The scene. Having identified Roncesvalles as the undisputed location of the battle, it remains to give some idea of the terrain itself. It is known that there are two routes to cross the Pyrenees from Roncesvalles: one that descends through the narrow passes toward Valcarlos and the other that climbs the peaks to then descend to the land of Cize. There has been debate about whether the battle took place at one pass or the other, or both. The truth seems to be that while Charles's advance forces, with the leader, had followed the high route, the Roman road, which via the Lepoeder Pass leads to Bentartea and descends to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the bulk of the army, with its principal commanders, was pushed back toward the Arraosin ravine, near where the current collegiate church stands. The Chanson de Roland is better informed about the setting than about the scene. Something similar happens to her that usually happens to novelists who visit a place beforehand in order to later weave their facts around it. This must have happened to the original author of the Chanson. The Oxford Roland mentions three times the Porz de Sizer, which some modern historians have wanted to place in Siresa (Huesca), but which is, without a doubt, the port of Cisa that the Latins call Portus Sicera-Sizer-C sera and the Arabs Bort-Jezar or Schezar. The same Pilgrim's Guide, included in the Liber Sancti Jacobi or C says Calixtinus of Santiago de Compostela, speaks of the ports of C sera at the foot of which the town of Saint-Michel is located: a portibus Cisereis... a villa Sancti Michalelis que est in pede portum Cisere. (Liber Sancti Jacobi, Edic. Whitehill, 1944, p. 350, comp. 356 and 357), at the Cize passes... from the village of Saint-Michel, which is at the foot of the Cize passes. These Cize passes are the highest point of the Roman road. Coming from France, the road climbs gently to the Lepoeder pass (1,400 m), from which it descends along the forest from Astorbizkar, towards the southern slope, to the Iba eta pass (1,075 m). The roads that climb these passes are an ancient military road and a Roman road also called the Napoleonic road because it was repaired in 1813 to allow the passage of General Soult's artillery. The valley constituted a real trap: in subiectam vallem. The starting point of both roads must have been the center of the first meeting. The battle is said to have extended from Lepoeder to Iba eta and perhaps further afield. Before Iba eta, Auritz (Burguete) and Orreaga (Roncesvalles), there is a plain about 900 m above sea level and about 5 km in diameter. It rightly bears the name Erro-zabal, the Erro Plain, from the valley that runs north to south. It is a beautiful spot with a bucolic landscape crisscrossed by streams that run small beech and oak groves with clearings of whimsically shaped meadows. The old Roman road crosses the plain before beginning the climb towards Iba eta (1,062 m), which lies on the Atlantic-Mediterranean watershed, and the Lepoeder mountain pass (1,459 m). It is also the route of medieval pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. On this plain, in Auritz, stood the pilgrims' hospital donated by the Count of Erro to Conques 1101 and 1104, according to a deed preserved in the Collegiate Church archive. Where Roncesvalles is located, another hospital was established around 1132, which became a pilgrims' el. The famous Collegiate Church was founded in this strategic location in 1200. It is the critical point from which one quickly ascends to Ibaeta. The battle began on the summit of the Vascones: in cuyus summitate Wascones insidiis... (New Ann. Regii).