Why Medieval Women Sometimes Fought in Bloody Trials by Combat

Image caption: German fencing master Hans Talhoffer drew this image of a man and woman engaged in a court-sanctioned trial by combat. Public Domain. Article by Asia London Palomba. Atlas Obscura – August 23, 2024.

Tucked within the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen and the Bavarian State Library in Munich, rare medieval manuscripts depict something unusual, even for the Middle Ages—a man and woman fighting in a trial by combat. The man is drawn waist-deep in a hole armed with an edged club, while the woman circulates above, flinging what looks like a rock in a sock. Both are drawn with furrowed brows, fierce snarls, and bloodied limbs. […]

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