# Epee du sacre des rois de France > Unrecorded medieval goldsmiths' workshops serving the French crown (pommel, guard and grip); blade replaced and scabbard restored in later centuries - Composite, 10th to 19th century (pommel c. 900-1100; guard c. 1100-1200; grip c. 1200-1400; blade 1700-1900; scabbard velvet remade 1804 and 1825) > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/unrecorded-french-royal-goldsmiths-workshops/joyeuse-sword-louvre/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-09-16 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Unrecorded medieval goldsmiths' workshops serving the French crown (pommel, guard and grip); blade replaced and scabbard restored in later centuries - **Date:** Composite, 10th to 19th century (pommel c. 900-1100; guard c. 1100-1200; grip c. 1200-1400; blade 1700-1900; scabbard velvet remade 1804 and 1825) - **Medium:** Gold with filigree work, lapis lazuli or dark glass beads (dragon eyes), diamonds; steel blade - **Dimensions:** Height 100.5 cm; width 22.6 cm (Musee du Louvre catalogue figures for MS 84; other reference works give differing totals, see open questions) - **Object type:** Arms and armour - **Period:** French royal regalia, Carolingian-Ottonian through the Bourbon Restoration (10th-19th century) - **Current location:** Musee du Louvre, Departement des Objets d'art, Paris, Richelieu wing, level 1, room 502 (Salle Suger), display case 30 - **Attribution:** disputed ## Summary Joyeuse is the sword French kings used at their own coronations, the sacre, from at least Philip III in 1271 through Charles X in 1825, the last king of France ever crowned. It is not, and does not claim to be, the single unmodified sword of Charlemagne the tradition names it for: the Musee du Louvre's own catalogue dates its pommel to 900-1100, its guard to the 12th century, its grip to the 13th or 14th century, and its blade to 1700-1900, a composite built up over roughly a millennium in which no single component was made during Charlemagne's lifetime.It survived the French Revolution when most of the rest of the Saint-Denis treasury did not, deposited at the Louvre on 5 December 1793. It was redecorated for Napoleon's coronation in 1804 and restored to its Bourbon appearance by the crown jeweler Bapst for Charles X's coronation in 1825, then returned to the Louvre for good by 1852. It is on display today in the museum's medieval Objets d'art rooms, alongside its own scabbard and the coronation spurs deposited with it on the same day in 1793.The name and the association with Charlemagne are the oldest and best-documented parts of the object's story. The physical continuity with him is the part the museum's own dating does not support, and this record states that plainly rather than around it. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **c. 900-c. 1400** Successive, unrecorded French royal goldsmiths' workshops `[documented]` (manufacture, in stages) The pommel, guard and grip are dated by the Musee du Louvre's own catalogue to three separate periods (900-1100, 1100-1200, 1200-1400 respectively), on stylistic grounds. No individual maker is named for any stage. - **c. 1400-1271** Treasury of the Abbey of Saint-Denis (regalia of the Kings of France) `[documented]` (first documented ceremonial use) The sword, under the name Joyeuse, is attested at the coronation of Philip III the Bold at Reims on 15 August 1271, the first coronation at which its use is confirmed by the sources consulted. An earlier claimed use under Philip Augustus in 1179 is not confirmed by a surviving ordo or eyewitness record consulted here. - **1271-1793** Treasury of the Abbey of Saint-Denis (regalia of the Kings of France) `[documented]` (custody and repeated ceremonial use at successive royal coronations) Listed in the Saint-Denis treasury inventory of 1634 and described, with an engraving, in Michel Felibien's 1706 history of the abbey. Sources describe the sword as present at every French coronation across this span, though not every individual coronation is separately documented in the sources consulted for this record. - **1793** French revolutionary state `[documented]` (seizure and transfer) Deposited at the Louvre museum on 5 December 1793, together with the scabbard and the coronation spurs, as part of the revolutionary dispersal of the Saint-Denis treasury. Most of the treasury's other regalia were melted for coin or sold in the same period; this group was preserved on grounds of artistic and historical interest. - **1793-1804** Musee du Louvre `[documented]` (storage) Held at the Louvre in the years immediately following the 1793 deposit, prior to its display as part of the revived Charlemagne regalia for Napoleon's 1804 coronation. - **1804-1816** Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris `[documented]` (display, as part of a revived Charlemagne imperial iconography) Carried, but not worn, by Napoleon at his 1804 coronation; the scabbard was redecorated in green velvet with gold laurel leaves for the occasion. Kept at the Notre-Dame treasury through 1816. - **1816-1825** unrecorded `[unknown]` (gap) No source consulted for this record documents custody in this interval, though the sword was necessarily brought to Reims for Charles X's coronation in 1825. - **1825** French crown / Reims Cathedral `[documented]` (final ceremonial use, and restoration) Restored by the crown jeweler Jacques-Eberhard Bapst-Meniere, who removed Napoleon's scabbard changes and returned it to violet velvet strewn with fleurs-de-lis. Carried at Charles X's coronation on 29 May 1825, the last coronation of a King of France. - **1825-1848** unrecorded `[unknown]` (gap) No source consulted documents custody between the 1825 coronation and the sword's recorded presence at the Garde-Meuble by 1848. - **1848-1852** Garde-Meuble, Ministry of Finance `[documented]` (storage) Recorded at the state furniture and regalia store under the Ministry of Finance before its return to the Louvre. - **1852-present** Musee du Louvre, Departement des Objets d'art `[documented]` (return and permanent accession) Returned to the Louvre in 1852 and has remained in the Objets d'art department since, currently displayed in the Richelieu wing, room 502 (Salle Suger), case 30. ## Open questions - No source consulted names the goldsmith or workshop responsible for any of the sword's four dated components (pommel, guard, grip, blade); all dating given is stylistic, not documentary. - Whether the pommel, guard or grip incorporates any earlier, genuinely Carolingian material reworked into a later mount is not addressed in the sources consulted; the Louvre's own dating already places the earliest surviving component a century or more after Charlemagne's death in 814. - The sword's custody between Charles X's coronation in 1825 and its documented presence at the Garde-Meuble by 1848 is not accounted for in any source consulted; this is a genuine gap, not a smoothed-over continuity. - The exact date within the 1700-1900 range given for the current blade, and whether it replaced an earlier medieval blade in a single campaign or was replaced more than once, is not specified in the Louvre's published catalogue entry. - Reported overall dimensions vary between sources: the Louvre's own catalogue gives height 100.5 cm and width 22.6 cm, while other reference works cite a total length near 105 cm with an 82.8 cm blade. This record follows the museum's own catalogue figures and flags the discrepancy rather than silently choosing one. - Whether any coronation before Philip III's in 1271, such as the sometimes-claimed use under Philip Augustus in 1179, is documented by a surviving ordo or eyewitness account, or is a later retrospective claim, is not resolved in the sources consulted. ## Sources - [1] Musee du Louvre, collections database, 'Epee du sacre des rois de France', MS 84. - [2] Musee du Louvre, collections database, 'Fourreau de l'epee du sacre', MS 84 bis. - [3] Musee du Louvre, collections database, 'Eperons du sacre'. - [4] Montesquiou-Fezensac, Blaise de, and Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle, Le Tresor de Saint-Denis, volume III (Planches et notices), Paris, A. et J. Picard, 1977. Cited via the Louvre's own bibliography for MS 84 and via the AGORHA/INHA bibliographic record. - [5] Panorama de l'art, 'Epee du sacre des rois de France', analyse en images. - [6] Wikipedia (French), 'Joyeuse (epee)'. Tertiary source, flagged for replacement with primary Louvre and Saint-Denis treasury scholarship where relied upon. - [7] Wikipedia (English), 'Joyeuse'. Tertiary source, flagged for replacement; used here for the Napoleon 1804 staging detail (comte de Segur's decision that Napoleon should not wear the sword) and the Conway/Laking dating debate. - [8] Wikipedia (English), 'Imperial Sword' (Reichsschwert). Tertiary source, flagged for replacement; used here only to confirm the Vienna sword's separate attribution to Otto IV, c. 1198. - [9] Wikimedia Commons, File:Epee du sacre des rois de France, dite Joyeuse - Musee du Louvre Objets d'art MS 84.jpg. Photograph and upload by Shonagon, CC0 1.0. - [10] Wikimedia Commons, File:Joyeuse louvre.JPG. Photograph and upload by Chatsam, CC BY-SA 3.0. - [11] filsdeclovis.fr, 'Epee de Charlemagne: Joyeuse, le glaive du sacre'. Secondary blog source, flagged for replacement with a primary Bapst workshop or Louvre conservation record for the 1825 restoration detail. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.