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“The Roman regarded his spada simply as an instrument; for the Frank, however, the sword was not simply a token of his manhood but, after the triumph of Christianity, his religion. It was a common practice to include a saint’s relics physically in the hilt of the sword whose very shape reminded its owner of the origin of his religion. That veneration was passed on to all the descendants of the Franks so that the Germans and the French and the English all took the sword as the ultimate symbol of courage and of justice. It even had a personal identity and personal name: Charlemagne was supposed to have bestowed the slightly incongruous name of Joyeuse on his great blade and the sword of Roland would enter legend as Durendal.”
― E.R. Chamberlin, The Emperor Charlemagne