this surprising bias (he speaks of failure for the first 4 years of the reign of the Emperor as it was during this period that he performs the boldest reforms), we obtain a book not really useless but mostly misleading.
Gobry even dares compare with Charlemagne totally ridiculous. For example, he believes that the great Charles did not blind his nephew, Bernard, as Louis did so after the rebellion of the latter. When you know that Charles was beheaded in 4500 Saxon 782, one can doubt his mansétude.
The true biography of Louis the Pious yet to be written. This is the task that have been involved for several years now.
