Battle of Roncevaux Pass
The
Roncevaux Pass (
Roncesvalles in English) is the site of a famous battle in
778 in which
Hroudland (later changed to Roland), prefect of
Brittany March was defeated by the
Basques.
{| border=1 width=300 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 align=right style="margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1em"\n|-\n|colspan=2|\n|-\n!colspan=2 bgcolor=#cccccc|Battle of Roncevaux Pass\n|-\n|Conflict||Charlemagne's campaign in Spain\n|-\n|Date||
August 15,
778\n|-\n|Place||Roncevaux Pass in the
Pyrenees\n|-\n|Result||Defeat of the Frankish by the Basques\n|-\n|colspan=2|\n{| border=1 width=300 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0\n|-\n!colspan=2 bgcolor=#cccccc|Combatants\n|-\n| width=50%|Charlemagne's Franks\n| width=50%|Basques\n|-\n!colspan=2|Commanders\n|-\n|
Roland\n|unknown\n|-\n!colspan=2|Strength\n|-\n|unknown\n|unknown\n|-\n!colspan=2|Casualties\n|-\n|Completely destruction of the army\n|unknown\n|}\n|}
Background
This battle was the last of Charlemagne's first campaign to capture Spain, an attempt that ended in failure. He had captured Barcelona and Pamplona but had been stopped at Saragossa which refused to yield. He then was forced to leave Spain to put down a rebellion by the Saxons, then newly conquered. He left the tribute with Roland and the rear guard while the main army hurried back to the Rhine. While retreating, Charlemagne pulled down the walls of the Christian Basque city of Pamplona. This act may have lead to the attack upon Roland and the rear guard in the Pyrenees.
Legend
Over the years, this minor battle was romanticized by oral tradition into a major conflict between Christians and Muslims, when in fact both sides in the real battle were Christian. The Basques have been replaced by 400,000 Saracens. Charlemagne does fight the Saracens in Spain itself not in the Pyrenees. The oral tradition also changed the outcome of the battle, from the historical, where Hroudland and his force is completely annihilated and the Basques escape, to that where Charlemagne comes to the rescue of Roland and destroys the Saracens.
When the The Song of Roland was written down, by an unknown troubadour of the 11th century, it became the first Chanson de geste or epic poem of medieval France.
External links
\n*Song of Roland at infoplease.com
