The Song of Charlemagne

About the Book

“Ganelon had grossly underestimated Roland’s savoir faire in the handling of lance and shield under the conditions of a full-on tilt. Figuring Roland would be leaning forward like any novice, Ganelon had decided to aim dead-center on his boss, which, had Roland been assuming such a posture, would have placed the duke’s lance at a perfect right angle to Roland’s shield maximizing its full impact and most likely unhorsing him.

However, Roland was no novice. As Ganelon had lowered his lancepoint early, thus revealing where he’d intended to make his hit, Roland had moved his shield-boss in line to accommodate him. But, in the last moment before impact, Roland had leaned back and braced placing his shield not only on a direct line with the duke’s lance-point, but also at a sloping angle upward. The result was as anticipated. The lance glanced harmlessly up and away as he’d completed the pass.”



The historic events of the period following the fall of the Roman Empire fr om 450 AD to 800 AD are sketchy at best. As such, contemporary historians refer to them as the “Dark Ages”. It has been difficult to distinguish myth, legend and folklore fr om the history of the times and modern society has suff ered and continues to this day, to suffer the consequences. Mr. Motter, through scholarly research over more than 20 years has managed to link and make sense out of that which heretofore has been viewed primarily as subject matter for fairy tales. No one really knows the people behind the characters and times in which they lived in “The Song of Roland” and so, when he dies in the Pass at Roncesvalles, it is impossible to understand and appreciate what was lost there. There is no possibility for “Epic Tragedy” as defi ned by Aristotle in his work “The Poetics” resulting in a “catharsis” of pity and fear on the part of the reader. Mr. Motter, in his fi rst of three books in this trilogy, sets about changing all that and, in the process, leads us to an understanding of the role politics and religion have played in the manipulation of the roles of women in society as well as the current conflict between Islam and the West.

About the Author

Mr. Motter earned a B.A. degree from Steohens College, Columbia in Literature. He is fluent in French and lived in Munich, then Paris as President of HGM Medical Lasers International division. During that period, in his spare time, he performed extensive research on French history during the medievil period at the Bibliotheque Nationale with specific emphasis on the Chansons de Gestes. He traveled extensively during the period performing on-site research. Mr. Motter was raised on a horse ranch in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and is an accomplished equestrian. He was XO of an armor company during the Vietnam conflict and is a grand nephew of President Eisenhower. He also lived in Santa Cruz, California for 25 years and is a proficient surfer, still going out a few times a year. He was also a member of the National Ski Patrol for 25 years and is an expert skier. He is a certified Open Water Diver and has dived all over the world. He founded and took public a high-tech, bio-med company on the NASDAQ in 1996 and left that company in 2005 to start another company. Mr. Motter is a Knight Hospitaller. He was knighted in 1998 by the Eastern Orthodox Church for medical equipment contributions he made on behalf of his company to former East Block countries after the wall came down. He currently resides in Salt Lake city where he skis, fly-fishes and presides as CEO of Start-Up Resource Group Inc.(www.startuprg.com)