The Battle
| History of the Basque people |
|---|
| Prehistory and Antiquity |
| Basque Prehistory |
| Basque people in Antiquity |
| Middle Ages |
| Duchy of Cantabria |
| Duchy of Vasconia |
| County of Vasconia |
| Battle of Roncevaux Pass |
| Kingdom of Navarre |
| Banu Qasi |
| Basque party wars |
| Modern Age |
| The Basque Country in the Early Modern Age |
| Basque witch trials |
| The Basque Country in the Late Modern Age |
| Carlist Wars |
| Basque nationalism |
| ETA |
| Monarchs |
| Dukes of Vasconia and Gascony |
| Kings of Pamplona and Navarre |
| Lords of Biscay |
| Counts of Araba |
| Counts of Lapurdi |
| Viscounts of Zuberoa |
| Topical |
| Navarrese right |
| Basque navigation |
| Basque culture |
| Basque literature |
| Politics of the Basque Country |
| Timeline of Basque history |
| Basque portal |
The battle itself took place in the evening of Saturday 15 August 778, causing numerous losses among the Frankish troops, including several most important aristocrats and the sack of the baggage, probably with all the gold given by the Muslims at Zaragoza. After their success, the attackers took advantage of the night to flee.
The sources are somewhat contradictory, yet the second version of the Annales Regii (falsely attributed to Eginhard) reads:
Having decided to return, entered the mountains of the Pyrenees, in whose summits the Vascones had set up an ambush. They attacked the rearguard, causing confusion which spread to all the army. And, while the Franks were superior to the Vascones both in armament and in courage, the roughness of the terrain and the difference in the style of combat made them generally weaker. In this battle were killed the majority of the paladins that the King had placed in command of his forces. The baggage was sacked, and suddenly the enemy vanished, thanks to their knowledge of the terrain. The memory of the injury so produced overshadowed in the King's heart that of the feats done in Hispania.
The Vita Karoli mentions the names of the most important paladins killed among many others: Eggihard, Mayor of the Palace, Anselmus, Palatine Count and Roland, Prefect of the March of Brittany.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Roncevaux Pass (778)
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“Athelstan King,
Lord among Earls,
Bracelet-bestower and
Baron of Barons,”
—Unknown. Battle of Brunanburh (l. 1–4)
“There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the skyscrapers’ battle with the heavens that cover them. Snow, rain, and mist highlight, drench, or conceal the vast towers, but those towers, hostile to mystery and blind to any sort of play, shear off the rain’s tresses and shine their three thousand swords through the soft swan of the fog.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)