Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory

The Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs holds a violent and legal history that echoes far beyond its religious origins. In the year 1386, the monastery grounds served as the stage for the final officially sanctioned trial by combat in French history. Two knights, Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, fought a life-or-death duel here after Carrouges accused Le Gris of raping his wife. The court permitted this grisly contest as a way for divine intervention to reveal the truth, and the event remains a notorious chapter in the site's long tenure as a powerful Parisian institution.