(1096), Rheims (1136), the Lateran (1139 and 1179), etc. The Synod of Clermont (1095), under
the lead of Pope Urban II., made the Truce of God the general law of the church. The time of the
Truce was extended to the whole period from the first of Advent to Epiphany, from Ashwednesday
to the close of the Easter week, and from Ascension to the close of the week of Pentecost; also to
the various festivals and their vigils. The Truce was announced by the ringing of bells.^351
§ 79. The Ordeal.
Grimm: Deutsche Rechtsalterthömer, Göttingen 1828, p. 908 sqq. Hildenbrand: Die Purgatio
canonica et vulgaris, Mönchen 1841. Unger: Der gerichtliche Zweikampf, Göttingen 1847.
Philipps: Ueber die Ordalien, Mönchen 1847. Dahn: Studien zur Gesch. der Germ. Gottesurtheile,
Mönchen 1867. Pfalz: Die german. Ordalien, Leipz. 1865. Henry C. Lea: Superstition and
Force, Philad. 1866, p. 175–280. (I have especially used Lea, who gives ample authorities for
his statements.) For synodical legislation on ordeals see Hefele, Vols. III. and IV.
Another heathen custom with which the church had to deal, is the so-called Judgment of God
or Ordeal, that is, a trial of guilt or innocence by a direct appeal to God through nature.^352 It prevailed
in China, Japan, India, Egypt (to a less extent in Greece and Rome), and among the barbaric races
throughout Europe.^353
The ordeal reverses the correct principle that a man must be held to be innocent until he is
proved to be guilty, and throws the burden of proof upon the accused instead of the accuser. It is
based on the superstitious and presumptuous belief that the divine Ruler of the universe will at any
time work a miracle for the vindication of justice when man in his weakness cannot decide, and
chooses to relieve himself of responsibility by calling heaven to his aid. In the Carlovingian
Capitularies the following passage occurs: "Let doubtful cases be determined by the judgment of
God. The judges may decide that which they clearly know, but that which they cannot know shall
be reserved for the divine judgment. He whom God has reserved for his own judgment may not be
condemned by human means."
The customary ordeals in the middle ages were water-ordeals and fire-ordeals; the former
were deemed plebeian, the latter (as well as the duel), patrician. The one called to mind the
punishment of the deluge and of Pharaoh in the Red Sea; the other, the future punishment of hell.
The water-ordeals were either by hot water,^354 or by cold water;^355 the fire-ordeals were either by
(^351) See further details in Mansi XIX. 549 sq.; Kluckhohn; Hefele (IV. 696-702, 780); and Mejer in Herzog 2 V. 319 sqq.
(^352) From the Anglo-Saxon ordael or ordela (from or=ur, and dael=theil): German:UrtheilorGottesurtheil; Dutch:
oordeel; French:ordéal; L. Lat.; ordalium, ordale, ordela. See Du Cange sub. ordela, aquae frigidae judicium, Duellum, Ferrum
candens; Skeat (Etymol. Dict. of the Engl. Lang.) sub. Deal.
(^353) See the proof in Lea, who finds in the wide prevalence of this custom a confirmation of the common origin of the
Aryan or Indo-germanic races.
(^354) Judicium aquae ferventis, aeneum, cacabus, caldaria. This is probably the oldest form in Europe. See Lea, p. 196. It
is usually referred to in the most ancient texts of law, and especially recommended by Hincmar of Rheims, as combining the
elements of water—the judgment of the deluge—and of fire—the judgment of the last day. The accused was obliged, with his
naked arm, to find a small stone or ring in a boiling caldron of water (this was called in German theKesselfang), or simply to
throw the hand to the wrist or to the elbow into boiling water. See Lea, p. 196 sqq.
(^355) Judicium aquae frigidae. It was not known in Europe before Pope Eugenius II. (824-827), who seems to have introduced
it. The accused was bound with cords, and lowered with a rope into a reservoir or pond, with the prayer (St., Dunstan’s formula):