Karolus magnus et Leo papa

[6] It was familiar to Ermold the Black, who may have used it for the hunt scene in the fourth book of his Carmina in honorem Hludovici, an epic poem in honour of Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious.

"[8] Although it must have been more widely disseminated in Ermold's time, the only surviving copy is the single-book fragment preserved in a late ninth-century manuscript.

By August 799, Charlemagne's adviser Alcuin of York had burned a letter about Leo's adulteries, perhaps convinced of his innocence by the miraculous healing.

[3] The poet compares Charlemagne to Aeneas, forefather of the Romans, and calls him augustus and Europae venerandus apex, pater optimus ("revered pinnacle of Europe; best father").

[18] The poet alludes to the conversion of the Saxons and praises terror as a means to an end: "What the contrary mind and perverse soul refuse to do with persuasion / Let them leap to accomplish when compelled by fear" (Quod mens laeva vetat suadendo animusque sinister / Hoc saltim cupiant implere timore coacti).