Chanson de roland wikipedia

It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions, which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in Medieval and Renaissance literature from the 12th to 16th centuries. The epic poem written in Old French is the first [ 1 ] and one of the most outstanding examples of the chanson de geste , a literary form that flourished between the 11th and 16th centuries in Medieval Europe and celebrated legendary deeds.

An early version was composed around AD, with additions and alterations made up to about AD. The final poem contains about 4, lines.

How did roland die

Although set in the Carolingian era , the Song of Roland was written centuries later. There is a single extant manuscript of the Song of Roland. It is held at the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Scholars estimate that the poem was written between approximately and — possibly by a poet named Turold Turoldus in the manuscript itself — and that most of the alterations were completed by about Some favor the earlier dating, which allows that the narrative was inspired by the Castilian campaigns of the s and that the poem was established early enough to be a major influence in the First Crusade , — Others favor a later dating based on brief passages which are interpreted as alluding to events of the First Crusade.