The Grand Code of Thierry - Valiant like Roland the Paladin - Why Men should aspire after John Carter & be Brave

Preux comme Roland or in English - The Valour of Roland is the first line of the Grand Code. I will freely admit to not being able to find my old notes on this Code that I was writing for more than a decade about the development in a series of French novels.

The novels are currently being revised once more (Chute is the first volume), with this essay later to be translated in French for my French readers.

Now the Grand Code is set down by the likes of Thierry d’Amarante, a lesser Chevalier who is elevated in rank to that of ‘Comes’ or ‘Comte’ as it is later known, he is also appointed by Britius the King of Amarante who conquers the island of Baltie or Baltia, as it is known (it is a large British isle-sized island in the sea south of the continent of North-Agenor), the Governor of the Island or at least the head of a ‘Council of Governors’.

This Concile or Council is one that would rule over the island on behalf of the King for quite some time, with Thierry serving faithfully and loyally, until his ruler died. The next ruler was a child, and Thierry would be when the boy was still young be dispatched to assist with an invasion of Folkmaringie, the middle-kingdom of the lands of the Twelve Kingdoms.

The invasion was a disaster, and Thierry was thrown off his horse, which landed on his leg crushing it. Captured and imprisoned, he would be partially healed but would never walk properly again, so that he was lame. Abandoned by his daughters who resented him, as their mother had never liked him (it was an arranged marriage). Thierry though would rot in prison for a time with only his half-sister visiting and caring for him when she could.

Thierry would during this time take the tonsure, and pen for her sons’ the Code. This Code would later on become the Grand Code of Chivalerie of Gallia.

It would be this Code that would spread alongside the Faith of Quirinas, to the islands of Bretwealda, Eriu, along with the Hespanyan Peninsula to the south, the Holy Empire of Valholant, the lands of South-Agenor and other places such as the Empire of Theodosianople.

The first line though of the Code; Preux comme Roland - Valiant as Roland, speaks in turn to Roland le Preux. Nephew in real history to Charlemagne, was a valiant youth who defended the rear-guard which was ambushed by Basques and who was lionized in the Chanson or Geste de Roland song that was part of the Great Matter of France.

This epic is a major building block to French literature, but also that of my secondary world.

The line of the Code calls for men to be Valiant, that is to say to defend the helpless, to aspire to be more than what they are. One can look at examples in history, such as those of Sanada Yukimura, Miyamoto Musashi and even Kusunoki Masashige for Japan, for examples from Scottish history, William Wallace and the Black Douglas. English history is replete with such figures such as Hereward the Wake, Harold II and also the Duke of Wellington who fought bravely for his country.

French history has of course Jehanne D’Arc, Bertrand du Guesclin, even Napoleon is quite brave when one thinks about the odds involved in some of his battles and how much fewer some of his forces were in some battles. In fact much of his tactics did not just rely on genius but on personal courage and seem to have been modelled after the bravery demanded of the Francs by the likes of Charlemagne.

Courage if one studies French, or Scottish history was never something those people lacked for. The trouble in the case of Napoleon was that he was surrounded by hostile forces on all sides.

Valour itself is a virtue as said that speaks of defence of the helpless or of one’s people, as the Roman legions are imagined to have had to do, for the Roman Republic/Empire. It is no coincidence that just as they disappear from history around the 4th century that Rome immediately begins to crumble and collapse and suffer defeat after defeat, as they come to rely ever more on a replacement barbarian horde who take ever larger chunks of the Empire for themselves.

The Romans never lost their valour but as the cost of Empire came to replace the benefit and the Roman men were squeezed out of all opportunities in life they came to marry the daughters of barbarians and formed gangs to protect their own interests. In this way they did not lack for valour, they were in all honesty surrounded and made the best of a bad situation. In a lot of ways it takes courage to do this.

In literature if one searches for Valour, it is not hard to find examples of it in stories the world over. You have the Trois Mousquetaires, wherein D’Artagnan and his companions are courageous beyond compare, and keen to sacrifice all that they have for the people of France, and also to risk their lives for their King and country.

You have Aeneas in the Aeneid who is brave not for himself, but for others. How does he compare to Roland? Quite well given all that he endures that his people might find a home for themselves worthy of them as the last sons of Troy.

There is also the story of Musashi by Yoshikawa Eiji (and also the version of this story by Inoue Takehiko), in that story Musashi is brave sure for himself, not really knowing fear but also being braver for others.

I know the likes of

Isaac Young

and

John Carter

will expect a John Carter reference, and it is one I’m more than happy to make.

In fact John Carter though he’s quite a bit more the King Archetype, he is also usually depicted as a warrior. And it is in this aspect of that Archetype that he’s most comfortable, he is also a character that like Roland never really experiences fear. At least not for himself, he’s quite frankly an emblem of courage and valour for a reason.

Hardly ever afraid, he rises to the occasion too many times to count and is even in the movie from 2012 shown to never really be afraid, but to always seek to quarrel with his enemies and never give them an inch and seeks to undo them and their every treacherous act. Courageous, without fear and always eager to protect others he’s it goes without saying the personification of a Knight.

You have of course Ivanhoe, who is valiant, seeking to protect even the most disenfranchised by English society such as the Anglo-Saxons, the likes of Rebecca and her father among many others. Never truly afraid he fights on no matter the situation, no matter what for others.

There is also of course Gwan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the great Chinese epic where the forces of Wu & Shu seek to defy the forces of Cao Wei, if unsuccessfully. Still their bravery in doing so is of note.

This is really what the line means, to be without fear for oneself, hard to do. Possibly damn near impossible for most. But it is still an ideal worth chasing after, and it is for this reason that Preux comme Roland, resonates with me so.

That said the ideal of bravery, the ideal of Chevalerie is not to excise all fear from oneself as say John Carter can, or Roland his archetypal predecessor, but rather to conquer the fear within you.

All boys are born afraid. This is a fact. But it is the duty of men and heroes to inspire in them courage, to inspire them to aim higher, to venture further and to fight longer. They must journey wider because this is what it means to conquer the beast within, they must conquer the world without so to speak.

The nature of Valour is that it isn’t necessarily something one does simply for oneself but for others. We must face fear, must conquer darkness not so much because it is necessary to prove oneself to others, but rather that it is necessary to do so to aim for a higher state of being.

What is that higher state of being? It isn’t something that can come from hooking oneself up to a machine, or with technological prosthetics, but by looking into the dark until it blinks. It is about conquering the weakest parts of oneself, and emulating the great deeds in not only literature, achieved by the likes of Gilgamesh, Herakles, Roland, Aeneas, John Carter, King Arthur, Gawain, D’Artagnan, Obi-Wan, Bowen, Robin Hood and so many others, but also by historical figures such as Augustus, the countless missionaries and martyrs of history, the likes of William Marshal, Hereward the Wake, Bertrand du Guesclin, Charlemagne, Jehanne D’Arc, Musashi and so many others already mentioned.

When in doubt, when fearful hearken back to your ancestors; because they crossed oceans, fought in deserts and in blood-soaked fields, sacrificed life, limbs and personal happiness, they endured the tempest and suffered the worst of plagues, famines and torments. They made it. They overcame these things and more, they overcame sorrows and pains we could not imagine, and they did it all without any of the comforts we’ve come to enjoy, why? So that we might live, so that we might have more than they.

This is why we must have courage, why we must endure, why we must be ‘Valiant as Roland’ or ‘Preux comme Roland’. We must be like him, because our ancestors were, we therefore owe it not only to them, but to ourselves and our children to be fearlest, to be courageous, to endure all that we currently suffer.

Because if we won’t, there won’t be another generation. So remember; Preux, or Valour isn’t simply a word. Its a choice. It is also a journey. An incremental one, away from fear, away from the darkness, the shadows of the past, the torments our ancestors endured. It is a journey on their behalf (it is also why we must remember them, each one for they deserve no less than this), and it is on their behalf, our own and those of our children we must become like Roland.

This is why the first line in the Grande Code is ‘Preux comme Roland’.