Carolinus

Carolinus (or Karolinus) is an instructional poem written in Latin by twelfth-century poet Gilles de Paris for the future King Louis VIII of France.^[1] It is an example of the Mirror for Princes genre, which gained renewed popularity in many parts of Europe in the twelfth century.^[2] It was written between 1196 and 1200, and exists in two manuscripts from the early thirteenth century. It contains over two thousand verses in five sections. It is written as a biography of Charlemagne, showing how his life examplified the four cardinal virtues, and urging Louis, who was thirteen years old in 1200, to follow this example and become a new Charlemagne.^[3]

Not to be confused with Codex Carolinus or Codex epistolaris Carolinus.