Roland

Einhard ’s only one place in the Biography of Charlemagne ( Vita Caroli Magni ) testifies to the historical existence of this person, in which it is narrated that in 778 , when Karl returned from a campaign in Spain , indignant Basques attacked his rearguard in the Pyrenees gorge and destroyed him in the battle of Ronceval ; at the same time, several peers died, including Khruodland, the prefect of the Breton brand ( Hruodlandus britannici limitis prefectus ).

In the Hruodland epic , Roland is not only a model of the Christian knight and Karl’s best hero, but also his own nephew; lesion sizes are expanded; Basques turned into the traditional enemies of the Christian faith - the Saracens ; their attack in the Ronsevalles Valley, where Karl’s soldiers, led by Roland, found it difficult to defend themselves, is explained by the betrayal of one of Karl’s nobles, Ganelon , Roland’s personal enemy. Falling in an unequal struggle, Roland blows his famous horn; Charlemagne heard him, turned back and took revenge on the Saracens, and upon his return to Aachen he executed the traitor Ganelon.

Towards the end of the 11th century, Roland became a symbol of a model warrior. Exalting the two crusaders, Raoul Cayenne compares them with Roland and Olivier. When (somewhere between 1090 and 1110) Raoul le Turtier tells the story of Amy and Amil , he mentions a sword presented to Roland Carl. Lying on his deathbed in 1085 , Robert Guiscard compared his son Boemund with Roland. Between 1086 and 1106, two sons were born to Gerard de Montale, named Roland and Olivier. At the consecration of the church of Saint-Pais-de-Genere in 1096, two people with the same names were present; accordingly they have received them somewhat before. During the Battle of Hastings, cantilena Rollando was sung. All these scattered testimonies indicate that the fame came to Roland shortly after 1000 , and this was due to the emergence of some kind of poem about Roland (but not the one that is known to us from the Oxford manuscript).

Song of Roland

Roland is the hero of the central and earliest extant work of the French epic . The Song of Roland ( French: La Chanson de Roland ), of course, was composed several centuries after the battle that took place in 778, and it is obvious that no tradition of heroic poetry existed in this interval; all efforts to prove the reality of the existence of cantilenae ( cantilene ) or something of the same kind are doomed to failure. In this regard, merciless criticism of such theories by Joseph Bedier is true at the end of the XIX century . In the oldest manuscript of this poem that has come down to us - Oxford, written in the XII century. , - contains about 4000 verses. The song about Roland is written in ten verses and is divided into verses of various sizes; each verse has a caesura after the fourth syllable, each verse has the same assonance . The song about Roland was very popular, as evidenced by both French alterations and its distribution outside France . In addition to its reduction in the Latin distichs, probably composed in the 12th century , in the second half of the 13th century there was an alteration, commonly called the “ Roman de Roncevaux ”, which had as its main task the expansion of the original text; six editions of this alteration have reached us.

Other poems

Subsequently, the cyclizers created Roland's model epic biography, which, as expected, has a marked beginning (unusual circumstances of birth and heroic youth) and an end. Between the beginning and the end, a series of heroic episodes described in various poems are located in an indefinite order:

• Berta and Milon ( Berta e Milon , a French-Italian version of the late 13th century) tells of the secret connection of Charlemagne’s sister, Berta, with Seneschal Milon of Angers. The girl has to hide from the anger of her brother in the forest, undergo the harassment of robbers, endure all kinds of hardships that her lover shares with her. Among these wanderings, Berta gives birth to Roland. ^[one]
• "Rolandin" ( Rolandin , a direct continuation of the previous one). The emperor returning from the campaign stops in those places where the teenager Roland and his parents live in extreme poverty. The boy gets to the court and amazes everyone with power, mind and appetite. Duke Nemon suspects the boy is of high descent. There is a disclosure of his secret, Karl tries to hit the guilty lovers with a dagger, but Roland disarms Karl so deftly that he is deeply struck, imbued with a strong love for his nephew, predicts a glorious future for him and forgives Bert and Milon.
• " Song of Asremont ", mid-12th century. Contrary to the ban of the elders, young Roland and his three comrades go to war with the Saracens, armed with kitchen knives, spoons, and grips. They appear on the battlefield at a critical moment, and Roland comes to the aid of Carl, who is almost defeated by the emir’s son. As a reward, he receives from Uncle Velyantif's horse and Durandal's sword.
• " Girard de Vienne " by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Ob . Roland takes part in the siege of Vienne and enters a duel with Olivier.
• " Jean de Lanson " - Roland participates in the campaign against the rebellious feudal lord
• “ Otinel ” - the Saracen ambassador enters into a duel with Roland, but thanks to divine intervention both knights remain unharmed, and Saracen becomes a zealous champion of Christianity.
• “ Entry into Spain ” ( Entrée de Spagne , XIV century) - Roland defeats the Saracen giant Ferragus, but during the siege of Pamplona quarrels with his uncle, leaves the army of the Franks and goes to the East, becomes the main ballet of all Persia, but eventually returns to Spain to the army of Karl.
• The Capture of Pamplona ( Prise de Pampelune , 1328 , attributed to Nicolo from Verona) - continuation of the previous one. Roland arrives at Pamplona at the moment when the weary Franks are ready to lift the siege, he reconciles with the emperor, inspires the besiegers, shows miracles of courage and finally conquers the city.

The song about Roland in its original form served as a source for the Latin Chronicle of Turpin in France and for Konrad Pop's poem in Germany . Numerous Spanish romances about the 13th century Roland are based on French sources, while the Italian processing of the same material, owned by the Florentine Sostegno di Zanobi, under the name La Spagna ( 14th century ), is based on epic songs that originated in Italy itself.

Later Italian poems, praising Roland’s military and love affairs - “Morgante maggiore” by L. Pulchi , “ Roland in Love ” by M. Boyardo , especially “The Furious Roland ” by Ariosto - are far from the original French poem. In both French and Italian poems, Roland is chaste and completely uninvolved in the world of love conflicts. Only Boyardo eliminated this epic rudiment.

Roland in Love

Roland sets off in search of Angelica . He kills the Sphinx , having failed to solve the riddle, the same one that was conceived by Oedipus . On Mortal Bridge, he enters a battle with a giant. The giant is slain, but in his dying moment he sets in motion a fishing net. Roland, entangled from head to toe, is waiting for death or help. A day passes, a monk appears and offers Roland spiritual help. The talkative monk tells how he just miraculously escaped from the one-eyed ogre. The giant himself appears right there, chopping Roland with his sword, but cutting only the net: Roland is invulnerable to weapons. The freed Roland kills the cannibal, striking him in his only eye, and releases his captives.

Roland rides to the castle. On the wall of the castle is a lady: this is the fairy Dragonin, inviting the count to drink from the goblet. Unsuspecting Roland brings the cup to his lips and instantly forgets his love, the goal of his path, of himself, becomes the blind slave of the fairy. Angelica with the help of a magic ring dispels the spell of Dragontina. Roland and his eight comrades in captivity jump after Angelica to Albracca.

Roland goes to battle with Agrikan. The fight is interrupted by night darkness. Dismounting in the meadow, the knights talk peacefully: Roland, admired by the valor of Agrican, tries to persuade him to a change of faith. Agrikan, saying that religious disputes are not his business, that he is not a priest or a book, starts a conversation about chivalry and love, as a result of which he learns that Roland is his rival. Jealousy casts tears from him; he demands that Roland renounce his love of Angelica. and hearing rejection, takes up the sword. Continuation of the fight. Agrikan is mortally wounded and praises Christ with a last breath.

The Lake Island Fairy offers him an unprecedented multi-stage feat. Roland tames two bulls, plows the field on them, kills the fire-breathing dragon, sows the plowed field with his teeth, and slams the warriors who have grown from the teeth. The reward for the feat is the golden-horned deer of the Fairy Morgan. He who possesses it takes possession of countless treasures. But the paladin scornfully refuses treasures.

Roland returns to Albracca and engages in battle with Rinald . The battle is interrupted by the onset of darkness. Angelica, having spent who is fighting against Roland, asks permission to be present at the duel. Continuation of the fight. Roland gets the upper hand, but Angelica saves Rinald from death by sending Roland to the enchanted garden of the Falerina Fairy. On the way, Roland sees a lady tied to a pine tree by the hair, and an armed knight guarding her. The knight, as appears from his story, was in love with an attached lady. Her name is Origilla. Out of a natural love for villainy, she set her three admirers and another knight on each other and was sentenced by her father to the execution witnessed by Roland. Four of her victims must, with arms in hand, ensure that the execution is carried out rigorously. Nevertheless, Roland frees the criminal lady, defeating all four knights, and immediately pays for his nobility. The insidious Origilla captivates the paladin's heart and steals from him a horse, the incomparable Zlatouzd.

Roland continues on his way to the Falerina Garden on foot: to meet him with a procession, at the head of which he sees the connected Griffin and Aquilant and with them on Origillo's Goldsmith - they are intended to sacrifice to the dragon. Roland frees them, once again cannot resist the beauty of Origilla and, noticing that she exchanges eloquent glances with the Griffin, hurries away with her. An awkward attempt to express their feelings was interrupted by the appearance of a lady announcing that they were near the Falerina Garden. She will receive a book from Lady Roland explaining the wonders and dangers of the garden. You can enter the garden only at dawn. At night, Origilla again steals the horse from Roland, now with the sword. The paladin goes on a feat on foot and unarmed. The dragon guards the gates; Roland kills him with a club. In the palace he finds a fairy, she casts the last spells on the magic sword, before which any spells will be powerless. This sword, Balizard, she made specially for the death of Roland, which is invulnerable to conventional weapons. The paladin takes away the sword, and so far he ties the fairy to the tree. Kills the siren by first covering the ears with rose petals. Kills the bull about one iron and one fire horn. Kills a monstrous bird. Kills a donkey with a sword-sharp tail. Kills a half-snake-half-snake named Faun. Kills the giant, and when two more rise from his blood, binds them. Roland destroys the garden of Falerina, but has mercy on the fairy, who promises to free all her captives.

Roland, together with Falerina, approaches the lake where Rinald has sunk. Falerina explains that this is the lake of the Morgan fairies, the villain drowning the travelers in it is called Aridan and it is impossible to defeat him, because his strength is miraculously always six times greater than the strength of the enemy. Roland enters into battle with him and, like all his predecessors, ends up in the lake. At the bottom of the lake a flowering meadow, the sun shines, and here Roland, freed from the arms of Aridan, kills him. After long wanderings through the underground grottoes and labyrinths, Roland sees the captives of Morgana imprisoned in a transparent and unbreakable crystal. To free them, you need to get a key from Morgana. To do this, you need to catch her. Roland sets off in pursuit of the fairy, who looks like the goddess of Fate: a bald nape, the only strand for which she can be caught, etc. Roland catches up with Morgan, and she is forced to give freedom to all her captives, asking, however, for permission to keep her young Ziliant, son of the king of Manodant. Among the captives is Dudon, sent by Charles in order to call under his banner Roland and Rinald. Roland, crazy about Angelica, is deaf to the call of the emperor: he hurries back to Albracca, accompanied by the faithful Brandimart (who was also captured by Morgana).

Roland and Brandimart find themselves at the bridge where Rinald and his companions were captured. Origilla arrived just before them to the bridge (once again forgiven by Roland). Roland fights with Balisard and falls into the same trap as his predecessors; but Brandimart kills the warlock. The helmsman tells the knights that Balisard was placed here on the orders of the King Manodant, who hoped in this way to return his son. The king had two sons, one was kidnapped by a servant in infancy, the other captured Morgan and agreed to return him only in exchange for Roland. Balisard did not miss a single passing knight, hoping that sooner or later Roland would be this knight. Roland goes to the king, impersonating another and promises to get Roland for him.

Origilla informs the king that one of her companions is Roland, and for this denunciation, the king gives her freedom along with the Griffin and Aquilant. Roland and Brandimart are thrown into prison, but Brandimart poses as Roland, and the real Roland is released and hurries to the kingdom of the fairy Morgana. Astolf , unaware of the reasons for the fraud, reveals it, and Brandimart is sentenced to death. Roland returns to the familiar lake and takes Ziliant from Morgan. Together with him and Flordelise met on the way , he sets sail for the island of King Manodant. Upon arrival, it is discovered that the eldest son of the king, kidnapped in infancy, is none other than Brandimart. The king gains both sons at once. Roland, with whom Brandimart did not want to part, rushes back to Albracca.

Roland and Brandimart are approaching the place where Narcissus died in ancient times, clinging to his reflection. The story of Narcissus has, it turns out, a continuation: the fairy Silvanella, falling in love with the dead Narcissus, enchanted the source in such a way that everyone who looked at him would be captivated by a beautiful female image and die the same death as Narcissus. The bridge leading to the fateful spring is guarded by Isolier, and Sacripantus, hurrying into the kingdom of Gradass, enters into battle with him. Roland pulls apart the fighting.

Roland and Brandimart finally reach Albracca. Angelica, having heard that Rinald had left for his homeland, throws the fortress to its own devices and, accompanied by Roland and Brandimart, rushes after the subject of his passion. The besiegers jump in pursuit, they are stopped and scattered by Brandimart, and Roland has to deal with the strigrigons , the wild people of cannibals. Roland reaches Syria and sets sail with the king of Damascus Norandin to Cyprus, where a tournament is to be held for possessing the hand of the beautiful Lupine. Norandin has a rival to the Greek Prince Constant. Among the knights of Norandin at the tournament Roland is distinguished, among the knights of Constant Griffin and Aquilant. Constant, finding out who helps his opponent, resorts to deception and forces Roland to leave the island.

Roland and Angelica find themselves in the Ardennes forest: Angelica drinks from a spring that kills love, and disgust comes at the place of passion that chained her to Rinald. Rinald appears, having just drunk from a source with the opposite effect. Paladins take up swords. The duel of Roland and Rinald was interrupted by order of the emperor.

Under Montalban Roland grabs with Rodomont . With a monstrous blow, Rodomont stuns Roland, but at that time the Bradamanta regiment leaves the ambush. Bradamantha fights with Rodomont, and Roland, who woke up from a swoon, watches their fight and is the first to see countless hordes of Agramant. He thanks God for this good fortune, which, he hopes, will allow him to excel in the eyes of the emperor and earn a precious reward, Angelica. Roland, inflamed by the story of Ferragus about the exploits of Rinald, rushes into battle. His fight with Ruggier was interrupted by Atlant , who distracted Roland with a witching mirage. Roland again is away from the battlefield and, looking at the source, he sees a magnificent hall of a transparent crystal, full of beauties. Paladin jumps into the water.

Brandimart, instructed by Flordelise, leads Roland out of the spring, and together they jump to Paris. Roland and Brandimart arrive at a crucial moment, release the captured paladins and strike the Saracens from the rear. The night separates the fighting.

Furious Roland

In besieged Paris, the yearning Roland sees a prophetic dream about Angelica and rushes in search of her. Roland is looking for Angelica in an enemy camp, and then throughout France. He learns about the execution of girls on Ebud and rushes there, but takes him to Flanders. Here Olympia tells him how she loved Biren, how the Frisian Kimosch wanted to marry Olympia for his son, how she killed the groom and must die in order to save Biren. She asks the knight for help. Roland immediately hurries to Holland and challenges Kimosch, crushes his ambush, breaks into the city and defeats Kimosha. Roland continues on his way to Ebuda.

He sails to Ebuda, enters the battle with the dragon and defeats him. The islanders attack Roland. Having recaptured them, he frees Olympia and continues the search for Angelica. He sees Angelica captured by the rider and after them falls into the castle of Atlanta. Angelica escapes with a ring, Roland and Ferragus enter the battle; meanwhile, Angelica steals Roland's helmet and is captured by Ferragus. Angelica continues on her way to Katai, and Roland meets two Moorish troops and beats them. Continuing his journey, he comes to the cave of Isabella.

Isabella tells how she fell in love with Zerbin, how he instructed Odorik to abduct her, how Odorik himself encroached on her and how the robbers recaptured her. Roland deals with the robbers and goes on with Isabella. He helps Zerbin out and returns Isabella to him. Then Mandricard leaves them, fights with Roland, but he is carried away by a horse. Roland breaks up with Zerbin, rides on and ends up in the orphanage of Medor and Angelica. According to the inscriptions, he finds out about their love, and the shepherd tells him what happened. Roland suffers and falls into insanity.

In madness, Roland rushes about in France, Spain and Africa, killing people and animals. Finally, under Bizerta, he stumbles upon Astolf with his comrades, who returns to him the sound mind brought from the Moon. Together they take Bizerta in a fit. Agramant, Gradass and Sobrin send a challenge to Roland. On the island of Lipadusa, a triple duel begins between the three Saracens on the one hand and Roland, Brandimart and Olivier on the other. Roland stuns Sobrin, attacks Gradass, Brandimart rescues Olivier. Gradass stuns Roland and kills Brandimart. Then Roland kills Agramantus and Gradassa, and Sobrin is taken away wounded.

• Orlando (meanings) - arising from the poems “In Love Roland ” ( Orlando innamorato ) Matteo Boyardo and “ Furious Roland ” ( Italian. Orlando furioso ) Lodovico Ariosto , from Italian. Orlando .
• Durandal is Roland's illustrious sword.
• Statues of Roland
• Olifan is Roland's horn, in which he blew, calling on King Charles.

• Einhard . The Life of Charlemagne // Historians of the Carolingian era / comp. Timofeev M.A. - M .: ROSSPEN , 1999. - P. 9—34. - ISBN 5-86004-160-8 .
• Gaston Paris . Histoire poétique de Charlemagne. - P. , 1865.
• Leon Gautier . Les épopées française. - P. , 1878–92. - 2 ed.
• Buslaev . Song of Roland. // " Domestic notes ". - 1864, No. 9.
• FW Schmidt . Ueber die italienischen Heldengedichte aus dem Sagenkreis Karls der Grosse. - B. , 1820.
• Roland // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.