Roland was a Frankish military leader
under Charlemagne who became one of the
principal figures in the literary cycle
known as the Matter of France. The
historical Roland was military governor
of the Breton March, responsible for
defending Francia's frontier against the
Bretons. His only historical attestation
is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which
notes he was part of the Frankish
rearguard killed by rebellious Basques
in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux
Pass.
Roland's death at Roncevaux Pass was
transmogrified in later medieval and
Renaissance literature. He became the
chief paladin of the emperor Charlemagne
and a central figure in the legendary
material surrounding him, collectively
known as the Matter of France. The first
and most famous of these epic treatments
was the Old French Chanson de Roland of
the eleventh century.
Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance
poetry, the Orlando innamorato and
Orlando furioso, are even further
detached from history than the earlier
Chansons. Roland is poetically
associated with his sword Durendal, his
horse Veillantif, and his oliphant horn.
History
The only historical mention of the
actual Roland is in the Vita Karoli
Magni by Charlemagne's courtier and
biographer Einhard. Einhard refers to
him as Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis
praefectus, indicating he presided over
the Breton March, Francia's border
territory against the Bretons. The
passage, which appears in Chapter 9,
mentions that Hroudlandus was among
those killed in the battle:
While he was vigorously pursuing the
Saxon war, almost without a break, and
after he had placed garrisons at
selected points along the border,
[Charles] marched into Spain [in 778]
with as large a force as he could mount.
His army passed through the Pyrenees and
[Charles] received the surrender of all
the towns and fortified places he
encountered. He was returning [to
Francia] with his army safe and intact,
but high in the Pyrenees on that return
trip he briefly experienced the Basques.
That place is so thoroughly covered with
thick forest that it is the perfect spot
for an ambush. [Charles's] army was
forced by the narrow terrain to proceed
in a long line and [it was at that
spot], high on the mountain, that the
Basques set their ambush. [...] The
Basques had the advantage in this
skirmish because of the lightness of
their weapons and the nature of the
terrain, whereas the Franks were
disadvantaged by the heaviness of their
arms and the unevenness of the land.
Eggihard, the overseer of the king's
table, Anselm, the count of the palace,
and Roland, the lord of the Breton
March, along with many others died in
that skirmish. But this deed could not
be avenged at that time, because the
enemy had so dispersed after the attack
that there was no indication as to where
they could be found.
Roland was evidently the first official
appointed to direct Frankish policy in
Breton affairs, as local Franks under
the Merovingian dynasty had not
previously pursued any specific
relationship with the Bretons. Their
frontier castle districts such as Vitré,
Ille-et-Vilaine, south of Mont
Saint-Michel, are now divided between
Normandy and Brittany. The distinctive
culture of this region preserves the
present-day Gallo language and legends
of local heroes such as Roland. Roland's
successor in Brittania Nova was Guy of
Nantes, who like Roland, was unable to
exert Frankish expansion over Brittany
and merely sustained a Breton presence
in the Carolingian Empire.
According to legend, Roland was laid to
rest in the basilica at Blaye, near
Bordeaux, on the site of the citadel.
Legend
Roland was a popular legendary figure in
medieval Europe. Over the next several
centuries, Roland became an iconic
figure in medieval minstrel culture.
Many legends made him a nephew of
Charlemagne, and turned his life into an
epic tale of the noble Christian killed
by Islamic forces, which forms part of
the medieval Matter of France.
The tale of Roland's death is retold in
the eleventh-century poem The Song of
Roland, where he is equipped with the
olifant and an unbreakable sword,
enchanted by various Christian relics,
named Durendal. The Song contains a
highly romanticized and embellished
account of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass
and Roland's death, setting the tone for
later fantastical depiction of
Charlemagne's court.
It was adapted and modified throughout
the Middle Ages, including an
influential Latin prose version Historia
Caroli Magni, which also includes
Roland's battle with a Saracen giant
named Ferracutus who is only vulnerable
at his navel and in the 14th-century
Italian epic La Spagna.
Other texts give further legendary
accounts of Roland's life. His
friendship with Olivier and his
engagement with Olivier's sister Aude
are told in Girart de Vienne by Bertrand
de Bar-sur-Aube. Roland's youth and the
acquisition of his horse Veillantif and
sword are described in Aspremont. Roland
also appears in Quatre Fils Aymon where
he is contrasted with Renaud de
Montauban against whom he occasionally
fights.
In Norway, the tales of Roland are part
of the 13th century Karlamagnús saga.
In the Divine Comedy Dante sees Roland's
spirit in the Heaven of Mars together
with others who fought for the faith.
Roland appears in Entrée d'Espagne, a
14th-century Franco-Venetian chanson de
geste and La Spagna, a 14th-century
Italian epic.
From the fifteenth century onwards, he
appears as a central character in a
sequence of Italian verse romances,
including Morgante by Luigi Pulci,
Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria
Boiardo, and Orlando furioso by Ludovico
Ariosto. The Orlandino of Pietro Aretino
then waxed satirical about the "cult of
personality" of Orlando the hero.
In Germany, Roland gradually became a
symbol of the independence of the
growing cities from the local nobility.
In the late Middle Ages many cities
featured defiant statues of Roland in
their marketplaces. The Roland in Wedel
was erected in 1450 as symbol of market
justice, and the Roland statue in front
of Bremen City Hall has been listed
together with the city hall itself on
the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites
since 2004.
In Aragón there are several placenames
related to Roldán: la Breca de Roldán
and Salto d´o Roldán.
In Catalonia Roland became a legendary
giant. Numerous places in Catalonia have
a name related to Rotllà. In step with
the trace left by the character in the
whole Pyrenean area, Basque Errolan
turns up in numerous legends and
place-names associated with a mighty
giant, usually a heathen, capable of
launching huge stones. The Basque word
erraldoi stems from Errol(d)an, as
pointed by the linguist Koldo Mitxelena.
In the Faroe Islands Roland appears in
the ballad of "Runtsivalstríðið"
More recently Roland's tale has been
exploited by historians exploring the
development of the early-modern
Christian understanding of Islamic
culture. In 1972 P. M. Holt used
Roland's words to begin an essay about
Henry Stubbe: "Paien ont tort e
crestiien ont dreit" — "Pagans are in
the wrong and Christians are in the
right."
The Orlando narrative inspired several
composers, amongst whom were Claudio
Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Antonio
Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel, who
composed an Italian-language opera with
Orlando.
The English expression, "to give a
Roland for an Oliver", meaning either to
offer a quid pro quo or to give as good
as one gets, recalls the Chanson de
Roland, and Roland's companion Oliver.
In popular culture
Childe Rowland is a fairy tale, the most
popular version being by Joseph Jacobs
in his English Folk and Fairy Tales,
published in 1892.
English poet Robert Browning composed an
epic poem, Childe Roland to the Dark
Tower Came; the title of which comes
from a line in William Shakespeare's
play King Lear.
Orlando is a leading character played by
Rick Edwards in the movie "Hearts and
Armour", an adaptation of Orlando
Furioso.
American writer Stephen King has written
a seven-volume series of epic fantasy
novels called The Dark Tower, concerning
the thousand-year quest of Roland
Deschain, of Eld, based in part on
Browning's Childe Roland.
The knight Jenavelle Rolantir character
who appears in "Elf Saga: Doomsday" by
Joseph Robert Lewis is inspired by
various French heroes, including Roland
and Jeanne Hachette.
The Orlando character who appears in
Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen series is an amalgamation of
this character and several other
fictional Orlandos/Rolands.
Orlando: A Biography, by Virginia Woolf,
was the inspiration for the 1992 film
Orlando, directed by Sally Potter and
starring Tilda Swinton.
Roland is an important element in the
plot of Michael Moorcock's Elric series
of novels, appearing in book 6
"Stormbringer".
The character of Rouland in Niel
Bushnell's Timesmith Chronicles novels
is based on the Song of Roland, and also
references knights called The Paladin, a
sword called Durendal and a realm ship
named the Veillantif.
Notes
References
Lojek, A. – Adamová, K.: "About Statues
of Rolands in Bohemia," Journal on
European History of Law, Vol.3/2012, No.
1, s. 136-138..
Adriana Kremenjas-Danicic: Roland's
European Paths. Europski dom Dubrovnik,
Dubrovnik 2006.
Susan P. Millinger, "Epic Values: The
Song of Roland," in Jason Glenn, The
Middle Ages in Texts and Texture:
Reflections on Medieval Sources,
External links
"Roland". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
