A pilgrimage site for 1000 years, Rocamadour in the Lot department has been listed among the Plus beaux villages de France ('Most beautiful villages in France') since 2022. It boasts a unique attraction in the form of the 'French Excalibur,' a sword embedded in the rock face above the village. However, the sword has been missing since the end of June.
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According to legend, the sword is Durendal, the mystical sword of the hero Roland, Charlemagne's famous paladin. Various old French verses mention the sword, the best-known being the version from the Song of Roland, written around 1100. According to this, Charlemagne, who was himself the proud owner of a sword called Joyeuse, received Durendal from an angel with the instruction to give it to his bravest warrior in the fight against the Moors, who had ruled over large parts of the Iberian Peninsula since the early 7th century. This warrior was, of course, Roland, who eventually fell in the Battle of Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees in 778. Before his death, he is said to have tried to destroy his sword so that it would not fall into enemy hands. In Rocamadour, however, it is said that he hurled Durendal away, and it became lodged in the rock face above the village, several hundred kilometres away—an impressive feat even for someone who was not dying.
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The theft of the sword, discovered on the morning of June 22, is also an impressive feat. The sword was in a difficult-to-reach location and secured with a forged chain. The theft is a huge blow for Rocamadour, as Mayor Dominique Lenfant emphasized to the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, which was the first to report on the case: "We will miss Durandal. It has been a part of Rocamadour for centuries [...] even if it is a legend, the fates of our village and this sword are linked."
