introduction in french literature, the plot of the story of the song of roland

1. French Literature
The Song of Roland

2. Some Important Information
in French Literature
• Every French high school student knows (or should!)....
It is taught in school that the first piece of French literature
(i.e. not in Latin) is La Chanson de Roland, written at the end
of the Xth Century, which tells the story of the death of the a
nephew of Charlemagne.

3. • François Rabelais
(1494-1553) and the
myth of Gargantua,
the good giant :

4. Poets
• 19th century
Victor Hugo (1802-
1885)
• 20th century
Jean-Paul
Sartre (1905-1980)
• 16th century
François
Rabelais (1494-1553)
• 17th century
Jean-Baptiste
Poquelin, known as
Molière
• 18th century
Montesquieu (1689-
1755)

5. Famous characters from
French literature
• Often used in Hollywood
or Walt Disney movies :
• Blue-Beard ("Barbe
Bleue"), Cinderella("Cen
drillon"), Sleeping
Beauty ("La Belle au Bois
Dormant"), Little Red
Riding Hood ("le Petit
Chaperon Rouge") and
many others come from
"Les Contes de ma Mère
l'Oye", by Charles
Perrault (1628-1703)

6. • The Little Prince ("Le Petit
Prince") was created by
writer and pilot Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry(1900-1944)
• The Hunchback of Notre-
Dame ("Quasimodo")
comes from "Notre-Dame
de Paris", by Victor
Hugo (1802-1885)
• The Three
Musketeers ("Les Trois
Mousquetaires") is a novel
by Alexandre Dumas (1802-
1870)

7. The Song of Roland
French Literature

8. The Song of Roland Books (La
Chanson de Roland)

9. Information about the Epic
• Turoldus – The poet
who estimated by
the scholars who
wrote “The Song of
Roland” between
approximately 10th
and 11th century.
- his name
was include at the very
end of the epic.

10. • Digby23 – The
manuscript where
“The song of Roland”
was found in 12th
century.

11. • Bodleian Library –
Located in Oxford,
England where “The
Song of Roland” kept.

12. • Epic – telling a story
about a hero or
about exciting events
or adventures.

13. Important Details
• Charlemagne’s Army – The Army from France.
• Marsilla – Muslim King from Spain.
• Roland – One of the Charlemagne’s Army (The Protagonist of
the Story).
• Ganelon – The stepfather of Roland who betrayed him.
• Roncesvalles – The battle Field in the story.
• Olifant – A horn made from the tusk of the elephant.
• Baligant – Marsilla’s ally from babylon.

14. The Plot of the Epic
The song of Roland

15. Charlemagne's army is fighting the Muslims in Spain.

16. The last city standing is Saragossa, held by the Muslim king Marsilla

17. Threatened by the might of Charlemagne's army of Franks, Marsilla sends out messengers
to Charlemagne, promising treasure and Marsilla's conversion to Christianity if the Franks
will go back to France.

18. Charlemagne and his men, tired of fighting, accept his peace offer and select a messenger
to Marsilla's court. Protagonist Roland nominates his stepfather Ganelon as messenger.

19. Ganelon, who fears to be murdered by the enemy and accuses Roland of intending this,
takes revenge by informing the Saracens of a way to ambush the rear guard of
Charlemagne's army, led by Roland, as the Franks re-enter Spain through the mountain
passes.

20. As Ganelon predicted, Roland leads the rear guard, with the wise and moderate Oliver and
the fierce Archbishop Turpin.

21. The Muslims ambush them at Roncesvalles, and the Christians are overwhelmed. Oliver
asks Roland to blow his olifant to call for help from the Frankish army; but Roland proudly
refuses to do so.

22. The Franks fight well, but are outnumbered, until almost all Roland's men are dead and he
knows that Charlemagne's army can no longer save them. Despite this, he blows his olifant
to summon revenge, until his temples burst and he dies a martyr's death. Angels take his
soul to Paradise.

23. When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find the dead bodies of Roland's
men, and pursue the Muslims into the river Ebro, where they drown.

24. Meanwhile Baligant, the powerful emir of Babylon, has arrived in Spain to help Marsilla, and
his army encounters that of Charlemagne at Roncesvalles, where the Christians are burying
and mourning their dead.

25. Both sides fight valiantly - when Charlemagne kills Baligant, the Muslim army scatters and
flees, and the Franks conquer Saragossa. With Marsilla's wife Bramimonde, Charlemagne
and his men ride back to Aix, their capital in France.

26. The Franks discover Ganelon's betrayal and keep him in chains until his trial, where Ganelon
argues that his action was legitimate revenge, not treason.

27. While the council of barons assembled to decide the traitor's fate is initially swayed by this
claim, one man, Thierry, argues that, because Roland was serving Charlemagne when
Ganelon delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a betrayal.

28. Ganelon's friend Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat, in which, by divine
intervention, Thierry kills Pinabel.

29. The Franks are convinced by this of Ganelon's villainy; wherefore he is torn apart by
galloping horses and thirty of his relatives are hanged.