"Procedure by Wager of Battle".--This archaic process pervades Saxo's
whole narrative. It is the main incident of many of the sagas from
which he drew. It is one of the chief characteristics of early Teutonic
custom-law, and along with "Cormac's Saga", "Landnamaboc", and the
Walter Saga, our author has furnished us with most of the information we
have upon its principles and practice.

Steps in the process are the Challenge, the Acceptance and Settlement of
Conditions, the Engagement, the Treatment of the vanquished, the Reward
of the conqueror, and there are rules touching each of these, enough
almost to furnish a kind of "Galway code".

A challenge could not, either to war or wager of battle, be refused with
honor, though a superior was not bound to fight an inferior in rank. An
ally might accept for his principal, or a father for a son, but it was
not honourable for a man unless helpless to send a champion instead of
himself.

Men were bound to fight one to one, and one man might decline to fight
two at once. Great champions sometimes fought against odds.

The challenged man chose the place of battle, and possibly fixed the
time. This was usually an island in the river.

The regular weapons were swords and shields for men of gentle blood.
They fought by alternate separate strokes; the senior had the first
blow. The fight must go on face to face without change of place; for the
ground was marked out for the combatants, as in our prize ring, though
one can hardly help fancying that the fighting ground so carefully
described in "Cormac's Saga", ch. 10, may have been Saxo's authority.