ree years after the coronation.

[Sidenote: The parties.]

The parties to the combat were John Anneslie, a knight, and Thomas
Katrington, a squire. Anneslie, the knight, was the complainant and
the challenger. Katrington, the squire, was the defendant. The
circumstances of the case were as follows.

[Sidenote: Nature of the quarrel.]

[Sidenote: Castle lost.]

Katrington, the squire, was governor of a castle in Normandy. The
castle belonged to a certain English knight who afterward died, and
his estate descended to Anneslie, the complainant in this quarrel. If
the squire had successfully defended the castle from the French who
attacked it, then it would have descended with the other property to
Anneslie. But he did not. When the French came and laid siege to the
castle, Katrington surrendered it, and so it was lost. He maintained
that he had not a sufficient force to defend it, and that he had no
alternative but to surrender. Anneslie, on the other hand, alleged
that he might have defended it, and that he would have done so if he
had been faithful to his trust; but that he had been _bribed_ by the
French to give it up. This Katrington denied; so Anneslie, who was
very angry at the loss of the castle, challenged him to single combat
to try the question.

[Sidenote: Reason for this mode of trial.]

It is plain that this was a very absurd way of attempting to ascertain
whether Katrington had or had not been bribed; but, as the affair had
occurred some years before, and in another country, and as, moreover,
the giving and receiving of bribes are facts always very difficult to
be proved by ordinary evidence, it was decided by the government of
the king that this was a proper case for the trial by combat, and both
parties were ordered to prepare for the fight. The day, too, was
fixed, and the place--the public square opposite the king's
palace--was appointed. As the time drew nigh, the whole country for
many miles around was excited to the highest pitch of interest and
expectation.

[Sidenote: The company assemble.]

[Sidenote: The combatants appear.]

At the place where the combat was to be fought a large space was
railed in by a very substantial barricade. The barricade was made very
strong, so as to resist the utmost possible pressure of the crowd.
Elevated seats, commanding a full view of the lists, as the area
railed in was called, were erected for the use of the king and the
nobles of the court, and all ot