CHAMPION of the King (campio regis) is an ancient officer, whose duty is, at the coronation of our kings, when the king is at dinner, to ride armed cap-a-pied into Westminster hall, and by the proclamation of a herald make a challenge, "that if any man shall deny the king's title to the crown, he is there ready to defend it in single combat;" which being done, the king drinks to him, and sends him a gilt cup with a cover full of wine, which the champion drinks, and has the cup for his fee. This office at the coronation of King Richard II. when Baldwin Ferville exhibited his petition for it, was adjudged from him to his competitor Sir John Dymocke, both claiming from Marmion, and has continued ever since in the family of the Dymockes, who hold the manor of Sinvelby in Lincolnshire hereditary from the Marmions, by grand serjeantry, namely, that the lord of the manor shall be the king's champion as aforesaid.