The legend of the Rolando Gap

La Brecha de Rolando or Roland's Gap, in the massif of Monte Perdido, is a deep gash at an altitude of 2807 metres, 100 metres high and 40 metres wide. A deep cut in the mountain, as if a supernatural force, that of a knight and his sword, had opened this passage in the rock.

The legend of the Roland Gap

According to legend, Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, we do not know whether he was the son of his sister Bertha and Milon, or of the incestuous relationship between Charlemagne himself and his sister, was one of the most valiant and renowned knights of the Frankish army.

Although historians, as well as the Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland/Roldan), one of the most important cantares de gesta in French literature, place the death of the knight Roland in the vicinity of Roncesvalles, this may not have been the case, and he may have escaped as the legend suggests.

It was 778 AD when Charlemagne's depleted army returned to the Gallic lands after months of bloody battles in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. After the conquest of Pamplona (including a miracle) and having failed to take Saragossa, they set out to return via the Roncesvalles pass at the risk of suffering a heavy defeat.

Their enemies, an army of 400,000 Saracens according to the Chanson de Roland, pagan above pagan below, were lying in wait. And so, as they were about to cross the Pyrenees, the attack took place, the famous Battle of Roncesvalles. The attack was on the rearguard of the army commanded by Roland. As a result, 20,000 soldiers were annihilated. The whole of his army.

Roland, left for dead by his uncle Charlemagne, wounded and crushed by his horse, managed to go unnoticed and managed to escape, undertaking a flight towards French lands that would take him to Ordesa in just two days. A feat only eclipsed by what was about to happen.

In his footsteps, a tireless Saracen army followed him closely, even with dogs that could track him. Tired and wounded, Roland climbed to the top of the mountain where he found an impassable barrier blocking his way. Exhausted and about to be overtaken by his pursuers, he threw his sword Durandarte against the mountain. He did not want it to fall into enemy hands.

"O most beautiful sword of undimmed brilliance, of unshakable mettle, of ivory hilt decorated with a pommel of beryl and the emblem of the name of my God, who will be the happy one who will possess you next? For such a one will never be defeated, nor know fear before the enemy. You destroy Saracens and pagans, seeking the praise of the Lord. With thy help I have defended the name of Christ, taking the lives of the infidels, O most happy sword, with a swift thrust; there was never another like it in the world, nor ever shall be. He who was wounded by thee is dead for ever. It would pain me greatly if you were to fall into the hands of a cowardly knight; much more, however, would it pain me if an infidel or Saracen were to touch you". source: Estella.info / Book IV of the Codex Calixtinus (12th c.).

Such must have been the force with which he hurled his sword that it struck the mountain, splitting it in two, allowing him to see his beloved French land for the last time. Just afterwards, his pursuers managed to hunt him down, but he was already dead.

The sword Durandarte (supposedly the same sword that Roland threw) could be seen nailed to a rock next to the church of St Michael in Rocamadour, some 200 km north of Toulouse. It remained so for nine centuries, until it was removed in 2011 and put on display in the Cluny Museum in Paris.

Excursion to the Rolando Gap.

Be that as it may, the excursion to the Rolando Gap is one of the most recommended routes to visit the area. It can be accessed from the north, from Occitan lands, where the Pyrenees National Park and the majestic Cirque de Gavarnie are located, or from the south, in Aragon, where the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park is located.