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During the academic years of 1940-1945, I studied at École Saint-Joseph, an institution of Les Frères des écoles chrétiennes, run by a Catholic educational order. It was organized in the seventeenth century in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, a nobleman who dedicated his life to the education of French youth.

The school I attended was in Latakia, Syria. By a decision of the League of Nations, the country had been under French rule since September 1923.

All the courses were taught in French, except for Arabic grammar, syntax, and the History of the Levant, which were done in Classical Arabic. The course on French Literature included:

• Medieval Literature, 5th-15th century
• Renaissance Literature, 16th century
• Classical Literature, 17th century
• Enlightenment Literature, 18th century
• Romanticism, 19th century

The study of Medieval Literature included “La Chanson de Roland,” an account of events during the Islamic Conquests of Spain.

In 711, the Arabs (known as the Moors) began their conquest of Spain. Tariq ibn Ziyad led 12,000 Moorish troops across the Mediterranean Sea at the Strait of Gibraltar to the Rock of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq). He defeated the Visigoths and established the Kingdom of Al-Andalus. It lasted until 1492, when Granada and the Alhambra palace surrendered to the Spanish forces of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Not satisfied with their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the Moors crossed the Pyrenees in 732. In October 732, the Frankish ruler Charles Martel stopped and defeated them at the Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers.

The victory of the Franks is celebrated in La Chanson de Roland, one of the oldest major works of French Literature that flourished in Medieval Europe between the 11th and 16th centuries.

During the battle, Charlemagne’s nephew Roland led the Frankish Army. They fought well but were outnumbered. Roland blew his horn to summon help. He was injured and succumbed to his wounds at Roncevaux, dying a martyr’s death, on August 15, 778. The story ends with the angels’ arrival and lifting his soul to Paradise.

The French poet Alfred-Victor, Count de Vigny, composed a poem for the song, Le Cor, that celebrates Roland’s martyrdom.