Early medieval Europe (500–1000)Wars and battles

Battle of Roncevaux Pass

Returning from an unsuccessful expedition to Spain, the rearguard of Charlemagne’s army was ambushed and annihilated by Basques in a Pyrenean pass; among the dead was Roland, later the hero of the Song of Roland.

Date: 15 August 778exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
Place: Roncevaux Passapproximate locationtoday: Navarre, Spain · Western and Central Europe
Participants: Francia (Frankish realm), Charlemagne
Threads: Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
Also known as: Roncesvalles; Ронсеваль; Song of Roland; Песнь о Роланде

In 777 Muslim governors of northern Spain opposed to the emir of Córdoba sought Charlemagne’s support, and in 778 he crossed the Pyrenees. The campaign failed before Zaragoza, and on the way back the Franks razed the walls of Pamplona. On 15 August 778 Basque mountaineers attacked the baggage train and the rearguard in the pass, killed everyone to the last man, looted the baggage and vanished under cover of night. Einhard names among the dead the seneschal Eggihard, the count of the palace Anselm and Roland, prefect of the Breton March.

The defeat was never avenged. Three centuries later it was transformed in the Chanson de Roland, where the enemies became Saracens and the skirmish an epic of Christian heroism.

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