Season 1 • Episode 3
LatestFor defending Rome against the Byzantines, Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne, le prince à cheval is a 1993 television miniseries about the life of Charlemagne. It consists of five episodes and covers the period from the death of his father, Pepin the Short in AD 768 until Charlemagne's corronation as the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, AD 800. However, there is a minor chronological anachronism: in an earlier episode, we see Widukind, the king of the Saxons surrender and convert to Christianity, which didn't happen until AD 803. This program was directed by Clive Donner and based primarily on the contemporary biography of Charlemagne written by Einhard, who knew Charlemagne personally.
Production
Clive Donner wrangles 8th-century scope on '90s TV budget surprisingly well.
Writing
Einhard's actual biography as source material—rare historical fidelity.
Creator
Clive Donner
Anny Duperey
Bertha
Xavier Deluc
Roland
Vanni Corbellini
Ganelon
Frank Finlay
Alcuin
Remo Girone
Desiderius
Sergio Fantoni
Papst Hadrien
Lino Capolicchio
Papst Leo
Simona Cavallari
Ermengard
Paolo Bonacelli
Vitale
Isabelle Pasco
Hidegarde
Sophie Duez
Lutgard
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus
Einhard
Helmut Griem
Widukind
Corinne Touzet
Irene
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Frank Finlay as Alcuin was already a two-time Oscar nominee—rare prestige casting for '90s European TV.
This miniseries arrived during a brief '90s boom for historical epics, when European co-productions could still compete with American spectacle.
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