The Marco Symposium is the Marco Institute’s premier annual event, held every year in March or April. The Symposium brings leading experts in their field to the University of Tennessee for two days of talks on that year’s theme, and concludes with a round-table discussion by all the participants. The topic of the 21st annual Marco Symposium, organized jointly with the Centre d’études supérieures de civilisation médiévale at the Université de Poitiers, is The Roland Tradition: From History to Legend, from King Charles to Stephen King, organized by Matthew Bryan Gillis (History), Pascale Drouet (Université de Poitiers), and Anne-Hélène Miller (Riggsby Director).

The 2026 Symposium explores the dynamic tradition of the eponymous hero from The Song of Roland. Scholars of literature and languages, history, music, film, art history and religion examine numerous manifestations of Roland from his medieval beginnings as Charlemagne’s brave, but betrayed paladin to Stephen King’s famous gunslinger, Roland Deschain, from The Dark Tower series.