The Song of Roland
Grandes chroniques du Roland
First published AD 1100, written in Old French
The Song of Roland is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions, which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in Medieval and Renaissance literature from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
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Where it is set
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Its heirs
Later works that draw on The Song of Roland.
- Cantar de Mio Cid
AD 1200*
Spain's epic answers France's: another Christian hero on the frontier with the Moors, told with the same set phrases, epithets and battle scenes. But the Cid is a loyal vassal unjustly exiled who wins his way back, not a martyr.
Source: Wikipedia, Cantar de mio Cid
“The Poem of the Cid, for example, echoes the plot devices used in The Song of Roland epic.” Read it there
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