Blog Question 4

Religion and war are two major themes that were present during the Middle Ages.  Often times the two were intertwined due to conflicting religious beliefs.  The different beliefs caused tensions that would escalate to violence and sometimes lead to war.  Many times war would ensue because one religion would think that it was superior to all other religions.  One Religion that was infamous for this was the Catholic faith. The Catholics were responsible for numerous crusades that occurred during the Middle Ages. 

            The Song of Roland is an Epic Poem from the Middle Ages in which the themes of religion and war are entangled.  In the poem, Roland and his fellow Christian soldiers were fighting a crusade against the Moslems.  The Christian faith had a significant influence on the way the soldiers fought.  The Christian soldiers thought that they were doing a just and holy thing by fighting the Moslems.  The Christians even had an Archbishop with them who rallied the troops and lifted their spirits in the name of God (1127-1135).  The soldiers were also promised salvation for participating in the crusade (1135). 

            Religion has a major influence on Roland’s life.  It directs his life because his faith was one of the main reasons he was fighting in the crusade to begin with.  He believed in the cause and fought as valiantly as any knight could.  Roland’s sword, named Durendal, contained several relics which shows that religion was something that was important to Roland (2345-2350).  I think that religion helped console Roland.  As he was dying, he prayed to God and shortly after the angels appeared (2369-2372). 

I think that there are a couple of lessons an audience could learn from the lengthy death scene and the appearance of the archangels in The Song of Roland.  One thing that they could learn is that they really would be granted a place in Heaven if they participated in the crusades.  They could also learn how to act like an admirable knight by fighting to the death for their people and religion, just like Roland did.