Eric Jager

Eric Jager is a UCLA professor whose scholarship focuses on medieval literature, book history, and narrative. The Last Duel reconstructs a celebrated 1386 legal dispute involving Norman knight Jean de Carrouges, his former friend Jacques Le Gris, and Carrouges's wife Marguerite. After Marguerite brought a grave accusation against Le Gris and the court could not resolve the case, the Parlement of Paris authorized trial by combat, making her future depend on the result. Published in 2004, Jager's narrative history became a New York Times bestseller and later the basis of Ridley Scott's 2021 film, for which Jager served as script consultant. The book combines archival research with close attention to law, status, and testimony in medieval France.