ABSTRACT
Among the relatively numerous family of Roland manuscripts, the Occitan Ronsasvals looks like a short text, with its 1802 lines compared with the 4002 of the Oxford version or 8200 of that of Chateauroux. So this strengthens the case for stressing the large space it devotes to laments for the dead. In the Oxford Roland, the death of the ‘secondary’ peers contains little detail and in particular the chain of events follows on swiftly: the various Saracens who kill them are immediately punished by Roland, Oliver and Turpin, which therefore leaves little space for lament. The Ronsasvals author had many devices at his disposal to avoid monotony; the Oxford text for example groups the deaths of heroes together, and varies the avengers by involving not just Roland but also Turpin and Oliver. The author makes Falsabroni a symbol of death: impossible to reach, he strikes like lightning before disappearing into the thick of the Saracen ranks, leaving a corpse behind.
