While the way in which the female characters in The Song of Roland and The Romance of Tristan and Iseult differs, the status of the women seems to change little in the century and a half or so that separate the two works. This conclusion is come to after examining the lives of the women in the two stories and the power that they were able to exert over their own densities. In both stories, the women live in a male dominated society and therefore their respective fates" are largely determined by the principle men in their lives.
The Song of Roland is a story about the bravery and savagery that accompanies war. It is a tale of heroic nobles, treachery, and brutal combat in the heat of battle. That there should be few women characters, and even fewer lines dedicated to the handful of females represented is understandable given the theme of the story and the time in which it takes place.
Taking place in the early twelfth century, Roland is the story of war, a theme that remains entirely separate from those associated with women. Women are very much a side note in the story, and dealt with mainly in terms of how the battle in which the men are engulfed, affect the lives of the women. Their place wasn't on the battlefield, far from it, but rather confined in the safety of the heavily fortified castles, far from the ravages of war.
Brominade, the Infidel Queen whose husband is eventually defeated by Charlemagne, appears only towards the end of the text, and is given comparatively little to say. When she does speaks, Brominade tells her husband and those close to him that she sees they will be defeated by Charles. She is promptly told to be quite by the men. This can be interpreted as the men believing it wasn't her place to speak of such matters, for, as a women, she knows nothing of war.
Largely, though, what Brominade has to say, and what is said in reference to her, concerns religion.
