Claude Duval, the French Highwayman

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Animated biography of Claude Duval, the legendary highwayman of the 17th century.

Soundtrack : OST of the videogame “The Witcher”

Bibliography :
“Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates: The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the Eighteenth Century” (by Erin Mackie)
“The Thief of Hearts: Claude Duval and the Gentleman Highwayman in Fact and Fiction” (by John and Philip Sugden)
“The Restoration and the England of Charles II” (By John Miller)

Bonuses :

- Highwaymen were used with shouting to their victims “Stand and Deliver”. In France, the equivalent sentence was “Purse or Life !” (La bourse ou la vie !).

- The sentence of the epitaph “Men he made to stand, and women he made to fall” is therefore a comical reference to this “Stand and Deliver” order.

- After the Great Fire of London, the Dutch and French people living in the English capital city were victims of lynching and murders as they were suspected to be the cause of this fire which was actually purely accidental.

- French King Louis XIV sent financial resources and food supplies to help the inhabitants of London after the catastrophe. He straightforwardly admitted that this fire was good news for France as it would weaken England, but anyway, Christian charity still had to be followed, even with one’s enemies.

- Several plans were proposed to Charles II for the reconstruction of London into a modern city, with large avenues and major squares. But lacking will and funds, the city was rebuilt on the original plans with only a few improvements (better hygiene and houses in stone rather than in wood).


- British historians see there a forever-lost opportunity to make London the equal of Paris in terms of architectural magnificence.

The famous English bandit Dick Turpin (1705-1739) might be of Huguenot origin (French Lutherans/Calvinists).

Claude Duval, fictions and legends :

- Opera : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Duval_(opera)

- Comics : https://www.amazon.fr/Claude-Duval-Vengeance-Charlton-Lea/dp/1512129518

- The Holt Hotel :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holt_Hotel_(Oxfordshire)

- In the novel of the Englishwoman Mary Hooper “The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose” (2005), Duval is said to be the friend of Nell Gwyn, Charles II’s mistress, and he saves the life of the King.

- The novel “Cherished Thief” written by the American woman Michelle E. Lowe and published in 2014 is a romanticized biography of the French highwayman.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27971374-cherished-thief