Summary of 'Guerre sainte dans La Chanson de Roland: La «Mythification» de l'histoire' as Translated by Mark Dominik

The Crusades is a tricky topic among Christians and non-Christians today. The sweet pious imagery of Christians we perceive from the medieval world completely mystifies the reason behind the horrific actions of the numerous Crusades. However, historians are well aware that these raids through the Holy Lands were by no means ignorant bursts of hatred. The Crusades were considered, by the Christians who participated in them, a Holy War. This was not merely a pillaging of Islamic land, this was a divine war, God-ordained, this was a way to establish your place in sainthood! The Song of Roland demonstrates to the general population of Francia that the act of murdering and pillaging through Arabia was not only justified, but proved their faith. Mark Dominik, in the essay he translates, notes the different literary elements of the Song that point toward a propaganda nature. 

Dominik identifies that the work is much aligned with a national epic, just as the Iliad was for the Greeks, and the Aeneid was for Rome.  The Franks of Francia are a newly established empire, or more correctly, a newly gathered tribes-people. Having witnessed the quality of power the Roman Empire had possessed over the known world, the Franks had a strong desire to be Rome, and through Clovis's conversion and Charlemagne's name, they were able to accomplish just this. While they now held the name, the Franks knew something was missing. The Rome they had seen had been overrun by Muslims. 
Here is justification number one: the Crusades are only taking back their own land; robbing the robbers; becoming Robin Hood for the Mediterranean. 

Not only do the Franks find a national identity within the Song, they are also able to mythologise religious and political leaders into epic heroes and small battles into great war triggers. The Song of Roland articulates the many atrocities that happened in the battle of Roncevaux at the hands of the evil Muslims, when in fact this was a short battle with the Basques. The heroes of this story end up being both the sacrificial Roland and the omnibenevolent Charlemagne. Dominik notes that both of these men take on the role of Christ symbolically in the Song, providing a tactile embodiment of Christ as a role model of the ideal Frankish Christian citizen, as Aeneas did in the Aeneid and Achilles in the Iliad. And here come the second justification: the Crusades are an act of justice for our fallen hero and serve as a way of imitating a morally upright Christian. 

Another element the author notes abundant throughout the Song is the mentality the poem develops. In the Song, the poet readily establishes an "us vs. them" mentality. The Song never establishes that the enemy they fight are specifically of the Islamic religion. Instead, much broader terms are used, such as pagans. This term not only includes Muslims, which the Crusades were primarily targeted at, but also any non-Christians. Charlemagne not only picked fights with Arabs, but also much further North with Saxons, also of a 'pagan' religion. In addition to this division, the Song clearly denotes the moral purity of themselves (the Christian) against the incurable immorality of the pagans (perhaps Saxons and Muslims). This immorality was seen to such a radical degree that the very language of the poem begins to dehumanise the enemy. Their view of morality remained very black and white. Since all Franks were Christians and all Christians were morally correct, all Franks were morally pure. And also since Christianity was the only way, all non-Christians (read pagans) were evil. Finally, here is the third justification: the Crusades served as a way of keeping the Mediterranean world pure from pagan (evil) contaminants (of a non-human source), and encouraging the world toward a Godly and upright moral standard.  

The complex and questionable nature of the Crusades was of the same nature even prior to the First Crusade. However, the justification of their actions, as demonstrated through Dominik's essay on the Song of Roland, shows a thorough moral compensation for the atrocities committed by the wandering Crusaders. Unfortunately, the propaganda of literary articles such as the Song worked in making the Crusades of a "Christian" source.