Claude Du Vall (or Duval) (164321 January 1670) was a French highwayman in Restoration England. He came from a family of decayed nobility, and worked in the service of exiled royalists who returned to England under King Charles II. Little else is known of his history. According to popular legend, he abhorred violence, showing courtesy to his victims and chivalry to their womenfolk, thus spawning the myth of the romantic highwayman, as taken up by many novelists and playwrights.

Early life

Claude Duval was born in

Domfront, Orne Domfront () is a former commune in the Orne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Domfront-en-Poiraie. Geography Domfront is situated on a bluff overlooking the river Varenne and is said ...

, Normandy in 1643 to a noble family stripped of title and land. His origin and parentage are in dispute. He did, however, have a brother, Daniel Duval. At the age of 14 he was sent to Paris where he worked as a

domestic servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

. He later became a stable boy for a group of English

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

s and moved to England in the time of the

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...

as a

footman A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage. Etymology Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...

of the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

(possibly a relation) and rented a house in

Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may als ...

Highwayman

The legend goes that before long, Duval became a successful highwayman who robbed the passing

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

es on the roads to London, especially

Holloway A hollow way is a sunken lane. Holloway may refer to: People *Holloway (surname) *Holloway Halstead Frost (1889–1935), American World War I Navy officer Place names ;United Kingdom *Holloway, London, inner-city district in the London Borough of ...

between

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organis ...

and

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

and, that unlike most other highwaymen, he distinguished himself with rather gentlemanly behaviour and fashionable clothes. He reputedly never used violence. One of his victims was Squire Roper, Master of the Royal Buckhounds, whom he relieved of 50 guineas and tied to a tree. There are many tales about Duval. A particularly famous one – placed in more than one location and later published by William Pope – claims that he took only a part of his potential loot from a gentleman, when the man's wife agreed to dance the "courante" with him in the wayside, a scene immortalised by

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

in his 1860 painting ''Claude Duval''. If his intention was to deter pursuit by his non-threatening behaviour, he did not totally succeed. After the authorities promised a large reward, he fled to France for some time but returned a few months later. Shortly afterwards, he is said to have been arrested in the Hole-in-the-Wall tavern in London's

Chandos Street Chandos may refer to: Titles * Duke of Chandos, and Baron Chandos, three English titles, all extinct * Viscount Chandos, a modern title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Businesses * Chandos Records * Chandos Publishing Other uses * Chandos ( ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

Execution

On 17 January 1670, judge Sir William Morton found him guilty of six robberies (others remained unproven) and sentenced him to death. Despite many attempts to intercede, the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

did not pardon him and he was executed on 21 January at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern ...

. When his body was cut down and exhibited in Tangier Tavern, it drew a large crowd. It is traditionally thought Duval was buried under the centre aisle of the church of St Paul's, Covent Garden; the parish register notes the burial of a "Peter Duval" in January 1670. A memorial at the church reads: :Here lies DuVall: Reder, if male thou art, :Look to thy purse; if female, to thy heart. :Much havoc has he made of both; for all :Men he made to stand, and women he made to fall :The second Conqueror of the Norman race, :Knights to his arm did yield, and ladies to his face. :Old Tyburn’s glory; England’s illustrious Thief, :Du Vall, the ladies' joy; Du Vall, the ladies' grie

The apparently gallant highwayman inspired a number of biographers and playwrights to add to his

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

, including claims of

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world ...

, gambling, and much womanising. He is reported to haunt the Holt Hotel along the

A4260 The A4260 is a road that leads from the A422 Henneff Way, Banbury to Frieze Way near Oxford. History Romans The route followed by the road is that of a prehistoric ridgeway between the valleys of the rivers Cherwell and Evenlode. The Romans ...

(Oxford Road) in Oxfordshire, a hotel where he spent many nights when it was a small coaching inn.Haunted Hotel Guide
/ref>

Popular culture

Recent historians have reappraised the legacy of Duval. James Sharpe in ''Dick Turpin'' regarded Duval as the most significant figure in the shaping of the highwayman myth. John and Philip Sugden's ''The Thief of Hearts'' reconstructs what is known of the historical Duval, using much fresh evidence, and shows that the traditions about the Frenchman were used by such literary luminaries as Samuel Butler (''A Pindarick Ode''), John Gay (''The Beggar's Opera'') and William Harrison Ainsworth (''Rookwood'' and ''Talbot Harland'') to create the iconic image of the gentleman highwayman still beloved today. * "As he reached this spot, a man started from the obscurity, and requested with the politeness of a Claude Duval to know the time." From
Mountains and Molehills; or, Recollections of a Burnt Journal
', 1855, by

Francis Samuel Marryat Francis may refer to: People * Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

, (1826–1855). * A

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a n ...

called '' Claude Duval'' was written in 1881 by Edward Solomon and Henry Pottinger Stephens and enjoyed success both in Britain and in America. * In Mary Hooper's book ''The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose'', Duval is said to be a friend of

Nell Gwyn Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled ''Gwynn'', ''Gwynne'') was a celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stag ...

and is credited with saving King Charles II of England's life. * A public house in the town of

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cam ...

in Surrey is named in his honour. * A 2005

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United ...

''Haunted Hotels'' documentary on hauntings claims that Claude Duval's ghost presently haunts the Holt Hotel, the tavern wherein he was arrested before being condemned to death. This same documentary also claims several people were murdered by Duval, despite scant evidence. * Michelle Lowe's novel, Cherished Thief, published in 2012, depicts Claude DuVal's entire life story. * In Arthur Conan Doyle's short story ''One Crowded Hour'', a victim of a chivalrous highway robber rebukes the robber, saying, "Don't come the Claude Duval over us." * He was the subject of London Dungeonbr>exhibition
in May 2015. * Is a subject in the podcast radio-play Adventures of Sage & Savant Episode 206

References

External links