I would say that it is part of the nature of being human to resolve our differences through violence. Resolve our problems in duels to the death to see who will survive and who will move on to a “better life,” at least informally. We actually have records of this. It is the story of an event that tells us a lot about how lucky we are to have survived as a civilization, the last “official” duel, and the historical video that captured it.

The first duels. The truth is that it is difficult to truly mark the beginning of a duel to death, but we do have clues. In Western society, the concept of formal mourning developed from earlier pre-Christian practices, such as medieval judicial mourning and the holmgang of the Viking Age. In the Middle Ages, knights would engage in judicial duels to settle disputes. Countries such as France, Germany, England, and Ireland practiced this tradition.

In any case, the original basis of dueling was based on a code of honour, and was less about killing one’s opponent than about gaining “satisfaction”, that is, restoring one’s honour by showing one was willing to risk one’s life for it. The tradition of dueling was therefore reserved for male members of the nobility. Until the 18th century, duels were fought mostly with swords, later becoming more common with pistols.

First duel code. Although the first official national law was that of France during the Renaissance, it occurred in Italy. From the late 1580s to the 1620s, an estimated 10,000 Frenchmen (mostly nobles) died in duels. Later, in the 17th century, dueling was considered the prerogative of the aristocracy throughout Europe, and attempts to discourage or suppress it were generally unsuccessful.

Regardless, these early codes were very similar, outlining the legitimate reasons for dueling, the weapons allowed, the distance (and later the number of shots). Duelists often had godfathers who oversaw compliance with the rules and negotiated compromises. For example, samurai duels, known as “kettō” in Japan, also followed a code of honor, focused on respect and martial skill, and could include the use of swords.

Duels in America. There, dueling was also common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and followed specific rules, called the “Pando Code” in Mexico, which dictated details regarding weapons and the conditions of combat. In the United States, dueling was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in the South, and was also governed by a set of unwritten rules that emphasized honor.

In any case, duels were considered a last resort to resolve personal disputes, and although some societies attempted to outlaw them, duels continued until they were replaced by modern legal systems in the 20th century.

Ammunition moment. Dueling began in England around 1770. Dueling subsequently underwent a number of significant changes. First, unlike their counterparts in many continental countries, English duelists eagerly adopted the pistol and sword duels declined. For this purpose, special dueling pistols were produced, always aimed at the wealthiest nobles.

Moreover, the “second” position became that of a “friend” chosen by the aggrieved parties to conduct the honor dispute. These friends would attempt to resolve a dispute on mutually acceptable terms and, if this failed, arrange and supervise the mechanics of the encounter.

Rules regarding firearms. Supported by these godfathers, duelists would face each other at a predetermined distance, usually marked by numbered steps. The conditions of the duel were agreed upon, which had to be the same for both, including the number of shots allowed and the weapons to be used. Shots were fired after a clear signal, and the rules could allow for a single round or multiple rounds until one of the participants was injured or unable to continue.

It wasn’t a crime, almost. Take England at the time, for example. Killing during a duel was officially considered murder, but the courts were often very lax in their application of the law, out of sympathy for the culture of honour. Despite being a criminal act, in many countries military officers could be punished if they failed to duel when the situation demanded it.

Latest duels by country. There were actually as many countries where it was practiced as there were, but due to its importance we will list the most well-known ones. For example, it is believed that the last fatal duel in Canada occurred in 1833, when Robert Lyon challenged John Wilson to say something about a schoolteacher. Wilson killed Lyon and then married the schoolteacher. The last fatal duel in England occurred in 1852 between two French political refugees, Frederic Cournet and Emmanuel Barthélemy. Barthélemy killed his opponent and was subsequently hanged for the crime.

The last duel to the death in the United States took place in 1859. Former California Supreme Court Chief Justice David Terry shot and killed anti-slavery Senator David Broderick. Terry was arrested but the case was dismissed. Meanwhile, the pistols used were sold at auction in 1998 for $34,500.

The last official duel. Interestingly, he didn’t do quite the same thing (video above). This happened in France in the 20th century (1967) and we have footage of it. When René Ribière started to move in his chair, Gaston Defferre, the mayor of Marseille and a presidential candidate, was speaking in parliament. “Shut up, you idiot!” Defferre snapped. Ribière challenged Defferre to a sword duel. It’s important to remember that the sword evolved from lighter civilian weapons for dueling. They were developed under pressure from the authorities to emphasize the first bloodstain rather than the death.

The final duel took place at a private residence in Neuilly-sur-Seine and was officiated by Jean de Lipkowskiin. Ribière was due to marry the next day and Defferre had sworn not to kill him, but said that doing so would “injure him in a way that would significantly disrupt his wedding night”.

Conclusion. Defferre, twelve years older than his opponent, offered blunt swords; Ribière demanded sharp ones. When Ribière received the first wound to his arm and began to bleed, he refused to stop, but when the same thing happened again, Lipkowskiin ended the fight.

No one died that day, and Defferre later became Minister of the Interior under François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984, dying of natural causes on 7 May 1986 at the age of 75. Ribière died on Christmas Day at the age of 76.

Interestingly, these two men who fought for their honor were forever united as the last pair to face each other in an official duel.

Image | Ilya Repin, Public domain, Yoshifusa Utagawa, Adrian Volkov

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