Durendal

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 its 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 durant + dail, which may be rendered in English as "strong scythe" or explained in more detail to mean "a scimitar or scythe that holds up, resists, endures". Gerhard Rohlfs suggests dur + end'art, "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" (Durenda). 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 diren dall, 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 ḏū l-jandal (ذو الجندل), meaning "master of stone".

Properties
According to legend, the sword was capable of cutting through giant boulders with a single strike, and was indestructible.

In the 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,

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. His mission accomplished, Roland then attempted to destroy Durendal by hitting it against blocks of marble, to prevent it from being captured by the Saracens, but the sword proved to be indestructible. Finally, mortally wounded, he hid it beneath his body as he lay dying along with the oliphant, the horn he had used to alert Charlemagne.

Origins and previous ownership
The sword has been given various provenances. Several of the works of the Matter of France agree that it was forged by Wayland the Smith, who is commonly cited as a maker of weapons in chivalric romances.

According to La Chanson de Roland, an angel brought Durendal to Charlemagne in the vale of Moriane, and Charlemagne then gave it to Roland.

According to the 12th-century fragmentary chanson de geste known as Mainet (referring to the pseudonym that Charlemagne adopted in his youth), Durendal was once captured, but not kept, by the young Charlemagne when he fled to Spain. Young Charles (Mainés in the text) slays Braimant, obtaining his sword (Durendaus). This tale is better preserved in some non-chanson de geste texts, and in adaptations such as the Franco-Italian Karleto. According to the Low-German version Karl Mainet, the place of combat was near the vale of Moriane (Vael Moriale), near Toledo.

According to another 12th-century chanson de geste, the Song of Aspremont, the owner of Durendal just before Roland obtained it was a Saracen named Aumon, son of king Agolant,. Young Roland mounted Naimes's horse Morel without permission, and armed only with a rod, defeated Aumon, taking as spoils both the sword and the horse Veillantif.

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, who then gave it to Almonte the son of Agolante (i.e., Aumon). Galiziella is glossed as the bastard daughter of Agolante, making her Almonte's half-sister. Durindana is eventually won by Orlandino (young Orlando).

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. 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.

In Rocamadour, in the Lot department, a local legend holds that instead of dying with Durendal hidden under his body, Roland called on the Archangel Michael for assistance and was able to throw the sword several hundred kilometres across the border into France, where it came to rest in Rocamadour. There it was deposited in the chapel of Mary, but was stolen by Henry the Young King in 1183. Successive replicas have been stolen; most recently a sword fashioned from sheet metal was embedded in a cleft in a cliff wall, secured with a chain. That sword was reported stolen in June 2024.