Spoiler alert: The following story includes details from the historical account behind the new film The Last Duel and narrative twists specific to the film. But whats so amazing about Nicole and what Nicole has brought to the piece is this sense of imagination. Some have echoed Count Pierres dismissive decree, saying that Marguerite made it all up, perhaps to cover up an affair with another man. The film is based on the true story of the last legally permitted duel (hence the title) fought in France. The duel took place on December 29, 1386, and was presided over by French king Charles VI. Much like Jagers book, the film doesnt offer a sympathetic portrayal of either of its leading men. [Jager] does a pretty meticulous description of it, but its a decidedly uncinematic duel, Damon notes. 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. All who loved him were in a great fright, adds the chronicler in what is the narrative equivalent of a cinematic reaction shot. 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. In reality, instead of mourning, the King held a series of banquets and parties that culminated in the duel between Le Gris and de Carrouges. 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. 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. Wife of Sir Jean De Carrouges IV, Chevalier d'Honneur. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. They still spoke out, and they still fought against the grain.. The earlier of the two is the Saint-Denis Chronicle, an official royal history by the monk Michel Pintoin probably written around 1400. When de Carrouges returns home he demands sex, but Marguerite refuses and tells him about the rape, fuelling de Carrouges' anger against his friend. We read that the queen had pierced nipples and that the dress was almost low enough that you could maybe see them., Comer adds, There was one painting of her that, over time, was completely worn out, just because of time and everything else. Privacy Statement She gave birth to a son, Robert, shortly before Le Gris trial by combat. The lawsuit reflected very poorly on Carrouges at the court in Argentan and resulted in his further estrangement from Count Pierre's circle. 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. Ben Affleck co-wrote the script with Damon and. With the understanding that your truth may not be somebody elses truth. 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. 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. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. According to Jager, Le Gris took an immediate liking to Marguerite when Carrouges introduced her to the court in 1384. This man who has done something horrible and doesnt understand it. To prove her claim true, Matt Damon's Jean challenges Le Gris to trial by combat. But that doesnt mean that women were silenced. 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. Still, The Last Duel does stick closely to historical fact. There is a brief coda that reveals Marguerite outlived her husband and never remarried. It was a patriarchal and deeply misogynist [time]. In the winter of 1386, a French noblewoman by the name of Marguerite de Carrouges found herself at the centre of a criminal case that electrified Paris, captivated the king and culminated in blood being spilled before an enormous crowd in a field just outside the French capital. She adds, If theres any gap between the act and making people aware [of it], that raises huge questions.. 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. Born in 1388, two years after the fatal duel, Juvnal, a bishop, wrote at an even greater remove in time and may have been influenced by Pintoins account. 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. They took the idea of damnation seriously. The squire then threw her onto a bed but could not hold her down without help from Louvel, who rushed back into the room on Le Gris orders to help his friend subdue and finally rape Marguerite. 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. When Marguerite adamantly refused his offer, saying she had no wish for his money, the violence escalated. Cookie Policy 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. According. The combat was decreed on December 29, 1386 in Paris.[3]. 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. And even if the assailant, as Pintoin claims, had actually (and contra the actual testimony) made his visit late in the day, its wholly unlikely that Marguerite, who must have been very familiar with her husbands complaints against the squire, would have offered a meal and overnight lodging to her husbands rival (or to a man she mistook for the same), especially during her husbands absence. News back then traveled, archival research has shown, at the rate of an average days journey by horseback: about thirty miles per day. The earlier, more detailed account of the supposed confession, in Pintoins chronicle, not only differs from the other but also diverges sharply from Marguerites official testimony before the Parlement in ways that make its scenario clearly impossible. Sir Jean de Carrouges : I am risking my life for you! Character description. (Spoilers ahead.). If youd rather experience the film first, please save this to read after watching. 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. Marguerite de Carrouges (ne de Thibouville; 1362, Chteau de Fontaine-la-Soret (Eure) c. 1419) was a French noblewoman. The pair of men tied Marguerite down and physically beat her. 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). And then I was judged and shammed by my country. Le Gris quickly turned violent, forcing her upstairs and enlisting Louvel to help restrain her as she desperately fought back. The duel itself was very violent, as it was in the film. She has to relive it over and over againand she gets it right.. For Carrouges and Le Gris, whose dispute had sparked widespread interest across France, settling the case would have been viewed as either an admission of guilt or [a] false accusation, says Elema. I'm married. Louvel then added a greeting from Jacques Le Gris, who he said greatly admired her and was eager to speak with 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. 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. A Judicial Duel, byLieven van Lathem, 1464. Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673. Matt Damon as Sir Jean de Carrouges in 20th Century Studios The Last Duel., Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouges and Jodie Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges in The Last Duel., Adam Driver as Jacques Le Gris in The Last Duel., Adam Driver, left, as Jacques Le Gris, and Matt Damon, as Jean de Carrouges, face off in The Last Duel., Jodie Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges in The Last Duel., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Halloween kills at the box office with a new horror record, as Last Duel gets slayed, Review: Ridley Scotts epic The Last Duel rebukes the patriarchy in every era, The Scream 6 publicity stunts hit closer to home, prompting 911 calls in Sonoma, Review: Andrea Riseborough and campy Please Baby Please deconstruct gender and the 1950s, Bruce Willis steps out with friends after announcement of dementia diagnosis, Gayle King surprises Angela Bassett with her Whats Love Got to Do With It dress, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Review: Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre is classic Guy Ritchie and not in a good way, Review: The teen drama Palm Trees and Power Lines tells a searing story of abuse, Review: The documentary Ithaka attempts a difficult defense of Julian Assange, Jonathan Majors dubs Michael B. Jordan Michael B. Handsome at Walk of Fame ceremony, Review: Natural beauty and a touching ecological tale center the female-forward Blueback. 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. Marguerite, who married Carrouges in 1381, was the only daughter of Robert de Thibouville, who had once committed an act of high treason Jacques Le Gris Le Gris is most famous for being. If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can access more information from Rape Crisis England and Wales, who work towards the elimination of all forms of sexual violence and sexual misconduct, on their website or by calling the National Rape Crisis Helpline on 0808 802 9999. Shes going to face some kind of penalty. Instead of being executed, however, most women on the losing side of rape cases endured custodial or financial [punishment], which in medieval terms is kind of the end of everything anyway, according to Skoda. He strucks a belly of Le Gris's horse with his axe. The greatest departure from Jagers book comes during the rape itself. By now the case had become a cause clbre. . Or did he trip? But this was not included in the film. 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. 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 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. 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. The film is told in three chapters, from the perspectives of Carrouges (Damon), Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Marguerite (Jodie Comer). In his alibi, Le Gris himself cited the narrow window of time available for his alleged visit, strictly during daylight hours. (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. 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. Gross! When the lady learned this and realized that the error was her fault, she retreated to a convent after her husbands death, vowing perpetual chastity.. The Last Duel ending explained - how close is it to the true story of Marguerite de Carrouges? 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. 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. 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. HIP/Art Resource, NY. Froissart portrays Marguerite, who had recently given birth to a son, praying to the Virgin as she anxiously awaits her fate. Drivers final line, where, as Le Gris, he declares his innocence, is in the historic record. 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. Strictly's Karen Hauer teases future judging role, Creed 3 star talks building intimacy with co-star, EastEnders reveals big twist in Eve and Suki story, Emmerdale star shares future of Paddy's dark story, Sims 4 Growing Together 28% off in pre-order deal, Spider-Man spin-off star joins Nosferatu film, Pokmon Detective Pikachu sequel moves forward, Creed 3's strongest elements come from anime, GoT's Peter Dinklage lands next movie role, Ant-Man 3 actor responds to film's bad reviews, Andy Serkis on his darkest role yet in Luther film, New Alien film casts Batman, Shadow and Bone stars, The Batman gets special edition Steelbook release, Why Super Mario makes big Princess Peach change. She was born to nobleman Robert De Thibouville, who was notorious for siding AGAINST France in territorial. Toward a history of creativity and beef. Lied, by Eugne Lomont, c. 1895. 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? Duels of honor, as well as judicial duels authorized by other governing bodies, continued to take place centuries after Carrouges triumph. Marguerite said no. It is incumbent on us to be good people, to overcome that and to see more broadly and with empathy, Affleck says. These details are wholly at odds with Marguerites court testimony about her assailants daytime visit, whose timing (if not its specific allegations) was corroborated by her mother-in-laws departure that morning and her return a few hours later that same day. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine A hush fell over the crowd, as they came to the solemn realization that a man had just died before their eyes. What was in the film was the pair's reconciliation, which took place in 1384 in which Le Gris and de Carrouges agreed to put the past behind them, and de Carrouges introduced Le Gris to his wife Marguerite. Two separate alibis are harder to disprove than one. I thought I was going to suffocate, and soon I couldnt fight them anymore. 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. 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. They were very religious. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. On December 29, 1386, before a crowd presided over by French king Charles VI, Carrouges and Le Gris eyed each other warily. De Carrouges sued Pierre for the land and lost, which only put him further on the outs with the count. 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. Marguerite was born as Marguerite De Thibouville in Normandy in the year 1362. If your husband hears of it, he may kill you. 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. And two suspects are harder to convict than one, unless they can be turned against each other. It is one thing to slander, another to accuse. In the film, however, Pierre is still dismissive of him and Le Gris is still the favourite, which only angered de Carrouges more after their so-called reconciliation. [4], Marguerite de Carrouges accused Jacques Le Gris of rape,[5][6] leading to one of the last judicial duels permitted by the French king and the Parliament of Paris (the actual last duel occurred in 1547[7] opposing Guy Chabot de Jarnac against Franois de Vivonne). 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. [2][3], Shortly after his marriage, Carrouges revealed another motive for the union. 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. Your Privacy Rights At this point Le Gris himself suddenly entered the chteaus hall (aulam, probably referring to the main chamber or great hall where guests were typically received). The screenwriters changed the scene to allow for more nuance. They pinned me down and stuffed a capucium [a hood] over my mouth to silence me. She has everything to lose. She continued shouting for help, she says, until silenced by Le Gris hood. In the six centuries after the quarrel ended, however, the moral that was to be derived from it changed considerably.
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