“It is against the common enemy that you should display your valour, and not against each other. A slight difference between you should not lead you to such an extremity; but confide in that justice which constitutes the joy and the tranquillity of the world. Why have recourse to duels, when public officers are not venal, and the judges in my dominions are incorruptible? Lay down your arms, since you have no enemies to contend with. You commit a crime in raising your weapons against relations for whom you should be proud to perish. And why use an armed hand, when you have a tongue to plead your cause? Imitate the Goths, who know how to conquer the foreigner, but who cultivate moderation and peace amongst themselves.” That this injunction was rendered necessary by the ferocity of the tribes to whom it was addressed, appears evident from a manuscript lately discovered at Cassel in Westphalia, in which was a fragment of a poem, describing a duel between a father and a son under the reign of Theodoric. Notwithstanding the wise enactments of this prince, during the wars of extermination that followed his reign these lamentable excesses were renewed in all their horror; and in the annals of the Lombards we find numerous traces of the prevalence of duelling, both in Cisalpine Gaul and in Germany. According to the laws of Rotharis, single combat was admitted as legal proof; and when a man had held the property of another for five years, the latter could only claim its restitution by a duel; and in litigation amongst women, they had the privilege of naming a champion to dispute their rights. One of the most celebrated duels of that country took place in 626, to maintain the innocence of Queen Gundeberge, wife of Kharoald, King of Lombardy, which I have already related. In 668, Grimoald made some alteration in the laws of Rotharis; but confirmed the right of women accused of an adulterous intercourse to appoint a champion to defend their fame. In 713, Luitprand confirmed the laws, but abrogated that part of them which confiscated the property of the vanquished. The language of his edict showed clearly that it was issued with repugnance:--“We are not convinced of the justice of what is called the judgement of God, since we have found that many innocent persons have perished in defending a good cause; but this custom is of such antiquity amongst the Lombards, that we cannot abolish it, _notwithstanding its impiety_.” Charlemagne, who succeeded to the crown of Lombardy in 774, exerted himself, both in France and Italy, to put an end to, or at least to check the practice; and it was chiefly from the Italian nobility that he met with opposition. In many instances we find the chivalrous spirit of the day nobly exerted to repress depredations. In 807 we read of a duel between a French knight-errant, De Medicis, and a bandit named Mugel, who had ravaged a district of the Florentine state, which has ever since been called _Mugello_.