Charlemagne's Mustache and Other Cultural Clusters of a Dark Age presents the reader with seven engaging studies of cultural life and thought in the Carolingian world: Why did Charlemagne have a mustache and why did hair matter? Why did the king own peacocks and other exotic animals? Why was he writing in bed and could he write at all? How did medieval kings become stars? How were secrets kept and conveyed in the early Middle Ages? Does the world age with the aged? And why did early medieval peoples believe in storm- and hailmakers? The answers, Dutton finds, are often surprising. Author: Paul Edward Dutton the is Jack and Nancy Farley University Professor of History, Department of Humanities, Simon Fraser University. He is the author of The Politics of Dreaming in the Carolingian Empire; Carolingian Civilization: A Reader; Charlemagne's Courtier: The Complete Einhard; The Autograph of Eriugena, written with Edouard Jeauneau; and The Poetry and Paintings of the First Bible of Charles the Bald, written with Herbert L. Kessler. In addition, he is a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and of the Royal Society of Canada.