First day of pilgrimage

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

Roncesvalles ( RON-sə-val(z), Spanish: [ronθesˈβaʎes]; Basque: Orreaga [oreaɣa]; Aragonese: Ronzesbals [ronθezˈbals]; French: Roncevaux [ʁɔ̃s(ə)vo]) is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some 900 metres (3,000 ft) in the Pyrenees, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the French border as the crow flies, or 21 kilometres (13 mi) by road.

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass was a battle in which a combined Basque-Qasawi Muslim army defeated a Carolingian military expedition in 824. The battle took place only 46 years after the first Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778) in a confrontation showing similar features: a Basque force engaging from the mountains, a northbound expedition led by the Franks, and the same geographical setting (the Roncevaux Pass or a spot nearby).

Roncesvalles Pass, Ronceval Pass or Roncevaux Pass (Spanish: Puerto de Ibañeta; Basque: Ibañetako Mendatea; French: Col de Roncevaux; elevation 1057 m) is a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees near the border between France and Spain. The pass itself is entirely in Spain.