Guest Post by Donna Hatch
Title:
The
Stranger She Married
Author:
Donna
Hatch
Release
date: August 24, 2013
Genre:
Historical
Romance
Tour:
Irresistible
Reads Book Tours
Book
Description:
To save her family from debtor's prison,
Alicia must marry the first wealthy man to propose. Her choices narrow to a
scarred cripple with the heart of a poet, or a handsome rake with a deadly
secret. Cole believes he is beyond redemption, yet cannot deny his attraction
for the girl who touches his heart. He must protect her from the murderer
killing her family before she becomes the next target.
Dueling
In
England, dueling was part of a long-standing code of honor, far beyond a mere
tradition. Gentlemen took their dueling very seriously; they would rather die
than be dishonored. Does your heart go pitter patter just at the sound of that?
Mine sure does. How many men that honorable do you know? Okay, maybe we'd call
it misplaced pride or an overdeveloped sense of vengeance, but hey, Regency and
Georgian England was a different world with a different set of rules.
By
the Regency Era, dueling was outlawed. However, duels still happened more
frequently than many people knew. The problem was, because courts were made up
of peers, they were reluctant to charge another peer with murder as a result of
a duel. There is a case where one nobleman was charged with murder and tried,
but used the defense that his behavior was gentlemanly and honorable, meaning
that he acted within the proper code of conduct. His peers acquitted him.
The
procedure for issuing a challenge was very specific. A gentleman never
challenged a social inferior. For instance, a gentleman of significance with
ties to the aristocracy or nobility would never challenge a commoner, such as a
blacksmith or a farmer. Also, if there was a significant age difference, the
duel would not be extended.
If
the duelists were socially equal, or at least similar, the gentleman who was
offended told the man who’d wronged him that he should choose his “second,” a
close friend or family member who would look out for his best interests. If he
was really incensed, he might slap him with his glove, but that was considered
extreme and beneath gentlemanly behavior, as it was the ultimate insult, and
probably resulted in a fight then and there.
The
next day, supposedly after heads had cooled, the wronged man who wished to duel
would send his “second” with a written letter challenging the duel. After the
verbal challenge – or perhaps warning would be a better word – was issued,
depending on the severity of the offense, the recipient had a choice; apologize
or accept. Sometimes, the apology would not be accepted, often if there were a
third person who’d been wronged such as a lady's honor. (Okay, call me crazy
but that almost makes me want to swoon.) If the duel was accepted, the man who
was challenged got to choose swords or pistols and name the time and the place.
When
the allotted day arrived, they met, probably in a remote place where they
wouldn’t be caught by the law, and the seconds inspected the weapons to be
used. A final opportunity for an apology could be given. If not, the seconds
decided if the duel should be fought to (a) first blood, or (b) until one can
no longer stand, or (c) to the death. Once that was decided, the opponents
dueled and the seconds watched to insure that nothing dishonorable happened. If
one of the duelers became too injured to continue, occasionally the second
would step in and duel. Sometimes, the seconds were hot-headed and ended up
dueling each other as well.
As
horrible as it sounds to our modern selves, these gentlemen took their honor
very seriously, and considered death preferable to living with the label of a
coward, a label that would follow them and their families for years.
And,
maybe it’s me, but there a certain romance about a gentleman brave enough and
protective enough to be willing to risk death defending my honor from another
man who’d besmirched it.
A
duel is what leads to all the trouble for my hero in my newest book "The
Stranger She Married" and causes events he wishes desperately he could
change, especially when the duel goes awry and causes pain to an entire family.
I'm
sure glad my husband isn't likely to try it...
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ReplyDeleteLove this book . Thanks for information on duelling Donna
ReplyDelete