thumb|right|[[Albrecht Duerer portrait of Charlemagne with Joyeuse]]

In medieval legend, Joyeuse (; ; meaning 'joyous, joyful') was the sword wielded by Charlemagne as his personal weapon.

In medieval legend, there are several versions regarding its make and origin. There is the topos that it was crafted by Galant (Wayland Smith) as mentioned in the chanson de geste of Fierabras. The hilt of Joyeuse contained a fragment of the Holy Lance that cured Longinus of blindness, and that relic accounted for its "joyous" name, as well as the French war cry Monjoie according to Chanson de Roland. The relic was among the gifts from the Emperor of Constantinople according to the Old Norse sagas. It is possible that young Charlemagne (pseudonym Mainet) while living in Spain had obtained the sword from King Galafre of Toledo, but the French did not survive complete, but the German version states the sword he got was called Galosovele, while the Spanish version does indeed state that Galfre's daughter Galiana (Galienne, Charlemagne's first wife according to the Mainet tradition 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 Jenkins's edition (1929) [1924] glosses safrét as "blue-bordered".

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.

|attr1=Chanson de Roland, Oxford ms. vv. 2499–2508

|attr2=Moncrieff tr. (1920), vv. 2499–2508

thus claiming that Joyeuse was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel, 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.

According to the Old Norse source (Karlamagnús saga, Branch I), Karl's sword received the name 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 () that wiped Jesus's brow, Christ's stockings or hose (), and the spear of Saint Mercurius

Even though in the first Branch of Raimbert de Paris's Chevalerie Ogier the amiral Corsuble who headed the campaign against Rome was slain by Naimes, the 13th century Adenes Le Roi rewrote the story in Enfances Ogier such that Charlemagne steals credit for this kill; Charlemagne, brandishing Joyeuse, struck Coruble on the head, cutting the ring of his helm, so that the blade made incursion into the opponent's brain, and the enemy soon fell dead. Incidentally, this is the only mention of Joyeuse by name in this work. In Branch IV, Charlemagne, still at war with Ogier as a rebel, is seen girt with the sword Joyeuse and mounted on the horse Blanchard

In the enfances of Charlemagne, , the original French poem tells of Charlemagne being driven out of his country by evil stepbrothers, taking refuge under the pseudonym Mainet (diminutive of "Magne", and wins Durendal as trophy from it, cf. but in its Rhenish German adaptation Part I, he receives a sword named from Gallafers (=Galafre) in the advent of fighting Bremunt/Bremant as Gallafers's champion Unfortunately, this is not considered to be the same as Joyeuse by commentators. Thus, when the sword (Joyeuse) occurs later in Karlmeinet Part III, where he is battling against the invasion of Agolant, it is another, different piece of weapon. Bulfinch neglected to mention Galan (Wayland Smith) as the maker of these three swords as according to Count Tressan's extracts (1782), which otherwise agrees well with Bulfinch.

The above revelation came from the inscriptions (in gold

While Bulfinch's retelling describes Charlemagne using Joyeuse to behead the Saracen commander Corsuble, this is more ore less as according to Adenet le Roi's version (where Charles delivers a cerebral cut, not decapitation), as explained above.

Regarding the relics in the hilt, 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".

Coronation sword of the French kings

thumb|Joyeuse displayed in the [[Louvre.]]

thumb|180px|left|Louis XIV with Joyeuse ([[Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701)]]

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. both for political and costumery reasons, and it would merely be a part of the procession.

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.

Bibliography

Primary sources

;(Chanson de Roland)

  • (alt url)
  • (R.)

;(Ogier)

  • Tome 1, Tome 2.

;(Mainet)

  • (google)

;(Saga)

Retellings

Secondary sources

  • ([https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=PGSwSiQCrvMC snippet)