Introduction to blogs on The Song of Roland and the Battle of Roncesvalles

For my final project, I have chosen to do a series of blogs comparing the French epic poem The Song of Roland to the actual battle that the poem is based on: the Battle of Roncesvalles. The project will contain six blogs: one on the context that the poem was written under and possible reasons why it was written, one on the casus belli (or “cause of war”), one on  religion and warfare, one on honor and shame societies, one on women and warfare, and finally one on the aftermath of the battle itself. By exploring these topics with the poem as a primary source, I hope to gain greater insight into the battle as it occurred and into the mindset of the people during the period some three hundred years later when the poem was actually recorded.