''Historia Caroli Magni'' (''History of the life of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

''), also known as ''Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi'' and sometimes as the ''Turpin Chronicle'' or the ''Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle'', is a 12th-century

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

forged chronicle of legendary material about Charlemagne's alleged conquest of Spain.Hasenohr, 292. It is also called ''Book IV – The Conquests of Charlemagne'' of the

Codex Calixtinus The (also ''Compostellus'') is the main witness for the 12th-century , or the Book of Saint James. It is a pseudepigraph attributed to Pope Callixtus II; its principal author or compilator is referred to as "Pseudo-Callixtus", often identified wi ...

(the oldest known manuscript of the text). The chronicle states it was written by Charlemagne's contemporary

Turpin, Archbishop of Reims Tilpin, Latin ''Tilpinus'' (died 794 or 800), also called Tulpin, a name later corrupted as Turpin, was the bishop of Reims from about 748 until his death. He was for many years regarded as the author of the legendary '' Historia Caroli Magni'', ...

, but it was found out as a medieval forgery. The work was extremely popular, and served as a major source of material on Charlemagne in chronicles, fiction and iconography throughout Medieval Europe. The miracles of the flowering lances and the death of Ferracutus appear on the windows of

Chartres cathedral Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly con ...

Origins

The ''Historia Caroli Magni'' was declared as authentic by using the name of Pope Calixtus II, who was already dead, when the Pseudo-Turpin wrote his "Historia" (this he did not before 1130). It is, however, not based on historical sources but on the tradition of the chansons de geste, notably the ''

Chanson de Roland ''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century ''chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It is ...

'' (Song of Roland). Its popularity seems to date from the latter part of the 12th century, the period when versions of this epic began to be written down.

Gaston Paris Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 19 ...

, who made a special study of the ''Historia'', considers that the first five chapters were written by a monk of Compostela in the 11th century and the remainder by a monk of

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Saint James who appears to him in dream, Charlemagne embarks on four wars to wrest

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

from the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s. In the first war, he takes his army to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

and conquers all of Spain. A second war is brought on to battle the African king

Agolant Agolant or Agolante is a fictional character in Medieval and Renaissance Romance (heroic literature), romantic Epic poetry, epics dealing with the Matter of France, including ''Orlando innamorato'' by Matteo Maria Boiardo and ''Orlando furioso'' by ...

who, briefly, reconquers the country. (During this war, several miracles occur, including flowers sprouting from the lances of the knights.) A third war has Agolant invading south-western France and besieging the city of

Agen The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department ...

, but he is forced to retreat to

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

. In the fourth war, Charlemagne's great army besieges Pamplona. After the death of Agolant, Charlemagne's troops pursue the Saracens through Spain. In a story modeled on

David and Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's ...

, Roland battles the

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

Ferracutus, who is holding the city of

Nájera Nájera () is a small town, former bishopric and now Latin Catholic titular see, former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre, located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, northern Spain, on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the F ...

. They fight for two days, taking truces to rest at night, but during the second night the courteous Roland places a stone beneath the head of the giant as a pillow, and upon waking the giant reveals to Roland that he is only vulnerable in one spot: his navel. In the subsequent battle, Roland's sword finds the spot and the giant is killed. Once the last Saracen leaders are defeated, Charlemagne invests Santiago de Compostela with considerable powers and begins the return to France. The chronicle then tells ''

The Song of Roland ''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century '' chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It i ...

'' material: at

Roncevaux Pass Roncesvalles Pass, Ronceval Pass or Roncevaux Pass (; ; ; elevation 1057 m) is a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees near the border between France and Spain. The pass itself is entirely in Spain. Location The pass is located between the towns of ...

, Charlemagne's rearguard, which includes Roland, is ambushed by the troops of brothers

Marsile Marsile (variously spelled Marsilie, Marsilius, Marsilion, Marcilie, Marsille, Marsilies, Marsilun, or Marsiluns) is a character in the French heroic poem ''The Song of Roland''. He is the Muslim king of the Saracens and of Saragossa. He first appe ...

and Baligant, kings of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, who have bought the aid of the traitor

Ganelon In the Matter of France, Ganelon (, ) is the knight who betrayed Charlemagne's army to the Saracens, leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. His name is said to derive from the Italian word ''inganno'', meaning fraud or deception.Boiardo, ''Orl ...

. Roland kills Marsile, but is mortally wounded and blows his horn to recall Charlemagne's army. After routing the Saracens, Charlemagne oversees the trial and execution of Ganelon, and the heroes' bodies are brought back to France. Charlemagne invests

Basilique Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

with considerable prerogatives and dies. The chronicle ends with several appendices, including the purported discovery of Turpin's tomb by Pope Calixtus II and Callixtus' call to crusade.

Interpretations

The text is considered by critics, in part, as a work of propaganda promoting the Way of St. James (many of the sites mentioned in the text are on the

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

route to Santiago de Compostela) and

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

. The work also paints the knights of the ''

chanson de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th c ...

'' tradition as pious crusading models.

Influence

The ''Historia Caroli Magni'' was a huge success throughout Europe. The popularity of the work is attested by the fact that there are at least nine French translations of the ''Historia'' dating from the 13th century of about the same time, all from Northern France. Some medieval chroniclers used material from it in total faith to discuss the Spanish wars. The work was used by the authors of the ''

Grandes Chroniques de France The ''Grandes Chroniques de France'' is a vernacular royal compilation of the history of France, most manuscripts of which are luxury copies that are heavily illuminated. Copies were produced between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the ...

'' (13th-15th centuries), a vast compilation of historical material. There is a Welsh adaptation, dating to the 14th century, and found in the

Red Book of Hergest The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preser ...

and a number of other early manuscripts, where it occurs along with the translations of

and the Romance of Otinel. An adaptation of the Pseudo-Turpin story including the scene with Ferracutus/Ferraguto and his mortal duel with Orlando (Roland) occurs in the anonymous Franco-Venetian epic '' L'Entrée d'Espagne'' (c.1320; the author is thought to be from Padua). The material also appears in the 14th-century Italian epic '' La Spagna'' (attributed to the Florentine Sostegno di Zanobi and likely composed between 1350-1360) Jean or Jehan Bagnyon's 15th century ''La Conqueste du grand roy Charlemagne des Espagnes et les vaillances des douze pairs de France, et aussi celles de Fierabras'' (also called ''Fierabras'') includes material from the ''Historia Caroli Magni'', probably via

Vincent of Beauvais Vincent of Beauvais ( la, Vincentius Bellovacensis or ''Vincentius Burgundus''; c. 1264) was a Dominican friar at the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont Abbey, France. He is known mostly for his ''Speculum Maius'' (''Great mirror''), a major work ...

's ''Speculum Historiale''. This work knew a European success and was adapted into Castilian, Portuguese, German, and English.

Matteo Maria Boiardo Matteo Maria Boiardo (, ; 144019/20 December 1494) was an Italian Renaissance poet, best known for his epic poem ''Orlando innamorato''. Early life Boiardo was born in 1440,

Orlando Innamorato ''Orlando Innamorato'' (; known in English as "''Orlando in Love''"; in Italian titled "''Orlando innamorato''" as the " I" is never capitalized) is an epic poem written by the Italian Renaissance author Matteo Maria Boiardo. The poem is a rom ...

frequently mentions Turpin, sometimes as a source, sometimes claiming to fill in history that Turpin omits. For example: "Few people know this story since its teller -- Turpin -- kept it hid. He may have feared that his account seemed disrespectful to the Count."

Printed editions and translations

The ''Historia'' was first printed in 1566 at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

; perhaps the best edition is the one edited by Ferdinand Castets as ''Turpini historia Karoli magni et Rotholandi'' (Paris, 1880). It has been translated many times into French and also into German, Danish and English. The English translation is by Thomas Rodd and is in the ''History of Charles the Great and Orlando'', ascribed to John Turpin (

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1812), available online in PDF format a
Google Books
in various formats at th
Internet Archive
and in chaptered HTML a

Rodd omits the table of contents, which is part of the original source, as well as the final four chapters.Kevin R. Poole. ''The Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin.'' New York: Italica Press, 2014, p. xlvi. A new English translation with illustrations, introduction and notes by Kevin R. Poole was published in 2014.

References

*Kevin R. Poole. ''The Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin''. New York: Italica Press, 2014. * Jessie Crosland. ''The Old French Epic''. New York: Haskell House, 1951. * Geneviève Hasenohr and Michel Zink, eds. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age''. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992. pp. 292–295. *

, ''De pseudo-Turpino'' (Paris, 1865), and ''Histoire poetique de Charlemagne'', new ed. by P. Meyer (1905) * Victor Henry Friedel, "Études compostellanes" in ''Otia Merceiana'' (

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, 1899). *Luigi Pulci: ''Morgante: The Epic Adventures of Orlando and His Giant Friend'' a complete English translation by Joseph Tusiani. Introduction and notes by Edoardo Lèbano. (Indiana University Press, 1998) * {{Authority control 12th-century Latin books Latin prose texts Matter of France French chronicles Cultural depictions of Charlemagne