Marguerite de Carrouges

The whole thing takes a few minutes.

Up in a window on the other side of the street, a shoemaker's wife called Jaquette Griffith, 34 years old, has just come to the window to bring in her baby's bedding, which was drying on a pole outside.

She has the child in her arms.

She sees a man on his knees in the road with no hat on, surrounded by masked figures, and she screams the only word that makes sense.

A typical letter of remission tells a story along these lines.

Two men are drinking in a tavern.

One insults the other, perhaps calling him a thief, a traitor or a cuckold, or insulting his wife or mother.

Words are exchanged.