The mandate of the Conqueror’s law, that the mutilated trunk, of the defendant, convicted of treason, by combat, should remain as an evidence of his crime, in order to deter others from this hated offense, was exemplified, in the year 1096, in the case of William of Eu,[46] who, after trial by combat, had his eyes torn out and thus bereft of his sight, was sadly left to wander alone and despised through the world, a living example of the vengeance of the Lord, for the offense that he had been convicted of, by this hap-hazard method. The battle between Henry, Earl of Essex and Robert de Montford, in the year 1163, on an island in the Thames, near the Abbey, is well attested by the history of that period. The charge of treason was preferred in Parliament and the combat was adjudged, because of the alleged cowardice of the Earl of Essex, during the Welsh war of 1157, in precipitating a panic, during a decisive engagement in a narrow pass, by throwing down his banner and giving the alarm that the king had been slain. De Montford was victorious in the battle which followed and though Essex made a fierce attack upon him, his blows were warded off and the Earl was defeated and left for dead upon the field of battle. His body was given to the Monks of Reading, for burial and he was revived and allowed to become a Monk himself.[47] “Hobbe-the-Werwede,” an approver, much spoken of in the old books discussing trial by battle, in the fourth year of King Henry III. defeated “Walter-in-the-Grove,” but Hobbe soon afterwards faced another opponent and like many of our modern pugilists, went down to defeat, in his last battle.[48] On October 4’, 1350, Sir John de Visconti fought Sir Thomas de la Marche, before King Edward III., within the bounds of the royal palace, at Westminster. Sir John had charged Sir Thomas with taking bribes from the infidel Turks and betraying the Christian army. The combatants were clad in armour, but their helmets were guarded, at the visor, with small bars of steel. Sir Thomas had taken the precaution to wear steel knuckles, with which he soon broke the bars of steel covering the visor of Sir John’s helmet and thus having the advantage, he punished him so severely, by repeated blows in the face, that Sir John was compelled to yield. Because of the compliment paid to the English King, in fighting this duel in his presence, when Sir Thomas returned to France, he was tried by his brother, the King, upon the charge of treason, and beheaded.[49]