<P> The Song of Roland (French: La Chanson de Roland) is an epic poem (Chanson de geste) based on the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, during the reign of Charlemagne . It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature and exists in various manuscript versions, which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries . </P> <P> The date of composition is put in the period between 1040 and 1115: an early version beginning around 1040 with additions and alterations made up until about 1115 . The final text has about 4,000 lines of poetry . The epic poem is the first and, along with The Poem of the Cid, one of the most outstanding examples of the chanson de geste, a literary form that flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries and celebrated legendary deeds . </P> <P> Set in the Carolingian era, it was written much later . There are nine extant manuscripts of the Song of Roland in Old French . The oldest of these manuscripts is held at the Bodleian Library at Oxford . This copy dates between 1129 and 1165 and was written in Anglo - Norman . </P> <P> Some scholars estimate that the poem was written, possibly by a poet named Turold, between approximately 1040 and 1115, and most of the alterations were performed by about 1098 . Some favor an earlier dating, because it allows one to say that the poem was inspired by the Castilian campaigns of the 1030s, and that the poem went on to be a major influence in the First Crusade . Those who prefer a later dating do so on grounds of what they interpret as brief references made in the poem to events of the First Crusade . </P>

Setting of the story of the song of roland