I was recently commissioned by a publisher in London, Flame Tree Publishing, to write the main Introduction and four section Introductions to a new edition of “The Song of Roland” and “The Turpin Chronicle”. The editor having read several of my blogs on French History—particularly those focused on Emperor Charlemagne—invited me to contribute to this volume. I was deeply honored to accept!

“This Flame Tree Collector’s Edition brings together two English translations of the famous epic poem, one version in verse and another in prose, eliciting new insights into the medieval work of Charlemagne and Roland”(book cover!). It has just been released in London and will be available in the United States next week.

In preparing these introductions, I referenced several of the French history volumes I have collected over the past twenty-five years—books acquired one by one, often discovered in the Gibert Jeune Librairies of Paris and university library book sales, and read not for obligation but out of enduring fascination. For years, I have referenced these books in my blog essays on French history and medieval France as I was captivated by the subject and wanted to share this with the world.

I never imagined that this quiet, sustained interest would one day converge with a formal scholarly commission. What began as private intellectual delight has, in an unexpected and deeply gratifying way, become part of a published contribution to the field I have long loved. And, as a otherworldly benefit,  is really cool to see my name published in a French history book!

These references from my library include:

  • Bédier’s Les legends épiques: recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste (French Edition, 1908-1913 H. Champion publisher)
  • Denoeu’s Petit Miroir de la Civilisation Francaise (French Edition, 1938, D.C. Heath publisher)
  • Dowden’s A History of French Literature (1912, Appleton & Co. publisher)
  • Lagarde and Michard’s Moyen Age: Les Grands Auteurs Français du Programme (French edition, 1963, Bordas publishing)
  • Perier’s La Chanson de Roland. Les Classiques Pour Tous (1877, Librairie Hatier publishing)
  • The Song of Roland Translated by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff with an Introduction by G.K. Chesterton (1960, University of Michigan Press). This is the original The Song of Roland in verse.
  • The Song of Roland. Translated into English Prose by Isabel Butler (1904, Houghton Mifflin publisher).

What I love about this new edition of The Song of Roland is combination of the verse translation, which readers who prefer the historical context from Old French can enjoy, with a prose translation that is accessible and easier for modern readers to follow. I am very excited that a new generation will be introduced to Roland, the oldest French hero whose incredible feats of courage and valor honored his country and his faith in God.

Work Cited

Lowrie, Robyn, and J.K. Jackson. The Song of Roland: Epic Tales of Conquest & Empire. Flame Tree Publishing, 2026.