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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XXI. MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION

Rediscovering the Path to Europe
Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe


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Page 8

THE CHARLEMAGNE LEGEND

Many of the French epics centered about the commanding personality of Charlemagne. After his death he became a figure of legend. He was said to have reigned one hundred and twenty-five years, to have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to have risen from the dead to lead the First Crusade. Angels inspired his actions. His sword contained the point of the lance which pierced the Savior's side. His standard was the banner of St. Peter. Though history shows that Charlemagne had little contact with the Moslems, in the popular mind he stood forth as the great champion of Christianity against Islam.

SONG OF ROLAND

The oldest, and at the same time the finest, epic connected with Charlemagne is the Song of Roland. The poem centers around Roland, one of the twelve peers of France. When leading the rearguard of Charlemagne's army out of Spain, Roland is suddenly attacked by the treacherous Moors. He slays the enemy in heaps with his good sword, Durendal, and only after nearly all the Franks have perished sounds his magic horn to summon aid. Charlemagne, fifteen leagues distant, hears its notes and returns quickly. But before help arrives, Roland has fallen. He dies on the field of battle, with his face to the foe, and a prayer on his lips that "sweet France" may never be dishonored. This stirring poem appealed strongly to the martial Normans. A medieval chronicler relates that just before the battle of Hastings a Norman minstrel rode out between the lines, tossing his sword in air and catching it again, as he chanted the song "of Roland and of Charlemagne, of Oliver and many a brave vassal who lost his life at Roncesvalles."

 

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp


IN PRINT

Rediscovering the Path to Europe Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House

Learned Freeware

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy

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