Oliver

Oliver, also Olivier de Vienne or de Gennes, was a legendary French knight. He was a favourite paladin of Charlemagne's (748 – 814), king of the Franks. He figures in the medieval literature "Matter of France" especially in "chansons de geste". In the French epic "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland) he is one of the principal characters as Roland's friend representing wisdom. Oliver, along with Roland, rode by his side, and whose name, along with Roland's, has passed into the phrase, a "Roland for an Oliver," meaning one good masterstroke for another, such as both these knights never failed to deliver. He dies with Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778.

Nearby pages
Oliver Cromwell, Oliver Goldsmith, Oliver Hazard Perry, Oliver Madox Brown, Oliver Twist