Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Page 237
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the whole of the Baligant episode and the return to Roncevaux, i.e. the
verses that correspond to O vv. 2570-3681. The CV7 version has also
omitted the episode: just as Charlemagne is about to return to Roncevaux
after his defeat of the pagans (O vv. 2845-50), a pilgrim appears and
warns him that Baligant is on his way (C vv. 4875-95), and thus the
two parts of the Baligant episode have been combined. The reason for
the omission of this important scene in CV7 and L is that in the version
rimée there is a second scene describing the searching of the battlefield
at Roncevaux, but this second visit takes place after the conquest of “Sar-
raguze”, while Charlemagne is on his way home, i.e. after O v. 3681. In
P and T, which here represent the original version rimée, the second scene
at Roncevaux is a repetition50.
In Kms the episode is considerably shorter than in any of the French
MSS. The first few lines may be a summary of O vv. 2845-54:
Nu eptir Jietta \>å vaknaSi konungr ok hugSi at draumum si'num ok Jiottu vera ogur-
ligir sem var.
SiSan bua J>eir hesta sina menn hans, ok er he'r våru bunir, £>å ri5u h>eir til Runzi-
vals, ok er Jseir komu har> ba kanna f>eir valinn--(p. 52721“24).
Cp. the following verses in O:
2845: Al matin, quant primes pert li albe
Esveillez est li emperere Caries.
2850: Si se desarment par tute l’ost li altre.
Puis sunt muntet, par grant vertut chevalchent
Cez veiez lunges e cez chemins mult larges,
Si vunt vedeir le merveillus damage
En Rencesvals, la o fut la bataille.
The translator probably did not understand what was meant by se des-
arment in v. 2850, and he inserted a reference to the dreams instead (the
verse is omitted in P and T, and changed in V4).
The following laisse (vv. 2855-69) contains the allusion to Roland’s
desire to die cunquerrantment (v. 2867), and the omission of this laisse,
together with vv. 2355-65, has been discussed already (above, p. 219).
The greater part of the laisse is omitted in P too.
Laisse CCV, vv. 2870-80, describes how Charlemagne finds Roland on
the battlefield:
10 Discussed by M. Horrent: La Chanson de Roland, etc. pp. 184-88.