The King's Nun by Catherine Monroe

Charlemagne & Amelia are very interesting people who deserve a better book.

There wasn't enough interaction between Charlemagne and Amelia. His falling in love with her happened too quickly.

I liked the portrayal of the villagers. They mixed the old faith with the new. They didn't see the problem with calling the old mother earth goddess - Mary. Because that is what the church did. It "Christianized" the old pagan rites, festivals and tradition. It didn't teach them that they had to abandon the old ways jut changed them with new names.

And of course she met a wise tolerant Jew.

In the book Charlemagne is king and Amelia is a young novice. The kings grown son has rebelled and he ask's Ameilia for advise. He is older than her in the book

According to the Catholic encyclopedia:

A virgin, very much revered in Belgium, who is said to have been sought in marriage by Charles, afterwards Charlemagne. Continually repulsed, Charles finally attempted to carry her off by force, but though he broke her arm in the struggle he was unable to move her from the altar before which she had prostrated herself. The royal lover was forced to abandon his suit, and left her in peace. Many miracles are attributed to her, among others the cure of Charles, who was stricken with illness because of the rudeness with which he had treated the saint. She died 10 July, in her thirty-first year, five years after Charles had ascended the throne.

They were about the same age, and Charles was not king at the time. A very different relationship than that of the book. She would have been dead by the time Pepin revolted