French police are investigating the disappearance of Durandal, a sword linked to mythology similar to the legendary Excalibur of Britain's King Arthur, after it mysteriously disappeared from the Pyrenean village of Rocamadour, where it had been embedded in a rock high above the ground for about 1,300 years . .
The semi-legendary knight Roland wielded Durandal, said to be indestructible and the sharpest of all blades. Their adventures together are chronicled in the 11th-century epic poem “The Song of Roland,” which now resides in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in England.
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The poem, the first known reference to the sword, says that an angel gave Durandal to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who entrusted it to Roland.
The Italian epic “Orlando enraged” says that Durandal also once belonged to the Trojan prince Hector.
According to French legend, Durandal ended up in Rocamadour when Roland, unable to destroy his trust blade, threw it as far as he could to prevent his enemies from getting their hands on it. It is said to have landed in the village in southern France and lodged in a rock wall about 33 feet off the ground.
That's where it had been ever since, and was a popular tourist attraction for the city. But 1,300 years later, it has disappeared, allegedly stolen. The village, also known for its goat cheese, is gone.
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“We will miss Durandal. It has been part of Rocamadour for centuries, and there is no guide who does not point it out when he visits,” said Dominique Lenfant, the city's mayor, as quoted by La Dépêche, the French newspaper that break history
“Rocamadour feels that a part of himself has been stolen from him,” Lenfant said. “Even if it is a legend, the destinies of our people and this sword are intertwined.”
