Taking a Second Look: Roland in the Charlemagne Window at Chartres

Abstract

All studies of the Charlemagne window assert that the iconography is based on three Latin texts, the Descriptio, the Pseudo-Turpin, and the Vita Sancti Aegidii. Although The Song of Roland is not a source, Roland has been identified so often he almost eclipses Charlemagne. Such a phenomenon is best explained by the overwhelming modern interest in the epic, not the iconographic evidence. This paper argues that the figure with the red tunic in panels nos. 12, 15, 16, and 17 is Charlemagne rather than Roland. In addition, the paper asserts that the vernacular version of the Pseudo-Turpin is a more likely source than the Latin one. The new reading offers insights into many scenes, for instance that of Roland with the olifant, and it places Charlemagne as the appropriate focal point of the window. As presented there, crusades, finding relics, and church building were Charlemagne’s life of action, and it is he, not Roland, who is the imagined model in the famous mounted combat scene.