Battle of Roncevaux Pass
Battle of Roncevaux Pass | |||||||
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Part of Charlemagne's campaign in the Iberian Peninsula | |||||||
15th-century anonymous painting of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Franks (Christian) | Basques (pagan) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Charlemagne Roland † |
Unknown (speculated: Lupo II of Gascony or Bernardo del Carpio ) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3,000 soldiers who were crossing the pass (modern est.)[1] | Unknown but large[2][3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
All the men in the rearguard were killed. | Unknown |
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (
The Basque attack was in retaliation for Charlemagne's destruction of the city walls of their capital,
Among those killed in the battle was
Background
With the rise of the
Seeing an opportunity to extend
Abd ar-Rahman of Córdoba sent his most trusted general, Thalaba Ibn Obeid, to take control of the possibly rebellious city and to prevent the Frankish invasion. Husayn and Ibn Obeid clashed repeatedly; eventually Husayn managed to defeat and to imprison Ibn Obeid. Reinforced in his autonomous position, Husayn became reluctant to yield his new privileged status to the Frankish monarch and refused to surrender the city to Charlemagne, claiming that he had never promised Charlemagne his allegiance. He seems to have tried to appease Charlemagne by giving him the prisoner General Ibn Obeid and a large tribute of gold, but Charlemagne was not easily satisfied, putting Sulayman al-Arabi in chains. Meanwhile, the force sent by the Baghdad caliphate seems to have been stopped near Barcelona. Though Charlemagne's forces initially held the upper hand, the siege of Zaragoza dragged on for over a month.[8][9] Eventually a deal was struck between Charlemagne and Husayn. The latter would pay gold and the release of several prisoners, while the Franks in return would withdraw their siege.[citation needed]
Battle
History of the Basques |
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Before leaving the Iberian Peninsula, Charlemagne decided to further secure his hold on the Basque territory (Wasconia).
After securing the region, Charlemagne marched for the Pyrenees mountain pass to return to France. Many of his notable
In the evening of August 15, Charlemagne's rearguard was suddenly attacked by the Basques as they crossed the mountain pass. The Franks were caught off guard by the surprise attack, with their army in confusion and disarray as they tried to escape the ambush.[12] The Basques managed to cut off and isolate the Frankish rearguard and the baggage train from the rest of the escaping army, and although the Basques were not as well-equipped, they held the upper ground and the knowledge of the terrain that gave them a huge advantage in the skirmish.[8] As Charlemagne tried to regroup and evacuate his army, Roland and the others held for a considerable amount of time before the Basques finally massacred them completely. Though killed to the last man, the rearguard nonetheless succeeded in allowing Charlemagne and his army to continue to safety.[3][8][13] The Basques then looted the baggage that was left behind and took advantage of the darkness to flee, leaving no trace for the Franks to follow the following morning.[11][13] The revised version of the Annales Regni reads:[12]
Having decided to return, [Charlemagne] entered the mountains of the Pyrenees, in whose summits the Vascones had set up an ambush. They attacked the rearguard, causing confusion which spread to all the army. And, while the Franks were superior to the Vascones both in armament and in courage, the roughness of the terrain and the difference in the style of combat made them generally weaker. In this battle were killed the majority of the paladins that the King had placed in command of his forces. The baggage was sacked, and suddenly the enemy vanished, thanks to their knowledge of the terrain. The memory of the injury so produced overshadowed in the King's heart that of the feats done in Hispania.
The Basque army
One of the principal units of the Vascones was the
The accounts of Einhard and Pierre de Marca suggest that the perpetrator of the attack was
Location
The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain, extending about 490 km (305 m) from
The mainstream opinion is that the battle took place somewhere not far from Roncevaux itself, as it is not just on one of the easiest routes but also the traditional one. Indeed, the Roman road Via ab Asturica Burdigalam which started in Castra Legiones (modern León) and went to Benearnum (mod. Lescar), crossed the Pyrenees through Roncevaux. However, the historical Roman road (also called the Route of Napoleon) followed a route different from the modern one, not crossing at Ibañeta (the traditional location) but heading up eastwards and crossing instead the Lepoeder and Bentartea passes – next to mount Astobizkar – not far from mount Urkulu, identified as the Summum Pyreneum of the classic Roman sources.[12][18][19]
Aftermath
Charlemagne biographer Einhard stated that the men in the rear were "massacred to the last man."[20] The Vita Karoli mentions the names of the most important lords killed such as Eggihard, Roland, and Anselmus, the count palatine.[21][page needed] The battle caused numerous losses among the Frankish troops, including several of the most important aristocrats and the sack of the baggage, probably with all the gold given by the Muslims at Zaragoza.[citation needed]
While the skirmish was a small setback, Charlemagne did lose huge quantities of treasure and good men.
Zaragoza, however, remained a Muslim city and capital of the Upper March, and later of an
Legacy
Over the years, this battle was
The song is also commemorated in the Italian literary classic
See also
- Duchy of Vasconia
- Kingdom of Navarre
- Roland's Breach
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-31668-5
- ISBN 978-0-7864-7274-1
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-35967-5
- ^ a b c Lewis (2008) p. 244
- ^ Lewis (2008) p. 245
- ^ Lewis (2008) p. 246
- ^ Lewis (2008) p. 253
- ^ History. Archived from the originalon 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
- ^ a b c d Lewis (2008) p. 249
- ^ a b c Vicente, Rodriguez. "Orreaga; Roncevaux". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Cline, Austin. "Charlemagne's Commander Roland Killed by Basques at Battle of Roncevaux Pass". Skepticism in History. Archived from the original on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
- ^ ISBN 84-400-4926-9
- ^ a b Hickman, Kennedy. "Charlemagne: Battle of Roncevaux Pass". Military History. Archived from the original on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
- ^ 9th Century Spain
- ^ Lewis (1965) p. 30
- ^ Lewis (2008) p. 38
- ^ a b
ISBN 978-0-292-72941-4. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
- ^ a b "Roncesvalles". World Walking. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22.
- ^
Collins, Roger (1990). The Basques (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. p. 122. ISBN 0-631-17565-2.
- ^ a b c Baker, Patrick (January 23, 2014). "A legend grows". Karwasaray Publishers. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-4209-3811-1
- ^ Kearney, Milo. Further Studies in Rio Grande Valley History. University of Texas at Brownsville (2006). ASIN B000NLBN3Y.
- ^ "William of Aquitaine, St.". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-17.
- ^ "Baskoniako Dukerria – Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia". aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus (in Basque). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ISBN 978-8472810761.
- ISBN 978-0-8337-2144-0
- ^ Gareth Pullen (December 20, 2015). "The Battle of Hastings and the Beginnings of Anglo-Norman England". England and English History.
- ISBN 978-0-19-861271-1
- ^ Craig Taylor (December 20, 2015). "Military Courage and Fear in the Late Medieval French Chivalric Imagination". Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
- ^ Leslie (September 3, 2015). "Day 1 St Jean to Roncesvalles". Camino Adventures.
- ^ "Parque Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido" archive.org, retrieved 2013-08-20
- Lodovico Ariosto. "Orlando furioso (Orlando Maddened)". Operapaedia. Archived from the originalon 2016-02-17.
- ^ "Time Vaults". Van der Graaf Generator. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
- ^ John Rockwell (December 20, 1981). "Opera: Handel's 'Orlando' At American Repertory". The New York Times.
- ^ Clarke Fountain (2007). "New York Times: The Song of Roland". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-9543751-1-9.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-292-72941-4.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06472-8.
- Xabier Irujo. 2021. Charlemagne’s Defeat in the Pyrenees: The Battle of Rencesvals. Amsterdam University Press
External links
- Earliest manuscript of the Chanson de Roland, readable online images of the complete original, Bodleian Library MS. Digby 23 (Pt 2), La Chanson de Roland, Anglo-Norman, 12th century, ?2nd quarter.
- The Song of Roland, trans. John O'Hagan
- "Battle of Roncesvalles" by Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867), from Legends of Charlemagne
- Romances de Bernardo del Carpio (in Spanish)
- Roncesvalles carolingio y jacobeo (in Spanish)