134/167 They abolished none of the old, absurd methods of trial by the cross or ordeal; and they added a new absurdity--the trial by single combat--[***] which became a regular part of jurisprudence, and was conducted with all the order, method, devotion, and solemnity imaginable.[****] The ideas of chivalry also seem to have been imported by the Normans: no traces of those fantastic notions are to be found among the plain and rustic Saxons. Will, apud Wilkms, p.230.Spel. |