Jacques Le Gris

Sir Jacques Le Gris was a squire and knight in fourteenth century France who gained fame and infamy when he engaged in the last judicial duel permitted by the Parlement of Paris after he was accused of rape by the wife of his neighbour and rival Sir Jean de Carrouges. Carrouges brought legal proceedings against Le Gris before King Charles VI who after hearing the evidence, authorised a trial by combat to determine the question. The duel attracted thousands of spectators and has been discussed by many notable French writers, from the contemporary Jean Froissart to Voltaire.

Jacques Le Gris was born in the 1330s, the son of a minor Norman squire Guillaume Le Gris. Unusually for the time, he was educated, taking minor orders as a cleric in the church and able to read sufficiently well to officiate at mass. Like his father, Le Gris was first a manatarms and then squire in the service of the Count of Perche, a role at which he excelled. He also participated in several minor military campaigns in Normandy in the entourage of Robert dAlenon. In 1370 his long service was rewarded when he was given command of one of his liege lords castles at the village of Exmes. During his career, he became firm friends with Jean de Carrouges, another squire in the Counts service. Carrouges and Le Gris were so close that in 1377, the same year that Count Robert died, Carrouges made Le Gris godfather to his eldest son, a position of great responsibility and trust.

Source: Wikipedia