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Who Is Roland To Charlemagne?

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“If someone can bring about the death of Roland, then Charles would lose the right arm of his body, that marvelous army would disappear – never again could Charles gather such forces.. Then peace at last for the Land of Fathers!”(45.596-600) The above passage from the Song of Roland validates the importance of Roland to Charlemagne. After all, Roland was a hero in this epic poem. He was one of Charlemagne’s nephews, his favorite, and an exceptional warrior. Roland understood the importance of the Frankish campaign with Spain as a crusade, and never allowed settlement with the Saracens. Ganelon, Roland’s stepfather, was also a great warrior and was named the messenger to the Saracens by Roland. This infuriated him so he sought revenge. …show more content…

They are the basis of how society operated during the Middle Ages. Furthermore, Roland was an important and faithful vassal to his lord Charlemagne; Ganelon believed that by killing him, along with Charlemagne’s other vassals in the rear guard, he would ravage Charlemagne and hopefully triumph over him. Feudalism during this time was solely based on the premise of hierarchy and very prominent. Thus, the reader would be able to understand Ganelon’s reasoning manifested by lord and vassal relationships. In the Song of Roland, Charlemagne was the lord, while Roland and Ganelon were his vassals. Charlemagne depends on all of his vassals, especially Roland, to obey his will and assist him in the times of need. The duties of an ardent vassal to his lord is disclosed in Roland: “A man must bear some hardships for his lord, stand everything, the great heat, the great cold, lose the hide and hair on him for his good lord. Now let each man make sure to strike hard here…” (Goldin, pp 1625-1678). Feudalism was the political system during the Middle Ages that used a complex web of lord and vassal relationships to operate. “The sense of the word feudalism may be regarded as a body of institutions creating and regulating the obligations of obedience and service, mainly military service, on the part of a free man (the vassal) towards another free man (the lord), and the obligations of protection and maintenance on the part of the lord with regard to his vassal” (Ganshof).

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