It was then demanded of the principals if their purpose held, and they affirmed the same, laying their hands on the Evangelists. The appellant then briefly rehearsed the terms of the cartel of defiance, making oath as to its truth, after which the defendant affirmed also on oath his denial of the charge.
These preliminaries over the parties prepared for battle, which was to continue from sunrise to sunset; the herald crys, “Let them goe together,” and the onset is sounded by trumpet call.
Should the appellant not overcome the defendant during the day the latter was deemed guiltless, and the procurator of the constable and marshal publicly proclaimed the fact: but to secure what was termed “a perfect victory,” a confession of guilt by one of the parties was necessary. The cartel was then sealed with the common seal in testimony that the combat had duly taken place, and all the legal formalities been observed.
A picture of a legal duel on a murder charge, of the reign of Henry III, has been preserved, and the names of the combatants are written upon it. It has been reproduced by Hewitt in Ancient Armour and Weapons of War,[251] and the parties are represented fighting. A gallows is depicted in the group with the vanquished combatant hanging from it. This was no knightly battle—the champions fought on foot in their civil dresses of leather or cloth, bare-headed, with quadrangular bowed shields, and bastons garnished at their heads with spurs, like those of a pick.
Rules and ordinances for the regulation of judicial combats in France were promulgated by Phillip IV, surnamed le Bel. An abridged account of them follows:—[252]
Four things to be established before the Gage of Battle may be adjudged.
1. The institution applies to grave suspicion in cases of murder, manslaughter, treason or the like offences.
2. Every true man if he knows himself to be accused to present himself before the court without waiting to be cited or summoned.
3. That no gage be granted for accusations of theft or robbery.
4. On a gage of battle being granted the appellant to furnish particulars as to where the alleged wicked deed was done, the name of the party dead; or full details of the treason alleged to have been committed.