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Last Updated on July 29, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 239
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Other medieval French epics have survived. They were grouped by twelfth-century scribes into cycles. The Song of Roland is part of the Cycle of the King (Geste du roi), which also includes The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne (Le pelerinage de Charlemagne or ). Other epic poetry cycles included the Feudal Cycle (Geste de Doon de Maiance) and the William Cycle (Geste de Guillaume d'Orange or Geste de Garin de Monglane.
Italian Renaissance poet Luidi Pulci wrote a burlesque version of the Roland story in 1470 entitled Morgante maggiore (The Great Morgante), retelling the story of the ambush in the valley of Roncevalles.
The romantic poem Orlando lnnamorto (Roland in Love), by Matteo Maria Boiardo, blends the heroic ideal of the Roland epic with the courtly love motif of later French epic poetry.
Lodovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (Roland Mad) adds many episodes to the account of the heroic knight Roland, including his amorous adventures.
Defiance and courage characterize the quest of the knight portrayed in Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" ("Childe" is an archaic term for "knight").
Norman Daniel's 1984 study Heroes and Saracens looks at the portrayal of Christians and Muslims in medieval literature.
A History of Women: Silences of the Middle Ages, edited by Christiane Klapish-Zuber in 1992, provides essays that give a good overview of what life was like for medieval women.
Jamaica Kincaid's short story "Song of Roland" appeared in the New Yorker magazine on April 12, 1993.
