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A review by tomleetang
The Song of Roland by Unknown
4.0
I don't think one can count this among the great epics, but there is something about this long poem that really struck me: how nobly the enemy are portrayed.
Set during the historic Battle of Roncevaux Pass - the only battle King Charlemagne ever lost - The Song of Roland rewrites history to make it a climactic fight between Christendom and the kingdoms of Islam. Composed during a time when Christian and Muslim antipathy was at a peak, the unknown author doesn't whitewash the villains as merely sly and wicked. Instead, the heroes of the Saracens (and the treacherous French Ganelon) are just as noble as those they face; valiant and, above all, understandable, they fight just as fiercely for their beliefs as the noble Roland and King Charlemagne.
Written at a time when being openly Islamophobic would not incur the slightest criticism, there's still plenty of sympathy and admiration to be found in this work for the Muslim host.
Perhaps most interestingly, the ending seems to question the value of having religious wars at all. Certainly not a popular position in the 11th century.
Set during the historic Battle of Roncevaux Pass - the only battle King Charlemagne ever lost - The Song of Roland rewrites history to make it a climactic fight between Christendom and the kingdoms of Islam. Composed during a time when Christian and Muslim antipathy was at a peak, the unknown author doesn't whitewash the villains as merely sly and wicked. Instead, the heroes of the Saracens (and the treacherous French Ganelon) are just as noble as those they face; valiant and, above all, understandable, they fight just as fiercely for their beliefs as the noble Roland and King Charlemagne.
Written at a time when being openly Islamophobic would not incur the slightest criticism, there's still plenty of sympathy and admiration to be found in this work for the Muslim host.
Perhaps most interestingly, the ending seems to question the value of having religious wars at all. Certainly not a popular position in the 11th century.