Say nothing, and I will keep quiet, too. In response, Marguerite said, I will keep quiet. Toward a history of creativity and beef. Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. It is one thing to slander, another to accuse. Upon hearing of the encounter, the outraged Carrouges summoned his circle of courtiers and friends, including his mother and most of Marguerite's family, and a council was convened where Marguerite repeated her account of the rape. Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673. Her father had sided against the king twice, and. I want justice! Dust off your 14th-century French history books, folks. (Rapists sometimes escaped punishment by marrying their victims.) Jean Froissart, writing after the duel, describes Marguerite praying as she watched the fight, adding, I do not know, for I never spoke with her, whether she had not often regretted having gone so far with the matter that she and her husband were in such grave danger., Elemas interpretation of the sources differs from Jagers comparatively colorful recounting. Some argued that shed falsely accused Le Gris, either mistaking him for someone else or acting on the orders of her vindictive husband. Ultimately, Carrouges victory was a result of Le Gris being literally unable to get up. As it turns out, the description of the event in Eric Jager's book The Last Duel is rather different from the five surviving medieval accounts of the fight. Flawless Victory. 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 clearly it wasnt.. Your Privacy Rights 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. 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.. Comer brought that sense of history into her performance as well, recognizing what was and wasnt acceptable for women of the time. The duel took place on December 29, 1386, and was presided over by French king Charles VI. This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. I would have had to have taken this many horses, and I didnt have time to get back. It would have become about whether or not it could have been him, or it must have been somebody else. Note: The following article contains discussion of rape that some readers may find upsetting. ), Whether Carrouges and Le Gris actually ended their quarrel at this point is debatable. Privacy Statement 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? After Marguerites rape, Carrouges petitions the French court to try Le Gris through judicial combat. The challenge did not lead directly to a duel, however, but marked the start of a formal investigation by the Parlement, which would authorize a duel only if unable to reach a verdict on the basis of the available evidence. The article offers a garbled, error-strewn version where, in 1385, Le Gris was accused of attacking the lady by night, with his face masked, as she awaited her husbands return from the Holy Land. The movie presents two versions of the rape in Le Gris' version her protests have an edge of teasing to them, and hark back to a previous scene in which he chased a woman around the table before having consensual sex (sort of, given the power dynamic at play and the complete lack of agency women have in their world). 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. After the fatal duel, the truth comes out: Sometime later, a criminal on the point of atoning for his other crimes confessed that he was guilty of the odious act of which Le Gris had been accused. In Jean's absence, Jacques broke into Jean's castle and raped Marguerite in 1386. I think the film makes the right choice [in portraying her story]., Comer agrees. But if Marguerites husband and champion lost, thus proving her accusation to be false, she too would be put to death. Rather, it was the last judicial duel sanctioned by the Parlement of Parisa decision possibly motivated by the decidedly unchivalrous nature of the event. Despite the ladys many oaths, and those of the squire, he confided to his journal, No one really knew the truth of the matter.. The first two chapters of the three-act film, penned by Damon and Affleck, draw heavily on Jagers research, recounting Marguerites rape and the events surrounding it from the perspectives of Carrouges and Le Gris, respectively. More. I know that was the same for everyone who was coming toward this project.. At the time of the attack, Jean de Carrouges was away on a trip to Paris from which he would return a few days later. Not understanding the effect they were having on someone else. The greatest departure from Jagers book comes during the rape itself. We would have looked like two tin cans. In short, yes. The duel itself was very violent, as it was in the film. 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. The forty-page story Le jugement de Dieu begins with throngs of excited, gossiping Parisians arriving at Saint-Martins field to watch the long-awaited duel. We begin with Jean de Carrouges, who after successful war campaigns for the king of France, finds himself falling out of favour with Count Pierre (Ben Affleck). The latter explanation is the very one that Le Gris put forward in his own defense, and it has been echoed by at least one modern historian as recently as 1992. And two suspects are harder to convict than one, unless they can be turned against each other. 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. Later encyclopedia entries echoed this view, seemingly solidifying the question of Le Gris innocence. But a public accusation of rape, at the time a capital offense and often a cause for scandalous rumors endangering the honor of those involved, could have grave consequences for both accuser and accused, especially among the nobility. Given the counts strong relationship with Le Gris and combative past with Carrouges, he was quick to dismiss the claim, even arguing that Marguerite must have dreamed it. Undeterred, Carrouges raised an appeal with the king. Rape Crisis Scotlands helpline number is 08088 01 03 02. We gathered from research that she was really capable and educated, Holofcener says. Marguerite de Carrouges (ne de Thibouville; 1362, Chteau de Fontaine-la-Soret (Eure) c. 1419) was a French noblewoman. According to Pintoin, Marguerite and her assailant dined together before the attack, and it was while showing him to his room for the night that he assaulted her. 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. Even Le Gris believed she was victimized - just not by him. People tend to think of the Middle Ages being less sophisticated than they actually are, but theres this this huge, fascinating legal tradition thats the origin of pretty much all of Western legal tradition, Elema says. Historical scandals, much like the contemporary ones filling our tabloids, news sites, and now-ubiquitous Facebook feeds, are built on a widely shared sense of certainty about what really happeneda feeling that often belies the elusive truth. Marguerite de Thibouville, only daughter of the highly controversial Robert de Thibouville, married Jean de Carrouges in 1380. A feature film based on The Last Duel is scheduled to be released in 2021. Le Gris raped me., Le Gris countered with a detailed alibi for not just the day in question but the entire week, calling numerous witnesses to establish his whereabouts in or near another town some twenty-five miles away. 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. As Damon tells the New York Times, this segment is kind of an original screenplay because that world of women had to be almost invented and imagined out of whole cloth., The gripping true story of the duel to end all duels in medieval France as a resolute knight defends his wifes honor against the man she accuses of a heinous crime. ( 20 th Century Studios ) At the time, the French were engaged in a bitter conflict with the English. Death: Immediate Family: Daughter of Robert De Thibouville. No institution could long survive so open a confutation, and it was annulled by the Parlement.. In real life, there was another complicating factor de Carrouges bought land and was forced to turn it over to Pierre, blaming Le Gris for it. In his own defense, Le Gris claimed that Nicole had found nothing amiss upon her return and didnt believe her daughter-in-laws later allegations. She married Jean de Carrouges in 1380. The earlier of the two is the Saint-Denis Chronicle, an official royal history by the monk Michel Pintoin probably written around 1400. According. That testimony takes up nearly a thousand words of Latin in the Parlements official summary of the case, preserved today at the Archives Nationales, on the Right Bank, in the Marais, a short walk from the old priory where the battle unfolded on that cold winter day. The last judicial duel in France hinged on whether a woman could be believed. What it doesn't detail is that while Marguerite gave birth to a healthy boy, the queen's son was sickly and died not long after he was born. Part One of this article examined the famous judicial duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, which was held in Paris in 1386. There is this paradox of the human experience where oftentimes different people come away from the same situation with different impressions of that. They pinned me down and stuffed a capucium [a hood] over my mouth to silence me. The film is based on the true story of the last legally permitted duel (hence the title) fought in France. The film is told in three chapters, from the perspectives of Carrouges (Damon), Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Marguerite (Jodie Comer). While this should have added weight to Marguerite's claim, it did not. 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. 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. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY. A large and powerful man, Le Gris was well educated and very wealthy, though from an only recently ennobled family. So there was just no doubt for me that this woman was telling the truth. Diderots Encyclopdie and Voltaires Histoire du Parlement de Paris used the 1386 affair to denounce the supposed ignorance and cruelty of the Middle Ages. [Jager] does a pretty meticulous description of it, but its a decidedly uncinematic duel, Damon notes. If the case is not proven, then [the woman] doesnt just get to walk away, says Skoda. I'm married. A 1306 royal decree based on ancient precedent allowed the duel as a last resort for nobles involved in capital casese.g., murder, treason, and rapebut by now judicial duels were extremely rare. The trial by combat would decide whether she had told the truthand thus whether she would live or die. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Carrouges views himself as a chivalrous knight defending his wifes honor, while Le Gris casts himself as the Lancelot to Marguerites Guinevere, rescuing her from an unhappy marriage. A Judicial Duel, byLieven van Lathem, 1464. Meet the real woman who inspired The Last Duel", "L'histoire vraie de Jean de Carrouges et Jacques Legris, hros du film "Le dernier Duel" de Ridley Scott", "Vivonne et Jarnac, le dernier duel judiciaire en France", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marguerite_de_Carrouges&oldid=1117212348, This page was last edited on 20 October 2022, at 14:07. The accused was Jacques Le Gris, who was said to have raped Jean de Carrouges's wife, Marguerite . When Jean came back from Paris, he decided to take revenge on Jacques. She was the only daughter of Jeanne de Bois Hroult and the highly controversial Robert de Thibouville, a Norman lord who had twice sided against the French king in territorial conflicts. And some, invoking the most popular theory, acknowledge the rape but say that Marguerite mistakenly accused the wrong man, an honest but tragic error that robbed Le Gris of his life, fortune, and good name. | READ MORE. Although now losing blood, Carrouges mounted a daring counterattack and fought on so stoutly that he managed to throw his opponent to the ground. The two combatants sat their horses very prettily, writes Froissart, for both were skilled in arms. This happened, she said, in the morning hours at the modest chteau of her widowed mother-in-law, Nicole de Carrouges, on a remote Normandy estate known as Capomesnil, about twelve miles southwest of Lisieux. Despite the threat of public humiliation and potentially deadly outcome of disclosing ones rape, women like Marguerite spoke out, perhaps as a way of working through their trauma or simply refusing to passively accept [what had] happened to them, says Skoda. The mistaken-identity theory was also embraced abroad, as by American historian Henry Charles Lea, who in his influential 1866 study of medieval law, Superstition and Force, stated as a matter of fact that Le Gris was subsequently proved innocent by the deathbed confession of the real offender. Lea even faulted Froissart for having omitted any mention of the confession. In the book, Le Gris does say he was in love with her, Holofcener says. It was the equivalent of a kind of forensics case., Damon adds, It was the case about one very evil man doing something everybody recognized was evil. The story of the duel inspired Ridley Scott's 2021 film The Last Duel based on the 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager in which she was played by Jodie Comer. 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. Even the characters haircuts which have been the butt of some online jokes match up with what we know about the period, according to Jager. Louvel then,. She has nothing to gain. Many skepticsincluding chroniclers, historians, partisans, and even historical novelistshave cast doubt on the official verdict. Furthermore, neither report has ever been independently corroborated, although the existence of two such reports, despite their differing details, may have allowed each to vouch for the other in the minds of those eager to believe them. Le Gris window arrived on January 18, when Marguerite happened to be left alone with just one maidservant. He had a witness. That was really sad. That was at the root of everything. Pierre favours de Carrouges' friend Le Gris, and the friendship between the men begins to deteriorate. 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. Apart from the dubious, sketchy, and inconsistent reports in the two chronicles, no external evidence for this hazy legend has ever been offered in support of the oft-told tale of a last-minute confession by the true culprit. The book, exhaustively compiled from existing documents and records, recounts how Carrouges wife, Marguerite, accused Le Gris of rape, leading to the pair fighting to the death with Marguerites own life on the line if it was decided she had lied. Eric Jager is a professor of English at UCLA and the author of four books, including The Last Duel and Blood Royal. Of course, Jean de Carrouges was destined for the life of warfare - this was the common fate for many nobles and their sons in medieval France. More, On the use and misuse of civility. After many preliminary ceremonies decreed by tradition (an arms inspection, a series of solemn oaths, the requisite dubbing of Le Gris as a knight to make the combatants equal in rank, etc. 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 historical record tends to favor men, so not much is known about the real Marguerite beyond her familys legacy and her role leading up to the duel.