April 11, 1127: Galbert of Bruges recorded an event near Ypres where Herman the Iron challenged Guy Steenvorde, alleging his complicity in the assassination of Charles the Good, Count of Flanders. In the ensuing duel, Steenvorde was brutally defeated and, though dying, hanged for having been found guilty in a trial by combat.[1]
During the Easter of 1163 at the king's court the feudal baron of Rayleigh Henry of Essex (also a royal constable) was accused of treason by the nobleman Robert de Montfort. The two fought a judicial duel on Fry's Island which Henry lost and was carried off the scene by monks from Reading abbey. Having been proven guilty his estates were forfeit and he had to become a monk.
December 29, 1386: KnightsJean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris fought a judicial duel in Paris, France. It began when Carrouges accused Le Gris of raping his wife Marguerite, and when the case could not be solved in court, the King of France Charles VI intervened and suggested that the two end the dispute in a duel to the death. During the melee that followed, in which both combatants fought each other in plate armor together with an assortment of weapons, Carrouges managed to wrestle the larger Le Gris to the ground, remove his head cover, and kill him, thus "proving" his charges.
April 14, 1612: Famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi dueled his rival Sasaki Kojirō on the island of Funajima. Musashi arrived late and unkempt to the appointed place. Musashi killed Sasaki with a bokken or wooden sword. He fashioned the bokken out of a boat oar on his way to the island. Sasaki's weapon of choice was the nodachi, a long sword. In addition, on a pilgrimage, Musashi fought sixty duels, and not once was he defeated.
1906: In Istanbul, during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, a duel between a young Kurdish aristocrat named Abdulrazzak Bedirkhan and the chief of police of the city Ridvan Pasha occurred. The police chief was killed and subsequently the entire Bedirkhan family was exiled.
April 14, 1920: A very well-recorded bolo duel reported internationally by Prescott Journal Miner which was known as "The First Bolo Duel in Manila since the American Occupation". It happened when Filipino farmers Angel Umali and Tranquilino Paglinawan met in a vacant lot near the center of the city just before dusk to settle their feuds. Paglinawan suffered the duel with his left hand cut off. With no law against bolo fights, Umali was charged only with minor charge.[2]
1826: Dr. Robert Wardell duelled with Australia’s (Colony of New South Wales') first Attorney General, Saxe Bannister. Dr. Robert Wardell had previously lost to Saxe Bannister in obtaining the Attorney General position[3]. A long-running feud ensued, Bannister sued Wardell for libel, with Saxe saying in open court that Wardell was the 'scum of London’ during a speech in court [4]. After three shots were fired on each side without effect, Wardell's apology was accepted.
1827: Dr. Robert Wardell duelled with the Colonel Henry Dumaresq, the aide-de-camp and brother in law of the Governor Ralph Darling. Robert had written an article titled 'How-e to live by Plunder'[5], in which he claimed Henry had leaked information to the Australian. Three shots were fired by each, and no one was injured[6].
1832: William Nairne Clark (barrister, news proprietor and explorer) fought a duel at Cantonment Hill, Fremantle, Western Australia, with pistols with George French Johnson (merchant), fatally wounding him in the right hip. Clark was subsequently charged with, and acquitted of, the murder of his opponent.[7][8]
1839: Dr. Barry Cotter challenged George Arden. They fought on the racecourse at the foot of Batman's Hill in Melbourne. Cotter fired first and missed (his bullet going through the beaver hat of his second William Meek) and Arden fired wide intentionally.
1840: Peter Snodgrass challenged William Ryrie, following hot words at dinner on New Year's Eve. They fought at the foot of Batman's Hill in Melbourne. Snodgrass shot himself in the toe, whereupon Ryrie fired into the air.
1841: Peter Snodgrass challenged Redmond Barry, who was later a Supreme Court judge. They fought near Liardet's Pier Hotel in Melbourne. Snodgrass discharged his pistol prematurely, and Barry fired into the air.
1842: F. A. Powlett fought a duel with Arthur Hogue at Flemington near Melbourne. There were two exchanges of shots, but no injury save to Hogue's coat, through which Powlett sent a ball each time.
1846: Alexander Sprot and W. J. Campbell fought a duel over the border in South Australia (having been prevented from doing so in the Port Phillip District by a Magistrates' order). Both survived.
1851: Major Sir Thomas Mitchell confronted Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson in Sydney. Mitchell issued the challenge because Donaldson had publicly criticised the cost of the Surveyor General's Department. Both duellists missed.
Canada
1800: John White, 39, Upper Canada's first lawyer and a founder of the law society, was fatally shot on January 3, 1800, by a government official named John Small, who challenged him to the duel. White was alleged to have gossiped at a Christmas party that Mrs. Small was once the mistress of the Duke of Berkeley in England, who had tired of her and paid Small to marry her and take her to the colonies.
1817: John Ridout, 18, was shot dead on July 12, 1817, at the corner of what is now Bay St. and Grosvenor St. in Toronto by Samuel Peters Jarvis, 25. The reason for the duel was unclear. On the count of two, the nervous Ridout discharged his pistol early, missing Jarvis by a wide margin. Ridout's second, James Small (whose father survived the only other duel in York) and Jarvis' second, Henry John Boulton insisted that Jarvis be allowed to make his shot. Ridout protested loudly and asked for another pistol, but Small and Boulton were adamant that the strict code of duelling must be observed. Jarvis shot and killed Ridout instantly. Jarvis was pardoned by the courts, even though he had shot an unarmed man.
1819: What historians have called "The Most Ferocious Duel" in Canadian history took place on April 11, 1819, at Windmill Point near the Lachine Canal. The opponents were William Caldwell, a doctor at the Montreal General Hospital, and Michael O'Sullivan, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. The dispute arose when Caldwell accused O'Sullivan of lacking courage. The two opponents exchanged fire an unheard-of five times. O'Sullivan was wounded twice in the process, and in the final volley, he took a bullet to the chest and hit the ground. Caldwell's arm was shattered by a shot; a hole in his collar proved he narrowly missed being shot in the neck. Amazingly, neither participant died during the fight, although both took a long time to recover. O'Sullivan went on to become Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench in Montreal, and when he died in 1839, an autopsy revealed a bullet still lodged against the middle of his spine.
1826: Rudkin versus John Philpot a duel fought in Newfoundland at St. John's who met at West's Farm near Brine's Tavern at the foot of Robinson's Hill, adjacent to Brine's River to settle their seemingly long standing differences that was further exacerbated by the love of an Irish colleen who lived in a cottage near Quidi Vidi and a game of cards that ended in an argument over the ownership of the pot.
1833: The last fatal duel in Upper Canada[9] was fought in Perth, Ontario, on June 13, 1833. Two law students and former friends, John Wilson and Robert Lyon, quarrelled over remarks Lyon made about a local schoolteacher, Elizabeth Hughes. Lyon was killed in the second exchange of shots on a rain-soaked field. Wilson was acquitted of murder, eventually married Miss Hughes, became a Member of Parliament, and later a judge.
1836: Two duelling politicians from Lower Canada were lucky to have sensible seconds. Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury, a member of the Lower Canadian Legislative Assembly, insulted fellow politician Charles-Ovide Perreault. Perreault then struck de Bleury, and a duel was set. Both men were determined to settle the matter with pistols, but their seconds came up with a unique solution. The two foes would clasp hands and de Bleury would say, "I am sorry to have insulted you" while at the same time Perreault would say, "I am sorry to have struck you." They would then reply in unison, "I accept your apology." The tactic worked, and the situation was resolved without injury.
1837: William Collis Meredith and James Scott. On Monday, 9 August 1837, at eight o’clock in the evening, Meredith (who had articled under the previously mentioned Clement-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury from 1831 to 1833) and Scott (no stranger to duels) stepped out to face one another on the slopes of Mount Royal, behind Montreal. Earlier that day, following a dispute over legal costs, Meredith had challenged Scott. Meredith chose James M. Blackwood to second him, whilst Scott's choice was Louis-Fereol Pelletier. The pistols used were Meredith's which he had bought in London, on a previous trip to England. On the first exchange Scott took a bullet high up in his thigh, and the duel was called to a stop. The bullet lodged itself in Scott's thigh bone in such a way that it could not be removed by doctors, which caused him great discomfort for the rest of his days. Ironically for Scott, this was exactly where he had shot Sweeney Campbell in a duel when they were students. In the early 1850s (Scott died in 1852), when both the adversaries had become judges, one of the sights then to see was Meredith helping his brother judge up the steep Court House steps, a result of the lameness in his leg that had remained with Scott since their encounter. Meredith was later knighted and went on to serve as Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec.
1840: Joseph Howe was called out by a member of Nova Scotian high society for his populist writing. When his opponent fired first and missed, Howe fired his shot in the air and won the right to refuse future challenges.
1873: The last duel in what is now Canada occurred in August 1873, in a field near St. John's, Newfoundland (which was not Canadian territory at the time). The duellists, Mr. Dooley and Mr. Healey, once friends, had fallen in love with the same young lady, and had quarrelled bitterly over her. One challenged the other to a duel, and they quickly arranged a time and place. No one else was present that morning except the two men's seconds. When they had counted off the standard ten yards, they turned and fired. Dooley hit the ground immediately. Healey, believing he had killed Dooley, was seized with horror. But Dooley had merely fainted; the seconds confessed they had so feared the outcome that they loaded the pistols with blanks. Although this was a serious breach of duelling etiquette, both opponents gratefully agreed that honour had indeed been satisfied.[citation needed]
China
During the Three Kingdoms period of China, in 195[10] warlord Sun Ce encountered an enemy general, named Taishi Ci, by accident when both of them were scouting the other. The two fought until the arrival of their men compelled them to break off. The result was that Sun Ce seized Taishi Ci's weapon while Taishi Ci grabbed Sun Ce's helmet. There was however no record that any one of them was injured in this duel. This is one of the few examples of two generals dueling during a time of war.
In the Eastern Han dynasty, a military general, Guo Si (who served under the warlord Dong Zhuo) challenged another powerful military general, Lü Bu to a famous duel in the Battle of Chang'an. Guo Si was defeated after he was pierced by Lü Bu's spear.
In the Eastern Han dynasty, two of Lü Bu's military officers, Hao Meng and Cao Xing engaged in an isolated combat. During the fight, Hao Meng injured Cao Xing with his spear, and Cao Xing cut off one of Hao Meng' arms.
In the Eastern Han dynasty, a military general, Pang De (who served under the warlord Ma Teng) slew the enemy general Guo Yuan (a subordinate of warlord Yuan Tan) in the midst of battle and took his head.
In the Eastern Han dynasty, a military general, Yan Xing engaged the warlord Ma Teng's eldest son Ma Chao in a duel and nearly killed him by piercing him with a spear.
In the Eastern Han dynasty, a military general, Lü Meng (who served under the warlord Sun Quan) challenged warlord Liu Biao's military general, Chen Jiu to an isolated combat and killed him.
During the Transition from Sui to Tang, warlord Wang Shichong's general Shan Xiongxin engaged Tang's general Li Shimin in an isolated combat, nearly killing him. However, Li Shimin's guard general Yuchi Jingde arrived in time and challenged Shan Xiongxin to another duel, Shan was defeated and fell off from his horse.
In the Tang dynasty, a military general and prince of Tang, Li Yuanji challenged another military general Yuchi Jingde to an isolated spears fight, and Li was defeated by Yuchi.
In the Tang dynasty, a military general of Tang, Xue Rengui personally engaged 10 of Tiele Turks' strongest warriors in a small battle and killed three of them, intimidating the entire Tiele coalition and causing them to submit to Tang.
Bai Mei, one of the legendary five elders of the Shaolin Temple, killed Jee Sin, (another one of the elders) in a brutal duel following the destruction of the Shaolin Temple.
France
July 10, 1547: Guy Chabot de Jarnac, in a judicial duel with François de Vivonne de la Châtaigneraie, a favourite of the King and one of France's greatest swordsmen. Jarnac fooled La Châtaigneraie with a feint and hit him with a slash to the hamstrings. His dignity offended, La Châtaigneraie refused medical aid, and died. This both ended the practice of trial by combat in France, and created the myth of "Le Coup de Jarnac" – a legendary strike that supposedly allowed amateurs to defeat masters.[citation needed]
12 May 1627: at the Place Royale in Paris, François de Montmorency-Bouteville dueled François d'Harcourt Beuvron without fatality, but Montmorency-Bouteville's second, François de Rosmadec, Comte de Chappelles, dueled and killed Beuvron's second, the Marquis de Bussi d'Amboise. While Beuvron took refuge in England, Montmorency and Rosmadec, despite their nobility, were beheaded at the Place de Grève in Paris on 22 June 1627.
1641: Kenelm Digby and a French nobleman named Mont le Ros. Digby, a founding member of the Royal Society, was attending a banquet in France when the Frenchman insulted King Charles I of England and Digby challenged him to a duel. Digby wrote that he ".. run his rapier into the French Lord's breast until it came out of his throat again"; Mont le Ros fell dead.
31 January 1772: Mademoiselle de Guignes and Mademoiselle d'Aguillon fight a duel in Paris.[13]
1794 to 1813: Pierre Dupont de l'Étang and François Fournier-Sarlovèze fought over 30 duels, beginning with Fournier challenging Dupont after the latter had delivered a disagreeable message to his fellow officer. Dupont eventually overcame his opponent 19 years later in a pistol duel, and forced Fournier to promise never to bother him again. The story was immortalized by Joseph Conrad and made into the movie The Duellists by Ridley Scott.
1830: French writer Sainte-Beuve and one of the owners of Le Globe newspaper, Paul-François Dubois, fought a duel under a heavy rain. Sainte-Beuve held his umbrella during the duel claiming that he did not mind dying but that he would not get wet.
1832: British officer Charles Hesse was fatally shot by Charles Léon in the Bois de Vincennes following a dispute over cards.
1832: Évariste Galois and (possibly) Pescheux d'Herbinville; Évariste Galois, the French mathematician, died of his wounds at the age of twenty.
23 February 1870: Édouard Manet and Louis Edmond Duranty; Duranty, an art critic and friend of Manet, had written only the briefest of commentary on two works of art that Manet had entered for exhibition. The frustrated Manet collared Duranty at the Café Guerbois and slapped him. Duranty's demands for an apology were refused and so the men fought a duel with swords in the Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye three days later on the 23rd. Émile Zola acted as Manet's second and Paul Alexis acted for Duranty. After Duranty received a wound above the right breast the seconds stepped in and declared that honour had been satisfied. The men remained friends despite the encounter.
5 February 1897: Marcel Proust fought journalist Jean Lorrain, after Lorrain published an excoriating review of Proust's first book "Pleasures and Days" and hinted that Proust was having an affair with Madame Alphonse Daudet's son, Lucien. Proust and Lorrain exchanged shots at 25 paces. Proust fired first, his bullet hitting the ground by Lorrain's foot. Lorrain's shot missed, and the seconds agreed that honor had been satisfied.[14]
On Friday 15 January 1904 during a debate in the French Chamber of Deputies on the subject of Labour Exchange Riots, Marcel Sembat and Jean-Baptiste Boutard exchanged remarks that led to them meeting the following morning at an undisclosed location in Paris where shots were exchanged without effect.[15]
7 October 1949. Film director Willy Rozier challenged film critic Francois Chalais over comments Chalais had made about actress Marie Dea in Rozier's 1949 film 56 Rue Pigalle. Fought with rapiers in a forest, and to first blood, not death, Rozier wounded Chalais in the right forearm in the third round, winning the encounter in front of a dozen journalists and photographers.[16] The film would go on to become a hit in France, vindicating Rozier further. Silent film footage of the arrangements being made for the fight in a Parisian alley, and of the duel itself, are included as an extra on the DVD release of the film.
20 April 1949: Duel between Armand Fevre and Pierre Merindol.[17]
21 April 1967: The last official duel in the history of France happened between Gaston Defferre and René Ribière, both delegates at the French National Assembly. During an argument in the assembly room, Defferre said to Ribière "shut up, idiot" ("taisez-vous, abruti"). Defferre won the duel after four minutes of sword fighting, wounding his opponent twice.[18]
1864: Socialist politician and philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle was killed in a duel with Iancu Racoviță, who had become betrothed to Lassalle's intended, Helene von Dönniges.
1865: Prince von Bismarck challenged the scientist and politician Rudolf Virchow over remarks made in parliament. As the challenged, Virchow’s chosen weapons were two sausages, one of which was be laced with trichinella spiralis. The duel did not proceed.
1597: Sir William Brooke (son of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham) was fatally wounded in a duel with Thomas Lucas (son of Sir Thomas Lucas) at Mile End Green, Essex in December. The Privy Council issued warrants for Lucas' arrest on 24 and 29 December 1597, but he fled to the continent and was later pardoned.[19]
1598: Playwright Ben Jonson kills actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel fought with swords. The cause is unknown.
1609: Sir George Wharton and Sir James Stuart fought a duel over a game of cards in Islington. Both were killed.
1609: Sir Hatton Cheke and Sir Thomas Dutton fought in Calais. Cheke was killed.
1694: John Law and Edward Wilson; Wilson challenged Law over the affections of Elizabeth Villiers (later Countess of Orkney); Wilson was killed. Law was tried and found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to a fine, upon the ground that the offence only amounted to manslaughter. Wilson's brother appealed and had Law imprisoned but he managed to escape to the continent.[20]
1749: Captain Clarke R.N. and Captain Innis R.N; Innis was killed. Clarke was sentenced to death but received a Royal Pardon.[22]
1762: John Wilkes and Samuel Martin in Hyde Park. Martin, in his place in the House of Commons, had alluded to Wilkes as a "stabber in the dark, a cowardly and malignant scoundrel." Wilkes prided himself as much upon his gallantry as upon his wit and loyalty, and lost no time in calling Martin out. The challenge was given as soon as the House adjourned, and the parties repaired at once to a copse in Hyde Park with a brace of pistols. They fired four times, when Wilkes fell, wounded in the abdomen. His antagonist, relenting, hastened up and insisted on helping him off the ground; but Wilkes, with comparative courtesy, as strenuously urged Martin to hurry away, so as to escape arrest. It afterwards appeared that Martin had been practising in a shooting gallery for six months before making the obnoxious speech in the House; and soon after, instead of being arrested, he received a valuable appointment from the ministry.[23]
1765: William Byron, 5th Baron Byron and William Chaworth; Chaworth was killed. Byron was tried in the House of Lords and acquitted of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter, for which he was fined.
1772: Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Captain Matthews; as the result of a quarrel between the two concerning Elizabeth Linley, to whom Sheridan was already secretly married, both men went to Hyde Park, but on finding it too crowded repaired instead to the Castle Tavern, Covent Garden, where they fought with swords. Both men were cut, but neither was seriously wounded.[24] Sheridan won this duel as Mathews pleaded for his life after losing his sword. They fought a second duel in July at Kingsdown near Bath to resolve a dispute over the first duel. Both men's swords broke, and Mathews stabbed Sheridan several times, seriously wounding him, before escaping in a post chaise.
1783: Richard Martin ("Humanity Dick"), who engaged in over 100 duels, fought George "Fighting" FitzGerald in the Castlebar barrack yard. Later in the same year Martin's cousin, James Jordan forces a duel: Jordan is shot and dies of his wounds. As a result of this, Martin later refuses to duel with Theobald Wolfe Tone, even though he was having an affair with his wife.
1787: Sir John MacPherson and a Major Browne; Browne had been British Resident at the court of Shah Alam II, he took offence at his recall and challenged MacPherson, the former governor-general of India, on the latter's return to Britain. A pistol ball passed through MacPherson's coat and another struck a pocketbook in his coat pocket, but the two men were uninjured.
1789: HRH Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Lennox; Lennox had called the Prince out after the Prince had accused him of making ".. certain expressions unworthy of a gentleman". Lennox had no recollection of making such expressions and his demands for a retraction were refused. Lennox demanded satisfaction; the two men met with pistols on Wimbledon Common on 26 May 1789. According to a report in The Times by the seconds, Lord Rawdon for the Prince and Lord Winchilsea for Lennox, Lennox's shot "grazed His Royal Highnesses' curl". The Prince then refused to fire stating that he had been called out to give satisfaction to Lennox and the satisfaction had been given and the matter was closed.
1791: Mr John Graham pleader of the Temple called out Richard Julius Attorney of Lincolns Inn over a hypocrisy in affairs of gallantry. They met 12 July on Blackheath where Graham received a ball to his groin which proved fatal. The papers of the day were outraged see http://www.thekingscandlesticks.com/webs/pedigrees/710.html
1791: On 23 November 1791, a duel, originating in a trifling dispute, was fought near Newmarket, between Henry Applewhaite and Richard Rycroft, students at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge University. Rycroft was so severely wounded that he died two days later. Applewhaite and his second, John Hollond of Trinity College, were expelled from the University. At the Bury Lent Assizes of 1792, Applewhaite surrendered and stood trial for the murder of Rycroft. The bill was ignored by the grand jury, no evidence was offered on the coroner's inquisition, and he was acquitted. It is said that on this occasion "the flower of the University voluntarily came forward to give testimony of his generally amiable character."[25][26][27]
1792: Lady Almeria Braddock and Mrs Elphinstone; so called "petticoat duel"; Lady Almeria Braddock felt insulted by Mrs Elphinstone and challenged her to a duel in London's Hyde Park after their genteel conversation turned to the subject of Lady Almeria's true age. The ladies first exchanged pistol shots in which Lady Almeria's hat was damaged. They then continued with swords until Mrs. Elphinstone received a wound to her arm and agreed to write Lady Almeria an apology.[11]
1792: Mr O'Conner acquitted of the murder of Capt. Kerr, in a duel.[28]
1799: Colonel Ashton and Major Allen; Duel took place in India; Ashton was killed.
1803: CaptainJames Macnamara and Colonel Montgomery; over a dispute between their dogs fighting in Hyde Park. Both were wounded, Montgomery mortally. Macnamara was tried for manslaughter at the Old Bailey but was acquitted.[29]
1804: A duel was fought on Kersal Moor, Salford in July 1804 between Mr. Jones and Mr. Shakspere Philips. Mr. Jones fired at Mr. Philips without effect and Mr. Philips then fired his pistol in the air, upon which the seconds interfered, the two man shook hands, and honour was satisfied.
1807: Major Alexander Campbell and Captain Alexander Boyd, a married man with six children, were officers in the second battalion 21st (later the Royal Scots Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot, based at Newry Barracks in Northern Ireland. After dinner in their mess on the evening of 22 June 1807 there was a disagreement between them on the topic of tactical regimental manoeuvring. Ultimately, Major Campbell insisted that Captain Boyd fight him, and after the doors to the mess were closed pistols were obtained and they duelled in the mess that evening. There was not enough room to pace out the full distance and when they wheeled to fire their pistols were almost touching. The Major shot the Captain in the abdomen and within a few hours he died as a result of his wound. The Major fled. A warrant was issued for his arrest but he evaded capture for some months and was treated as an outlaw. At trial on 4 August 1808 Major Campbell was found guilty of wilful murder and he was hanged at Newry at midday on Wednesday 24 August 1808.[31][32][33][34][35]
1815: Daniel O'Connell and Captain John Norcot d'Esterre; d'Esterre was killed.[37]
1821: John Scott and Jonathon Henry Christie. Scott was the founder and editor of the London Magazine. The duel was born out of the Cockney School controversy. John Gibson Lockhart had been abusing many of Scott's contributors in Blackwood's Magazine (under a pseudonym (Z), as was then common). In May 1820, Scott began a series of counter-articles, which provoked Lockhart into calling him "a liar and a scoundrel". In February 1820, Lockhart's London agent, J.H. Christie, made a provocative statement, and Scott challenged him. They met on 16 February 1821, at a farm between Camden Town and Hampstead. Christie did not fire in the first round, but there was a misunderstanding between the seconds, resulting in a second round. Scott was hit in the abdomen, and died 11 days later. Christie and his second were tried for willful murder and acquitted; the collection for Scott's family was a notable radical cause.
1824: The 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and Ensign Battier; Battier was a cornet in the Marquess' regiment. When Battier's pistol misfired, he declined the offer of another shot and left. He was later horsewhipped by the Marquess' second Sir Henry Hardinge.
1826: David Landale, a linen merchant from Kirkcaldy, duelled with his bank manager, George Morgan, who had slandered his business reputation. This was the last duel to be fought on Scottish soil; George Morgan, a trained soldier, was shot through the chest and mortally wounded by Landale, who had never before held a pistol. Landale was tried for murder but found not guilty. The subject of a book "Duel" by his descendant James Landale.
1826: Early in the morning of Monday 23 January 1826, James Edward Devereux, of Carigmenan, accompanied by his second F. Joyce Esq., and John Hyacinth Talbot, of Talbot Hall, accompanied by his second, William Harvey, of Kyle, came together at Annice, in the county of Kilkenny, in Ireland. The meeting arose out of some unpleasant feelings excited by Mr Devereux having presided at meetings of Catholics in the county, to which Mr Talbot objected. Both gentlemen fired, without effect.[39]
1832: On Thursday 8 March 1832, Sir J. de Veulle, Chief Magistrate of the Island of Jersey, and Charles de Lagarde, had a "hostile meeting," at the Jardin d'Olivet on Jersey. After exchanging two shots each they shook hands and separated.[40]
1841: Malachy Kelly of Woodmount House (Tonalig, Co. Roscommon) & Owen Lynch of Woodpark Lodge (Rathpeak, Co. Roscommon). Both men were sons of local landlords, Hugh Kelly & Owen Lynch Snr. It is understood that the duel arose over a dispute during a horse race meeting a few weeks previous. The Duel was held on Ballygill Bridge, Ballinasloe, over the River Suck on the Roscommon/Galway border on 28 May 1841. Malachy Kelly died of his wounds 5 days later on the 3rd of June. ( Freemans Journal, Dublin, 07/06/1841). This is the last known fatal duel to have taken place in Ireland.
1842: On the evening of Monday 11 July 1842, in the lobby of the House of Commons, in the presence of several other persons, Craven Berkeley, then the MP for Cheltenham, asked Captain Henry Boldero, the MP for Chippenham, what he, Boldero, would do, if, hypothetically, a drunk person were to damn the Queen in his presence. There are two versions of Captain Boldero's reply. The Morning Chronicle of Wednesday 13 July, claims that he replied, "that if any person in his presence, whether drunk or sober, chose to damn the Queen, he would take no notice of it; for he would be no eaves-dropper." Captain Boldero took exception to this version and wrote to several of those persons present and asked them what they thought he had said. Five of these men, all Members of Parliament, Henry Liddell, W. Thompson, Charles Douglas, Beriah Botfield, and William Cripps, all replied that his answer had not included the words, "or sober." He had said that if a drunk person damned the Queen in his presence he would wait until the following morning when he was sober, and deal with the matter then. Captain Boldero then wrote to Craven Berkeley and asked him if he knew who had written to the newspaper, and Berkeley replied that he did not, but that the version in the newspaper was "substantially correct." Captain Boldero replied suggesting that, "either your memory must have failed you in a very extraordinary manner, or you are intentionally perverting the true facts of the case." Berkeley took exception to, essentially, being accused of lying about it, and neither man being prepared to back down or apologise they nominated their seconds. Mr Berkeley was accompanied by the Hon William Ridley-Colborne, MP, and Capt Boldero by Mr W. F. Mackenzie, MP. They met at five o'clock on the morning of Friday 15 July in the neighbourhood of Osterley Park, a large country house in West London that was then the home of George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey. Having exchanged shots without effect, they left the ground.[42][43]
1843: Colonel Fawcett and his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Monro, in Camden; Colonel Fawcett was killed.
1845: Lieutenant Henry Charles Moorhead Hawkey, Royal Marines, and James Alexander Seton; Seton died on 2 June, some days after the duel, as a result of an infected gunshot wound. Seton was the last known Briton to die because of a duel fought on British soil. This is recorded in other sites as having taken place at Browndown Camp, Gosport, Hampshire.
1851: Mr William Henry Gregory and Captain the Hon. George Lawrence Vaughan, The duel took place in Osterley Park.
1852: The last recorded fatal duel on British soil was fought by Lt. Frederic Constant Cournet and Emmanuel Barthélemy, two French political refugees. The duel took place on Priest's Hill in Englefield Green. Barthelemy killed Cournet and was subsequently arrested for murder. However, he was later convicted only of manslaughter, and served a few months in prison. Barthelemy was hanged in 1855 after he shot and killed two men in the course of a violent struggle.[44]
1552: Isabella de Carazi and Diambra de Petinella fight a duel in rivalry about a common lover, Fabio de Zeresola: the duel became famous and the object of a painting by Jusepe de Ribera, Women Gladiators[46]
1898: Italian politician Felice Cavallotti was killed in a duel with Count Ferruccio Macola, whom he had insulted.
1921: Benito Mussolini seriously wounded Francisco Ciccotti, at the time an editor in Rome, in a duel with swords. The duel lasted an hour and a quarter and ended with Ciccotti unable to continue due to wounds received.[47]
Malta
1802: Lieutenant Colonel John Baylis shot a fellow officer and reportedly close acquaintance in a pistol duel at Fort San Salvatore, on the island of Malta. Baylis had challenged a Captain Richard Newman to the duel, believing him to have been having an affair with his wife. Newman was mortally wounded and died in a military hospital in the island on 13 May 1802. Baylis was removed from his command and returned to Britain; although he was found innocent in a subsequent court martial.[48]
Serbia
1926. Disagreements over whether the national aero club should order French or German planes caused a quarrel between writer Miloš Crnjanski and pilot and officer Tadija Sondermayer. After a heated argument, Crnjanski challenged Tadija to a duel. Crnjanski was the first to shoot and miss, after which Tadija shot into the air and said that he was giving up.[49]
New Zealand
1847: Colonel William Wakefield and Dr Isaac Featherston (who was his doctor) met in Wellington after Featherston had questioned Wakefield's honesty in a newspaper editorial on the New Zealand Company land policy. Featherston fired and missed, then Wakefield fired into the air, saying that he would not shoot a man with seven daughters. See 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand for other New Zealand duels.
Portugal
1924: Prime Minister Álvaro de Castro fought a duel with swords with Flight Captain Ribeiro over a political dispute. The duel ended with Ribeiro being wounded in the arm.[50]
1925: António Beja da Silva, the vice-mayor of Lisbon, fought António Centeno, the president of the portuguese Reunited Gas and Electricity company (Companhias Reunidas de Gás e Eletricidade), over the rising prices of gas. [51]
Russia
1666: First recorded Russian duel featured two foreigners living at the German Quarter – Major Patrick Gordon and Major Montgomery.
March 3, 1801: Prince Boris Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky challenged statesman Alexander Ribeaupierre for his alleged affair with Anna Lopukhina, a royal mistress. With heavily chopped arm, Ribeaupierre was exiled soon after the duel.
ca. 1807: Cavalryman Michael Lunin challenged Prince Alexey Orlov after latter permitted him to do so. Orlov, having harsh shooting skills, missed twice from twelve steps (first shot, however, hit Lunin's epaulette, and second holed his hat), while Lunin, being a notable marksman, kept stiff upper lip and also missed twice on purpose – shooting upwards in the skies, he then taught the Prince in French language, how to aim and squeeze the trigger properly, laughing at infuriated nobleman during the process. Third shot never happened. Details are still debated.
1808: Gen. Nikolay Tuchkov was challenged by Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov. It happened amidst the Finnish War, so Tuchkov proposed to Dolgorukov, who also has the rank of a general, instead of conventional duel, to make joint appearance on the frontline, so a seldom enemy bullet could justify the argument. So was their decision, and Dolgorukov has been killed soon by a cannonball flown from Swedish lines.
1814: Congress of Vienna: The Coalition's stubborn refusal to hand over all of Poland to Russia leads a tense Tsar Alexander I of Russia to supposedly challenge Metternich to a duel. The tsar changes his mind however and Poland is partitioned once more.
1817: The honour of celebrated ballerina Avdotia Istomina occasioned a fourfold duel: kammerjunker count Alexander Zavadovsky kills podporutchik (lieutenant) of Chevalier Guards Regiment Basily Sheremetev (from not-titulated cadet branche of Sheremetev family), while the future Decembrist Yakubovich shot through a palm of the playwright Alexander Griboedov.
1837: The most famous and talked about Russian duel: Aleksandr Pushkin mortally wounded after a gunshot he received in a duel at the Black Rivulet with a French officer on Russian service Georges d'Anthès, rumoured to have an affair with Pushkin's wife Natalia. D'Anthès went on to become French minister and senator and married Pushkin's sister-in-law (a few weeks before the duel, in a last attempt to avoid the confrontation).
1841: Mikhail Lermontov killed in a duel with Nikolai Martynov, a year after his duel with De Barante, son of the French ambassador to Russia.
1908: Lieutenant General Konstantin Smirnov was seriously wounded in a pistol duel with Lieutenant General Alexander Fok. Fok challenged Smirnov after Smirnov publicly accused Fok of incompetence during the Siege of Port Arthur.[53]
1909: Another parliamentary duel – Alexander Guchkov vs Count Alexei Uvarov.
1814: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Colonel Luis Carrera, brother of Chilean revolutionary General José Miguel Carrera, killed Colonel Juan Mackenna in a duel. The reason was the sense of honor that the Carreras had, as Mackenna disrespected the family name many times. This was the second time that both duellists met, and the third time that Mackenna was challenged in a duel by a Carrera (the first time it was by Luis Carrera himself, while the second time it was by his brother, Juan José Carrera, the oldest of the brothers and noticeable by his strength. Yet Mackenna was able to run away from the duels both times). They dueled at night, in the first round, Mackenna shot at his head, but missed and blew Carrera's hat away, in the second round, Carrera was able to hit Mackenna in his hand, blowing his thumb away and piercing a hole in his throat, thus killing Mackenna. Carrera was arrested the next day, particularly because Mackenna was part of a secret society called Lautaro Lodge, which had the control of the government at the time.
November 3, 1968, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Admiral Benigno Ignacio Varela and journalist Yolivan Biglieri were protagonists of the last duel know to have taken place in Argentina according to the rules of chivalry.[54]
Chile
1952: Chile. Senator Salvador Allende and his colleague Raúl Rettig (later president of Chile and head of a commission that investigated human rights violations committed during the 1973–1990 military rule in Chile, respectively), agreed to fire one shot on each other and both failed.[55] At that time duelling was already illegal in Chile.
Uruguay
1920: Uruguay. Former President José Batlle y Ordóñez shot and killed Washington Beltrán Barbat in a formal duel. The former president challenged Beltrán, a journalist after he became offended by statements published by Beltrán in the newspaper El País. The former president was no stranger to duels having previously challenged two others, whom he considered to have besmirched his dignity.[56]
Sweden
1788: Count Adolph Ribbing and Baron Hans Henrik von Essen; the duel was held because Essen's proposal had been accepted by the father of a woman, the heiress Charlotta Eleonora De Geer, whom Ribbing had also proposed to and whom he believed to be in love with him. Essen was injured and Ribbing declared winner. The duel was regarded a scandal and a crime against the king[57]
Switzerland
August 28, 1864: Ferdinand Lassalle and Count von Racowitza. Lassalle was mortally wounded, and died three days later. Racowitza also died in the next year.
In the summer of 30 BC Mark Antony challenged Octavian to a duel, after Octavian defeated Antony at the battle of Actium the year before and threatened to take Alexandria. Octavian refused the challenge.
Somewhere in 1889–1891, Filipino national heroes José Rizal and Antonio Luna almost fought a duel. The two men were courting the same woman named Nellie Boustead, and when a drunken Luna made unsavory remarks about Rizal, the latter then challenged him to a duel. Luna however, backed down and apologized before any fighting could commence.[58]
1892: Charles Kingston challenged Richard Chaffey Baker to a duel. Kingston procured two dueling pistols and sent one accompanied with a letter to his opponent. Baker informed the police who arrested Kingston in Adelaide's Victoria Square.
In October 2002, four months before the US invasion of Iraq, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan suggested U.S. President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein settle their difference in a duel.[59] He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure,[60] but that it would also reduce the suffering of the Iraqi and American peoples. Ramadan's offer included the possibility that a group of US officials would face off with a group of Iraqi officials of same or similar rank (President v. President, Vice President v. Vice President, etc.). Ramadan proposed that the duel be held in a neutral land, with each party using the same weapons, and with UN Secretary GeneralKofi Annan presiding as the supervisor. On behalf of President Bush, White House Press SecretaryAri Fleischer declined the offer.
Notable examples of single combat in legend , mythology and religious text:
The Years Between, four-book series by Paul Féval, fils; and M Lassez: – 1928 features the ongoing conflict between the fiery Cyrano de Bergerac and D'Artagnan the aging legend. Three times they fight; various interruptions prevent either Gascon from receiving satisfaction.
The Duel (also known as The Point of Honor: A Military Tale) by Joseph Conrad: Two officers of Napoleon's army fight a number of duels over many years. The story was transferred to the screen in 1977 by Ridley Scott as The Duellists.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen has an "offstage" duel between Colonel Brandon and Mr. Willoughby over the seduction of Colonel Brandon's adopted daughter.
Fathers and Sons: Kirsanov and Bazarov duel is a culminating point of the novel; Turgenev also wrote a short story called Duellist.
Radetzky March by Joseph Roth: Regimental doctor Max Demant is killed in a duel with Cavalry Captain (Rittmeister) Count Tattenbach after Tattenbach implies that Dr. Demant's best friend, Lieutenant Carl Joseph von Trotta, is having an affair with Demant's wife and spews antisemitic insults at Demant.
The Highlander series features numerous duels between immortal warriors destined to fight. In the first film, a humorous duel occurs where a very drunk immortal fences with a sober man, is repeatedly run through but keeps getting back up to fight.
In Tombstone, Doc Holliday stands in for his friend Wyatt Earp in a duel with Johnny Ringo. This is based on one of several explanations for the unusual circumstances surrounding Ringo's death.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, The Count of Monte Cristo (Edmond Dantès) plans a duel with Viscount Albert Mondego, de Morcerf. However, no duel is ever fought, and Mondego apologizes. Monte Cristo also almost duels Mondego's father, the Count Fernand Mondego de Morcerf, but he learns Monte Cristo's true identity and bows out. There was also a recollection of Noitier de Villefort of him engaging with a duel and killing his opponent. He told the account to Franz d'Épinay, the son of the one Noitier killed. He did this in order to break up the plans of marriage to his granddaughter, Valentine.
Libertine, a Baroque-style music video by Mylène Farmer starts with a duel between the singer and a man, ending in the man's death.
The Skulls, a 2000 movie, culminates in a duel between the two main characters, though neither fires on the other and the fight is eventually interrupted by the father of one of the participants.
Barry Lyndon, the 1975 movie by Stanley Kubrick includes many duels. It begins with a duel in which Barry's father is mortally shot by an unknown man. Years later Barry duels Captain Quin for Nora. The movie culminates in a duel with Barry's stepson, Lord Bullingdon. This last duel is not in the original novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray.
In Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolay Stavrogin duels Gaganov over a family insult. During the duel, Stavrogin intentionally fires into the air, which infuriates Gaganov.
In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet fights a duel with Laertes. The weapons are not supposed to be fatal, but Laertes' sword is sharp, and the tip is poisoned. Both men are killed.
In Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman is forced into fighting a duel after a brief affair with a fellow officer's lover. Flashman gains a free shot after promising a large sum of money to the pistol loader to give his opponent blanks in his gun, but rather than attempt to kill his opponent, instead delopes and accidentally shoots the top off a bottle thirty yards away, an action that gives him instant fame and the respect of Duke of Wellington. In his next novel Royal Flash Flashman is kidnapped by Otto von Bismarck and is forced to acquire a pair of dueling scars administered by the duelmaster De Gautet. In disgust at having his face sliced like paper, Flashman lunges De Gautet and cuts his abdomen.
In the Simpsons episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", Homer, imitating Zorro, inadvertently challenges a gun-toting Southern colonel to a duel. Initially avoiding the duel by running to the country (and inventing 'Tomacco'), the eventual duel results in Homer being shot in the arm (subsequently refusing hospitalisation for pie).
In the Blackadder the Third episode "Duel and Duality", the Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie) is challenged to a duel by the Duke of Wellington (Stephen Fry). Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) assumes his place but is saved in the eventual duel (using cannon) by a cigarette case. The Prince, in Blackadder's clothing, is shot dead by the Duke for insolence with Blackadder assuming the role of Prince (and later King).
In Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, the long-standing personal and philosophical differences between Naptha and Settembrini eventually result in a pistol duel; when Settembrini delopes by shooting into the air, Naphta calls him a coward and shoots himself.
In the Metal Gear Solid series there have been a number of duels, most of them between the hero and boss characters. Four memorable ones are; The duel between Solid Snake and Grey Fox, barehanded over a minefield. The duel between Liquid Snake and Solid Snake, barehanded fighting on Metal Gear REX; the duel between Naked Snake and Revolver Ocelot using revolvers which were unable to fire properly, and the final duel between Old Snake and Liquid Ocelot, on top of Outer Haven.
In the movie Die Another Day, James Bond and Gustav Graves duel with a variety of swords, which ends with Bond slashing Graves across the chest with a longsword.
In the Firefly episode Shindig, Mal fights a duel against aristocrat Atherton Wing over a matter of Inara's honour. Despite Atherton's far superior skills as a swordsman, Mal gets the better of him with a deft punch, but then refuses to deliver the final blow, leaving Atherton humiliated.
In the book Field of Dishonor in the Honor Harrington series, Honor Harrington fights and wins two pistol duels, first against Denver Sumervale, who previously killed her lover in a duel, and then against Pavel Young, who hired Sumervale. She also fights and wins a sword duel in Flag in Exile with Steadholder Burdette.
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny: A series of ten books each featuring multiple fight scenes. From one-on-one duels to melees. Fencers will enjoy the level of detail that Zelazny puts into his fight scenes.
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan: Many weapons are employed in this 14-novel series. The duels are very detailed and Jordan employs a mix of classical fencing with Tai Chi terminology making for a graceful yet deadly display of swordsmanship.
In several episodes of The Woody Woodpecker Show, the main character, Woody Woodpecker engages in one-on-one duels, usually against the main antagonists of the episodes and usually coming out the winner of the duel. Some of the more notorious duels he was involved in were:
Woodpecker (as Robin Hood) vs Prince John in Robin Hoody Woody (not only did he win the duel, but he caused Prince John to unwittingly lose money by using the bags of tax money as ammunition and shooting him, consequently giving back to the people the money that Prince John stole from the English people in the form of taxes).
Woodpecker vs Buzz Buzzard in several episodes, but the most known duels were in the episodes:
Buccaneer Woodpecker in the Golden Age of Piracy (he wins the duel by detonating a powder keg with the powder leaking from the barrel, killing Buzzard instantly and earning the reward for eliminating him, as Buzzard was a dangerous and feared pirate).
Wild and Woody in The Wild West (he not only wins the duel but also kills Buzz Buzzard by throwing a box full of TNTdynamite into the iron oven in which Buzzard was trapped, killing him on the spot and sending him straight to hell).
In John Wick: Chapter 4, the title character challenges a High Table emissary, the Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont, to a duel at Sacré-Cœur in order to gain his freedom from the Table. After unsuccessfully trying to prevent Wick from reaching the duel on time, the Marquis takes the place of his second, Caine, in the final round in order to claim the coup de grâce. However, Wick had not fired his pistol in that round, so he is able to kill the Marquis, and Wick and Caine are both declared free from the Table.
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"PISTOLS FOR TWO". The West Australian. Vol.XLIX, no.9, 524. Western Australia. 5 January 1933. p.17. Retrieved 16 June 2017– via National Library of Australia.
Alden, Douglas W. (1938). "Marcel Proust's Duel, by Douglas W. Alden". Modern Language Notes. 53 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press.: 104–106. doi:10.2307/2912041. JSTOR2912041.
Cecilia af Klercker (1903). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok II 1783–1788 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte II) (in Swedish). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. p.212.
The Duel: A history of duelling by Robert Baldrick
Banks, Stephen. A Polite Exchange of Bullets; The Duel and the English Gentleman, 1750–1850, (Woodbridge: Boydell 2010)
Banks, Stephen. "Very little law in the case: Contests of Honour and the Subversion of the English Criminal Courts, 1780–1845" (2008) 19(3) King's Law Journal 575–594.
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