XIII. Benedict XIV decreed that duellists,

even if they had not perished on the duelling-
150 Examples.
In the year 1326, when William ITI was Count of Hainault, a certain Jew pretended to be baptised in all sin- cerity into the Holy Christian Faith, and the Count gave him the name of William at the font and appointed him as a servitor in the palace at Mons. Not long afterwards this wicked fellow entered the church at the monastery of Cambrai and in a fit of fury hurled a number of blasphemies against the image of the Mother of God, and (oh, horror!) wounded it with his spear in five several places from which streams of blood at once flowed. This was seen by a carpenter and by a lay Brother named Matthaeus Lobbius. The car- penter was about to cleave the Jew’s head with his axe, but he was pre- vented by the Brother. They reported the matter to the Abbot, John of Mons, and he to the Count. The Jew stub- bornly withstood all torture and was therefore released, but four years later an Angel appeared to an old man named Jean Flander D’Esteney who had been bed-ridden with paralysis for seven years, and ordered him to accuse the Jew and challenge him to a duel. After he had been thus warned twice, the old man still, at the bidding of the parish priest, delayed, but the third time the Virgin Herself came and showed him her five bleeding wounds, and commanded him to fight the duel. Full of hope and faith the old man went to Cambrai, and having seen the wounds upon the image obtained an audience of the Count and thereupon
ground but had lingered and later received ab- solution, should without exception be denied Christian burial; Pius IX in the “‘Constitutio Apostolicae Sedis,” 12 October, 1869, excom- municates all who are in any way accessory to a duel, who are present at a duel, or who permit and do not prevent a duel, even though they be kings or emperors; Leo XIII in his letter ““Pastoralis officit,” 12 September, 1891, em- phasises the fact that the duel is an offence against the Divine Law proclaimed both by the inspired Holy Scriptures and natural reason.
COMPENDIUM
BK. Il. CH. XVIII.
accused the Jew of his crime. A day was appointed for the combat ; and the weapons, rough clubs* and wooden shields, exist even to this day. The Jew, who although he seemed but a puny fellow was in fact muscular and vigorous, had sewn a number of little tinkling bells to his galligaskins and gambadoes in bitter mockery of the poor old man: but God helped His champion who had undertaken so un- equal a fight, for the sick man beat the healthy man, the weak the strong, and the old the young. And as he was con- victed terribly blaspheming and im- penitent, the Count ordered him to be bound by the hair of his head to a horse’s tail and so dragged to the gib- bet, and after he had been hanged by the neck with two fierce Molossian hounds rending his flanks, he was cast into the fire. This story is fully told by Robertus Hauport, who wrote a poem in two books on the subject. Radislaus,t a Prince of Kreis Kau- rim (Kolin) and son of Mistibogius, wrongfully invaded Bohemia, so that at last good King Wenceslaus was per- suaded to raise an army against him. As they were on the point of joining
* “Rough clubs.” When champions were employed on both sides, and such would be actu- ally the case here since the old man was fighting in honour of Our Lady, the law of battle re- stricted the combatants to the club and buckler. See Patetta, “‘Le Ordalie’’ (Torino, 1890), for full details. Philip Augustus in 1215 directed that the club should not exceed three feet in length, but in England this baton was often rendered a formidable enough weapon through being furnished with a sharp beak or pick of tron. The wooden shield was generally covered with leather. It may be remarked that the difference of age between the old man and the Few was altogether exceptional as the punc- tilto of combat required an equality.
Tt ‘‘Radislaus.”? Guazzo’s sources for this history are: Widukind of Corvey, O.S.B., “Res gestae saxonicae siue annalium libri tres,” IT, which see in the “‘Scriptores rerum ger- manicarum,”’ Hanover, 1882; Vincent of Beau- vais, “Speculum,” xxiv, 70, and Dubravsky, ““Historia Bohemorum,’’ v.
BK. II. CH. XIX.
battle, Wenceslaus said: ‘‘ If the mat- ter cannot be settled except by fight- ing, why should we two not decide it in single combat without shedding inno- cent blood?”? And without delay he put on a cuirass over his hair shirt and girt himself with a small sword and came out into the battle field. But Radislaus armed himself to the teeth with mighty armour. Wenceslaus made the sign of the Cross on his brow, and suddenly saw Angels who spoke in human voice, saying: “‘ Do not strike.” And suddenly Radislaus lay upon the ground and asked pardon for his bold- ness and yielded himself into the hands of his victor. Wenceslaus raised him up, forgave him and restored him to his dignities, bidding him to turn his con- tumacy to fitting humility, lest he should thereafter suffer severer punish- ment from the angry Godhead. Here God declared the justice of the cause by a miracle.
When God does not wish a miracle
to take place, it generally happens that the matter remains in doubt, or that he who is in the right submits to the judgement of God. The first was the case in a duel between two noble Spaniards in the time of King Alfonso XI,* the father of King Pedro of Cas- tile. Their names were Ruy Paez de Biedma and Pay Rodriguez de Ambia. The former accused the latter of treason, and the latter retaliated with an accusation of an even more serious crime. They met and fought for three days from sunrise to sunset, and both were sorely wounded; yet the affair re- mained in doubt and neither could claim the victory. Therefore the King declared them both innocent and equally virtuous, and bade them be friends. This is fully related by Pedro Mexia in his Silva de varia leccton, II, x.
* “Alfonso XI.” This combat took place in 1342. See the “‘Crénica de Alfonso el Onceno,”’ cap. CCLXII.
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MALEFICARUM
151