There is no determining
how far history must be made to participate in these reminiscences of
national feeling; but, assuredly, the figures of Roland and Oliver, and
Archbishop Turpin, and the pious, unsophisticated, and tender character
of their heroism are not pure fables invented by the fancy of a poet or
the credulity of a monk. If the accuracy of historical narrative must
not be looked for in them, their moral truth must be recognized in their
portrayal of a people and an age.
The politic genius of Charlemagne comprehended more fully than would be
imagined from his panegyrist's brief and dry account all the gravity of
the affair of Roncesvalles. Not only did he take immediate vengeance by
hanging Duke Lupus of Aquitaine, whose treason had brought down this
mishap, and by reducing his two sons, Adalric and Sancho, to a more
feeble and precarious condition; but he resolved to treat Aquitaine as
he had but lately treated Italy, that is to say, to make of it,
according to the correct definition of M. Fauriel, "a special kingdom,
an integral portion, indeed, of the Frankish empire, but with an
especial destination, which was that of resisting the invasions of the
Andalusian Arabs, and confining them as much as possible to the soil of
the peninsula.
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