Contents: Alfred: ´A king across the sea´: Alfred in continental perspective; Wealth and wisdom: the politics of Alfred the Great; Reconstructing a royal family: reflections on Alfred from Asser, chapter 2; The political ideas of Alfred of Wessex; ..sicut olim gens Francorum...nunc gens Anglorum?: Fulk´s letter to Alfred revisited; The Franks and the English in the 9th century reconsidered; Charles the Bald: Charles le Chauve et les utilisations du savoir; The Franks, the martyrology of Usuard and the martyrs of Cordoba; History-writing at the courts of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald; La mort de Charles le Chauve; Frankish queens and princes: A propos des femmes royales dans les rapports entre le monde wisigothique et le monde franc à l´époque de Reccared; La famille de Charlemagne; The siting of the council at Frankfort: some reflections on family and politics; La cour impériale de Charlemagne; Early medieval rites of queen-making and the shaping of medieval queenship; A tale of two princes: politics, text and ideology in a Carolingian annal; Hincmar of Rheims on king-making: the evidence of the Annals of St Bertin, 861-882; Index.