Duels and Duelling

A duel could result from any challenge to a gentleman's honour, from minor insult to major accusation. At a prearranged time, two men at odds would meet, armed either with swords or pistols, to engage in a formal and sometimes fatal exchange. Gentlemen considered it their prerogative to fight, despite the illegality of duelling, and figures as prominent as the Duke of Wellington and Georges Clemenceau defended their honour in this way. Why did participants flout the law, what codes were followed, what were the changing roles of the seconds, and what were the consequences for victims and victors? Stephen Banks answers these questions and examines the evolution from Norman trials-by-combat to the formalised duel, analysing the custom's decline in England by Victorian times and its final disppearance from Europe by the twentieth century.

Stephen Banks is a director of the Forum for Legal and Historical Research at the University of Reading and his main research interests are in law, anthropology and cultural history, with a particular focus on violence and the relationship between law and honour culture. among his other books is A Polite Exchange of Bullets: The Duel and the English Gentleman, 1750-1850.