Charlemagne is largely regarded as the father of Europe. In his nearly seventy years of life, he led the Franks to conquer a significant portion of the known world, establishing what would become the Holy Roman Empire. His conquests had three main purposes: to defend his territory from any who threaten his people, to collect wealth and land, and to spread Christianity. Charlemagne’s passion for Christianity, as well as his yearning to protect his people and land became a precursor to the massive religious conflict that overtook the world after Charlemagne’s death. Charlemagne’s fight against King Marsile of Sargossa, an Islamic King of Spain, became a war of Christianity against the forces of Islam. This conflict would soon become exaggerated with the Crusades, a world conflict designated over divine right to the holy land.
“The Song of Roland,” the oldest known French poem, describes Roland and his conflict in Spain under the banner of Charlemagne. As the poem describes, Charlemagne has made temporary peace with the Islamic king of Sargossa involving the king’s conversion to Christianity, however, the king intends to break this truce by attacking the one person Charlemagne cannot lose: his nephew Roland. His strategy, influenced by the traitor Ganelon, involves isolating Roland to the rear-guard, then attacking the isolated force with his much larger army. His plan works to fruition, Roland is attacked. While this may appear to be a battle of the flesh, it soon becomes a battle of religion. When Turpin loses a man close to him, he exclaims, “ May God send down evil upon you”—when seeing the might of the Franks, the Saracens proclaim, “Mighty land of France, Muhammad curse you!” (I22.1608, 126.1666). Curses are issued on both sides; which God will be victorious? According the “The Song of Roland,” Charlemagne’s forces rally the remaining “pagans,” although too late to save Roland. With Roland gone, Charlemagne prays to God, and the “sun remained where it was” so that the Franks could attack the fleeing Saracens (180.2459). God grants the request, the Franks are victorious, the Saracens are forced to convert or die, and the traitor is executed. The author makes it clear that the God of Christianity has played a huge part in the Frankish victory. While Christianity was safe for now, it would soon face its largest challenge yet, the Crusades.
While the conflict of Roland, Charlemagne, and King Marsile were about the spread of Christianity, their conflict was overshadowed by the religious war that was the Crusades. The City of Jerusalem, a holy city in both Islam and Christianity, was constantly under siege by either religion. Much like the battle in “The Song of Roland,” this was considered a war of the Gods. As Fulcher of Charles, a priest and chaplain of Baldwin I, the first king of Jerusalem, writes about the Christian inhabitants who are under siege, “Oh what a disgrace if a race so despicable, degenerate and enslaved by demons should thus overcome a people endowed with faith in Almighty God…” (Geary 354). The followers of Islam are no longer considered humans, they are “demons” who are against the citizens of the “Almighty God.” Demons are enemies of God, therefore, God will protect his citizens. It seems as if the two religions faced an even greater divide after the death of Roland. They were described as pagans during his battle yet are described as demons in the writings of Fulcher of Charles. It’s almost as if the conflict of the Franks and the Saracens caused more hatred for the two religions, even though Ganelon, a Christian, was largely responsible for the attack. The fallout from Charlemagne’s conflicts exist for hundreds of years after, eventually pouring over into a world conflict: the crusades.
From the Islamic point of view, Ibn Al-Athir, a Mesopotamian intellectual who worked under Saladin, writes about the chivalry of the armies of Allah, about how they protected Christians and held back from attack when the Frankish armies were weak, as a show of mercy. Instead of coexisting with the Islamic forces, Ibn Al-Athir writes that the Christian armies attacked the soldiers and civilians of Islam; they massacred them by the thousands. Once the Christians took Jerusalem by force, massacring the Islamic followers, only then did the people of Islam fight. Al-Athir argues that the chivalry of Islam was not reciprocated; they did what they had to to do protect the Holy Land. This was an interesting account, as it showed the Christians were not necessarily perceived well by the modern world. “Song of Roland” describes the armies of Christianity as the army of God who are merciful, the account of Fulcher of Charles cements this idea, depicting the crusades as a spiritual war against demons. These accounts, according to Ibn Al-Athir, are falsely founded. The armies of Islam were honorable in their approach, they treated the Franks with grace, with respect. Even with this approach, they were slaughtered. The citizens of Islam, while mostly innocent, were slaughtered. For a religion that claims it represents peace, Al-Athir did not see anything even remotely representing this tenet.
The tale mentioned in “Song of Roland” describes a heroic Frankish army fighting against a manipulative Saracen army. One side represented Christianity, the other Islam. This portrayal of Islam is continued through the crusades, but is it founded? Is the Christian army purely good, while the Islamic army is evil? As history teaches, there is never one side to any issue. The followers of Islam saw the Christians in the same way that the Christians saw the followers of Islam. Both sides saw the other as evil. This turned the tide of the war from flesh and blood to the supernatural. It was no longer a war of Franks versus Saracens; it was no longer a battle of the Syrians versus the Franks. This became a war of the Gods; who was real and who was fake? With ever evolving conflicts between the two peoples, the spiritual war would never be decided.
