It was a betrayal by the Uncle which led to this mans death, and his rearguard.  Charlemagne, probably the greatest Frankish emperor that ever lived, his nephew was one of his most valued pieces of his life.  Charlemagne led a conquest to eliminate the pagans, people who worshipped idols and not the true God as they called it, in Spain.  He was 70 years of age when he left France to proceed in the eyes of the lord, he returned when he was roughly 78 years of age.  During these 8 years he transformed Spain by conquering every single land and building churches in places and leaving guards to defend the Frankish Ministers.  Of course near the end of his journey one pagan emperor begged Charlemagne to let his lands live.  Charlemagne being a man of his word said yes, but one of the requirements was to leave a rearguard; a rearguard is the army in the rear of the formation, usually several miles behind the actual army.  Rolands uncle despised him for he was favored by Charlemagne more than he was.  His Uncle had influence over lots of Charlemagnes Council, and he forced them to vote Roland as the rearguard.

            Roland had a horn; it was a gift from Charlemagne and he always had it with him.  When Charlemagne was about to leave he said, Roland, my best knight, if you need any help blow upon your horn three times.  Roland took his word and Charlemagne left him to be.  He had a bad feeling about leaving him.  Of course not long after the pagans armies came and Roland would test every man in his army.  For every one of Rolands stories there were 5 of the pagans.  Rolands throwing axe-men, one of the most famous men of the Frankish empire; they could fire axes with pin point accuracy, and his Frankish knights, some of the most famous knights of history, and their pages went into battle.  Rolands page begged him to blow his horn, but Roland would not; he would not let his honor be ruined.  As the battle was closing, only about 8 Frankish men were left against around 100 pagans.  It was at this point where Roland, who was now bleeding from the eyes and many of his wounds, blew the horn three times with all his might; Au, Au, Au.  Charlemagne heard this and made his men charge toward the battle.  While Charlemagne was coming to his nephews aid, the rear guard had won the war with only Roland left.  Rolands brains had been blown out by the blast of his horn and he was near death.  He went under a group of bushes and started to lie down; while he was in a state of sleepiness a Pagan went up and tried to grab his sword; legend has it that his sword was gold, had the hair of St. Peter, St. John, and that the handle was that of one of the Apostles original sword handles.  When the pagan lifted it up Roland awoke and said, Me thinks this is mine, at this he grabbed the sword and killed the pagan on the spot.  Roland than fell down, exhausted and died; his death was that of a hero.

            As Charlemagne reached the battle field it was too late.  Brothers ran to try and find their brothers bodies while Charlemagne tried to find Roland.  When he found Roland dead he fell weeping on the spot; not something you commonly see war heroes do.  In frustration he pulled at his grey beard; anger filled his heart, but first he ordered one hole to be dug for both the pagans and the franks.  The hole was dug by Roland Uncle; who is rumored to have been buried alive for his status of traitor.  At this Charlemagne got up and said, The Pagans will die.

            The siege lasted only a few hours, all the pagans were put into slavery and the leaders beheaded.  Their great and glamorous city on the mountain had become a scene of blood and death.  Charlemagne left a bunch of his men here so that they may rule here and keep control of the place. Charlemagne went home to break the news.  Charlemagne was deeply grief stricken and died within a few months at his home in the Frankish world.