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.