Battle of Roncevaux Pass 778
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Basque attack was in retaliation for Charlemagne's destruction of the city walls of their capital, Pamplona. As the Franks retreated across the Pyrenees back to Francia, the rearguard of Frankish lords was cut off, stood its ground, and was wiped out. Among those killed in the battle was Roland, a Frankish commander. His death elevated him and the paladins, the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, into legend, becoming the quintessential role model for knights and also greatly influencing the code of chivalry in the Middle Ages.
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass was the only significant defeat of Charlemagne in his military career, and for future campaigns he would never take it upon himself to lead an army to battle in Spain, having to rely instead on his generals. There are numerous written works about the battle, some of which change and exaggerate events.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Roncevaux Pass (revision 1380389522), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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