CHAMPION, he who undertakes to maintain, by sin gle combat, his own right or that of another. By the law of England, a species of trial was formerly in use, known by the name of wager of battel, a rude mode of terminating disputes practised by most barbarous na tions. In this judicial combat, the parties appeared ei ther themselves, or (as came afterwards to be more usually the case) by their champions, having their ar mour on, and attended with every circumstance of pomp and ceremony that could give dignity to the spectacle. The weapons used were more or less dangerous, accord ing to the nature of the cause, as military, civil, or cri minal. The consequences likewise, even when the un f,uccessful combatant escaped unhurt, were more or less serious, both to the champion himself and his principal. If the champion of a woman, charged with a capital of fence, was overcome, or proved recreant, the woman was burnt, and her champion hanged ; and so with re gard to sturdier offences. Principals seem originally to
have been allowed to wage their battle from casualties of sex, nonage, or other excusable disability ; but as the Letter ranks became more effeminate, or wise, proxies came to be allowed in all cases, being either retained as a standing officer among the great lord's other depen dents, or hired for the special occasion.
The champlozz is an officer still employed at the coronation of our kings, as a relic of the ancient manner of that solemnity. In the true spirit of the wager of battel, he rides armed cap-a-pie into Westminster Hall, where the king is at dinner, and makes challenge by pro clamation of a herald, That if .any man shall deny the king's title to the crown, he is there ready to defend it in single combat. The office is hereditary. (a. a)