CHANSON DE ROLAND. — This title, though other more or less suitable ones might be found, designates the oldest Chanson de geste known to us and certainly one of the finest. In its form closest to the original, it is preserved in the Oxford manuscript, which dates from the second quarter of the 12th century and contains 4,002 lines (epic decasyllables in assonanced laisses) written in Anglo-Norman dialect. There are six other, more extensive and later, versions of the same poem, which help to correct errors and fill gaps in the Oxford codex, though this remains fundamental.
While referring questions of origin and formation Chansons de geste (v.), it suffices here to note that the poem takes its inspiration from a precise historical event (the Battle of Roncevaux, 15 August 778), but blends in secondary or anachronistically attributed characters and events. Nevertheless, even if elements traceable to a very ancient tradition (e.g., reflections of Germanic civilization and customs) or belonging to earlier nuclei of the legend (e.g., the brotherly friendship between Orlando and Oliviero and the episode of Baligant) can be discerned, the Oxford version belongs to the time when it was composed and sung (the last third of the 11th century) and is a unified and coherent work by a true great poet, whether or not he is the Turold mentioned in the final line—on whose identification opinions remain highly divided.
Its spirit is indeed that of the Crusades, which casts Charlemagne and his paladins as the valiant and generous champions of Christendom and at the same time as the heroic defenders of their homeland, their honor as men and as soldiers. The plot unfolds simply and directly, as does the language used to narrate it, yet the author demonstrates mastery of refined technique, exquisite artistic sense, and restrained yet effective emotional power—qualities that make his work a masterpiece of the religious and patriotic sentiment of the emerging Neo-Latin civilization.
Ruggiero M. Ruggieri
Chanson de Roland — Opening of the text of the C. de R.: "Charile li roit a la barbe grifisiene," according to ms. II. 1'? of the second half of the 13th century, preserved in the Municipal Library of Châtenureux.