Song of Roland
PoemWikipedia
56
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23
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20
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Search complete. 56 mentions across 23 episodes found for "Song of Roland".
Sep 18, 2026
LucaHOST
So we should have a good Friday show for you all, ladies and gentlemen.
LucaHOST
A few announcements before we get into the first segment, which is that Liz and I recorded a two-part series for Chronicles all about the Song of Roland, this great song of deeds and just a real hallmark in terms of early French literature as well.
LucaHOST
But we go into all sorts of things in terms of the Christian kingship of Charlemagne, the virtue and sacrifice of his nephew Roland, and the language of the poem is just extraordinary.
Elizabeth HeverinGUEST
And a heroic death.
Pamela NagamiNARRATOR
Such a compilation adds little to our knowledge, but by the time of the Third Crusade we find a contemporary narrative in French verse prepared by a jongleur of Evreux who accompanied Richard on the expedition.
Pamela NagamiNARRATOR
If we ignore the line, at best very faint, which in works of this sort separates history from romance and from works of edification, we must carry the Norman pioneers still further back to the Vie de Saint Alexis, which we owe probably to a canon of Rouen in the eleventh century, and to the great national epic of medieval France, the Chanson de Roland, pre-Norman in origin, but Norman in its early form, which has recently been ascribed to Turold, Bishop of Bayeux after the death of the more famous Odo, and later for many years a monk of Bec.
Pamela NagamiNARRATOR
There is, one may object, nothing monastic in this wonderful paean of medieval knighthood, whose religion is that of the God of battles, who has never lied, and whose hero meets death with his face towards Spain and his imperishable sword beneath him.
Pamela NagamiNARRATOR
But knights and monks had more in common than was once supposed, and we are coming to see that the monasteries, especially the monasteries of the great highways, had a large share in the making, if not in the final writing, of the medieval epic as well as the medieval chronicles.
Michael KnowlesHOST
Who, you know, he puts him with the virtuous pagans.
Michael KnowlesHOST
And so you, you see this in a lot of Crusade literature, like the, the, uh, uh, Song of Roland and, and-
Andrew KlavanPANELIST
Song of Roland
Michael KnowlesHOST
... those kinds of poems.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There is this kind of grudging respect for Islam while recognizing that they are intent on our destruction.
Michael KnowlesHOST
Who, you know, he puts him with the virtuous pagans.
Michael KnowlesHOST
And so you, you see this in a lot of Crusade literature, like the, the, uh, uh, Song of Roland and, and-
Matt WalshPANELIST
Song of Roland, yeah
Michael KnowlesHOST
... those kinds of poems.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There is this kind of grudging respect for Islam while recognizing that they are intent on our destruction.
Michael KnowlesHOST
Who, you know, he puts him with the virtuous pagans.
Michael KnowlesHOST
And so you, you see this in a lot of Crusade literature, like the, the, uh, uh, Song of Roland and, and-
Matt WalshHOST
Song of Roland, yeah
Michael KnowlesHOST
... those kinds of poems.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There is this kind of grudging respect for Islam while recognizing that they are intent on our destruction.
Michael KnowlesHOST
Grudging respect, you know, for like Saladin, the great Muslim in the Crusades, who, you know, he puts him with the virtuous pagans.
Michael KnowlesHOST
And so you see this in a lot of crusade literature, like the Song of Roland and those kinds of poems.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There's this kind of grudging respect for Islam while recognizing They are intent on our destruction.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There's a lot of liberal propaganda about the Muslim conquest of Spain, of Iberia, in which they say, well, it was this thriving multicultural civilization and, you know, it was just very diverse.
Michael KnowlesHOST
So I think that, but I agree with Dante, who hasn't yet come up on this show for some reason, who has a kind But grudging respect, you know, for like Saladin, the great Muslim in the Crusades, who, you know, he puts him with the virtuous pagans.
Michael KnowlesHOST
And so you see this in a lot of crusade literature, like the Song of Roland and those kinds of poems.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There's this kind of grudging respect for Islam while recognizing that they are intent on our destruction.
Michael KnowlesHOST
There's a lot of liberal propaganda about the Muslim conquest of Spain, of Iberia, in which they say, well, it was this thriving multicultural civilization and, you know, it was just very diverse.
speaker_12NARRATOR
Section five of G.K. Chesterton's newspaper columns, The New Witness, 1919 to 1920.
speaker_12NARRATOR
THE HORN OF THE HERO After reading Mr. Scott Moncrief's complete translation of The Song of Roland, one of the most remarkable and valuable adventures and achievements of modern letters, I happened to fall into a sort of rambling reverie which ended with the reflection that our civilization is condemned by the way in which a groom touches his hat to a gentleman.
speaker_12NARRATOR
The logical connection may not be very apparent.
speaker_12NARRATOR
I am not touching my hat to Captain Scott Moncrief, but sending him, I hope, a far heartier salute.
speaker_12NARRATOR
But there was a time when men were not ashamed of saluting aristocracy, though perhaps it was very long ago, much earlier than most people imagine.
speaker_12NARRATOR
It was in the true period of feudalism, really before the beginning of the true period of medievalism.
speaker_12NARRATOR
It belonged to the genuine dark ages of which the Song of Roland is one of the few monuments, but that one a mighty monument like a mountain.
speaker_12NARRATOR
This is, of course, only one of the thousands of truths brought out in Captain Scott Moncrief's able and admirable tour de force.
speaker_17NARRATOR
THE WEREWOLF In the great palace of English literature, over one of the golden doors hangs a horn of ivory and a sword of which the name is Durandal.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Above that door is written Chanson de Roland, which means The Song of Roland.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Often in the stillness of the early morning, or at dusk, the great palace rings faintly with the music from that ivory horn which belonged to Roland, and which he sounded for the last time in the pass of Roncevaux.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Or there is heard the clinking of Durandal against the stone of the palace walls, no doubt the wind stirring it where it hangs beside the door it guards.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Although the English continued English, yet for a long time following the conquest of England by the Normans, songs were sung in French rather than in English.
speaker_17NARRATOR
And ready and witty was all that was written down in French, for the literature of the Normans was as brightly coloured as a jewel, and not grand and melancholy as was that of the Anglo-Saxons.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Beowulf was the battle song of the Anglo-Saxons, the song of Roland that of the Normans.
speaker_17NARRATOR
Melancholy was the poem of Beowulf.
Ruby HartHOST
As the Franks withdrew, Basque forces attacked their rearguard at Roncevaux on August 15th, 778, killing several prominent commanders, including Roland, prefect of the Breton march.
Ruby HartHOST
The ambush later inspired the greatly fictionalized Song of Roland.
Ruby HartHOST
Widukind exploited Charles' absence to renew the Saxon rebellion.
Ruby HartHOST
Fighting intensified during the early 780s, combining military resistance with attacks on churches and Frankish strongholds.
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