DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14721#0181
antiquities of england.
11.5
PLATE LVIIL1
DUEL BEFORE THE KING.
Anciently, when any matter of importance was brought before the justices,
which could not be proved by witness, combat was granted ; and in this case, if the
accused was vanquished, he was convicted of the crime he was accused of; and if
the accuser, he was punished as a perjured man and a false witness. The culprit
was then executed (if he was not slain in the combat) without any further exami-
nation.—This was the case between two esquires in the reign of Richard the Second.
The one of Navarre accused an English esquire, called John Welch, of treason ;
for trial thereof a day was appointed for a combat, which was to be performed in
the king's palace at Westminster. Accordingly being met, there was a valiant fight
betwixt them ; but at last the Englishman was the conqueror, and the vanquished
Frenchman was despoiled of his armour, drawn to Tyburn, and there hanged for
his untruth.
The order of the combat, with the process, was as follows :—The accused
strongly denying the fact alleged against him, threw down his gauntlet, or any
other gage, calling the accuser a liar, and thereby challenging him to combat;
then the other took up the gage of the accused, and threw down his own, declaring
his willingness to prove by battle the truth of his assertions : the gages were then
sealed, and delivered to the marshal, and leave to combat demanded of the king;
which if he granted, a day and place was then appointed, by which time a scaffold
was erected for the king and his attendants (the earl marshal, and high constable
of England) who were to see that no undue advantage might be taken by either
party ; and the lists were railed round.—This method of trial was not often put in
execution.
The above illumination was made about the reign of Richard the Second,
whose portrait the figure of the king much resembles. In this king's reign, Henry
earl of Derby challenged Thomas Moubray, duke of Norfolk, to single combat.
1 This is from Nero, D. vi.
11.5
PLATE LVIIL1
DUEL BEFORE THE KING.
Anciently, when any matter of importance was brought before the justices,
which could not be proved by witness, combat was granted ; and in this case, if the
accused was vanquished, he was convicted of the crime he was accused of; and if
the accuser, he was punished as a perjured man and a false witness. The culprit
was then executed (if he was not slain in the combat) without any further exami-
nation.—This was the case between two esquires in the reign of Richard the Second.
The one of Navarre accused an English esquire, called John Welch, of treason ;
for trial thereof a day was appointed for a combat, which was to be performed in
the king's palace at Westminster. Accordingly being met, there was a valiant fight
betwixt them ; but at last the Englishman was the conqueror, and the vanquished
Frenchman was despoiled of his armour, drawn to Tyburn, and there hanged for
his untruth.
The order of the combat, with the process, was as follows :—The accused
strongly denying the fact alleged against him, threw down his gauntlet, or any
other gage, calling the accuser a liar, and thereby challenging him to combat;
then the other took up the gage of the accused, and threw down his own, declaring
his willingness to prove by battle the truth of his assertions : the gages were then
sealed, and delivered to the marshal, and leave to combat demanded of the king;
which if he granted, a day and place was then appointed, by which time a scaffold
was erected for the king and his attendants (the earl marshal, and high constable
of England) who were to see that no undue advantage might be taken by either
party ; and the lists were railed round.—This method of trial was not often put in
execution.
The above illumination was made about the reign of Richard the Second,
whose portrait the figure of the king much resembles. In this king's reign, Henry
earl of Derby challenged Thomas Moubray, duke of Norfolk, to single combat.
1 This is from Nero, D. vi.