624 Sachsische Weichbild, c. lxxxii. § 3.

625 Concil. Eccles. Rotomag. p. 128 (Du Cange).

626 Cod. Leg. Norman. P. II. c. lxiv. § 19 (Ludewig. VII. 416).

627 De Leg. Angliæ Lib. II. cap. iii.

628 Bracton, Lib. III. Tract. ii. cap. 32 § 7.

629 Ibid. c. 18 § 4.

630 See a case in which Ralph Rusdike, a witness, offers battle against Elias of Dumbleton—“et Elias defendit totum versus eum ut versus campionem conductitium et villanus.” Then Ralph shows that he has an interest in the matter which warrants his acting as appellor and battle is gaged.—Maitland’s Select Pleas of the Crown, Vol. I. p. 80. Also another case in 1220 in which the appellant offers a silver mark to the king for opportunity to prove that an adverse witness is a hired champion.—Ib. p. 124. Another case in 1220 (p. 137) shows how customary it was to impugn an adverse witness as a hired champion.

631 Neilson’s Trial by Combat, p. 49.

632 This charter, which has recently been found among the records of Durham Cathedral, is printed in the London Athenæum of November 10th, 1866. It is not dated, but the names of the subscribing witnesses show that it must have been executed about the year 1260.

I owe to James Clephan, Esq., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the interesting fact that the Sherburn Hospital, Durham, is still in possession of the vill of century by Ralph, son of Paulinus of York, who had obtained it as the result of a judicial combat between his champion and that of the opposing claimants.

633 Neilson, Trial by Combat, p. 51.

634 Lord Eldon, in his speech advocating the abolition of trial by battle, in 1819, stated, “In these the parties were not suffered to fight in propria persona—they were compelled to confide their interests to champions, on the principle that if one of the parties were slain, the suit would abate.”—Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors, VII. 279.

635 Pur felony ne poit nul combattre pur autre; en personal actions nequidant venials, list aux actors de faire les battailes per lour corps ou per loyal tesmoigne come en droit reals sont les combats.—Horne’s Myrror of Justice, cap. iii. sect. 23.

636 Bracton, Lib. III. Tract. ii. cap. 21, §§ 11, 12.—Ibid. cap. 24.

637 Regiam Majestatem, Lib. IV. cap. iii.

638 Neilson’s Trial by Combat, p. 115. By the Burgher laws of Scotland, a man who was incapacitated by reason of age from appearing in the field, was allowed to defend himself with twelve conjurators.—L. Burgor. cap. xxiv. §§ 1, 2.

639 Assises de Jerusalem, Baisse Court, cap. 145, 146.—Beaumanoir, cap. lxi. § 6; cap. lxii. § 4.

640 Beaumanoir, cap. lxi. § 14.

641 Conseil, chap. XXII. Tit. xiii.

642 Grandes Chroniques T. IV. p. 427.

643 Il est usage que se aucun demende la cort de bataille qui est juege par champions loées, il la tendra le jor maimes, et si ele est par le cors des quereléors il metra jor avenant à la tenir autre que celui.—Coutumes d’Anjou, XIII.^e Siècle, § 74.

644 Kar haute persone doit bien metre por lui, à deffendre soi, home, honeste persone, se l’an l’apele, ou s’il apele autre.—Livres de Jostice et de Plet, Liv. II. Tit. xviii.

645 Lib. Pract. de Consuet. Remens. § 40 (Archives Législ. de Reims, Pt. 1. p. 40).

646 Ibid. § 14, p. 37.

647 For de Morlaas, Rubr. liii. art. 188.

648 Quando pugna debet fieri per campionem debet fieri eorum equa distributio ... et etiam jure longobardo cavetur quod pugna debet fieri per similes campiones.—Odofredi Summa de Pugna c. iv. (Patetta, p. 488).

649 L. Jur. Civilis Veronæ cap. 125, 126 (p. 95).

650 Patetta, Le Ordalie, pp. 427-9.

651 Pugiles in Bigorra non nisi indigenæ recipiantur (Lagrèze, Hist. du Droit dans les Pyrénées, p. 251). By the same code, the tariff of payment to the champion was 20 sous, with 12 for his shield and 6 for training—“pro præparatione.”

652 Las Siete Partidas, Pt. VII. Tit. iv. l. 3.

653 Du Boys, Droit Criminel des Peuples Modernes, I. 611-13.

654 Campagnola, Lib. Juris Civ. Veronæ (Veronæ, 1728, p. xviii).

655 Polyptichum Irminonis, App. No. 33 (Paris, 1836, p. 372).

656 Une malvese coustume souloit courre anciemment, si comme nos avons entendu des seigneurs de lois.—Cout. du Beauvoisis, cap. xxxviii. § 15.

657 Hist. des Français, XV^e Siècle, Hist. xiii.—The tariff of rewards paid to Blondel, and Beaumanoir’s argument in favor of mutilating a defeated champion, offer a strong practical commentary on the fundamental principles upon which the whole system of appeals to the judgment of God was based—that success was an evidence of right.

658 Bysshe’s notes to Upton’s De Studio Militari, p. 36.

659 Neilson’s Trial by Combat, p. 150.

660 Hist. Monast. Figeacens. (Baluz. et Mansi IV. p. 1).

661 Abbonis Floriac. Collect. Canon. can. ii.—Histor. Trevirens. (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 223).—Gerohi Reichersperg. de Ædificio Dei cap. VI.

662 Schlegel Comment. ad Grágás, p. xxii.—Dasent, in his Icelandic Chronology (Burnt Njal, I. cciii.), places this in 1006, and Keyser (Religion of the Northmen, Pennock’s Trans. p. 258) in 1000.

663 The kind of Christianity introduced may be estimated by the character of the Apostle of Iceland. Deacon Thangbrand was the son of Willibald Count of Saxony, and even after he had taken orders continued to ply his old vocation of viking or sea robbing. To get rid of him and to punish him, King Olaf Tryggvesson of Norway imposed upon him the task of converting Iceland, which he accomplished with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other.—See Dasent, Burnt Njal, II. 361.—Olaf Tryggvesson’s Saga c. lxxx. (Laing’s Heimskringla, I. 441).

664 Keyser, op. cit. p. 258.

665 Saxon. Grammat. Hist. Dan. Lib. x.

666 Ibid. Lib. xi.

667 Lünig Cod. Diplom. Ital. I. 2455.—The liberal terms of this charter show the enlightenment of the Emperor, and explain the fidelity manifested for him by the imperial cities in his desperate struggles with his rebellious nobles and an implacable papacy.

668 Neilson’s Trial by Combat, pp. 33, 65, 97.

669 Chart. Commun. Ambianens. c. 44 (Migne’s Patrolog. T. 162, p. 750).

670 The charter is given by Proost, op. cit. p. 96.

671 Ferrum, cacavum, pugnam, aquam, vobis non judicabit vel judicari faciet (Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Dissert. 38).

672 Priviléges de Lourdes, cap. ii. (Lagrèze, op. cit. p. 482).

673 Ibid., cap. xiii. (Lagrèze p. 484). These privileges were confirmed at various epochs, until 1407.

674 Statuta Susatensia, No. 41 (Hæberlin Analect. Med. Ævi. p. 513). This is retained in the subsequent recension of the law, in the thirteenth century (Op. cit. p. 526).

675 Consuetud. Tornacens. ann. 1187, §§ ii. iii. xxi (D’Achery Spicileg. III. 552).

676 Oudegherst, Annales de Flandre ed. Lesbroussart. T. I. pp. 426 sqq.; T. II. not. ad. fin.

677 Coleccion de Cédulas, etc., Madrid, 1830, Tom. VI. p. 142.—Memorial Histórico Español, Madrid, 1850, T. I. p. 47.

678 Statuta Commun. apud Crispiacum (D’Achery Spicileg. III. 595).

679 Legg. Villæ de Arkes § xxxi. (Ibid. p. 608).

680 Libertates Villæ Ricomag. § 6 (Ibid. p. 671).

681 E sobre ayso que dam e autreyam als borges de la vielle de Maubourguet que totz los embars pusquen provar sens batalhe, etc.—Coutumes de Maubourguet, cap. v. That this, however, was not expected to do away entirely with the battle trial is shown by the regulation prescribed in cap. xxxvii. (Lagrèze, op. cit. pp. 470, 474).

682 L. Burgorum, c. 14, 15 (Skene).

683 Warnkönig, Hist. de la Flandre, IV. 129.

684 In omni mercato Flandriæ si quis clamorem adversus eos suscitaverit, judicium scabinorum de omni clamore sine duello subeant; ab duello vero ulterius liberi sint.—Warnkönig. Hist. de la Flandre, II. 411.

685 Nemo mercatorem de Flandria duello provocabit (Ibid. II. 426).

686 Traité de 1228, art. 3 (Esneaux, Hist. de Russie, II. 272).

687 Belitz de Duellis Germanorum, p. 9. Vitembergæ, 1717.

688 Constit. Frid II. de Jur. Norimb. § 4 (Goldast. Constit. Imp. I. 291).

689 Sachsische Weichbild, Art. xxxv. lxxii. lxxxi.-lxxxiv. lxxxix. xc. xcii. cxiv.

690 Henke, Gesch. des Deut. Peinlichen Rechts I. 192 (Du Boys, op. cit. II. 590).

691 Goldast. op. cit. I. 314.

692 Jur. Cæsar. P. IV. cap. i. (Senckenberg Corp. Jur. German. I. 118). This portion of the Kayser-Recht is probably therefore posterior to the rise of the Hapsburg dynasty.

693 Belitz de Duel. German. p. 11.

694 Jura Primæva Moraviæ, Brunæ, 1781, pp. 33, 102.

695 “Liber adversus Legem Gundobadi” and “Liber contra Judicium Dei” (Agobardi Opp. Ed. Baluz I. 107, 301). Both of these works display marked ability, and a spirit of enlightened piety, mingled with frequent absurdities which show that Agobard could not in all things rise superior to his age. One of his favorite arguments is that the battle ordeal was approved by the Arian heretic Gundobald, whom he stigmatizes as “quidam superbus ac stultus hæreticus Gundobadus Burgundionum rex.”

696 Concil. Valentin. ann. 855 can. 12.

697 C. 22 Decreti caus. II. q. v.

698 Pet. Cantor. Verb. Abbrev. cap. LXXVIII.

699 C. 1 Extra Lib. V. Tit. xiv.

700 C. 2 Ibid.

701 Innocent. PP. III. Regest. XI. 64—Verum quoniam hujusmodi duellorum judicia juxta pravam quarundam consuetudinem regionum non solum a laicis seu clericis in minoribus ordinibus constitutis, sed etiam a majoribus ecclesiarum prælatis consueverunt, prout multorum assertione didicimus, exerceri.

702 Concil. Lateranens. IV. can. 18.

703 Consuetud. S. Montisfortis (Contre le Franc-Alleu sans Tiltre, p. 229).

704 Concil. Parisiens. ann. 1212, P. IV. c. xv. (Harduin. vi. ii. 2017).

705 S. Raymundi Summæ Lib. II. Tit. iii.—Cardinal Henry of Susa is equally uncompromising—Hostiensis Aureæ Summæ Lib. V. Tit. De Cler. pugnant.

706 Alexandri de Ales Summæ P. III. Q. xlvi. Membr. 3.

707 Sec. Sec. Q. 95 art. 8.

708 Wilhelmi Egmond. Chron. (Matthæi Analect. IV. 231). Proost (Législation des Jugements de Dieu, p. 16) gives this story, with some variations, as occurring at Mons, and states that the duel was authorized by no less a personage than Pope John XXII. Cornelius Zantfliet in his Chronicle (Martene Ampl. Collect. V. 182) locates it at Cambron in Hainault, and states that the Jew was a favorite of William Count of Hainault. Mr. Neilson informs me that Olivier de la Marche likewise adopts Cambron as the scene of the occurrence. The tale apparently was one which obtained wide currency.

709 In 1374 Gregory XI. when condemning the Sachsenspiegel laid especial stress on the passages in which the judicial duel was prescribed (Sachsenspiegel, ed. Ludovici, 1720, p. 619). As late as 1492, the Synod of Schwerin promulgated a canon prohibiting Christian burial to those who fell in the duel or in tournaments.—Synod. Swerin. ann. 1492, Can. xxiv. (Hartzheim Concil. German. V. 647).

710 “Et si Deus adest nonne nefas est habendo justitiam succumbere posse?... Et si justitia in duello succumbere nequit, nonne de jure acquiritur quod per duellum acquiritur?... stultum enim est valde vires quas Deo comfortat inferiores in pugile suspicari.”—De Monarchia II. 10 (Patetta, Le Ordalie, p. 415).

711 Joh. Friburgens. Summæ Confessorum Lib. II. Tit. iii. Q. 3-5.

712 Constit. Sicular. Lib. II. Tit. xxxii. xxxiii.—“Non tam vera probatio quam quædam divinatio ... quæ naturæ non consonans, a jure communi deviat, æquitatis rationibus non consentit.” Cf. Lib. I. Tit. xxi. cap. 2.

713 Cum viderit innocentes in duello succubuisse, et sontes contra in sua iniustitia nihilominus victoriam obtinuisse. Et ideo in jura imperii scriptum est, ubi duo ex more in duellum procedunt, hoc non pertinet ad imperium.—Jur. Cæsar. P. II. c. 70 (Senckenberg I. 54).

714 Quilibet sciat imperatorem jussisse ut nemo alterum ad duellum provocet.... Nemo enim unquam fortiores provocari vidit, sed semper debiliores, et fortiores semper triumpharunt.—Ibid. P. IV. cap. 19.

715 Rudolphi I. Privileg. (Ludewig. Reliq. MSS. T. IV. p. 260).

716 Goldast. Constitt. Imp. III. 446.

717 Malleus Maleficar. Francof. 1580, pp. 527-9.

718 Villanueva, Viage Literario, XXII. 288.

719 Los sabios antiguos que ficieron las leyes non lo tovieron por derecha prueba; ed esto por dos razones; la una porque muchas vegadas acaesce que en tales lides pierde la verdat e vence la mentira; la otra porque aquel que ha voluntad de se adventurar á esta prueba semeja que quiere tentar á Dios nuestro señor.—Partidas, P. III. Tit. xiv. l. 8.

720 Ibid. P. VII. Tit. iii. l. 2, 3. According to Montalvo’s edition of the Partidas (Sevilla, 1491), these laws were still in force under Ferdinand and Isabella.

721 Tres dias débese acordar al reptado para escoger una de las tres maneras que desuso dixiemos, qual mas quisiere porque se libre el pleyto. ... ca el re nin su corte non han de mandar lidiar por riepto.—Ibid. P. VII. Tit. iii. l. 4. Some changes were introduced in these details by subsequent ordinances.

722 Muera quito del riepto; ca razon es que sea quito quien defendiendo la verdad recibió muerte.—Ibid. P. VII. Tit. iv. l. 4.

723 Crónica de Alfonso el Onceno, cap. CCLXII.

724 Ordenamiento de Alcalá, Tit. XXXII. ll. vii.-xi. See also the Ordenanzas Reales of 1480, Lib. IV. Tit. ix.

725 Meyer, Institutions Judiciaires, I. 337.

726 Nous deffendons à tous les batailles par tout nostre demengne, més nous n’ostons mie les clains, les respons, les convenants, etc.... fors que nous ostons les batailles, et en lieu des batailles nous meton prueves de tesmoins, et si n’oston pas les autres bones prueves et loyaux, qui ont esté en court laye siques à ore.—Isambert, I. 284.

Laurière (Tabl. des Ordonn. p. 17) alludes to an edict to the same purport, under date of 1240, of which I can nowhere else find a trace. There is no reference to it in the Tables des Ordonnances of Pardessus (Paris, 1847).

It is a curious illustration of the fluctuating policy of the contest that in his struggle to enforce the supremacy of the royal jurisdiction as against the prelates of the province of Reims, one of the complaints of the bishops at the Council of Saint-Quentin in 1235 is that he forced ecclesiastics in his court to prove by the duel their rights over their serfs—“Item, supplicat concilium quod dominus rex non compellat personas ecclesiasticas probare per duellum in curia sua homines quos dicunt suos esse de corpore suo” (Harduin. VII. 259).

727 Se ce est hors l’obeissance le Roy, gage de bataille (Étab. de St. Louis, Liv. II. chap. xi. xxix. xxxviii.). Beaumanoir repeats it, a quarter of a century later, in the most precise terms, “Car tout cil qui ont justice en le conté poent maintenir lor cort, s’il lor plest, selonc l’ancienne coustume; et s’il lor plest il le poent tenir selonc l’establissement le Roy” (Cout. du Beauv. cap xxxix. § 21). And again, “Car quant li rois Loïs les osta de sa cort il ne les osta pas des cours à ses barons” (Cap. LXI. § 15).

728 Liv. I. chap. xxvii. xci. cxiii. etc. This is so entirely at variance with the general belief, and militates so strongly with the opening assertion of the Établissements (Ordonn. of 1260) that I should observe that in the chapters referred to the direction for the combat is absolute; no alternative is provided, and there is no allusion to any difference of practice prevailing in the royal courts and in those of the barons, such as may be seen in other passages (Liv. I. chap. xxxviii. lxxxi. cxi. etc.). Yet in a charter of 1263, Louis alludes to his having interdicted the duel in the domains of the crown in the most absolute manner.—“Sed quia duellum perpetuo de nostris domaniis duximus amovendum” (Actes du Parlement de Paris No. 818 A. T. I. p. 75, Paris, 1863).

729 Établissements Liv. I. chap. clxvii.

730 Jur. Provin. Alamann. cap. CLXXI. §§ 10, 11, 12.

731 Pilori, échelle, carquant, et peintures de champions combattans sont marques de haute justice.—Instit. Coutum. Liv. II. Tit. ii. Règle 47.

732 Beaumanoir, op. cit. chap. LXI. §§ 11, 12, 13.

In Normandy, these advantages were enjoyed by all seigneurs justiciers. “Tuit chevalier et tuit sergent ont en leurs terres leur justice de bataille en cause citeaine; et quant li champions sera vaincuz, il auront LX sols et I denier de la récréandise.”—Etab. de Normandie (Ed. Marnier, p. 30). These minutely subdivided and parcelled out jurisdictions were one of the most prolific causes of debate during the middle ages, not only on account of the power and influence, but also from the profits derived from them. That the privilege of decreeing duels was not the least remunerative of these rights is well manifested by the decision of an inquest held during the reign of Philip Augustus to determine the conflicting jurisdictions of the ducal court of Normandy and of the seigneurs of Vernon. It will be found quoted in full by Beugnot in his notes on the Olim, T. I. p. 969. See also Coutumes d’Auzon (Chassaing, Spicilegium Brivatense, p. 95).

733 See Coutume de Saint-Bonnet, cap. 13 (Meyer, Recueil d’Anciens Textes, Paris, 1874, I. 175).

734 Les Olim, I. 491. It is perhaps needless to add that Mathieu’s suit was fruitless. There are many cases recorded in the Olim showing the questions which arose and perplexed the lawyers, and the strenuous efforts made by the petty seigneurs to preserve their privileges.

735 Actes du Parlement de Paris, I. 407.

736 Recueil de Chants Historiques Français, I. 218. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that these lines may have been occasioned by the celebrated trial of Enguerrand de Coucy in 1256. On the plea of baronage, he demanded trial by the Court of Peers, and claimed to defend himself by the wager of battle. St. Louis proved that the lands held by Enguerrand were not baronial, and resisted with the utmost firmness the pressure of the nobles who made common cause with the culprit. On the condemnation of de Coucy, the Count of Britanny bitterly reproached the king with the degradation inflicted on his order by subjecting its members to inquest.—Beugnot, Olim I. 954.—Grandes Chroniques ann. 1256.

737 Et se li uns et li autres est si enreués, qu’il n’en demandent nul amesurement entrer pueent par folie en périll de gages (Conseil, chap. XV. Tit. xxvii.). Car bataille n’a mie leu ou justise a mesure (Ibid. Tit. xxviii.). Mult a de perix en plet qui est de gages de bataille, et mult es grans mestiers c’on voist sagement avant en tel cas (Cout. du Beauv. chap. lxiv. § 1). Car ce n’est pas coze selonc Diu de soufrir gages en petite querele de meubles ou d’eritages; mais coustume les suefre ès vilains cas de crieme (Ibid. chap. vi. § 31).

738 Actes du Parlement de Paris, T. I. No. 2269 A. p. 217.

739 Beaumanoir, op. cit. chap. lxi. § 63.

740 Grandes Chroniques, T. IV. p. 104.

741 Isambert, II. 702, 806.

742 I have not been able to find this Ordonnance. Laurière alludes to it (Tabl. dés Ordonn. p. 59), but the passage of Du Cange which he cites refers only to prohibition of tournaments. The catalogue of Pardessus and the collection of Isambert contain nothing of the kind, but that some legislation of this nature actually occurred is evident from the preamble to the Ordonnance of 1306—“Savoir faisons que comme ça en arrière, pour le commun prouffit de nostre royaume, nous eussions defendu généraument à tous noz subgez toutes manieres de guerres et tous gaiges de batailles, etc.” It is worthy of note that these ordonnances of Philippe were no longer confined to the domain of the crown, but purported to regulate the customs of the whole kingdom.

743 Willelmi Egmond. Chron. (Matthæi Analect. IV. 135-7).

744 Dont pluseurs malfaicteurs se sont avancez par la force de leurs corps et faulx engins à faire homicides, traysons et tous autres maléfices, griefz et excez, pource que quant ilz les avoient fais couvertement et en repost, ilz ne povoient estre convaincuz par aucuns tesmoings dont par ainsi le maléfice se tenoit.—Ordonnance de 1306 (Éd. Crapelet, p. 2).

745 Car entre tous les périlz qui sont, est celui que on doit plus craindre et doubter, dont maint noble s’est trouvé déceu ayant bon droit ou non, par trop confier en leurs engins et en leurs forces ou par leurs ires oultrecuidées (Ibid. p. 34). A few lines further on, however, the Ordonnance makes a concession to the popular superstition of the time in expressing a conviction that those who address themselves to the combat simply to obtain justice may expect a special interposition of Providence in their favor—“Et se l’intéressé, sans orgueil ne maltalent, pour son bon droit seulement, requiert bataille, ne doit doubter engin ne force, car le vray juge sera pour lui.”

746 Ordonnance de 1306, cap. i.

747 Isambert, II. 850.

748 See Les Olim, passim.

749 Actes du Parlement de Paris, I. 446.

750 Les Olim, III. 381-7.—Vaissette, Hist. Gén. de Languedoc, T. IV., Preuves, 140-44.

751 Wadding. Annal. Minor. ann. 1312 No. 2.

752 Isambert, III. 40.

753 Chronique Métrique, I. 6375.