Ordeal

a form of trial to determine guilt or innocence. It consisted in testing the effect of fire, water, poison, etc., upon the accused. The ordeal grew out of nature worship. It was based on a primitive belief that the supernatural resided in and manifested itself in nature and in natural agencies, and hence that innocence was proof and could come to no harm. The trial by ordeal of middle and western Europe was a survival of savagery. Indeed, ordeals of various kinds are practiced yet in the remote districts of China, in the Congo Valley, on the Guinea coast, in Senegambia, and elsewhere. In Siam it is said that the accused and the accuser were, until of late at least, exposed to the attack of a tiger. If one was taken and the other left, the tiger was considered to have taken the guilty party. If he took both victims, both were considered guilty, and anyhow the affair was over. Travelers relate soberly that the Zambezi native, who does not feel well--the rheumatism possibly--and who suspects that he has been bewitched, sends for the witch doctor. The latter, with due ceremonial, brews an infusion of a native purgative plant. The wives are drawn up in line and each, holding her hand up to heaven in protestation of innocence, takes the prescribed draught. Those who vomit are considered innocent; the club for the rest. An equally scientific method of administrative justice is practised by the natives of Madagascar. The authorities prepare a decoction of a poisonous fruit to be administered to the supposed criminal. A small portion is harmless and a large one fatal. As the authorities have it in their discretion to determine the size of the dose, excellent results are obtained.

As practised among the Germans and the Anglo-Saxons of historical times, however, we must believe that there was faith that Providence would shield the innocent, and that they would be scathless, even as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar and came forth, "Upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed; neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."

A common form of the water ordeal was the casting of the accused, bound hand and foot, into water. He was considered guilty if he floated, and innocent if he sank. In the latter case he was to be rescued. In the ordeal of fire the accused was dressed in a garment of waxed cloth and made to pass through fire. If he were unhurt and the wax unmelted his innocence was clear. Ofttimes the accused was forced to walk barefoot over live coals, or to tread on hot plowshares, or to handle a piece of red hot iron. The burns were wrapped up for three days. If, at the end of that time, the burns had healed, the accused party was cleared. Yet another test, that of boiling water, was in vogue. The accused put his bare arm and hand into a kettle of boiling water and lifted an object out. The degree of injury received corresponded to the degree of guilt. Clearly, "to go through fire and water for a friend," was more than a phrase in those days.

Still other ordeals were in use. Two dice, one of these marked with a cross, were placed before holy relics; the accused was required to pick one of them up. If it was marked with the cross he was saved. Or the accused and the accuser were placed face to face under the cross with their arms extended. He who was telling an untruth had no help from a divine source. Fatigue compelled him to drop his arms first. In yet another form of trial by ordeal, practised chiefly by clergy and monks, the holy bread was placed with ceremony in the mouth of the accused. As it was believed that it was fatal to the guilty, an ability even to swallow it was a proof of innocence. One of the latest survivals was the judgment of the bier. This was employed in trial for murder. The corpse was placed on a bier. Domestics, relatives, all who in any way fell under suspicion, or who wished to clear themselves, approached one by one and touched the corpse. The slightest flow of blood from the wound, foam at the mouth, or change of position, was incriminating.

Roman law never recognized trial by ordeal, favoring the torture instead. The papal authority restricted the practice. As early as 1215 the Lateran Council forbade ordeals. These forms of trial were abolished in England in the reign of Henry III.