Fragments of a Lost Epic Poem: The Cantar de Roncesvalles

This 100-line poem was discovered in Pamplona by the Spanish scholar Ramón Menéndez Pidal in the early years of this century. It is one of the very few surviving bits of evidence of epic poetry in medieval Iberian languages. Perhaps it derives from an Hispanic re-working of the Old French Chanson de Roland (click on "textes" link and then on "La Chanson de Roland"). It has been dated to the first third of the thirteenth century.

Note: in the following selections I have tried to link all the unfamiliar features of Old "Spanish" to a glossary. When you click on a link, you will be taken to the glossary automatically. The first line (top line) you see on the screen will be the appropriate reference. You can also consult this glossary separately for words and orthography from the Cantar fragment which are not found in the selections below.

I have not included in the glossary words which can be easily found in dictionaries of modern Spanish (I use Collins) once you have made the necessary spelling adjustments as outlined in the glossary.

You may also wish to see the lines below divided by syllables, with a discussion of syllable count and the verse forms of Spanish epic poetry or hear how Old "Spanish" may have sounded.

Aquí clamó a sus escuderos Carlos el enperante;
"Sacat al arçobispo desta mortaldade!
Levemos le a su terra a Flanderes la ciudade."
El enperador andava catando por la mortaldade;
vido en la plaça Oliveros o yace,
el escudo crebantado por medio del braçale;
non vió sano en eyll quanto un dinero vale;
Tornado yaze a orient, como lo puso Roldane.

* * * * *

Con vuestro esfuerço ariba entramos en Espayna.
matastes los moros e las te ras ganastes largas,
adobé los caminos del apóstol Santiago,
non conquis a Çaragoça, ont me ferió tal lançada.

­Con tal duelo estó, sobrino, agora non fues bivo!
Agora ploguies al Criador, a mi seynnor Jhesu-Xristo
que finase en este logar, que me levase contigo.
D' aquestos muertos que aquí tengo conmigo
dizir me ías las nuevas, cada uno cómo fizo.
El rey quando est dixo, cayó esmortecido.

Eugène Kohler, ed., Antología de la literatura española de la Edad Media (1140-1500), 2d ed. (Paris: Klincksieck, 1970), p.11-13.