Does anybody know the name of this fighting broadsword wielding bishop?

[Sampiro]

At some point I am positive I read an account of a bishop (or perhaps a priest or monk, but a Christian cleric who also wielded swords in battle) is fighting a Muslim warrior and cleaves him so hard he falls off both sides of his horse. For the life of me I cannot remember this warrior’s name (the victor) or even the war/era more specifically than medieval.

It may have been one of the tales of Charlemagne (which would make it either Abp. Milo or Abp. Turpin most likely but it’s not in their respective wikis or google searches) but it could as easily be a member of the Templars or Teutonic or some other fighting order. I believe the foe was Muslim but I’m not positive of that.

So does anybody know who this story was told of? The important points are it was medieval, involved a battle with broadswords, and resulted in the defeated falling off both sides of his horse. I want to use it in a paper I’m writing. (Not essentially for the paper but basically referential paprika.)

Does this sound familiar to anybody else?

And either way, thanks.

That you may know just in case you’ve qualms on helping anyone bash religion: the way I’m using it is actually related to tales of gore in history and has nothing to do with religion in any way (or for that matter the reliability of the story), so if you know the answer don’t worry you’ll be assisting with an anti religion point. I only mention the fact that IIRC it was a bishop since that’s a point of reference.)

[Westrogothia]

Are you thinking of the Song of Roland?
That would make it Turpin or perhaps Turin.

[Westrogothia]

@Song of Roland

Then Oliver has drawn his mighty sword
As his comrade had bidden and implored,
In knightly wise the blade to him has shewed;
Justin he strikes, that Iron Valley’s lord,
All of his head has down the middle shorn,
The carcass sliced, the broidered sark has torn,
The good saddle that was with old adorned,
And through the spine has sliced that pagan’s horse;
Dead in the field before his feet they fall.
Says Rollant: “Now my brother I you call;
He’ll love us for such blows, our Emperor.”
On every side “Monjoie” you’ld hear them roar.

Its not Turpin doing the dirty dead but maybe this what was you were remembering?

@Song of Roland

That Archbishop begins the fight again,
Sitting the horse which he took from Grossaille
–That was a king he had in Denmark slain;–
That charger is swift and of noble race;
Fine are his hooves, his legs are smooth and straight,
Short are his thighs, broad crupper he displays,
Long are his ribs, aloft his spine is raised,
White is his tail and yellow is his mane,
Little his ears, and tawny all his face;
No beast is there, can match him in a race.
That Archbishop spurs on by vassalage,
He will not pause ere Abisme he assail;
So strikes that shield, is wonderfully arrayed,
Whereon are stones, amethyst and topaze,
Esterminals and carbuncles that blaze;
A devil’s gift it was, in Val Metase,
Who handed it to the admiral Galafes;
So Turpin strikes, spares him not anyway;
After that blow, he’s worth no penny wage;
The carcass he’s sliced, rib from rib away,
So flings him down dead in an empty place.
Then say the Franks: “He has great vassalage,
With the Archbishop, surely the Cross is safe.”

Heres turpin killing off the heathens

[Sampiro]

@Westrogothia

Its not Turpin doing the dirty dead but maybe this what was you were remembering?

Heres turpin killing off the heathens

I’m pretty sure that’s the basis. Thanks. (Love the username.)

[Westrogothia]

Heh who would have thought that my high school french lit course would ever be useful.

[Lumpy]

I thought there was a tradition that clergy used maces, to get around an injunction against “spilling blood”?

[Rapier42]

@Lumpy

I thought there was a tradition that clergy used maces, to get around an injunction against “spilling blood”?

The only place I’ve seen that is in RPG games, and I don’t know where they got it from. It may be completely made up.

The Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, an instruction manual for sword and buckler, features a priest teaching a student the intricacies of sword and buckler. It was written in the early 14th century.

[Telcontar]

@Lumpy

I thought there was a tradition that clergy used maces, to get around an injunction against “spilling blood”?

Another person here who has only seen that in RPGs. Also, if you hit someone with a heavy freaking mace you’ll still spill some blood.

[Mr.Slant]

I seem to recall that the mace thing was meant as a ‘game balance’ measure in D&D.
Clerics were spell-casters, but weren’t physically crippled like wizards were by the rules.
Not sure if Gary Gygax ever actually said that out loud, but it was always my gaming group’s suspicion during middle/high school.

[Chronos]

I think there was a clergyman depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry who fought exclusively with the mace rather than sword, and he might have stated the “no spilling blood” thing as his reason, but that may well just have been his personal interpretation, not a universal rule.

[mbh]

It’s not just in RPGs. I have seen the trope in books on the history of armor and weaponry. It’s usually an offhand reference, with no sources cited.

I would speculate that it is an urban legend among 19th Century and 20th Century medievalists.

[Rapier42]

@Chronos

I think there was a clergyman depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry who fought exclusively with the mace rather than sword, and he might have stated the “no spilling blood” thing as his reason, but that may well just have been his personal interpretation, not a universal rule.

Interesting. A little googling around brought me to here, where the author blames the myth on depictions of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux in the Tapestry (and Milo/Turpin, one of the Peers of Charlemagne and I guess who Sampiro was originally asking about).

Huh.

I love the Dope.