Thou Shall Kill: Religion and Violence in The Song of Roland Meghan Edwards College

Religion, perhaps unduly, finds itself in the justification of many actions throughout history that would be considered atrocities to the sensible modern-day observer: prejudices, slavery, and murders, all fall under this category of God’s will in an attempt to pacify actions that appear to exemplify the dichotomy of good versus evil. This type of historically acceptable justification was characteristic of Medieval Europe during which devotion to God infamously started and extended centuries-long wars. The Song of Roland, written by an unknown poet, describes one fictitious example of these wars that are interwoven with the Christian duty as it provides insight into the religious justification of a Frankish battle against the pagan Saracens. The war seems to be entirely religiously motivated and through this, violence is glorified and even encouraged to the point that strong fighter equals strong Christian. The consistency of piety being used as a motivation to continue violence, as well as the coupling of Roland with martyrdom within his death, and the very character of the archbishop and his beliefs throughout the battle indicate a close relationship between what it means to be a Christian with committing violent acts in the...