Book excerpt: Abbot Regino of Prüm (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His Chronicle is the essential account of the empire’s collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time. Regino’s lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is aimed at professional researchers, non-specialists and undergraduates alike. A substantial introduction provides both basic orientation and an original scholarly interpretation of the text, while readers are helped along by a detailed footnote commentary. Alongside other Carolingian texts translated in this series, the book will open up the later ninth and earlier tenth centuries to undergraduates and others engaged in the study of this increasingly popular period.