The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving text in the French language, and was amongst the most popular tales in medieval Europe. Composed between 1040 and 1115, it grippingly describes the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778), which took place in the reign of France’s greatest ever king, Charlemagne. Just as medieval England looked to King Arthur, and Scandinavian countries to the Viking Age, to inspire patriotic fervour, so too medieval France saw Charlemagne as a great hero whose example all wished to emulate. The likely date of composition can thus be contextualised with France’s contemporary Castilian campaigns.
Roland is a chanson de geste (‘song of [great] deeds’), a poetic genre which related great heroic feats and battles from the past. The chanson de geste originated, like Beowulf, in the oral tradition of the jongleur or minstrel, and would have been sung in front of a captive audience. Around 100 examples of the genre survive from the period 1100-1400, but Roland is by far the best-executed chanson. The story of Roland concerns the titular nephew of Charlemagne, a great and brave warrior, who is ambushed by deceitful Basques, who have just negotiated peace with France, in Navarre, Spain.
Leading the rearguard of the French army returning to France, Roland is accompanied by Archbishop Turpin and his friend, Oliver. When they see the Basque army outnumbering their men, Turpin and Oliver urge Roland to blow his oliphant (hunting horn) to call for reinforcements, but he refuses on the grounds that this would be cowardly. ‘Roland is brave and Oliver is wise/ both are marvellous vassals’ (1093-94) observes the narrator, economically asking the profound question of which would have been the best course of action. The rest of the poem thrillingly describes the near-complete slaughter of Roland and his army.
The chanson de geste genre was eventually supplanted in popularity by the genre of romance (see the next item on this list). Where romance focused on the thoughts and feelings of warriors as much as their heroic actions, the chanson de geste presents characters entirely in terms of their deeds. Action is presented with little to no explanation, and readers are left to decide why a course of action has been taken, and whether it was justified, as in the example quoted above. Reading The Song of Roland in the 21st century is thus an unusual and fulfilling experience.