[MUSIC] Welcome back to The Age of Cathedrals. We ended our last time together with a discussion of the Chartres Charlemagne Window, which depicts at its uppermost reaches the death of the hero Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, ambushed by Saracens in a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees. Though Charlemagne never became a saint because of his sin, which is alluded to at the very top of the window dedicated to the literary legends which surround his exploits, he was dear to Chartres, because it was Charlemagne who brought back to France the cathedral's most precious relics, the sacred tunic, which Mary wore at the time of Christ's birth. As a defender of France, Roland too is essential to Chartres. And he appears not only in death, but living and standing tall among the jamb statues of Chartres' south portal next to Saints Lawrence, Clement, and Stephen. Notice the fleur-de-lis on Roland's shield, a clear anachronism, since the fleur-de-lis was the symbol of Saint Louis who lived four centuries after the emperor's mythic nephew. The symbol serves, nevertheless, to link the Capetian kings of France to the Carolingian past. The real Charlemagne, who ruled from 768 until his death in 814, had managed to restore order several centuries after the collapse of Rome. Charlemagne considered himself the heir of Rome and had himself crowned the emperor by the Pope in the year 800. Although, as his biographer Eginhard tells us, Charles the Great never learned to read, he loved learning, imported scholars, especially from England, initiated monastic reform and developed a unified system of government that lasted as long as he lived, but it crumbled after his death. Charlemagne's grandsons, Louis the German, Charles the Bald and Lothaire warred with each other, and the chaos which ensued left Europe open to a second wave of invasions, by the Arabs from the South, Hungarians from the East, and from the Northwest Scandinavians who settled in what is now Normandy. At the end of this period and beginning around the time of the First Crusade at the end of the 11th century, the French kings managed gradually to recapture the power that had escheated to local lords during the period, sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages. And part of the growth of France in the 12th and 13th centuries involved a looking back to the Carolingians and Charlemagne. And this especially in the first literary work in old French, The Song of Roland. The Song of Roland is based, as we saw, in part on a historical event of 778 and in part on legend, which grew around the event. The Song of Roland recounts the story of Charlemagne's expedition into Spain. Which corresponds to the reconquest of Spain from the Arabs, especially in the 10th century and the return to France. In the course of crossing the the Pyrenees, on the way home, the rear guard of the French Army, led by Roland, who had been nominated to that position by the envious traitor Ganelon, is attacked by Saracens, though it is Basques in the historical account. Roland defends himself heroically but is killed. Not, however, before blowing his horn, as we saw near the top of the Charlemagne Window, to summon Charles, who turns around, takes revenge upon the Saracen leader, Baligant, then returns to his capital in Aix-la-Chapelle, where Ganelon is tried and executed. The Song of Roland, which you have read, offers about as good a glimpse as one can find of the society of the 10th and 11th centuries. You will remember that in the first part of the poem, we are witness to a discussion about whether to make war or peace. And when the decision comes down on the side of peace, Ganelon, who is married to Charlemagne's sister and is Roland's stepfather, is nominated by Roland to negotiate terms with the Saracen king. Ganelon is so furious at the prospect of this mission, which he thinks means certain death, because two emissaries sent earlier did not return, that he threatens to get even. Now if God grants that I come back from there, threatens Ganelon, you will have trouble. I'll start a feud with you. It will go on to the end of your life. Roland, however, is unshaken and increases the insult by offering to go in Ganelon's place. What wild words--all that blustering. Everybody knows that threats don't worry me, but we'll need a wise man to bring the message. If the King wills, I'll gladly go in your place. Ganelon answers, you will not go for me. You're not my man, and I am not your lord. These are special words, lord and man, terms that define, in fact, the basic social relationships between men, of what is known for better or worse as feudal society. Military feudalism, which is the nucleus of the chivalric world. About the only human groupings that survived the collapse of the Carolingian empire were those based upon blood or family. Not the modern nuclear family with its parents, two children and a dog, but the extended family or clan, consisting of true kin ties, doubled by those based upon a fictive form of kinship, known as vassalage or homage, between a stronger man possessed of the means of self-defense, arms, horses, and a castle, a lord or senior, and a weaker man seeking protection, his commanded man or his vassal. Here is another example from the late 11th century. it figures on the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered account of the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Latin writing accompanying the image reads, here William gave arms to Harold as he places his hands on Harold's arm and head. The lord promised to nourish and protect his vassal. The vassal, in turn, promised to counsel his lord and to render military assistance. Consilium, or counsel on the one hand, and auxilium, or aid, on the other. Roland is a poem, which on presents only the upper classes of society. With the exception of the kitchen boys who seized Ganelon once his betrayal has become evident, those in a subordinate role, that is the serfs, have stayed at home. One must add too that Roland is a poem with a certain gender bias. There are few women in this early French epic. Only the pagan leader, Marsiles' wife, Bramimonde, whose role is to convert once she has been captured. And Aude, Oliver's sister and Roland's fiancee, whose role is to die when she hears of the hero's death. The mass of women have stayed home, like Aude with the serfs. This particular manuscript illustration is from a late 13th or early 14th century German version of Roland by a poet by the name of Der Stricker.
