Roncevaux Pass

Pass of Roncesvalles or Roncesvalles Pass, is a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees near the border between France and Spain. The pass itself is entirely in Spain.LocationThe pass is located between the towns of Roncesvalles and Luzaide/Valcarlos in Navarra, northern Spain. The closest town in France is Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, at a distance of about 8 km (5.0 mi) from the Spanish border. It has customarily been an important point on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route.The route over the pass departs from Lintzoain on the Spanish side and from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side.The pass divides the valley of the Nive on the north from the valley of the Irati on the south.HistoryBattle of Roncesvalles (778)In 778 Roland, the warden of the Breton March, had accompanied Charlemagne on his campaign into the Iberian peninsula across the Western Pyrenees. Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, mentions in his Vita Karoli Magni a fatal event involving Vasconian raiders who laid an ambush by hiding in the woods on top of a high mountain while Frankish troops were crossing the mountain pass. Subsequently, the raiders attacked the rear guards of the Frankish army on their way down into the valley. According to Einhard, Eggihard, the King's steward; Anselm ("Anshelmus"), Count Palatine; and Roland ("Hruodlandus"), Governor of the March of Brittany, with very many others, lost their lives during that ambush.