Historia Caroli Magni

Historia Caroli Magni or Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi (History of the life of Charlemagne and Roland), sometimes known as the Turpin Chronicle or the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, is a 12th-centuryLatin forged chronicle of legendary material about Charlemagne's alleged conquest of Spain. It is also called Book IV – The Conquests of Charlemagne of the Codex Calixtinus (the oldest known manuscript of the text). The chronicle states it was written by Charlemagne's contemporary Turpin, Archbishop of Reims, but it was found out as a medieval forgery. The work was extremely popular, and served as a major source of material on Charlemagne in chronicles, fiction and iconography throughout Medieval Europe.

The Historia Caroli Magni was declared as authentic by using the name of Pope Calixtus II, who was already dead, when the Pseudo-Turpin wrote his "Historia" (this he did not before 1130). It is, however, not based on historical sources but on the tradition of the chansons de geste, notably the Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland). Its popularity seems to date from the latter part of the 12th century, the period when versions of this epic began to be written down. Gaston Paris, who made a special study of the Historia, considers that the first five chapters were written by a monk of Compostela in the 11th century and the remainder by a monk of Vienne between 1109 and 1119, but this is widely disputed. No conclusive evidence has been given on its real origins.

There are 158 Latin and more than 50 vernacular manuscripts of the story in existence.

The Chronicle recounts the following incidents:

At the request of Saint James who appears to him in dream, Charlemagne embarks on four wars to wrest Spain from the Saracens. In the first war, he takes his army to Santiago de Compostela and conquers all of Spain. A second war is brought on to battle the African king Agolant who, briefly, reconquers the country. (During this war, several miracles occur, including flowers sprouting from the lances of the knights.) A third war has Agolant invading south-western France and besieging the city of Agen, but he is forced to retreat to Pamplona. In the fourth war, Charlemagne's great army besieges Pamplona. After the death of Agolant, Charlemagne's troops pursue the Saracens through Spain.

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