Battle of the Thirty: chivalry as private duel

1351

In a Breton meadow, thirty knights of the French side fought thirty Anglo-Breton knights under agreed rules until exhaustion. The French won. Both sides were celebrated for courtesy and bravery. Jean de Beaumanoir, who led the French, became a hero of chivalric legend. The episode became a touchstone for fading ideals of chivalric warfare in an age of plague and longbows.