DURANDAL, THE SHARPEST SWORD EVER EXISTED


DURANDAL, THE SHARPEST SWORD EVER EXISTED

Risultati immagini per durandal 



When we think of the legendary weapons linked to chivalrous culture and medieval fantasy genre, the first name that comes to mind is Durandal, a sword known in the French literature for being "the sharpest sword ever existed". It has a prominent role in the epic "La Chanson de Roland", The Song of Roland, one of the oldest and most popular works of the so-called Carolingian cycle written between the 11th and 12th centuries.

According to mythology, Durandal was forged by Weland the blacksmith, an exceptional Nordic gunsmith famous for his wickedness but also for the ability to infuse magic into his creations. According to several epic medieval and fantasy stories, he also forged Excalibur, the magical sword of King Arthur. It is said that Durandal contains various Christian relics: a tooth of Saint Peter, the blood of Saint Basil, the hair of Saint Dionysius and a fragment of a robe of the virgin Mary. According to some stories, Durandal was handed over to Charlemagne by an angel, while others state that it once belonged to Hector, the Trojan hero.

According to The song of Roland, the paladin faced Durandal with an army of 100,000 Saracens in order to allow Charlemagne and his troops to retreat to France. At one point, Orlando even tried to destroy Durandal in order not to let it fall into enemy hands: trying to break it on a rock, however, did nothing but open a 100-meter high crevasse in the Pyrenees, a rift known today as " Roland's breach". According to another story, perhaps the most interesting, he instead launched Durandal to get rid of it, but the sword magically set in the rocks of the city of Rocamadour, in France. In that place there is still a sword embedded in the rock, and many believe that it is the mythical Durandal launched by Roland many centuries ago.

Sources: 

Blazeski, Goran. “Some of the Most Legendary Swords of All Time.” The Vintage News, 3 Mar. 2018, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/03/legendary-swords-2/.

Dhwty. “Durandal - The Legendary Sword of Roland.” Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, 6 Apr. 2015, https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/durandal-legendary-sword-roland-002869.

Harrison, R. The Song of Roland. Signet classic.



3 comments:

  1. This is such an interesting topic as it really relates to our in class reading of "The Song of Roland." It makes sense that Roland would have wielded this sword in the poem because he was the most legendary Frankish knight to live. I'm not surprised that Durandal would have been home to several Christian relics given its status as a sword, I wonder which of these relics really were within it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd never heard that there was an actual physical relic from the Medieval Ages that was suspected of being the Durandal of legend. I just assumed that it was one of those mythical swords lost to the ages. It's amazing to see what could be the great, chivalrous Roland's sword in an actual photo and know its out there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done Francesco! this is an excellent blog post. I really like how you have related this artifact to our paper The Song of Roland. I would be interested in learning more about the forger and how he forged magic into weapons. This was a pleasure to read and was really informative.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Medieval University

Medieval University

Italy, 1400

Italy, 1400

900s, Jewelled crown

900s, Jewelled crown