10. Hand-to-Hand Combat Sometimes Occurred
The rules of legally codified trial by combat typically included limits on the weapons allowed. The limitations were considerably looser for knights and others of high status, with commoners being relegated to less efficient weapons like cudgels and staves. However, hand to hand combat did sometimes occur in duels. If combatants broke their weapons or became too tired to continue wielding them, the combatants would turn to simply fist-fighting to avoid ending the battle.
One particularly brutal 12th-century Flemish account of trial by combat portrays a gruesome scene that would be fit in a season finale of Game of Thrones. A witness wrote, “Herman the Iron fell prostrate on the ground, and Guy was lying on top of him, smashing the knight’s face and eyes with his iron gauntlets. But Herman… by cleverly lying quiet made Guy believe he was certain of victory.” It was reported that Herman then grabbed Guy by the crotch and ultimately ended up fatally wounding him by “breaking the entire lower half of his body.” Clearly, with honor and property titles on the line, medieval men were willing to fight to their last breath to ensure victory on the regulated field of trial by combat.