E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
LA CHANSON DE ROLAND
TRANSLATED FROM THE SEVENTH EDITION OF LEON
GAUTIER, PROFESSOR AT THE ECOLE DES
CHARTES, PARIS.
BY
LÉONCE RABILLON,
Licencié en droit, Paris University, French Lecturer at
Johns Hopkins University.
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1885
COPYRIGHT, 1885
BY
HENRY HOLT & CO.
W. L. MERSHON & CO.,
Printers and Electrotypers,
RAHWAY, N. J.
TO
DANIEL C. GILMAN,
President of Johns Hopkins University,
THIS TRANSLATION
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
[vii]
PREFACE.
Several years ago, the maker of this version translated into French oneof the early works of H. W. Longfellow. This circumstance was notforgotten by the American poet who kindly consented to listen to thisnew attempt at rendering into English the "CHANSON DE ROLAND."
To his encouragement is due the present publication. The writer willever proudly treasure up the remembrance of his friendly welcome andcounsel....
The translator has followed, as literally as possible, the text of theOxford MS., as revised by Léon Gautier. The parts inclosed inparentheses are interpolations of the learned Professor. This revisedtext should be kept in hand by the English reader for comparison withthe original, which is nine centuries old. The translator may thus bemore likely to obtain the indulgence of the reader for the quaintrepresentation, in a modern language, of the coloring of this mostancient poem.
[viii]The orthography of all the names, as well as their prosodic accent, hasbeen preserved in their ancient form; and accordingly, an index has beenappended to the work.
The seventh edition of Léon Gautier's "CHANSON DE ROLAND," contains avast amount of explanatory notes, grammatical and historical, to whichthe reader is referred.
HISTORY OF THE POEM.
On the 15th of August, 778, in a little Pyrenean Valley, still known inour days by the name of Ronceval, a terrible event took place.Charlemagne, returning from his expedition to Spain, crossed that valleyand the Pyrenees, leaving his rear-guard in command of Roland, Prefectof the Marches of Brittany. His main army had passed unmolested; but atthe moment when the rear-guard advanced into the defiles of themountain, thousands of Gascons rushed from their ambush, fell upon theFrench army and slaughtered the whole guard to the last man. So perishedRoland.
Eginhard, the historian of Charlemagne, terminates his narrative withthese words: "The House-intendant, (Regiæ mensæ præpositus), Eggihard,Anselm, Count of the Palace, Roland, Prefect of the Marches of Brittany(Hruolandus britannici limitis præfectus), with many more, perished in[ix]the fight. It was not possible to take revenge on the spot. Thetreacherous attempt once perpetrated, the enemy dispersed and left notrace." (Eginhard's Life of Charlemagne, Vol. I., p. 31; edition of theSociété de l'histoire de France.)
From the moment of the defeat of Ronceval, legend commenced its laborupon this truly epic event which, in its origin, is absolutely French,but has found its echoes throughout Europ