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The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, ''Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) was a battle in 778 in which a large force of Basques ambushed Charlemagne's army while crossing the Roncevaux Pass that took place during Charlemagne's invasion of Spain. The cause of the battle was Charlemagne's destruction of the Basque's defenses in the region, enraging the tribes to retaliate against him. They took the opportunity of attacking Charlemagne's army during their retreat back to France and were using the pass as a route. The rear guard, consisting of many notable Frankish lords, were cut off, stood their ground, and were wiped out as Charlemagne evacuated his army. It was fought at Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the border between France and Spain. Over the years, the battle was romanticized by oral tradition into a major conflict between Christians and Muslims, when in fact both sides of the battle were Christian.〔P. 25〕 The legend is recounted in 11th century ''The Song of Roland'', which is the oldest surviving major work of French literature, and in ''Orlando Furioso'', which is one of the most celebrated works of Italian literature. ==Background== (詳細はCarolingians and Pepin the Short's war on Aquitaine, the Duchy of Aquitaine led by Waifer was defeated and a program of Frankish penetration into the duchy ensued under Charlemagne. The Basques (''Vascones'', ''Wascones'') of the Duchy of Vasconia, one of the mainstays of the Aquitanian army, submitted to Pepin in 766 and 769, but the territory south of the Garonne remained largely unscathed and self-governed—Duke Lupus cited. However, as of 778 Charlemagne expanded Frankish takeover of Aquitaine to present-day Gascony by appointing trusted Franks and Burgundians as well as Church officials in key regional positions and (re-)establishing counties, such as Fezensac, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, on the left banks of the Garonne. Charlemagne's colonization attempts bitterly displeased the Basques. Sulayman al-Arabi, the pro-Abbasid Wali (governor) of Barcelona and Girona, sent a delegation to Charlemagne in Paderborn, offering his submission, along with the allegiance of Husayn of Zaragoza and Abu Taur of Huesca in return for military aid.〔Lewis, p. 244〕 Their masters had been cornered in the Iberian peninsula by Abd ar-Rahman I, the Umayyad emir of Córdoba. The three rulers also conveyed that the caliph of Baghdad, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was preparing an invasion force against Abd ar-Rahman.〔Lewis, p. 244〕 Seeing an opportunity to extend Christendom and his own power and believing the Saxons to be a fully conquered nation, Charlemagne agreed to go to Spain. It seems that al-Arabi induced him to invade Al Andalus by promising him an easy surrender of its Upper March, of which Zaragoza was the capital. Following the sealing of this alliance at Paderborn,〔Lewis, p.245〕 Charlemagne marched across the Pyrenees in 778 "at the head of all the forces he could muster".〔Lewis, p.246〕 Charlemagne led the Neustrian army over Vasconia into the Western Pyrenees, while the Austrasians, Lombards, and Burgundians passed over the Eastern Pyrenees through Catalonia. His troops were welcomed in Barcelona and Girona by Sulayman al-Arabi.〔Lewis, p.253〕 As he moved towards Zaragoza, the troops of Charlemagne were joined by troops led by al-Arabi.〔Lewis, p.246〕 Abd ar-Rahman of Córdoba sent his most trusted general, Thalaba Ibn Obeid, to take control of the possibly rebellious city and to prevent the Frankish invasion. Husayn and Ibn Obeid clashed repeatedly; eventually Husayn managed to defeat and to imprison Ibn Obeid. Reinforced in his autonomous position, Husayn became reluctant to yield his new privileged status to the Frankish monarch and refused to surrender the city to Charlemagne, claiming that he had never promised Charlemagne his allegiance. He seems to have tried to appease Charlemagne by giving him the prisoner General Ibn Obeid and a large tribute of gold, but Charlemagne was not easily satisfied, putting Sulayman al-Arabi in chains. Meanwhile, the force sent by the Baghdad caliphate seems to have been stopped near Barcelona.〔Lewis, p.249〕 After a month of siege at Zaragoza, Charlemagne heard news of a Saxon revolt in the North, which forced him to retreat back to his kingdom.〔Lewis, p.249〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Roncevaux Pass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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