Cortain

Cortain (also spelled Courtain, Cortana, Curtana, Cortaine, etc.) is a legendary short sword in the legend of Ogier the Dane. This name is the accusative case declension of Old French corte, meaning "short".[1]

The tradition that Ogier had a short sword is quite old. There is an entry for "Oggero spata curta" ("Ogier of the short sword") in the Nota Emilianense (c. 1065–1075),[2] and this is taken as a nickname derived from his sword-name Cortain.[3] The sword name does not appear in the oldest extant copy of The Song of Roland (Oxford manuscript), only in versions postdating the Nota.[4] According to the first part (enfances) of Le Chevalerie Ogier, the sword, which once belonged to Brumadant the Savage, was remade more than twenty times; finally it was tested on a block of marble and broke about a palm's length. It was reforged and named Corte or Cortain, meaning "short".[5] This became the weapon of a chivalric-minded Saracen named Karaheut,[lower-alpha 1] who gives it to Ogier so he can fight Brunamont in single combat.[6][7] The sword has appeared in chansons de geste somewhat predating Chevalerie Ogier, or composed around the same time as it, such as Aspremont (before 1190) and Renaut de Montauban (c. 1200).[8]

The Prose Tristan (1230–1235, expanded in 1240[9]) states that Ogier inherited the sword of the Arthurian knight Tristan (Tristram), shortening it and thus called it Cortaine.[lower-alpha 2][10][11] The English monarchy also laid claim to owning "Tristram's sword",[lower-alpha 3] and this according to Roger Sherman Loomis was the "Curtana" ("short") used in the coronation of the British monarch. Loomis also argues that Curtana's origins as Tristram's sword was known to the author of this passage in Prose Tristan, but the tradition was forgotten in England.[11]

Notes
  1. "Karaheut" in Ludlow (1865) and Voretzsch (1931), p. 209; The courtois "Karaheu" in Togeby (1969), p. 51. Langlois, Table des noms, p. 132, lists "Caraheu, Craheut, Karaheu, Karaheut, Karaheult, Kareeu". "Karahues" and "Karahuel" are also used.
  2. This passage is not included in Curtis (1994)'s English translation.
  3. King Johan received "duos enses scilicet ensem Tristrami.. (two swords, namely Tristram's sword.. )", Patent Rolls for 1207.
gollark: What does single-mode mean for lasers? I duckduckgoed it, but the answers seem kind of technical.
gollark: What maths? I don't really lasers, but that sounds impractical and horribly dangerous in several ways.
gollark: Have you done anything with lower power, comparatively safe lasers?
gollark: You could just not put the dog in the room?
gollark: It's probably better to have a more proportionate response than blinding people and maybe setting them on fire.

References
Citations
  1. Togeby (1969), p. 17.
  2. Sholod, Barton (1966). Charlemagne in Spain: The Cultural Legacy of Roncesvalles. Librairie Droz. p. 189.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Togeby (1966), p. 112.
  4. Togeby (1966), p. 112 and Togeby (1969), p. 17
  5. Ludlow (1865), p. 256.
  6. Ludlow (1865), p. 260.
  7. van Dijk, Hans (2000). Gerritsen, Willem Pieter; Van Melle, Anthony G. (eds.). Ogier the Dane. A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 186–188. ISBN 978-0-85115-780-1.
  8. Togeby (1969), p. 52.
  9. Curtis, Renée L. (trans.), ed. (1994), The Romance of Tristan, Oxford, p. xvi ISBN 0-19-282792-8.
  10. Löseth, Eilert (1890), Analyse critique du Roman de Tristan en prose française, Paris: Bouillon, p. 302 (in French)
  11. Loomis, Roger Sherman (1922), "Tristram and the House of Anjou", The Modern Language Review, 17 (1): 29
Bibliography
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