Song of Roland (Chanson de Roland) (end of 11th century or early 12th century). Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature

The Old French Chanson de Roland is one of the
most famous epic poems from the Middle Ages and
inspired a number of medieval imitations, such as
the Priest Konrad’s Middle High German Rolandslied
(ca. 1170), The Stricker’s Karl der Große (ca.
after 1220), and many other Old Norse,Middle English,
Welsh, Dutch, and Latin versions. It also
spawned a whole group of similar epic poems in
French, known as CHANSONS DE GESTE (Songs of
Deeds). Whereas the later Middle High German
Rolandslied emphasized the nationalistic aspect of
the story, the Old French Chanson de Roland underscored
the religious motif above all. The anonymous
Old French poet—the name of Turoldus, who
is mentioned in the last line of the text, cannot be
trusted as a biographical reference—relied on concrete
historical events and transformed those into a
literary masterpiece apparently in the immediate aftermath
of the First Crusade (1096–99).
In 777, a group of Saracen (Arabic) princes traveled
from Spain to the court of CHARLEMAGNE asking
for his military assistance against some of their
Muslim opponents. Although the king was already
involved in military operations against the Saxons,
he agreed and soon marched into Spain, using two
armies, the first crossing the Pyrenees in the direction
of Gerona, the second crossing the Basque
Pyrenees in the direction of Pamplona. Both armies
then joined and they besieged Saragossa, but to no
avail. When new hostilities broke out in Saxony,
Charlemagne had to return, but during the passage
through the Pyrenees, his rear guard was ambushed
by Basque troops on August 15, 778, and all men
were killed, including Anselm, the king’s seneschal,
and Roland, duke of the Marches of Brittany.
About 200 years later, the many legends concerning
these events were transformed into a major epic,
the Song of Roland. Here Charlemagne, who had
been 38 at the time of the expedition, is described as
a 200-year-old ruler who represents all of Christendom
in its historical struggle against the Saracens,
who have replaced the historical Basques and are
depicted as evil-spirited, treacherous, and monstrous
opponents who resort to the most unethical
strategy to conclude a seven-year war against the
Christians. Anselm does not figure in the epic,
whereas Roland emerges as Charlemagne’s nephew
and as a warrior with superhuman strength, accompanied
by Oliver and 10 other peers, the paragons of
French chivalry. The Saracens under Marsile attack
with 400,000 men and rely on the betrayal of the
20,000 Frankish troops by Count Ganelon,Roland’s
own stepfather, who is jealous of the protagonist
and is bent on destroying his nephew and his peers.
Despite his prophetic dreams, Charlemagne moves
out of Spain, leaving the rear guard behind, unknowingly
clearing the way for the slaughter.When
the Saracens approach, Roland refuses to call his
uncle back with the help of his horn,Olifant, afraid
of damaging his own honor. His friend Oliver seriously
criticizes him for his failure to use Olifant, but
when the Frankish army has been reduced to 60
men, he then rejects Roland’s suggestion finally to
use the horn. Archbishop Turpin, however, points
out that the dead need to be buried, whereupon
Roland blows the horn, but in the process the arteries
of his temples burst, causing his own death. The
Saracens flee when they hear the sound, but Charlemagne
arrives too late to save any of his men.
The king carries their corpses back to dulce
France (sweet France), when he is suddenly confronted
by the army of Marsile’s overlord, the emir
Baligant. Charlemagne defeats him and conquers
Saragossa, before he then returns to his capital at
Aix-la-Chapelle. Oliver’s sister Aude, Roland’s fiancé,
dies from grief over the tragic news, and
Ganelon, after a difficult trial with an ordeal, is
tried and condemned to death by quartering.
The anonymous French poet, who obviously
drew from a variety of oral sources, created a remarkably
consistent and compact epic narrative
that is divided into individual laisses, or stanzas.
The Chanson is characterized by many dialogues,
clearly identified characters, and concrete motivations.
Scholars are divided about the proper interpretation
of Roland’s decision not to call back
Charlemagne when the rear guard is first attacked.
Whereas some perceive this as a personal failure
due to his hubris and false sense of heroism, others
argue that this forces the king to return to his war
efforts and to defeat the Saracens once and for all.
This epic contains detailed discussion of honor,
military discipline, chivalry, loyalty, friendship,
treason, jealousy, wisdom, the conflict between
Christians and Muslims, revenge, the question of
faith, martyrdom, bravery, leadership, the significance
of dreams as messages from God, the fundamental
decision-making process in life, and the
absolute conflict between good and evil.
The text has been preserved in a number of
manuscripts, the oldest from the second half of the
12th century (Oxford, Bodleian, Digby 23 [O]).
The corpus of manuscripts is divided into a group
of Old French versions and a group of Franco-
Italian versions, best represented by the early 14thcentury
manuscript V in the Codex IV in the Biblioteca
di S. Marco in Venice. The Chanson de
Roland was first rediscovered in the early 19th century
by Francisque Michel, who published the editio
princeps in 1837, which inspired generations of
medievalists and others to pursue their interest in
the heroic world of the Middle Ages.
Bibliography
Brault, Gerard J., ed. and trans. The Song of Roland:
An Analytic Edition. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania
State University Press, 1978.
Burgess, Glyn, trans. The Song of Roland. Harmondsworth,
U.K.: Penguin, 1990.
Cook, Robert Francis. The Sense of the Song of Roland.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1987.
Jones, George Fenwick. The Ethos of the Song of
Roland. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1963.
Vance, Eugene. Reading the Song of Roland. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1970.
Albrecht Classen

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