duel or the ordeal was previously in use.[670] This was followed by a similar grant to the inhabitants of Bari by Roger, King of Naples, in 1132.[671] Curiously enough, almost contemporary with this is a similar exemption bestowed on the rude mountaineers of the Pyrenees. Centulla I. of Bigorre, who died in 1138, in the Privileges of Lourdes, authorizes the inhabitants to prosecute their claims without the duel;[672] and his desire to discourage the custom is further shown by a clause permitting the pleader who has gaged his battle to withdraw on payment of a fine of only five sous to the seigneur, in addition to what the authorities of the town may levy.[673] Still more decided was a provision of the laws of Soest in Westphalia, somewhat earlier than this, by which the citizens were absolutely prohibited from appealing each other in battle;[674] and this is also to be found in a charter granted to the town of Tournay by Philip Augustus in 1187, though in the latter the cold water ordeal is prescribed for cases of murder and of wounding by night.[675] In the laws of Ghent, granted by Philip of Alsace in 1178, there is no allusion to any species of ordeal, and all proceedings seem to be based on the ordinary processes of law, while in the charter of Nieuport, bestowed by the same prince in 1163, although the ordeal of red-hot iron and compurgatorial oaths are freely alluded to as means of rebutting accusations, there is no reference whatever to the battle trial, showing that it must then have been no longer in use.[676] The charters granted to Medina de Pomar in 1219 by Fernando III. of Castile, and to Treviño by Alfonso X. in 1254, provide that there shall be no trial by single combat.[677] Louis VIII. in the charter of Crespy, granted in 1223, promised that neither himself nor his officials should in future have the right to demand the wager of battle from its inhabitants;[678] and shortly after, the laws of Arques, conceded by the abbey of St. Bertin in 1231, provided that the duel could only be decreed between two citizens of that commune when both parties should assent to it.[679] In the same spirit the laws of Riom, granted by Alphonse de Poitiers, the son of St. Louis, in 1270, declared that no inhabitant of the town should be forced to submit to the wager of battle.[680] In the customs of Maubourguet, granted in 1309, by Bernard VI. of Armagnac, privileges similar to those of Lourdes, alluded to above, were included, rendering the duel a purely voluntary matter.[681] Even in Scotland, partial exemptions of the same kind in favor of towns are found as early as the twelfth century. A stranger could not force a burgher to fight, except on an accusation of treachery or theft, while, if a burgher desired to compel a stranger to the duel, he was obliged to go beyond the confines of the town. A special privilege was granted to the royal burghs, for their citizens could not be challenged by the burghers of nobles or prelates, while