An ancient sword known as the French version of King Arthur’s famed weapon Excalibur disappeared from its resting place of nearly 1,300 years, embedded in a cliffside in southern France. The legendary blade, known as the Durandal sword, traces its origins back to the Frankish King Charlemagne and has served as one of the primary tourist attractions for the tiny town of Rocamadour—but with the sword now presumed stolen and police investigating the disappearance, the destinies of both the relic and the town are uncertain.
According to local legend, the Durandal sword once belonged to Roland, a knight in Charlemagne’s service in the early Eighth Century. The exploits of the knight and his fabled blade are recorded in the 11th-Century epic poem “The Song of Roland,” the oldest surviving major work of French literature. The sword, said to be the sharpest in the world, was able to cut through stone with ease, and the hilt was forged with a tooth from St. Peter, a drop of blood from St. Basil, and a hair from St. Denis, giving the weapon a divine blessing.
The myth states that Charlemagne received the sword from an angel, and then gifted it to Roland during a war with marauding Bretons in northern France. When the knight fell at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, he attempted to smash the blade on the rocks to keep the holy weapon out of enemy hands, but its infusion of divine strength prevented it from shattering. In his final moments, Roland threw the sword into the air, where it miraculously traveled hundreds of miles before burying itself into the cliff at Rocamadour. […]
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