Brewer's: Jarnac

Coup de Jarnac. A peculiar stroke of the sword by which the opponent is ham-strung. `The allusion is to the duel between Jarnac and La Châteigneraie,on July 10th, 1547, in the presence of Henri II., when Jarnac dealt his adversary such a blow, from which he died.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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