ABSTRACT
Most scholars consider this poem to be the oldest chansons de geste, and the Oxford contains what is undoubtedly the oldest form of the poem (late 11th-/early 12th-cent assonanced French poetry). Many critics contend that the so-called “Baligant episode” is a later addition, though others are just as convinced that the 2nd half of the poem is an integral part of a unified whole. The plot: Charles receives a false offer of peace from the Saracen King Marsile. Charles unwisely trusts the offer and asks for a volunteer to take his reply. After offering his own services in vain, Roland nominates his step-father Ganelon, who is furious and formally defies Roland and all the other peers before leaving on the mission. Ganelon helps the Saracens plan an ambush of the French rear-guard and ensures that Roland will command it. When Oliver sees the Saracen army, he asks Roland to blow his olifant and bring reinforcements; Roland refuses. The French prevail in the 1st Saracen onslaught but cannot withstand the next. When Roland finally blows his horn, Charles hears it, imprisons Ganelon, and turns back. He is too late to save the peers, but wreaks a terrible vengeance. Marsile’s feudal overlord, Baligant, arrives with a new army. Charles and the emir fight a single combat and Charles wins. He buries the dead with honor and returns to France to bring Ganelon to trial. Ganelon claims he defied the peers openly, so he has not committed treason. The intimidated jury accepts this defense, but young Thierry defeats Ganelon’s kinsman Pinabel in a trial by combat and Ganelon is executed.
