{"id":89098,"date":"2024-07-06T14:13:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T14:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/mythical-swords-disappearance-brings-mystery-to-french-village\/"},"modified":"2024-07-06T14:13:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T14:13:05","slug":"mythical-swords-disappearance-brings-mystery-to-french-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/mythical-swords-disappearance-brings-mystery-to-french-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Mythical Sword\u2019s Disappearance Brings Mystery to French Village"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/03\/multimedia\/03xp-sword-top\/03xp-sword-top-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Mythical Sword\u2019s Disappearance Brings Mystery to French Village\" title=\"Mythical Sword\u2019s Disappearance Brings Mystery to French Village\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As legend has it, a sword from God given to Roland, an 8th century military leader under Charlemagne, was so powerful that Roland\u2019s last mission was to destroy it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the blade, called Durandal, proved indestructible, Roland threw it as far as he could, and it sailed over 100 miles before slicing through the side of a rock face in the medieval French village of Rocamadour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That sword, as the story goes, sat wedged in the stone for nearly 1,300 years, and it became a landmark and tourist attraction in Rocamadour, a very small village in southwestern France, about 110 miles east of Bordeaux. So residents and officials there were stunned to discover late last month that the blade had vanished, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladepeche.fr\/2024\/07\/01\/info-la-depeche-durandal-a-disparu-du-rocher-de-rocamadour-lepee-du-chevalier-roland-a-ete-derobee-ces-jours-ci-12053133.php\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to La D\u00e9p\u00eache du Midi<\/a>, a French newspaper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An officer with France\u2019s national police force in Cahors, a town 30 miles southwest of Rocamadour, said that the sword disappeared sometime after nightfall on June 21, and that the authorities opened an investigation after a passerby reported the next morning that it was missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The officer, who declined to give his name, emphasized that the sword is \u201ca copy,\u201d but acknowledged that it had symbolic significance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He referred further questions to the office of the prosecutor of the republic in Cahors, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mayor of Rocamadour, Dominique Lenfant, told La D\u00e9p\u00eache that the sword \u201cis a public good that belongs to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe will miss Durandal,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was part of Rocamadour for centuries. There is not a guide who fails to show it during a visit. Rocamadour has been stripped of a part of itself, even if it is just a legend. The destinies of our village and this sword are linked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For most Americans, King Arthur\u2019s Excalibur is a more recognizable example of a sword stuck in stone. But the myths of Durandal are popular in France, thanks to the famous 11th or 12th century French poem \u201cThe Song of Roland.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The poem is partly set during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 A.D., during which Charlemagne\u2019s men who had fought against Muslims in Spain, led by Roland, found themselves severely outnumbered by enemy forces. According to the poem\u2019s fictional account, Roland and his sword battled valiantly, but he was badly wounded and tried unsuccessfully before his death to destroy the blade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">According to \u201cThe Song of Roland,\u201d Roland hid the blade under his dying body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But tour guides in Rocamadour have encouraged visitors to come to the town \u2014 a postcard-worthy cluster of castles carved out of a steep mountainside \u2014 and see the blade for themselves: jutting out of a crack in the rock face, some 30 feet up in the air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The story of how Durandal ended up in Rocamadour \u2014 150 miles northeast of where Roland died \u2014 has its skeptics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A British historian, Richard Barber, wrote in 2020 that the replica sword was placed in Rocamadour <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=PAk7EAAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=gbs_ViewAPI&amp;hl=en#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">by an official looking to boost tourism<\/a> in the 1780s. And others, including Helen Solterer, a professor of romance studies at Duke University, called the sword \u201ca copy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Durandal was still a fixture of Rocamadour, and its absence has resonated throughout the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI can certainly imagine this will be a huge loss for Rocamadour as it was one of the medieval village\u2019s most legendary attractions,\u201d said Paola Westbeek, a travel journalist who has visited Rocamadour several times. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Adding to the mystery of the disappearance is its timing during a contentious political cycle. After President Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election, France\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/01\/world\/europe\/france-election-national-rally.html\" title=\"\">far-right party dominated the first round of voting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe far right would code the sword as a signature piece of French national identity,\u201d Ms. Solterer said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Song of Roland\u201d has been referenced by nationalist groups for its message that Muslims are an enemy and Muslim immigrants are overtaking France, said Ada Maria Kuskowski, an assistant professor of history with a specialization in medieval history at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe sword, which Roland struggled so hard to keep away from Muslim hands to preserve honor, Christianity and Frenchness,\u201d she said, \u201cis now gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the theory that this sword may have been stolen to send a political message is just conjecture. This may turn out to be a simple prank, Ms. Solterer said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Where the sword may be is anyone\u2019s guess. And while the police continue to turn over every stone, the mystery of Durandal continues \u2014 1,246 years and counting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">William Lamb<!-- --> contributed reporting and <!-- -->Susan C. Beachy<!-- --> contributed research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/06\/world\/europe\/rocamadour-excalibur-durandal-missing.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As legend has it, a sword from God given to Roland, an 8th century military leader under Charlemagne, was so powerful that Roland\u2019s last mission was to destroy it. When the blade, called Durandal, proved indestructible, Roland threw it as far as he could, and it sailed over 100 miles before slicing through the side [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/03\/multimedia\/03xp-sword-top\/03xp-sword-top-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11231,43015,8456,1158,76987,76988,4616],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89100,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89098\/revisions\/89100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}