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. He opted for the former, against the advice from his lawyer church trials rejected violence, and were deemed to have less dangerous outcomes. Even in Le Gris' version, though, Marguerite's attempts to get away seem less flirtatious and more earnest. Note: The following article contains discussion of rape that some readers may find upsetting. How power in America has turned the rule of law into a mere myth. Things come to a head when de Carrouges goes to Paris and his mother in law takes most of (if not all) the servants from the house with her, leaving Marguerite alone. By the early nineteenth century, the notion that it all had been a case of mistaken identity was firmly established, as typified in an 1824 retelling by Norman historian and politician Louis Du Bois, who explains the supposed miscarriage of justice by speculating that the actual rapist was a squire who doubtless bore some resemblance to the unfortunate Le Gris.. 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. 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. Much like Jagers book, the film doesnt offer a sympathetic portrayal of either of its leading men. 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. I want justice! Still, The Last Duel does stick closely to historical fact. We dont have transcripts or historical records that say that on a given day [Marguerite] was doing this or something of that nature, but thats completely consistent with what such women did, the author confirms. But not for as long as you need me to. Tossing a sack of coins at the young woman, Le Gris taunted her, claiming that his friends would give him an airtight alibi. He had a witness. According to Marguerite, Le Gris (played in the film by Adam Driver) traveled to her familys chateau in Capomesnil where she was staying on January 18, 1386 and raped her. [Jager] does a pretty meticulous description of it, but its a decidedly uncinematic duel, Damon notes. Positioning itself in contrast to the purportedly superstitious Middle Ages (now reimagined as the Dark Ages), the Enlightenment prized rationality above all else. After Marguerites rape, Carrouges petitions the French court to try Le Gris through judicial combat. 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. [2][3], Shortly after his marriage, Carrouges revealed another motive for the union. 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. Soon after, de Carrouges went on a campaign to Scotland and though it was a military failure, he distinguished himself with his courage. Damon and Affleck took the dialogue directly from Jagers book. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Last Duel. If the case is not proven, then [the woman] doesnt just get to walk away, says Skoda. (Image credit: 20th Century Studios) . 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. 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 movie ends with Marguerite playing with her son, seemingly at peace with her life. 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. Froissart portrays Marguerite, who had recently given birth to a son, praying to the Virgin as she anxiously awaits her fate. The last judicial duel in France hinged on whether a woman could be believed. While The Last Duel offers some vindication to Marguerite, all that came nextthe story of how her life was recorded and reshaped in the historical recordreveals both how easily marginalized voices can be removed from history even by historical figures we respect and how long it can take to restore those voices to their proper place. The Chteau de Carrouges is a chteau, dating partly from the 14th century, located in the commune of Carrouges, in the Orne department, Normandy, northern France.It is unusual in its combination of an austere fortress with a comfortable residence. 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. Le Gris and Jean had once been close friends, but their relationship turned to rivalry over a dispute regarding land Marguerites family owned. Nicole, in whose care Jean had left his wife, was also absent for part of the day in question, having been called away on legal business to the nearby abbey town of Saint-Pierre. 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. Barons like Afflecks character, Count Pierre dAlencon, owned land and often acted as feudal lords, providing property and protection to vassalsthe term for any man sworn to serve anotherin exchange for their service. Jager, for his part, tells Medievalists.net that he never would have embarked on writing this book if I had not believed Marguerite. Le Gris lawyer, Jean Le Coq, arguably summarized the case best, noting in his journal that no one really knew the truth of the matter.. To this day, historians are divided on the truth of the case. To prove her claim true, Matt Damon's Jean challenges Le Gris to trial by combat. 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. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. 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. I will have justice!. The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon and Adam Driver, tells the story of the fatal duel between knight Jean de Carrouges and squire Jacques Le Gris in 1386. 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. The event marked the first meeting between Carrouges wifedescribed by a contemporary chronicler as beautiful, good, sensible and modestand Le Gris. Marguerites fate is unknown, though later historians convinced of the falsity of her claims suggested she retired to a convent out of shame. Duels of honor, as well as judicial duels authorized by other governing bodies, continued to take place centuries after Carrouges triumph. The . In all fairness, they were significantly tame compared to what actually happened. 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. Halloween Kills, the latest entry in the blockbuster horror franchise, and period drama The Last Duel face different fates in theaters this weekend. The duel took place on December 29, 1386, and was presided over by French king Charles VI. Le Gris and Carrouges were once very close. 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. Marguerite de Carrouges accused Le Gris of rape in 1386. The face-off shown in Ridley Scotts The Last Duel may have been the final court-sanctioned judicial combat in France, but the conversation around the events that led to it is anything but finished. 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. More, The interrogation of Nikolay Bukharin.More. 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. She has everything to lose. Die Tanzsportkompetenz im Landkreis Passau 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. (Le Gris and Carrouges both started out as squires and vassals to Count Pierre, but Carrouges was knighted for his military service in 1385.) That was really sad. This man who has done something horrible and doesnt understand it. And clearly it wasnt.. Marguerite de Carrouges was a real woman who lived in 14th century France. 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.. A century and more after the philosophes had popularized the theory, it solidified as hard fact in authoritative encyclopedias. According to medical knowledge at . She has nothing to gain. 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. 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. So there was just no doubt for me that this woman was telling the truth. What happened after the events of the film is just as fascinating. Jean strode over to his proud, weeping wife, bowed and clasped her to him as the crowd roared its approval. Magazines, The 23 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2021, No one really knew the truth of the matter., Or create a free account to access more articles. The burden of proof lay almost entirely on victims, who had to prove theyd resisted the rapists advances while recounting their testimony in precise detail. 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. But that doesnt mean that women were silenced. DIGITAL SPY, PART OF THE HEARST UK ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK. Two separate alibis are harder to disprove than one. So in his deluded sense of pride, Le Gris could believe it was consensual. Voltaire likewise, in his Histoire du Parlement de Paris, critiqued the brutality of the duel, as well as the fact that these duels, regarded today as an unpardonable crime were always carried out with the sanction of the laws and the Church. Marguerite is the most important and most heroic person in the story, make what happens to her after the duel . The trial by combat would decide whether she had told the truthand thus whether she would live or die. She continued shouting for help, she says, until silenced by Le Gris hood. 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. But if Marguerites husband and champion lost, thus proving her accusation to be false, she too would be put to death. Seemingly resolving their differences, the men greeted each other and embraced, with Carrouges telling Marguerite to kiss Le Gris as a sign of renewed peace and friendship, according to Jager. 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. Carrouges III was an influential man in lower Normandy, being a vassal of the Count of Perche and a veteran soldier in his service. We gathered from research that she was really capable and educated, Holofcener says. Over the next several months, famous lawyers were hired, witnesses were summoned, and testimony was gathered. It was a patriarchal and deeply misogynist [time]. If Carrouges won the duel, the couple would go free, their claims vindicated. The real-life "Last Duel" between Le Gris and de Carrouges that inspired Ridley Scott's The Last Duel was a famous incident that captivated fourteenth-century France. And in fact it was a code, a manner of behavior that denied womens basic humanity.. 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. She probably had strangle marks. Historians may never know what actually happened. 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. There were three chroniclers who gave detailed accounts of the sword phase of the fight, and they have slightly different accounts of how Carrouges managed to get Le Gris on the ground, Jager says. Marguerite, who had accused Le Gris of raping her, watched from the sidelines; clad entirely in black, she was keenly aware that her husbands defeat would be viewed as proof of perjury, vindicating her attacker and ensuring her execution by burning at the stake for the crime of bearing false witness. 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. Within a few decades, period chroniclers disagreed about the duels details and disputed Le Gris guilt. 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. And yet he raped her so brutally in history, in the truth, so badly there would be no doubt. Of course, the movie is about much more than just the duel, as is the true story so here's what went down. Le Gris stock rose in the court, and he received special treatment and gifts from Count Pierre, including the lavish Arnou-le-Faucon estate, which had once been owned by Marguerites father. When would she choose to speak out in this way? Carrouges died roughly a decade after the duel, falling in combat against the Ottoman Turks. 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. Holofcener penned Marguerites section, and, given how little historical information there was from the Ladys side of the story, she drew from contemporary conversations about sexual assault and womens rights to imagine her perspective. Ultimately, that [would have been] a movie about a courtroom evidence drama, Affleck explains. Warning, The Last Duel spoilers follow. A seasoned warrior with more fighting experience than Le Gris, Carrouges quickly rebounded from his injury, gaining the upper hand and pushing his opponent to the ground. In reality, the duel would have been decided by two main factors: the weight of the fighters armor and how quickly these relatively old men grew tired. 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. 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. 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. By taking away the witness and some challenging details, like Le Gris stuffing his hat into Marguerites mouth, the filmmakers were able to more fully explore the notion that Le Gris believed his actions were just. Le Gris final moments appear to have been grisly even by the standards of the day: The monk of Saint-Denis, who served as Charles VIs official historian, reported that Carrouges killed his enemy with great difficulty because he was encased in armor. In accordance with tradition, authorities dragged Le Gris body to the gallows and hung him as a final insult to his sullied reputation. foxhunter 3x6 gazebo instructions,
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