Previously it had been said: "And the Constable shall make take heed that none other before or after the appellant or defendant bring more weapons nor victuals other than were assigned by the court." The "points" assigned by the court were the long sword, the short sword, and dagger—no other knife great or small or any other "instrument or engine of point." The combatants had each to swear on the mass-book that they were thus armed, and that they had no stone of virtue nor herb of virtue nor charm nor any other enchantment. Also they were made to take each other by the hand to do all their true power and intent on each other, and make their opponent either yield or give up the ghost. All but two lieutenants of the Constable and two knights were ordered to quit the lists.
The Constable sat in front of the King as his "Vicar general" and regulated the combat. "The Constable schall say wt ye voice as foloweth, 'Lessiez lez aler'; that is to say, 'lat them goo and reste awhile'; 'lessiez lez aler & faire leur devoir depdieu'; that is to say, 'lat them goo and doo ther devour i goddes name.' And this seyde eche man schal depte fro bothe pties soo that they may incountre & doo that them semeth best."
From that time forth neither appellant nor defendant might eat or drink without leave and licence of the King; and it was the Constable's duty, in case the King commanded the parties to separate, rest, or abide, for whatever reason, to see that this took place in such a way that they should be in the same "estate and degree" in case the King should order the resumption of the combat. He was also to have good "hearkening and sight," if either spoke to other of yielding or otherwise, for to him and to none other belonged the witness and the record of the words from that time forth.
In this battle, supposed to be on account of treason, he that was convicted and discomfited was disarmed in the lists by command of the Constable, and a corner of the lists broken "in reprove of him." Through this he was drawn out by horse through the lists from the place where he was disarmed to the place of justice, where he was beheaded or hanged—"the which thing appertaineth to the Marshal."
"And if it happen so that the King would take the quarrel in his hand and make them accorded without more fighting, then the Constable taking the one party and the Marshal the other shall lead them before the King, and he showing them his will, the said Constable and Marshal shall lead them to the one part of the lists with all their points and armour as they are found, and having when the King took the quarrel in his hand as is said. And so they shall be led out of the gate of the lists evenly, so that the one go not before the other by no way and nothing, for sen he hath taken the quarrel in his hand, it should be dishonest that either of the parties should have more disworship than the other. Wherefore it hath been said by many ancient men that he that goeth first out of the lists hath the disworship and this as well in cause of treason as in other cause whatsoever it be."
It cannot be repeated too often or too clearly understood that the duel was not exclusively a chivalrous custom, confined to those of high station. Like the ordeal, it was prescribed, as a mode of juridical determination, for burgesses and others, though, as we have shown, equality of rank was postulated in the combatants no less than equality of "points." By way of illustration we may turn to the annals of Leicester, where wager of battle was enforced on the townsmen for the settlement of their disputes. We have seen that knights undertook to bring matters to a conclusion within the space of one hour. Honest burgesses, less expert in the use of lethal weapons, and either less courageous or less callous in taking human life, appear to have shown extremely poor "sport" in their involuntary matches. At Leicester a combat is recorded to have commenced at 6 a.m. and continued till 3 p.m., when it was terminated through one of the parties falling into a pit. The character of the affair and the behaviour of the champions occasioned a great scandal; and the townsmen, in order to prevent a repetition of the incident, engaged to pay the Earl their lord three pence for each house, on condition that the "twenty-four jurors who were in Leicester from ancient times should from that time forward discuss and decide all pleas they might have among themselves."
In London and other chartered towns parties to a quarrel could not be made to fight against their will. The rule was that wager of battle did not lie between two freemen without the consent of both; and a case is on record in which one citizen, having been charged with felony and robbery, offered to defend himself with his body. The appellor declined dereignment by battle, and so it was decided that the accused should be tried by the Middle Law, with eighteen compurgators.
The duel was employed for the determination not only of criminal, but of civil causes, and in such controversies the demandant, whatever his condition, might not engage in the combat himself, but was represented by a champion, who occupied the position of a witness. The claim would be made in some such form as the following:
"I demand against B. one hide of land in such a vill (naming it) as my right and inheritance, of which my father (or grandfather, as it might be) was seised in his demesne as of fee, in the time of Henry I. (or, after the first coronation of the King, as it might be), and from which he received produce to the value of fifty shillings at least (as in corn, hay, and other produce); and this I am ready to prove by my freeman John, or if anything should happen to him, by him or him"—several might be named, though only one might wage battle—"who saw this."
Or the form might conclude: "And this I am ready to prove by my freeman John, whom his father on his death-bed enjoined, by the faith a son owes his father, that if he ever heard of any plea being moved concerning this land, he would dereign (or prove) this, as what his father had seen or heard."