According to Jager, Le Gris took an immediate liking to Marguerite when Carrouges introduced her to the court in 1384. We knew who this woman was generally by the way she spoke out in the time in which she was living in.. Now, the story of the 1386 trial by combat is the subject of a blockbuster film of the same name. Jager counts the film as at least 75 percent historically accurate, maybe more, noting that while evidence may not exist for specific moments, there is a general record that supports the re-creation. 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. If her husband lost she would be found guilty of perjury. The actor continues, Its an anti-chivalry movie in some sense because the great illusion of chivalry is that it was about [protecting] the innocent female. Jean de Carrouges was born in Saint-Marguerite-de-Carrouges, Normandy, France in 1330, a vassal of the . de Carrouges, whose wife and son died of an unknown illness, eventually marries Marguerite, a wealthy but reputationally damaged young woman. Like today, sexual assault and rape often went unpunished and even unreported in the Middle Ages. January 18th, 1386, Marguerite was left alone at her home, and a man named Adam Louvel arrived claiming that Le Gris was outside and wanted to see her. (Rapists sometimes escaped punishment by marrying their victims.) 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. 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. In Le Coqs words, his client attacked his adversary very cruelly and did it on foot, although he would have had the advantage if he had done it on horseback. By drawing blood, writes Elema for the Historical European Martial Arts and Sports Community, Le Gris prevented the king from halting the duel, as once the scales had tipped in one fighters favor, no one could stop the fight without the appearance of partiality.. 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.. I dont want your money! Marguerite replied. Does he truly believe his innocence at the end? Affleck reflects of Le Gris. 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. He likewise claims that Marguerite had been deceived about her attackers identity, although the supposed truth comes out under rather different circumstances: Later it was discovered that [Le Gris] had not really done it, but that it had been done by another, who died of illness in his bed and, at the moment of death, confessed before others that he had done the deed.. This is when she is surprised by Adam Louvel (Adam Nagaitis) who asks her to open the door so he can wait, and when she does he reveals that Le Gris is also there to proclaim his love for Marguerite. 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-law's chteau by a squire (the rank below knighthood) named Jacques Le Gris, aided by one of his closest companions, one Adam Louvel. All who loved him were in a great fright, adds the chronicler in what is the narrative equivalent of a cinematic reaction shot. It was the equivalent of a kind of forensics case., Damon adds, It was the case about one very evil man doing something everybody recognized was evil. The movie ends with Marguerite playing with her son, seemingly at peace with her life. Pierre favours de Carrouges' friend Le Gris, and the friendship between the men begins to deteriorate. There is a brief coda that reveals Marguerite outlived her husband and never remarried. In Jagers book, the detailed description of the duel between Le Gris and Carrouges, held on Dec. 29, 1386, was drawn from several sources. You know whether my cause is just and true. She replied, My Lord, it is so, and you can fight with confidence, for the cause is just. And so Le Gris trial by combat began. 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. Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. Legal historian Ariella Elema, whose PhD research centered on trial by combat in France and England, says judicial duels were most common in cases where the evidence was really unclear and it was difficult to solve the [matter] by any other means. Such clashes had become increasingly rare by the late 14th century, with lawyers largely using the prospect of duels to incentivize individuals to settle cases out of court. 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. By unequivocally believing Marguerite, the screenwriters offer that same sense of empathy to all women who follow her. A Judicial Duel, byLieven van Lathem, 1464. It was really trying to understand those types of dynamics and her place within the home and in society.. No one really knew the truth of the matter. She married Jean de Carrouges in 1380. 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. In 1380 Carrouges married Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer), daughter of the controversial known traitor Robert de Thibouville who had sided against multiple French Kings in. 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. The earlier of the two is the Saint-Denis Chronicle, an official royal history by the monk Michel Pintoin probably written around 1400. And not just any death. Apart from the dubious, sketchy, and inconsistent reports in the two chronicles, no external evidence for this hazy legend has ever been offered in support of the oft-told tale of a last-minute confession by the true culprit. She adds, If theres any gap between the act and making people aware [of it], that raises huge questions.. Sir Jean de Carrouges : I am risking my life for you! 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. So there was just no doubt for me that this woman was telling the truth. People tend to think of the Middle Ages being less sophisticated than they actually are, but theres this this huge, fascinating legal tradition thats the origin of pretty much all of Western legal tradition, Elema says. By the time the criminal trial was underway in the summer of that year, Marguerite was noticeably pregnant. Her father had sided against the king twice, and. In his youth, Jean served in the retinue of . The last judicial duel in France hinged on whether a woman could be believed. Terms of Use The duel itself was very violent, as it was in the film. Marguerite was forced to watch from a wooden tower on the battlefield (also in view of the many spectators who came to watch) while chained to the floor, awaiting her potential death sentence. With the duel concluded, Froissart continues, Jacques Le Gris body was delivered to the executioner of Paris, who dragged it to Montfaucon and hung it there. For months afterward, at the great stone gibbet on the infamous hilltop outside the citys northern gates, this grisly sight greeted any townsman or traveler passing by. I was a good wife. De Carrouges sued Pierre for the land and lost, which only put him further on the outs with the count. 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Jordan Michael B. Handsome at Walk of Fame ceremony, Review: Natural beauty and a touching ecological tale center the female-forward Blueback. The mortal combat, set for December 29, promised to be the seasons highlight in the capital, as thousands of Parisians flocked to see it, and the young king and his court took their places in colorful viewing stands set up alongside the field at the monastery of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. When de Carrouges returns home he demands sex, but Marguerite refuses and tells him about the rape, fuelling de Carrouges' anger against his friend. If Carrouges won the duel, the couple would go free, their claims vindicated. 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. While this had no material bearing on the plot, it's an interesting detail given that in the film the queen was often panned to as the sole person to sympathise, however quietly, with Marguerite. In Jean's absence, Jacques broke into Jean's castle and raped Marguerite in 1386. She refuses his advances, after which he rapes her. The Parlement ultimately failed to reach a verdict, and in September it officially ordered a trial by combat, wherein theoryGod would assure a just outcome. Though the film portrays Jacques le Gris as guilty of raping Marguerite de Carrouges, this was never definitively proven and the facts of the case remain a topic of heated debate to this day.