Coordinates: 43°01′12″N 01°19′26″W

Battle of Roncevaux Pass

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling,
Battle of Roncevaux Pass
Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) in 778 saw a
large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Part of Charlemagne's campaign in the
Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the Iberian Peninsula
present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of
the Iberian Peninsula.

The Basque attack was a retaliation for Charlemagne's

destruction of the city walls of their capital, Pamplona. As the
Franks retreated across the Pyrenees back to Francia, the
rearguard of Frankish lords was cut off, stood its ground, and
was wiped out.

Among those killed in the battle was Roland, a Frankish

commander. His death elevated him and the paladins, the
foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, into legend,
becoming the quintessential role model for knights and also
greatly influencing the code of chivalry in the Middle Ages.
There are numerous written works about the battle, some of
15th-century anonymous painting of
which change and exaggerate events. The battle is recounted in
the Battle of Roncevaux Pass
the 11th century The Song of Roland, the oldest surviving
major work of French literature, and in Orlando Furioso, one Date August 15, 778
of the most celebrated works of Italian literature. Modern Location Roncevaux Pass in the
adaptations of the battle include books, plays, works of fiction,
Pyrenees
and monuments in the Pyrenees.
Result Basque victory

Background Belligerents
Franks Basques
With the rise of the Carolingians and Pepin the Short's war on
Commanders and leaders
Aquitaine, the Duchy of Aquitaine led by Waifer was defeated
and the Franks encroached farther into the duchy. The Basques Charlemagne Unknown
(Vascones, Wascones) of the Duchy of Vasconia, one of the Roland † (Speculated: Lupo
mainstays of the Aquitanian army, submitted to Pepin in 766 II of Gascony or
and 769, but the territory south of the Garonne remained Bernardo del
largely unscathed and self-governed. However, as of 778 Carpio)
Charlemagne expanded Frankish takeover of Aquitaine to
Strength
present-day Gascony, by appointing trusted Franks,
Burgundians, and Church officials in key regional positions 3,000 soldiers who Unknown but
and establishing counties, such as Fezensac, Bordeaux, and were crossing the large[2][3]
Toulouse, on the left bank of the Garonne. pass (Modern
est.)[1]
Sulayman al-Arabi, the pro-Abbasid Wali (governor) of
Barcelona and Girona, sent a delegation to Charlemagne, Casualties and losses
Master of the Franks in Paderborn, offering his submission,
along with the allegiance of Husayn of Zaragoza and Abu Taur All the men in the Unknown
of Huesca in return for military aid.[4] Their Lords had been rearguard were
cornered in the Iberian peninsula by Abd ar-Rahman I, the killed.
Umayyad emir of Córdoba. The three rulers also conveyed that
the caliph of Baghdad, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was preparing an invasion force against Abd ar-Rahman.[4]

Seeing an opportunity to extend Christendom and his own power, Charlemagne agreed to go to Spain. Al-
Arabi induced him to invade al Andalus by promising him an easy surrender of its Upper March, of which
Zaragoza was the capital. Following the sealing of this alliance at Paderborn,[5] Charlemagne marched
across the Pyrenees in 778 "at the head of all the forces he could muster".[6] Charlemagne led the Neustrian
army over Vasconia into the Western Pyrenees, while the Austrasians, Lombards, and Burgundians passed
over the Eastern Pyrenees through Catalonia. His troops were welcomed in Barcelona and Girona by
Sulayman al-Arabi.[7] As he moved towards Zaragoza, the troops of Charlemagne were joined by troops
led by al-Arabi, before eventually putting the city under siege.

Abd ar-Rahman of Córdoba sent his most trusted general, Thalaba Ibn Obeid, to take control of the
possibly rebellious city and to prevent the Frankish invasion. Husayn and Ibn Obeid clashed repeatedly;
eventually Husayn managed to defeat and to imprison Ibn Obeid. Reinforced in his autonomous position,
Husayn became reluctant to yield his new privileged status to the Frankish monarch and refused to
surrender the city to Charlemagne, claiming that he had never promised Charlemagne his allegiance. He
seems to have tried to appease Charlemagne by giving him the prisoner General Ibn Obeid and a large
tribute of gold, but Charlemagne was not easily satisfied, putting Sulayman al-Arabi in chains. Meanwhile,
the force sent by the Baghdad caliphate seems to have been stopped near Barcelona. Though initially
having the upper hand, the siege of Zaragoza dragged on for over a month.[8][9] Eventually a deal was
struck between Charlemagne and Husayn. The latter would pay gold and the release of several prisoners,
while the Franks in return would withdraw their siege.

Battle
Before leaving the Iberian Peninsula, Charlemagne decided to further secure his hold on the Basque
territory (Wasconia).[9] He first eliminated any possible opposition from the natives of the region (the
Basque tribes), believing that many of them were allied with the Moors. He gave orders to tear down the
walls of the Basque capital Pamplona, possibly fearing that it could be used for future conflicts. Some
primary sources suggest that he destroyed the city altogether,[9] and many towns in the region were also
razed.[10] Garrisons and military outposts were placed throughout the territory, and there were accounts of
the Franks' harsh treatment of the Basques during their occupation.[3]

After securing the region, Charlemagne marched for the Pyrenees mountain pass to return to France. Many
of his notable lords, such as Roland, military governor of the Breton March, and Eggihard, Mayor of the
Palace, were placed in the rearguard probably to protect the retreat and the baggage train.[1][8] Unknown to
Charlemagne, the enraged Basques sent their warriors in pursuit of him and his army in retaliation for the
destruction of their city, and the Basques' knowledge of the region helped them overtake the Franks.[11]

In the evening of August 15, Charlemagne's rearguard was suddenly attacked by the Basques as they
crossed the mountain pass. The Franks were caught off guard by the surprise attack, with their army in
confusion and disarray as they tried to escape the ambush.[12] The Basques managed to cut off and isolate
the Frankish rearguard and the baggage train from the rest of the escaping army, and although the Basques
were not as well-equipped, they held the upper ground and the knowledge of the terrain that gave them a
huge advantage in the skirmish.[8] As Charlemagne tried to regroup and evacuate his army, Roland and the
others held for a considerable amount of time before the Basques finally massacred them completely.
Though killed to the last man, the rearguard nonetheless succeeded in allowing Charlemagne and his army
to continue to safety.[3][8][13] The Basques then looted the baggage that was left behind and took advantage
of the darkness to flee, leaving no trace for the Franks to follow the following morning.[11][13] The revised
version of the Annales Regni reads:[12]

Having decided to return, [Charlemagne] entered the mountains of the Pyrenees, in whose
summits the Vascones had set up an ambush. They attacked the rearguard, causing confusion
which spread to all the army. And, while the Franks were superior to the Vascones both in
armament and in courage, the roughness of the terrain and the difference in the style of combat
made them generally weaker. In this battle were killed the majority of the paladins that the
King had placed in command of his forces. The baggage was sacked, and suddenly the enemy
vanished, thanks to their knowledge of the terrain. The memory of the injury so produced
overshadowed in the King's heart that of the feats done in Hispania.

The Basque army

One of the principal units of the Vascones was the guerrilla army of the Basques.[4] A later source, the
anonymous Saxon Poet, talks of the Basque spears, agreeing with the Pyrenean and Basque tradition much
later among the almogavars.[14] A typical Basque mountain warrior was armed with two short spears and a
knife or short sword as his main weapons, and bows or javelins for missile weapons. He would not
normally wear armour. Pierre de Marca, a Béarnese author, suggests that the attackers were a reduced
number of mostly local Low Navarrese, Souletines, and Baztanese, whose main motivation may have been
plunder.[12] The Vascones had a history of resisting Carolingian rule since the incursion of Frankish king
Pepin the Short, which saw the defeat of Waiofar, the last independent Duke of Aquitaine.[15]

The accounts of Einhard and Pierre de Marca suggest that the perpetrator of the attack was Lupo II of
Gascony.[16] He held the territory of the Pyrenees, making him responsible for the tragedy that happened in
his realm. Regions surrounding his kingdom such as Bordeaux were under the control of the Carolingians.
While the Duke did pay homage to Charlemagne by offering Hunald II (a rebel leader and a possible heir
to Waiofar) and his wife to him, there were disputes over the trans-Pyrenean Basques lands ruled by Lupo
and those under Carolingian suzerainty.[12] The authors of the General History of Languedoc also believed
in the same theory that the Duke was the leader of the attack. Their reasons were that he and the Vascones
opposed Carolingian expansion into Vasconia after the Franco-Aquitanian war (760–769).[17]

Location

The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form

a natural border between France and Spain, extending about
490 km (305 m) from Cap Higuer on the Bay of Biscay, to Cap de
Creus on the Mediterranean Sea. The range also separates the
Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Western Europe. Beyond the
Northern part of the pass lies much of the French frontier and
wilderness. The mountains are older than the Alps and have an
elevation of 1,777 m (5,862 feet).[10][18] These descriptions have Ibaneta (Roncevaux) pass
suggested various places where the battle could have taken place,
ranging from Navarre and Aragon to as far as Catalonia.
 The mainstream opinion is
that the battle took place
somewhere not far from
Roncevaux itself, as it is
not just on one of the
easiest routes but also the
traditional one. Indeed, the
Roman road Via ab
Asturica Burdigalam which
started in Castra Legiones
Map of the roads in Hispania. The (modern León) and went to
pass of Roncesvaux is located on Benearnum (mod. Lescar),
the Ab Asturica Burdigalam road that crossed the Pyrenees The Spanish March and surrounding
started in Castra Legiones to through Roncevaux. regions during the time of
[12] Charlemagne. Roncevaux Pass
Benearnum and meets Burdigala. However, the traditional
(labeled Roseida Vallis on this map)
Roman road (also called the
is to the northeast of Pamplona
Route of Napoleon)
(Pampilona)
followed a route different from the modern one, not crossing at
Ibañeta (the traditional location) but heading up eastwards and
crossing instead the Lepoeder and Bentartea passes – next to mount
Astobizkar – not far from mount Urkulu, identified as the Summum Pyreneum of the classic Roman
sources.[12][18][19]

Aftermath
Charlemagne biographer Einhard stated that the men in the rear
were "massacred to the last man."[20] The Vita Karoli mentions the
names of the most important lords killed such as Eggihard, Roland,
and Anselmus, the count palatine.[21] The battle caused numerous
losses among the Frankish troops, including several of the most
important aristocrats and the sack of the baggage, probably with all
the gold given by the Muslims at Zaragoza.

While the skirmish was a small setback, Charlemagne did lose huge
quantities of treasure and good men.[11][20] It was the only
significant defeat that Charlemagne ever suffered in his otherwise
successful military career.[20][22] Never again would Charlemagne
take it upon himself to lead an army to battle in Spain, having to
rely instead on his generals for future campaigns in the Iberian
Peninsula.[12] The Franks failed to capture Zaragoza and suffered a
significant loss at the hands of the Vascones, but Charlemagne The death of Roland and his men
would return to establish the Marca Hispanica, to serve as a buffer
region between his Christian empire and the Muslims to the south.
A decade later the Franks finally captured Barcelona.[11] He would also later establish the Kingdom of
Aquitaine with the son of Louis the Pious as its first king. Land in the Pyrenees would be overseen by
Carolingian officials, and distributed among colonisers and to the Spanish Church who were allied to
Charlemagne. A Christianization program was put in place across the high Pyrenees. The Basques would
continue their rebellion to Carolingian rule until the appointment of William of Gellone, who would
dissolve their rebellion after capturing and exiling Lupo's son and Basque leader Adalric in 790.[23]
Zaragoza, however, remained a Muslim city and capital of the Upper March, and later of an independent
emirate until the 11th century. Pamplona itself would remain in the hands of the Muslims until a rebellion in
798–801 expelled them as well. The Vascones would finally consolidate the Banu Qasi realm and
eventually the constitution of the independent Kingdom of Pamplona in 824 after the birth of a new
resistance to Carolingian rule. In that same year, the Basque army defeated another Carolingian army in the
same mountain pass. The second Battle of Roncevaux Pass was almost identical to the first, with the
Basques again taking advantage of the terrain, but against a much larger Frankish force. Unlike the first
battle in which Charlemagne's army managed to escape, the Carolingians led by Count Aeblus were
trapped and routed, and a larger number of their men were slaughtered than those of Charlemagne.[17]
Frankish vassals Aeblus and Aznar were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista's Pamplona and of the
Banu Qasi, consolidating the independence of both realms.[24]

Legacy
Over the years, this battle was romanticized by oral tradition into a
major conflict between Christians and Muslims although in fact, the
Basques of the period were mainly pagans and Charlemagne had
been allied to some of the Muslims. In the tradition, the Basques are
replaced by a force of 400,000 Saracens, and mythical objects such
as Durendal and Oliphant were also added.[9] Although Roland
died in the battle with little information about him, the battle
popularized him as a chivalric hero of honor in the Middle
Ages.[26] The Song of Roland, which commemorates the battle, Monument of the Battle of
Roncesvalles Pass. Note that
was written by an unknown poet of the 11th century. It is the
Roland's name is spelled in its
earliest surviving of the chansons de geste or epic poems of
medieval France written in Old French. Together with the Knights Spanish version "Roldan".[25]
of the Round Table in Britain, the story of Roland and the paladins
have become the archetypal icons of chivalry in Europe; greatly
influencing knightly culture and inspiring many Christian warriors
that came after. During the Battle of Hastings in 1066, knights and
soldiers under William the Conqueror, chanted the poem to inspire
themselves before their fight with the Anglo-Saxons.[27] The
English expression, "to give a Roland for an Oliver", meaning
either to offer a quid pro quo or to give as good as one gets, which
is referenced directly from the companionship of Roland and Oliver
during the battle.[28] One example was said during the Combat of
the Thirty in 1351; a judicial combat between two groups of Monument commemorating the 12th
knights during the Breton War of Succession. The knights were centenary of the Battle of Roncevaux
described by the French author Jean Froissart as "if they had been Pass, Roncesvalles, Navarre, Spain.
all Rolands and Olivers," which admired their honor and
companionship in battle.[29] Memorials have also been erected to
commemorate the battle, such as the Roncesvalles Pass Monument in Navarre, Spain.[30] Roland's Breach,
situated in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, is a gap thought to have been caused by Roland
while fighting.[31] At the summit of the Roncevaux Pass are the remains of an early chapel of San Salvador
also known as Charlemagne's Chapel and the Charlemagne Monument built in 1934; both built to
commemorate the Emperor's campaign in the region.[10]

The song is also commemorated in the Italian literary classic Orlando Furioso.[32] The battle is also
referenced in the song "Roncevaux" by Van der Graaf Generator, originally recorded in 1972 but only
released in rather rough form many years later on the album Time Vaults.[33] The battle and Orlando's
sacrifice inspired several composers, amongst whom were Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully,
Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel, who composed an Italian-language opera with Orlando.[34]
Modern adaptations of the battle drew heavily on the romanticized versions. A 1978 French film La
chanson de Roland features an adaptation of the Song of Roland and features the battle as depicted in the
poem.[35] The battle is also featured minimally in the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen: Black Dossier, in which Roland is named Orlando, an amalgamation of fictional characters that
were named Roland and Orlando.[36]

See also
Duchy of Vasconia
Kingdom of Navarre
Roland's Breach

References
1. Butt, John J. Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne. Greenwood (November 30, 2002). pp.
40–51. ISBN 978-0-313-31668-5
2. Hunt, Janin. Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. McFarland (2013). p. 32.
ISBN 978-0-7864-7274-1
3. Hamm, Jean Shepherd. Term Paper Resource Guide to Medieval History. Greenwood
(November 25, 2009). pp. 88–90. ISBN 978-0-313-35967-5
4. Lewis (2008) p. 244
5. Lewis (2008) p. 245
6. Lewis (2008) p. 246
7. Lewis (2008) p. 253
8. "This Day In History: August 15, 778" (http://www.historychannel.com.au/classroom/day-in-hi
story/754/battle-of-roncevaux-pass). History.
9. Lewis (2008) p. 249
10. Vicente, Rodriguez. "Orreaga; Roncevaux" (http://www.britannica.com/place/Roncesvalles#r
ef211366). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
11. Cline, Austin. "Charlemagne's Commander Roland Killed by Basques at Battle of
Roncevaux Pass" (http://skepticism.org/timeline/august-history/7754-charlemagnes-comma
nder-roland-killed-). Skepticism in History.
12. Narbaitz, Pierre. Orria, o la batall de Roncesvalles. 778. Elkar (1979). pp. 105–114.
ISBN 84-400-4926-9
13. Hickman, Kennedy. "Charlemagne: Battle of Roncevaux Pass" (http://militaryhistory.about.co
m/od/battleswarsto1000/p/roncevaux.htm). Military History.
14. 9th Century Spain (http://www.entrada1598.com/games/whancients/9thcenturyspain.pdf)
15. Lewis (1965) p. 30
16. Lewis (2008) p. 38
17. Lewis, Archibald R. (1965). The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society,
718–1050 (http://libro.uca.edu/lewis/sfcatsoc.htm). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 38–
50. ISBN 978-0-292-72941-4. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
18. "Roncesvalles" (https://web.archive.org/web/20151222130449/https://worldwalking.org/rout
e/qsygf3/milestone/nqo0ol). World Walking. Archived from the original (https://worldwalking.
org/route/qsygf3/milestone/nqo0ol) on 2015-12-22.
19. Collins, Roger (1990). The Basques (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. p. 122. ISBN 0-
631-17565-2.
20. Baker, Patrick (January 23, 2014). "A legend grows" (https://www.karwansaraypublishers.co
m/mwblog/a-legend-grows//). Karwasaray Publishers. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
21. Einhard, Notker the Stammerer. Two Lives Of Charlemagne. Digireads.com (January 1,
2010). General Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=EYY3AAAAQBAJ&q=Rola
nd). ISBN 978-1-4209-3811-1
22. Kearney, Milo. Further Studies in Rio Grande Valley History. University of Texas at
Brownsville (2006). ASIN B000NLBN3Y (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NLBN3Y).
23. "William of Aquitaine, St." (http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3407711861/william-aq
uitaine-st.html). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-17.
24. Ducado de Vasconia (Auñamendi Encyclopedia) (http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/38
128?op=4&primR=21&regs=10&idi=en&EIKVOGEN=Ducado%20Vasconia&pos=25)
25. Auriga Ediciones (1982). La canción de Roldán (https://books.google.com/books?id=SHZQ
kg2wDp8C) (in Spanish). Ediciones Rialp. p. 5. ISBN 9788472810761.
26. Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England, New York Burt Franklin,1963 p. iii.
ISBN 978-0-8337-2144-0
27. Gareth Pullen (December 20, 2015). "THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS AND THE
BEGINNINGS OF ANGLO-NORMAN ENGLAND" (https://www.google.com.ph/?gfe_rd=cr&e
i=wsJ2VtT2H4LN8gfUzpPADg#q=song+of+roland+battle+of+hastings). England and
English History.
28. Brown, Lesley, ed. (1993), The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (https://archive.org/de
tails/newshorteroxford00lesl/page/2618), vol. 2, Clarendon Press, p. 2618 (https://archive.or
g/details/newshorteroxford00lesl/page/2618), ISBN 978-0-19-861271-1
29. Craig Taylor (December 20, 2015). "Military Courage and Fear in the Late Medieval French
Chivalric Imagination" (https://crm.revues.org/12910). Journal of Medieval and Humanistic
Studies.
30. Leslie (September 3, 2015). "Day 1 St Jean to Roncesvalles" (http://www.caminoadventures.
com/camino-frances/st-jean-to-roncesvalles/). Camino Adventures.
31. "Parque Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130608180416/
http://reddeparquesnacionales.mma.es/parques/ordesa/guia_mapa.htm) archive.org,
retrieved 2013-08-20
32. Lodovico Ariosto. "Orlando furioso (Orlando Maddened)" (https://archive.today/20160217163
331/http://ww.operapaedia.org/Content/Operapaedia/Operas/Ariodante/LibrettoSource.htm).
Operapaedia. Archived from the original (http://ww.operapaedia.org/Content/Operapaedia/O
peras/Ariodante/LibrettoSource.htm) on 2016-02-17.
33. "Time Vaults" (http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/timevaults.htm). Van der Graaf
Generator. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
34. John Rockwell (December 20, 1981). "Opera: Handel's 'Orlando' At American Repertory" (htt
ps://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/20/arts/opera-handel-s-orlando-at-american-repertory.html).
The New York Times.
35. Clarke Fountain (2007). "New York Times: The Song of Roland" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20071101053945/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/147489/La-Chanson-de-Roland/overvi
ew). Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original (https://movies.nyti
mes.com/movie/147489/La-Chanson-de-Roland/overview) on 1 November 2007. Retrieved
26 October 2008.
36. Winter, Andrew; Moore, Alan (2007). "Northampton's Finest: Alan Moore Interview". Tripwire
Annual 2007. Tripwire Publishing. pp. 12–17. ISBN 978-0-9543751-1-9.
Further reading
Lewis, Archibald Ross (1965). The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society,
718–1050. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72941-4.
Lewis, David L. (2008). God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215 (https://
archive.org/details/godscrucibleisla00lewi) (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-
393-06472-8.
Xabier Irujo. 2021. Charlemagne’s Defeat in the Pyrenees: The Battle of Rencesvals.
Amsterdam University Press

External links
Earliest manuscript of the Chanson de Roland (http://image.ox.ac.uk/show?collection=bodle
ian&manuscript=msdigby23b), readable online images of the complete original, Bodleian
Library MS. Digby 23 (Pt 2), La Chanson de Roland, Anglo-Norman, 12th century, ?2nd
quarter.
The Song of Roland, trans. John O'Hagan (http://www.bartleby.com/49/2/)
"Battle of Roncesvalles" by Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867), from Legends of Charlemagne
(http://www.bartleby.com/183/18.html)
Romances de Bernardo del Carpio (https://web.archive.org/web/20070311004314/http://ww
w.sewanee.edu/Spanish/santiago/carpio.html) (in Spanish)
Roncesvalles carolingio y jacobeo (http://www.rencesvals.com) (in Spanish)

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