Sep 16, 2021
What if a legal trial was also a battle to the death? In this episode, we look at the strange phenomenon of the judicial duel, in which a plaintiff and defendant would try to kill each other to win a court case. In the “last duel” of medieval France, one man made his fight for justice into a literal fight, and used his weapons to prove that God was on his side.
Content notes: This episode is about a trial for violent rape. It contains discussion of some of the incorrect assumptions that medieval doctors had about rape and conception. It also contains descriptions of the deaths of animals.