Durendal, also spelled Durandal, is the sword of Roland, a legendary paladin and partially historical officer of Charlemagne in French epic literature. The sword is famous for its hardness and sharpness. Sources including La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) state that it first belonged to the young Charlemagne.
According to one legend, at the end of the Battle of Roncevaux Roland hurled the sword from him to prevent it being seized by the Saracens, and it came to rest in Rocamadour. A replica sword that was embedded in a rock face there was reported stolen in June 2024.
Etymology The name Durendal arguably begins with the French dur- stem, meaning "hard", though "enduring" may be the intended meaning. Rita Lejeune argues that the name may break down into + , which may be rendered in English as "strong scythe"/"hard sickle" or explained in more detail to mean "a scimitar or scythe that holds up, resists, endures"., p. 272, note 14, citing . Gerhard Rohlfs suggests + , "strong flame" or "[a flame] burns strongly from it".
The Pseudo-Turpin explains that the name "'Durendal' is interpreted to mean [that] it gives a hard strike" (). It has been argued that the Pseudo-Turpin offering a gloss of the meaning constitutes evidence that it was a name that was not readily understood in French.
One non-French etymology is Edwin B. Place's attempt to construe it in Breton as , meaning "blade [that] dulls cutting edge" or "blade [that] blinds". Another is James A. Bellamy's Arabic etymology, explaining a possible origin of the sword's name in (), meaning "master of stone".
These theories and more have been surveyed in the work of Gustav A. Beckmann (2023), and each refuted on the basis of his suggested counterarguments. Beckmann argued the -dart form must have been the original form of the sword, and favors the construction Durand(us) + art for etymology, while allowing for the possibility of Rohlfs's dur-end-art "hard it burns out" explanation. The suggestion of Durand(us) + art is credited to linguist Albert Dauzat Leo Spitzer (1940) had also endorsed Dauzat's construction after recanting; he had refuted Rohlfs's theory and did not favor Dauzat's either at first, but he later retracted his own suggestion and backed Dauzat.
Properties According to legend, the sword was capable of cutting through giant boulders with a single strike, and was indestructible.
Chanson de Roland
In La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland), the sword is said to contain within its golden hilt a tooth of Saint Peter, blood of Basil of Caesarea, hair of Saint Denis, and a piece of the raiment of Mary, mother of Jesus., laisse CLXXIII
According to legend as recounted in the poem, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass Roland took the rearguard to hold off Saracen troops long enough for Charlemagne's army to retreat into France. He slew a vast number of enemies: wielding Durendal, he sliced the right arm of the Saracen king Marsile, decapitated the king's son Jursaleu or Jurfaleu and put the one-hundred-thousand-strong army to flight., laisse CXLIV (laisse CXLIV) His mission accomplished, Roland senses he is near death, and comes to a spot with "four blocks of marble", when a Saracen tries to steal his sword, Roland smashes his head and helm with his olifant. So that the weapon does not fall into enemy hands, he attempts to destroy Durendal by hitting it against a block,, yet the sword is indestructible, chipping away more flakes of the "dark stone".
Roland recounts that when Charles was at the "Vale of Moriane", an angel bid the king to give the sword to a capable "count and captain", and the king girt the sword onto Roland (cf. ).
Finally, mortally wounded, he hid it beneath his body as he lay dying along with the olifant, the horn he had used to alert Charlemagne., laisse CLXXIV
Mainet According to the fragmentary work which describes the youthful exploits of Charlemagne when he fled to Saracen-controlled parts of Spain, Charles (as Mainet, the pseudonym he adopted after defecting) served in the court of Galafre wooing his daughter Galienne. Charles on Galafre's behalf fights the enemy Braimant and wins the sword Durendal.Mainet IVa, vv. 24–41,
This work identifies the forger of Durendal as a smith named fas, brother of (Wayland the Smith).Mainet IVa, vv. 28–29, and n2.
A more complete version is preserved in 's compilation Charlemagne (c. 1300), as well as the Low Rhenish (<(Low) Frankish<Low German) Karlmeinet. This work is sometimes classed as Dutch.
There is also the Italian (or Franco-Italian) Karleto, and the Spanish Crónica general.
The Low-German version Karlmeinet/Karl Meinet/Karl Mainet in accordance with the French version, describes how a belligerent King of Africa named Bremunt invaded Gallafers's Spanish Kingdom lusting after princess Galie. She, however, falls in love with young Charlemagne being harbored by Gallafers. While the Mainet fragment mentioned Mainet having received the gift of a white horse that belonged to Galafre, Karlmeinet describes the hero being knighted with the gift of the sword Galosevele and the horse Affeleir as white as a swan.Cf. commentary, Young Charles's combat with Bremunt took place near Toledo at the , i.e. the vale of Moriane mentioned in La chanson de Roland. The exploits are told of the aggressor king Bremunt with his magnificent sword that was nameless until he named it Durendart. As expected Charles defeats Bremunt who begs promise to bury him and flings over the sword, and grabbing it Charlemagne now becomes the winner of Durendart/Durendarde.
In the Spanish version found in the Primera Crónica General, gives her beloved the sword (Joyeuse), which she had received from her suitor ; then Maynet fighting against the now belligerent Bramant, kills and decapitates the foe, and winning a second sword, . There is also a second version found in the Gran conquista de Ultramar, but the names are Arabacized, turning Galiana into Halia, Galafre into Haxem, and Bramant into Abrahin. Thus, instead of the passage in the PCG where Galiana gives Maynet the sword , the corresponding text in Gran conquista de Ultramar explains that after he promises to marry if he returns alive from the fight, and she () promises to convert to Christianity, "she gave him her father's arms and horse, and a sword that was wonderfully rich and very good, for there was no other like it in all the land, except the one that Abrahin, king of Zaragoza, carried, which they called Durandarte".
Spanish tradition The Spanish epic (dated to 13th century by Ramón Menéndez Pidal; somewhat later by others) only survived in a hundred line fragment, and tells of the aftermath of the battle at Roncesvalles, where Charlemagne () searching for bodies finds Bishop Turpin () and Oliver () before reaching his nephew Roland's body (). Aymon () also discovers the remains of his son Renaud de Montauban (). There is loose resemblance to the , but the song appears to inherit a different Spanish tradition as represented in the . Pidal categorized the work as a (). Charlemagne further suffers the loss of the sword (v. 57), which the king had won while serving Galfre in Toledo (v.56) by defeating Braymante (v. 58), all according to the tradition already described under above.
After the minstrels took license with the material, the sword Durendarte was transformed into a famous knight, fallen at Roncesvalles, entrusting his cousin to carve out as token to his sweetheart, i.e., the of Durendarte and lady Belerma. In the second part of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes says that the knight Montesinos is asleep in the Cave of Montesinos, Ossa de Montiel, Castile-La Mancha. The novel makes Don Quixote descend into the cave where he falls asleep. In his dream he is met by Montesinos, his cousin Durandarte, duenna Ruidera, the squire Guadiana and other fantastic characters. Montesinos explains that he carved Durandarte's heart for Belerma upon his death-time request. In a crystal palace, Don Quixote sees Durandarte's tomb, enchanted by "French" Merlin (thus mixing Matter of Britain and Matter of France). Even with his heart removed, Durandarte can magically moan and talk. In his dream, Don Quixote also watches Belerma and her retinue carry Durandarte's preserved heart. .
Origins and previous ownership
The sword has been given various provenances. Wayland the Smith, pan-European master smith of chivalric romances is its maker in some works of the Matter of France according to one source, but upon closer scrutiny, various works identify the maker as one or other of Wayland's siblings, as clarified below.
According to La Chanson de Roland, an angel brought Durendal to Charlemagne in the vale of Moriane, and Charlemagne then gave it to Roland.
Durendal was once captured, but not kept, by the young Charlemagne when he fled to Spain according to the 12th-century fragmentary chanson de geste Mainet (as already discussed under ); that Charlemagne aka Mainet won the sword () by slaying Braimant.
While Mainet names Durendal's swordmaker Haurifas as aforementioned, Fierabras claims Durendal was made by his (Aurisas/Hanisars's) brother Munificans,, vv. 638–659 while Doon de Mayence asserts Durendal was made by Galan (Wayland) himself. The beginning of the 12th century Chanson d'Apremont mentions the "sharp Durendal"Aspremont v. 15, Newth tr. (1989), p. 3; Brandin ed. (1919), p. 1: "". ascribed to the workmanship of Galant in a variant manuscript (olim Cheltenham ms., now Cod. Bodmer 11Image[s] of Cod. Bodmer 11@e-codices).
According to the Chanson d'Apremont, the owner of Durendal just before Roland obtained it was a Saracen named Aumon[t], son of king Agolant,. Young Roland mounted Naimes's horse Morel without permission,vv. 5749–5755, , and armed only with a rod, defeated Aumon, taking as spoils both the sword and the horse Veillantif.vv. 6075–80, , Roland was subsequently knighted by Charlemagne via the act of being girt with Durendal (cf. fig. right).vv. 7480–95, ,
These materials were combined in the Italian prose Aspramonte by Andrea da Barberino in the late 14th to early 15th century. That work stated that after young Carlo (Charlemagne) came into possession of Durindarda (Durendal) by killing Bramante in Spain, Galafro gave it to Galiziella,Barberino, L'Aspramonte I, x, 6–10; cfr. III, LX, 4. who then gave it to Almonte the son of Agolante (i.e., ).da Barberino, L'Aspramonte I, xi, 4 (Notes to Durindarda) Galiziella is glossed as the bastard daughter of Agolante, (Notes to Galiziella) making her Almonte's half-sister. Durindana is eventually won by Orlandino (young Orlando).da Barberino, L'Aspramonte III, xxxviii, 7
Andrea da Barberino was a major source for later Italian writers. Boiardo's Orlando innamorato traces the sword's origin to Hector of Troy; it belonged for a while to the Amazonian queen Pantasilea, and was passed down to Almonte before Orlando gained possession of it.: Bk III, Canto I. Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso follows Boiardo, saying it once belonged to Hector of Troy, but that it was given to Roland by Malagigi (Maugris).
Local lore
Tradition has it that Roland's Breach in the Pyrenees was created when Roland, attempting to break Durendal, instead cut a huge gash in the mountainside with one blow. A similar legend is used to explain a notch in the peak of Puig Campana in the Province of Alicante, Spain.