Roger M. Walker The poet of the Oxford version of the Chanson de

Roger M. Walker
"Tere major" in the Chanson de Roland
The poet of the Oxford version of the Chanson de Roland (MS Digby
23) six times refers to France (or, more accurately, the Frankish empire of
Charlemagne) as tere major or tere majur:
Tere major remeindreit en repos (v.600)
Puis que il venant a la tere majur (v.818)
Tere majur vos metrum en present (v. 952)
Tere major, ço dit, metrat a hunte (v. 1532)
Tere major, Mahumet te maldie (v. 1667)
Tere major mult est loinz ça devant (v. 1784).1
Since the adjective major/majur is used exclusively in the expression tere
major and is found nowhere else in the poem, some early editors preferred
to emend some, but not all, cases of tere major to tere d'Espaigne or
trestute Espagne, following the Beta versions of the Roland.2 Bédier,
however, pointed out other examples in Old French of the use of major in
the sense of 'grand': "On peut entendre 'la Grande Terre', terra major,
puisque l'on trouve une Selve major dans Girbert de Metz, une Mer major
dans Anseïs de Cartage."3 Langlois lists eight further cases of Mer major in
Esclarmonde and Clarisse et Florent, and also gives an example of Porte
majour in Enfances Ogier.4 However, he includes only one instance of
Terre majour (Destruction de Rome, v. 690), which refers to "un pays
sarrasin," not to France, explaining in a footnote that he has not "relevé
les exemples de la même expression désignant la France, parce qu'on ne
peut pas la considérer dans ces cas comme un nom propre."5 I shall return
to this point later. For the moment it is sufficient to recognize that, in the
1
All quotations are from F. Whitehead, ed. La Chanson de Roland, 2nd edition (Oxford, 1946). In some other editions of the poem Whitehead's v. 1532 occurs
as v. 1489 and his v. 1667 as v. 1616 or v. 1659.
2
E.g., Léon Gautier, ed. La Chanson de Roland: Texte critique (Tours, 1872),
and E. Stengel, ed. Das altfranzösische Rolandslied (Leipzig, 1878).
3
Joseph Bédier, La Chanson de Roland commentée (Paris, 1927), p. 303.
4
Ernest Langlois, Table des noms propres de toute nature compris dans les
chansons de geste imprimées (Paris, 1904), p. 420.
5
Ibid.
123
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Olifant / Vol 7, No. 2 / Winter 1979
light of these other examples of major in a variety of geographical
expressions, editors of the Roland are quite justified in retaining the
reading tere major. It is, nevertheless, a rather curious way of referring to
France, and two quite distinct, but equally plausible, theories have been
advanced to explain its origin and meaning.
One interpretation, which has been accepted by a number of scholars,
derives tere major from terra majorum, 'the land of one's ancestors' or
'the fatherland'. This suggested explanation, first proposed by Tavernier,
was given authoritative status when it was accepted by Bédier, who
justifies major < MAJORU(M) on analogy with other similar forms in the
Roland deriving from a Latin genitive plural: la geste Francor (v. 1443),
cele gent paienur (v. 1019), and l'enseigne paienor (v. 1221).6 In his
translation of the poem Bédier renders all six occurrences of tere major as
"la Terre des Aïeux." Gérard Moignet, one of the most recent editors and
translators of the Roland, is content to reproduce Bédier's note on the
expression without further comment and to follow him in using "la Terre
des Aïeux" in his translation.7 Dorothy L. Sayers, D. D. R. Owen,
Frederick Goldin, and Gerard J. Brault also follow Bédier in their English
versions of the poem, rendering tere major as "the Fatherland" or "the
Land of (our) Fathers."8
Other editors and translators, however, simply derive tere major from
terra major and render it as "la grande terre" or "the great land," usually
without comment.9 But some explanation is clearly desirable, for two
reasons. First, France does not seem to be designated in this way in any
other Old French text, with the possible exception of two isolated
6
W. Tavernier, Zur Vorgeschichte des altfranzösischen Rolandsliedes (Berlin,
1898), p. 89; Bédier, La Chanson de Roland commentée, p.303.
7
La Chanson de Roland (Paris, 1969).
8
Sayers, The Song of Roland (Harmondsworth, 1957); Owen, The Song of
Roland: the Oxford Text (London, 1972); Goldin, The Song of Roland (New York,
1978); Brault, The Song of Roland: an Analytical Edition, 2 vols. (University Park,
Pennsylvania, and London, 1978).
9
See, for example, the editions of Gautier (see n. 2), Whitehead (see n. 1), and
Alfons Hilka, Das altfranzösische Rolandslied nach der Oxforder Handschrift (Halle,
1926). C. K. Scott Moncrieff, The Song of Roland, 2nd edition (Ann Arbor, 1959)
"translates" tere major as terra major.
Walker / "Tere major" in the Roland
125
examples in versions of the, Roman d'Alexandre.10 Secondly, the normal
development of terra major would presumably be *tere maire in the
nominative case and tere major only in the oblique case. Three of the six
examples in the Roland are in the nominative case (vv. 600, 1667, 1784)
and three are in the oblique case (vv. 818, 952, 1532); but the form *tere
maire is not found either in the Roland or, so far as I can ascertain,
elsewhere in Old French. This suggests that we are dealing with an
invariable form that entered the language after the main phonological
changes had taken place.
The first commentator to suggest a reason for calling France "the
great land" was P. Boissonnade, who writes: "[Le poète] ne connaît
qu'un pays qui dépasse celui-là [l'Espagne], la France, la terre major,
comme il la désigne à la façon des géographes arabes."11 If one follows up
this laconic hint, one finds that some medieval Arabic geographers do
indeed refer to Charlemagne's empire as al-'ard al-kabīra, 'the great land'.
Among the first Islamic geographers, al-'ard al-kabīra was the normal
name for the continent, as opposed to islands, peninsulas, etc., but it later
came to be applied specifically to the land beyond the Pyrenees. This is
probably due to the Arab custom of giving new places a descriptive name
that summed up their first impression of it, as, for example, Guadalquivir,
'the great river', or Guadalajara, 'the river of stones'. Since it is unlikely
that the Muslim army which crossed the Pyrenees in the eighth century
had ever before seen such a huge expanse of green vegetation as the great
central plain of France, it is understandable that they should call it simply
al-'ard al-kabīra: this apparently endless rich, flat land was indeed the
continens. Whatever the reason for the designation, the empire of
10
Milan S. La Du, ed. The Medieval French Roman d'Alexandre, I, Elliott
Monographs, 36 (Princeton and Paris, 1937), p. 293: "Mais le solels si basse davers
Terre Maor, / Adonques ont sentue atempree calor" (Venice version, v. 6276); E. C.
Armstrong, ed. The Medieval French Roman d'Alexandre, II, Elliott Monographs, 37
(Princeton and Paris, 1937), p. 224: "Mais li solaus s'abaisse devers Terre Maior, / Lors
ont par l'ost sentie atempree froidor" (Branch III, v. 3611). It is impossible to be
certain that terre ma(i)or in these cases refers to France; Louis-Fernand Flutre, Table
des noms propres. . . figurant dans les romans de Moyen Age, Publications du
CESCM, 2 (Poitiers, 1962), p. 303, glosses maior tentatively as 'à l'ouest de l'Inde?',
which is not particularly helpful.
11
P. Boissonnade, Du nouveau sur la Chanson de Roland (Paris, 1923), p. 72.
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Olifant / Vol 7, No. 2 / Winter 1979
Charlemagne certainly became widely known as "the great land" among
Islamic geographers. Abū-1-Fīda uses the expression al- 'ard al-kabīra on at
least six occasions to refer to the Frankish kingdom :12
La mer de Bordeaux (Bahr-Bordyl) sort de la mer Environnante, du
côté de l'occident et au nord de l'Espagne; elle se dirige vers l'orient,
derrière la montagne des Portes (les Pyrénées), montagne qui sépare
l'Espagne de la grande terre (II, i, 42)
Les Pyrénées (djebel Albort) séparent la péninsule de la grande terre
(Alardh alkebyra) (II,i,85)
Quant à l'Afrique, elle a enface la Sicile et la Grande-Terre (II, i, 169)
Les Pyrénées terminent l'Andalos13 du côté de l'angle oriental;
c'est la barrière qui sépare l'Andalos de la Grande-Terre (II,i, 241)
La chaîne des Pyrénées a reçu le nom de Barrière (Alhadjiz).
Ibn-Sayd fait remarquer que cette chaîne offre quelques passages
qui ont été ouverts par les anciens habitants du pays, ce qui a permis
de se rendre par terre de la Grande-Terre dans la presqu'île (ibid.)
A l'orient de Lérida est la montagne des Pyrénées, qui sépare
l'Andalos de la Grande-Terre (II, i, 260).
Jenkins was the first editor to accept Boissonnade's theory of an
Arabic origin for tere major: "the expression 'the Great Land' occurs in
the Arab geographers in the sense of 'the great country beyond the
Pyrenees'."14 Jenkins also mentions the fact that the troubadour Bertrand de Born refers to a French king (probably Philip II) as "the King of
Terra Maior." This last point is very important, since it suggests a wider
knowledge of Arabic geographical terminology in medieval Europe than
might be expected.15 Further evidence of such knowledge is provided by
12
Géographie d'Aboulféda, II (1ère partie), trans. J. T. Reinaud (Paris, 1848).
Al-andalūs was, of course, the Arabic name for the whole Iberian Peninsula,
not merely the southern part of Spain now known as Andalucía.
14
T. Atkinson Jenkins, ed. La Chanson de Roland. Oxford Version (Boston, New
York, Chicago, and London, 1924), p. 52.
15
Cf. John Kirtland Wright, The Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades,
A Study in the History of Medieval Science and Tradition in Western Europe, 2nd
edition (New York, 1965), p. 77: "The works of the foremost Mohammedan geographers ... were unknown in Europe during the Middle Ages, and formal Arabic
geography certainly contributed next to nothing to the knowledge of the earth
possessed by the Occidentals of the Crusading age."
13
Walker / "Tere major" in the Roland
127
the earliest Spanish prose romance, the Libra del Cavallero Zifar, which
contains two quite extensive geographical digressions (chapters 202 and
225). These digressions include many toponyms which, although often
badly mutilated by ignorant copyists, are clearly of Arabic origin.16
Particularly interesting from our point of view is the following passage
from the second of the geographical descriptions:
Europa . . . viene por las tierras de los turcos e por las tierras de
Gog e Magog e por las tierras de Alamaña e de Esclamonia e de
Greçia e de Roma, e por las tierras de los galazes e de los picardes e
de los borgoñones e por la tierra de Bretaña e por las tierras que
dizen Alar Vire [vv, ll. Arquibia; Alarquebia], que quiere dezir
'la grant tierra', e por la tierra de Gascueña, e por los Alpes de
Burdel, e por las tierras de España.17
It is clear that what appears in the Zifar as Alar Vire, Arquebia, or
Alarquebia was originally some form of al-'ard al-kabīra, especially since
the author glosses it as 'la grant tierra'. It is also quite clear from the
context that the great land referred to is France. This evidence of at least
some western familiarity with Arabic geographical terminology enables us
to counter the possible argument that the Roland poet could not have had
any knowledge of such terminology and could not, therefore, have
derived tere major from al-'ard al-kabīra.18 It may also perhaps help to
explain why the form is invariably tere major, whether nominative or
oblique, and never *tere maire, since it is presumably a comparatively late
entry into the language, possibly deriving from a Latin translation of a
Muslim geographical treatise.
We have, then, two well founded, but very different, hypotheses
concerning the origin of tere major. It remains to decide which is the
correct one. If we examine the six occurrences of the expression in the
Roland a little more closely, some interesting facts emerge. First, on five
16
See Roger M. Walker, Tradition and Technique in El libra del Cavellero Zifar
(London, 1974), p. 37.
17
Charles Philip Wagner, ed. El Libra del Cauallero Zifar (ElLibra del Cauallero
de Dios), University of Michigan Publications in Language and Literature, 5 (Ann
Arbor, 1929), p. 504.
18
An investigation of some of the other mysterious toponyms in the Roland
could well reveal further Arabic influence. Alfrere (v. 1915), for instance, is quite
possibly a corrupt version of the Arabic name for Persia, (bilād) al-fārs.
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Olifant / Vol. 7, No. 2 / Winter 1979
occasions tere major is used without a definite article; the exception is
v. 818. Secondly, five times tere major forms the first hemistich of the
line; the exception is again v. 818. Thirdly, on the same five occasions the
expression is put into the mouth of a character or characters in the poem;
only in v. 818 is the phrase used by the poet himself. Fourthly, on three of
the five occasions on which characters refer to tere major, the words are
uttered by Saracens (vv. 952, 1532, 1667); on the other two, the speaker
is Ganelon (vv. 600, 1784).19 I believe that certain conclusions may be
drawn from these facts. In the first place, the absence of the definite
article in all cases except v. 818 surely suggests that the poet here regarded
tere major as a proper noun, despite the reservations of Langlois mentioned above.20 In these cases the derivation of tere major from al-'ard
al-kabīra (which had achieved the status of a toponym among Muslim
geographers) seems clear. Moreover, the fact that Saracens use the term on
three occasions lends further support to this assumption: it is far more
convincing that they should refer to France by their own name for it than
that they should inaccurately call it the land of their ancestors. This objection on the grounds of inappropriateness was foreseen by Tavernier, who
writes: "On ne saurait objecter que les Sarrasins emploient aussi bien que
les Français l'expression Tere majur pour désigner la France; car le poète,
avec la même naïveté, les fait parler de dulce France (vv. 16, 1194, 1222,
etc.)."21 The main weakness of this argument is that it is perfectly
reasonable for a Muslim to refer to France as dulce, but not for him to call
it the land of his ancestors: tere major and dulce France are in no sense
parallel expressions. Furthermore, it seems very dangerous to accuse such
a subtle and sophisticated author as the Roland poet of being naive.
Brault, who follows Tavernier and Bédier in deriving tere major from terra
majorum, suggests that the poet is being ironic when he puts the expression into Saracen mouths; but unfortunately he does not substantiate this
view.22
19
The example in v. 1532, although in the mouth of a Saracen, Climborins, is in
fact reporting an earlier speech of Ganelon.
20
See p. 123 above.
21
Zur Vorgeschichte, p. 89; quoted by Bédier, La Chanson de Roland
commentée, p. 303.
22
The Song of Roland, I,206-207.
Walker / "Tere major" in the Roland 129
It is also significant that the only non-Muslim to refer to France as tere
major is the traitor Ganelon. The first time he uses it (v. 600) he is
speaking to Marsile as he prepares his act of treachery, a context in which
reference to France by its Arabic name is entirely appropriate. The second
occasion on which Ganelon speaks of tere major is when he is attempting
to persuade Charlemagne that he has not heard Roland's horn and that
they should press on towards home (v. 1784), a point at which Ganelon is
obviously under considerable stress, fearing that if the emperor goes to
Roland's aid his own treachery will be discovered and his promised
rewards lost Here it is reasonable to see Ganelon's reference to tere major
as a slip of the tongue, a slip which may well help to arouse Charlemagne's
suspicions about the loyalty of his vassal. I would suggest, then, that the
use of tere major on five occasions either by Saracens or by the one
Frenchman who is closely involved with them lends very considerable
support to the theory which interprets the phrase as a translation of
al-'ard al-kabīra and provides further evidence of the subtlety of this
remarkable poet.
We are left, then, with one case of tere major in the poem which does
not fit the pattern: "Puis que il venent a la tere majur" (v. 818). As we
have seen, this occurrence differs from the others in several respects, of
which the most important, to my mind, is that it is preceded by the
definite article. It is significant that the other examples of words ending in
-or/-ur in the Roland, which Bédier cites as parallel cases of derivations
from Latin genitive plurals, are all preceded by either a definite article or a
demonstrative adjective: la geste Francor, cele gent paienur, l'enseigne
paienor. In other words, in this one case Tavernier and Bédier are
probably right: here tere major is not a proper noun deriving from al-'ard
al-kabīra, but an expression deriving from terra majorum. Moreover, as we
saw, this is the only occasion on which the expression is used by the poet
himself, and it is worth noting that he is here describing in a very
emotional passage (vv. 816-822) the first sight of their homeland by the
main body of Charlemagne's army after many years of warfare in Spain
and a difficult return journey over the Pyrenees. The overtones of "the
land of their ancestors" fit the context perfectly at this point.
We are thus driven to the conclusion, curious as it may seem, that both
theories concerning the origin of tere major are correct, depending on the
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Olifant / Vol 7, No. 2 / Winter 1979
context in which the expression occurs. Nearly thirty years ago D. J. A.
Ross made the point that "there is nothing vague or approximate in the
descriptions which the author of the Chanson de Roland gives us, though
there is still a good deal that we do not understand."23 I hope that the
amount we do not understand has been reduced a little by this note, in
which particular attention has been paid to the linguistic, rhythmic, and
contextual factors that bind five of the six occurrences of tere major very
closely together and, at the same time, differentiate them very clearly
from the sixth. It would seem that careful textual analysis of the Roland
can still be of assistance in uncovering its secrets and in adding to our
appreciation of the richness of its texture.24
Roger M. Walker
Birkbeck College
University of London
23
24
"Pleine sa hanste," Medium Aevum, 20(1951), 1-10, here p. 10.
I should like to thank my colleague Professor D. J. A. Ross for reading an
earlier version of this paper and for making several useful suggestions for its
improvement.