Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/194

180 duel between the accuser and accused, in the presence of the king and his court. The Earl of Essex was defeated in the combat; but the king, instead of sentencing him to death, as was customary in such cases, contented himself with seizing the estates of Essex, and condemning him to pass the rest of his life as a monk in Reading Abbey.

Geoffrey Plantagenet did not live long to enjoy the city of Nantes. At the time of his election, Lower Brittany included men of two distinct races, one of which spoke the Celtic or Armorican language, and the other the Roman language, which has been already described as forming, in the twelfth century, the common language of France and Normandy. The latter people formed the majority of the dwellers in the towns, and the city of Nantes, among others, was inhabited by them exclusively.

The two races entertained an inverterate