The Song of Roland, one of the earliest pieces of French literature, started as a verbally shared poem that was eventually written down. Several manuscripts of it exist, but Digby 23 has had the most influence. Because The Song of Roland sings the praise of Charlemagne, it is implicated in the intriguing politics of the Early Middle Ages.
Story of The Song of Roland
A tale of political intrigue, a fierce battle, betrayal, and heroism, The Song of Roland centers around Charlemagne’s troops’ defense of the Roncevaux mountain pass between Spain and France. Fighting back the Saracens from Spain, Charlemagne, and his troops headed through the mountains, with a rearguard to protect the bulk of their army.
Roland, reckless yet brave, leads this battalion. Through his scheming to get revenge on Roland, the nefarious Ganelon, one of Charlemagne’s knights, betrays them all and Saracens descend on Charlemagne’s rearguard.
After almost all the Franks are slaughtered, Olivier, Roland’s best friend, begs him to call for help. Too proud, Roland refuses until the last moment, after Olivier’s death. Trying to gain glory for God, France, and Charlemagne himself, Roland dies brutally.
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Finally hearing Roland’s cry, Charlemagne returns and routs the Saracens, but is too late to save his twelve best warriors. When Roland’s fiancée, Aude, hears of his death, she collapses dead. However, in the aftermath, Charlemagne and his men convinced their enemy, the Saracens, to convert to Christianity. Roland is lifted to heaven by angels and honored by his country.
What Is Digby 23?
One of the complications of studying The Song of Roland is that it exists in various forms. Originally an oral poem, Roland consists of tales transcribed in several different manuscripts. There are two versions from Venice, and three from Paris, Cambridge, and Lyon. This means that some of the details and plot points of the legend of Roland contradict each other. For example, Roland’s lady Aude receives different treatment, Olivier disagrees with Roland on varying levels, and Roland’s sword has varying fates.
Piecing this wide range of manuscripts together can be difficult, but Digby 23 has received the most scholarly attention. It was named after Kenelm Digby—an English writer, scholar, and philosopher—since the document was found in his collection. The Digby 23 version has 4002 lines and is now stored in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.
Anglo-Norman Origins
Old French evolved from the spoken Latin that the Roman troops who invaded Gaul brought with them. Mixing with the native Celtic tongue, Old French evolved into various dialects such as Francien in central France (which became the closest to a standardized form) and Picard in the North. Later, Anglo-Norman prevailed in England.
The largest area of difference among these dialects is phonological, and so Anglo-Norman has enough phonological differences to be studied and translated slightly differently from a standard dialect. Since the inhabitants of England spoke and wrote Anglo-Norman only after the Norman invasion of 1066, we can place it as being used from the early 11th century onward.
Though The Song of Roland qualifies as an Old French text, the Digby 23 manuscript was transcribed in Anglo-Norman. Something curious about the history and construction of Roland is that even though it is France’s national epic, the only surviving manuscript was copied by an English scribe.
The location of the transcription affected the language of the chanson (song). Since this was about when Anglo-Norman became more prevalent, and with Roland being an early example of Old French appearing in England, it became the most studied Anglo-Norman text. The 19th editor of this manuscript, Francisque Michel, named it La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland), evoking the heroism of Charlemagne’s warrior and influencing French literature for all time.
Historical Background of The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland, though it is a poetic legend, initially originated in historical fact, predominantly the Battle of Roncevaux, near the Basque Country. There, the factual, historical figure Hrodland, the Count of the March of Brittany, one of Charlemagne’s knights, perished in battle. The history of the event makes clear that there was a battle between Charlemagne’s men and Basque guerilla fighters at a place near, or geographically similar to, the Roncevaux Pass bordering Spain and France.
However, La Chanson de Roland was not written down by the poet Turoldus until circa 1090 CE (Taylor 2001), even though the historical battle at Roncevaux occurred in 778 CE. This means there were over three centuries of shifting storylines.
Medieval Literature (and More Manuscript Difficulties)
In order to further understand the strands of history and poetry that weave together La Chanson, we must comprehend attitudes toward epic poetry during the Middle Ages. Scholar Stephen Nichols notes that:
“It is perhaps heretical to argue that works of imaginative literature should be treated as if they were historical documents, but the Middle Ages, which did not possess our rigid distinctions between fiction and non-fiction, treated them as such. From our viewpoint, the poems are imaginative inasmuch as they deal not with the historical events themselves, but with a continually evolving, ever expanding idea of the event.” (Nichols 1969; emphasis author’s)
Interestingly, this implies that the poetry surrounding Charlemagne’s battle at Roncevaux affected the Medieval understanding of history instead of vice versa.
With all these loose strands spinning around the minds of Medieval authors and listeners, it ultimately formed from a cohesive conglomeration of previous poems, and fictional legends. Furthermore, King Charlemagne’s court highly prized manuscripts and stories, and so there was an older French historical precedent for the enjoyment and engagement with the Roland story.
Political Implications Regarding Charlemagne
Literally the “songs of deeds” the Chansons de Geste was a genre of epic poetry particular to the French medieval song tradition. The “deeds” in La Chanson de Roland established Charlemagne as a benevolent, wise ruler, and of course, it idolized the hero Roland, who died valiantly for king and country.
Wielding his famed sword Durendal, Roland comes to the stage (or manuscript page) as a heroic figure who nonetheless suffers martyrdom. Despite the chaos surrounding the history of the actual story and manuscript complications, La Chanson de Roland had a huge cultural influence. Roland’s song echoed over more than just France. Through its wide range of manuscripts, Roland’s story became popular all over Western Europe, particularly during the 12th and early 13th centuries.
Coming out of a period of Crusade literature, the text also has ties to Crusader propaganda. The scribes who wrote Digby 23 in Anglo-Norman, wrote it during the Crusades. The piety of Roland, Charlemagne, and Olivier speaks to the desire to do noble things for one’s God and country.
As its political and religious leader, Charlemagne represents France. He is described as wise, brave, and a leader worthy of devotion, even to the point of sacrifice. Likewise, France herself is painted as a noble reason to fight. Because of its influence, and the positive portrayal of Charlemagne that survived in Digby 23, it shaped the Medieval consciousness about this influential emperor.
The Song of Roland and the 19th Century
Yet this historical conversation also extends into the 19th century. Many people in the 19th century—scholars and laymen alike—thought of Old French as a purer form of their language that properly reflected the lofty sentiments present in the Geste (Taylor, 34). Representing a simpler language and a sort of “folk art,” the publication of the purer story of Roland and, in some senses, its purer form of French was exactly what France needed.
The necessity to republish such a unifying work was due to the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s. La Chanson de Roland was brought out of the annals of dusty shelves during this époque to encourage French nationalism.
Collapsing France’s Second Empire, the Franco-Prussian war shook the core of her social, cultural, and national identity. Gaston Paris, an author, lecturer, and French citizen during the Franco-Prussian War, helped advocate for the Song of Roland through a series of lectures on refocusing on literary heritage for cultural grounding. Scholar Joseph Duggan writes:
“The city of Paris had been under siege by German troops for nearly three months in 1870 when the most accomplished French literary medievalist of the nineteenth century, Gaston Paris, delivered a lecture at the Collège de France entitled “La Chanson de Roland et la nationalité française.” Although convinced that scholarship should in principle abstract from patriotism, Paris nevertheless affirmed that the literary history of a people was also the history of its national consciousness.” (Duggan, 1989)
And so La Chanson de Roland was established as part of the literary history of France.
By connecting its literary history to the country’s “national consciousness,” Gaston Paris helped to re-establish the French people through something other than their military defeat — showing them the greatness of their past and their present literary richness.
Admiring the patriotism for the “sweet France” that Roland, Charlemagne, and other heroes exhibit, the political authorities used it as a piece of propaganda that extols bravery and loyalty to France. They encouraged the idea that France as an entity had been around since the glory days of Charlemagne, which further cemented the idea of France’s being a great nation in her own right.
In a time of cultural crisis, the floundering French people needed a battle cry for themselves as they recuperated from the Franco-Prussian war. The recursive clamor of Charlemagne’s “Montjoie!” from the characters of La Chanson became that war cry.
Charlemagne and Digby 23
Ultimately, the fact that the national epic of France was actually written down in England affected the historical view of Charlemagne, even if retroactively. Because Roland was transcribed in the 12th century, when the political leaders urged people to go fight in the Crusades, there was an emphasis on heroism. And not just the heroism of Charlemagne’s soldiers, but that which King Charlemagne displays throughout the text.
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