page_title: Joyeuse
section_title: Coronation sword of the French kings
hierarchical_section_title: Joyeuse / Coronation sword of the French kings
context_page_description: Joyeuse was, in medieval legend, the sword wielded by Charlemagne as his personal weapon. The name means "joyous". A sword identified as Joyeuse was used in French royal coronation ceremonies since the 13th century, and is now kept at the Louvre museum.
context_section_description: A sword identified with Charlemagne's Joyeuse was carried in front of the Coronation processionals for French kings, for the first time in 1270 (Philip III), and for the last time in 1824 (Charles X). The sword was kept in the Saint Denis Basilica since at least 1505, and 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 to about the 10th century. Martin Conway argued the blade might date to the early 9th century, opening the possibility that it was indeed the sword of Charlemagne, while Guy Laking dated it to the early 13th century. Some authors have even argued that the medieval blade may have been replaced by a modern replica in 1804 when the sword was prepared for the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte.
  The Louvre's official website dates the pommel to the 10th to 11th centuries, the crossguard to the 12th and the scabbard to the 13th century.
  The overall height of the sword is 105 cm (41 ¹⁄₃ in) with the blade portion making up 82.8 cm (32 ³⁄₅ in) of that. It is 4.5 cm (1.77 in) wide at the base, and 2.2 cm (0.87 in) thick. Its total weight is 1.630 kg (3.59 pounds).
caption: Louis XIV with Joyeuse (Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701)
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