Medieval trial by combat

In the winter of 1386, a French noblewoman by the name of Marguerite de Carrouges found herself at the centre of a criminal case that electrified Paris, captivated the king and culminated in blood being spilled before an enormous crowd in a field just outside the French capital.

Earlier that year, Marguerite’s husband, the knight Jean de Carrouges, had accused his former friend Jacques le Gris of raping Marguerite. After failing to get justice at the court of the Count of Alencon in Normandy, Jean beseeched the king for justice. He made a formal process of “appeal” or challenge against Jacques le Gris and requested the right to prove the justice of his cause in combat. This was the famous “trial by combat”, sometimes known as a judicial battle.

After an investigation, the parlement (the French sovereign appeal court) granted this right to de Carrouges, and he met le Gris in specially constructed lists, a space for tournaments, at Saint-Martin-des-Champs just outside Paris. The crowd was huge, and included King Charles VI himself. De Carrouges and le Gris took special oaths before the king, including a promise that they didn’t have an unfair or magical advantage. Each