The Road Goes Ever On: Roncesvalles and Roland

Friday, August 31, 2012

Roncesvalles and Roland

Roncesvalles is important historically for a couple reasons. It was the site of the events celebrated in The Song of Roland, the first and still best-known Medieval epic poem, which told of Charlemagne's foray into Spain to battle the Moors (or someone else) and of the ambush and death of his faithful lieutenant Roland, who was bringing up the rear. (Military insight: in “retiring actions,” you always want to be in the vanguard, not the rearguard). There is quite a bit of poetic license in The Song of Roland, as I recall, but that's what makes good stories, despite the fact that the truth is indeed stranger. We saw this earlier with Shakespeare. Anyhow, The Song of Roland was important to literary development in the Middle Ages, etc., and Roncesvalles is therefore important. It is also important historically as a major stop on the Santiago de Compostuela pilgrimage trail, one of the three really major pilgrimages of the Middle Ages (the others being Rome and Jerusalem). St. Jimmie, you will recall from my Santiago post of 2009, was mostly about kicking the Moors out of Spain, and Roncesvalles would have been important commemoratively in view of Charlemagne's ongoing war with the Moors and everyone else. So we had to go there. Besides, Roncesvalles was on the most direct route back to France, and we hadn't had a real baguette in days. I am sure Charlemagne was feeling much the same.