Eric Jager is a professor of English at UCLA and the author of four books, including The Last Duel and Blood Royal. 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. Photo Credit: MePrDB / MovieStillsDB. Damon and Affleck took the dialogue directly from Jagers book. The movie ends with Marguerite playing with her son, seemingly at peace with her life. Also, after the sudden deaths of his wife and only son and heir, Carrouges marries again to a younger woman, the heiress Marguerite de Thibouville. The entire royal court was gossiping about the rape, the trial, and the likelihood of a duel. While the film might appear to be Hollywood fiction, it is actually based on accounts of what happened following a heinous assault on Carrouges' wife. Figures like Locke, Rousseau and Voltaireconsidered by some modern historians an early feministmade compelling cases for human rights, gender equality and the natural dignity of all peoples regardless of age, gender or race, which makes the Enlightenments widespread acceptance of the medieval narrative that Le Gris was innocent and refusal to consider Marguerites perspective all the more surprising and even hypocritical. A feature film based on The Last Duel is scheduled to be released in 2021. The film splits its focus between Le Gris, Jean, and Marguerite, with Le Gris and Jeans portions of the story written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and Marguerites written by Nicole Holofcener. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Review: The entertaining Peter Pan & Wendy charts a familiar course to Neverland, Rihanna has Smurfs on the brain for her next movie: Hope this gives me cool points, Review: In Guardians 3, ultra-weird superhero fun doesnt have to be Rocket science, The new Tom Cruise just might be a London office worker with a taste for risk, Review: The natural horror of the biological Clock, and more movies to stream. According to medical knowledge at . If there are reasons for believing in the possibility of Le Gris innocence, the doubtful story of a belated confession by another man certainly is not and never has been one of them. 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. Le Gris window arrived on January 18, when Marguerite happened to be left alone with just one maidservant. Much like Jagers book, the film doesnt offer a sympathetic portrayal of either of its leading men. 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. As a result, while Le Gris and Carrouges were once friends, they become rivals. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Do you swear on your life that what you say is true? This question, posed to Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), encapsulates the true history behind The Last Duel, director Ridley Scotts new film opening in theaters Oct. 15. According to court documents and testimony, Le Gris accomplice, Adam Louvel (Adam Nagaitis), participated in the rape. The duel itself was very violent, as it was in the film. This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. 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. I would call that historically accurate, even though we dont have direct testimony that Marguerite did this or that at the time.. Skoda adds, Its all too tempting to talk about the Middle Ages as this horrible, misogynist, patriarchal, oppressive society, as a way of even implicitly just saying, Look how far weve come. Whereas to complicate what things looked like in the 14th century complicates what were doing now.. Some have echoed Count Pierres dismissive decree, saying that Marguerite made it all up, perhaps to cover up an affair with another man. 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. After the sexual assault, Le Gris told Marguerite, Lady, if you tell anyone what has happened here, you will be dishonored. 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 husband is abusive what would be the consequences of this? She probably had strangle marks. Sir Jacques le Gris (lit. Marguerite replied that she had no wish to speak with Le Gris, and that Louvel should stop his overtures at once. If Carrouges lost, then Marguerite would be burnt at the stake for perjury. 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. Your Privacy Rights 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. Marguerite's 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. From the start, Le Gris had an advantage in the trial. According to Enlightenment scholar and University of Florida assistant professor of history Anton Matytsin, the Enlightenment sought the end to judicial torture, the abolition of the death penalty, and the institution of proportional and humane punishments that would deter people from committing crimes this is the main context in which they would have seen a duel: a barbaric way to settle a legal matter. Cesare Beccaria, a leading Enlightenment thinker, outlined how judicial torture primarily benefitted not those who were innocent and had nothing to confess but those whose physical constitutions would allow them to withstand pain., The Enlightenments celebration of Marguerite de Carrouges accused rapist challenges our notions of how history develops. Here are our top 10 picks, Super Mario Bros. Movie hits $1 billion, is No. 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. 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. 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. Jean de Carrouges believed the land - the estate of Aunou-le-Faucon - was rightfully his due to the fact that Marguerite's father, Robert de Thibouville, promised to include it as part of de Carrouges' dowry. And yet there can only be one truth. It's long and gory and ends with de Carrouges stabbing Le Gris through the mouth (in real life, it was the throat), proving Marguerite to have been telling the truth. The Last Duel is told in three chapters, each of which was written by one of the writers, and told from the perspective of one of the main characters. Cases had to meet four requirements, including exhausting all other legal remedies and confirming that the crime had actually occurred. Enraged, Jean rode to Paris and appealed to King Charles VI, challenging Le Gris to a duel, an uncommon way for nobles to settle capital offenses. It was a patriarchal and deeply misogynist [time]. 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 was from research as well. She has everything to lose. On the one hand, the punishment for rape, if proven, meant death for the culprit and dishonor for the rapists family. 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. Le Gris was the counts favorite and his administrative right hand. When Marguerite accuses Le Gris of rape, Jean de Carrouges challenges him to a trial by combat. 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.. 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. . Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. Born into a noble Norman family around the 1330s, Carrouges met Le Gris, a lower-born man who rose through the ranks by virtue of his own political savvy, while both were serving as vassals of Count Pierre. Carrouges was born in the late 1330s in the village of Saint-Marguerite-de-Carrouges as the eldest son of knight and minor noble Sir Jean de Carrouges III and his wife Nicole de Buchard. What happened to Marguerite de Carrouges after the duel? Like, I couldnt have gotten there. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Despite the ladys many oaths, and those of the squire, he confided to his journal, No one really knew the truth of the matter.. She was married to Jean de Carrouges (son of Jean de Carrouges and Nicolette Bouchard) about 1380. In 1384, Carrouges and Margueriteencountered Le Gris at a mutual friends party. Carrougues went to King Charles VI and challenged Le Gris to a judicial duel, which were still lawful in the French court. The Last Duel is now available to watch in cinemas. 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.. 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. 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. We gave Ridley, This is what took place. Because it was such a famous event, there was a record. I did research about what women were like then and what they had to put up with And I really tried to imagine just how awful it was for [Marguerite] and how she dealt with the awfulness, Holofcener told The New York Times. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Matt Damon as Carrouges, Adam Driver as Le Gris and Jodie Comer as Carrouges second wife, Marguerite. And her court testimony is reduced to nothing more than her husbands scriptas Famiglietti calls itfor destroying his hated rival. Le 29 dcembre 1 386 se droula un duel d'honneur entre deux seigneurs normands", "Who is Marguerite de Carrouges? The film is based on the true story of the last legally permitted duel (hence the title) fought in France. At the bottom of the social ladder were warriors, priests and laborers, who had limited rights and political influence. Le Gris and Jean had once been close friends, but their relationship turned to rivalry over a dispute regarding land Marguerites family owned. . John-Paul Heil is a Ph.D candidate in early modern history at the University of Chicago and an adjunct professor of history and the liberal arts at Mount St. Marys University in Maryland. The knights victory saved both him and his wife, earning the formerly notorious couple wealth and prestige. This tangled and still-controversial case leaves many tantalizing questions, not least of all why Jacques Le Gris did it, if indeed he did. Jean strode over to his proud, weeping wife, bowed and clasped her to him as the crowd roared its approval. Carrouges III was an influential man in lower Normandy, being a vassal of the Count of Perche and a veteran soldier in his service. 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. Carrouges had accused Le Gris of raping his wife, Marguerite de Carrouges, ne de Thibouville, some months before. He had gone to King Charles VI, seeking an appeal to the decision handed down by Count . 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? Dust off your 14th-century French history books, folks. 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. His scholarly work focuses on the intellectual history of virtue in Renaissance Naples. The moral was plain: Le Gris rose in the world and then suddenly fell, he dominated but finally was vanquished, he committed a crime in secret and was publicly exposed. 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. One identifies the supposed felon as a condemned man about to be executed, the other as a sick man on his deathbed. There is this paradox of the human experience where oftentimes different people come away from the same situation with different impressions of that. After The Last Duel's real-life story, Marguerite went on to have two more children and settled in Normandy and Paris, enjoying the celebrity status that she and her . 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. 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. . 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. "the Gray") (c. 1330s - 29 December 1386) was a French squire and knight who gained fame and infamy, and was ultimately killed when he engaged in one of the last judicial duels permitted by the Parlement of Paris after he was accused of rape by Marguerite de Carrouges, the wife of his neighbour and rival, Sir Jean de Carrouges. And clearly it wasnt.. Does he truly believe his innocence at the end? Affleck reflects of Le Gris. The synopsis of the film lays out the basis for what would be the final (official) duel in French history, but as with most 'based on a true story' stories, there are always gaps between reality and fiction. But if Marguerites story is true and Le Gris was guilty as charged, why did the squire increase his risk of being found out by bringing an accomplice in the first place? 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. The origins of The Last Duel begin in January 1368, when Marguerite de Carrouges claimed she was raped by Jacques Le Gris, a squire. They met in the household of Count Robert dAlenon, where the two served as squires to the count. The newly-minted Count Pierre took an immediate liking to the charming Le Gris, which strained the latters friendship with Carrouges. Its strange that so many authorities seem to have been untroubled by the obvious factual errors in these reports, their mutual inconsistencies, or the lack of any corroborating evidence. Ben Affleck co-wrote the script with Damon and Nicole Holofcener and appears as a feudal lord and compatriot of both leading men. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. Scott rightly ends The Last Duel on a triumphant note. 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. 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. Far from echoing these Enlightenment-era assessments of Marguerites misguided intentions, the film adaptation of The Last Duel presents the noblewoman as its protagonist, the truth teller [whose account is] so much more resonant, strong and evident than her male counterparts, as Affleck tells GMA News. In his personal life, Le Gris had a reputation as a philanderer. There is still a trial, though, and just as in reality, Marguerite is now pregnant. 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. Theres a certain arrogance rooted in that assumption. Soon after, de Carrouges went on a campaign to Scotland and though it was a military failure, he distinguished himself with his courage. The screenwriters changed the scene to allow for more nuance. Still, the theory cannot plausibly account for Louvels having named Le Gris while in conversation with Marguerite. By the union of Marguerite and Carrouges, de Thibouville hoped to restore his family's status[1] while Carrouges was hoping for an heir from the young Marguerite, whom contemporaries described as "young, noble, wealthy, and also very beautiful". 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. I do not know, he adds in a poignant aside, 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 dangerand then finally there was nothing for it but to await the outcome.. Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer star in Ridley Scotts return to historical epic form, written by Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener. Froissart says simply that Carrouges felled his opponent and, thrusting his sword into his body, killed him on the spot.. Jean Le Coq, Le Gris lawyer, stated in his private notebook that Carrouges suffered the first wound, writing that Le Gris attacked his adversary very cruelly. This statement is also supported by Jean Froissart, a member of Count Pierre dAlenons court, and an unnamed monk who wrote Chronicle of the Monk of Saint-Denis. Schools educate you, and religious services deliver sermons, and movies at their best can generate empathy and generate compassion, says Affleck. [4] The case dragged on for some months until ultimately Count Pierre was forced to visit his cousin King Charles VI to officially confirm his ownership of the land and his right to give it to whomever of the followers he chose. 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. 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. When would she choose to speak out in this way? The Reprimand, by Jean-Georges Vibert, 1874. Really embracing the kind of freedom that gave her. 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. It was just the bare minimum description of who she was. And in fact it was a code, a manner of behavior that denied womens basic humanity.. Despite how much Marguerite de Carrouges tale resonates today, we must keep in mind L.P. Hartleys words: the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.. de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. Skoda and Elema argue that Marguerites case exemplifies the complexity of medieval society, which is often painted in broad, reductive strokes. Forced into an upstairs bedroom, she tried to escape by running through a door at the other end of the room but was blocked from doing so by Le Gris. Although Jean won the duel and succeeded in defending Marguerites honor, the event would take on a controversial life of its own in the following centuries. 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.. 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. It also fascinated writers in future centuries, with authors such as Voltaire and Diderot seeing Le Gris as an innocent man wronged by a barbaric system. 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. When Marguerite told Le Gris that he must not speak to her in this way, he seized her by the hand, forced her to sit down beside him on a bench, and told her that he knew all about her husbands recent money troubles, offering to pay her well. The Last Duel stars Jodie Comer, Matt Damon and Adam Driver as three people who changed the course of French history. 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. 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. Read more: 15 Unsung Moments From American History That Historians Say You Should Know About. They leave, with the crowds cheering for de Carrouges. The earlier of the two is the Saint-Denis Chronicle, an official royal history by the monk Michel Pintoin probably written around 1400. 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. 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. ), Whether Carrouges and Le Gris actually ended their quarrel at this point is debatable. Since Le Gris had briefly served as a church cleric in his youth, he could choose whether he wanted a state trial or church hearing. Its also significant that the Parlement of Paris found Marguerites story credible enough to vacate Count Pierres official exoneration of Le Gris and to authorize the rare judicial duel, whose official purpose, however doubtful the procedure may seem today, was to determine the truth in cases where witness testimony and other evidence was insufficient for reaching a verdict. 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. Now, the story of the 1386 trial by combat is the subject of a blockbuster film of the same name. A Judicial Duel, byLieven van Lathem, 1464. One of the chroniclers talks about an opening joust, but I had to elaborate a little bit on how a joust like that would unfold with lances broken. Though its unanimously agreed that Carrouges was victorious over Le Gris in the duel, there are various accounts to what took place on Dec. 29, 1386. Meanwhile, Le Gris continued to rise in Pierre's esteem. But whats so amazing about Nicole and what Nicole has brought to the piece is this sense of imagination. 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. Say nothing, and I will keep quiet, too. In response, Marguerite said, I will keep quiet. 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. An elaborate example appeared in 1829, just a few years after Du Bois conjecture that the accused squire had been mistaken for a look-alike, in Lhistorial du jongleur, an anonymous collection of medieval tales. We would have looked like two tin cans. The movie follows the claim by Marguerite de Carrouges (Comer) that she is raped by her husband Jean's friend and squire Jacques Le Gris (Driver). 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. A woman's long hair, meanwhile, "is her glory.". Of course, the movie is about much more than just the duel, as is the true story so here's what went down. (Image credit: 20th Century Studios) . 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. At the heart of The Last Duel lies a historical mystery, still not definitively solved over 600 years later: was the noblewoman Marguerite de Carrouges raped by the squire Jacques Le Gris? But when Jean came back she told him everything. 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. I dont want your money! Marguerite replied. Marguerites accusations carried serious ramifications for medieval French society. A new film from Ridley Scott dramatizes the 1386 trial by combat of a medieval man accused of a horrific crime. Enlightenment thinkers Diderot and Voltaire favored Le Gris cause, decrying his barbaric and unjust trial by combat as an example of the supposed ignorance and cruelty of the Middle Ages, writes Jager. In short, yes. She alleged that Louvel came to her door to ask for a favor, after which he made her uncomfortable by talking inappropriately about Le Gris, saying he was in love with her. Eric Jagers 2004 book, The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. 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. 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. I know that was the same for everyone who was coming toward this project.. 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. [Jager] does a pretty meticulous description of it, but its a decidedly uncinematic duel, Damon notes. Did Le Gris stumble? In all fairness, they were significantly tame compared to what actually happened. The contest between Carrouges and Le Gris would turn out to be the last judicial duel sanctioned by the Parlement of Paris. This is when she is surprised by Adam Louvel (Adam Nagaitis) who asks her to open the door so he can wait, and when she does he reveals that Le Gris is also there to proclaim his love for Marguerite. 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. Early life. On December 29, 1386, before a crowd presided over by French king Charles VI, Carrouges and Le Gris eyed each other warily. 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.
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