Miss Shelby versus Madame Marie-Rose Astie de Valsayre
Madame Marie-Rose Astie de Valsayre was notorious in her native France. A well-known feminist, she was a famous advocate for the equality of women. Astie de Valsayre actively campaigned for women to have the vote, equal pay-even to wear trousers. She also fought for women to have the right to join the Professions. Astie de Valsayre herself was a qualified doctor, having studied medicine in 1870, the year it became legally open to women in France. She was also an expert fencer, who opened her own fencing school and encouraged women to take up the sport to aid breastfeeding- another cause about which she was passionate.
In 1886, Astie de Valsayre’s passions collided when she put her skill with the foil to use in defending the honor of French medicine. The French activist became involved in a debate with a fellow feminist and female doctor, Miss Shelby. Miss Shelby was an American, and she and Astie de Valsayre became embroiled in an argument about the relative merits of French and American female doctors. “My adversary Miss Shelby maintained [American] female doctors were superior to those in our country, “Astie de Valsayre later told newspapers. Naturally, she disagreed.
When Astie de Valsayre disputed Miss Shelby’s argument, the American called her an idiot. Outraged by this insult, Astie de Valsayre took her glove, slapped Shelby about the face and challenged her to a duel. The pair somewhat dramatically agreed to meet on the fields where the Battle of Waterloo had been fought some seventy-one years earlier. However, firstly, Astie de Valsayre generously agreed to postpone the fight for fifteen days. “I gave her a delay so that she could practice a little, her inferiority being great next to mine. “Astie de Valsayre later explained.
Finally, the appointed day arrived and the two ladies, accompanied by four American seconds met to do battle. During the second pass, Astie de Valsayre wounded Miss Shelby in the shoulder. The seconds called first blood, and the duel was declared in favor of Madame Astie de Valsayre. Miss Shelby was forced to concede that French doctors were best -something she was now able to judge for herself, as it was French doctors who were responsible for treating her wound.
However, just a month later, Madame Astie de Valsayre was once again spoiling for a fight. This time her target was Englishwoman Catherine Booth, the co-founder of the Salvation Army. Astie de Valsayre ordered Mrs. Booth to leave France and take her ‘pernicious doctrines’ with her- or face her blade. However, unlike Miss Shelby, Mrs. Booth, a committed pacifist, declined.
Some ladies, however, used dueling as a way of sorting out their love lives.