In Western Europe or the Americas, did women ever duel to settle a point of honor?

by spikebrennan
Georgy_K_Zhukov

Ever? Yes. There are a few records here and there of women engaging in duels, but they were few and far between, and while following the rules and conventions of the duel, they nevertheless fought in contravention of them since it went against the very underpinnings of the duel itself, conceptualized as an exclusively masculine endeavor. Furthermore, they may often be apocryphal, as dueling records are often rife with inaccuracies in the best of cases.

In "The Duel in European History" VG Kiernan makes note of a 1828 duel fought over a man by two women, as well as a duel that occurred between Princess Metternich and a Countess Kilmannsegg, fought when they disagreed about the organization of the Vienna Musical and Theatrical Exhibition. Baldick also highlights this in "The Duel" for the distinction of being an entirely female affair, including the seconds and the attending surgeon. That is hardly the only incidents recorded, but they were very few and far between.

While not quite a duel between women, Kiernan also relates the existence of a "James Miranda Stuart Barry", a woman who lived in disguise as a man in the late 18th century, fighting several duels over insults about "his" feminine features. Across the 'pond', Jack Williams notes, in "Dueling in the Old South" a challenge issued by a woman against a man who she claimed was a peeping tom. He not only refused, but had her arrested for intent to murder. No mention of whether it went to trial, but nevertheless illustrative of how far from the protections of the code women stood. Simply put, a woman wasn't supposed to duel, and if offended, a man (Husband, Father, Brother) was obliged to stand in her place.

Which brings us to one of the most interesting little asides I've read, regarding what the exclusion from the duel meant for women. Dueling in late 19th Century France was all the rage, and of course exclusive to the male population (the well to do one at that). By this point, the French duel had become quite neutered, however, with fatalities under 2 percent. As such, duels were very much a public action, intended to send a message, and practiced in large part by journalists and politicians, two classes of men who often had to defend their words.

In the case of journalists, a 'muck-raker' could almost assume they would need to be fighting duels with frequency. Some of the larger newspapers would even have a private fencing studio for its writers to practice in, and dueling in defense of the paper would result in a bonus - which some noted, cynically, caused writers to be nastier at the end of the month in hopes of getting a boost to their paycheck when the barb was inevitably resented.

What this meant for women, though, was that the journalistic field in France was all but closed off to them. Unable to partake in the duel themselves, a woman aspiring to the 4th estate either had to entirely avoid controversy, or else allow her editor to stand in her place. It placed her in quite the conundrum, effectively preventing reporting on politics if she desisted, or placing her honor in the hands of a man if not - an unwelcome situation. This is well illustrated by Séverine (Nom de plume of Caroline Rémy de Guebhard), one of the few hard-hitting female journalists of the time, and an ardent feminist. After writing a piece which insulted the MP Gabriel Terrail, he resented the article and issued a challenge, which had to be accepted by George de LaBruyere, her editor. George was badly wounded in the exchange, which was bad enough, but the whole affair resulted in serious censure from feminist circles for Séverine, with the League for the Emancipation of Women rebuking her for having a man defend her.


Sources:

Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France by Robert Nye

The Duel in European History by V.G. Kiernan

Dueling in the Old South: Vignettes of Social History by Jack K. Williams

The Duel: A History of Duelling by Robert Baldick - While this book is offender #1 for "I never met an unsubstantiated anecdote I didn't like", a common problem in many dueling books, I nevertheless make mention of it since it has a whole chapter of alleged female duels (Ch. 11), and is freely available on OpenLibrary, so if you want more than what I mention here check that out!