By Kim Rendfeld
What
would be so despicable that the only justice is to tie the offender’s hands and
feet to four stallions, have a mare nearby, and let them tear him apart? On top
of that, 30 of his kinsmen are hanged—death by slow strangulation—and a buddy
is slain in a duel.
Such
is the fate of Ganelon, the villain of The
Song of Roland, forever branded a traitor.
First
a little context. Believed to have been written in the latter part of the 11th
century, The Song of Roland is a
medieval form of historical fiction, light on the historical and heavy on the
fiction. The anonymous Old French epic says a lot about taking a stand against
overwhelming odds, but it departs from the actual events that inspired it.
In
reality, the retreating Franks were ambushed in 778 by Christian Basques at the
Pass of Roncevaux in the Pyrenees, a defeat so traumatic that no one wrote
about it while King Charles (Charlemagne) was alive. (For more, see my prior post on this subject at Unusual Historicals.)
Fast
forward three centuries near the time of the first Crusades, and the suddenly,
the Muslim Saracens are the enemy. The war has lasted seven years instead of a
few months. And now we have a traitor to blame for the defeat, Ganelon. The
author might have been inspired to name his villain after Guenelon (also
spelled Vénilon), a ninth-century bishop of Sens who crowned Charlemagne’s
grandson Charles and later changed his alliance.
Of
course, a love-to-hate villain is great for storytelling, but I wonder if the
author was trying to convey another message. French forces were superior, so
good that only a betrayal would defeat
them. Perhaps, the author was drawing a parallel to Jesus, who died because of
Judas’s betrayal.
In
the poem, our hero, Roland, volunteers his stepfather, Ganelon, to convey the
terms of Charlemagne’s treaty with Saracen King Marsil, who has just made an
offer for peace. Ganelon is angry—two others guys who tried this were beheaded.
After
relaying his emperor’s terms to Marsil, Ganelon reveals how the Saracen can
defeat Charlemagne: get rid of Roland. Ganelon instructs Marsil to give Charlemagne
gifts and hostages and wait until Charlemagne’s army withdraws, leaving the
rearguard behind. Marsil then can attack with overwhelming numbers. Ganelon
swears fealty to Marsil and gets treasures.
Roland
is appointed to the rear guard at Ganelon’s behest, and sure enough, the
Saracens ambush the Frankish rear guard. Roland and his companions fight
valiantly, and perhaps the redeeming message of the poem is how the heroes face
their certain deaths. After stubbornly refusing to call for help, Roland blows
his horn and dies, along with everyone else in the rear guard.
Hearing
the call, Ganelon tries to convince Charlemagne that wasn’t Roland’s horn and
that there is no battle. But Charlemagne is knows otherwise, and the Franks
take revenge. In the meantime, Ganelon is chained and beaten by the kitchen
staff and his beard is torn.
And
then Ganelon’s story takes an interesting turn. Ganelon doesn’t deny what he
did. Instead he shows up in Charlemagne’s presence with 30 of his kinsmen and
says that he’s not guilty because he was taking revenge, not committing
treason.
Inexplicably,
the noblemen at the court are buying this, but not everyone. And so for even
more drama, we have a trial by duel between the warrior Thierry and Ganelon’s
champion and buddy, Pinabel. Now why would Ganelon, a warrior who has named his
sword and rides a charger, need a champion? Was the poet trying to show what a
wimp Ganelon was for not fighting his own battles? Given what happened to him
after Pinabel is killed in the duel, Ganelon would have been better off taking
his chances in a duel.
Ganelon’s
reputation as traitor follows him through time, as author Tinney Sue Heath
explained on my blog, Outtakes.
In the 14th century, Dante envisioned Ganelon in the lowest frozen parts of
Hell, not that far away from where Satan gnaws on the traitors Brutus, Cassius,
and Judas.
Kim Rendfeld is the author of The Cross and
the Dragon, in which Hruodland (Roland) and Ganelon come from two feuding
families and are rivals for the heroine, Lady Alda. In Kim’s version of events,
Ganelon is not a traitor, but don’t worry, there is still plenty to hate about him.
You can learn more about Kim and her fiction at her blog,
kimrendfeld.wordpress.com, or website, www.kimrendfeld.com.
