Paladin

Roland is girt with a sword by Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste.

For other uses see Paladin (disambiguation).

A paladin is one of the twelve legendary chivalrous retainers of Charlemagne (the Twelve Peers) in medieval chansons de geste and stories of romance. They are thus loosely based on historical Frankish retainers of the 8th century and events such as the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and the confrontation of the Frankish Empire with Umayyad Andalusia in the Marca Hispanica.

The word is from the Latin word palatinus "palace official". The palace in question is the Carolingian court; compare the titles of "mayor of the palace" and "count palatine". The original Middle French form is palaisin. The English paladin was loaned into Early Modern English from the Italian form, paladino, because late medieval treatments of the "Matter of France" were mostly by Italian authors such as Ariosto and Tasso.

The names of the twelve paladins vary from romance to romance, and often more than twelve paladins are named. All stories feature paladins by the names of Roland and Oliver. Other reoccurring characters are Archbishop Turpin, Ogier the Dane, Huon of Bordeaux, Fierabras, Renaud de Montauban, and Ganelon. Tales of the paladins of Charlemagne once rivalled the stories of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table in popularity. Ariosto and Tasso, whose works were once as widely read and respected as Shakespeare's, contributed most prominently to the literary/poetical reworking of the tales of the epic deeds of the paladins.

The death of Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux, from an illustrated manuscript of the 1450s.

The twelve paladins of Charlemagne are listed in the Old French Chanson de Roland as follows:

Roland — Charlemagne's nephew and the chief hero among the paladins
Oliver — Roland's friend and strongest ally
Gérin
Gérier
Bérengier
Otton
Samson
Engelier
Ivon
Ivoire
Anséis
Girard

The Italian Ariosto and Tasso listed the paladins quite differently:

Orlando — Roland, Charlemagne's nephew and the chief hero among the paladins)
Oliver — rival to Roland
Ferumbras — (Fierabras), the Saracen who became a Christian
Astolpho — descended from Charles Martel and cousin to Orlando
Ogier the Dane
Ganelon the betrayer, who appears in [Canto XXXII] of the Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Rinaldo — Renaud de Montauban
Malagigi — Maugris, a sorcerer
Florismart — friend to Orlando
Guy de Bourgogne
Namo — (Namus or Naimon)
Otuel — another converted Saracen

The Celtic revival of the 1880s benefitted the Arthurian material and encouraged its reworking and recirculation. No such aura of latter-day romance could assist the Charlemagne material, which remained strongly Christian and triumphalist in its presentation in contrast to the melancholy of the ultimate failure of the Arthurian heroes, and their ambiguous position at the transition from Celtic paganism to Christianity. As a result, contemporary readers know Arthur and his Camelot well while hearing little of the paladins of Charlemagne, who once enjoyed similar renown.

Paladin

See also