  thumb|300 px|eight phases of the song of roland in one picture.  the song of roland () is a heroic poem based on the battle of roncevaux in 778, during the reign of charlemagne. it is the oldest surviving major work of french literature. it exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries. the date of composition is put in the period between 1040 and 1115: an early version beginning around 1040 with additions and alterations made up until about 1115. the final text has about 4,000 lines of poetry. the epic poem is the first and with the poem of the cid one of the most outstanding examples of the chanson de geste, a literary form that flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries and celebrated the legendary deeds. ==manuscripts and dating== there are nine extant manuscripts of the song of roland in old french. the oldest of these manuscripts is held at the bodleian library at oxford. this copy dates between 1129 and 1165 and was written in anglo-norman. scholars estimate that the poem was written, possibly by a poet named turold, between approximately 1040 and 1115, and most of the alterations were performed by about 1098. some favor an earlier dating, because it allows one to say that the poem was inspired by the castilian campaigns of the 1030s, and that the poem went on to be a major influence in the first crusade. those who prefer a later dating do so on grounds of what they interpret as brief references made in the poem to events of the first crusade. in the poem, the term d'oltre mer or l'oltremarin comes up three times in reference to named muslims who came from oltre mer to fight in spain and france. oltre mer, modern french outremer, literally "oversea, beyond sea, other side of the sea", is a native french term from the classical latin roots ultra = "beyond" and mare = "sea". the name was commonly used by the crusaders for palestine. the occurrence of this term in the poem cannot be interpreted as showing influence from the crusades in the poem; on the contrary, the way it is used in the poem, in which it is simply a muslim land, indicates that the author of the poem was unacquainted with the crusades, and that the term was in french before the crusades began meaning the far side of the mediterranean sea. the bulk of the poem is adjudged
Chansons_de_geste French_folklore French_poems Matter_of_France Roland Works_of_unknown_authorship