hand stood
the warders of the field, so that they might catch the words "I repent"
in the event of their being uttered. In that case they said to the other
party, "You have done enough"; and he who had been vanquished was taken
to the lord, by whose order he was trained to the gallows and hanged.
Similar treatment was paid to a combatant who had been slain, even if he
had not said "I repent." The same procedure was observed where the
champions were of inferior rank, save that their arms were not knightly.
If the case were not one of homicide or assassination, knights fought on
horseback and in armour, with the same consequences to the vanquished.
His arms were forfeited; and, if the charge were treason, his heirs were
deprived of their inheritance. Combatants of lower than knightly rank
fought on foot with shields and spears of equal length. If anyone not a
knight struck a knight, he lost his right hand, "because of the honour
and dignity which a knight has, and ought to have, over all other kinds
of persons."

We may now refer to some typical examples. In the reign of Henry III.
Hamon le Stare was appealed for robbery by Walter de Bloweberme; and the
record is specially interesting on account of a contemporary drawing of
the fight and subsequent execution of the vanquished.

In a MS. of Merton College, Oxford, occurs a note of a case in the time
of Edward I. R. de B. having demanded the advowson of a church against
the Prior of Sens, the latter waged battle. On the appointed day his
champion appeared, "and in the open field the duel was fought." The
Prior's champion was struck down, and upon this the Prior's attorney
came forward and surrendered the advowson. Accordingly, judgment was
given that R. should recover seisin, and that the Prior should be in
mercy. The same MS. contains a comment by the Judge (Saham) to the
effect that if, after battle joined, at the second or third assault the
tenant acknowledge the tenement to be the right of the demandant, and
for that acknowledgment the demandant grant to the tenant that he shall
hold of him for life, and that afterwards the tenement shall revert to
him (the demandant), that acknowledgment is as stable as if a fine were
levied in a writ of warranty of charter.

In Hil., 29 Edward III., a writ of right was brought by the Bishop of
Salisbury against the Earl of Salisbury for the Castle of Salisbury.
Battle was waged; but on the accoutrements of the champions being
exam