Murgleys

Murgleys, or Murgleis (possibly "Death brand"[1]) is the sword of Ganelon, a traitorous French (Frankish) count and nemesis to the titular hero of the epic La chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland).[1][2]

According to the French version, its "golden pommel (l'orie punt)"[3][a] held some kind of a holy "relic".[7][9]

In the Middle High German adaptation (Konrad der Pfaffe's Rolandslied) the sword is called Mulagir, touted to be the "best short sword in all of France",[b] described as having a carbuncle on its pommel that shone bright by night, forged by a smith named Madelger in Regensburg. It had belonged to Naimes who brought it out of his fiefdom of Bavaria and presented it to Karl(Charlemagne), but unfortunately Ganelon took possession of it and carried it to the Saracen side.[11][12]

  1. ^ a b The Song of Roland. Translated by Sayers, Dorothy L. Hammondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. 1957. p. 38. ISBN 0-14-044075-5.
  2. ^ Song of Roland, vv. 345, 607. Brault, Gerard J., ed. (1978). The Song of Roland: Oxford text and English translation. Penn State Press. pp. 22–23, 38–39). ISBN 9780271038087.
  3. ^ Song of Roland, v. 466
  4. ^ Brault ed. tr. (1978), pp. 30, 31.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference beckman2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Brault ed. tr. (1978), pp. 38, 39.
  7. ^ Song of Roland, v. 607[6]
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference scholod1963 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cf. Scholod: "every one of the major Christian heroes, including Ganelon, possesses his 'hallowed' blade".[8]
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference lexer-sahs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Rolandslied vv. 1568–1609. Wesle, Carl, ed. (1986), Das Rolandslied des Pfaffen Konrad, 3tte Auflage besorgt von Peter Wapnewski (3 ed.), Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, pp. 80–83.
  12. ^ Rolandslied vv. 1585–8; Priest Konrad's Song of Roland, translated by Thomas, J. W., Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1994, pp. 12–13


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