>I was an eyewitness one day in Nablus when two men came forward to fight a duel. The reason behind it was that some Muslim bandits took one of the villages of Nablus by surprise, and one of the peasants there was accused of complicity. They said, ‘He guided the bandits to the village!’ So he fled. But the king sent men to arrest the peasant’s sons, so the man came back before the king and said, ‘Grant me justice. I challenge to a duel the man who said that I guided the bandits to the village.’
>The king said to the lord of the village, its fief-holder, ‘Bring before me the man whom he has challenged.’ So the lord went off to his village, where a blacksmith lived, and took him, telling him, ‘You will fight in a duel.’ This was the fief-holder’s way of making sure that none of his peasants would be killed and his farming ruined as a result.
>I saw that blacksmith. He was a strong young man, but lacking resolve: he would walk a bit, then sit down and order something to drink. Whereas the other man, who had demanded the duel, was an old man but strong-willed: he would shout taunts as if he had no fears about the duel. Then the vicomte came – he is the governor of the town – and gave each one of the duellists a staff and a shield and arranged the people around them in a circle.
>The two men met. The old man would press the blacksmith back until he pushed him away as far as the circle of people, then he would return to the centre. They continued exchanging blows until the two of them stood there looking like pillars spattered with blood. The whole affair was going on too long and the vicomte began to urge them to hurry, saying, ‘Be quick about it!’
>The blacksmith benefited from the fact that he was used to swinging a hammer, but the old man was worn out. The blacksmith hit him and he collapsed, his staff falling underneath his back. The blacksmith then crouched on top of him and tried to stick his fingers in the old man’s eyes, but couldn’t do it because of all the blood. So he stood up and beat the man’s head in with his staff until he had killed him. In a flash, they tied a rope round the old man’s neck, dragged him off and strung him up. The blacksmith’s lord now came and bestowed his own mantle upon him, let him mount behind him on his horse and rode away with him.
>And that was but a taste of their jurisprudence and their legal procedure, may God curse them!
– *The Book of Contemplations*, Usama ibn Munqidh (translated by Paul Cobbs)
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Medieval justice was just “vibes decide who dies.”
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>I was an eyewitness one day in Nablus when two men came forward to fight a duel. The reason behind it was that some Muslim bandits took one of the villages of Nablus by surprise, and one of the peasants there was accused of complicity. They said, ‘He guided the bandits to the village!’ So he fled. But the king sent men to arrest the peasant’s sons, so the man came back before the king and said, ‘Grant me justice. I challenge to a duel the man who said that I guided the bandits to the village.’
>The king said to the lord of the village, its fief-holder, ‘Bring before me the man whom he has challenged.’ So the lord went off to his village, where a blacksmith lived, and took him, telling him, ‘You will fight in a duel.’ This was the fief-holder’s way of making sure that none of his peasants would be killed and his farming ruined as a result.
>I saw that blacksmith. He was a strong young man, but lacking resolve: he would walk a bit, then sit down and order something to drink. Whereas the other man, who had demanded the duel, was an old man but strong-willed: he would shout taunts as if he had no fears about the duel. Then the vicomte came – he is the governor of the town – and gave each one of the duellists a staff and a shield and arranged the people around them in a circle.
>The two men met. The old man would press the blacksmith back until he pushed him away as far as the circle of people, then he would return to the centre. They continued exchanging blows until the two of them stood there looking like pillars spattered with blood. The whole affair was going on too long and the vicomte began to urge them to hurry, saying, ‘Be quick about it!’
>The blacksmith benefited from the fact that he was used to swinging a hammer, but the old man was worn out. The blacksmith hit him and he collapsed, his staff falling underneath his back. The blacksmith then crouched on top of him and tried to stick his fingers in the old man’s eyes, but couldn’t do it because of all the blood. So he stood up and beat the man’s head in with his staff until he had killed him. In a flash, they tied a rope round the old man’s neck, dragged him off and strung him up. The blacksmith’s lord now came and bestowed his own mantle upon him, let him mount behind him on his horse and rode away with him.
>And that was but a taste of their jurisprudence and their legal procedure, may God curse them!
– *The Book of Contemplations*, Usama ibn Munqidh (translated by Paul Cobbs)
Medieval justice was just “vibes decide who dies.”