LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Legal battles

I read with interest Hannah Skoda’s feature about the trial by combat between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris (Medieval Duels, November). It has certainly made an exciting film [The Last Duel, released in October in UK cinemas].

The article explained that this wasn’t “the last duel” and that the practice continued into the 1580s. However, as late as 1817 such a law was used by a certain Abraham Thornton of Warwickshire to defend himself from accusations of murder. He had been tried and found not guilty of murdering Mary Ashford. Her brother-in-law, William Ashford, was so incensed by this apparent miscarriage of justice that he used