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A review by berylbird
The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
4.0
More fascinating than I expected, I was caught up in the history and the plot. Jean de Carrouges defends his wife, the Lady Marguerite's honor in what is known as the last duel. In actuality, the last duel was fought in 1547. Marguerite charges that Jean de Carrouges's one-time friend, Jacques Le Gris, raped her while her husband was away. At the time Marguerite was staying with her mother-in-law. Nicole, the mother-in-law had left for a few hours with all the household servants save one, who could not be found at the time of the crime. The history of how the two men had fallen out and become enemies, then reconciled at a friend's party with Carrouges insisting his wife, Marguerite kiss Le Gris in the spirit of reconciliation, then later becoming embittered again, makes for intriguing reading. The pages fly by.
The report of the duel itself is most captivating. People had to keep silent under threat of death for calling out, quite unlike spectator sports today. Of course, a man's life is at stake, for the duel is a fight to the death. During this time (the 1380s), it was believed that whoever survived the duel was shown by God to be the truthteller and the man that died was shown to be the criminal. Afterwards, the fallen man's body is dragged through the streets. Author Eric Jager shows the strengths and weaknesses of each man. Carrouges, a smaller man, has more military experience. Le Gris, a larger and stronger man, had enough wealth to choose a more expensive warhorse. Both men wore the same weapons. "The combatants already wore swords and daggers on their belts, and each had slung his second, longer sword from a saddle-ring, along with his ax. The unwieldy lance, left for last, was seized from the saddle and rammed upright into its fewter." Charles VI bade Marguerite climb onto a scaffold to watch the duel and where she can be seen by all the spectators. If Carrouges does not survive the duel, she is to be burned at the stake.
This is a compelling history.
The report of the duel itself is most captivating. People had to keep silent under threat of death for calling out, quite unlike spectator sports today. Of course, a man's life is at stake, for the duel is a fight to the death. During this time (the 1380s), it was believed that whoever survived the duel was shown by God to be the truthteller and the man that died was shown to be the criminal. Afterwards, the fallen man's body is dragged through the streets. Author Eric Jager shows the strengths and weaknesses of each man. Carrouges, a smaller man, has more military experience. Le Gris, a larger and stronger man, had enough wealth to choose a more expensive warhorse. Both men wore the same weapons. "The combatants already wore swords and daggers on their belts, and each had slung his second, longer sword from a saddle-ring, along with his ax. The unwieldy lance, left for last, was seized from the saddle and rammed upright into its fewter." Charles VI bade Marguerite climb onto a scaffold to watch the duel and where she can be seen by all the spectators. If Carrouges does not survive the duel, she is to be burned at the stake.
This is a compelling history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Violence