Popular historical fiction abetted the theory of mistaken identity, exploiting its shock effect. By now the case had become a cause clbre. No one really knew the truth of the matter. I thought I was going to suffocate, and soon I couldnt fight them anymore. By the time the criminal trial was underway in the summer of that year, Marguerite was noticeably pregnant. The film adaptation traces the trios relationship from its auspicious beginnings to its bloody end. de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. And yet he raped her so brutally in history, in the truth, so badly there would be no doubt. 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. But when he returned a few days later and heard his wifes story, he angrily brought charges against Le Gris in the court of Count Pierre of Alenon, overlord to both men. Marguerite, who found herself pregnant soon after the attack, largely left this fact out of her account, either due to uncertainty over the childs paternityhe may have been conceived before Carrouges left for Parisor an awareness that making this claim would weaken her testimony in the eyes of the court. According to Jager, Le Gris took an immediate liking to Marguerite when Carrouges introduced her to the court in 1384. 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. Unable to rise due to the weight of his body armor, Le Gris resisted Carrouges calls to confess, declaring, In the name of God, and on the peril and damnation of my soul, I am innocent of the crime. Enraged, Carrouges delivered the death blow, perhaps by stabbing Le Gris exposed neck or thighs. de Carrouges also says that she must have sex with him, as Le Gris can't be the last person to have 'known' her Marguerite is, effectively, raped again. Scott rightly ends The Last Duel on a triumphant note. To prove her claim true, Matt Damon's Jean challenges Le Gris to trial by combat. Adam Driver was 38 when he played Jacques le Gris, who was 56 at the time of his death. Advertising Notice The film is told in three chapters, from the perspectives of Carrouges (Damon), Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Marguerite (Jodie Comer). 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. 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. 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. . [2][3], Shortly after his marriage, Carrouges revealed another motive for the union. 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. 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. Did Le Gris stumble? But whats so amazing about Nicole and what Nicole has brought to the piece is this sense of imagination. When youre doing scenes where you really want to fight back with Carrouges and tell him what it is you really think, you have to go, Hang on a minute, would she do this? Comer recalls. When Jean came back from Paris, he decided to take revenge on Jacques. In 1380 Carrouges married Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer), daughter of the controversial known traitor Robert de Thibouville who had sided against multiple French Kings in. 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. This question, posed to Marguerite de Carrouges . Despite the claims of naysayers and novelizers, Marguerites testimony suggests that she was almost certainly not mistaken about the identity of her attackers. Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer star in Ridley Scotts return to historical epic form, written by Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener. She married Jean de Carrouges in 1380. In Jean's absence, Jacques broke into Jean's castle and raped Marguerite in 1386. What sets this version apart, besides its unusual length, is how quickly the judicial error on the battlefield is revealed by the sudden arrival of the truth. Rather than a belated discovery taking many yearsas in the chroniclesits just a matter of minutes from Le Gris death to the proof of his innocence. ), Whether Carrouges and Le Gris actually ended their quarrel at this point is debatable. The majority of medieval rape victims lacked the means to seek justice. Marguerites story must have seemed at least plausible to the magistrates who ordered the duel, something the Parlement had not done for over thirty years in a rape case. Diderots Encyclopdie and Voltaires Histoire du Parlement de Paris used the 1386 affair to denounce the supposed ignorance and cruelty of the Middle Ages. There is this paradox of the human experience where oftentimes different people come away from the same situation with different impressions of that. Beyond the court the dispute was being spoken of as far as the most distant parts of the kingdom, according to the chronicler Jean Froissart. The Last Duel stars Jodie Comer, Matt Damon and Adam Driver as three people who changed the course of French history. This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. One identifies the supposed felon as a condemned man about to be executed, the other as a sick man on his deathbed. Greeting Marguerite, he declared that she was the lady of all the land, that he loved her the most and would do anything for her. Marguerite remained silent of her ordeal for several days, until her husband's return on the 21 or 22 January. Gangsters in a patrol wagon, New York, c. 1935. French law stipulated that noblemen appealing their cause to the king could challenge the accused to a judicial duel, or trial by combat. The third and final section, written by Holofcener, is told from Marguerites point of view. There is a brief coda that reveals Marguerite outlived her husband and never remarried. A Note to our Readers 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. 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. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. Still, The Last Duel does stick closely to historical fact. The final chapter of the film, told from Marguerites perspective, refers to itself as the truth. But while that section of the story by necessity contains the most dramatization, Jager says he does support the filmmakers conclusion. Schools educate you, and religious services deliver sermons, and movies at their best can generate empathy and generate compassion, says Affleck. She has nothing to gain. The Last Duel True Story: Marguerite de Carrouges' Accusation Jean de Carrouges' wife was a controversial figure as the daughter of Robert de Thibouville, a Norman lord who had notably sided against multiple French kings in territorial disputes. Famiglietti claimed that Carrouges, after learning that Marguerite had been raped, resolved to turn the rape to his advantage and forced his wife to agree to accuse Jacques of having been the man who raped her. In this view, Marguerite accused the wrong man not in honest error but in knowing collusion (or fearful compliance) with her husband. 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. The entire royal court was gossiping about the rape, the trial, and the likelihood of a duel. "Do you swear on your life that what you say is true?". 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. The penalty for bearing false witness is that you are to be burned alive, an official tells Marguerite in the movies trailer. We gave Ridley, This is what took place. Because it was such a famous event, there was a record. These events have gotten a cinematic depiction in Ridleys Scotts new medieval epic, The Last Duel, written by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener and now playing in theaters nationwide. Her father had sided against the king twice, and. But the overwhelming likelihood is that she was telling the truth. 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. I gave her a friend, who ultimately betrays her. She continued shouting for help, she says, until silenced by Le Gris hood. The duel itself was very violent, as it was in the film. 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. Insight and analysis from renowned writers and thinkers. Your Privacy Rights Marguerites claim that Louvel mentioned Le Gris by name is especially telling, for it is hard to fit this detail into a plausible scenario in which she is genuinely mistaken, as many have claimed she was, about the identity of her assailants, particularly Le Gris. On a freezing December day in 1386, at an old priory in Paris that today is a museum of science and technologya temple of human reasonan eager crowd of thousands gathered to watch two knights fight a duel to the death with lance and sword and dagger. 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. According. But then, just moments after Carrouges has killed Le Gris on the battlefield, a dusty courier rides up with the astounding news that another man has confessed to the crimenews that is now too late to save the innocent Le Gris. Halloween Kills, the latest entry in the blockbuster horror franchise, and period drama The Last Duel face different fates in theaters this weekend. (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. Yet the case does reveal the way in which scandal, as a cousin to the word slander (both derive from the Old French escandle), ultimately resides in the spoken or written word, whether in the gossip of neighbors or the hearsay of the chronicler. Recognizing the courtier, who claimed to have come to ask a favor and warm himself by the fire, she allowed him to enter the house, at which point he turned the conversation to Le Gris, saying, The squire loves you passionately, he will do anything for you, and he greatly desires to speak to you. Alarmed by the sudden shift in tone, Marguerite attempted to rebuke Louvel, only to turn around and see Le Gris, whod snuck in through the unlocked door. We know that the historical Marguerite de Thibouville was the heiress of a venerable noble family of Normandy, was probably young when she became Carrouges' second wife, and was, after the. And if the Parlement of Paris could not establish even the basic facts, theres little chance of our discovering hidden motives all of these centuries later. That meant that Holofcener had to create Marguerites world and inner life from scratch. Cookie Settings, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat, Historical European Martial Arts and Sports Community. And clearly it wasnt.. The fate that awaited Marguerite if her husbands attempts failedbeing burned at the stake for bearing false witnessrepresented an extreme example of the potential repercussions faced by accusers. According to court documents and testimony, Le Gris accomplice, Adam Louvel (Adam Nagaitis), participated in the rape. It states that Le Gris innocence was later recognized by all, for a man condemned to death by the law confessed to having committed the heinous crime. I would call that historically accurate, even though we dont have direct testimony that Marguerite did this or that at the time.. Carrouges immediately began a lawsuit to recover the land-based on an assumed prior claim to it. Jager counts the film as at least 75 percent historically accurate, maybe more, noting that while evidence may not exist for specific moments, there is a general record that supports the re-creation. Froissart portrays Marguerite, who had recently given birth to a son, praying to the Virgin as she anxiously awaits her fate. De Carrouges sued Pierre for the land and lost, which only put him further on the outs with the count. 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 film is based on the true story of the last legally permitted duel (hence the title) fought in France. In his book Tales of the Marriage Bed from Medieval France, R.C. So it wasnt so much about hewing fastidiously to historical truth, because that wouldnt have served the narrative needs we were as interested in, as much as illuminating the fact that the vestiges of the sexism and misogyny of the patriarchy we live with now come from a place that was Western civilizations codified value system.. Marguerite had no one who could confirm her story: her husband Jean de Carrogues (played by Matt Damon) had set out on a journey to Paris to collect some desperately needed funds and the. He challenged Jacques to a duel to the death in the king's court. According to testimony later provided by Carrouges and Marguerite, she heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Louvel. 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. And her court testimony is reduced to nothing more than her husbands scriptas Famiglietti calls itfor destroying his hated rival. Given Nicole de Carrouges' sketchy behavior, removing any witness that might ID the perpetrator (nearly the entire household) from the chateau, and given that two sources report other men confessing to the crime, I think Nicole and Jean de Carrouges conspired . Because rape was viewed less as an act of sexual violence than a property crime against the victims husband or guardian, rapists often avoided harsh penalties by paying a fine to the man in question. And one includes the ladys penitential retreat to a convent, while the other omits this finale. Her father had sided against the king twice, and. Rape Crisis Scotlands helpline number is 08088 01 03 02. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY. 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. We gave this great filmmaker the opportunity to dramatize the essence of it and make it compelling to an audience, rather than do literally what happened.. They took the idea of damnation seriously. If Carrouges won the duel, the couple would go free, their claims vindicated. ), the duel began as a joust on horseback, with lances. We would have looked like two tin cans. 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. Rather than this idea of somebody, through the lens of their own experience and acculturation, not understanding their behavior. 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.. 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. And in fact it was a code, a manner of behavior that denied womens basic humanity.. Marguerite testified repeatedly under oath that on a certain day in January 1386Thursday the eighteenthshe was attacked by the two men, Le Gris and Louvel. 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. Charles I de Lorraine, duc d'Elbeuf (Joinville, 18 October 1556 - Moulins, 4 August 1605) was a French noble, military commander and governor during the French Wars of Religion.The son of the most minor cadet house of the children of Claude, Duke of Guise, Elbeuf initially lacked the prominence of his cousins, however his succession to the Rieux inheritance made him important. Barred from bringing a case against Le Gris herself, Marguerite had to rely entirely on her husband to mount legal action. And then I was judged and shammed by my country. 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. Marguerite de Carrouges accused Le Gris of rape in 1386. Soon after, de Carrouges went on a campaign to Scotland and though it was a military failure, he distinguished himself with his courage. Carrouges died roughly a decade after the duel, falling in combat against the Ottoman Turks. 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. I know that was the same for everyone who was coming toward this project.. Known as the judgment of God, these ordeals were thought to have a divinely ordained outcome, with the loser proving his guilt by the very act of defeat. 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. I dont want your money! Marguerite replied. There is still a trial, though, and just as in reality, Marguerite is now pregnant. Knights were one step above squires, but men of both ranks often served as vassals to higher-ranking overlords. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Her story is detailed and persuasive, and she ran such a great risk to speak up at a time when women were supposed to keep silent about such things. Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. | Yet Adam Louvel reportedly confessed to nothing, not even under torture. Thats the research we did and the legend of the story he thought he was in love with her and did not rape her. All who loved him were in a great fright, adds the chronicler in what is the narrative equivalent of a cinematic reaction shot. Damon and Affleck took the dialogue directly from Jagers book. Wife of Sir Jean De Carrouges IV, Chevalier d'Honneur. They were very religious. When would she choose to speak out in this way? Affleck, Damon, Holofcener, Comer and Jager talked us through what is and isnt accurate in The Last Duel and why the filmmakers made the narrative changes they did. The nonfiction work catalogs the events leading up to Frances last government-sanctioned trial by combat, held between Jean de Carrouges and his former friend, Jacques Le Gris. But that doesnt mean that women were silenced. In his alibi, Le Gris himself cited the narrow window of time available for his alleged visit, strictly during daylight hours. In January 1386 while Jean de Carrouges was away traveling, Marguerite claimed she . Ultimately, that [would have been] a movie about a courtroom evidence drama, Affleck explains. de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. 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. Ben Affleck co-wrote the script with Damon and Nicole Holofcener and appears as a feudal lord and compatriot of both leading men. That was at the root of everything. Which, to us, was more interesting and, to us, ultimately made it more about an examination of an entire system that was assaulting this woman from the moment she was born.. 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. The films shifting viewpoints underscore the thorny nature of truth in Marguerites case, which divided observers both at the time and in the centuries since. In accord with ancient tradition, she would be burned alive as a false accuser. 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Jordan Michael B. Handsome at Walk of Fame ceremony, Review: Natural beauty and a touching ecological tale center the female-forward Blueback. An intensely personal rivalry, exacerbated by a series of failed legal cases brought by Carrouges, emerged between the onetime friends. The accused was Jacques Le Gris, who was said to have raped Jean de Carrouges's wife, Marguerite . 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. Her husband is abusive what would be the consequences of this? Marguerite also testified that Adam Louvel was the first to arrive at the chteau, and that he began his visit by urging her to ask her husband to extend the term of an outstanding loan for one hundred gold francs. We wanted to examine that. Jager chronicled how the former friends relationship devolvedand the woman and rape allegation at the center of the conflictin the 2004 nonfiction book The Last Duel. 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. [3] [Jager] does a pretty meticulous description of it, but its a decidedly uncinematic duel, Damon notes. That July, at the old royal palace on the le de la Cit, the knight formally challenged the squire, throwing down the gauntlet, as witnessed by the young Charles VI, many other royals, and the magistrates of the Parlement of Paris, the nations highest court. What does she have to gain from that? From an absolute philosophical point of view, nobody but Jacques Le Gris and Marguerite and those who were in the room know the truth, Jager says. Louvel then added a greeting from Jacques Le Gris, who he said greatly admired her and was eager to speak with her. 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. de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. Theres a certain arrogance rooted in that assumption. But that was from research as well. Although now losing blood, Carrouges mounted a daring counterattack and fought on so stoutly that he managed to throw his opponent to the ground. In Marguerite's version, which the movie frames as 'the truth' (rather than the truth according to whomever) her protests are loud and clear as she screams for help. (Writing for History News Network, Jager explains that the ferocious logic of the duel implied that proof was already latent in the bodies of the two combatants, and that the duels divinely assured outcome would reveal which man had sworn falsely and which had told the truth.) Marguerite, as chief witness in the case, will be executed if her husband loses the duel, thereby proving both of their guilt. Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. I will not be silent, she responds, teary-eyed but defiant. I want justice! In an entry on duels, the Grand dictionnaire universel (186677), overseen by respected editor Pierre Larousse, describes the 1386 affair as one of the most remarkable in history, claiming that the wide belief in its injustice helped to bring the custom of trial by combat to a speedy end. Women of that status, on these feudal estates, were in charge of a lot of things, especially when their husbands were away at war or on important business. The last judicial duel in France hinged on whether a woman could be believed. But if Marguerites husband and champion lost, thus proving her accusation to be false, she too would be put to death.
