C. Perroud (Paris, 1900-2). See also C. A. Dauban, Étude sur Madame Roland et son temps (Paris, 1864); V. Lamy, Deux femmes célèbres, Madame Roland et Charlotte Corday (Paris, 1884); C. Bader, Madame Roland, d'après des lettres et des manuscrits inédits (Paris, 1892); A. J. Lambert, Le mariage de Madame Roland, trois années de correspondance amoureuse (Paris, 1896); Austin Dobson, Four Frenchwomen (London, 1890); and articles by C. Perroud in the review La Révolution française (1896-99).
ROLAND, LEGEND OF. The legend of the French epic hero
Roland (transferred to Italian romance as Orlando) is based on
authentic history. Charlemagne invaded Spain in 778, and
had captured Pampeluna, but failed before Saragossa, when the
news of a Saxon revolt recalled him to the banks of the Rhine.
On his retreat to France through the defiles of the Pyrenees,
part of his army was cut off from the main body by the Basques,
who had ambushed in a narrow defile, and now drove the rearguard
into a valley where it was surrounded and entirely
destroyed. The Basques, after plundering the baggage, made
good their escape, favoured by the darkness and by their
knowledge of the ground. The incident is related in the Annales
(Pertz i. 159) commonly ascribed to Einhard, and with more
detail in Einhard's Vita Karoli (cap. ix.; Pertz ii. 448), where
the names of the leaders are given. “ In this battle were slain
Eggihard, praepositus of the royal table; Anselm, count of the
palace; and Hruodland, praefect of the Breton march .... ”
The scene of the disaster is fixed by tradition at Roncevaux, on
the road from Pampeluna to Saint Jean Pied de Port. There
is no foundation in this story for the fiction of the twelve peers,
which may possibly arise from a still earlier, tradition. In
636–37, according to the Chronicles of Fredegarius (ed. Krusch
p. 159), twelve chiefs, whose names are given, were sent by
Dagobert against the Basques. The expedition was successful,
but in an engagement fought in the valley of Subola, or Robola,
identified with Mauléon, which is not far from Roncevaux, the
Duke Harembert, with other Frankish chiefs, was slain. Later
fights in the same neighbourhood and under similar circumstances
are related in 813 (Vita Hludowici; Pertz ii. 616), and
especially in 824 (Einhard's Annales; Pertz i. 213). These
incidents no doubt served to strengthen the tradition of the
disaster to Charlemagne's rear-guard in 778, the importance
of which was perhaps underrated by the Frankish historians
and was certainly magnified in popular story. The author of
the Vita Hludowici, writing sixty years after the battle of
Roncevaux, thought it superfluous to give the names of the
fallen chiefs, as being matter of common report.
Growth of the Legend.—The choice of Roland or Hruodland as the hero of the story probably points to the borders of French Brittany as the home of the legend. The exaggeration of a rear-guard action into a national defeat; the substitution of a vast army of Saracens, the enemies of the Frankish nation and the Christian faith, for the border tribe mentioned by Einhard;[1] and the vengeance inflicted by Charlemagne, where in fact the enemy escaped with complete impunity-all are in keeping with the general laws of romance. Charlemagne himself appears as the ancient epic monarch, not as the young man he really was in 778. The earliest version of the legend which we possess dates no earlier than the 11th century, but there is abundant evidence of the existence of a continuous tradition dating from the original event, although its methods of transmission remain a vexed question. Roncevaux lay on the route to Compostella, and the many pilgrims who must have passed the site from the middle of the 9th century onwards may have helped to spread the story. Whether the actual cantilena Rollandi chanted by Taillefer at the battle of Hastings (William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum angl. iii. 242, and Wace, Brut. ii. 11, 8035 seq.) was any part of the existing Chanson de Roland cannot be stated, but the choice of the legend on this occasion by the trouvère is proof of its popularity.
The oldest extant forms of the legend are: (a) chapters xix.-xxx. of the Latin chronicle, known as the Pseudo-Turpin, which purports to be the work of Turpin, archbishop of Reims, who died about 800, but probably dates from the 12th century; (b) Carmen de proditione Guenonis, a poem in Latin distichs; and (c) the Chanson de Roland, a French chanson de geste of about 4000 lines, the oldest recension of which is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS. Digby 23). It is in assonance tirades, of unequal length, many of them terminated with the refrain Aoi. This MS. was written by an Anglo-Norman scribe about the end of the 12th century, and is a corrupt copy of a text by a French trouvére of the middle of the 11th century. It concludes with the words: “Ci falt la geste, que Turoldus declinet.” There was a Turold (d. 1098) who was abbot of Peterborough; another was tutor to William the Conqueror and died in 1035. Even if we could identify this personage, we cannot tell whether he was the poet, the minstrel or the scribe of the MS., but it seems likely that he was merely the scribe. The poem, which was first printed by Francisque Michel (Oxford, 1837), is the finest monument of the heroic age of French epic. In its fundamental features it evidently dates back to the reign of Charlemagne, who is not represented as the capricious despot of the later chansons de geste, but as governing in accordance with Frankish custom, accepting the counsel of his barons, and carrying out the curious procedure of Frankish law. Roland represents the monarchical idea, and was evidently, in its primitive form, written before the feudal revolts which weakened the power of Charlemagne's successors. Its unity of conception, the severity and conciseness of the language, the directness, vividness and sobriety of the narrative, place it far above the chansons of later trouvères, with their wordiness and their loose, episodic construction. With the exception of the small place allotted to Alde, women have practically no place in the story, and the romantic element is thus absent. Roland's master-passions are daring and an exaggerated conception of honour, the extravagance of which is the cause of the disaster. His address to Oliver before the battle is typical of the warlike spirit of the poem:-
"Notre empereur qui ses Francs nous laissa,
Tels vingt mille hommes a pour nous mis à part,
Qu'il sait très bien que pas un n'est couard.
Pour son seigneur grands maux on souffrira,
Terribles froids, grands chauds endurera,
Et de son sang, de sa chair on perdra!
Brandis ta lance; et moi, ma Durendal,
Ma bonne épée, que le Roi me donna.
Et si je meurs, peut dire qui l'aura
C'était l'épée d'un très noble vassal."
(tr. Petit de Julleville xi. 1114 seq.)
The Story as related in the Chanson de Roland.—Charlemagne, after fighting for seven years in Spain, had conquered the whole country with the exception of Saragossa, the seat of the Saracen king Marsile. He was encamped before Cordova when he received envoys from the Saracen king, sent to procure the evacuation of Spain by the Franks through false offers of submission. Charlemagne held a council of his barons, Naimes of Bavaria, Roland, Oliver, Turpin, Ogier, Ganelon and the rest. Roland, the emperor's nephew, was eager for war; the peace party was headed by Ganelon of Mayence.[2] The Franks were weary of campaigning, and Ganelon's counsels won the day. At the suggestion of Roland, Ganelon, who was his stepfather, was entrusted with the embassy to Marsile—a sufficiently perilous errand, since two former envoys had been beheaded by the Saracens. Ganelon, inspired by hatred of Roland and Oliver, agreed with Marsile to betray Roland and his comrades for ten mule-loads of gold. He then returned to Charlemagne bearing Marsile's supposed assent to the Frankish terms. The retreat began. Roland, at Ganelon's instigation, was placed in command of the rear-guard. With him were the rest of the famous twelve peers,[3] his companions-in-arms, Oliver, Gérin, Gérier, Oton, Bérengier, Samson, Anséis, Girard
- ↑ It is noteworthy, however, that an Arab historian, Ibn-al-Athir, states that Charles's assailants were the Arabs of Saragossa, by whom he had been originally invited to interfere in Spain.
- ↑ Ganelon may perhaps be identified with Wenilo, archbishop of Sens, whose treason against Charles the Bald is related in the Annales Bertiniani (anno 859).
- ↑ The lists vary in different texts.
