The duel at all times was considered a purely masculine way of solving problems. However, the ladies did not want to give up this advantage to the strong half of humanity, and as soon as a way to resolve conflicts in a fair fight appeared, a female version of this confrontation immediately arose …
The most legendary female duelist was Julie de Maupin, who was born in France in 1670. She had innate male inclinations, which, however, did not prevent the flirtatious Mademoiselle from being very creative in nature and freely combining fights with the career of an opera singer.
Indomitable Julie
Julie was raised by her father, Gaston d'Aubigny, the chief equerry of the royal court of Louis XIV and at the same time the secretary of the Count d'Armagnac. D'Aubigny believed that his daughter should be able to fend for herself. Therefore, along with drawing and dancing, the young lady d'Aubigny learned fencing and horse riding.
When Julie was 15 years old, Comte d'Armagnac made her his mistress, and in order to introduce the girl into high society, he found her a nobleman from a French colony, a certain de Molene, as her husband. Her husband spent most of his life in the New World, and Julie remained in Paris.
The status of a married woman and the absence of a spouse gave Julie a new sense of unlimited freedom: at court, Julie flirted right and left with every cavalier she met.
During one of her fencing training sessions, Julie met Baron Seran and fled with him to Marseille, because he was accused of killing his opponent in a duel that was prohibited.
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However, the lovers' money soon ran out, and they began to perform in taverns, arranging public sword fights. At the same time, Julie changed into a man's costume and fenced in tandem with Seran. Naturally, a woman who knows how to perfectly wield a sword attracted everyone's attention, so there was no end of the audience. Once, one of the spectators even stated that Julie was actually a young man, because a lady could not be so skillful with a weapon. Outraged Julie immediately threw the sword aside and lifted her shirt so that no one would have any doubts about her belonging to the female sex.
But after some time, Seran was tired of her, and with him all the other men, and Madame de Maupin turned her attention to the ladies.
Her choice fell on a certain blonde who most likely mistook her for a man, since Julie often wore a man's suit. The girl's parents did not like this "unconventional" hobby of their daughter, and they sent her to the monastery. Julie followed her lady. One of the nuns had just died, and de Maupin put her corpse in the bed of her beloved, after which both fled from the monastery.
Their romance lasted three months, after which the girl got tired of the windy Julie, and she left her. But soon Julie was sentenced to be burned at the stake for indecent behavior.
Upon learning of the sentence, Julie set off on the run and began to make a living, again performing in taverns and taverns, but this time by singing. She had a very rare female contralto - the lowest female voice. Somehow she was heard by the old drunken actor Marechal, who in a few months made Julie a real opera singer.
Returning to Paris, Julie rushed to her former lover, Count d'Armagnac, begging him to revoke her death sentence. The Count settled her conflict with the law, and soon Madame de Maupin became the star of the Paris Opera.
Julie was adored by the audience and fans, but there were also envious people. One of them, Louis-Golard Dumeny, a former chef who became a soloist thanks to his voice, somehow rudely answered Madame de Maupin. Julie, not accustomed to letting off the offenders, said that "this case will not end here."
After the performance, Julie changed into a man, met Dumeny on the street and challenged him to a duel, and when he refused, she hit him with all her strength with a cane and took away the watch and snuffbox. The next day, the beaten Dumeny told everyone that he was attacked by robbers, beaten and robbed. This was what Julie needed. She came over and said:
- Dyumeny, you are a mean coward and a liar! I beat you! You refused to fight me, so I kicked you off! … Here is the proof! …
And to the loud laughter of others, she returned the disgraced Dumeny watch and snuffbox.
"Enchanted" by the sword
On September 11, 1693, de Maupin shone in the role of Dido in the opera Dido and Aeneas. After the end of the performance, she, out of habit, changed into a ceremonial men's jacket and went to a ball in the royal palace.
At the ball, she began to flirt with a certain young lady.
At one time Madame Maupin was the star of the Parisian opera, invited her to dance, after which she allowed herself to kiss her on the lips. The lady was indignant, the gentlemen standing next to her stood up to her, taking Julie for a cheeky young rake.
They challenged Julie to a duel, to which they received an immediate arrogant response from her: "At your service, gentlemen!"
All four went out into the garden, where Madame de Maupin drew her sword and pierced one of the men with it on the spot. The other two rushed at her, but were immediately stabbed by a woman's unwavering hand. After that, indomitable Julie, as if nothing had happened, returned to the ball.
However, witnesses to the quarrel noticed that she returned alone. It did not hide from the king either. His Majesty called her over and exclaimed: "It's you again, scoundrel La Maupin? … I've heard a lot about your tricks! … Haven't you heard about my edict on the prohibition of duels?"
The fearless woman took off her wig, letting her luxurious brown hair down over her shoulders, and fell to her knees before the king. Louis was so impressed by her insolence that he ordered to issue her a security certificate. However, in exchange for a pardon, he forever forbade her to use the sword, noting that her feminine charms would be enough.
However, there is another version of the same events, according to which Maupin, fearing royal wrath, fled to Brussels. There she became the mistress of the Elector of Bavaria and returned to Paris only after receiving royal pardon.
Where this indomitable woman ended her days, history is silent. It was rumored that after another novel, Julie de Maupin fell into a deep depression, in 1705 she left the stage and went to a monastery, where on July 2, 1707, she died at the age of 37.
It is interesting that over time, women's duels not only did not go out of fashion, but, on the contrary, became even more sophisticated. Soon fights between women crossed the borders of France and spread throughout Europe. The enraged ladies did not stop at anything: they smeared the points of swords with poison, shot to kill, until one of them was killed or at least wounded.
At the same time, some spicy detail of women's duels reached us: the ladies fought topless on swords, that is, naked to the waist. Firstly, a narrow women's dress impeded movement, and secondly, in those days it was believed that the fabric of a dress that got into a wound could introduce an infection into it.
Women's duels have sunk to Russia. Even Catherine the Great herself was no exception in this phenomenon.
Duels of Catherine II
In June 1744, two young 15-year-old princesses did not share something with each other, locked themselves in the bedroom and began to sort things out with swords. True, it did not come to blood, because the girls were very afraid to hurt each other.
One of them in the future became Empress Catherine II, and the other was her second cousin, Anna Ludwig of Anhaltskaya.
There was a case when Catherine II was almost challenged to a duel by her own husband, Peter III. The weak-willed husband was annoyed that Catherine behaved at court too proudly and independently. He decided to reason with her, went into her chambers and half pulled out his sword from its sheath.
Seeing this, Catherine said that in this case, she would also need a sword. Realizing that his wife was not afraid of him, Peter III hid the weapon back in its scabbard, but the story did not end there. Catherine answered this challenge in her own way: as a result of a palace coup, Peter III was killed, and Catherine ascended the throne.
It was after this that a wave of female duels swept across Russia, the peak of which fell in 1765. This year, 20 ladies' duels were appointed, and in eight of them Catherine II herself was the second.
So it is dangerous to get in the way of a woman, especially if a sword is sparkling in her hands.