Knights were one step above squires, but men of both ranks often served as vassals to higher-ranking overlords. She gave birth to a son, Robert, shortly before Le Gris trial by combat. Managed by: Boaz Pijp. The story is told three times, once from each character's point of view, so some events are repeated while others are only told once as the story is so close to the events of history as they were recorded, we'll only specify when those two things diverge (which they don't often do, except in the imaginings Scott and the actors create for the characters' internal lives). These details are wholly at odds with Marguerites court testimony about her assailants daytime visit, whose timing (if not its specific allegations) was corroborated by her mother-in-laws departure that morning and her return a few hours later that same day. But if Marguerites husband and champion lost, thus proving her accusation to be false, she too would be put to death. By unequivocally believing Marguerite, the screenwriters offer that same sense of empathy to all women who follow her. According to Jager, Le Gris took an immediate liking to Marguerite when Carrouges introduced her to the court in 1384. In Le Coqs words, his client attacked his adversary very cruelly and did it on foot, although he would have had the advantage if he had done it on horseback. By drawing blood, writes Elema for the Historical European Martial Arts and Sports Community, Le Gris prevented the king from halting the duel, as once the scales had tipped in one fighters favor, no one could stop the fight without the appearance of partiality.. Some have suggested that her husband forced the story out of her to avenge himself on Le Gris, his former friend turned rival at court. If the mistaken-identity theory is wrong, that forces us back onto the sharp horns of a dilemma: Was Marguerite lying, or was she telling the truth? No one really knew the truth of the matter. Cookie Policy Warning, The Last Duel spoilers follow. They were very religious. The events leading to the duel were described at great length in Jean Froissart's Chronicles (a prose history of the Hundred Years' War written in the 14th century by Jean Froissart) though director Ridley Scott's screenplay was adapted from Eric Jager's The Last Duel book. Spoiler alert: The following story includes details from the historical account behind the new film The Last Duel and narrative twists specific to the film. Carrouges immediately began a lawsuit to recover the land-based on an assumed prior claim to it. Two separate alibis are harder to disprove than one. Part Two will use the medieval sources to reconstruct what really happened in the combat, using . In his youth, Jean served in the retinue of . The Parlement ultimately failed to reach a verdict, and in September it officially ordered a trial by combat, wherein theoryGod would assure a just outcome. On the morning of 18 January 1386, Dame Nicole de Carrouges departed her chateau at Capomesnil for the neighbouring town of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives where she had legal business to attend to. Le Gris attorney, the highly respected Jean Le Coq, kept notes in Latin that still survive, allowing us a glimpse into attorney-client discussions. Centuries later the story of the innocent Le Gris falsely accused and forced to defend himself in a barbaric and unjust trial by combat was further popularized by Enlightenment thinkers. And in fact it was a code, a manner of behavior that denied womens basic humanity.. But conceptions of rape varied widely, with some commentators arguing that women enjoyed being taken by force and others accusing survivors of falsely accusing men in order to trick them into marriage. Halloween Kills, the latest entry in the blockbuster horror franchise, and period drama The Last Duel face different fates in theaters this weekend. Marguerite herselfnow pregnant, perhaps as a result of the rapecame to Paris and testified in great detail about the alleged attack by Le Gris and his accomplice. By the union of Marguerite . So there was just no doubt for me that this woman was telling the truth. The majority of medieval rape victims lacked the means to seek justice. [2][3], Shortly after his marriage, Carrouges revealed another motive for the union. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine One ground for skepticism about these two reportsapart from their priestly sources, notoriously suspicious of womenis that each tells a substantially different story. That was at the root of everything. Saturday October 16 2021, 12.01am BST, The Times R idley Scott's spectacular new film begins with a Norman noblewoman, Marguerite de Carrouges, being robed in black, fettered to a scaffold in. There is a brief coda that reveals Marguerite outlived her husband and never remarried. Meanwhile, Le Gris continued to rise in Pierre's esteem. The knights victory saved both him and his wife, earning the formerly notorious couple wealth and prestige. Really embracing the kind of freedom that gave her. The origins of The Last Duel begin in January 1368, when Marguerite de Carrouges claimed she was raped by Jacques Le Gris, a squire. But the doubts greeting Marguerites scandalous story, the initial rejection of her claims in court, and the shadow cast over her reputation by the later chronicle accounts are not so different from the skepticism and prejudice faced by more recent victims of sexual assault. And for him to have to invoke that at the moment of his death and to protest his innocence [is interesting]. But other than that, I made up a lot. Gangsters in a patrol wagon, New York, c. 1935. This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. A Note to our Readers Marguerite de Carrouges : My father told me my life would be blessed with good fortune. Just over a decade later, however, the two men,Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, met on a field in Paris for a highly publicized duel to the death. So the mistaken-identity theory has in its favor Marguerites relative unfamiliarity with Le Gris physical appearance at the time of the alleged rape in January 1386, over a year after Marguerite had first met and seen Le Gris at Crespins. You know whether my cause is just and true. She replied, My Lord, it is so, and you can fight with confidence, for the cause is just. And so Le Gris trial by combat began. Carrouges died roughly a decade after the duel, falling in combat against the Ottoman Turks. By the time the criminal trial was underway in the summer of that year, Marguerite was noticeably pregnant. The fly in this ointment is another aspect of Marguerites testimony that has not been given due attentionnamely, the inclusion of Adam Louvel in the criminal charges. And not just any death. Pierre favours de Carrouges' friend Le Gris, and the friendship between the men begins to deteriorate. A century and more after the philosophes had popularized the theory, it solidified as hard fact in authoritative encyclopedias. A large and powerful man, Le Gris was well educated and very wealthy, though from an only recently ennobled family. And two suspects are harder to convict than one, unless they can be turned against each other. Marguerite said no. Flawless Victory. In January 1386 while Jean de Carrouges was away traveling, Marguerite claimed she . Yet Adam Louvel reportedly confessed to nothing, not even under torture. While some touched by scandal may resurrect their lives and reputations, others never will: what happened, or is said to have happened, may follow them even through the pages of history. Given the absence of any witnesses in her own favor, Marguerites accusations against Louvel were a gratuitous and risky addition to her testimony if her story of the attack and rape was indeed a deliberate lie. It is one thing to slander, another to accuse. Even in Le Gris' version, though, Marguerite's attempts to get away seem less flirtatious and more earnest. This question, posed to Marguerite de Carrouges . From a practical perspective, pulling back on the brutality of the moment was also essential for simply getting the audience to sit through the scene. I gave her the opportunity to go get a low-cut dress in the style of the queen, which she was later shamed for wearing. Her father had sided against the king twice, and though to many she would seem unmarriageable, for de Carrouges who desperately needed land, wealth and an heir she was a good match. The more complicated her story, the more vulnerable it was to challenge; including Adam Louvel in the charges simply added to her burden of proof. Le 29 dcembre 1 386 se droula un duel d'honneur entre deux seigneurs normands", "Who is Marguerite de Carrouges? But the count, infuriated by the accusation against his favorite, declared at a legal hearing that Marguerite must have dreamed it and summarily dismissed the charges, ordering that no further questions ever be raised about it.. All who loved him were in a great fright, adds the chronicler in what is the narrative equivalent of a cinematic reaction shot. Learn how and when to remove this template message, The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, "L'affaire Marguerite de Carrouges, un procs qui a agit toute la France", "Un jour, une histoire. We gathered from research that she was really capable and educated, Holofcener says. Jean de Carrouges (1330-25 September 1396) was a French knight who was best known for his 1386 duel with Jacques Le Gris (who was accused of raping his wife Marguerite de Carrouges) in the last judicial duel permitted by the Parliament of Paris; he was later slain at the Battle of Nicopolis. The valuable estate of Aunou-le-Faucon, given to his rival Jacques Le Gris two years earlier, had been formerly owned by Carrouges' father-in-law, Robert de Thibouville, and had been bought by Count Pierre II of Alenon for 8,000 French livres in 1377. The theory of mistaken identity ultimately derives from two sources that began circulating more than a decade after the duel. Jean de Carrouges was born in Saint-Marguerite-de-Carrouges, Normandy, France in 1330, a vassal of the . (At this point, the two men were in their late 50s, which places Damon at close to the right age for his role but Driver a good generation off the mark. Instead, Elema explains, authorities overseeing trials typically imposed a settlement after the fighters had exchanged a few blows. Beneath him were three main ranks of nobility: barons, knights and squires. Born in 1388, two years after the fatal duel, Juvnal, a bishop, wrote at an even greater remove in time and may have been influenced by Pintoins account. The denouement, too, echoes the Grande dictionnaire: Not long after, a criminal arrested for some other offense confessed himself to be the author of the outrage. Skoda and Elema argue that Marguerites case exemplifies the complexity of medieval society, which is often painted in broad, reductive strokes. We read that the queen had pierced nipples and that the dress was almost low enough that you could maybe see them., Comer adds, There was one painting of her that, over time, was completely worn out, just because of time and everything else. Other accounts provide more technical detail, even suggesting that Le Gris slipped on his opponents blood. The movie does follow the true story rather closely, and with a runtime of two and a half hours, we'd hope so. The film shows Le Gris stripped and hanged by the ankle in the town square. Marguerite tells her story, and she knows that she needs to be extremely consistent, despite this absolutely horrific trauma that shes just gone through, says Skoda. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Matt Damon as Carrouges, Adam Driver as Le Gris and Jodie Comer as Carrouges' second wife, Marguerite. The last judicial duel in France hinged on whether a woman could be believed. Just in what they were wearing. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Matt Damon as Carrouges, Adam Driver as Le Gris and Jodie Comer as Carrouges second wife, Marguerite. Eventually, you have the two men on the ground, fighting with hand weapons rather than lances.. Or did Carrouges according to one account grab him by the helmet and throw him down? This cruel error moved the Parlement to systematically reject all appeals for the duelThis was the end of judicial combat., A similar story is retailed by the famed eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (191011), which likewise gives the erroneous date of 1385 and has the rapist attacking the lady by night, although here in the guise of her husband as she awaits his return from the Crusadesan implausible bed trick recalling the story of Martin Guerre. But Marguerite certainly made an impression on Le Gris, who likely still held a grudge against his litigious former friend: After running into the newly knighted Carrouges in January 1386, Le Gris sent a fellow courtier, Adam Louvel, to keep an eye on Marguerite, whod been left behind with her mother-in-law while Carrouges traveled to Paris. Her father had sided against the king twice, and. She continued shouting for help, she says, until silenced by Le Gris hood. In real life, as in the film, de Carrouges has to first ask Count Pierre for a trial, which is obviously biased in favour of Le Gris. To prove her claim true, Matt Damon's Jean challenges Le Gris to trial by combat. But this was not included in the film. Eric Jager is a professor of English at UCLA and the author of four books, including The Last Duel and Blood Royal. Over the next several months, famous lawyers were hired, witnesses were summoned, and testimony was gathered. Marguerite de Carrouges, descended from an old and wealthy Norman family, had claimed that in January of that year she had been attacked and raped at her mother-in-laws chteau by a squire (the rank below knighthood) named Jacques Le Gris, aided by one of his closest companions, one Adam Louvel. Le Gris, a large and powerful man with a reputation as a womanizer, is too self-centered to acknowledge the unwanted nature of his advances and too self-assured to believe that, once the deed is done, Marguerite will follow through on her threat of seeking justice. The actor continues, Its an anti-chivalry movie in some sense because the great illusion of chivalry is that it was about [protecting] the innocent female. On December 29, 1386, before a crowd presided over by French king Charles VI, Carrouges and Le Gris eyed each other warily. The two men seized her by the arms and legs, she testified, and dragged her up a nearby stairway, while she struggled and shouted for help. Toward a history of creativity and beef. She adds, If theres any gap between the act and making people aware [of it], that raises huge questions.. He strucks a belly of Le Gris's horse with his axe. Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. I came in after Matt and Ben decided to do it this way, but they wanted to make it a little more gray. Legal historian Ariella Elema, whose PhD research centered on trial by combat in France and England, says judicial duels were most common in cases where the evidence was really unclear and it was difficult to solve the [matter] by any other means. Such clashes had become increasingly rare by the late 14th century, with lawyers largely using the prospect of duels to incentivize individuals to settle cases out of court. Pointing out that womens voices are actually loud and clear, albeit filtered through the court system and notaries, in many medieval documents, the historian explains, Its a really nice way of sort of flipping our stereotypes of the Middle Ages. Does he truly believe his innocence at the end? Affleck reflects of Le Gris. And her court testimony is reduced to nothing more than her husbands scriptas Famiglietti calls itfor destroying his hated rival. Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673. Though Scotts film and its source text afford the fight the weighty title of the last duel, Le Gris trial by combat was far from the last duel to ever take place. What was in the film was the pair's reconciliation, which took place in 1384 in which Le Gris and de Carrouges agreed to put the past behind them, and de Carrouges introduced Le Gris to his wife Marguerite. Marguerite de Thibouville (a very different character from Comer's Villanelle in Killing Eve) was the only daughter of Robert de Thibouville, a wealthy Norman lord viewed as a traitor for siding against the French king in territorial disputes with England.
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