History Literature / TheSongOfRoland

** The Muslims in ''Song of Roland'' worship the demon Apollyon, keep idols and carry a banner bearing the image of Mohammed. Islam is a monotheistic religion with a rather strict ban on religious images.

''The Song of Roland'' (Old French, ''La Chanson de Roland'') is the oldest surviving work of French literature, dating from [[TheHighMiddleAges the late 11th century]]. Taillefer, [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]]'s minstrel, charged into battle at Hastings singing a version of it, and if you read the version we have, you can definitely see how it would get the soldiers' blood pumping. A relatively short epic poem, having 4,000 ten-syllable verses, ''Roland'' is the closest thing to a Christian ''[[Literature/TheIliad Iliad]]''. Like the Greek epic, it was only one, though almost certainly the greatest one, of a large body of now mostly forgotten works,[[note]]e.g., ''The Song of William'' or ''The Four Sons of Aymon''[[/note]] called in this case the ''Chansons de Geste'' or "Songs of Deeds." Its influence was enormous, and adaptations soon appeared in several European languages such as Latin, Occitan, and Middle High German.

* AdaptationExpansion: The only historical mention of Roland (from Einhards ''Life of Charlemagne'') is as the warden of the Breton Marches, who was one of several nobles to be killed at Roncevaux.[[note]]"Eggihard, the King's steward; Anselm, Count Palatine; and Roland, Governor of the March of Brittany, with very many others, fell in this engagement"[[/note]] Later medieval tradition managed to transform this barely notable figure into a MemeticBadass with his own legendary cycle.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The Muslims in ''Song of Roland'' worship the demon Apollyon, keep idols and carry a banner bearing the image of Mohammed. Islam is a monotheistic religion with a rather strict ban on religious images.

* ExpansionPackPast: If you take what happens in ''Literature/OrlandoInnamorato'' ("Roland In Love") and ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'' ("Roland Enraged") as canon with ''The Song of Roland'', then Roland had a pretty interesting life.
** There are a lot of other texts with stories about him, too. He grew up in a cave, apparently.

* HonorBeforeReason: Roland refuses Olivier's advice of calling Charlemagne and his army with his Olifant because he prefere to die than looking like a coward.
* InvincibleHero: Roland simply cannot be killed by the enemy. He dies blowing his horn so hard to summon Charlemagne that ''his brains run out his ears''.
** And even after ''that'' happens, he still has enough energy to kill many more enemy soldiers before wandering off and finding a poetic place to die.
* JustSoStory: There's a large gap in the Pyrenees-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland%27s_Breach Roland's Breach]]-that was supposedly created when Roland tried (and failed!) to destroy Durendal by striking it against the ground.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Aude. She's Olivier's sister and Roland's betrothed.. and that's it. She isn't even mentioned until Roland finally decides to blow his horn, and then she promptly dies of grief after finding out that he died in battle. (Their relationship was later fleshed-out in a prequel, ''Girart de Vienne.)''

* WellDoneSonGuy: Roland's mantra is "We'll fight well and then my uncle will love me!", even though his uncle already seems to.
** Some ValuesDissonance is at play here; while Roland is Charlemagne's nephew, he is also his subordinate, and thus has sworn to fight to his last breath for his emperor, and thus might very well lose his uncle's love (or at least the public expression thereof) if it looks like he's not giving his all.

* YourDaysAreNumbered: Fate is a constant motif in the Song of Roland. The narrator frequently informs readers that Roland's days are numbered, and the weird thing is, most of the characters seem to know it, too, although "fate" prevents them from doing anything about it.
** In the Robert Harrison translation, Harrison argues that Roland's death is necessary in order to restore Charlemagne's willingness to finish off the Saracens; after all, at the start of the epic, he and his forces are so war-weary after seven years in Spain that he's prepared to let Marsile keep half of Spain in exchange for a promise that Marsile will convert to Christianity, rather than launch what looks like a costly campaign to take Saragossa.

%%* KillEmAll: Both armies.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The Muslims in ''Song of Roland'' worship the demon Apollyon and keep idols. Islam is a monotheistic religion with a rather strict ban on religious images.

* ExpansionPackPast: If you take what happens in ''Orlando innamorato'' ("Roland In Love") and ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'' ("Roland Enraged") as canon with ''The Song of Roland'', then Roland had a pretty interesting life.

''The Song of Roland'' (Old French, ''La Chanson de Roland'') is the oldest surviving work of French literature, dating from [[TheHighMiddleAges the late 11th century]]. Taillefer, [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]]'s minstrel, charged into battle at Hastings singing a version of it, and if you read the version we have, you can definitely see how it would get the soldiers' blood pumping. A relatively short epic poem, having 4,000 ten-syllable verses, ''Roland'' is the closest thing to a Christian ''[[Literature/TheIliad Iliad]]''. Like the Greek epic, it was only one, though almost certainly the greatest one, of a large body of now mostly forgotten works[[note]]''e.g., The Song of William'' or ''The Four Sons of Aymon''[[/note]], called in this case the ''Chansons de Geste'' or "Songs of Deeds." Its influence was enormous, and adaptations soon appeared in several European languages such as Latin, Occitan, and Middle High German.

It can be found online [[http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/gallica/Chronologie/11siecle/Roland/rol_ch01.html here]], and in an English translation [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/391 here]].

''The Song of Roland'' (Old French, ''La Chanson de Roland'') is the oldest surviving work of French literature, dating from [[TheHighMiddleAges the late 11th century]]. Taillefer, William the Conqueror's minstrel, charged into battle at Hastings singing a version of it, and if you read the version we have, you can definitely see how it would get the soldiers' blood pumping. A relatively short epic poem, having 4,000 ten-syllable verses, ''Roland'' is the closest thing to a Christian ''[[Literature/TheIliad Iliad]]''. Like the Greek epic, it was only one, though almost certainly the greatest one, of a large body of now mostly forgotten works[[note]]''e.g., The Song of William'' or ''The Four Sons of Aymon''[[/note]], called in this case the ''Chansons de Geste'' or "Songs of Deeds." Its influence was enormous, and adaptations soon appeared in several European languages such as Latin, Occitan, and Middle High German.

The plot is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory wildly fictionalized version]] of the Battle of Roncevalles or Roncevaux Pass that was fought as UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}'s army left [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]]-controlled UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} in [[TheLowMiddleAges 778 AD]]. In the opening scene, the Spanish king Marsile hatches a plot to end his seven-year war with Charlemagne by pretending to convert to UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and become his vassal. Receiving the Spanish messengers, Charlemagne and his barons debate who to send to Marsile. Our hero Roland volunteers his stepfather Ganelon, to his outrage. Ganelon goes, but conspires with Marsile to ambush the French in the narrow passes of the Pyrénées. The Spaniards fall upon the rearguard led by Roland, the other eleven paladins, and Turpin, the [[WarriorMonk sword-wielding archbishop]]. The rearguard is slaughtered to a man, and when Charlemagne finds out, he gets [[IncrediblyLamePun mediæval]] on the Spaniards. All looks lost for the Muslims, until the Emir arrives with an enormous fleet of troop transports. Thus, we have a family conflict, nested within a conflict between France and Spain, nested within a world war between Cross and Crescent.

The plot is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory wildly fictionalized version]] of the Battle of Roncevalles or Roncevaux Pass that was fought as UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}'s army left [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]]-controlled UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} in [[LowMiddleAges 778 AD]]. In the opening scene, the Spanish king Marsile hatches a plot to end his seven-year war with Charlemagne by pretending to convert to UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and become his vassal. Receiving the Spanish messengers, Charlemagne and his barons debate who to send to Marsile. Our hero Roland volunteers his stepfather Ganelon, to his outrage. Ganelon goes, but conspires with Marsile to ambush the French in the narrow passes of the Pyrénées. The Spaniards fall upon the rearguard led by Roland, the other eleven paladins, and Turpin, the [[WarriorMonk sword-wielding archbishop]]. The rearguard is slaughtered to a man, and when Charlemagne finds out, he gets [[IncrediblyLamePun mediæval]] on the Spaniards. All looks lost for the Muslims, until the Emir arrives with an enormous fleet of troop transports. Thus, we have a family conflict, nested within a conflict between France and Spain, nested within a world war between Cross and Crescent.

The plot is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory wildly fictionalized version]] of the Battle of Roncevalles or Roncevaux Pass that was fought as UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}'s army left [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]]-controlled UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} in [[DarkAgeEurope 778]]. In the opening scene, the Spanish king Marsile hatches a plot to end his seven-year war with Charlemagne by pretending to convert to UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and become his vassal. Receiving the Spanish messengers, Charlemagne and his barons debate who to send to Marsile. Our hero Roland volunteers his stepfather Ganelon, to his outrage. Ganelon goes, but conspires with Marsile to ambush the French in the narrow passes of the Pyrénées. The Spaniards fall upon the rearguard led by Roland, the other eleven paladins, and Turpin, the [[WarriorMonk sword-wielding archbishop]]. The rearguard is slaughtered to a man, and when Charlemagne finds out, he gets [[IncrediblyLamePun mediæval]] on the Spaniards. All looks lost for the Muslims, until the Emir arrives with an enormous fleet of troop transports. Thus, we have a family conflict, nested within a conflict between France and Spain, nested within a world war between Cross and Crescent.