The LAST DUEL: A True Story of Crime,Scandal,and Trial By Combat in Medieval France. by JAGER, ERIC:

UK,small 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,matt,colour pictorial illustrated dw/dj,with blue,black and gilt lettering; with minimal shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.All corners of dw/dj minisculely rubbed and similarly creased,both head +foot of spine/backstrip also minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges slightly aged/toned but still generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight, clean - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,generally sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,2-242pp [paginated] includes a prologue,Pts 1+2 comprising 6 and 4 chapters and an epilogue respectively,profuse contemporary b/w facsimile 14th & 15thC illustration reproductions throughout the text and the book, b/w maps,an appendix, acknowledgements,notes,a list of sources and an index.Plus [unpaginated],half-title page,double-page b/w medieval map illustrated title page,a dedication,contemporary quotes,contents list/table,author's note and as last page - a note about the author. The gripping,atmospheric true story of the 'duel to end all duels' in medieval France: a trial by combat pitting a knight against a squire accused of violating the knight's beautiful young wife.In 1386,a few days after Christmas,a massive crowd gathered at a Paris monastery to watch the two men fight a duel to the death - a trial by combat meant to 'prove' which man's cause was right in God's sight.The notorious quarrel appears in many histories of France,but no writer has recounted it in full,until now.The dramatic story of the knight,the squire and the lady unfolds during the tumultuous fourteenth century,a time of war,plague and anarchy,as well as of honour,chivalry and courtly love.At the heart of the tale is Jean de Carrouges, a Norman knight who returned from combat in the Hundred Years War to find his wife,Marguerite,accusing an old friend and fellow courtier of brutally raping her.The knight took his cause to the teenage King Charles VI,the highest judge in France.Amidst doubts about Marguerite's charges - during a very public pregnancy - the deadlocked court ordered a trial by combat that left her fate,too,in the balance.If her husband and champion lost the duel,she would be put to death as a false accuser.An engrossing work of historical intrigue in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's 'A Distant Mirror' and Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose','The Last Duel' combines a captivating detective story,a revealing portrait of feudal culture in crisis,and an unforgettable tour of medieval crime and punishment. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices, weight allowances, dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!