23. Medieval Trials Were Insane
Today’s concepts of fair trials – especially the belief in rational adjudication as a means of determining justice – were not widely shared in the medieval period. Back then, trial by ordeal was a common alternative to trying a dispute before a neutral arbiter learned the law, to decide the facts of a case and the rights and wrongs of it. The idea was to subject an accused or both parties to a dispute to a dangerous and painful experience, whose outcome was unknown going in, and then “let God decide” who was innocent or guilty or in the right or wrong.
Variations included ordeal by water, in which an accused was tied and thrown into a body of water. The accused was deemed innocent if he or she floated, and guilty if not. There was also the ordeal by fire, in which an accused held a red hot bar of iron and walked three paces. If the accused’s hand healed after three days, it was taken as proof of innocence. If not, it was a judgment of guilt. For the aristocrats, there was the option of ordeal by combat, with accusers fighting the accused, and victory presumably going to the one in the right.