Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin

Unknown author Date of Birth Unknown Place of Birth Unknown Date of Death Unknown Place of Death Unknown

Biography The author was probably a French cleric, maybe born in Poitou and affected by Cluniac influence, given theChronicle ’s precision with regard to the geography of south-western France, as well as its Caro- lingian content and its scorn for certain Spaniards. This is incompat- ible with the thesis that this was a Spanish author writing at the abbey of Santiago de Compostela (Meredith-Jones, Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi, p. 41; Moisan, Le Livre de saint Jacques ou Codex Calix- tinus de Compostelle, pp. 59-73). However, Pseudo-Turpin’s connec- tion to Cluniac circles should perhaps be qualified if we note, with Jacques Merceron, that in addition to the Cluniac monks, the canons of St Augustine, for whom the Pseudo-Turpin also seems to have had the highest regard (ch. 13), were extremely active both through their foundations and through their charitable works along the pilgrimage routes to the shrine of St James at Compostela. TheChronicle clearly grants them a share in the renown of the legendary figure of Charle- magne (Merceron, ‘Charlemagne et l’économie de la charité et de la conversion dans le Pseudo-Turpin’, p. 965).

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Works on Christian-Muslim Relations Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin, Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi Date About 1140 Original Language Latin 456 chronicle of pseudo-turpin

Description The Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin is first and foremost the work of a forger who passes himself off as Archbishop Turpin and testifies to the 14 years of expeditions that Charlemagne is supposed to have carried out in Spain, ad expugnandum gentem paganorum perfidam at the command of St James. To open the way for future pilgrims to Compostela, represented in his dreams by a pathway of stars, the emperor conquers Spain with the help of God, and in answer to his prayer the walls of Pamplona, the new Jericho, collapse. Turpin bap- tizes those who convert and those who do not are killed. Churches and monasteries are founded and idols destroyed, except for the one in Cadiz which Muḥammad himself is alleged to have made. But soon after his return to France, the emperor learns that the African King Agolant has invaded Spain and also the south-west of France and has massacred the Christians. With accounts of four successive campaigns carried out by Char- lemagne against Agolant and then the survivors of his troops, and punctuated by regular returns to France, the Chronicle abandons its insistent bias towards James and becomes more definitely epic, incor- porating into a broader narrative scenes of war, moralizing and exem- pla (the fate of those who do not respect the last wishes of the dead, ch. 7; the miracle of the lances flowering at St Fagon and Saintes, indicating those among Charlemagne’s warriors who will die as mar- tyrs, and so on). Charlemagne fails to convert Agolant, though he does defeat him heavily. He is then challenged by King Fourre, and by the giant Ferragut, whom Roland kills in single combat after failing to convert him to Catholicism. Charlemagne becomes the undisputed master of Spain, and makes Compostela an apostolic seat. But the emperor is betrayed by Marsile and Baligant who, with the complicity of the cov- etous Ganelon, pretend to submit to him and seek baptism in order to set their ambush at Roncesvalles. Pseudo-Turpin gives here a different version of the drama from the Chanson de Roland (q.v.), even though some elements, such as Roland’s last prayer, are similar. To avenge the defeat of the rearguard and the death of his beloved nephew Roland, about which Turpin is warned in a vision before one of the few sur- vivors can reach the emperor, Charlemagne sets off in pursuit of the Saracens and crushes them. Back at the scene of Roncesvalles, he punishes Ganelon and has the remains of the heroes embalmed and sent for burial in different places. The emperor returns to France and