he might establish her guilt by killing him.[56] All the friends and
relatives of the countess believed in her innocence; but Gontran was so
stout and bold and renowned a warrior that no one dared to meet him, for
which, as Brantome quaintly says, "mauvais et poltrons parens estaient."
The unhappy countess began to despair, when a champion suddenly appeared
in the person of Ingelgerius count of Anjou, a boy of sixteen years of
age, who had been held by the countess on the baptismal font, and received
her husband's name. He tenderly loved his godmother, and offered to do
battle in her cause against any and every opponent. The king endeavoured
to persuade the generous boy from his enterprise, urging the great
strength, tried skill, and invincible courage of the challenger; but he
persisted in his resolution, to the great sorrow of all the court, who
said it was a cruel thing to permit so brave and beautiful a child to rush
to such butchery and death.

[56] _Memoires de Brantome touchant les Duels_.

[Illustration: DUEL BETWEEN INGELGERIUS AND GONTRAN.]

When the lists were prepared, the countess duly acknowledged her champion,
and the combatants commenced the onset. Gontran rode so fiercely at his
antagonist, and hit him on the shield with such impetuosity, that he lost
his own balance and rolled to the ground. The young count, as Gontran
fell, passed his lance through his body, and then dismounting, cut off his
head, which, Brantome says, "he presented to the king, who received it
most graciously, and was very joyful, as much so as if any one had made
him a present of a city." The innocence of the countess was then
proclaimed with great rejoicings; and she kissed her godson, and wept over
his neck with joy, in the presence of all the assembly.

When the Earl of Essex was accused, by Robert de Montfort, before King
Henry II., in 1162, of having traitorously suffered the royal standard of
England to fall from his hands in a skirmish with the Welsh at Coleshill,
five years previously, the latter offered to prove the truth of the charge
by single combat. The Earl of Essex accepted the challenge, and the lists
were prepared near Reading. An immense concourse of persons assembled to
witness the battle. Essex at first fought stoutly, but, losing his temper
and self-command, he gave an advantage to his opponent which soon decided
the struggle. He was unhorsed, and so severely wounded, that all present
thought he was dead