We all have some sort of idealised picture of a duel, but what kind of cultural codes can be found behind the duels themselves? I attempt to answer that question, among others, in my book The duel in early modern England: civility, politeness and honour (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

The duel of honour naturally has its roots in the Middle Ages, but it particularly developed in early-modern Europe, first in Renaissance Italy, from where it spread to other parts of Europe. The duel was part of the period’s culture of etiquette. As another English humanist wrote after a long sojourn in Italy in the 1540s: Italians are the most polite of people but also the most fastidious about their honour and willing at the most trifling offence to challenge anyone whomsoever to a duel. Advocates of the duel thought that the custom was essential for the maintenance of honour. When a gentleman was ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of his public reputation, a culture had reached its highest possible level.

The numerous opponents of the duel considered the custom sinful, horrific and ridiculous. When the practice finally disappeared in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, this was not due, as is often claimed, to the rise of commercial values, but to changes in politeness- and cultural codes.