Each knight usually bore on his person some token from his lady-love, which was disposed on his helmet, lance, or shield. A prize was bestowed after a tournament, and presented with great pomp and ceremony. The arms and armament of the vanquished fell as spoil to the victors, unless ransomed by a payment in money. This was, however, only the case in jousts of courtesy, not in combats “à outrance.” During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries an immense amount of artistic skill was freely lavished on armour for the lists, as well as on that for purposes of parade. It was common to hold a “passage of arms” for three days; two of them for contending on horseback, and the third on foot. Lances were used on the first day, swords and maces on the second, and pole-axes on the third. Those open to all comers were termed “joutes plenières.” Pluvinel, who wrote at the close of the reign of James I., says: “There ought to be at each end of the lists a little scaffold, the height of the stirrup, on which two or three persons can stand, viz., the knight, the armourer to arm him and his assistant, and hence he mounts his steed.” Froissart, writing towards the end of the fourteenth century, gives a graphic account of the tournament in his day. Judicial combats were common throughout the century, and usually took place within the nearest lists. Trial “by ordeal,” or the judgment of God, was a strange outcome of the Christian faith as practised during the “dark ages” of our era. It implied, of course, a strictly personal God, who specially interested himself in the doings of every one, and a simple, child-like faith that the Omnipotent would order victory to the just cause and protect the innocent from injustice. The “ordeal” was by fire, hot iron, boiling water, and by the sword. It was suppressed towards the end of the twelfth century, and was followed by that of single combat, “God shewing the right.” This method was in full accord with the chivalrous spirit of the times. Old persons, women, and minors were represented by “champion.” The combat might continue from noon to sundown, and if it lasted as long the innocence of the accused was established and proclaimed. This form of combat was only applied in the cases of crimes punishable with death, and only when merely circumstantial evidence was available. A figure of a judicial combat occurs in the _Conquêtes de Charlemagne_, a manuscript of the fifteenth century in the National Library at Paris. The combatants wore chain-mail, with genouillières and coudières, the period represented being late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. An angel superintends the duel.[21]