In Egil's Saga there is a passage that reads, "Now this was then the custom, that so soon as a king had enhazelled a field, it was a shameful act to harry before the battle was ended." How common was this practice, and what exactly does it entail? In the saga King Athelstan is fighting the Scottish King Olaf, does this imply that this practice was respected by foreign invading cultures?
"[E]nhazeling of a field was an. old custom, and was used for single combats as well as pitched battles. It was th*ยป staking out of the ground agreed upon, with hazel wands, and is in all probability the origin of our modern prize ring."
Battles Long Ago, New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13937, 19 December 1908, Page 1