Hi everyone,
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While researching old charters I came across the following
fascinating reference to striking with the fists:
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I have been studying English charters and came across the following
which may be of interest to you:-
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'Laws of Richard I (Coeur de Lion) Concerning Crusaders Who Were to
Go by Sea. 1189 A.D. ("Roger of Hoveden," III p. 36 [Rolls Series].)
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Richard by the grace of God king of England, and duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to all his subjects who are about to
go by sea to Jerusalem, greeting. know that we, by the common
counsel of upright men, have made the laws here given.
Whoever slays a man on ship board shall be bound to the dead man and
thrown into the sea. But if he shall slay him on land, he shall be
bound to the dead man and buried in the earth. If any one, moreover,
shall be convicted through lawful witnesses of having drawn a knife
to strike another, or of having struck him so as to draw blood, he
shall lose his hand.
But if he shall strike him with his fist without drawing blood, he
shall be dipped three times in the sea.
But if any one shall taunt or insult a comrade or charge him with
hatred of God: as many times as he shall have insulted him, so many
ounces of silver shall he pay.
A robber, moreover, convicted of theft, shall be shorn like a hired
fighter, and boiling tar shall be poured over his head, and feathers
from a cushion shall be shaken out over his head,-so that he may be
publicly known; and at the first land where the ships put in he
shall be cast on shore. Under my own witness at Chinon.'
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Whilst the reference to striking with 'his fist' does not prove the
existence of skilled fist fighting it seems to show that it was a
common enough practise for it to be associated with its own
punishment. Perhaps too the lighter punishment reflects the much
later attitude that 'men settle their arguments with fists not
knives'.
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I also find the reference to having the head 'shorn like a hired
fighter' to be of interest - fists! wrestling! weapons! It is as
cryptic as Chaucer's reference to a 'Champion'.
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Anyway, hope this will be of interest to the board.
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Terry