of his era. He learned to read and attempted, though unsuccessfully, to learn to write. Besides his native Germanic dialect, he was fluent in old Teutonic, literary Latin, and understood Greek. Much like his literary counterpart, Charlemagne fought to defend Christianity in foreign territories, including what are now Spain, France, Germany, and Italy. His battlefield successes united these regions, which had been fragmented by tribal conflicts for centuries.

Charlemagne's administrative skills brought structure to his expansive empire. He made military service mandatory and formally codified. To enhance public participation in governance, he promoted assemblies where landowners could convene and present suggestions to the king. Under his reign, the foundations of the modern jury system were laid. The empire was divided into counties for administrative purposes, with local assemblies acting as governing bodies and courts for their regions. Charlemagne's passion for learning led him to invite foreign scholars to his realm and establish schools. At his behest, monks produced more accurate and legible copies of the Bible, the writings of the Church Fathers, and Latin classics. This revival of learning, often referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance, helped reintroduce much of ancient literature to Europe.

In the year 800, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III. This initial coronation had the effect of placing temporal power under the authority of the Church, as the Emperor needed the Pope to legitimize his rule. Conversely, this act significantly bolstered the king's power by framing his authority as divinely ordained, thus setting a precedent for the Divine Right of Kings. In 806, Charlemagne divided his empire among his sons. He passed away in 814 at the age of 72, leaving behind a legacy that his only surviving heir, Louis, struggled to uphold.

Women's Lives under Charlemagne's Rule
Marriage was a pivotal issue during the late eighth century. The Catholic Church had one set of marital rules, while Carolingian society had another. During this era, these two models of marriage began to converge. Charlemagne banned remarriage after divorce and declared that adultery could not justify the dissolution of a marriage. Typically, a husband's father chose the wife. Among the nobility, women enjoyed a certain degree of security due to stricter marriage and divorce laws, but they also acquired new responsibilities. Charlemagne's queen had the authority to govern in his absence and had his support for any requests made to his judges and ministers. All women were involved in childbearing and raising children. Noblewomen provided religious education to boys until they left home at seven to serve another lord, and they taught their daughters until they married, usually between twelve and fifteen. Due to a high mortality rate in childbirth, women lived an average of thirty-six years, whereas men often lived nearly fifty years. Peasant women owed services to their overlords, similar to their husbands. In an unusually progressive decree for the time, Charlemagne proclaimed that these women had rights to a certain standard of living, including warmth and security.

The Battle of Roncesvalles
In 773, Charlemagne assumed the role of protector of the Catholic Church, spending much of his reign fighting its enemies. At that time, non-Christian threats included Muslims (referred to as Saracens in The Song of Roland), Bavarians, and Saxons, among others. In 777, the Muslim governor of Barcelona, Ibn al-Arabi, requested Charlemagne's assistance against the emir or caliph of Cordoba.

Charlemagne crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, capturing Pamplona and advancing towards Saragossa. Along the way, he treated the Christian Basques of Northern Spain as adversaries. Although his campaign in Spain saw some success, it failed to dethrone the caliph of Cordoba, primarily because the reinforcements from Ibn al-Arabi never arrived. Recognizing that he couldn't defeat the powerful caliph on his own, Charlemagne began his journey back to France. In 778, while retracing his steps through the Pyrenees, he was ambushed by the Christian Basques he had mistreated earlier. The route through the Pyrenees comprised long, narrow passes through the towering mountain range. In one such pass, the Basques launched a surprise attack on Charlemagne's rear guard, completely annihilating it. Among the rear guard, historians identify a figure named "Hruodland," believed to be the historical inspiration for the legendary hero Roland.

Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages
The Muslim invasions of Spain and even parts of France in the eighth century brought Western Europeans into close contact with a different culture and religion. Christians and Muslims continued to be battlefield adversaries for another 700 years, but their interactions evolved significantly during this time. Initially, the fighting focused on stopping the seemingly endless influx of Muslim invaders into Christian territories. By 732, national borders had become relatively stable when Charles Martel expelled advancing Muslim troops from established Frankish lands back into Spain, where they maintained their stronghold for many centuries. Although these lands were always coveted, the threat of further loss of life and property had lessened for those in present-day France. The dream of reconquest persisted, fueled by the Catholic Church's promise of martyrdom for those who died reclaiming Christian lands. The Crusades—military campaigns against non-Christians aimed at both converting them and seizing land—were common from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. Despite the inherent hostility of these cultural contacts, other practical relationships began to form and continued to thrive until the end of the Reconquest in 1492. Trade relationships, diplomatic envoys, cross-cultural education, and even cohabitation exposed those north of the Pyrenees to a lifestyle markedly different from their own. Muslim culture had advanced in art and learning far beyond that of the West. Exquisite fabrics and spices became the envy of many Christians who benefited from trade with "the infidels." Christian noblemen sent their sons to study in the courts of Muslim Spain, where the finest teachers were available. Intermarriage became a theme in the literature of the high Middle Ages, suggesting that such marriages between Christians and Muslims did indeed occur. While religious differences led to an uneasy and sometimes turbulent coexistence, even during the Crusades, Christians and Muslims forged alliances that have not been repeated since.

The Song of Roland has survived through numerous hand-copied manuscripts from the Middle Ages. Each manuscript presents slight variations in the story and employs a distinct literary technique or style. Most contemporary editions of the epic are derived from the manuscript known as Digby 23, which is kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

Poetic Form and RhymeThe Song of Roland is composed in a poetic format. The verse sections are referred to as laisses, and they vary in length. The rhyme scheme used is assonance, meaning that only the final stressed vowels match. Most lines contain 10 syllables, with a pause, or caesura, occurring after the fourth syllable.

Language
The author of the Digby 23 manuscript wrote the epic in Anglo-Norman, a form of French spoken in what is now England approximately 100 years after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The tale existed in oral tradition long before this, and the original language of the epic remains unknown.

Point of View
The story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, who is "all-knowing." The author does not participate in the story but clearly sides with the French. Authorial asides condemn the treachery of Ganelon and the fearsome nature of the Saracens, while lauding Roland's bravery and Olivier's wisdom.

Foreshadowing
From the outset, the author reveals key elements of the plot to the audience. Ganelon is labeled a traitor long before he actually betrays Roland. Roland and his Peers speak of their own deaths and martyrdom even before the battle commences. Charlemagne weeps when Roland is assigned to the rear guard, intuitively knowing he will not see his favored knight alive again. This technique of foreshadowing highlights the oral tradition of the text: typically, in such oral narratives, the audience learns the outcome or significance of the story before hearing the full narrative. Foreshadowing sets the stage for the performance that likely accompanied the reading or recitation of the story.

Symbolism
Symbolism plays a crucial role in The Song of Roland, as it does in most medieval texts. Charlemagne's dreams are rich with symbolic imagery, mainly involving animals. Medieval bestiaries, or animal dictionaries, assigned specific traits to each animal, which then transferred to the animals in Charlemagne's dreams, each representing a significant character in the story. Another symbolic instance is when Ganelon drops the glove and baton ceremonially given to him as Charlemagne's emissary. By dropping these tokens of trust, Ganelon's betrayal is symbolically unveiled even before it occurs.

Setting
The setting of The Song of Roland is more symbolic than descriptive. The landscape is seldom detailed. In one rare instance, the author mentions Charlemagne sitting under a pine tree during a council meeting. This pine tree serves as a symbol. The triangular shape of the pine was believed to represent the Holy Trinity, a core element of Christian belief. Significantly, Roland drags himself beneath a pine tree to die. The skies also mirror the events of the epic. When Charlemagne prays for assistance in defeating the retreating Saracens, God halts the sun in the sky, granting the French the daylight needed to chase their enemies. Although nature is seldom described unless for its symbolic significance, the author vividly details the armor and gear of the troops. Each knight surpasses the next in the quality of his weaponry and the opulence of his gem-adorned armor. For the medieval author, the setting of a text favored the human-made world over nature.

700s: Throughout this century, Charlemagne expanded his empire to encompass present-day France, Germany, and parts of Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, and Croatia. His capital was in Aachen, now located in modern Germany.

1000s: France was fragmented into numerous small territories ruled by local lords. Henry II's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine made the English king the most powerful ruler in what is now France. The French king's control was limited to the area around Paris, with minimal influence beyond. The barons in the Chanson de Roland significantly influenced Charlemagne's decisions.

Late twentieth century: France, although divided into administrative departments, has a highly centralized government based in Paris. Efforts to decentralize power and influence across the country were initiated in the late twentieth century, but Paris remains the political and cultural hub of France.

700s: The Islamic empire continued to expand as conquests initiated by Muhammad in 622 persisted throughout this century. The Arabs encountered little organized resistance until they advanced into France, where Charles Martel halted and repelled them in 732.

1000s: The Islamic empire, like the Christian one, was divided into two factions: the Shiites with their capital in Cairo, and the Sunni caliphate based in Baghdad. Baligant came from Cairo to support his vassal, Marsile.

Late twentieth century: The Muslim world remains divided among Sunnis and Shiites, with no central authority. Each country in the Islamic world has its own spiritual and temporal leaders.

700s: In Europe, marriage laws grounded in Christian doctrine were established, providing women with increased security and responsibilities.

1000s: Women, left to manage their lands and households while their husbands went on crusades, held significant responsibilities. Marsile's wife, Bramimonde, governed in his absence.

Late twentieth century: Women enjoy equal legal protection and hold significant positions in local and national governments in many countries. However, some believe further progress is needed in the campaign for women's rights.

700s: The French language began to develop as a blend of Latin and the languages of the Germanic tribes. No literary works in this early form of French have been discovered.

1000s: Old French had evolved into a distinct language. The Song of Roland marks the beginning of a literary flourish in the vernacular.

Late twentieth century: France remains dedicated to its literary heritage, promoting young writers and integrating French literature into the national curriculum. The Academie Francaise is tasked with preserving the French language's purity. In the late 1990s, laws and regulations were enacted to limit the use of non-French words in advertising, public communications (such as television), and even the ratio of French to non-French songs broadcast on the radio.

The mystère de Roncevaux is a theatrical adaptation authored by Adolphe, Baron d'Avril, and first published in Paris in 1893. It was reissued in 1993 by Troyes.

In 1955, Peter Racine Flicker composed three excerpts from the Song of Roland for an unaccompanied chorus, which were published by Schott in London.

Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) created The Symphonic Poems, which includes two pieces inspired by the Chanson de Roland: "The Saracens" and "The Lovely Alda."

In 1978, Frank Cassenti directed a full-length film titled La Chanson de Roland, produced by Z Productions in France.

Greg Roach developed the award-winning multimedia interactive book CD-ROM named The Madness of Roland for HyperBole.

Douglas B. Killings produced, edited, and prepared an electronic edition of the Song of Roland in 1995, which is available on the World-Wide Web at the following URL: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Roland.

Sources for Further Study

Auerbach, Erich. "Roland against Ganelon," in Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, pp. 96-122, Princeton University Press, 1953.
Analyzes the technical composition of The Song of Roland, emphasizing its portrayal of reality.

Burgess, Glyn.Introduction to The Song of Roland, translated by Glyn Burgess, pp. 7-25, Penguin, 1990.
Offers insights into the manuscript's origins, the poem's historical context, a summary of the plot, and a technical examination of the verse and language used by the poet.

Cook, Robert Francis.The Sense of the Song of Roland, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987.
Provides a comprehensive reading with in-depth analysis of key episodes.

Duby, Georges, and Michelle Perrot.A History of Women, Vol. II: Silences of the Middle Ages, Belknap Press, 1992.
A collection of essays exploring various roles of women during the Middle Ages.

Duggan, Joseph J. "The Epic," in A New History of French Literature, Harvard University Press, 1989, pp. 18-23.
Investigates the relationship between history and epic literature, focusing on the popularity of the epic form in the 12th century.

Durant, Will.The Age of Faith, Simon and Schuster, 1950.
Provides historical context for the era in which The Song of Roland is set and was composed.

Emden, Wolfgang van.La Chanson de Roland, London: Grant & Cutler, 1995.
A critical guide to the text.

Enders, Jody. "The Logic of the Debates in the Chanson de Roland," in Oliphant, Vol 14, No 2, pp. 83-100.
Explores the use of rhetoric—effective or persuasive speech—by key characters in The Song of Roland.

Jenkins, T. Atkinson.Introduction to La Chanson de Roland, edited by D.C. Atkinson, pp. 175-78, Heath and Company, 1924.
Discusses the poem's characters, style, and themes, concluding that Roland embodies the traditional heroic archetype.

Mickel, Emanuel J.Ganelon, Treason, and the Chanson de Roland, University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1984.
Examines the medieval French legal system with reference to Ganelon's trial in The Song of Roland.

Renoir, Alain. "Roland's Lament: Its Meaning and Function in the 'Chanson de Roland,'" in Speculum, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1960, pp. 572-83.
Interprets The Song of Roland as fundamentally a Christian work, based on an analysis of Roland's lament for the fallen French knights.

Uitti, Karl D. '"Co dit la geste': Reflections on the Poetic Restoration of History in the Song of Roland," in Studies in Honor of Hans Erich Keller, edited by Rupert T. Pickens, Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University, 1993, pp. 1-27.
Examines the historical sources of The Song of Roland.

Vance, Eugene.Reading the Song of Roland, Prentice-Hall, 1970.
Provides a detailed interpretation and reading of the epic, including character analysis and historical context.