his wife, and that his brother was guiltie of treason against the King of Fraunce, bycause he committed his cause and the combat to be tryed by the judgement of the King of England. After he had thus murdered his brother, he tormented his wife to death by famine, who was daughter of the noble King of Boheme, lately slaine in battayle by Geffery.” On the 7th of June 1380 another Ordeal by Battle was held. It is a very singular story, and reads as if the guilty man were prevented from making a good fight by the knowledge of his guilt. Fabyan and Stow both refer to the incident, but only briefly; Holinshed is the authority for the fuller details. The accuser, Sir John Annesley, charged Thomas Catrington, Esquire—Fabyan calls him Carton—with having betrayed and sold to the French the castle of St. Sauveur in Normandy, of which he was Governor. He brought the charge before the Court of the Constable of England sitting at Westminster, concluding by throwing down his gauntlet and offering to justify the words in open duel. Catrington denied the charge and accepted the duel. In the year 1384 another Ordeal of Battle took place in the Palace Lists, which, like the last, resulted in the death of the unjust. The case was this:—One Mortileto de Vilenos, a gentleman of Navarre, brought a charge of treason against John Welsh, an English gentleman, stating that the treason had been committed while Welsh was Governor of Cherbourg. They fought it out on St. Andrew’s Day, the result being the overthrow of Mortileto, who then confessed that his charge was without foundation, but that it was invented in revenge for the seduction of his wife by Welsh. He was therefore by the King’s command hanged immediately, though the Queen, Stow says, made earnest intercession to have his life saved. Madox (_Exchequer_, i. 550) furnishes an account of an Ordeal by Battle with an illustration of the manner of combat:— “Now we are speaking of Duels, I will lay before the Reader a pretty remarkable Case of a Duel that was fought in the Reign of K. Henry III. between Walter Bloweberme, an Approver, and Hamon le Stere; together with a Draught or figure of the Duel, as it was drawn at that time. The Case was this. Walter Bloweberme appealed Hamon le Stere of Robbery: alleging that they were together at Winchester, and there stole Cloaths and other Goods; whereof Hamon had, for his Share, two Coats, to wit, one of Irish Cloth, and the other a Party-coat or Cloth of Abendon and Burell of London: and that he (the said Walter) was in Fellowship with the said Hamon in the said Robbery, he offereth to prove by his Body, as the Court shall award. Hamon came and denyed the whole. And saith that he will defend himself by his Body. Whereupon it was awarded, that there should be a Duel between them. A Duel was struck. And Hamon being vanquished in the Combat, was adjudged to be hanged. It was found that Hamon had no Chattels to forfeit to the King.”