Entrée d'Espagne
A Franco-Venetian epic transforming Roland into a knight errant.
Last updated
Entrée d'Espagne is a 14th-century Franco-Venetian chanson de geste composed around 1320, likely by an author from Padua. The poem survives in a single manuscript held at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. It is notable for recasting the paladin Roland as a knight errant, a precursor to later Italian romantic epics.
Quick Facts
- Date
- c. 1320
- Language
- Franco-Venetian
- Genre
- Chanson de geste
- Manuscript location
- Biblioteca Marciana, Venice
- Length
- Around 16,000 extant verses (original about 20,000)
- Author origin
- Padua
Facts from the source article.
Plot
After a misunderstanding with Charlemagne, Roland leaves the imperial army and travels to the Holy Land, where he has adventures. Returning to Spain, a hermit forewarns him that he will die seven years after the French conquer Pamplona. Back at camp, Roland refuses the crown of Spain, choosing instead to conquer lands for his emperor. The poem includes Roland's three-day duel with the Saracen giant Feragu, son of Falseron, defending Nàjera.
More in Epic Poetry & Myth
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Entrée d'Espagne (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced