Recently we talked about Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, the hero of the epic poem Cantar de mío Cid ("Song of my Side"). The victories and exploits of this knight are quite real, but his glory did not go beyond the borders of the Iberian Peninsula. Much more fortunate in this respect was the Breton Margrave of Hruodland (Ruotland), who died in a minor skirmish with the Basques in August 778. It was he who was destined to become the hero of the famous "Song of Roland" (La Chanson de Roland).
By the way, let's immediately define this unusual sounding title - Margrave.
Counts at that time were called the rulers of the regions, who were initially appointed by the monarch. Later, these positions became hereditary. The counts had deputies who were called vice-conte. Later, they began to call the eldest sons of the counts (that is why Athos in A. Dumas's novel “10 years later” is a count, and his son is a viscount). If the county was borderline, its ruler was called a margrave. And if on the territory of the county there was a royal residence (Pfalz) - the count palatine.
The name of our hero was widely known in Europe already in the 11th century. One of the chronicles says that before the Battle of Hastings (1066), a juggler, in order to raise the morale of the soldiers of William the Conqueror, sang cantilena Rollando in front of their formation. And in 1085, the dying Robert Guiscard, also a Norman, who drove the Byzantines from Italy and became famous for the capture of Rome in 1084, recalled Roland.
La Chanson de Roland
"Song of Roland" was written before Cantar de mío Cid. In total, researchers currently have 9 copies of the manuscripts of this poem, most of which are written in Old French. The oldest of these manuscripts is Oxford, written in Anglo-Norman dialect between 1129 and 1165. It was discovered in the Bodleian Library, Oxford in 1835, and published in 1837. This text is considered canonical.
The authorship of "The Song of Roland" is attributed to a certain cleric Thurold, and various researchers name four people with that name as a possible author. The genre of this work is "gesture" (Chanson de geste - "song about deeds").
The original manuscripts with the text of the poem were lost in the Middle Ages (the first of them, as we remember, was discovered only in 1835). However, the plot was not forgotten and continued to live in the people's memory. The prose lists of Songs of Roland have been compiled in 15 languages. In some of these "apocryphal" stories about the childhood of the hero, in others - there was a detailed story about his beloved. In one of the Spanish versions, it was not Roland who fought in the Ronseval Gorge, but King Charles himself. And in Denmark the main character was the knight Ogier the Dane, who is listed among the minor characters in the original text of the poem.
Like the novels of the Breton (Arthur) cycle, the legend of Roland had a huge impact on the formation of chivalric ideals and European fiction. And Roland himself became the model of the Christian knight for many years. In 1404, in front of the Bremen town hall, the hero was erected a five-meter statue, which can still be seen today.
But the image of Roland had a particularly great influence on the nobles in France.
Subsequently, this Breton margrave became the hero of many knightly novels. Two of them received the greatest fame and popularity among readers. The first is Roland in Love, written by Matteo Boyardo between 1476 and 1494.
In this novel, the author combined the plots and traditions of the legends about Roland and the novels of the Arthur cycle.
The second is Furious Orlando by Ludovico Ariosto (written between 1516 and 1532).
Here Roland appears in a previously unknown innovative image - a Christian knight-paladin. But in the Breton cycle, it was not possible to completely get rid of pagan motives, the heroes retained many features of their Celtic prototypes. The first paladins of world literature were Roland and 12 peers of France, who died in the Ronseval Gorge. From the novel by Ariosto, the word "paladin" got into the French language, and from it passed into many others. On the island of Sicily, after the release of the novel Ariosto, the knight of Orlando became the protagonist of the puppet theater.
In Cervantes' novel, even a priest speaks of these two authors with respect, who revises the books of Don Quixote's library, relentlessly sending most of them into the fire. He calls Boyardo famous, Ariosto - "Christian poet".
But, perhaps, we will not now be distracted by the story of the fantasy literature of medieval Europe. Better to talk about the original source. First, let's analyze its text, pretending to believe every word. And only then we will move on to the historical documents available to us.
Two embassies
"The Song of Roland" begins with the message that Charlemagne (still the king, not the emperor) practically defeated the Saracens (Moors) of the Iberian Peninsula.
“I fought for seven years in a Spanish country.
All this mountainous land occupied by the sea, He took by storm all the cities and castles, Threw down their walls and destroyed their towers, Only the Moors did not surrender Zaragoza."
The King of Saragossa Marsilius, who not only "honors Mohammed", but also "glorifies Apollo", sends an ambassador to the court of Charles with a proposal for peace.
Actually, the ruler of this Mauritanian typha was the emir, and Karl had the title "rex", but let's not quibble.
Recall, by the way, that in the 11th century the famous Rodrigo Diaz Campeador first fought against the Moorish Zaragoza, then defended it as part of the Castilian army from Christian Aragon, and then, being expelled from Castile by the new king, served the local emir. In Zaragoza, he received from his subordinates the nickname El Cid (Master).
Let's go back to The Song of Roland.
Charles convened a council of barons, at which opinions differed. Young knights, including Roland (Karl's nephew, according to one version - his illegitimate son, born by the monarch's sister), demanded the continuation of the war.
And so we see Karl, Roland and Olivier on the stained glass window of the Cathedral of Strasbourg (1200):
Older and more experienced people, whose representative was Ganelon (Gwenilon), the hero's stepfather (and the husband of Karl's sister), offered to enter into negotiations.
The Song of Roland claims that the king listened to the senior barons and decided to send a reciprocal embassy to Zaragoza. Disputes begin over the candidacy of the ambassador. In the end, Karl, at Roland's suggestion, appoints Ganelon as the head of the delegation.
Ganelon was not at all happy, for he was afraid of being killed by the Moors. And his fears are not in vain, since the poem claims that the Moors have already killed two French ambassadors. Charles's courtiers also understand the danger of Ganelon's mission and even threaten to take revenge on Roland if his stepfather dies:
“Around the knights stand in tears, in anguish.
Everyone says: “Count, they sent you to death.
You have been at the court for a long time.
Consider you a glorious baron here.
The one who dared to elect you as an ambassador, Karl himself will not protect, revenge will not pass."
Ganelon travels to Zaragoza and in the palace Marsilia demonstrates astonishing courage and contempt for death. He behaves so impudently that the King of the Moors swings a dart at him. And Mr. Ambassador, in response to two fingers, removes the sword from its scabbard:
“Our emperor will not say about me, That I alone accepted death in a foreign land:
The best of the Moors will perish with me …
"Here is a brave knight!" - the Moors say."
Ganelon's proposals are striking in their "moderation". Half of Spain he is willing to graciously leave Marsilia. In exchange, he must recognize himself as a vassal of Charles. And the governor of the other half, according to Ganelon, will appoint Roland, who "will be cool and proud."
Ganelon turned out to be very successful as a diplomat: he returns to Karl with the keys to Zaragoza, tribute and 20 hostages.
King Charles, who at that time was about 36 years old, is depicted here as a gray-haired old man, but this is exactly how he is presented in the "Song of Roland". And about Ganelon it says:
“He is proud of his face, his eyes shine brightly, The waist, wide at the hips, is marvelously slender.
The count is so good that the peers do not take their eyes off."
Leaving Saragossa, Ganelon hints to Marsil that he will not see peace with such a neighbor as his stepson, and advises to get rid of this constantly demanding war "hawk" Karl:
“Kill him and the wars will end …
Perpetual peace will come in France."
Returning to the king, Ganelon invites him, when the army is withdrawn, to appoint Roland as the commander of the rearguard. So to speak, courtesy for courtesy: the stepson recommended his stepfather for the post of head of the diplomatic mission, and he recommended him for the command post.
Archbishop Turpin of Reims and 12 peers of France, including his best friend Olivier, remain with the hero. The poem says about this pair:
"Roland was brave, but Olivier was wise."
Archbishop Turpin is in no way inferior to the peers of France. Roland calls him "a dashing fighter" and during the battle tells Olivier:
“No one in the world will outshine him.
It strikes gloriously with a dart and a spear."
Turpin is also the hero of the "gestures" "Aspremont" (Chanson d'Aspremont was written at the end of the 12th century). Its action develops in Italy and it tells about Roland's youth, his acquisition of the sword Durendal, the horn of Oliphant and the horse of Weilantif.
The Chanson d'Aspremont says that Turpin has muscular hips, a wide chest, a long and straight neck, powerful shoulders, large and white arms, clear eyes, a face painted (?) And no one in Karl's army has such a beautiful hairstyle.
In the Ronseval Gorge, this dandy archbishop will fight like Peresvet and Oslyabya combined, and one will kill 400 Moors, including the Barbary king Corsablis.
Everything should be fine: the wise Turpin and Olivier can give something to the brave hero if necessary.
But will the "frantic Roland", who has seized hold of independent command, listen to them?
We will talk about this in the next article. We will also try to figure out what really happened.
