Joyeuse

For other uses, see Joyeuse (disambiguation).
Albrecht Duerer portrait of Charlemagne with Joyeuse

In medieval legend, Joyeuse (pronounced [ʒwajøz] ⓘ; Old French: Joiuse; meaning 'joyous, joyful') was the sword wielded by Charlemagne as his personal weapon. A sword identified as Joyeuse was used in French royal coronation ceremonies since the 13th century, and is now kept at the Louvre.

Description

Joyeuse exhibited with its 13th century sheath at the Musée de Cluny in 2012.

The overall height of the sword is 105 cm (41+1⁄3 in) with the blade portion making up 82.8 cm (32+3⁄5 in) of that. It is 4.5 cm (1.77 in) wide at the base, and 2.2 cm (0.87 in) thick. Its total weight is 1.630 kg (3.59 pounds).

Legend

Chanson de Roland describes Charlemagne's arms as follows:

Si at vestut son blanc osberc saffrét,
Laciét son elme ki est ad or gemmét,
Ceinte Joiose, onches ne fut sa per,
Ki chascun jorn mudet .xxx. clartez.
Asez savom de la lance parler
Dont nostre Sire fut en la croiz naffrez:
Charles en at la more, mercit Deu,
En l’orét pont lat faite manovrer;
Por ceste honor e por ceste bontét
Li noms Joiose l’espede fut donez.

—Chanson de Roland, Oxford ms. vv. 2499–2502[3]
Translation:

He's donned his white hauberk, with broidery,[a]
Has laced his helm, jewelled with golden beads.
Girt on Joiuse, there never was its peer.
Whereon each day thirty fresh hues appear.
All of us know that lance, and well may speak
Whereby Our Lord was wounded on the Tree
Charles, by God's grace, possessed its point of steel !
His golden hilt he enshrined it underneath.
By that honour and by that sanctity
The name Joiuse was for that sword decreed.

—Moncrieff tr. (1920), vv. 2499–2502[10]

thus claiming that Joyeuse was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel,[11][b] and according to the above-quoted text, this holy relic was the cause of the sword getting name Joyeuse; the poem goes on to claim the French war-cry of Monjoie stems from this sword as well.[13]

According to the Old Norse source (Karlamagnús saga, Branch I), Karl's sword received the name Giovise after he placed in the upper part of the hilt a shard of the Holy Lance. This was given him by the Greek Emperor during a sojourn to Constantinople (Miklagard), alongside other relics such as a piece of the True Cross, the sudarium (Old Norse: sveitadúkr) that wiped Jesus's brow, Christ's stockings or hose (Old Norse: hosa), and the spear of Saint Mercurius[14][15][16]

Prince Charles aka Mainet

There is no mention of the sword in the chanson de geste of Prince Charles's youthful exploits, the fragmentary Mainet, though in its Rhenish German adaptation Karlmeinet Part I, he receives a sword named Galosovele from Gallafers (=Galafre) in the advent of fighting Bremunt/Bremant as Gallafers's champion[c] Unfortunately, this is not considered to be the same as Joyeuse by commentators. Thus, when the sword Gaudeosa (Joyeuse) occurs later in Karlmeinet Part III, where he is battling against the invasion of Agolant, it is another, different piece of weapon.[17][20] It is noted that the name-form Gaudeosa probably derives from its Latin source, Pseudo-Turpin.[17][21]

Contrarily, in the Spanish adaptation of Mainet embedded in the Primera Crónica General, Don Maynet is equipped with none other than Joyosa (Joyeuse), given him by his beloved Galiana, daughter of Galafre, as he faces the challenge of fighting Bramant. [22][23][16] Ironically this Joyosa had been a gift to her from her suitor Bramant to Galiana.[d][22][23]

Makers and make

Joyeuse was one of three swords crafted by Galans (Wayland Smith) according to the poem Fierabras (cf. Fierabras § 9 swords).[24][16]

According to Thomas Bulfinch's retelling of the story of Ogier the Dane, Ogier's Curtana was made of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Roland's Durendal.[25]

Bulfinch's retelling describes Charlemagne using Joyeuse to behead the Saracen commander Corsuble[26] as well as to knight his comrade Ogier the Dane.[27]

Other exploits

In the longer version of the Pseudo-Turpin, it is stated that during the fierce battle against Aigolandus in which 40,000 Christians including Roland's father Duke Milo perished,[e] Charlemagne unsheathed his sword Gaudiosa[f] slaying many of the Saracen host.[28][29][30][31]

Other tidbits

Baligant, a general of the Saracens in The Song of Roland, named his sword Précieuse, in order not to seem inferior to Charlemagne.[32]

Coronation sword of the French kings

Louis XIV with Joyeuse (Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701)
Joyeuse displayed in the Louvre.

A sword identified with Charlemagne's Joyeuse was carried in front of the Coronation processions for French kings, for the first time in 1270 (Philip III), and for the last time in 1825 (at the Coronation of Charles X). The sword was kept in the Treasury of Saint-Denis since at least 1505, before it was moved to the Louvre in 1793.

This Joyeuse as preserved today is a composite of various parts added over the centuries of use as coronation sword.[33] But at the core, it consists of a medieval blade of Oakeshott type XII, mostly dated from about the 10th century. Martin Conway argued the blade might date from the early 9th century, suggesting that it was indeed the sword of Charlemagne, while Guy Laking dated it to the early 13th century. Some authors have even argued that the medieval blade may have indeed been replaced by a modern replica in 1804 when the sword was prepared for the coronation of Napoleon.

The Louvre's official website dates the pommel from the 10th to 11th centuries, the crossguard to the 12th and the scabbard to the 13th century.[34]

Eponymy

The town of Joyeuse, in Ardèche, is supposedly named after the sword. Legend has it that Charlemagne once came through here upon a hill that was inhabited, plunged his sword on the spot and fortified as castle, naming it Joyeuse after his sword.[35]

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ "broidery": the meaning of the term saffret/saffré is still disputed, according to Ross (1980), who tentatively rests on "yellow varnished" as the most plausible.[4] Many interpretations assume saffron (yellow) color, e.g., Léon Gautier (1875) who assumed a different colored brass wire wound into the steel links.[5][6] Lucien Foulet, Glossaire (attached to Bédier ed.) suggested yellow bismuth oxide coloring.[7] While in actual usage, the term seems to signify luxuriant armor dressed with gold and silver, the term saffré etymologically links to cobalt blue according to one source[6] i.e. zaffre, cognate to "sapphire"[8]. Jenkins's edition (1929) [1924] glosses safrét as "blue-bordered".[9]
  2. ^ A children's book from the early 20th century tells that "One priceless thing Charlemagne ever carried in his belt and that was Joyeuse, the Sword Jewellous, which contained in a hilt of gold and gems the head of the lance that pierced our Saviour's side. And thereto he wore a pilgrim's pouch — 'against my faring to Jerusalem, or, if that may not be, to remind me that our life is but a pilgrim's way, and our joy but a pilgrim's rest, and our hope a palm.'"[12]
  3. ^ And successfully capturing the sword Durendart. Cf. Durendal § Mainet.
  4. ^ So that after fighting and decapitating Bramant, Maynet obtains Durendart and now has two swords from the same former owner.
  5. ^ Latin: "dux Milo Rotolandi genitor"
  6. ^ Middle English: Caudiosa in Turpines Story.

References

  1. ^ Stengel, Edmund ed. (1900) Laisse 185
  2. ^ Jenkins, Thomas Atkinson (1929) [1924] Laisse 182
  3. ^ Chanson de Roland, Oxford manuscript version.[1][2]
  4. ^ Ross, D. J. A. (1980). "Old French". In Hatto, Arthur Thomas; Auty, Robert (eds.). Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry. MHRA Texts and Dissertations 9. Vol. 1. London: MOdern Humanities Research Association. pp. 95–96 and endnote 91. ISBN 9780900547720.
  5. ^ Gautier ed. (1875) Ch. de Roland, {{https://www.google.com/books/edition/La_chanson_de_Roland_texte_critique_tr_e/a98IAAAAQAAJ?dq=fils+d%27archal&pg=PA382%7C2=p. 382}}
  6. ^ a b Schirling, Victor (1887). Die Verteidigungswaffen im Altfranzösichen Epos. Ausgaben und Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der romanischen Philologie 69. Marburg: N.G. Elwert. p. 36.
  7. ^ Foulet apud Arinaga (1965), Japanese tr. of Ch. de Roland.
  8. ^ Jenkins ed (1929) [1924], note to v. 1032, p. 85
  9. ^ Jenkins, Thomas Atkinson (1929) [1924] Glossary, safrét, p. 365: "blue-bordered (hauberk)"
  10. ^ Moncrieff, C. K. Scott tr. (1920) Laisse 183
  11. ^ cf. Jenkin's note on Holy Lance, p. 181
  12. ^ Canton, William (1907). A Child's Book of Warriors. J.M Dent & Sons.
  13. ^ v. 2510.
  14. ^ Unger ed. (1860), KS I, Cap. 50, p. 44}}
  15. ^ Hieatt tr. (1975)Kms I, Ch. 50, p. 144
  16. ^ a b c Geddes, J., Jr., tr. (1920). La Chanson de Roland: A Modern French Translation of Theodor Müller's text of the Oxford Manuscript. Macmillan's French Classics. New York / London: Macmillan. Laisse 185, p, 104 and endnote, p. 210. (IA version)(in French)
  17. ^ a b Bartsch, Karl (1861). Über Karlmeinet: Ein beitrag zur Karlssage. Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe (J. Merz). p. 363.
  18. ^ Moisan (1986), p. 402 ("JOIEUSE3")}}
  19. ^ Moisan (1986), p. 366) ("Galosevele")
  20. ^ Cf. also Moisan's "Joieuse(3)"[18] segregated from "Galosevele", "épée donnée par Galafre à Mainet”.[19]
  21. ^ Fürbeth, Frank [in German] (2011-12-22). "Der ›Karlmeinet‹: Vita poetica oder Vita historica Caroli Magni?: Zur Differenz von textimmanenter und textexterner Köharenz". In Simon, Anne; Andersen, Elizabeth; Eikelmann, Manfred [in German] (eds.). Texttyp und Textproduktion in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters (in German). De Gruyter. p. 230. ISBN 9783110915662.
  22. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón, ed. (1906). "598. De la batalia de Carlos et de bramant et de como murio Bramant". Primera crónica general de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289. Bailly-Bailliere é hijos. pp. 340–342.
  23. ^ a b Montgomery, Thomas (2010). "Mainet". Medieval Spanish Epic. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 55–57. ISBN 9780271041742.
  24. ^ vv. 638–59. Kroeber, Auguste; Servois, Gustave [in German], eds. (1860). Fierabras: chanson de geste (in French). F. Vieweg. pp. 20–21.
  25. ^ Bulfinch, Thomas (1864). "Ogier the Dane". Legends of Charlemagne: Or, Romance of the Middle Ages. Boston: J.E. Tilton. p. 339.; The Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology (1997) Chapter XXIV. Ogier, the Dane, p. 146
  26. ^ Bulfinch (1864), p. 336.
  27. ^ Bulfinch (1864), p. 338.
  28. ^ Castets, Ferdinand [in French], ed. (1880). "VIII. De bello Sancti Facundi ubi hastæ viruerunt". Turpini Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi. Montpellier: Société pour l'étude des langues romanes. p. 12.
  29. ^ Smyser, Hamilton Martin, ed. (1937). "Appendix IV: A Specimen Chapter from the Longer Pseudo-Turpin". The Pseudo-Turpin, Edited from Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds Latin, MS. 17656, with an Annotated Synopsis. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America. pp. 108–109. (Kraus Reprint copy, 1970). The appended text is based on Thornton (1934) A Collection of Photostat Reproductions with variants from Castets (1880)
  30. ^ Frensdorff, Ferdinand [in German] (1897). "Zur Geschichte der deutschen Reichsinsignien". Nachrichten von der Königlichen gesellschaft der wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse: 60.
  31. ^ Shepherd, Stephen H. A., ed. (2004). Turpines Story: A Middle English Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle. Early English Text Society Original Series 322. Oxford University Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9780197223253.
  32. ^ Song of Roland (Oxford manuscript) (in Old French). laisse 229.
  33. ^ Barber, Richard (2020). "1. Arthurian Swords I:Gawain's Sword and the Legend of Weland the Smith". In Archibald, Elizabeth; Johnson, David F. (eds.). Arthurian Literature. Vol. XXXV. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9781843845454.
  34. ^ Coronation sword and scabbard of the Kings of France Archived 2021-01-03 at the Wayback Machine on the Official Website of the Louvre.
  35. ^ de Valgorge, Ovide [in French] (1846). Souvenirs de l'Ardèche. Vol. 2. Paris: Paulin. p. 286.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources

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