So I finally got around to listening to Trio Mediaeval's "Folk Songs" recording. I bought it at the used CD place a while ago; it's Norweigian folk songs sung in the Trio's ethereal style. It contains "Rolandskvadet," listed as "medieval ballad," and it's a Norweigian version of the Roland story.
Looking here about deflates any thought that this is, in fact, a medieval ballad preserved with music. There was a "saga of Charlemagne" that includes a version of Roland, but that would be prose. So, not this. I'd guess it sits about where the Robin Hood ballads collected by Child sit - the source material is definitely period, and the musical style is antique, but you can't actually authenticate it past the 1800s.
Here's Glittertind's metal version of the song; GNY, a neo-medieval Danish group, also performs it.
Still, I'm going to throw it on the translation pile. It's Trad, but it's Trad with clear medieval roots and a flattish melody that fits with what I've been reading about oral epics. It's at least as neo-medieval as anything I'd compose myself.
Edited to add: A random translation of the Glittertind lyrics, of which there seem to be more than the Trio's liner notes.
