Count of the March of Brittany, Roland would be the nephew of Charlemagne. In 778, in Roncesvalles, after a campaign against the Muslims of Spain, Roland's rearguard was massacred by a detachment of Gascons (Basques). This famous event inspired "La Chanson de Roland" where the Gascons became Muslims. He also appears in many epic stories that mix realism with the fabulous, Roland becomes with his Durandal sword, the perfect model of the French paladin.

Roland de La Platière Jean-Marie (1734 - 1793)

Girondin, he befriends Vergniaud and Brissot. He became Minister of the Interior in 1792, he did nothing to prevent the September massacres. In January 1793, he attempted to oppose the king's death sentence and fled to Rouen, where, hearing of his wife's execution, he pierced his heart. His wife Manon Roland was a cultured woman, she held a salon in Paris where the Girondins, of whom she was the muse, met, she was guillotined declaring "Oh Liberty, what crimes in your name".