Christian Hampton
Julie Mell
Medieval History Section 5
19 March 2015
Trial by Battle In the early 12th century the practice of settling disputes, arguments, and legal trials through means of battle is not only customary but considered divine in its own right. The Christian’s support of this form of justice is not only used to settle the trial of Ganelon, but also fuels the passion of Christian’s against the Muslim army. The belief that God will lead the righteous to victory mirrors the “superstitious” mentality of feudal judicial practices, in “Song of Roland” this is shown on a much larger scale. Trial by battle began as a practice that settled feuds or disagreements between individuals, the crusades incorporated this feudal practice into the frame of international conquest. Emphasis on more admirable values also meshed into the “crusading mentality”, one value in particular, the importance of personal loyalty to one’s lord, is what causes kings and peasants alike to have an undying loyalty to their God.
Loyalty to God is demonstrated by Charlemagne, characterized through the epic as a divine king who receives visions, in the form of dreams, from God and is guarded by the angel St. Gabriel. What’s interesting is the symbolism of Charlemagne’s and his most faithful knight Roland’s, swords. The swords draw a connection between feudal duty and service and religion. Roland’s Durendal has relics from various saints and the Virgin Mary, Charlemagne’s Joyeuse holds the point of “the lance with which our Lord was wounded on the cross” (183). The divinity of these objects demonstrate Christian’s practice of worshiping relics and it also provides a connection between Christ and Charlemagne.
This synthesis of religious passion and feudal values ends up creating a conflict of interest within Charlemagne. When combining the enthusiasm of their supposed divine sanction with the belief in being practically invincible, it makes Charlemagne’s army a force that is feared across the world, they are described by their Muslim counterpart as “fierce” (112). However as we come to see, Roland’s interpretation of war as holy encourages fervor and pride over caution. Roland’s courage and pride, encouraged by his certainty of morality because of the religious backing of his cause, approaches recklessness when he refuses to blow his horn for help. Religious zeal comes into conflict with the traditional qualities of a good knight. The idea of “trial by battle” clouds Roland’s judgement and it leads to his and his army’s demise.
In the “Song of Roland”, this war of values finds symbolic expression in the “battle” between Roland and a blinded Oliver, who is also one of Roland’s dearest friends. Roland is described as “brave,” represents the crusader, or the sword that is involved in the “trial by battle”. Oliver on the other hand is considered “wise” (87), mirrors the caution and will of the feudal knight.
Instead of holding secluded monks and nuns as the holy men and women who ensured God’s blessings on earth, crusading warriors and kings instead emphasized the active role of God’s glory, serving as the enforcer of the executive to “administer His judgment” (152) themselves. Where God set the laws, the crusaders set out to make sure the laws were followed as God seemed fit. Filled with confidence in the divine support of God in their mission, these crusaders in “Song of Roland”, carried feudal duty with them, in the head, heart and hilt, into a world that was already filled of religious fervor.
The idea of God’s sovereignty and divine will in the crusading mentality perfectly reflects the ideas of Catholic theology, (a theology that would eventually be passionately opposed by early Protestants). Traditional Catholic theology of justification holds that God will cooperates with human will in a person that is trying to achieve salvation. This idea alone is what fueled the power of knights, lords, kings and entire empires alike. The ability to act through God was something no one in the right mind, at the time, could oppose.
In Roland’s character, the message is absolutely traditional: faith in God’s will makes the crusaders certain of their moral superiority over their enemies. The knights, after all, are the ones who initiate battle, in the belief that they are the ones carrying out God’s work. There is a made up cooperation between heaven and earth. If anything the trial by battle between Thierry and Pinabel is put there so that the reader can better realize the bigger picture of this type of trial. This way of thinking instilled a passion into every Christian that they had the power to act through God. This train of thought is what led the world to think that Christian’s were the sword of God striking down the evils of the Muslim nation. The world was witness to the biggest case of trial by battle in history in the “Song of Roland”.