Gerry Bowler: An Angry Dog, an Accused Knight, and a Fight to the Death

A judicial duel, a.k.a. trial by combat, takes place between two men in Augsburg, Germany, in 1409. One of France’s most famous trials by combat was between a dog and the man who had murdered his master. Public Domain

Commentary

If you happened to be strolling through the streets of Paris on the afternoon of Oct. 8, 1371, you might have been attracted by the noise made by a raucous crowd gathering on the Ile de Notre Dame in the middle of the Seine River. Had you come closer you might have joined the thousands of Parisians surrounding a field where a man and a dog were fighting in the presence of King Charles. This was no ordinary dogfight: This was a royally sanctioned trial by combat to determine if the man was guilty of the murder of the dog’s owner.