Introduction

In 1912, two short epic poems in Old Occitan were discovered in a latefourteenth- or early-fifteenth-century register of deeds in Apt (Vaucluse) in present-day southern France. No titles are given in the manuscript, but the poems have generally been known as Roland à Saragosse and Ronsasvals since their first edition by Mario Roques. The latter text will not concern us here, as it is a compact version of the battle of Roncevaux itself. The 1409-line Roland, on the other hand, recounts an episode directly preceding the legendary battle, thus joining the group of prequels gathered in this volume. We acknowledge that the title Roland à Saragosse is not entirely satisfactory: Roland spends very little time in Saragossa, and his companion Olivier is arguably presented in a more favorable light. Hans-Erich Keller even suggested that the poem be named for Olivier. Nonetheless, to avoid confusion, we have chosen to retain the conventional title, which we translate as Roland at Saragossa to convey the hero's position in, around, and in front of “la gran cieutat valhant” (the mighty and worthy city, line 284).

The poem's origins – and indeed the origins of Occitan epic poetry itself – have long been a matter of scholarly debate. Very few Occitan epics have come down to us, and most of the surviving texts are incomplete or fragmentary. Based on careful study of proper names and toponyms, some scholars have concluded that the Romance epic genre originated in the Occitan-speaking south of France. Evidence supporting this hypothesis includes an allusion to a Song of Roland in the fragmentary twelfth-century Canso d’Antioca; abundant references to epic heroes in troubadour lyric; and the origin of the Roland–Olivier pairing: the name “Olivier” first appeared in the south during the eleventh century, followed by the names Roland and Olivier given to brothers, again in the south during the late eleventh century. Other scholars, pointing to the absence of any surviving Occitan epic before the Oxford Roland (the earliest version extant), conclude that the Occitan texts imitate or derive from French models.5 While we cannot trace the precise filiation of Roland at Saragossa, we do know that a version of Roland's pre-Roncevaux exploits was circulating by the late twelfth century.