Ordeal
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Ordeal. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) 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.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) the judicium Dei of mediæval writers; the practice of referring disputed questions (especially those touching the criminality of a suspected person) to supernatural decision, in the belief that the Deity would work a miracle rather than the innocent should suffer or the guilty escape punishment. It existed among the Jews. A wife accused of adultery was required to drink "the bitter water that causeth a curse" (Num. v: 12-31), and a strangely similar institution exists at the present day among the negroes of the Gold Coast of Africa; and ordeal in some form or other is still practiced by races of low culture, and by individuals of low culture among races standing in the forefront of civilization. In the Middle Ages in Europe ordeal was sanctioned both by civil and the ecclesiastical authorities, and was chiefly of three kinds: (1) By fire-a survival from the early classic times, in which the accused had to walk barefoot and blindfolded over red-hot plowshares, or to take up and carry a piece of redhot iron a certain distance. This method was allowed only to persons of high rank; (2) By water, for persons of the middle and lower classes. This was of two kinds. The accused had to take a stone out of boiling water, and if, after a certain time, his arm presented no marks of injury, he was adjudged innocent. In the second case-a common method when witchcraft was allegedthe accused, bound hand and foot, was thrown into a river or pond, and it was believed that a guilty person would float without effort, and that an innocent person would infallibly sink; (3) Wager of battle. Besides these three principal methods there were three others in less A supposed murderer was general use: required to touch the body of the murdered man, and was pronounced guilty if blood flowed from the wounds; the Ordeal of the Eucharist, in which divine judgment was supposed to follow unworthy reception of the sacrament; and the Corsned. Guinea, Erythrophlæum guineense; of Madagascar, Cerbera tanguin. The fruit, which is poisonous, is given in some kind of broth to the accused person. If he recover, he is deemed innocent; if he die, this is to be held to prove his guilt.