CHAPTER XII.

THE ORDEAL

33. Tests by Hot Water, Cold Water, and Fire

Among the early Germans the settling of disputes and the testing of the guilt or innocence of an accused person were generally accomplished through the employment of one or both of two very interesting judicial practices--compurgation and the ordeal. According to the German conception of justice, when one person was accused of wrongdoing by another and chose to defend himself, he was not under obligation to prove directly that he did not commit the alleged misdeed; rather it was his business to produce, if he could, a sufficient number of persons who would take oath that they believed the accused to be a trustworthy man and that he was telling the truth when he denied that he was guilty. The persons brought forward to take this oath were known as compurgators, or "co-swearers," and the legal act thus performed was called compurgation. The number of compurgators required to free a man was usually from seven to twelve, though it varied greatly among different tribes and according to the rank of the parties involved. Naturally they were likely to be relatives or friends of the accused man, though it was not essential that they be such. It was in no wise expected that they be able to give facts or evidence regarding the case; in other words, they were not to serve at all as witnesses, such as are called in our courts to-day.

If the accused succeeded in producing the required number of compurgators, and they took the oath in a satisfactory manner, the defendant was usually declared to be innocent and the case was dropped. If, however, the compurgators were not forthcoming, or there appeared some irregularity in their part of the procedure, resort would ordinarily be had to the ordeal. The ordeal was essentially an appeal to the gods for decision between two contending parties. It was based on the belief that the gods would not permit an innocent person to suffer by reason of an unjust accusation and that when the opportunity was offered under certain prescribed conditions the divine power would indicate who was in the right and who in the wrong. The ordeal, having its origin far back in the times when the Germans were pagans and before their settlements in the Roman Empire, was retained in common usage after the Christianizing and civilizing of the barbarian tribes. The administering of it simply passed from the old pagan priests to the Christian clergy, and the appeals were directed to the Christian's God instead of to Woden and Thor. Under Christian influence, the wager of battle (or personal combat to settle judicial questions), which had been exceedingly common, was discouraged as much as possible, and certain new modes of appeal to divine authority were introduced. Throughout the earlier Middle Ages the chief forms of the ordeal were: (1) the ordeal by walking through fire; (2) the ordeal by hot iron, in which the accused either carried a piece of hot iron a certain distance in his hands or walked barefoot over pieces of the same material; (3) the ordeal by hot water, in which the accused was required to plunge his bared arm into boiling water and bring forth a stone or other object from the bottom; (4) the ordeal by cold water, in which the accused was thrown, bound hand and foot, into a pond or stream, to sink if he were innocent, to float if he were guilty; (5) the ordeal of the cross, in which the accuser and accused stood with arms outstretched in the form of a cross until one of them could endure the strain of the unnatural attitude no longer; (6) the ordeal of the sacrament, in which the accused partook of the sacrament, the idea being that divine vengeance would certainly fall upon him in so doing if he were guilty; (7) the ordeal of the bread and cheese, in which the accused, made to swallow morsels of bread and cheese, was expected to choke if he were guilty; and (8) the judicial combat, which was generally reserved for freemen, and which, despite the opposition of the Church, did not die out until the end of the mediaeval period.

The three passages quoted below illustrate, respectively, the ordeal by hot water, by cold water, and by fire. The first (a) is a story told by the Frankish historian Gregory of Tours [see p. 46]. The second (b) is an explanation of the cold water ordeal written by Hincmar, an archbishop of Rheims in the ninth century. The third (c) is an account, by Raymond of Agiles, of how Peter Bartholomew was put to the test by the ordeal of fire. This incident occurred at Antioch during the first crusade. Peter Bartholomew had just discovered a lance which he claimed was the one thrust into the side of Christ at the crucifixion and, some of the crusaders being skeptical as to the genuineness of the relic, the discoverer was submitted to the ordeal by fire to test the matter.

Sources--(a) Gregorius Episcopus Turonensis, _Libri Miraculorum_ [Gregory of Tours, "Books of Miracles"], Chap. 80. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Merovingicarum_, Vol. I., p. 542. Translated by Arthur C. Howland in _Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints_, Vol. IV., No. 4, pp. 10-11.

(b) Hincmari Archiepiscopi Rhemensis, _De divortio Lotharii regis et Tetbergae reginae_ [Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, "The Divorce of King Lothair and Queen Teutberga"], Chap. 6. Text in Migne, _Patroligiae Cursus Completus_, Second Series, Vol. CXXV., cols. 668-669. Translated by Arthur C. Howland, _ibid_.

(c) Raimundus de Agiles, _Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem_ [Raimond of Agiles, "History of the Franks who captured Jerusalem"], Chap. 18. Text in Migne, _Patrologiae Cursus Completus_, Second Series, Vol. CLV., cols. 619-621.

[Sidenote: A challenge to the ordeal by hot water]

[Sidenote: Preparations for the ordeal]

[Sidenote: Result of the ordeal]

An Arian presbyter, disputing with a deacon of our religion, made venomous assertions against the Son of God and the Holy Ghost, as is the habit of that sect.[293] But when the deacon had discoursed a long time concerning the reasonableness of our faith, and the heretic, blinded by the fog of unbelief, continued to reject the truth (according as it is written, "Wisdom shall not enter the mind of the wicked") the former said: "Why weary ourselves with long discussions? Let acts demonstrate the truth. Let a kettle be heated over the fire and some one's ring be thrown into the boiling water. Let him who shall take it from the heated liquid be approved as a follower of the truth, and afterwards let the other party be converted to the knowledge of this truth. And do thou understand, O heretic, that this our party will fulfill the conditions with the aid of the Holy Ghost; thou shalt confess that there is no inequality, no dissimilarity, in the Holy Trinity." The heretic consented to the proposition and they separated, after appointing the next morning for the trial. But the fervor of faith in which the deacon had first made this suggestion began to cool through the instigation of the enemy [i.e., Satan]. Rising with the dawn, he bathed his arm in oil and smeared it with ointment. But nevertheless he made the round of the sacred places and called in prayer on the Lord. What more shall I say? About the third hour they met in the market place. The people came together to see the show. A fire was lighted, the kettle was placed upon it, and when it grew very hot the ring was thrown into the boiling water. The deacon invited the heretic to take it out of the water first. But he promptly refused, saying, "Thou who didst propose this trial art the one to take it out." The deacon, all of a tremble, bared his arm. And when the heretic presbyter saw it besmeared with ointment he cried out: "With magic arts thou hast thought to protect thyself, that thou hast made use of these salves, but what thou hast done will not avail." While they were thus quarreling, there came up a deacon from Ravenna named Iacinthus, who inquired what the trouble was about. When he learned the truth, he drew his arm out from under his robe at once and plunged his right hand into the kettle. Now the ring that had been thrown in was a little thing and very light, so that it was tossed about by the water as chaff would be blown about by the wind; and, searching for it a long time, he found it after about an hour. Meanwhile the flame beneath the kettle blazed up mightily, so that the greater heat might make it difficult for the ring to be followed by the hand; but the deacon extracted it at length and suffered no harm, protesting rather that at the bottom the kettle was cold while at the top it was just pleasantly warm. When the heretic beheld this, he was greatly confused and audaciously thrust his hand into the kettle saying, "My faith will aid me." As soon as his hand had been thrust in, all the flesh was boiled off the bones clear up to the elbow. And so the dispute ended.

[Sidenote: How the ordeal of cold water is to be conducted]

(b)

Now the one about to be examined is bound by a rope and cast into the water because, as it is written, "each one shall be holden with the cords of his iniquity." And it is manifest that he is bound for two reasons, namely, that he may not be able to practice any fraud in connection with the judgment, and that he may be drawn out at the right time if the water should receive him as innocent, so that he perish not. For as we read that Lazarus, who had been dead four days (by whom is signified each one buried under a load of crimes), was buried wrapped in bandages and, bound by the same bands, came forth from the sepulchre at the word of the Lord and was loosed by the disciples at His command; so he who is to be examined by this judgment is cast into the water bound, and is drawn forth again bound, and is either immediately set free by the decree of the judges, being purged, or remains bound until the time of his purgation and is then examined by the court.... And in this ordeal of cold water whoever, after the invocation of God, who is the Truth, seeks to hide the truth by a lie, cannot be submerged in the waters above which the voice of the Lord God has thundered; for the pure nature of the water recognizes as impure, and therefore rejects as inconsistent with itself, such human nature as has once been regenerated by the waters of baptism and is again infected by falsehood.

[Sidenote: Preparations for the ordeal by fire]

(c)

All these things were pleasing to us and, having enjoined on him a fast, we declared that a fire should be prepared upon the day on which the Lord was beaten with stripes and put upon the cross for our salvation. And the fourth day thereafter was the day before the Sabbath. So when the appointed day came round, a fire was prepared after the noon hour. The leaders and the people to the number of 60,000 came together. The priests were there also with bare feet, clothed in ecclesiastical garments. The fire was made of dry olive branches, covering a space thirteen feet long; and there were two piles, with a space about a foot wide between them. The height of these piles was four feet. Now when the fire had been kindled so that it burned fiercely, I, Raimond, in the presence of the whole multitude, said: "If Omnipotent God has spoken to this man face to face, and the blessed Andrew has shown him our Lord's lance while he was keeping his vigil,[294] let him go through the fire unharmed. But if it is false, let him be burned, together with the lance, which he is to carry in his hand." And all responded on bended knees, "Amen."

[Sidenote: Peter Bartholomew passes through the flames]

The fire was growing so hot that the flames shot up thirty cubits high into the air and scarcely any one dared approach it. Then Peter Bartholomew, clothed only in his tunic and kneeling before the bishop of Albar,[295] called God to witness that "he had seen Him face to face on the cross, and that he had heard from Him those things above written."... Then, when the bishop had placed the lance in his hand, he knelt and made the sign of the cross and entered the fire with the lance, firm and unterrified. For an instant's time he paused in the midst of the flames, and then by the grace of God passed through.... But when Peter emerged from the fire so that neither his tunic was burned nor even the thin cloth with which the lance was wrapped up had shown any sign of damage, the whole people received him, after he had made over them the sign of the cross with the lance in his hand and had cried, "God help us!" All the people, I say, threw themselves upon him and dragged him to the ground and trampled on him, each one wishing to touch him, or to get a piece of his garment, and each thinking him near some one else. And so he received three or four wounds in the legs where the flesh was torn away, his back was injured, and his sides bruised. Peter had died on the spot, as we believe, had not Raimond Pelet, a brave and noble soldier, broken through the wild crowd with a band of friends and rescued him at the peril of their lives.... After this, Peter died in peace at the hour appointed to him by God, and journeyed to the Lord; and he was buried in the place where he had carried the lance of the Lord through the fire.[296]

FOOTNOTES:

[293] The principal difference between Arian and orthodox Christians arose out of the much discussed problem as to whether Jesus was of the same substance as God and co-eternal with Him. The Arians maintained that while Jesus was truly the Son of God, He must necessarily have been inferior to the Father, else there would be two gods. Arianism was formally condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325, but it continued to be the prevalent belief in many parts of the Roman Empire; and when the Germans became Christians, it was Christianity of the Arian type (except in the case of the Franks) that they adopted--because it happened to be this creed that the missionaries carried to them. The Franks became orthodox Christians, which in part explains their close relations with the papacy in the earlier Middle Ages [see p. 50]. Of course Gregory of Tours, who relates the story of the Arian presbyter, as a Frank, was a hater of Arianism, and therefore we need not be surprised at the expressions of contempt which he employs in referring to "the heretic."

[294] The story as told by Raimond of Agiles was that Peter Bartholomew had been visited by Andrew the Apostle, who had revealed to him the spot where the lance lay buried beneath the Church of St. Peter in Antioch.

[295] Albar, or Albara, was a town southeast of Antioch, beyond the Orontes.

[296] Owing to Peter's early death after undergoing the ordeal, a serious controversy arose as to whether he had really passed through it without injury from the fire. His friends ascribed his death to the wounds he had received from the enthusiastic crowd, but his enemies declared that he died from burns.