The poem on part of which this is based is an anonymous _Chanson_
written in the thirteenth century and belonging to the cycle known
as the cycle of _Guillaume_.
The story is as follows. Charlemagne is returning from Spain, after
the defeat at Roncesvalles, his army discouraged, his knights
exhausted, and wishing only to be at home and in comfort. Suddenly
he catches sight of a city, surrounded by a crenelated wall,
splendid within, with a palace the roofs of which shine in the sun,
its feet bathed in the sea, which is covered by the ships of its
commerce. Charlemagne wishes to attack it, but the duke of Bavaria
advises him to let it alone; it is garrisoned by thousands of
pagans and his men are exhausted. The Emperor addresses several of
his barons in turn, offering to each the city if he will take it.
One and all refuse: Charlemagne upbraids them for their cowardice,
bids them go home, and declares he will take the town by himself.
Then Hernaut de Beaulande brings forward his son Aimeri, who
volunteers to undertake the task. With the aid of one hundred
barons he captures the city and is made Count of Narbonne. Hugo has
selected the first and the best part of the _Chanson_ for
modernization. Léon Gautier (_Les Épopeés françaises_) says:
'Rien n'égale en majesté le début de ce poème, dont le dénoûment est
presque trivial... Rien de plus ennuyeux que le récit de tant de
combats contre les Sarrasins; rien de plus attachant que le tableau
de ce grand désespoir de Charlemagne à la vue de Narbonne, dont
aucun de ses Barons ne veut entreprendre la conquête. Il n'y a
peut-être dans aucune poésie aucun épisode comparable à ce discours
de l'Empereur, lorsqu'il crie à tous ses chevaliers: "Ralés vos en,
Bourguignon et François...je remenrai ici, à Narbonois." C'est
ce qu'a bien compris Victor Hugo, qui a si fidèlement traduit et
surpassé encore les beautés du texte original.'
Hugo's poem, however, is not based directly on the _Chanson_, but on
two prose adaptations written by Achille Jubinal, and published
respectively in the _Musée des Familles_ (1843) and the _Journal du
Dimanche _(1846). Yet these stories did little more than furnish the
framework for the poem, by far the greater part of which is the
original work of Hugo.
_à la barbe fleurie_, white-bearded. Expression taken from the
_Chanson_. In mediaeval poetry Charlemagne is always described as an
old man.
_Roncevaux_, which we call by the Spanish name Roncesvalles, is the
valley in the Pyrenees where Charlemagne's rearguard was attacked and
cut to pieces by the Moors during his retreat from Spain.
_Ganelon_, the knight through whose treachery the defeat of
Charlemagne at Roncesvalles was brought about.
_les douze pairs_. The twelve Paladins of tradition, who formed
Charlemagne's Round Table.
L. 6-10. These words are taken almost verbatim from Jubinal's
adaptation of the story in the _Musée des Familles_. Jubinal's words
are:
'L'etcheco-sauna (le laboureur des montagnes) est rentré chez lui
avec son chien; il a embrassé sa femme et ses enfants. Il a nettoyé
ses flèches ainsi que sa corne de boeuf, et les ossements des héros
qui ne sont plus blanchissent déjà pour l'éternité.'
In a note Jubinal says: 'Ces paroles sont empruntées au chant basque
d'Altabicar.'
_Son cheval syrien_. In the _Chanson_ Charlemagne rides on a _mulet
de Sulie (Syrie)_. Jubinal changed the mule into a horse. This is
one of the points of detail which show that Hugo followed the modern
author.
L. 25. The city, as we learn subsequently, was Narbonne. Narbonne is
on the west coast of the Gulf of Lyons, near the eastern end of the
Pyrenees. Originally a Roman colony, it was one of the chief seats of
the Visigoths, from whom it was taken by the Saracens, when they
overran Southern France. Charlemagne took it from the latter in 759.
Till the fourteenth century it was a port, but the sand has blocked
up the harbour and the town is now some distance from the sea.
_mâchicoulis_, battlements; or, more exactly, a gallery round the
tower with openings in it from which projectiles could be hurled
upon an enemy below.
_vermeil_. The word is one of Hugo's favourite adjectives, and is
used to suggest a bright vivid red, and almost invariably in
connexion with objects that have pleasurable associations.