Even in Le Gris' version, though, Marguerite's attempts to get away seem less flirtatious and more earnest. 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. What happened after the events of the film is just as fascinating. He doesnt even recognize it. Some wrote, as Jager recounts in Laphams Quarterly, that Jean only won because Le Gris slipped on his opponents blood. Others wrote about a supposed deathbed confession by a felon who, having a last-minute change of heart, admitted that he, not Le Gris, had raped Marguerite. For me, why would a woman speak out and say this when her life was at risk? the actress says. 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. Based on the 2004 book of the same name by Eric Jager, a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles and a specialist in medieval literature, the film uses its titular eventthe last judicial duel in French history, held in Paris in December 1386to delve deeply into the Middle Ages complex politics of gender, female agency, religious morality and sexual ethics. 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. 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? Carrouges immediately began a lawsuit to recover the land-based on an assumed prior claim to it. Other accounts provide more technical detail, even suggesting that Le Gris slipped on his opponents blood. While the Enlightenment looks more familiar to modern eyes than the more distant Middle Ages, intellectual and cultural development is not a straight line. I mean, she was going to suffer. As might be expected, the deadly trial by combat before the huge crowd of spectators unfolds with genuine drama and suspense. Le 29 dcembre 1 386 se droula un duel d'honneur entre deux seigneurs normands", "Who is Marguerite de Carrouges? Knights were one step above squires, but men of both ranks often served as vassals to higher-ranking overlords. Marguerite de Carrouges Marguerite, who married Carrouges in 1381, was the only daughter of Robert de Thibouville, who had once committed an act of high treason. Halloween Kills, the latest entry in the blockbuster horror franchise, and period drama The Last Duel face different fates in theaters this weekend. Carrouges left for battle in Normandy, and eventually married his second wife, Marguerite de Thibouville. In court, he also claimed to have seen Marguerite only twice in his entire life: during the Parlements official inquiry, and also not less than two years earlier at a social gathering at the home of a mutual friend, Jean Crespin, where Carrouges and Le Gris apparently put aside their recent quarrels and Carrouges ordered his wife to kiss Le Gris as a sign of renewed friendship. 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. As Jager explains, With a motive, revenge against the knight, and a means, the seduction of his wife, all [Le Gris] needed now was an opportunity.. He wrote that Le Gris responded that before God, and on the peril of damnation of his soul, that he had never committed the crime of which he was accused. My main issue with the movie is the characters were medieval archetypes more than characters. Le Gris' body was dragged from the blood-soaked field and hanged on a gibbet. The dominant belief that women had to enjoy sex in order to conceive further complicated matters, leaving those impregnated by their rapists on even shakier legal ground. But when Jean came back she told him everything. Jean Juvnal des Ursins, who was not present at the event, wrote that right before Carrouges delivered his deathly blow, he demanded to hear the truth from Le Gris. I came in after Matt and Ben decided to do it this way, but they wanted to make it a little more gray. Only then did he greet his wife, in an emotional scene before the thousands of spectators. Over the next several months, famous lawyers were hired, witnesses were summoned, and testimony was gathered. Initially, Carrouges brought Marguerites case to Count Pierre. The newly-minted Count Pierre took an immediate liking to the charming Le Gris, which strained the latters friendship with Carrouges. Le Gris attorney, the highly respected Jean Le Coq, kept notes in Latin that still survive, allowing us a glimpse into attorney-client discussions. Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker. As she argues, Instead of a duel that was long and drawn out and involved many different weapons and a whole variety of exciting scenarios, it seems to have been a very short affair that shocked the audience., Two likely eyewitnessesthe author of the Chronicle of the Monk of Saint-Denis and Le Coqagree that Le Gris landed the first blow, piercing Carrouges thigh with his sword. 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. Much as Le Gris is said to have silenced Marguerite with his hood, a legion of clerics, historians, and partisans managed to muffle and stifle her story with vague rumors and inconsistent reports that have shrouded the matter almost to the present day. Le Gris and Jean had once been close friends, but their relationship turned to rivalry over a dispute regarding land Marguerites family owned. And her court testimony is reduced to nothing more than her husbands scriptas Famiglietti calls itfor destroying his hated rival. 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.. 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. I will have justice!. In his alibi, Le Gris himself cited the narrow window of time available for his alleged visit, strictly during daylight hours. | Louvels naming of Le Gris just prior to the squires own arrival would seem to put Le Gris indisputably thereunless Marguerites story was a deliberate fabrication. Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. The offense took place on January 18, 1386, while she was still in Paris, alone at her mother-in-laws chateau with one other maidservant. With the understanding that your truth may not be somebody elses truth. They were right Le Gris decried Marguerites accusations as false and inflammatory, and Count Pierre took his side, clearing him of the charges. In 1386, her husband Jean returned from an expedition to Scotland. Jodie Comers powerful performance not only does justice to the woman shes portraying, but also makes her a strong contender for this years awards season. Like today, sexual assault and rape often went unpunished and even unreported in the Middle Ages. And the lords of France delighted to see it, for they had come to watch the two men fight. Besides the resolution to a deadlocked legal case, the duel also provided eagerly anticipated blood sport for the nobility. 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. And one includes the ladys penitential retreat to a convent, while the other omits this finale. What does she have to gain from that? This happened, she said, in the morning hours at the modest chteau of her widowed . From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. Carrouges was born in the late 1330s in the village of Sainte-Marguerite-de-Carrouges as the eldest son of the knight and minor noble, Sir Jean de Carrouges III, and his wife, Nicole de Buchard. Mittwoch, 18:30 - 21:00 Uhr und Sonntag, 18:15 - 21:15 Uhr. Though the real duel was between Le Gris and Jean, the film portrays the true conflict as Marguerite de Carrouges versus the political mores of her day, as she struggles to convince those around her, from the Church to her family to the French king to the common peasant, that what she says is true. Pierre favours de Carrouges' friend Le Gris, and the friendship between the men begins to deteriorate. Despite the claims of naysayers and novelizers, Marguerites testimony suggests that she was almost certainly not mistaken about the identity of her attackers. Marguerites father, Robert de Thibouville, had once betrayed the king of France, and some may have wondered whether this traitors daughter was in fact telling the truth. The view that Marguerite was lyinga conjecture unsupported by any evidence, apart from Le Gris dubious alibiholds either that she concocted the rape story herself, perhaps to cover an adultery, or that it was extorted from her by her opportunistic husband in order to avenge himself on his rival. Her father had sided against the king twice, and . [10]" He had been rewarded for his long military service in the Hundred Years' War . Marguerites husband, Sir Jean de Carrouges, a reputedly jealous and violent manwhose once close friendship with Le Gris had soured in recent years amid court rivalry and a protracted dispute over landwas traveling at the time of the alleged crime. Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673. Marguerite de Carrouges was married to the knight Jean de Carrouges. While this should have added weight to Marguerite's claim, it did not. Even a small mistake, such as misstating the day the attack happened, could result in the case being thrown out and the victim being punished for perjury. A woman's long hair, meanwhile, "is her glory.". Attempting to win back the honor of his wife and family, Jean accused Le Gris of rape on Marguerites behalf to Pierre dAlenon but, whether because Le Gris was a favorite of Pierres or because Pierre had feuded with Jean on the land disputeor simply because he didnt believe Margueritethe count chalked Marguerites testimony up to a dream, a feminine flight of fancy. After months of futile investigation by the French courts, including Marguerites powerful testimony and a counter-witness by Le Gris, the courts had no other choice but to let the duel proceed, allowing God to decide the victor. Marguerite replied that she had no wish to speak with Le Gris, and that Louvel should stop his overtures at once. 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 knew who this woman was generally by the way she spoke out in the time in which she was living in.. Barred from bringing a case against Le Gris herself, Marguerite had to rely entirely on her husband to mount legal action. Lady, on your evidence I am about to hazard my life in combat with Jacques Le Gris, Carrouges said to Marguerite in the moments leading up to the duel. 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. But other than that, I made up a lot. They were very religious. The films version of the brutal fight is a more cinematic variation on what Jager reconstructed in his book, but its reasonably close to what may have transpired. A beautiful young noblewoman, dressed all in black and exposed to the crowds stares, anxiously awaited the outcome. According to Marguerites testimony, Le Gris and Adam Louvel, a squire in the royal court, conspired together to assault her. I know that was the same for everyone who was coming toward this project.. Meanwhile, Le Gris continued to rise in Pierre's esteem. After dismounting, Carrouges and Le Gris fought on foot with swords, both very valiantly. But Le Gris managed to get within Carrouges defenses and wound him in the thigh.
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