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Thusgirl t1_j6o8iwj wrote

Reply to comment by raymaehn in Medieval Mixed-Gender Fight Club: Behold Images from a 15th-Century Fighting Manual by ArtOak

Really let's murderers off the hook if they're good at murdering.

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raymaehn t1_j6oahlr wrote

This is a legal system that assumes God exists and is interested in humanity. Werner says that Albrecht killed somebody. Albrecht says that's a lie. Both have three respected members of the community backing them up. Evidence - based rulings and In Dubio Pro Reo aren't really things yet.

So what's the logical consequence? Appeal to the ultimate authority. Give Albrecht and Werner weapons, put them in the arena and let God sort them out. He'll make sure the guy who's in the right wins. It might seem barbaric from a modern perspective but from a medieval mindset it's elegant.

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Thusgirl t1_j6od31e wrote

So...

Really let's murderers off the hook if they're good at murdering.

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raymaehn t1_j6oday6 wrote

Pretty much, yeah. But only if those murderers have just as many friends as their accusers.

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Alarming-Ad1100 t1_j6oki9k wrote

Just wanna say you broke it down really well thanks for expanding my understanding of this a little more. Their perspective in mind it’s understandable and human strangely.

Thankfully things have changed but it’s so wild

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[deleted] t1_j6omu6w wrote

[removed]

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raymaehn t1_j6oqhxr wrote

Thanks, that's good to hear!

When I'm talking about trials by combat I'm talking about roughly 1400 onward so I can't say much about what happens before that but to my knowledge it wasn't over after the fight was over. In my example, if Albrecht won and Werner survived the fight then Werner was on the hook now. Because if Albrecht won then Werner really did lie. To a judge, under oath. That was a serious crime in and of itself.

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