Facing death as a hobby

Strasbourg 1794. People flock to the town‘s hall, as a ball will be held by General Moreau of the French army of the North. But one man stands out from the bustling crowd - calm and determined. Introducing brigadier Pierre Dupont de l‘Étang. Dupont has a mission from General Moreau to accomplish. Entering, Dupont goes directly to a tall, energic young lieutenant. His name is François Fournier-Sarlovève. Fournier, trying to go in, is blocked by Dupont. Fournier, a notoriously proud man, had duelled a citizen called Blumm the day before and killed him. General Moreau, trying to avoid a scandal, tasked Dupont with stopping Fournier from attending the ball. Fournier lost his temper. Voices were raised. And a duel was provoked. This single moment would shape the rest of both men‘s lives and begin a remarkable, strange, unique and bloody relationship.

Going outside, this first duel would be fought with swords. Both men would savagely exchange blows for more than two minutes. Going back and forth, pressing the advantage, parring. Until Dupont slashed Fournier‘s arm. Fournier dropped his weapon. Dupont had won this encounter.

Most probably, both wouldn‘t speak about the first duel: at the time, duelling was shunned by the French emperor. The shame of losing in arms would also help to silence the impetuous Fournier. Not for long. The army took the field, diverting Fournier‘s attention for a while. But, when the armistice was called, he hurriedly used two of his friends to call Dupont for another duel to repay his honour.

Duel number 2 would happen one month later at Strasbourg. It would see Fournier come out on top, but not fatally wounding Dupont. It seemed that Dupont also valued his pride more than his life and he would demand a rematch. Did they feel the honour of their respective regiments (or themselves) in question? Did they appreciate the attention and instant fame that voluntary flirting with death would most certainly have brought? Maybe. How both men were not reprimanded enough to stop is also in question. Maybe their superiors secretly believed and cheered for a way to show the honor and valour of their regiment? Nevertheless, both men persisted and thus a sort of uneasy tacit alliance began.

The third duel would see both men receiving grievous blows and refusing to kneel. They would be separated and forced to a standstill: a draw. Supposedly asked whether this was the end of their feud, both men said that it would only end with one of them dead on the ground.

Fournier would be destituted for his Jacobin‘s ideas and forced to go back to Sarlat. Before leaving, he would propose a deadly contract to Dupont.

Every time Dupont and Fournier are a hundred miles from each other they will each approach from a distance to meet, sword in hand.
Should one of the contracting parties be prevented from doing so by service duties, he who is free must travel the entire distance, so as to reconcile the obligations of the treaty.
No excuses whatsoever, except those resulting from military obligations, will be admitted.
No alteration to this contract will be tolerated.

Fournier left, uncertain of his future. They would see each other again. Three years later, Fournier would come back into the military in full force and climb back up the ranks. Around this time, they would start a correspondence. At first, to follow on the contract. But it then evolved into a jeering, but friendly correspondence.

Dear Friend, I shall be passing through Strasbourg the fifth of November next, at about noon. You will wait for me at the Hotel des Postes; we will have a little fencing. - Dupont

Both men distinguished themselves in their military career and continued to climb the ranks: Dupont steadily, Fournier, fitting to his temperament, heraticly. Some time after, Fournier would write a congratulatory letter for Dupont‘s promotion to brigadier general as this meant, being now of the same rank, they could continue their duel.

My dear Dupont, I am informed that the Emperor has done justice to your merits by promoting you to the rank of General of Brigade. Accept my sincere congratulations on an advancement which is no more than the natural consequence of your knowledge and your courage. For myself, there is a double motive, for rejoicing at your nomination. In the first place, the satisfaction given by a circumstance so flattering to your future prospects; and secondly, the permission which it gives us of having a turn together at the first opportunity. - Fournier

Our duellist would come back together at Lubeck. They fought and, this time, Dupont would come out on top. Fournier was cut open in the forehead. Bleeding profusely, but still alive and still as determined.

This time, they would dine together.

Next, they would meet in Marengo during the Italian Campaigns in 1800. In February 1801, impatient in peace, Fournier would join Moreau and Pichegru‘s conspiracy against Napoleon. He would be imprisoned at the Temple on the fourth of May 1801. A year later, he would be pardoned and go back to his usual dance with Dupont. They would meet all around Europe to uphold their contract. Their contract demanded they meet in Friedland in 1807, during the war of the Fourth Coalition. They would also clash in various parts of Spain during Napoleon‘s Spanish campaign. Both men, still, survived their encounters. Now general, Dupont would fail to subdue Andalousia and had to capitulate at Baylein. This represented the first important blow to Napoleon‘s armies. The emperor would be furious and disgrace him. Court-Martialed, deprived of his rank and titles, he would be imprisonned from 1812 to 1814. During that time, Fournier would also get in trouble. At Eisenach, Napoleon exposed his plans to a few generals including Fournier. Asked for his opinion, the latter would respond: « I say that you will lose yourself: you and France. » The emperor would have raised his hand, as to hit him and Fournier drew his sabre. Fournier is arrested on the spot, destituted and placed under police surveillance. The date was 1813, October 23rd.

We reach the 100 days and the July monarchy.

At the fall of Napoleon, Dupont and Fournier were released and found employment with Louis XVIII. Dupont became deputy of Charente (where he was born) from 1815 to 1830 and Fournier acted as general inspector of cavalry.

In these rapidly changing times: friends, government and positions would come and go. But their relationship would stay. Perhaps these repeated duels became a sort of comforting familiarity to these men used to war and death now in the unknown world of peace. In these duels, Dupont didn‘t have any seconds: those he knew in the army were either dead or imprisoned. And he knew little else than the army. But something changed: Dupont lost interest. Dupont had married a daughter of a state counsellor named Jeanne Grâce Bergon the 26 December 1804. In the short term, this wouldn‘t change his habits, but maybe, in time, he hoped more and more to escape his engagement for the quiet life of a family man. Another duel was called and they would meet again in some woods of Neuilly, near Paris. But this fight was different. Dupont proposed pistols, which he avoided until now since Fournier was famously a good shot. Fournier would jump at the change of pace. Dupont would trick Fournier into missing his two shots. Dupont still had his two shots and his prey in reach. Arguing that he now owned Fournier‘s life, he would convince the man to stop their quarrel. This was the end - no more duels. Both men were still standing.

Fournier would die naturally in 1827, and Dupont in 1840. But as they faded away, their story would gain even more traction. The first reported reference to the story can be traced back to d‘Almbert‘s version from 1853, thirteen years after Dupont‘s death. This story would cross the English Channel a few years later, most famously in Charles Dickens‘s Household Words (1858).

But, for us, this story would really come to our attention when Joseph Conrad picked it up for his 1907 novella “The Duel“. Ridley Scott would in turn bring back the novella‘s backbone for his 1977 movie, “The Duellists“. Dupont and Fournier as a flamboyant portrayal of a bygone era with his own code of honour and rules still charm to this day.

Truly, an incredible invention.

For his part, Conrad seemed incredibly adamant about the veracity of his sources, but those sources are no longer available. Even if they were available, these sources date only as far back as the mid-19th century, years after Dupont‘s death. This does not mean that Conrad lied, he probably truly believed what he found, but this does not change the fact that Conrad took some liberties with the duels. First, he renamed Dupont to Armand d‘Hubert and Fournier to Gabriel Féraud. He also changed the ranks of both men, dates and events, some taking place where both men never went in military records. How Fournier is described physically in the novella doesn‘t match available portraits of the man.

But, Conrad should not be blamed since records before his time are even more fuzzy and contradictory. Journals in the 1850s don‘t agree between themselves on many aspects including the number of duels and when they took place. General Moreau who triggered the duels did not become general of the Rhines until 1976, two years after the supposed start of the story. No name matching the one of the citizen Fournier is supposed to have killed (‘Blumm‘) is present in Strasbourg‘s records of the era. If both men waited for each other of being of the same rank to duel, well both men only achieved the same rank in 1812… when Dupont was still in prison. Dupont and Fournier‘s personal records are long lost. Dupont‘s memoirs make no mention of a duel.

The whole affair should be taken as a legend. Fournier and Dupont act more like archetypes rather than accurate representations. This tale is not a portrait of a particularly peculiar and bloodthirsty hobby, but rather of our own almost as strange habit to embellish and ravish for our own amusement - looking back at us. D‘Almbert, Conrad and Scott all did and… of course, I did too.

See you next week.

References

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 8/Dupont de l'Étang, Pierre Antoine.
Le général Dupont, une erreur historique, par le lieutenant-colonel Titeux.
Le général d’Empire Fournier-Sarlovèze, comte de Louis XVIII, 1775-1827, Henri Malga.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/c_hussars1.html
History and Legend in "The Duel", Gene M. Moore, The Conradian Vol. 41, No. 2 (Autumn 2016).
Alfred D‘Almbert, Physiologie du duel 1853 (p.46-67).
Household Words Volume XVIII p.97-99 - French Duelling Extraordinary.
Marcel Dupont, Fournier-Sarlovèze le plus mauvais sujet de l'armée, Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1936.

Facing death as a hobby

References

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