THE SONG

OF
ROLAND
(La Chanson de Roland)

A FRENCH EPIC
Chanson de Geste
Chanson de Geste
– A song of heroic deeds.
 Roland is in many
ways the perfect knight.
Strong, courageous, and
honorable. He is loved
by his king,
Charlemagne, and
worshipped by his men.
He has only one enemy,
his stepfather, Ganelon.
The story begins in Spain where Charlemagne has
been harassing the Saracens (a medieval term for
Muslims) defeating them in many battles and
*besieging their major cities.

*besieging - surrounding
King Charlemagne
The Muslim king Marsilla, hatches a plan to trick
Charlemagne into leaving. He promises
Charlemagne many *lavish gifts, tribute, and
hostages if he will go back to France and wait for
Marsilla to follow. He further promises that when he
comes to Charlemagne's court to swear loyalty to
him, he will also convert to Christianity.
*lavish - luxurious
King Marsilla planning to trick King Charlemagne.
Charlemagne believes him and prepares to leave. He
sends Ganelon, at Roland's suggestion, to take the
message of his acceptance to Marsilla. Ganelon uses
the opportunity to create a plan
to kill Roland.
Ganelon at Saragossa.
Ganelon and king Marsilla planning to kill Roland.
 He promises the Saracens that he will support their
plan and arrange for Roland to lead the rear guard
that will protect the Charlemagne's back as he turns
for France. He arranges for the Saracens to attack
Roland's forces with a much larger force. The plan
goes just the way Ganelon predicts and Roland is
ambushed.
Battle of Roncevaux Pass
 When they realize the size of the Saracen force,
Roland's friend Oliver tries to convince him to blow
his great horn, Oliphant, for help. Roland refuses
to blow the horn and the French fight a magnificent
battle, but they are over numbered and the tide
turns against them.
Roland refuses to blow the Oliphant.
Although, Roland knows it is too late for any help to
come, he blows his horn so that Charlemagne
will know what happened to them. Soon after he
is struck in the head and dies, his soul went directly
to Paradise.
Roland finally blowing the Oliphant.
Roland’s soul carried off by angels.
When Charlemagne arrives, he *grieves deeply at the
death of his men, particularly Roland.

*grieves - mourns
King Charlemagne grieves over the death of Roland.
 He first allows his army to chase the *fleeing
Saracens into a river where they drown. Then he
gathers them to grieve and bury the dead. The
Saracens return with reinforcements under the
Emir, Baligant, and meet Charlemagne's forces in
battle. The battle is fought fiercely on both sides but
Charlemagne’s forces *prevail and the Saracens
flee. *fleeing - escaping
*prevail - succeed
King Charlemagne *avenging the death of Roland.
*avenging – taking revenge
Charlemagne returns victoriously to his court in Aix
with Marsilla's wife who has sworn to embrace
Christ.
King Charlemagne coming back after his triumph.
 Soon after the battle, the Franks *deduced
Ganelon's *treachery and he is brought back to Aix
in chains for trial. Found guilty in a trial by
*combat, Ganelon is *subjected to a painful
death as a traitor.
*combat – conflict
*subjected to – open to
*deduced – realized
*treachery – disloyalty
Ganelon being *persecuted by the people.
*persecute – treat someone cruelly or unfairly
Ganelon’s punishment.
THE END.
Thank you so much for listening!
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