Peter, as the tooth proved; he had passed through Constantinople and secured the help of Saint Basil; he had reached Jerusalem and gained the affection of the Virgin; he had come home to France and secured the support of his “seigneur” Saint Denis; for Roland, like Hugh Capet, was a liege-man of Saint Denis and French to the heart.  France, to him, was Saint Denis, and at most the Ile de France, but not Anjou or even Maine.  These were countries he had conquered with Durendal:—­

Jo l’en cunquis e Anjou e Bretaigne
 Si l’en cunquis e Peitou e le Maine
 Jo l’en cunquis Normendie la franche
 Si l’en cunquis Provence e Equitaigne.

He had conquered these for his emperor Charlemagne with the help of his immediate spiritual lord or seigneur Saint Denis, but the monks knew that he could never have done these feats without the help of Saint Peter, Saint Basil, and Saint Mary the Blessed Virgin, whose relics, in the hilt of his sword, were worth more than any king’s ransom.  To this day a tunic of the Virgin is the most precious property of the cathedral at Chartres.  Either one of Roland’s relics would have made the glory of any shrine in Europe, and every monk knew their enormous value and power better than he knew the value of Roland’s conquests.

Yet even the religion is martial, as though it were meant for the fighting Archangel and Odo of Bayeux.  The relics serve the sword; the sword is not in service of the relics.  As the death-scene approaches, the song becomes even more military:—­

Co sent Rollanz que la mort le tresprent
 Devers la teste sur le quer li descent. 
 Desuz un pin i est alez curanz
 Sur l’erbe verte si est culchiez adenz
 Desuz lui met s’espee e l’olifant
 Turnat sa teste vers la paiene gent. 
 Pur co l’ad fait que il voelt veirement
 Que Carles diet et trestute sa gent
 Li gentils quens quil fut morz cunqueranz.

Then Roland feels that death is taking him;
 Down from the head upon the heart it falls. 
 Beneath a pine he hastens running;
 On the green grass he throws himself down;
 Beneath him puts his sword and oliphant,
 Turns his face toward the pagan army. 
 For this he does it, that he wishes greatly
 That Charles should say and all his men,
 The gentle Count has died a conqueror.

Thus far, not a thought or a word strays from the field of war.  With a childlike intensity, every syllable bends toward the single idea—­

Li gentils quens quil fut morz cunqueranz.

Only then the singer allowed the Church to assert some of its rights:-

Co sent Rollanz de sun tens ni ad plus
 Devers Espaigne gist en un pui agut
 A l’une main si ad sun piz batut. 
 “Deus meie culpe vers les tues vertuz
 De mes pecchiez des granz e des menuz
 Que jo ai fait des l’ure que nez fui
 Tresqu’a cest jur que ci sui consouz.” 
 Sun destre guant en ad vers deu tendut
 Angle del ciel i descendent a lui.  Aoi.