Roland
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Roland. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MANON JEANNE PHILI- PON, MADAME, wife of Jean Marie and herself the spirit of the Girondin party; the daughter of a Paris engraver; born in that city, March 17, 1754. She was the only child of nine, left to the MADAME ROLAND care of her father, who provided her with masters regardless of expense and gave her a brilliant education; the best grounds for which existed in her native talents, her firm spirit, her personal beauty, and her undoubted virtues. Antiquities, heraldry, philosophy, and, among other books, the Bible, made up her earliest studies; her favorite authors, however, were Plutarch, Tacitus, Montaigne, and Rousseau. She became the wife of Roland in 1781. She became the sharer in all his studies, aided him in editing his works, and during his two ministries acted as his secretary and entered into all the intrigues of his party without debasing herself by their meanness. After the flight of her husband, Madame Roland was arrested by order of the Paris Commune under the dictation of Marat and Robespierre, and consigned to the Abbaye prison, from which, on Oct. 31, she was removed to a more wretched abode in the Conciergerie. When sentenced at the bar of Fouquier Tinville she was eager to embrace her fate. She declared her conviction that her husband would not survive her. (He committed suicide.) On the scaffold she apostrophized the statue of liberty nearby-"Ah, Liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!" Besides her miscellaneous works, Madame Roland left "Memoirs" composed during her captivity, and a last affecting composition in the "Counsels of a Letter," addressed to her little girl. She was executed Nov. 8, 1793. ROLAND DE LA PLATIÈRE, JEAN MARIE, a French statesman; born in Villefranche, France, Feb. 18, 1734; was inspector-general of manufactures and that city when the French that commerce in Revolution commenced, and having embraced popular principles became, in 1790, member of the Lyons municipality. In February, 1791, he was sent to Paris as deputy extraordinary to defend the commercial interests of Lyons in the committees of the Constituent Assembly, and remained there seven months, accompanied by his gifted wife. The practical philosophy, hy, commercial knowledge, and strict simplicity of Roland, recommended him to men of all parties, and when the patriot ministry was formed in March, 1792, he was made minister of the interior. He kept his position till June 13, when the royal veto on the proposal to form a patriot camp around Paris, and on the decree against the priests, provoked his celebrated letter to the king, written, however, by Madame Roland, and as a consequence, his almost instant dismissal. This event was followed by the arrival of the Marseillais in Paris, and the conflict at the Tuileries, on Aug. 10, when Roland was recalled, and Danton became minister of justice. The struggle between the Girondists and the municipality under the guidance of Robespierre filled up the period till May 31; the former party were then vanquished, and Roland was among hong the number who saved their lives by flight. He found an asylum with his friends at Rouen, but deliberately killed himself with his cane sword on hearing of the execution of his wife, Nov. 15, 1793.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a famous paladin of Charlemagne. In the cycle of romances of that age, Roland is one of the knightly champions who accompanied Charlemagne to war. According to tradition, as preserved in song and story, he possessed a wonderful sword won from a giant in single combat, and a marvelous horn called Olivant which might be heard for twenty miles. According to one story told of him, he fought once for five days with Oliver, Duke of Genoa, one of his companions. They were so evenly matched in arms that neither was able to gain advantage, whence the phrase, "to give a Roland for an Oliver." The story of his death is the following: He accompanied Charlemagne on an unsuccessful military expedition into Spain. As the army withdrew Roland was left to guard the retreat with a force of 20,000 men. The pagans fell upon him with great force in the narrow valley of Roncesvalles. Roland might have sounded his horn to call help from Charlemagne, but he scorned to do so. He fought on until 100,000 Saracens lay dead and only 50 of his own warriors remained alive. He then blew his horn for help; but Charlemagne, persuaded that Roland was only hunting the deer, remained inactive until it was too late. Roland blew until the veins in his neck burst. He then dragged himself to the foot of a cliff, where he sang his death song, threw his magic sword into a stream and died from his many wounds. From this engagement the vale has been called the "Thermopylae of the Pyrenees." Charlemagne was greatly incensed to lose his favorite warrior and avenged his death in many bloody conflicts with the Saracens. The song of Roland was a famous war cry among the French. It was chanted by William of Normandy's men as they advanced to battle against Harold at the battle of Hastings in 1066. In his description of Flodden Field in Marmion, Walter Scott refers to Roland and his magic horn: Oh! for the blast of that dread horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne, That to King Charles did come, When Rowland brave, and Olivier, And every paladin and peer, On Roncesvalles died! See Chanson De Roland