The Song of Roland: Who

1
The Song of Roland Whos Who

• Charlemagne (Charles the Great) king of France,
  uncle of Roland, brother-in-law of Ganelon
• Roland feudal vassal of Charlemagne
• Oliver ditto Rolands best friend Roland is
  engaged to Olivers sister Aude
• Archbishop Turpin warrior priest
• Naimon Charlemagnes vassal
• Ganelon step-father of Roland, feuds with him,
  betrays French

2
The Song of Roland Whos Who on the pagan side

• Marsilion pagan king of Spain already defeated
  by Charlemagne
• Blancandrin Marsilions advisor
• Aëlroth Marsilions nephew, he is the first to
  challenge Roland and to die in battle
• Bramimunde Marsilions queen, she will later
  convert to Christianity and become Juliana.

3
Roland as part of warrior culture

• Feudalism
• relation of lord to vassal paramount
• Emphasis on heroism in battle
• Roland cannot back down from battle
• Roland wants to be found dead in Spain, with his
  head turned towards his enemies
• Might is right
• Christianity shows itself to be best by winning
  battles, not converting minds

4
Roland as part of Christian culture

• Emphasis on forms of Christian worship
• attending matins and mass
• last confessions and absolutions from sin
• Oliver and Roland die forgiving one another
• Only Roland and Archbishop Turpin survive the
  battle.
• Roland reflects common Christian
  misunderstandings of Islam
• confuse Islam with polytheistic paganism
• celebrate crusades against Islam

5
Roland and Beowulf

• Roland
• composed 1100 set 800
• written 50 years after oral composition
• all lines end with same vowel sound, a pre-cursor
  to end rhyme
• warrior culture and Christian values
• Germanic tradition
• uncle-nephew society

• Beowulf
• composed 850 set 500
• written 150 years after oral composition
• sound device in poem is alliteration
• warrior culture values
• earliest poem in Germanic tradition of loyalty to
  group, leader
• uncle-nephew society