Roncesvalles, Battle of

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Roncesvalles, Battle of a battle which took place in 778 at a mountain pass in the Pyrenees, near the village of Roncesvalles in northern Spain. The rearguard of Charlemagne's army was attacked by the Basques and massacred; one of the paladins, Roland, was killed, an event celebrated in the Chanson de Roland (in which the attackers are wrongly identified as the Moors).