Charlemagne was succeeded by his son Louis, a well-intentioned but
feeble prince, in whose reign the fabric reared by Charles began
rapidly to crumble. Louis was followed successively by two
Charleses, incapable princes, whose weak and often tyrannical
conduct is no doubt the source of incidents of that character
ascribed in the romances to Charlemagne.

The lawless and disobedient deportment of Charles's paladins,
instances of which are so frequent in the romantic legends, was
also a trait of the declining empire, but not of that of
Charlemagne.

THE PEERS, OR PALADINS

The twelve most illustrious knights of Charlemagne were called
Peers, for the equality that reigned among them; while the name of
Paladins, also conferred on them, implies that they were inmates
of the palace and companions of the king. Their names are always
given alike by the romancers, yet we may enumerate the most
distinguished of them as follows: Orlando or Roland (the former
the Italian, the latter the French form of the name), favorite
nephew of Charlemagne; Rinaldo of Montalban, cousin of Orlando;
Namo, Duke of Bavaria; Salomon, king of Brittany; Turpin, the
Archbishop; Astolpho, of England; Ogier, the Dane; Malagigi, the
Enchanter; and Florismart, the friend of Orlando. There were
others who are sometimes named as paladins, and the number cannot
be strictly limited to twelve. Charlemagne himself must be counted
one, and Ganelon, or Gano, of Mayence, the treacherous enemy of
all the rest, was rated high on the list by his deluded sovereign,
who was completely the victim of his arts.