Duel
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- For an account of the Steven Spielberg film, see Duel (movie).
A duel or duel of honour is a form of armed combat in which two individuals participate. Duels represent a contrived combat situation designed to maximize fairness of combat. They usually develop out of a desire for one party (the challenger) to redress an insult to his honour. Typically, duels have been fought between members of the same social class; they are regarded as especially noteworthy when those partaking are of the upper class but occur at all social strata. In the modern United States, duels occur rarely but duel-like gunfights occur mostly among the urban lower class.
Despite the romanticism of dueling in some literature, dueling is an extremely dangerous practice, often resulting in the death of one or both participants.
Hamilton-burr-duel.jpg
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Rules
Duels could be fought with some sort of sword or, from the 18th Century on, [1] (http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/techniques/pup_wd.html) with pistols. For this end special sets of duelling pistols were crafted for the wealthiest of noblemen.
After the offence, whether real or imagined, the offended party would demand "satisfaction" [2] (http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/mysticXN.htm) from the offender, signalling this demand with an inescapably insulting gesture, such as hitting the offender in the face with a glove, or throwing the glove before him. Both parties would name a trusted representative (a Second) who would, between them, determine a suitable "field of honour", the chief criterion being isolation from interruptions. Duels traditionally took place at dawn, for this very reason. It was also the duty of each party's second to check that the weapons were equal and that the duel was fair.
At the choice of the offended party, the duel could be:
- at first blood, in which case the first man to bleed would lose;
- till one man was heavily wounded and incapacitated unable to physically continue the duel;
- to the death, in which case there would be no satisfaction until the other party was mortally wounded;
- or, in the case of pistol duels, each party would agree to fire one shot each, after which the duel would be declared over.
Under the latter conditions, one or both parties could intentionally miss in order to fulfil the conditions of the duel, without loss of either life or honour. Practices varied, however, and many pistol duels were to first blood or death. The offended party could stop the duel at any time if he deemed his honour satisfied.
For a pistol duel, the parties would be placed back to back with loaded weapons in hand and walk a set number of paces, turn to face the opponent, and shoot. Typically, the graver the insult, the fewer the paces agreed upon. Alternately, a pre-agreed length of ground would be measured out by the seconds and marked, often with swords stuck in the ground. At a given signal, often the dropping of a handkerchief, the principals could advance to the marker and fire at will. This latter system reduced the possibility of cheating, as neither principal had to trust the other not to turn too soon. Another system involved alternative shots being taken - the challenged firing first.
Many historical duels were prevented by the difficulty of arranging the "methodus pugnandi." In the instance of Dr. Brocklesby, the number of paces could not be agreed upon; and in the affair between Akenside and Ballow, one had determined never to fight in the morning, and the other that he would never fight in the afternoon. John Wilkes, who did not stand upon ceremony in these little affairs, when asked by Lord Talbot how many times they were to fire, replied, "just as often as your Lordship pleases; I have brought a bag of bullets and a flask of gunpowder."
History
In English, the word duel is attested from the latter half of the 15th century. It derives from Old Latin duellum "war", in Middle Latin associated with duo "two" by popular etymology, shifting its meaning to "one-to-one combat". The word is ultimately from a PIE root *deh2v "to burn, to destroy", cognate to Old English teona "damage".
Physical confrontations related to insults and social standing pre-date human society, but the formal concept of a duel, in Western society, developed out of medieval judicial duel and older pre-Christian practices such as the Viking Age Holmganga. In 1457, Hans Talhoffer reports that even though dueling was prohibited in Franconia, there were still seven capital crimes that were still commonly accepted to be settled by a judicial duel: murder, treason, heresy, faithlessness towards one's lord, blasphemy, forgery and rape. Most societies did not condemn dueling, and the victor of a duel was regarded not as a murderer but as a hero, his social status often increased. During the early Renaissance, dueling established the status of a respectable and accepted manner for gentlemen to resolve disputes. Dueling in such societies was seen as an alternative to less regulated conflict.
Despite its respected status and frequent romanticization, the reality of dueling is that it upsets society by creating divisions. The Catholic Church and many political leaders like King James VI of Britain, usually denounced the practice throughout Europe's history, though some authorities tacitly allowed it, believing it to relieve long-standing familial and social tensions.
The first code duello, or "code of dueling", appeared in Renaissance Italy with the publication of the "Flos Duellatorum" in 1410, it was followed by a series of increasingly complicated Italian manuals. The first formalized national code was France's, during the Renaissance. In 1777, Ireland developed a code duello, which was indeed the most influential in American duelling culture.
Prominent duels
To decline a challenge was often equated to defeat by forfeiture, and was sometimes even regarded as dishonorable. Prominent and famous individuals ran an especial risk of being challenged for duels.
Among the most famous duels are the American Hamilton–Burr duel, in which notable Federalist Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded, and the duel between Duke of Wellington and the 10th Earl of Winchilsea, wherein both participants intentionally missed the other.
The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin prophetically described a number of duels in his works, notably Onegin's duel with Lensky in Eugene Onegin. The poet was mortally wounded in a controversial duel with Dantes, a French officer rumoured to be his wife's lover. Dantes, who was accused of cheating in this duel, married Pushkin's sister-in-law and went on to become French minister and senator. The whole affair was instigated by anonymous letters, apparently written by two homosexual princes in order to revenge Dantes for his homosexual affair with the Ambassador of Holland.
In 1864, American writer Mark Twain - then editor of the New York Sunday Mercury - narrowly avoided fighting a duel with a rival newspaper editor, apparently through the quick thinking of his second, who exaggerated Twain's prowess with a pistol. [3] (http://www.classicauthors.net/Paine/twainbio/twainbio46.html) [4] (http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Twain/autobiography/autobiography8.html) [5] (http://www.twaintimes.net/page4.htm)
(See also: List of famous duels)
Opposition to dueling
Dueling began to fall out of favor in the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin denounced the practice as uselessly violent, and George Washington encouraged his officers to refuse challenges during the American Revolutionary War; the death by dueling of officers would have threatened the success of the war effort.
Furthermore, dueling was often used as a façade for legalized murder. In 1806, Andrew Jackson—later to become a U.S. President—shot an opponent after the duel had technically ended. By the end of the 19th century, legalized dueling was almost extinct in most of the world. Some American states have laws which establish procedures for legal dueling, but it is unlikely that they would be upheld in court.
The Constitutions of the States of Alabama, Tennessee, California, and Texas have provisions providing for punishments and/or loss of right to vote and stand for office for engaging in or being a second in a duel, provisions held over from the 19th Century. Kentucky requires candidates for public office, lawyers, and notaries public to swear that they have not participated in a duel, either as a principal or a second, before taking office. The Uniform Code of Milititary Justice UCMJ Article 114, makes dueling illegal in the US Military.
Modern duels
Duelling still continues to occur, albeit not with regularity. In May of 2005, twelve youths aged between fifteen and seventeen were arrested in Japan and charged with violating a duelling law that came into effect in 1889. Six other youths were also arrested on the same charges in March [6] (http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050526p2a00m0dm009001c.html).
Game-theoretic aspects of dueling
Dueling is a scenario sometimes used in discussions of games and game theory.
One example is a dueling-type scenario with 3 participants, each with different levels of skill as a marksman. Shooter A has a 95% rate of accuracy, shooter B has 75%, and C has 5%. The shooters take positions on an equilateral triangle; each chooses a target and (if alive) fires one shot. The question is: Which participant is in the best position, assuming each shooter is rational and acts accordingly?
If the shots are fired simultaneously, it is best to be shooter A. Simultaneous shots mean that there is no survival-related advantage in targeting the more accurate shooter, since his shot will have already been fired by the time he is eliminated. Therefore, it is best to be A, since he has the least competent opposition.
If the shots are not to be fired simultaneously (as occurs in real life) it is best to be shooter C. Shooters A and B, operating rationally, will target the more competent opponent hoping to prevent said opponent's shot from ever being issued. This means that shooter C is in little danger of being killed himself.
Replacements for dueling
Dueling has been replaced, in modern times, with other sports and games that are generally much safer than dueling itself. On occasion, these sports occur with the honor and feud rhetoric associated with duels (see: grudge match) but normally they are pursued as recreation and carry little of the cultural weight associated with duels. Often, indeed, the participants of the mock duel will be acquaintances or friends outside of the "duel".
- Boxing, a sport wherein participants engage in a controlled fistfight, is believed to be a replacement for dueling developed by the English. As late as the 1960s, some U.S. municipalities encouraged adolescents, instead of fighting in private, to pursue their confrontations in a boxing ring.
- Fencing is a sport which simulates a swordfight, but with dull swords unlikely to cause bodily harm.
- Some martial arts are recreational sports derived, frequently, from more deadly combat practices.
- Some video games allow dueling-type scenarios. One popular genre is the fighting game, in which two player-controlled characters engage in hand-to-hand combat against each other.
- Several board games and card games, such as chess, Risk or, more recently, Magic: the Gathering, pit one player against another, in approximations of an armed confrontation.
See also
In the world of cinema, duelling has provided themes for such motion pictures as Stanley Kubrick's 1975 Barry Lyndon, an adaptation of a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray from 1844, and Ridley Scott's 1977 The Duellists, which adapted Joseph Conrad's 1908 short story The Duel. [7] (http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/theduel.htm) [8] (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/dueling/4.html)
References
- The Duel: A history of duelling by Robert Baldrick
- Duelling in America by Ben Truman (1992).... the original was The Field of Honor (1884)