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Despite both telling the story of the struggles of Charlemagne’s forces against the Saracens, The Song of Roland and the Historia Caroli Magni are very different works. Whereas the first is a song—in verse—that can be understood as a war cry urging soldiers to imitate Roland and continue his heroic struggle, the Historia Caroli Magni is presented as a history—in prose—written by a cleric who took part in Emperor Charlemagne’s expeditions to liberate Spain but who, unlike Roland, survived to tell the tale. It is modeled as a historical account, dominated by the Christian economy of Salvation. While comparing the way in which these two works either sing or write war, this study aims to clarify the respective implications and stakes of these procedures.