The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-15
TUE PRESS.
Tbe Oldest Epic in Christendon.
rrhs Ninetee nth Century. j

The historical basis of the poem is slight, and
might almost be summed up in one line from
Fginbard's life of Charlemagne: "In quo prse-
lilo Hruolandus, Britannica limits prefectus,
interfcitur" On the 18th of August, IT'S, Char
lemagne returned from his expedition into
Spain, whittier he had gone to rescue TIE
Church from the power of the Saracens. his
efforts had not been entirely successful. lie
x,as conouerer at Pampeluna, but failed to
CAPTURE Saragossa. On his way home ROLAND,
Prefect of the Marches of Brittany; Anselm,
Count of the Palace: Eginard, Provost OF the
Royal Table-in word, the flower OF the court
all the chiefs of the Army remained with the
rear guard. The King and the vanguard pass;
ed the Pyrenees in safety and without let or
hipdrance. But when the rear guard In long
line wound through the narrow defiles Of the
mountain, Basques or Gaseous who lay IN am
bush on the top, concealed by the dense forests
that crested it, suddenly rushed down upon the
Franks, cast them into the valley beneath
slew them to a man, and then, under cover OF
the night, dispersed and fed. That, briefly,
is the story Of Roncesvalles told by Eginhard
in the ninth chapter of his Life of Charlie
magne," repeated in the "Annales" OF Angll-
bert, and by the Limousin astronomer. Legend
caught hold of the story, and the formldapie IN
vasion Of the Saracers in 793, and the TWO re-
volts of the Gasccns III 8l2 and ga, came 10
the help of legend. and finally poetry came to
perfect the great drama that history and legend
had formed. Charlemagne, instead OF making
arapid expedition to Spain, carries on a seven
wears war there. Roland, the hero OF count
less battles, is found to be the nephew OF the
mighty Emperor. The disaster of Roncesvalles,
magnifed a thousand fold, instead of being an
accident of war, is brought about by treason;
and a traitor is created whose name becomes a
by-word of reproach throughout Europe. The
Gascons, the true conquerors, disappear ana
give place to untold numbers of Saracens And
then, to satisfy the needs of poetic justice, the
innocent victims of treachery are avenged, ana
crime is punished in the overthrow OF the hea-
then and the death of the traitor. Aud that
briefly is the story OF Roncesyalles as told IN
the "Song of Roland" The original song Is
supposed to have been written about the end OF
the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century.
The Oldest known version of it is attributed TO
the latter part of the eleventh century: Inc
Oldest and most perfect text OF this version ex-
tant, executed by very indifferent scribe an
Apglo-Norman scribe of the twelfth century,
and written in the ldngue d'Oit, belongs 10
England, and is preserved in the Bodleian LII
brary. The author of the poem is unknown.
The concluding line of it, sci falt la geste que
Turoldus declinet," and the fact that two cop
les Of poem on Roncesvalles once belonged to
the Library of Peterborough Abbey, have Civ
en- rise to the assumption that Therould, the
master of William the Conqueror, or his son,
whom the King created successfully Abbot OF
Malmesbury and Abbott of Peterborough, was
the author But this is an assumption ana
nothing more. Four separate times in the
s'SoDg Of Roland" la geste is alluded to as his
torical document consulted by the poet. 1t
might have been, as M Leon Gaatier, suggests,
more ancient poem, or a chronicle more or
1auc traditional darivad from ancient
poem. In which case Tnroldus would have
been the author of the "Geste'' and not of the
"Song of Roland" Again, the word declSnet
has two Specifications; it may mean to leave,
abandon, finish work. and, by extension, to
recount at length a history, geste; and hence
declinet would apply equally to the scribe who
transcribed it, to the jongleur who sang it, and
to the poet who composed it. AS to the suppo'
sition that 1t is the composition of an eccesias-
tic the internal evidence is dead against it.