Claude Duval

William Powell Frith's picture, Claude Duval , 1860.

Claude Duval (* 1643 in Domfront ; † January 21, 1670 in Tyburn ), also Claude Du Vall , was a French-born mugger during the Stuart Restoration in the Kingdom of England .

Life

Duval was born in 1643 in Domfront, the son of the miller Pierre and the tailor's daughter Marguerite. Whether he came from a land-owning aristocratic family can hardly be proven. At the age of 14 he went to Rouen and then to Paris , where he worked as a groom for some English cavaliers who had fled into exile as a result of the English civil war and the Puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell .

After Charles II came to power, Duval migrated to England in 1660 as the servant of a nobleman, presumably Charles Stewart . Soon, however, the rumor arose that he should have had an eye on Stewart's future wife Frances . He suddenly left his job and went to London in 1666 , where he cheated for a while .

Duval soon began his first robberies at Holloway . It was special because he never used force and is said to have always acted like a gentleman . He is said to have played the flageolet with a woman and then danced the courante . Plus, he only took 100 of the 400 pounds . Another time he is said to have stopped another robber from stealing a little girl's silver teether . After Duval cheated on the Master of the Buckhounds Squire Roper for 50 guineas and tied him to a tree, he was given a huge reward. According to The London Gazette , he was England's most wanted mugger. He went to France and boasted of his successes there. However, since he soon suffered from lack of money, he returned to England.

During the Christmas season of 1669, Duval was arrested in a tavern in London and taken to Newgate Prison , believed to be dead drunk and armed with three pistols , a sword and a series of knives . On January 17, 1670, the judge William Morton found him guilty of the sixfold robbery and sentenced him to death . He died on January 21, 1670 at Tyburn by hanging after several women and Charles II tried in vain to change the judgment.

Aftermath

His execution drew many women weeping. Before he was presumably buried under the nave of St Paul's Church , his lifeless body was taken to a tavern by his followers.

His epitaph carved in stone in St Paul's Church reads:

“Here you read Vall: Reader, if Male thou art,
Look to thy purse; if female, to your heart.
Much havoc has he made of both; for all
Men he made stand, and women he made fall.
The second Conqueror of the Norman race,
Knights to his arms did yield, and Ladies to his face.
Old Tyburn's glory; England's illustrious thief,
Du Vall, the Ladies' Joy; Du Vall, the Ladies' cried. "

“Here lies you Vall: Reader, if you are male,
watch out for your wallet; if female, on your heart.
He has done much harm to both of them; he left all
men standing and all women fall.
He was the second conqueror of the Norman race;
Knights surrendered to his weapons and ladies to his face.
Old Tyburn's fame, England's famous thief,
Du Vall, delight of ladies; Du Vall, sorrow of the ladies. "

literature

• John Farmen: The Short and Bloody History of Highwaymen . In: Short and Bloody Histories . Millbrook Press, Connecticut 2002, ISBN 0-8225-0839-7 , pp. 74 f . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Theresa Murphy : The Old Bailey: Eight Centuries of Crime, Cruelty and Corruption . Random House , New York 2011, ISBN 978-1-78057-372-4 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Jo Durden-Smith : 100 Most Infamous Criminals . Arcturus Publishing, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78212-750-5 , pp. 162 f . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web links

• Claude Duval. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved November 17, 2018 . 
• Claude Duval - The Gallant Highwayman in Stand and Delivery (English)
• Duvall, The Dandy Highwayman From Domfront in Normandy Then and Now