Re: academic search engines: Charlemagne

**G*@aol.com**

Katy,
A reply from a member of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries 
(CBHL) re Charlemagne. Interesting search strategies emerging.
Sally

Hi,

This question caught my fancy so I started looking around for an 

answer.   Now remember I have a large library here to work with.

First,  there is no one stop academic research engine.  And in fact,  the 

two major historical databases, Historical Abstracts and America: History 

and Life do not cover this time period.

So, of course, I did a Google search using Charlemagne and agriculture, 

Charlemagne and plants and Charlemagne and food, and did not find anything 

I thought was useful.  Of course I am hampered by my lack of any knowledge 

of French.

So I got a call number and went to the stacks to look at some books about 

Charlemagne and life in this time frame.  And even though civilization is 

built on excellent agriculture, these books only acknowledged this fact, 

but did not provide details.  The books that did discuss agriculture did it 

in a more specified manner.  I did not do a systematic search, but looked 

about about a dozen books that I thought were promising.

I also went to our history of agriculture books in our reference section 

and again found nothing promising.

I also did quick searches in AGRICOLA and CAB Abstracts and again -- 

nothing promising.

I did a WorldCAT search to see if any books about Charlemagne and 

agriculture or food had been written.  This is the only one that seemed 

just a little promising.  But again my lack understanding of French is 

limiting.

Histoire de l'agriculture,

depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la mort de Charlemagne. Documents 

in édits sur l'historie des Gaulois ... Author(s): Cancalon, L. Victor. 

Publication: Limoges, Impr. H. Ducourtieux et Ce, Year: 1857 Description: 3 

p. l., [v]-xxv, 474 p. 22 cm. Language: French Standard No: LCCN: agr 

25-455 SUBJECT(S) Descriptor: Agriculture -- France -- History. Geographic: 

France -- Agriculture -- History.

At this point, I am stopping -- I need to be working on my own research.  I 

suspect that this is a very challenging fact to verify.  If I was going to 

continue, I would look in books on the laws of Charlemagne.

Tell your friend good luck, but this could be a very time consuming task.

Kathy
[Penn State Univ]

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