Gautier de Vascastein, in the legend 'De Prima Expeditione Attilae regis Hunorum, in Gallias,' is said to have carried arms fabricated by Veland.
A chronicle of the 12th century relates that Count William of Angoulême received the cognomen of 'Taillefer' in consequence of his sword, which had been made by 'Walander,' having cut in two a warrior covered with armour.[1] The name of the sword was 'durissima.' This Count William was the renowned minstrel Taillefer, who struck the first blow at the battle of Hastings, and who is described by his countryman Wace, in the following century, as having dashed on horseback into the ranks of the Saxons to meet a glorious death, while singing of
De Karlemaigne et de Rollant,
E d'Oliver, et des Vassals,
C'y morurent en Roncesvals.
It is related of Geoffroy Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, 'Adultimum allatus est ei, ensis thesauro regio ab antiquo ibidem signatus, in quo fabricando fabrorum superlatum Galanus multa opera et studio desudavit.'[2]
In an English romance of the 14th century, it is said, in reference to a sword, 'Of all swerdes it is king, and Weland it wrought.' Godefroy of Strasbourg, in his poem of 'Tristan and Isolde,' speaks of the smith as 'Vilint.'
In Scandinavia, the strange personage is well known, and the legends concerning him differ but little from
