Infographics

Trial By Combat (2018x525)

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The first 1,000 people to sign up to Skillshare will get their first 2 months for free: https://skl.sh/infographics35 What if somebody challenged you to trial by combat? How could you guarantee that you win it? Imagine you're doing some yard work on a Saturday afternoon and installing some fencing in your backyard. Suddenly your neighbor shows up and claims that you installed the fence six inches too far into his property. Without warning he tosses a glove at your feet and brandishes a mace, challenging you to a trial by combat to determine both of your property rights. Sound extreme? Well, for centuries this was just the way most land disputes were settled across Europe. Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look at trials by combat and asking, could you survive one? Ancient European courts had various, and very imaginative, ways of determining innocence or guilt in the absence of witnesses. Trial by ordeal would see the accused undergo a difficult, painful, or perhaps life-threatening ordeal, with innocence proven if one could successfully complete the task given them. Trial by fire was, much like it sounds, a way of determining guilt or innocence by having individuals brave roaring fires, or carry red-hot metal rods a set number of paces. Lastly though, is the infamous trial by combat- perhaps the most straightforward way of determining innocence or guilt between two parties. In all of these cases it was believed that supreme being himself would intervene on the innocent's behalf. It seems people began to disagree as early as the 14th century though, with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire declaring that innocent men were being convicted just for being physically weaker than their opponents. Yet trials by combat remained in effect across Europe regardless for centuries. Having their origins from the customs of the wild Germanic tribes, their popularity grew as the Roman Empire declined, leaving a wild an