Customer Reviews

The Duel: Its Rise and Fall in Early Modern France

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Francois Billacois's The Duel: Its Rise and Fall in Early Modern France (edited and translated by Trista Selous) is not the best book on the subject of the history of duelling in France. There are parts that are useful and enlightening, but too much of the book suffers from a lack of clarity, a tendency to meander and a failure to go into the proper depth of detail when something interesting is touched on. I do not know if this is the fault of Billacois as the writer or of Selous as the editor and translater (the original French book was apparently considerably longer), but either way, it makes for a fair amount of needlessly dense reading to dig out the parts that are actually worthwhile. Also, there were a surprising number of typos resulting in misspelled words and incorrect years. I would have expected better proof-reading from the Yale University Press.

Another frustration comes from where the author assumes the reader has an intimate familiarity with not only French history but also the history of duelling itself. For example, the author repeatedly makes reference to an episode of French history called 'the Fronde' without ever offering any clue as to what that actually was. So this is definitely not meant for the layman interested in a first book on the subject.

That said, there are still some parts of the book that are interesting and enlightening with regard to the history of duelling in France. When the writing lapses briefly into clarity, one finds interesting tidbits like this:

"It was rare for a duel to spring from a single cause, as it is for several sources to give the same reason for a particular duel. Nevertheless, the real or claimed reasons given by our sources for each event can be reduced to certain types, and we have made such a list for the century spanning 1560-1659. Apart from duels 'for fun', which often had their origins at a ball or at a game of tennis or cards, most were the outcome of five categories of quarrels. In descending order of frequency, these were: duels fought over women (twenty cases), by men belonging to rival factions or clans (ten cases), over public office (seven cases), following differences or legal cases concerning family or seigniorial inheritances (seven cases), and lastly because of rivaly over precedence or some other honorific distinction (six cases). This list does not differ greatly from that drawn up by Sieur de Chevalier in 1609: 'Duels are fought by those seeking to marry, to gain homages, because of legal trials, to win precedence in church and public assemblies, in fact for all sorts of quarrels.'"

I did learn a number of interesting things about duelling, in particular about the evolution of the duel from its origins in the medieval trial by combat, a very formal procedure that could require months to take place, to its more familiar form in which a duel could take place in a matter of hours or even minutes. Of particular interest were the fact that apparently duellists could have any number of seconds, that the seconds actually participated in the duel, and that if a second finished off his counterpart, he could then come to the aid of the primary duellist. Also interesting was how impersonal many duels were and how tradition and the honor of the duel overrode other ties, to the point that one duellist's second could in fact be a friend or relative of his opponent, but all ties of friendship or blood were put aside for the duration of the duel. The most interesting chapter deals with the most famous trial of a duellist, The Bouteville Affair of 1627, dealing with the Comte de Bouteville who fought twenty-two duels between the age of 15 and 28. But again, the chapter is as frustrating for what it leaves out as it is enlightening for what it tells you.

The Duel could mainly be useful as a reference book for someone interested in looking up particular details about duelling in France, mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries, though again it frequently fails to go into the proper depth that would truly satisfy ones curiosity. There are definitely things to be learned here, but as a book to be read from cover to cover, one has to be prepared to wade through a lot of dense and meandering prose to dig out what there is to be found. Recommended, but with qualifications.

One of the best books I've seen on the subject of duelling. Whether you're a fencer or a student of human behavior, you'll find this volume fascinating reading.