Departures of note

In 1386, Sir Jean de Carrouges, a French knight, fought a judicial duel to the death against his former friend, the squire Jacques le Gris, whom he had accused of raping his wife Marguerite while he was away on campaign. The combat, watched by King Charles VI and thousands of Parisians, was the last judicial duel authorised by the Parlement of Paris. Carrouges killed Le Gris, but the victory did not restore his standing with his lord, Count Pierre d'Alençon, who had favoured Le Gris and never forgave Carrouges for his death.

Carrouges was born in the late 1330s in Normandy, the eldest son of a knight and vassal of the Counts of Perche. He followed his father into military service, and in the early 1370s married Jeanne de Tilly, with whom he had a son. After his wife and son died of illness in 1378, he served under Admiral Jean de Vienne in campaigns against the English. In 1380 he married Marguerite de Thibouville, the daughter of a Norman lord, hoping for an heir. His legal disputes with Count Pierre over lands and offices, which he blamed on Le Gris's influence, deepened his estrangement from the count's circle.

In 1385 Carrouges joined a French expedition to Scotland, hoping to repair his fortunes by military service. He was knighted during the campaign, though he lost five of his nine men-at-arms and much of his money. In January 1386, while he was away in Paris to collect his wages, Marguerite testified that Le Gris forced his way into the family chateau and raped her with the assistance of a man-at-arms. Carrouges brought the case in his own name, as required by Norman custom, but Count Pierre, who sat as judge, acquitted Le Gris and suggested Marguerite had dreamt the attack.

Carrouges appealed to the king, and the Parlement of Paris, unable to determine the truth, ordered a duel. The combat was set for December 1386, and both Carrouges and Marguerite stood to lose their lives by the outcome: had Carrouges yielded, he would have been hanged as a proven liar, while Marguerite, if shown to have sworn falsely, could have been burned alive. After killing Le Gris, Carrouges was granted a thousand francs and an income by the king, and later a position in the royal household. He served as a royal bodyguard and in 1391 was sent to Hungary to assess the Ottoman threat. In 1396 he returned east with his old commander Jean de Vienne on the Crusade of Nicopolis, where he was killed in battle on 25 September, his estates passing to his ten-year-old son.