Cultural Analysis Of Song Of Roland And The Pagan Saracens

Throughout the ages, religion has been an area of topic that people have argued, fighting both for and against relentlessly. What must one do in order to follow a religion? What beliefs and values should help construct a specific religion? Of all the world religions, whose is the correct one that should be followed? The debate between the Christian faith and the Muslim faith has been a topic of disagreement for centuries that presents itself in Song of Roland. The story is more than just a battle of war between the Christian Franks, and the Pagan Saracens; a deeper cultural analysis shows the ways in which each side fights for the sake of their god. While the Franks believe that they can convert the Muslims to Christianity by force, the Saracens

In the mid to late tenth century, the Benedictine Reform occurred, an event that began the tightening up and created more regulations within the Christian language. During this time period, many monasteries and churches were led by secular clergymen that lived immoral lifestyles. These non Christian clergymen were men who “gave way to ease, and ease by a natural transition [that] passed into luxury…We hear much complaint about immoderate feasting and drinking in vanity in dress. In the religious houses, discipline became lax, services were neglected, monasteries were occupied by groups of secular priests, many of them married immorality was flagrant. The work of education was neglected, and learning decayed. (Baugh 83). Because the clergymen were not moral, a decline in religion was seen, and due to this shift, a change needed to be made. Religious leaders of the day came together and created the Benedictine Rule and replaced secular clergy by “monks [who] pledged to the threefold vow of chastity, obedience and poverty (84). This tightening up of the religion is mirrored in the lives and actions of the Christian Franks who follow their leader Charlemagne who is seen as the “emperor of the entire Christian world” (Puchner 219). The Benedictine Reform was resulted in a serious shift of attitude towards Christianity that

The text is contradictory because it goes against one of Christianity’s most basic principles: love. Instead of loving their Pagan neighbors, the Franks choose to use the “Christian justification of violence as a means of combat against the Pagans” (Kablitz 117). This action of battle fought in the name of religion against the Saracens is not a new concept; in fact, the poet of Song of Roland may have drawn some inspiration from the First Crusade. This historical event results in “a story of Christian battle against Muslim armies, inseparable for the medieval reader from the waves of crusades then being launched by European nations in an effort to conquer the Holy City of Jerusalem” (Puchner 220). The Christian Crusades were also a battle between Christians and Muslims which has also contributed to the tension that remains between the two religions. While the Pagans are made out to be godless, immoral heathens, the Christians pride themselves on being superior to their neighbors forgetting moral concepts of respect and