overwhelming body of mountaineers, Gascons
and Basques, who, resenting the violation of their mountain
sanctuaries, and longing for plunder, drove the Frankish rearguard
into a little valley (now marked by the chapel of Ibagneta and still
called Roncesvalles), and there slew every man.

[Illustration: Charlemagne

Stella Langdale]

The Historic Basis

The whole romantic legend of Roland has sprung from the simple words
in a contemporary chronicle, "In which battle was slain Roland,
prefect of the marches of Brittany."[12]

This same fight of Roncesvalles was the theme of an archaic poem, the
"Song of Altobiscar," written about 1835. In it we hear the exultation
of the Basques as they see the knights of France fall beneath their
onslaughts. The Basques are on the heights--they hear the trampling of
a mighty host which throngs the narrow valley below: its numbers are
as countless as the sands of the sea, its movement as resistless as
the waves which roll those sands on the shore. Awe fills the bosoms of
the mountain tribesmen, but their leader is undaunted. "Let us unite
our strong arms!" he cries aloud. "Let us tear our rocks from their
beds and hurl them upon the enemy! Let us crush and slay them all!" So
said, so done: the rocks roll plunging into the valley, slaying whole
troops in their descent. "And what mangled flesh, what broken bones,
what seas of blood! Soon of that gallant band not one is left alive;
night covers all, the eagles devour the flesh, and the bones whiten in
this valley to all eternity!"

A Spanish Version

So runs the "Song of Altobiscar." But Spain too claims part of the
honour of the day of Roncesvalles. True, Roland was in reality
slain by Basques, not by Spaniards; but Spain, eager to share the
honour, has glorified a national hero, Bernardo del Carpio, who, in
the Spanish legend, defeats Roland in single combat and wins the day.

The Italian Orlando

Italy has laid claim to Roland, and in the guise of Orlando, Orlando
Furioso, Orlando Innamorato, has made him into a fantastic, chivalrous
knight, a hero of many magical adventures.

Roland in French Literature

Noblest of all, however, is the development of the "Roland Saga" in
French literature; for, even setting aside much legendary lore and
accumulated tradition, the Roland of the old epic is a perfect hero of
the early days of feudalism, when chivalry was in its very beginnings,
before the cult of the Blessed Virgin M