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) gave Maynet the sword Joyosa.
A sword purported to be Joyeuse was used in French royal coronation ceremonies since the 13th century, and is now kept at the Louvre.
Joyeuse was one of three swords crafted by Galans (Wayland Smith) according to the poem Fierabras (cf. ).
Chanson de Roland describes Charlemagne's arms as follows:
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
Baligant, a general of the Saracens in Chanson de Roland, named his sword Précieuse, in order not to seem inferior to Charlemagne.
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. (The differences are discussed in more detail under ). In Raimbert's Branch XII, Charlemagne is described as having killed Faus[s]aron d'outre Morinde with his Joiuse. 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 fighting a crucial duel on behalf of his Spanish Saracen host King Galafre. But the French poem fragment only mentions Galfre's gift horse, and makes no mention of Joyeuse (cf. for more on the duel). The German version mentions the Spanish host giving a sword called "Galosevele", but this is considered to be different from "Gaudeosa", the spelling of Joyeuse in the same German poem. Whereas in the Spanish version, he is indeed given by Galafre's daughter, Galiana (Galienne, later to be his first wife) (cf. below for details such as names of works).
In the longer version of the Pseudo-Turpin, it is stated that during the fierce battle against in which 40,000 Christians including Roland's father Duke Milo perished, Charlemagne unsheathed his sword slaying many of the Saracen host.
While there is no mention of the sword be given to Charlemagne in the chanson de geste of Prince Charles's youthful exploits in the fragmentary , 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. It is noted that the name-form Gaudeosa probably derives from its Latin source, Pseudo-Turpin.
Contrarily, in the Spanish adaptation of Mainet embedded in the Primera Crónica General, is equipped with none other than (Joyeuse), given him by his beloved , daughter of , as he faces the challenge of fighting . Ironically this Joyosa had been a gift to her from her suitor Bramant to Galiana.
Thomas Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne (1864) [1863] includes a retelling of the story of Ogier the Dane, where Ogier's sword Curtana was made of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Roland's Durendal. 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) written on the steel of Ogier's sword, which the king read when he unsheathed Ogier's sword Curtana, which Morgan le Fay given to Ogier by swapping some sword that the king owned and girt onto Ogier (but not identified as Joyeuse). Note that in the unembellished original chansons de geste Chevalerie Ogier, the king did deign to knight Ogier with a sword he possessed.
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 â '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".
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. 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.
Joyeuse was used as a prop during the coronation of Napoleon at Notre-Dame de Paris in 1804. The count de Ségur charged with staging the ceremony scripted for the inclusion of Joyeuse in some way. However, in the actual event, it was decided it would be inapt for Napoleon himself to wear the sword both for political and costumery reasons, and it would merely be a part of the procession.
The overall height is with the blade portion making up of that. It is wide at the base, and thick. Its total weight is .
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.
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.