Ferragut (also known as Ferragus, Ferracutus, Ferracute, Ferrakut, Ferraguto, Ferraù, Fernagu) was a character—a Saracen paladin, sometimes depicted as a giant—in texts dealing with the Matter of France, including the Historia Caroli Magni, and Italian epics, such as Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. In the tales, he was portrayed as physically invulnerable except at his navel/stomach, and was eventually killed (or fated to be killed) by the paladin Roland. Name "Ferracutus" was the Latin form of the name used in the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle. Thomas Bulfinch used "Ferragus" in his English adaptation Legends of Charlemagne, but the form "Ferragut" appears to be the most frequent in English today. In his Orlando innamorato, Matteo Maria Boiardo used Feraguto/Feragu (Ferraguto/Ferragu). Ferraù is a syncopated form used in Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Texts Ferracutus in the "Pseudo-Turpin" Chronicle The character appears in one of the main episodes of the so-called Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle (Historia Caroli Magni, Book IV of the Codex Calixtinus), a Latin chronicle concerning the feats of Charlemagne and the paladin Roland from the middle of the 12th century. In a story modeled on David and Goliath, Roland battles the Saracen giant Ferracutus, who is holding the city of Nájera (Spain). A descendant of Goliath who had been sent to Nájera from Syria by the Emir of Babylon to fight the Christian army of Charlemagne, the giant Ferracutus didn't fear any arrow or spear and had the strength of forty strong men, was nearly twelve cubits tall, with a face a cubit long, a nose a hand long, members nearly four cubits long and fingers the length of three hands. Charlemagne sent several of his men to fight the giant: the Dacian Ogier, Reinaldos of Montalbán, Constantine king of Rome, Count Hoel, and twenty other fighters two by two, who were defeated effortlessly by the giant and put to prison. As soon as Roland obtained permission from Charlemagne, he approached the giant alone and they fought for two days (taking truces to rest at night) using swords, wooden sticks, stones and bare fists. They accidentally killed each other's horses, but Roland could find no way of wounding the giant. During the second night, the courteous Roland placed a stone beneath the head of the giant as a pillow, and upon waking the giant revealed to Roland that he was only vulnerable in one spot: his