Ordeal

Introduction to Ordeal

Ordeal, practice of referring disputed questions to the judgment of God, determined either by lot or by certain trials.

Throughout Europe the ordeal existed in various forms under the sanction of law and was closely related to the oath. The most prevalent kinds of ordeal were those of fire, water, and the wager of battle. Fire ordeal was allowed only to persons of high rank. The accused had to carry a piece of red-hot iron in the hand some distance or walk barefoot and blindfolded across red-hot plowshares. The hand or foot was bound up and inspected three days afterward. If the accused had escaped unhurt, the person was pronounced innocent; if hurt, the person was guilty. Water ordeal was the usual mode or trial allowed to members of the lower classes and was of two kinds, the ordeal of boiling water and of cold water. The ordeal of boiling water, according to the laws of Athelstan, the first king of England, consisted of lifting a stone out of boiling water, where the hand had to be inserted as deep as the wrist; the triple ordeal deepened the water to the elbow. The person allowed the ordeal of cold water, the usual mode of trial for witchcraft, was flung into a pool. If the accused floated he or she was guilty; if the accused sank he or she was acquitted. In the wager of battle the defeated party was allowed to live as a “recreant,” that is, on retracting the perjury that had been sworn.

By the middle of the 13th century the ordeal had died out in England and on the Continent.” (1)

Ordeal

Ordeal

Introduction to Ordeal

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Ordeal

The Legal History of Ordeal in English Common Law

Resources

See Also

Further Reading