In 1609 the same monarch issued another edict against this relic of barbarism, in an extraordinary council called for the purpose, at Fontainbleau. In this council the duke of Sully, the confidential adviser of Henry, gave a particular account of the origin of duels, and of the forms and customs of single combat in different countries. See Memoirs of the Duke of Sully, vol. iv, p. 370.

The edict of Henry on this occasion was nearly similar to the former of 1602. Those who thought themselves wounded in a point of honor, were obliged to consult the French marshals or their lieutenants, who had authority to investigate the case, and appoint a reparation of injuries. If the person refused to apply to the proper officer of the land, and persisted to determine the righteousness of his cause by force of arms, and his antagonist failed to take his life, he was to be branded with infamy, lose his nobility, if a noble, and, in some instances, suffer death.

It is spoken to the praise of Louis XIV., that he exerted all his influence to prevent dueling in the bounds of his kingdom. And while his efforts were blessed with remarkable success, they are worthy of all imitation by every government on earth.

The last duel, of a judicial character, and of any note, was fought before Henry II. in the year 1547, between Jarnac and Chastaignerie. As it is noticed by different authors, which may be consulted by the reader, no particular account of it will be necessary here.

Michael Palæologus, who was emperor of the East in 1259, and put an end to the empire of the Latins, ordained that trials by ordeal and single combat should be forthwith abolished throughout his dominions. But before he was elevated to his high office, he offered to engage in a duel himself; yet it is evident he did not expect the interference of God. This we learn from a pleasant story recorded of this monarch by Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall," &c., vol. iv, p. 218.

"Under the reign of Justice and Vataces, a dispute arose between two officers, one of whom accused the other of maintaining the hereditary right of the Paælologi. The cause was decided according to the new jurisprudence of the Latins, by single combat: the defendant was overthrown; but he persisted in declaring that himself alone was guilty, and that he had uttered these rash and treasonable speeches, without the approbation or knowledge of his patron. Yet a cloud of suspicion rested upon the innocence of the future emperor: he was still pursued by the whispers of malevolence; and a subtle courtier, the archbishop of Philadelphia, urged him to accept the judgment of God in the fiery proof of the ordeal. Three days before the trial the patient's arm was inclosed in a bag, and secured by the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a red hot ball of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary, without artifice and without injury. Paælologus eluded the dangerous experiment with sense and pleasantry. 'I am a soldier,' said he, 'and will boldly enter the lists with my accusers; but a layman, a sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven, and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my innocence.' The archbishop

stared; the emperor smiled; and the absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by new rewards and new services."

I shall only further observe on the extent of this evil in past ages, that Madox declares, in his History of the Exchequer, vol., p. 349, that trials of this description were so frequent in England, that fines paid on these occasions made no inconsiderable branch of the king's revenue. It was so universal that none were exempt from it but ecclesiastics, priests, monks, and ladies, together with those who were physically defective, or under twenty-one, or over sixty years of age. But even all these, if they desired to respect their character and main. tain a pure reputation, were required to procure a champion to fight in their place.

The next part of the subject, now to be briefly discussed, embraces the principal ceremonies and rules by which this species of trial was preceded and regulated. The laws of combat were nearly similar in Spain, England, France, Germany, and other countries of Europe. They differed however in a few circumstances, according to the fancies of those in authority. For instance, it was unlawful, for many years, to permit this trial to take place in any other parts of Germany than in Witzburg, in Franconia; and in Usbach and Hall, in Swabia, It also seems that he who yielded to his adversary, on receiving a wound, was esteemed infamous; he could not afterward hold any office, wear a weapon, mount a horse, or cut his beard; but he who died, gallantly defending himself, was honorably buried. This, in general, was not the case in France; the vanquished, dead or alive, was either hung or burned.

The following account of proceeding on such occasions is abridged from Blackstone and others:

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When the tenant in a writ of right pleaded that he had more right to hold than the demandant had to recover, and offered to prove it by the body of his champion, if the tender was accepted by the demand. ant, the champion, in the first place, was produced, and threw down his glove as a gage or pledge, and thus waged or stipulated battle with the champion of the demandant; who, by taking up the gage or glove, promised on his part to accept the challenge. After this, generally, the champions, especially where they were allowed in criminal cases, were both taken into safe custody until the day appointed by the judge.

A piece of ground was then measured out, sixty feet square, inclosed with lists; and on one side was a court erected for the judges of the court of common pleas; and also a bar prepared for the sergeants at law. Early in the morning a proclamation was made for the parties and their champions; who were introduced by two knights, and dressed in a coat of armor, with red sandals, barelegged from the knee downward, bareheaded, and with bare arms to the elbows. Their weapons were batons, or staves of an ell long, and four-cornered leathered targets. In the military court they fought with swords and lance, according to Spelman and Rushworth; and in France gentlemen were armed at all points.

The champion of the tenant then took his adversary by the hand, and made oath that the tenements in dispute were not the right of the demandant; and the champion of the latter swore in the same manner VOL. X.-April, 1839.

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that they were. Next an oath against sorcery and enchantment was taken, in a form similar to this: Hear this, ye justices, that I have this day neither eaten nor drunk any thing, nor have upon me any enchantment, sorcery, or witchcraft, whereby the law of God may be abased, or the law of the devil exalted. So help me God and his saints. The battle was then begun, and the combatants were bound to fight until the stars appeared in the evening. If the champion of the tenant could defend himself thus long, the tenant gained his cause; if not, he lost it. This was declared either when one of the parties died, which in civil cases happened but seldom, or when he pronounced the word craven, by which we are to understand that he yielded the point and craved mercy. Whenever this was done, that champion was always esteemed an infamous perjured person, and could never be a juror or a witness in any cause.

The manner of waging battle upon appeals was nearly the same as in a writ of right: only the oaths of the two combatants were much more striking and solemn. The appellee pleaded not guilty, and threw down his glove, and declared he would defend the same by his body : the appellant then took up the glove, and replied that he was ready to make good the appeal, body for body. Thereupon the appcllee took the book in his right hand, and in his left the right hand of his antagonist, and swore to this effect: Hear this, O man, whom 1 hold by the hand, who callest thyself John, by the name of baptism, that I, who call myself Thomas, by the name of baptism, did not feloniously murder thy father William by name, nor am in any way guilty of the said felony. So help me God and the saints; and this I will defend against thee by my body as this court shall award.

To which the appellant replied, holding the Bible and his antagonist's hand, in the same manner as the other: Hear this, O man, whom I hold by the hand, who callest thyself Thomas, by the name of baptism, that thou art perjured; because that thou didst feloniously murder my father William by name; so help me God and the saints; and this I will prove against thee by my body as this court shall award. The battle was then fought with the same weapons, the same solemnity, the same oath against amulets and sorcery, that are used in the civil combat. If the accused was so far vanquished that he could not or would not fight any longer, he was sentenced to be hung immediately. If, on the other hand, he killed the appellant, or maintained the fight from the rising to the setting of the sun, he was acquitted. If the appellant became recreant, and pronounced the word cruven, he was considered infamous.

The preceding was the ordinary manner of conducting these trials in civil and criminal cases in England; it varied a little from this in France, but the difference is not of sufficient importance to justify its insertion in this place.

We now pass on to the several causes which were tried by single combats. On this subject the writer is principally indebted to Robertson's History of Charles V.

(1.) Besides the common causes with which the reader is already acquainted, abstract points of law were sometimes determined in this way. In the tenth century, and during the reign of Otho I., the question came up before the doctors, and was afterward presented to the

emperor for his opinion, whether children had the right to represent their deceased father equally with their uncles, in the lifetime of their grandfather. The doctors found this rather a difficult subject; and proposed that it should be decided by the judges. But Otho concluded to settle this mooted question by force of arms. Accordingly two champions of reputed valor were selected, and the victory, was gained by him who contended for the right of representation. It soon passed into a law, and is now established ali over Europe. This is perhaps the only benefit that ever resulted to the world by the trial of single combat.

(2.) It was also used, but not often, to ascertain the truth or falsehood of opinions connected with religion. A remarkable instance of this we have in the ecclesiastical history of Spain, of the eleventh century. Pope Alexander II. had commenced in 1038, and Gregory VII. in 1080 completed, the great work of changing the Mozarabic, or Gothic, liturgy, which was the ancient ritual of the Church of Toledo, for the service of the Romish Church. The Spaniards were as strongly attached to the forms of their ancestors as the purer Catholics were to their peculiarities; and a violent controversy was the result of this effort of the pontiff. Sanches, the king of Aragon, was the first to comply with the wishes of the pope. Alphonso, the king of Castile, influenced by the Queen Constantine, followed the example of his cotemporary in 1080. But as the mass of the people were still greatly divided, it was finally agreed to decide the point at issue by single combat. Two knights were selected for the purpose, who entered the lists in complete armor; and the champion of the Mozarabic liturgy was successful.

But the good queen, and the archbishop of Toledo, not satisfied with this decision, though it was universally admitted in those days that such a trial was an appeal to God, requested the permission of a different ordeal. This having been granted, a large fire was kindled, and a copy of each ritual was cast into the flames. The Gothic ser.. vice was again victorious, for it remained entirely uninjured, while the other was speedily consumed. But notwithstand.ng this interference of Divine Providence, as the people thought, the archbishop and queen succeeded at last, by their influence, if not by their ordeals, in bringing into general use the liturgy of the Church of Rome.

(3.) Questions about the property of churches, or monasteries, were occasionally decided by the sword, as well as by fire, water, and the cross. Robertson states a case of this kind which occurred in 961. A d spute arose concerning the church of St. Medard, whether it belonged, legally, to the abbey of Beaulieu or not; and the lawful owner was determined by judicial combat.

(4.) Points of honor, or reputation, in the character of individuals, were also thus determined.

Dr. Robertson, who has several times been quoted as authority on this subject, supposes this, to have been the original design of these trials among the ancient Swedes. As the law in which this is contained is curious, and as it evidently supports this opinion, it shall here be adduced. The historian quotes the passage from Stiernhook,'in his Laws and Customs of the Swedes and Goths. The words of the law are as follow:

"If any man shall say to another these reproachful words, You are not a man equal to other men,' or, You have not the heart of a man,' and the other shall reply, I am a man as good as you,' let them meet on the highway. If he who first gave offense appear, and the person offended absent himself, let the latter be deemed a worse man even than he was called; let him not be admitted to give evidence in judgment, either for man or woman, and let him not have the privi. lege of making a testament. If he who gave the offense be absent, and only the person offended appear, let him call upon the other thrice with a loud voice, and make a mark upon the earth, and then let him who absented himself be deemed infamous, because he uttered words which he durst not support. If both shall appear properly armed, and the person offended shall fall in the combat, let a half compensation be paid for his death. But if the person who gave the offense shall fall, let it be imputed to his own rashness. The petulance of his tongue hath been fatal to him, let him lie in the field without any compensation being demanded for his death."

The same writer observes, "By the law of the Lombards, if any one called another arga, i. e., a good-for-nothing fellow, he might immediately challenge him to combat:" and concludes by saying, "Thus the ideas concerning the point of honor, which we are apt to consider as a modern refinement, as well as the practice of dueling, to which it gave rise, are derived from the notions of our ancestors, while in a state of society very little improved."

Having thus noticed, as concisely as was thought judicious, the origin, causes, history, and extent of dueling, the ceremonies and rules by which it was regulated, and the different kinds of questions and controversies which were usually decided in this way, it re. mains, before we conclude, to consider the celebrated cartel of defiance sent by Francis I. of France, to the Emperor Charles V., and a few of the principal duels which have been fought in our own country.

The extensive influence of the royal challenge from the king of the French to the emperor of the Germans probably accomplished more in the promotion of modern dueling in private disputes, without the sanction of the civil magistrate, and without the solemnities of religious rites, than any other circumstance. These two monarchs were not only the most distinguished of their age, but they are known also in history as having been powerful rivals. When Maximilian, the emperor of Germany, died, in 1519, a new prince was to be placed on the imperial throne by the Germanic elect

ors.

The astonishing success of Selim I. of the Ottoman empire, who threatened the liberties of Europe by his victorious arms, induced the electors to select such a sovereign from among the candidates for this high office as could not only secure their own prosperity, but also successfully and immediately withstand the encroachments of the Turk. Three individuals had a prominent standing in their estimation; one was Charles, the other Francis, and the third Frederick the Wise, duke of Saxony, who rejected the offer of the The first was recommended to them by his extensive dominions; possessing, in right of his father Philip, the whole of the Low Countries; and, on the death of his maternal grandfather

crown.