Song of Roland (better version is part of Middle Ages Lit power point

Romance ► First epics are heroic; thereafter they take on characteristics of the romance  Assimilating loves stories written in the spirit of courtly love ► A tradition that idealized women and turned the conventions of human love almost literally into a religion ► Earlier Romances, chansons de geste (Songs of Deeds). like Roland, are men-at- war

Background ► Written in Old French circa 1100  Composed 300 years earlier  Oral songs accompanied by lyres. ► Song of Roland is the earliest and best known example of the Song of Deed romance.  Unknown until 1832 when the first of several manuscripts was discovered.  The best of these is at Oxford University that is a copy by an Anglo-Norman scribe of an earlier version.  Many conspiracies and hypotheses about the origin, poet, and facts of Roland

Background ► We think this was written at the beginning of the Crusades. By telling a story of the Great Charlemagne, the hope is to inspire current fighters. ► The values of the poem are simply identified.  Exclusively deal with war and religion  Success in battle is vital, not only for personal reasons but also to prove God is on your side  Christians are good, Saracens are evil ► although some are great warriors and honorable  philosophical subtleties are absent, as are inward conflicts