While the army of the Franks, embarrassed in a narrow
defile, was forced by the nature of the ground to advance in one long
close line, the Basques, who were in ambush on the crest of the
mountain--for the thickness of the forest with which these parts are
covered is favorable to ambuscade--descend and fall suddenly on the
baggage-train and on the troops of the rear-guard, whose duty it was to
cover all in their front, and precipitate them to the bottom of the
valley. There took place a fight in which the Franks were killed to a
man. The Basques, after having plundered the baggage-train, profited by
the night which had come on to disperse rapidly. They owed all their
success in this engagement to the lightness of their equipment and to
the nature of the spot where the action took place; the Franks, on the
contrary, being heavily armed and in an unfavorable position, struggled
against too many disadvantages. Eginhard, master of the household of the
King; Anselm, count of the palace; and Roland, prefect of the marches of
Brittany, fell in this engagement.
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