Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we'll

be going back in time to the medieval era and we will be traveling to France and

maybe spend a little time in Spain as well.

We are talking about the song of Roland.

The song of Roland is a medieval French epic poem.

It's a great story. It's got all of the elements of a great story. It's got

betrayal. In fact, we're going to find that Roland, the main character of the story is betrayed by his stepfather,

Gyanelon.

It's a story that has plenty of battles

and these battles take place across the lands of Spain and France.

It's a story that has its share of medieval knights and chivalry

and horses and armors and swords.

It is in every way an epic.

The Christian writer Dorothy Sayers once published an edition of the song of Roland.

And before that translation of hers, she has an introduction.

I'm in that introduction, she writes, so the grand outline of the poem defines itself,

a private war set within a national war and the national war again within the World War of Cross and Crescent.

The small struggle at the center shakes the whole web.

She goes on to compare this epic poem, the song of Roland, and there were many

of these medieval times. Of course, the English have their bea-wolf, and in Spain we have the Sid and so we have this from the French

the song of Roland there are many Viking epics as well. But in our introduction

Dorothy Sayers compares this epic to the great epic poem

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