The Song of Roland
by Dorothy L. Sayers
On 15 August 778, Charlemagne's army was returning from a successful campaign against Saracensan Spain when his rear guards were ambushed in a remote Iberian Pass. From this conflict emerged a touching story of the war, recorded in the oldest epic poem that came to us in French. Written by an unknown poet, "Roland's Song" tells the story of his warrior nephew Charlemagne, the owner of the Breton marches, who bravely leads his people to war against the Saracens, but dies in a massacre that defies to the end. In the glorious verses, the battle becomes a symbolic struggle between Christianity and paganism, while Roland's final position is the definitive expression of the honor and feudal values of twelfth-century France. Nowhere in literature is the medieval code of chivalry expressed more perfectly than this masterful – enchanting poem translated here by Dorothy L. Sayers, an expert in medieval literature perhaps best known for her sixteen detective novels.
