The Song of Roland (Epic of France) The Song of Roland (French: La Chanson de Roland) - is the oldest surviving major

work of French literature. It exists in various different manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries. The oldest of these is the Oxford manuscript which contains a text of some 4004 lines (the number varies slightly in different modern editions) and is usually dated to the middle of the twelfth century (between 1140 and 1170). The epic poem is the first and most outstanding example of the chanson de geste, a literary form that flourished between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries and celebrated the legendary deeds of a hero. The origin of this eight-century Fench epic is obscure but the story is based on a battle between the Gascons of Spain and Charlemagne of France.Einhard, an early biographer of Charlemagne, says in his account, In this battle, Egginhard, the royal seneschal, Anselm, the Count of the Palace, andHruodland (Roland) the Warden of Breton Marches were killed, with very many others. This is the first mention we have of the knight who was to be eulogized in one of the greatest epics of the Middle Ages. The Divine Comedy (Epic of Italy) The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) -is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature,[1] and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.[2] The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the standardized Italian.[3] It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; [4] but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God.[5] At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and theSumma Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.[6] Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse."[7] Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri a. HELL TYPE OF SINNERS 1. virtuous non-Christians or the proud sinners 2. lustful or sexually active individuals 3. gluttons 4. avaricious and prodigal 5. wrathful and sullen PUNISHMENT living in a gentle sadness their spirits were blown by an unceasing wind laying in the mud, tormented by a heavy cold rain rolling weights around in opposite direction fighting and sinking in the muddy water

6. heretics (one who takes or chooses his own belief, instead of imprisoned in red-hot sepulchers the belief of his church) 7. violent, fraudulent, and traitors a. (first ring) tyrants and murderers b. (second ring) suicidal c. (third ring) blasphemers, sodomites and usurers tormented in the river of boiling water living in a black forest full of twisted trees sitting or walking around a flaming sand under a rain of fire

8. malebolge a. (1st enclosure) naked sinners and seducers b. (2nd enclosure) flatterers c. (3rd enclosure) simonists whipped by demons mired in a stew of human excrement punished by being stuck upside down in rock with their feet on fire d. (4th enclosure) diviners, astrologers, and magicians e. (5th enclosure) barraters spreader of false rumors f. (6th enclosure) hypocrites g. (7th enclosure) thieves made to wear heavy lead robes bitten by serpents and then transformed into h. (8th enclosure) fraudulent counselors i. (9th enclosure) sewers of scandal j. (10th enclosure) falsifiers j.1 falsifiers of metal j.2 impersonators and imitators j.3 counterfeiters and liars plagued by a disease like leprosy made them insane stitching their mouth 9. betrayers and assassinators a. (1st ring) traitors against their kin b. (2nd ring) betrayer of the parties and their homelands c. (3rd ring) assassinators of guests d. (4th ring) traitors against their benefactors starved to death covered in ice frozen into ice deepen in the frozen lake serpents aflame terribly maimed by a devil with a sword flung into a lake of hot pitch punished by their heads on backwards

b. PURGATORY TYPE OF SINNERS 1. (1st terrace) the proud

PUNISHMENT

BEATITUDE

they are purged by carrying giant stones on their back unable to stand up straight

Blessed are the poor in spirit

2. (2nd terrace) the envious

they are purged by having their eyes sewn Blessed are the merciful shut and wearing clothing that makes the soul indistinguishable from the ground they are purged by walking around an acrid smoke they are purged by continually running Blessed are the peacemaker

3. (3rd terrace) the wrathful

4. (4th terrace) the slothful

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted

5. (5th terrace) the avaricious and the prodigal 6. (6th terrace) the gluttonous

they are purged by lying face-down on the ground, unable to move

they are purged by abstaining from any food or drink they are purged by burning in an immense wall of flame

7. (7th terrace) the lustful

c. HEAVEN SPHERES OF HEAVEN 1. (1st sphere) the sphere of moon

TYPE OF SINNERS souls who abandoned their vows, and deficient in the virtue of fortitude souls who did good out of a desire for fame but who were deficient in the virtue of justice souls who did good out of love, but were deficient in the virtue of temperance souls of the wise who embody prudence souls who fought for Christianity and who embody fortitude souls who personified justice. The souls here spell out the Latin for love justice, ye the judge the earth, then arrange themselves into the shape of an imperial eagle souls who embody temperance

2. (2nd sphere) the sphere of mercury

3. (3rd sphere) the sphere of Venus

4. (4th sphere) the sphere of the sun 5. (5th sphere) the sphere of Mars 6. (6th sphere) the sphere of Jupiter

7. (7th sphere) the sphere of Saturn

8. (8th sphere) the sphere of fixed stars 9. (9th sphere) the premium mobile

it is the sphere of church triumphant it is the abode of angels

EL CID Rodrigo Daz de Vivar (AD. 1043 July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador (Spanish pronunciation: [el i kampeaor], "The lord-master of military arts"), was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. Exiled from the court of Alfonso VI of Len and Castile, El Cid went on to command a Moorish force consisting of Muladis, Berbers, Arabs and Malians, under Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud, Moorish king of the northeast Al-Andalus city of Zaragoza, and his successor, Al-Mustain II. After the Christian defeat at the Battle of Sagrajas, El Cid was recalled to service by Alfonso VI, and commanded a combined Christian and Moorish army, which he used to create his own fiefdom in the Moorish Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia. Rodrigo Daz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alfrez, the chief general, of Alfonso VI, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors. The name El Cid (Spanish: [el 'id]) comes from the Spanish article el (meaning "the"), and the dialectal Arabic word sdi or sayyid, which means "Lord" or "The Master". The title Campeador is the Old Spanish version of the Latin campi doctor or campi doctus; the term can be found in writings of late Latinity (4th 5th century) and can be found in some inscriptions of that era. After that period it became rare, although still sometimes found in the writings of the less educated writers of the Middle Ages. The literal significance of the expression campi doctor is "master of the military arts", and its use in the period of the late Roman Empire appears to have signified only one who instructed new military recruits. But it was in current usage when El Cid was still alive, and was applied to Rodrigo by a member of his circle in an official document promulgated in his name in 1098. Overall, then, El Cid Campeador translates as "The lord, master of military arts", or more directly, "The Champion." El Cid (FILM) (1961) is a historical epic film, a romanticized story of the life of the Christian Castilian knight Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" who in the 11th century fought the North African Almoravides and ultimately contributed to the unification of Spain

Nibelungenlied The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge. The Nibelungenlied is based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs (the "Nibelungensaga"), which include oral traditions and reports based on historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries. Old Norse parallels of the legend survive in the Vlsunga saga, the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda, theLegend of Norna-Gest, and the irekssaga. In 2009, the three main manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied were inscribed in UNESCOs Memory of the World Register in recognition of their historical significance.[1]