La Chanson de Roland (English translation, and used interchangeably, The Song of Roland) is a Medieval French epic poem that survived in seven manuscripts and a number of fragments. The manuscript focused on here, the Oxford version, was housed for centuries in Oxford, England, where it survived as the oldest surviving manuscript and is estimated to have been copied around 1125 CE, and the Bodleian Library provides its facsimile. Roland is in better condition than the other two manuscripts, though written on poor quality parchment whose color is dark, making the font difficult to read clearly on some pages, a fact exacerbated by poor alignment and a very angular script (Duggan, 2005, p. I/15-16).

La Chanson de Roland, in the case of the Oxford manuscript (Digby 23), has probably had the most straightforward provenance path by being written in Anglo-Norman (medieval French language from the eastern Norman regions of what is modern-day France). It was either written in Oxford, England, or immediately taken there upon its completion, where it stayed (though passing through several uncertain hands) up until its current ownership by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The result of this is a manuscript that would not have otherwise survived, due to its poor-quality parchment and being removed from a great deal of the mainland European conflicts that might have resulted in its destruction (Duggan, 2005).