Roncesvalles

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For other uses, see Roncesvalles (disambiguation).

Roncesvalles

Municipality

Orreaga/Roncesvalles

Coat of arms

Roncesvalles

Location in Spain

Coordinates: 43°0′N 1°19′W / 43.000°N 1.317°W

Country

Spain

Autonomous community

Navarre

Province

Navarre

Comarca

Auñamendi

Judicial district

Aóiz

Government

• Mayor

Luis Echeverría Echávarren

Area

• Total

15.1 km² (5.8 sq mi)

Elevation

923 m (3,028 ft)

Highest elevation

1,564 m (5,131 ft)

Lowest elevation

910 m (2,990 ft)

Population (2009)

• Total

• Density

2.0/km² (5.1/sq mi)

Demonym

Orreagatarra

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code

31650

Dialing code

948

Website

Official website

Roncesvalles (Basque: Orreaga, Aragonese: Ronzesbals, Italian: Roncisvalle, French: Roncevaux) is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some 900 metres in the Pyrenees, about 4 kilometres from the French frontier as the crow flies, or 21 kilometres by road.

Roncesvalles is famous in history and legend for the defeat of Charlemagne and the death of Roland in 778, during the battle of Roncevaux Pass, when Charlemagne's rear guard was destroyed by Basque tribes.

The small collegiate church contains several curious relics associated with Roland. The battle is said to have been fought in the picturesque valley known as Valcarlos, which is now occupied by a hamlet bearing the same name, and in the adjoining pass of Ibañeta (Roncevaux Pass). Both of these are traversed by the main road leading north from Roncesvalles to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the French Basque Country.

Since the Middle Ages, this collegiate church has been a favorite resting place for Catholic pilgrims along the Way of St. James, since it is the first place to have a rest after crossing the French Pyrenees. Every year thousands of pilgrims begin their way to Santiago de Compostela at Roncesvalles.

The area was also the site of the 1813 Battle of Roncesvalles during the Peninsular War.

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press

External links

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