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

I was motivated to purchase this book after my wife and I watched the movie derived from it with Adam Driver and Matt Damon (great movie too, highly recommend it!) The movie was released in 2021 and bombed at the box office partly, I think, because of the subject matter (no actors in Halloween costumes or CGI) but mostly because Disney had inherited it in their buyout of another studio and in their colossal lack of business acumen decided not to promote it at all. I'd only heard about it by word of mouth.The book is excellent and depicts a very interesting historical event that I was not aware of even though I read a lot of history. The story is about one of the last "judicial duels" fought in Europe between a Knight and a Squire, both noblemen. It was predicated on the Knight's wife accusing the Squire of rape. The Squire however was very popular with the Duke who oversaw the region of France where it occurred while the Knight was just the opposite having had several run-in's with the Duke in the past. The end result was that the Duke declared the Squire innocent and the woman a liar and the Knight challenged the Squire to a duel to the death. This was still legal in France at the time although rarely done by that time but it was approved by the King and Parliament, mostly it seems on the unwavering testimony of the woman in question.

The start of this book reads just like some work of medieval fantasy fiction you might have read, or perhaps, it might remind you of the plot of some movie about the middle ages, but then you realize, hey, it seems a little different.The problem with most historians is that they aren't fiction writers, and most wouldn't be considered writers at all, in terms of having a broad audience appeal. Most of them are fairly good at laying out details of history in a clinical, monotonous, complete and utterly boring way, and that is what many of us have grown to expect. The Last Duel tries valiantly hard to break that pattern, and it does for the most part. I applaud that effort here.As you read this book, however, you find it harder and harder to believe that it actually happened. I mean, it really was quite a dramatic situation, complete with a good guy, a villain, a betrayal, and a brutal crime, followed by some great vindictive judgment. Sometimes life does indeed imitate art.Spoiler Warning...This book details the last judiciary trial to the death involving a squire, Jaques Le Gris and a knight, Jean De Carrouges. Jean has accused Jaques of raping his wife Marguerite, and having appealed his lord, Count Pierre's decision favoring the squire, has brought it before the young and later to be mad King Charles, who is now 18.Now, the tale is told quite well, with many, many details at times, and others without much description. The author states that where history is silent, he invents some events, but stays closely to the voices of the past. This is not to say that he strictly adheres to the voices of the past. Indeed, he contradicts a great number of them, which suppose that the whole event was a false accusation, since there is no real evidence of this other than later recountings of the tale which varied more and more as the years went by. In fact, he presents relevant arguments as to why he believes such tales are false, and I find his case compelling.The story itself is very fascinating, and divides itself neatly into parts. The first quarter of the book involves the back history of the two main characters, Jean and Jaques. The second quarter focuses on the conflict that arose between the two gentlemen, and eventually to the rape itself. The third quarter focuses on the trial and the duel itself and the fourth quarter revolves around what happened to the victors and the arguments which I mentioned earlier.The drawbacks to reading this book are probably mainly in the editing. While indeed, this reads much more like a narrative than most 'history books' there are quite a few subtle hints that you are indeed written something written by a historian. The evidence comes mainly in the completeness of details, often given like a list of things to memorize which breaks the reader from a narrative.Or the inclusion of quotes from historical documents pertaining to the case, which, with some creativity, could have been made in a much more narrative style. Of course, I am sure that the author, who seems very much a historian, had a fear of distorting history too much, and tried to preserve the scholarly aspect of the writing.Other things persist like simply the fact that we are told that a keep is a donjon about 40 times in this book. You begin to feel like he is a college professor who is used to drilling things like that into the kids minds at his lectures, but really, I understand, and after about 10 times it seems to be enough. Either call it a keep or a donjon, I don't really care. I get it.Overall, a compelling story that I loved reading. It could have been done better, but overall, this is excellent work here. I applaud the effort, and hope to read more stories like this in the future.Recommended.

Reading an historical event.

This book is about a duel which occurred in Paris in 1386 between a knight, Jean de Carrouges, and a squire, Jacques Le Gris. It was intended to settle the matter of the knight’s wife Marguerite’s accusation of rape against the squire. There was a type of legal recourse at that time and place which called for a duel with the winner declared vindicated by God and the loser guilty. Adding to the stakes in this case was the fact that the knight’s wife appeared at the duel on a scaffold and would face death by burning if the duel did not result in her favour.Jager has researched this case very well. While the primary sources do not provide as much information as a typical true crime or major historical event would, he still digs up a lot, including the notes on the case made by the lawyer for Jacques Le Gris. The two men were embedded in a culture which will be very foreign-seeming to modern eyes and Jager spends a lot of time describing the lifestyles, towns, and political structures of Fourteenth century France, drawing a vivid picture of Medieval France. The two men at the center of the story were both nobleman who had a number of disputes and disagreements before their duel, but eventually they find themselves facing off against each other on horseback armed with lances in a field near Paris after a number of complicated legal maneuvers which Jager describes very well using the original surviving legal documents. The climactic duel is nail-biting in its excitement and intensity and Jager’s description of it is a tour de force in bringing to life the pageantry and spectacle of life in the Middle Ages. The book is rounded out by a brief epilogue that rounds up what is known about the principal characters’ later lives and some interesting notes about how this case was described and written about later on by historians. This is a wonderful book packed with Medieval European culture and a fascinating story.

What a tale! Loved it. Told like an action thriller. The book has interesting maps and ancient documents, and the Audible narrator is SO GOOD. I was whooping and yelling in the pinnacle scene. Spare yourself the disappointment and skip the movie.

I went to see The Last Duel at the cinema back in October knowing that it was based on a true story then when I found out it was also based on a book I added it to my reading list.It was tough reading at times and horrifying but I really enjoyed it and thought it was very interesting! I certainly learned a lot from it and as much as I enjoyed the film I thought the book was better as there was information in it and more to learn about.

Well researched and presented with all proper references this is an academic triumph. However it is also a bloody good read and well worth reading to the very end i.e. after the duel. No story ends until all those involved are gone and forgotten, this is very much an unfinished story. The characters involved live again in each new reading.

Just before Christmas in 1386, a Parisian monastery bore witness to a knight and a squire fight a duel to the death, in front of King Charles VI, his nobles, and thousands of onlookers. This book describes the events leading up to this duel, and how two men who were once friends descended into a hatred of one another that could only end in death.Starting with a background to each squire, Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris are presented as old friends. As fortune favoured Le Gris in the royal court so begins a bitter rivalry that de Carrouges pursues to the detriment of this own name and social standing. The author, Eric Jager, documents the actions of the two individuals as they vie for court popularity, land and money, culminating in de Carrouges' call for Trial by Combat.The author has obviously spent many hours studying primary sources, piecing together evidence from court rolls, diaries, chronicles and contemporary descriptions, and then comparing them to descriptions of the story from later sources. He has found that - like most things in history - facts have been obscured in the telling according to which man was viewed to be correct. The book provides the backdrop of a volatile relationship between England and France in the 14th century as it dips into the social customs of marriage and religion, and the hierarchy of the regional and central powers in France. The book also charts (albeit in a light-weight fashion) the medieval legal system and the judicial process that ultimately resulted in the sanctioning of the duel by the French Parliament and King Charles VI.There are some limitations of this book. Jager provides a great deal of background to the life and persuasions of Jean de Carrouges, to the point of neglecting Jacques Le Gris, who becomes portrayed as something of a faceless and arrogant individual who "gets all the lucky breaks" whilst the faithful de Carrouges suffers indignation after indignation. Throughout the book Jager's favour of de Carrouges is expressed.Several of the descriptions, particularly the description of the rape, are fiction intermingled with historic evidence, and there is a feeling that some things are left completely unexplained. I was particularly confounded by Le Gris' motivation for raping Margurite (De Carrouges' wife) - why would such a successful squire do something like that out of the blue?Also unexplained was how the two relatively minor individuals managed to gain enough pledges from other knights and squires to petition and persuade the French Court to agreed to the - then unusual - Trial by Combat in the first place.Putting aside the feeling that Jager favours Jean de Carrouges, this is a light and interesting book to read. It maintains the suspense of the build-up to the combat itself, from the roots of the disputes between the two squires, right through to the weeks before the combat and the legal manoeuvres during these weeks. Jager ensures that we never know the outcome of the duel until the very last stroke of the sword during the combat, and it almost feels like you are there watching in silence as the duel plays out

Raced through this book, well written and gripping. Cannot imagine how hard it would be to fight a duel in the heavy armour.

A good retelling of a fascinating time in medieval French history. However, the author at times often embellishes the facts with his own suggestions or thoughts about how these historical figures may have been feeling or what they may have been thinking.It may have made for a better read if facts were treated as plot twists instead of unnecessary embellishing an already captivating story.