title: The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France
author:  Eric Jager 
description: Advance Praise for<i> The Last Duel</i><br />This high-suspense, sanguinary tale ensnares readers. . . . The tension is nearly unendurable. . . . Sex, savagery, and high-level political maneuvers energize a splendid piece of popular history.<br /><i>Kirkus Reviews<br /></i><br />An enthralling story that reads like fiction but is based on reliable sources. A world of passion, cruelty, and mismanaged law.<br />Norman Cantor, author of<i> Inventing the Middle Ages</i> and<i> In the Wake of the Plague<br /></i><br />If you read only one book about the Middle Ages, Eric Jagers thriller is the one to read. <br />Steven Ozment, author of<i> A Mighty Fortress</i> and<i> The Burgermeisters Daughter<br /></i><br />Eric Jager uses the historical record to marvelous effect when recounting the riveting story of two men locked in mortal combat. . . . Two worlds duel in this fascinating portrait of an end of an age-the feudal aristocracy and the chivalric courtand who we deem the true victor is brilliantly left open to interpretation in Jagers engrossing tale.<br />Margaret F. Rosenthal, author of<i> The Honest Courtesan<br /></i><br />A spectacular panorama of the late Middle Ages. . . a historical thriller that leaves us with the impression of having known and lived in another world. It combines the vivid erudition of Barbara Tuchmans<i> Distant Mirror</i> with the suspense and drama of Umberto Ecos<i> Name of the Rose</i>. Eric Jager has invented a genre that reminds us that human nature has not changed very much over the ages and that sometimes reality is bigger than life and more riveting than fiction.<br />R. Howard Bloch, Augustus R. Street Professor of French, Yale University
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  # Alice of Old Vincennes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Maurice Thompson
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  PREFACE
  
  
  CHAPTER I. UNDER THE CHERRY TREE
  
  
  CHAPTER II. A LETTER FROM AFAR
  
  
  CHAPTER III. THE RAPE OF THE DEMIJOHN
  
  
  CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST MAYOR OF VINCENNES
  
  
  CHAPTER V. FATHER GIBAULT
  
  
  CHAPTER VI. A FENCING BOUT
  
  
  CHAPTER VII. THE MAYOR'S PARTY
  
  
  CHAPTER VIII. THE DILEMMA OF CAPTAIN HELM
  
  
  CHAPTER IX. THE HONORS OF WAR
  
  
  CHAPTER X. M. ROUSSILLON ENTERTAINS COLONEL
  
  
  HAMILTON
  
  
  CHAPTER XI. A SWORD AND A HORSE PISTOL
  
  
  CHAPTER XII. MANON LESCAUT. AND A RAPIER-THRUST
  
  
  
  
  
  CHAPTER XIII. A MEETING IN THE WILDERNESS
  
  
  CHAPTER XIV. A PRISONER OF LOVE
  
  
  CHAPTER XV. VIRTUE IN A LOCKET
  
  
  CHAPTER XVI. FATHER BERET'S OLD BATTLEd
  
  
  CHAPTER XVII. A MARCH THROUGH COLD WATER
  
  
  CHAPTER XVIII. A DUEL BY MOONLIGHT
  
  
  CHAPTER XIX. THE ATTACK
  
  
  CHAPTER XX. ALICE'S FLAG
  
  
  CHAPTER XXI. SOME TRANSACTIONS IN SCALPS
  
  
  CHAPTER XXII. CLAR