In the legendary Song of Roland

The Song of Roland

The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...

, Almace, Almice or Almacia is the sword of Turpin, Archbishop of Reims, one of the last three Franks to die at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass

Battle of Roncevaux Pass

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass was a battle in 778 in which Roland, prefect of the Breton March and commander of the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, was defeated by the Basques...

, along with Roland

Roland

Roland was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. Historically, Roland was military governor of the Breton March, with responsibility for defending the frontier of Francia against the Bretons...

 (Orlando in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

) and Gualter de Hum.

Unlike Roland's much more famous sword Durendal

Durendal

Durendal or Durandal is the sword of Charlemagne's paladin Roland in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France....

, very little is said about Almace in the Song of Roland. However the Norse saga

Norse saga

The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...

, the Karlamagnus saga

Karlamagnús saga

The Karlamagnús saga, Karlamagnussaga or Karlamagnus-saga was a late 13th century Norse prose compilation and adaptation, made for Haakon V of Norway, of the Old French chansons de geste of the Matter of France dealing with Charlemagne and his paladins...

expands this slightly, claiming that a sword called Kurt (better known as the Curtana

Curtana

Curtana, also Cortana or Courtain, is a Latinized form of the Anglo-French curtein, from Latin curtus, 'shortened', used for a ceremonial type of sword.-Famous curtanas:For the main article see Sword of Mercy...

), Almace and Durendal were three swords forged by the legendary Anglo-Saxon blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

 Weyland

Weyland

In Germanic and Norse mythology, Wayland the Smith is a legendary master blacksmith. In Old Norse sources, Völundr appears in Völundarkviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda, and in Þiðrekssaga, and his legend is also depicted on the Ardre image stone VIII...

, and presented to Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 to secure the release of a Norse prisoner. Charlemagne tested the swords by seeing how far they would cut into a steel mound; Kurt penetrated "a hand's breadth" but was notched, Almace penetrated a hand's breadth without damage, and Durendal penetrated "half the length of a man's foot". Charlemagne gave Kurt to Ogier the Dane

Ogier the Dane

Ogier the Dane is a legendary character who first appears in an Old French chanson de geste, in the cycle of poems Geste de Doon de Mayence....

 and Almace to Bishop Turpin, and initially kept Durendal for himself. (Later he was told in a dream to give Durendal to Count Roland.)

Another legend, written on Curtana itself, claims that it, Durendal, and Charlemagne's Joyeuse

Joyeuse

Joyeuse , was the name of Charlemagne's personal sword. The name translates as "joyful".-Joyeuse in legend:Some legends claim that it was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel; others state it was smithed from the same materials as Roland's Durendal and Ogier's Curtana.The 11th...

 are a set of three, leaving Almace's origins unexplained.

The etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 of the name is uncertain, but it may be derived from Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, or from the Old Norse almusa, meaning alms

Alms

Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...

.