ttle in Spain. The romance of _Fierabras_ (13th
century) was one of the most popular in the 15th century, and by later
additions came to have pretensions to be a complete history of
Charlemagne. The first part represents an episode in Spain three years
before Roncesvalles, in which Oliver defeats the Saracen giant Fierabras
in single combat, and converts him. The hero of the second part is Gui
de Bourgogne, who recovers the relics of the Passion, lost in the siege
of Rome. _Otinel_ (13th century) is also pure fiction. _L'Entree en
Espagne_, preserved in a 14th-century Italian compilation, relates the
beginning of the Spanish War, the siege of Pampeluna, and the legendary
combat of Roland with Ferragus. Charlemagne's march on Saragossa, and
the capture of Huesca, Barcelona and Girone, gave rise to _La Prise de
Pampelune_ (14th century, based on a lost _chanson_); and _Gui de
Bourgogne_ (12th century) tells how the children of the barons, after
appointing Guy as king of France, set out to find and rescue their
fathers, who are represented as having been fighting in Spain for
twenty-seven years. The _Chanson de Roland_ relates the historic defeat
of Roncesvalles on the 15th of August 778, and forms the very crown of
the whole Carolingian legend. The two 13th-century romances, _Gaidon_,
by Herbert Leduc de Dammartin, and _Anseis de Carthage_, contain a
purely fictitious account of the end of the war in Spain, and of the
establishment of a Frankish kingdom under the rule of Anseis.
Charlemagne was recalled from Spain by the news of the outbreak of the
Saxons. The contest between Charlemagne and Widukind (_Guiteclin_)
offered abundant epic material. Unfortunately the original _Guiteclin_
is lost, but the legend is preserved in _Les Saisnes_ (c. 1300) of Jehan
Bodel, which is largely occupied by the loves of Baudouin and Sibille,
the wife of Guiteclin. The adventures of Blanchefleur, wife of
Charlemagne, form a variation of the common tale of the innocent wife
falsely accused, and are told in _Macaire_ and in the extant fragments
of _La Reine Sibille_ (14th century). After the conquest of the Saracens
and the Saxons, the defeat of the Northmen, and the suppression of the
feudal revolts, the emperor abdicated in favour of his son Louis (_Le
Couronnement Looys_, 12th century). Charles's harangue to his son is in
the best tradition of epic romance. The memory of Roncesvalles haunts
him on his death-bed, and at the moment of death h