Eginhard, the historian of Charlemagne, terminates his narrative with these words: "The House-intendant, (Regiae mensae praepositus), Eggihard, Anselm, Count of the Palace, Roland, Prefect of the Marches of Brittany (Hruolandus britannici limitis praefectus), with many more, perished in the fight. It was not possible to take revenge on the spot. The treacherous attempt once perpetrated, the enemy dispersed and left no trace." (Eginhard's Life of Charlemagne, Vol. I., p. 31; edition of the Societe de l'histoire de France.) From the moment of the defeat of Ronceval, legend commenced its labor upon this truly epic event which, in its origin, is absolutely French, but has found its echoes throughout Europe, from Iceland to Eastern regions. The commentators generally agree in dating the composition of the Poem before the first crusade in the year 1096. The author, it is ascertained, was Norman, the dialect used by him being Norman throughout. Whether this author was really Turoldus, named in the last line of the Poem, is a point which Leon Gautier refuses to affirm. We refer the reader to the very interesting preface of _Genin_, and to the learned introductions of Leon Gautier, for more complete information. * * * * * The word "_Aoi_," which is placed at the end of every stanza, and found in no other ancient French poems, is interpreted differently by the commentators. M. Francisque Michel assimilated it at first to the termination of an ecclesiastical chant--Preface, xxvii.--and later to the Saxon _Abeg_, or the English _Away_, as a sort of refrain which the "_jongleur_" repeated at the end of the couplets. M. Genin explains it by _ad viam_, a vei, avoie, away! it is done, let us go on! M. Gautier, with his skeptical honesty, declares the word unexplained. See Note 9, p. 4, of his seventh edition. MANUSCRIPTS. The most complete and ancient is that of Oxford, in the Bodleian Library, marked "Digby, 23," a copy of the XIIth. century. All others are _Rifaccimenti_, Refashionings. Two in Venice, in St. Mark Library, XIIIth. century; French MSS., No. 4 & 7. In the National Library, Paris, No. 860, XIIIth. century. The Versailles MS., now deposited in the Library of Chateauroux, a copy of which is in Paris Nat. Library; 15, 108; XIIIth. century. In the Lyons Library, 964; XIVth. century. In Cambridge, Trinity Collage, R. 3-32; XVIth. century. One called the Lorrain, a fragment found near Metz. The Karlomagnus Saga, an Icelandic copy of the Oxford MS.; XIIIth. century. * * * * * In M. Petit de Julleville's Introduction to his version can be found a chronological list of the works which concern the "CHANSON DE ROLAND," the translations of it, and dissertations on the subject in France and Germany. * * * * * There are twenty-one translations in different languages: Four in German, by Th. Mueller, Hertz, Boehmer, Eug. Koelbing.