As the various forms in which oaths have been administered and taken is a
question not altogether devoid of interest, I would wish to add a few words
to what I have already written upon this subject. The earliest notice of
this ceremony is probably that which is to be found in Genesis xxiv. 2, 3.:
"And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over
all that he had. Put, I pray thee, _thy hand under my thigh_; And I
will make thee swear," &c.
That at a very early period the soldier swore by his sword, is shown by the
Anglo-Norman poem on the conquest of Ireland by Henry II., published by
Thomas Wright, Esq.: London, 1837, p. 101.:
"Morice par sa espe ad jure,
N' i ad vassal si ose."
In a charter of the thirteenth century, made by one Hugh de Sarnefelde to
the Abbey of Thomascourt in Dublin, of a certain annuity, we find the
passage:
"Et sciendum quod jam dictus Adam de Sarnefelde _affidavit in manu_
Magistri Roberti de Bedeford pro se et heredibus suis quod fideliter et
absque omni fallacia persolvent, etc. redditum prenominatum."
And such clauses are probably of frequent occurrence in ancient charters.
The expression "affidavit in manu" may be perhaps explained by referring to
the mode in which the oath of homage was accustomed to be taken. This form,
as it was of old time observed in England, is, I presume, {404} fully
described in other publications; but as many of the most valuable of the
ancient public records of Ireland have been, and are still, in a sadly
neglected state, it is not probable that the following description of the
manner in which certain of the Irish chieftains in the time of Richard II.
performed their homage to Thomas Earl of Nottingham, his deputy, has been
hitherto printed:
"Gerraldus O'Bryn predictus zonam, glaudium et capitium ipsius a se
amovens, et genibus flexis ad pedes dicti domini comitis procedit,
ambas manus suas palmis [adgremium] junctis erigens, et inter manus
dicti domini comitis crectas tenens, protulit hec verba in lingua
hibernicana," &c.--_Inquisition deposited in the Exchequer Record
Office, Dublin; James I._ No. 84.