Her husband is abusive what would be the consequences of this? I fought him so desperately, she claimed, that he shouted to Louvel to come back and help him. The event marked the first meeting between Carrouges wifedescribed by a contemporary chronicler as beautiful, good, sensible and modestand Le Gris. 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. A bit of a crash courseon medieval France: At the top of society was the king, advised by his high council, the Parlement of Paris. Marguerite remained silent of her ordeal for several days, until her husband's return on the 21 or 22 January. Medieval law treated rape as a horrific crime on par with other capital offenses. The knights victory saved both him and his wife, earning the formerly notorious couple wealth and prestige. Flawless Victory. The lawsuit reflected very poorly on Carrouges at the court in Argentan and resulted in his further estrangement from Count Pierre's circle. Le Gris said nothing. The film shows Le Gris stripped and hanged by the ankle in the town square. They pinned me down and stuffed a capucium [a hood] over my mouth to silence me. Ultimately, that [would have been] a movie about a courtroom evidence drama, Affleck explains. At the bottom of the social ladder were warriors, priests and laborers, who had limited rights and political influence. I know that was the same for everyone who was coming toward this project.. Many skepticsincluding chroniclers, historians, partisans, and even historical novelistshave cast doubt on the official verdict. Much like Jagers book, the film doesnt offer a sympathetic portrayal of either of its leading men. 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. 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. Other accounts provide more technical detail, even suggesting that Le Gris slipped on his opponents blood. I would call that historically accurate, even though we dont have direct testimony that Marguerite did this or that at the time.. 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. That meant that Holofcener had to create Marguerites world and inner life from scratch. 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. 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. 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. Really embracing the kind of freedom that gave her. More. 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. Insight and analysis from renowned writers and thinkers. Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouges IV in The Last Duel. That resonates. Marguerite is the most important and most heroic person in the story, make what happens to her after the duel . According to Jager, the court may have feared taking sides and arousing even more controversy, deciding instead to grant the knights request, authorize a duel and leave the whole perplexing matter in the hands of God., Five contemporary or near-contemporary chronicles offer accounts of what happened when Le Gris and Carrouges met on December 29, 1386. In his book Tales of the Marriage Bed from Medieval France, R.C. Managed by: Boaz Pijp. That was really sad. 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. 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. But whats so amazing about Nicole and what Nicole has brought to the piece is this sense of imagination. Le Coq seems to have had some doubts about his clients truthfulness, while admitting that this was the thorniest of he said, she said cases. 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. In his own defense, Le Gris claimed that Nicole had found nothing amiss upon her return and didnt believe her daughter-in-laws later allegations. Your Privacy Rights 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. Cases had to meet four requirements, including exhausting all other legal remedies and confirming that the crime had actually occurred. 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. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. We wanted to examine that. Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673. In short, yes. By the union of Marguerite . Character description. She has everything to lose. And then I was judged and shammed by my country. Thibouville was a Norman lord who had twice sided against the French king in territorial conflicts, betrayals he was lucky to survive, albeit in reduced circumstances. Marguerite de Carrouges : No. Ultimately, Carrouges victory was a result of Le Gris being literally unable to get up. More, On the use and misuse of civility. Note: The following article contains discussion of rape that some readers may find upsetting. The greatest departure from Jagers book comes during the rape itself. 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. If Carrouges won the duel, the couple would go free, their claims vindicated. And two suspects are harder to convict than one, unless they can be turned against each other. Even Le Gris believed she was victimized - just not by him. We gathered from research that she was really capable and educated, Holofcener says. I want justice! As she argues, Instead of a duel that was long and drawn out and involved many different weapons and a whole variety of exciting scenarios, it seems to have been a very short affair that shocked the audience., Two likely eyewitnessesthe author of the Chronicle of the Monk of Saint-Denis and Le Coqagree that Le Gris landed the first blow, piercing Carrouges thigh with his sword. de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. On the whole, however, the events follow history. Dust off your 14th-century French history books, folks. Toward a history of creativity and beef. Le Gris was the counts favorite and his administrative right hand. No one really knew the truth of the matter. 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. According to testimony later provided by Carrouges and Marguerite, she heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Louvel. 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. It was really trying to understand those types of dynamics and her place within the home and in society.. Still, The Last Duel does stick closely to historical fact. 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. Beneath him were three main ranks of nobility: barons, knights and squires. As it turns out, the description of the event in Eric Jager's book The Last Duel is rather different from the five surviving medieval accounts of the fight. So the mistaken-identity theory has in its favor Marguerites relative unfamiliarity with Le Gris physical appearance at the time of the alleged rape in January 1386, over a year after Marguerite had first met and seen Le Gris at Crespins. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Of the judicial duels that actually took place, few ended in death. Jean de Carrouges stabbed him through the throat with a 6-inch blade, killing his arch-nemesis immediately. The entire royal court was gossiping about the rape, the trial, and the likelihood of a duel. 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. We gave Ridley, This is what took place. Because it was such a famous event, there was a record. 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. Carrouges views himself as a chivalrous knight defending his wifes honor, while Le Gris casts himself as the Lancelot to Marguerites Guinevere, rescuing her from an unhappy marriage. [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). 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. 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. ), the duel began as a joust on horseback, with lances. This biography of a French peer or noble is a stub. 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. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Last Duel. After many preliminary ceremonies decreed by tradition (an arms inspection, a series of solemn oaths, the requisite dubbing of Le Gris as a knight to make the combatants equal in rank, etc. [3] We would have looked like two tin cans. Popular historical fiction abetted the theory of mistaken identity, exploiting its shock effect. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. The trial by combat would decide whether she had told the truthand thus whether she would live or die. 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. 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. 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. Digital Spy participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Of course, as was likely true in real life as well, no one in the film seemed to care about Marguerite's fate; after all, a crime of rape against a wife was considered a crime against the husband, and a property crime at that since women were mere objects to be possessed. Advertising Notice Eventually, you have the two men on the ground, fighting with hand weapons rather than lances.. 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. It is one thing to slander, another to accuse. Comer brought that sense of history into her performance as well, recognizing what was and wasnt acceptable for women of the time. According to Jager, Le Gris took an immediate liking to Marguerite when Carrouges introduced her to the court in 1384. P.T. The movie ends with Marguerite playing with her son, seemingly at peace with her life. Marguerite de Carrouges (ne de Thibouville; 1362, Chteau de Fontaine-la-Soret (Eure) c. 1419) was a French noblewoman. Part Two will use the medieval sources to reconstruct what really happened in the combat, using . (Le Gris and Carrouges both started out as squires and vassals to Count Pierre, but Carrouges was knighted for his military service in 1385.) 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. When her husband, Sir Jean de Carrouges, heard of the crime, he .