Song Of Roland

The Song of Roland is an epic poem which takes place during the crusades. This short story fully embraces it epicness with its fierce battle scenes, and heroic deeds. Not only does this poem encompass intense adventure, but it delves deeper and discusses religious aspects. There are multiple portrayals in this poem; however, throughout this paper I will be discussing how important swords are to knights, and that Lord and vassal relationships hold more power than family ties.

As stated before, this epic is filled with grueling battle, and mighty, magnificent knights. It is not new information that in order to be a successful knight, one must obtain a majestic steed and a fearsome sword. Without these two very important pieces, a knight would

Although these two items are needed to make an impressive knight, the sword proves to be vastly more important. This can be supported by multiple parts in the epic, for example: “May you never be owned by a man who flees in battle” (171, pg 102). This quote is describing how when Roland was dying, a Muslim knight tired to come and steal his sword. He fears for the fare of his incredible sword Durendal. Because of all of the triumphs Durendal has had, it is scared to Roland, and he know that it must never fall into the hands of a Muslim. So, to try and protect the honor and glory of Durendal, Roland tries to smash and break the sword against a rock “For this sword I grieve and sorrow; I should rather die than leave it in pagan hands” (172, pg 103). This proves a failure, and Roland knows that now he must die. Another example as to

The Lord and vassal relationship is one of mutual loyalty. The vassal vowed to serve the Lord, take care of his land, pay taxes, and fight for their Lord in battle. In return, the Lord offered protection to all of his loyal vassals. Honor, trust, and loyalty are portrayed as being the most important features of the Lord-vassal relationship in this epic. More often than not, there are family ties spread throughout feudalism, but I believe that this epic portrayed the Lord and vassal relationship as holding more power, for example: “Whatever Roland may have done to Ganelon, the act of serving you should have protected him” (284, pg 151). This quote happened when Ganelon was on trial for betraying his emperor, Roland, and fellow vassals. It was mentioned that Ganelon was Roland’s step-father, yet that is not why he is on trial. He is on trial for committing treason, because he betrayed that Lord-vassal relationship. This is a terrible offense, because vassals must pledge their service, honor, and loyalty to their Lord. Another example that family ties do not play as powerful as a role is: “Roland wronged me in respect of gold and wealth; for which reason I sought his death and woe” (278, pg 148). This quote came from Ganelon. He said this when he was discussing why he decided to help Marsile. Once again, barely anything was mentioned about Ganelon being Roland’s step-father. Ganelon just