The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France

Jager begins this chapter by explaining the historical context of the story of The Last Duel. Europe in the late 14th century had experienced centuries of crusades against Islamic powers in Spain and Portugal and the Middle East as well as constant warfare between the Christian nations of Europe. Further, Europe was coming out of the height of the Black Death, or the Great Plague of 1348-1349.

France, “Europe’s richest, most powerful nation at the start of the fourteenth” (6) century, was especially plagued by violence in this era. Two events brought more violence to Europe and France in particular. The first was the Great Schism of 1378, which saw the nations of Europe divided between “two warring campaigns led by rival popes in Rome and Avignon” (7). This led into the second and even more devastating event, the Hundred Years War, during which the pope in Rome blessed England’s destructive invasion of France. The picture Jager draws attention to, overall, is a violent region where criminals called rouiters (the scourge of God) terrorized French civilians in the wake of English attacks (7) and where violence against women, even nuns, was tolerated in times of war.

Jager then describes the political hierarchy of France. At the top is King Charles VI, an 11-year-old boy who inherited the throne from his father Charles V in 1380. France was not unified politically as much as the France of today. Much of France was not under the direct rule of the monarchy but was divided into fiefdoms controlled by noblemen, including Charles VI’s four uncles. Other provinces of France at the time were occupied by the English. French society was divided into three “main estates” or social classes—peasants (“those who work”), the clergy (“those who pray”), and the nobility (“those who fight”) (8). This social and political structure, Jager argues, was held together by two key elements: oaths of loyalty and land. Oaths expressing loyalty and mutual obligations were held between peasants and their lords as well as between lords and a higher ranking noble or the monarch. These oaths were made and expressed through formal rituals. Land was “the feudal nobility’s main source of wealth, power, and prestige” (10).

Next, Jager comes to Normandy, a northern province of France just across the English Channel from England. Duke William of Normandy conquered England in the 11th century, which meant his descendants, the kings of England, often considered Normandy a rightful part of their domains. This fact along with Normandy’s proximity to England made it an important battlefield in the Hundred Years’ War with Normandy’s nobility often switching sides between France and England. One such Norman nobleman was Jean de Carrouges IV, who was loyal to the French cause and whose father, Jean III, was a veteran of the Hundred Years War. His family could trace its lineage back to the 13th century. His father, Jean IV, also fought for France along with most noblemen.

Carrouges had one sister, Jeanne, who married a local knight and took part of their father’s land as a dowry. Their brother Robert entered the priesthood. Because of this, Jean was expected to carry on the family line. He married Jeanne de Tilly, the daughter of a wealthy lord, who soon had a son. In 1367, Carrouges’s overlord became Count Pierre of Alençon, a cousin of the king. At Count Pierre’s court, Carrouges befriended Jacques Le Gris, a nobleman whose family only recently rose to the nobility. Le Gris even stood as the godfather of Carrouges’s son. Sadly, however, both Carrouges’ wife Jeanne and his son died. This was not just a personal tragedy but also represented a serious problem for Carrouges’s duty to preserve his family line. If Carrouges died without an heir, “his name would die out and his estate would pass out of the Carrouges line” (22). Despite this, Carrouges continued his duty of fighting on campaigns for the French king. He would, however, remarry to try to have another son.

This chapter lays down the important historical context for the story told in The Last Duel, including the political and social structure of medieval France and the background of the Carrouges family. Also, here Jager introduces three key points:

• The importance of land and family lineage to the medieval French nobility
• The prevalence of violence in the era, including sexual violence against women
• Oaths and rituals were used to define and reinforce social, legal, and political responsibilities and relationships

These points will be raised throughout The Last Duel.