THE SONG OF ROLAND

TRANSLATED BY: FREDERICK GOLDIN

ABOUT THE POEM
 The Song of Roland (or La Chanson de
Roland), the earliest surviving masterpiece of
French literature, is an epic poem written in Old
French which reached its final form in or around
the later 11th century.
 It centers on the death of Charlemagne’s
nephew Roland at the battle of Roncevaux.
 Nothing is known of the author except that his
name may have been Turoldus.
ABOUT THE POEM
 The final text has about 4,000 lines of poetry.
 The epic poem is the first and one of the most
outstanding examples of the chanson de
geste, a literary form that flourished between
the 11th and 15th centuries and celebrated the
legendary deeds.
ABOUT THE POEM
The poem is written in stanzas of irregular
length known as laisses.
The lines are decasyllabic (containing ten
syllables), and each is divided by a strong
caesura (a complete pause in a line of
poetry) which generally falls after the fourth
syllable.
ABOUT THE POEM
The last stressed syllable of each line in a
laisse has the same vowel sound as every
other end-syllable in that laisse.
Tracing History…
Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne in Rome in
Christmas day, 800, making him the first
Western Roman Emperor in more than 300
years. As head of the Holy Roman Empire,
Charlemagne became a figure of legend and
stories for hundreds of years
Tracing History…
By the time Charlemagne died in 814, his
empire known as the Carolingian Empire,
span almost half of Europe, including present-
day France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
Austria.
THE CHARACTERS
CHARLEMAGNE
 Historically, Charlemagne was king of
the Franks and a committed, militant
Christian.
 A loyal ally of the pope and a great
conqueror, he forced conversions as he
expanded the boundaries of his empire
outward from his central territory,
straddling present-day France, Germany,
Italy, and Austria.
THE CHARACTERS
CHARLEMAGNE
 After his death, he became legendary; it
is this legendary Charlemagne, the most
perfect Christian king, symbol of the
spirit of the Crusades, and favorite of
heaven, who is presented in The Song of
Roland as leader of the Frankish troops
and Roland's uncle and avenger. His
name means literally, "Charles the
Great."
THE CHARACTERS
ROLAND
 He is only mentioned in passing in the
historical records, as the prefect of the Breton
Marches, among those who fell at Roncesvals
(Roncevaux).
 In The Song of Roland, however, he is the
hero. He is one of the twelve peers of France,
Charlemagne's nephew and favorite, a skillful
and extremely bold warrior and understands
the Frankish campaign in Spain as a crusade,
allowing no compromise with the Saracens.
THE CHARACTERS
ROLAND
 His sometimes showy boldness and his great
popularity among the Franks and success on
the battlefield arouse the resentment of his
stepfather, Ganelon, who arranges with the
Saracens the ambush at Roncesvals.
 He dies a martyr's death at Roncesvals and
is directly taken up to Paradise by saints and
angels.
THE CHARACTERS
GANELON
 He is a well-respected Frankish baron and
Roland's stepfather.
 He resents his stepson's boastfulness and
great popularity among the Franks and
success on the battlefield.
 When Roland nominates him as messenger
to the Saracens, Ganelon is so deeply
offended that he vows vengeance.
THE CHARACTERS
GANELON
 This vengeance becomes treachery as
Ganelon plots with the pagan Blancandrin the
ambush at Roncesvals.
 At the end, justice is served when Ganelon's
comrade Pinabel is defeated in a trial by
combat, showing that Ganelon is a traitor in
the eyes of God. Thus Ganelon is torn limb
from limb by four fiery horses.
THE CHARACTERS
MARSILLA
 Marsilla (or Marsilia) is the pagan king of Saragossa,
the last Spanish city to hold out against the Frankish
army.
 His vassal Blancandrin plans with Ganelon the
ambush at Roncesvals and death of Roland. While
Roland dies that day, he brings a handsome price
beforehand, chopping off Marsilla's right hand. Badly
weakened by this wound, Marsilla dies of grief when
he hears of Baligant's defeat. Marsilla's queen,
Bramimonde, is later taken to Aix and converts to
Christianity.
THE CHARACTERS
BLANCANDRIN
 The shrewd pagan Blancandrin is one of
Marsilla's most useful vassals. He suggests that
they offer treasure, hostages, and a deceitful
promise to Charlemagne that Marsilla will come
to Aix and convert to Christianity to save their
honor and lands from the great Frankish army.
Marsilla picks him to deliver the peace offer to the
Franks. He and the Frank Ganelon then plot
together the ambush at Roncesvals and death of
Roland.
THE PLOT
 Charlemagne's army is fighting the Muslims in
Spain. The last city standing is Saragossa, held
by the Muslim king Marsilla. Terrified of the might
of Charlemagne's army of Franks, Marsilla sends
out messengers to Charlemagne, promising
treasure and Marsilla's conversion to Christianity
if the Franks will go back to France. Charlemagne
and his men are tired of fighting and decide to
accept this peace offer. They need now to select
a messenger to go back to Marsilla's court.  
THE PLOT
The bold warrior Roland nominates his
stepfather Ganelon. Ganelon is enraged;
he fears that he'll die in the hands of the
bloodthirsty pagans and suspects that
this is just Roland's intent. He has long
hated and envied his stepson, and, riding
back to Saragossa with the Saracen
messengers, he finds an opportunity for
revenge.
THE PLOT
He tells the Saracens how they could
ambush the rear guard of
Charlemagne's army, which will surely
be led by Roland as the Franks pick
their way back to Spain through the
mountain passes, and helps the
Saracens plan their attack.
THE PLOT
Just as the traitor Ganelon predicted,
Roland gallantly volunteers to lead the
rear guard. The wise and moderate
Olivier and the fierce archbishop Turpin
are among the men Roland picks to join
him. Pagans ambush them at
Roncesvals, according to plan; the
Christians are overwhelmed by their
sheer numbers.
THE PLOT
Seeing how badly outnumbered they
are, Olivier asks Roland to blow on his
oliphant, his horn made out of an
elephant tusk, to call for help from the
main body of the Frankish army. 
THE PLOT
Roland proudly refuses to do so,
claiming that they need no help, that
the rear guard can easily take on the
pagan hordes. While the Franks fight
magnificently, there's no way they can
continue to hold off against the
Saracens, and the battle begins to turn
clearly against them.
THE PLOT
Almost all his men are dead and Roland
knows that it's now too late for
Charlemagne and his troops to save them,
but he blows his oliphant anyway, so that
the emperor can see what happened to his
men and avenge them. Roland blows so
hard that his temples burst. He dies a
glorious martyr's death, and saints take his
soul straight to Paradise.
THE PLOT
When Charlemagne and his men reach the
battlefield, they find only dead bodies. The
pagans have fled, but the Franks pursue
them, chasing them into the river Ebro,
where they all drown. Meanwhile, the
powerful emir of Babylon, Baligant, has
arrived in Spain to help his vassal Marsilla
fend off the Frankish threat.
THE PLOT
 Baligant and his enormous Muslim army ride after
Charlemagne and his Christian army, meeting
them on the battlefield at Roncesvals, where the
Christians are burying and mourning their
dead. Both sides fight valiantly. But when
Charlemagne kills Baligant, all the pagan army
scatter and flee. Now Saragossa has no
defenders left; the Franks take the city. With
Marsilla's wife Bramimonde, Charlemagne and
his men ride back to Aix, their capital in sweet
France.
THE PLOT
 The Franks discovered Ganelon's betrayal some
time ago and keep him in chains until it is time for
his trial. Ganelon argues that his action was
legitimate revenge, openly proclaimed, not
treason. While the council of barons, which
Charlemagne gathered to decide the traitor's fate
is initially swayed by this claim, one man, Thierry,
argues that, because Roland was serving
Charlemagne when Ganelon delivered his
revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a
betrayal of the emperor. 
THE PLOT
Ganelon's friend Pinabel challenges Thierry
to trial by combat; the two will fight a duel to
see who's right. By divine intervention,
Thierry, the weaker man, wins, killing
Pinabel. The Franks are convinced by this
of Ganelon's villainy and sentence him to a
most painful death. The traitor is torn limb
from limb by galloping horses and thirty of
his relatives are hung for good measure.