The Man Behind the Bayeux Tapestry by Trevor Rowley

Author:Trevor Rowley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752478678
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

• The Song of Roland •

According to Wace, at the start of the Battle of Hastings, ‘Taillefer, a very good singer rode before the duke on a swift horse, singing of Charlemagne and of Roland, of Oliver and of the vassals who died at Roncevales’ (Burgess 2004, 181). This is a story which appears in various forms in other accounts of the battle and relates to the Song of Roland, the first chanson de geste (song of deeds), an epic tale which presents an account of Charlemagne’s army in Spain in 778. Leaving Spain after a long campaign, the Frankish army is betrayed by one of Charlemagne’s own lords, Ganelon. The Song concentrates on Roland, Charlemagne’s nephew, who is bringing up the rearguard with his two companions, Oliver and Archbishop Turpin. They are ambushed by a Muslim (it was in fact Basque) force at the Roncesvalles Pass in the Pyrenees and fight to the death, protecting their honour and slaying all their attackers in the process. In revenge, Charlemagne returns to Spain with a large army and wipes out the opposing pagan kingdom.

The Song appears in the late eleventh or early twelfth century and it has been suggested that Odo was involved in its composition, as well as that of the Bayeux Tapestry. The Song, like the Tapestry, emphasises loyalty and feudal obligation as well as the dire consequences of treason and treachery. The heroes of both works have valour and common sense and have adversaries that are worthy, but are guilty of having broken codes and oaths (Caple, 82). There are several similarities between the Chanson and the Tapestry, notably, the role played by two clerics – Bishop Odo and Archbishop Turpin. Both are influential in the councils of war and both appear prominently in battle. In the Song, Turpin blessed the troops before the battle and offered martyrdom and instant salvation to those who fell fighting to ‘help sustain the Christian faith’ and fought to the end, and ‘Archbishop Turpin goes throughout the field. No tonsured priest who ever sang a mass performed such feats of prowess with his body’ (Roland v, 1129). Could Odo have consciously modelled himself on the Archbishop of Rheims from the Song of Roland in the Tapestry? Odo also blessed the troops before Hastings as well as presiding over the pre-battle banquet. In one specific area there is almost complete symmetry in the way the two men are portrayed: at the height of the Battle of Hastings, Odo is shown energetically rallying the young Norman knights who are showing signs of weakness, while at the height of the Battle of Roncesvalles, when many of the Franks have been killed, the surviving knights of the rearguard grow anxious and Turpin encourages them thus, ‘My lords and barons, don’t think shameful thoughts! I beg of you, for God’s sake do not run, nor let proud men sing mockingly of you; it’s best by far that we should die in combat’ (Roland v, 1515–18). In both

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