TALES FROM FRENCH AND ITALIAN CHRONICLES
As many stories gather round the great name of the French King Charlemagne as about that of the English King Arthur. Some versions are in French and some in Italian. The four stories beginning with "The Treason of Ganelon" make up the great epic song of France, the "Chanson de Roland" and the battle they celebrate was fought in 788. Roncesvalles is in Spain.
When William the Conqueror fought the battle of Hastings in 1066,
Taillefer, his minstrel, rode ahead of the army and sang of Roland and
Oliver, and of the rear guard which fell at Roncesvalles.
"How the Child of the Sea Was Made Knight" is from Amadis of Gaul, which is described in Don Quixote as one of the earliest and best of the Spanish romances. Some critics give it a Portuguese and some a French origin. Lobeira, its author, died in 1405.