classifications: The first, taken from old legends, shows a style of
verse peopled with the Gothic, Frankish and Burgundian heroes who
flourished in the time of the great Northern emigrations; and for these
there is usually some historical foundation, while they are also
closely knit to the traditions of the old heathenish mythology of the
Gothic Nations. The second subject of chivalrous verse was Charlemagne,
the Saracens and Roncesvalle. These were chiefly composed by the
Normans, who, after the Crusades, gave a new direction to literature.
Marked changes were introduced by them, not only into France, but
throughout Europe. They were filled with the spirit of adventure and
enthusiasm, and in their onward march conquered England and Sicily, and
took the lead in the next Crusade. Essentially a poetic people, the
wonderful was the object of all their admiration and desire. Hence they
sang old war songs, especially of the battle of Roncesvalles in which
Roland dies when the Franks are conquered by the Spaniards and Turks.

In the tale of a fabulous Crusade, invented in the ninth century, and
which was embodied in poetry by the Normans, the true history of the
Empire became so bewilderingly mixed up with magicians, genii, sultans,
Oriental fables, and comical characters, who met with astonishing
adventures, that it was difficult to distinguish the true from the
false. There was nothing of the romantic and wonderful in the history
of the East, which did not find its way into the poetry that treated of
Charlemagne and Roland, until it lost all traces of the real wars and
achievements of Charlemagne. The third subject of chivalric verse was
Arthur of the Round Table; but this, at the time, was also invested
with Oriental wonders and attachments. Other chivalric poetry of this
epoch had to do with Godfrey of Bouillon, the Crusades, and old French
tales and fabliaux which were brought into Europe by the oral
narratives of the Crusaders.

The Northern mythology always abounded with mountain spirits, mermaids,
giants, dwarfs, dragons, elves and mandrakes. These reappear in the
songs of the Crusades, and are elements of the old Northern and Persian
superstitions. All that the East contributed to the song of the
chivalric period was a Southern magic, and a brilliance of Oriental
fancy with which some of the poems were clothed.

A Persian poem that became very popular in Europe in the Middle Ages
was Ferdusi's Book of Heroes. It h