Jean de Carrouges

Sir Jean de Carrouges IV was a fourteenthcentury French knight who governed estates in Normandy as a vassal of Count Pierre dAlenon and served under Admiral Jean de Vienne in several campaigns against the English and the forces of the Ottoman Empire. He became infamous in medieval France for fighting in the last judicial duel permitted by the French king and the Parlement of Paris. The combat was decreed in 1386 to contest charges of rape Carrouges had brought against his neighbour and erstwhile friend Jacques Le Gris on behalf of his wife Marguerite. It was attended by much of the highest French nobility of the time led by King Charles VI and his family, including a number of royal dukes. It was also attended by thousands of ordinary Parisians and in the ensuing decades was chronicled by such notable medieval historians as Jean Froissart, Jean Juvnal des Ursins and Jehan de Waurin.

Carrouges was born in the late 1330s in the village of SaintMargueritedeCarrouges as the eldest son of knight and minor noble Sir Jean de Carrouges III and his wife Nicole de Buchard. Carrouges III was an influential man in lower Normandy, being a vassal of the Count of Perche and a veteran soldier in his service. Carrouges III had been rewarded for his long military service in the Hundred Years War with a knighthood and the title of Viscount of Bellme, a rank that came with command of a vital hill castle overlooking the town as well as the role of sheriff in the vicinity, a post carrying significant financial and social rewards.

Source: Wikipedia