(I 1 3 3-89 ) strength- ened the crown. Henry II encouraged men to look to the royal courts for justice rather than to their local courts or those of the lords. He did so partly by having the royal courts offer better and fairer service.
             In the local and lords' courts trials often were by ordeal or battle. In a trial by ordeal a man was subjected to some test in order "to offer proof." One form of proof required that a man be bound and cast into a pool of water that had been blessed by a priest. If he sank, he was judged to be in the right and was pulled out. But if he floated, he was judged to be wrong. In a trial by battle, two men having a dispute fought each other with swords or other weapons, and the winner of
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