“The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat”, by Eric Jager

 

242 pages, Crown, ISBN-13: 978-0593240885

I saw the movie The Last Duel before reading the book that it was based on, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat by Eric Jager (that’s Jodie Comer on the cover, by the by). The movie bombed, which was a damn shame, as it was an excellent retelling of a little-known event that illustrated just how different the people of the Middle Ages were from us – and, after having read the book, I appreciate the movie all the more so for staying true to the facts; or at least, the facts as are known to us (well, except for the third act, which is mostly modern-day fiction dressed up as historical interpretation).

So, what’s it about? In a nutshell, French knight Jean de Carrouges challenges his former friend, Squire Jacques Le Gris, to a judicial duel – trial by combat – after Jean’s wife, Marguerite, accuses Jacques of raping her on January 18^th, 1386. What follows is a detailed retelling of the lives of the participants, the events leading up to the alleged assault, the trial at the Parlement de Paris and thence the actual duel itself, with all of the other players and events surrounding these events brought in to flesh out the tale. And all in a slim 242 pages, no less (but there’s a reason for that, as you’ll see below).

Many historians have issues when it comes to writing in that they often write for one another and not the public at large, making their work very much inside-baseball and inaccessible to others outside of the club. But Jager’s work reads almost like a medieval romance in which a brave knight rights a heinous wrong done to his lady fair. Except that it actually happened. The difference being that the knight in question, Jean de Carrouges, is as difficult as person as one could imagine, while his antagonist, Jacques Le Gris, is as charming a noble as a nobleman should be. Switch their personalities and you have the perfect story (Marguerite is mostly a cypher).

Jager tells a spirited tale, laying out all the details while stating that, where history is silent, he provides his own invention while always listening 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 the crime 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, arguments that are quite detailed and compelling. The number of latter-day historians with an opinion should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever read history.

As to why all of this information could be imparted in such a thin book, well, it’s because Crown, for some ungodly reason, decided to use the smallest font ever when printing this thing. Seriously, there were times when I had to utilize my iPhone’s camera in order to zoom in and decipher the print, it’s so damn small. I guess tiny type means smaller book which means fewer costs which means greater profits. And only at the cost of a comfortable reading experience – I mean, I’m just the guy reading your book; why should my needs matter to Crown? The Last Duel was enlightening and entertaining, a rare twofer for a work of series history – but find a copy that has larger type.