View source for Joyeuse

{{short description|Sword attributed to Charlemagne}}

[[File:Duerer Karl der Grosse.jpg|thumb|right|[[Albrecht Duerer]] portrait of [[Charlemagne]] with Joyeuse]]
'''Joyeuse''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒwajøz|pron|LL-Q150 (fra)-LoquaxFR-joyeuse.wav}}; {{langx|fro|Joiuse}}; meaning 'joyous, joyful') was, in medieval legend, 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==
[[File:Épée de charlemagne.jpg|thumb|''Joyeuse'' exhibited with its 13th century [[Scabbard|sheath]] at the [[Musée de Cluny]] in 2012.]] 
The overall height of the sword is {{convert|105|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=3}} with the blade portion making up {{convert|82.8|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=10}} of that. It is {{convert|4.5|cm|in|2|abbr=on}} wide at the base, and {{convert|2.2|cm|in|2|abbr=on}} thick. Its total weight is {{convert|1.630|kg|abbr=in}}.

==In legend==
Some legends claim Joyeuse was forged to contain the [[Holy Lance|Lance of Longinus]] within its [[Hilt#Pommel|pommel]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Song of Roland |language=fro |type=Oxford manuscript|at=laisse 183}}</ref> The blade may have been smithed from the same materials as [[Roland]]'s [[Durendal]] and [[Ogier the Dane|Ogier]]'s [[Cortain|Curtana]].<ref name=bulf>Bullfinch's Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne, Chapter 24</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |year=2004 |publisher=MJF Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1-56731-891-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/barbariansmaraud0000sant/page/134 134] |url=https://archive.org/details/barbariansmaraud0000sant/page/134 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

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.'"<ref name="canton12">{{cite book |last1=Canton |first1=William |title=A Child's Book of Warriors |date=1907 |publisher=J.M Dent & Sons |url=https://archive.org/details/childsbookofwarr00cant/page/136/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater}}</ref>

The 11th century ''[[The Song of Roland|Song of Roland]]'' describes the sword thus:

{{quote|''Si ad vestut sun blanc osberc sasfret,''<br/>''Laciet sun elme, ki est a or gemmet,''<br/>'' Ceinte Joiuse, unches ne fut sa per,''<br/>'' Ki cascun jur muet .XXX. [trente] clartez.''<br/>"[Charlemagne] was wearing his fine white coat of mail and his helmet with gold-studded stones; by his side hung Joyeuse, and never was there a sword to match it; its colour changed thirty times a day."}}

Some seven hundred years later, ''[[Bulfinch's Mythology]]'' described Charlemagne using ''Joyeuse'' to behead the [[Saracen]] commander [[Corsuble]] as well as to [[knight]] his comrade [[Ogier the Dane]].<ref name=bulf/>

The town of [[Joyeuse, Ardèche|Joyeuse]], in [[Ardèche]], is supposedly named after the sword: Joyeuse was allegedly lost in a battle and retrieved by one of the knights of Charlemagne; to thank him, Charlemagne granted him an [[appanage]] named Joyeuse.<ref name=bulf/>

[[Baligant]], a general of the [[Saracens]] in ''[[The Song of Roland]]'', named his sword [[Précieuse]], in order not to seem inferior to Charlemagne.<ref>{{cite book |title=Song of Roland |language=fro |type=Oxford manuscript|at=laisse 229}}</ref>
[[File:Louis XIV of France.jpg|thumb|180px|Louis XIV with ''Joyeuse'' (Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701)]]

==Coronation sword of the French kings==
[[File:Épée du sacre des rois de France, dite Joyeuse - Musée du Louvre Objets d'art MS 84.jpg|thumb|Joyeuse displayed in the [[Louvre]].]] 
A sword identified with Charlemagne's ''Joyeuse'' was carried in front of the [[Coronation of the French monarch|Coronation]] processions for [[French king]]s, for the first time in 1270 ([[Philip III of France|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. But at the core, it consists of a medieval blade of [[Oakeshott typology|Oakeshott type]] XII, mostly dated from about the 10th century. [[Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington|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{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} 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 (sword)|pommel]] from the 10th to 11th centuries, the [[crossguard]] to the 12th and the [[scabbard]] to the 13th century.<ref>[http://www.louvre.fr/en/moteur-de-recherche-oeuvres?f_search_art=joyeuse Coronation sword and scabbard of the Kings of France] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103013042/http://www.louvre.fr/en/moteur-de-recherche-oeuvres?f_search_art=joyeuse |date=2021-01-03 }} on the Official Website of the Louvre.</ref>

==Gallery==
{{gallery 
|width=300 |noborder=yes |mode=nolines
|File:Epee_sacre_fourreau_louvre.JPG|''Joyeuse'' in the Louvre
|File:"La_Joyeuse"_-_The_French_Coronation_Sword_(32243734412).jpg|Another view of same
|File:D492-_épée_de_charlemagne_-liv3-ch5.png|Detail of hilt
|File:The-crown-jewels-blaise-alexandre-desgoffe.jpg|''Couronne du sacre des rois de France'' by [[Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe]], first exhibited at the [[Exposition Universelle (1878)|Exposition universelle de 1878]].
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Notable swords}}
{{Matter of France}} 

[[Category:Charlemagne]]
[[Category:Medieval European swords]]
[[Category:Objets d'art in the Louvre]]
[[Category:Individual weapons]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Matter of France]]
[[Category:Holy Lance]]
[[Category:The Song of Roland]]