To these men, it was better to die respectably in a duel over an insult than to live on without honor. Some countries even had laws that punished 'cowards' with excommunication from the church, the loss of voting rights or outright imprisonment (Holland, pg. Under some kings, failure to uphold a dueling challenge could result in a loss of noble ranking. This loss of honor was not a completely abstract concept. To refuse would mean that your opponent could publish an account of your cowardice, report it in church or simply spread the word to all his friends. The best way to avoid being considered a coward was to challenge anyone who insulted you to a duel and to accept any dueling challenges offered to you. There were several ways to lose honor, but the most common and most important was to be considered a coward. If you were a noble, you had to constantly protect your honor against various challenges to it - and not just your own honor, but your entire family's honor, for several generations forward and back. It was tied directly to nobility - if your family was rich and had the favor of the king, as well as a noble title of some kind (Duke, Prince, Earl, etc.), then you had honor. For one thing, the socially accepted concept of honor had very little to do with being a 'good' person. However, the concept of honor in centuries past is very different from what most people think of as honor today. She died in 1707 after retiring from the opera.Дueling is very much entwined with honor. Her adventures also included digging up the corpse of a dead nun, placing it in a dorm room and setting the room on fire so she could fake her own death and escape a convent with her female lover. She was rumored to have dispatched an entire roomful of young noble men who complained when she insulted a lady with whom they were dancing. It was simply easier to sword fight without frilly skirts and dresses to worry about. To support herself and her husband, she began performing at inns and taverns, singing and fencing while dressed as a boy, although she did not seem to conceal her true gender. By some accounts, her father trained her at sword fighting, while some claim she had an affair with a fencing master who gave her lessons. However, there was at least one famous female duelist, a French opera singer named La Maupin. The weapons the women used were often altered so the duelists could not harm each other, or the contest was stopped before blood was shed. Usually, when women participated in duels, it was viewed as an oddity, a strange spectacle that was more an amusement than a deadly contest. This often took the form of decapitation and the posting of the head in a public place. Dueling etiquette also gave the winner the right to desecrate the body of his rival in any way he chose. The loser of a duel was ultimately at the mercy of the winner, who could choose to spare his opponent's life or slaughter him. This didn't give them enough time to properly aim their weapons. For example, duelists were sometimes required to face away from each other, only turning to fire when the proper signal was given.

Many of the rules of dueling seem designed to prevent death and injury, or at least to reduce the likelihood thereof. Later, when guns were used in duels, certain sets of rules indicated that only smooth-bore barrels were acceptable, as opposed to rifled barrels that cause the bullet to spin and give it greater accuracy and range (Holland, pg. The challenged has the right to choose his own weapon, unless the challenger gives his honor he is no swordsman after which, however, he can decline any second species of weapon proposed by the challenged.ДЇor many centuries, the choice was limited to various types of swords. In any event, after one man issued a challenge, the seconds would arrange all the details. Sometimes there were thirds and fourths along for the fight as well. In truth, seconds often ended up fighting each other alongside the main duelists. Seconds were also supposed to try to defuse the situation that led to the duel by getting an apology from one party or another.

A second was a friend who came along to help prepare your weapons, make sure the other duelist wasn't going to ambush you and make sure the rules of the duel were being followed. One man would issue a challenge to another, who would often respond by directing further matters to his second. Usually, duels didn't happen spontaneously. The word itself comes from the Latin term duellum, a contraction of duo (two) and bellum (war). Duels follow an agreed upon set of rules, begin at a specified time and are held at a specific place. In a duel, two men face each other on equal terms (only on very rare occasions did women duel). A duel is a fight, but it is a very controlled sort of fight.

Magic duels not working