Middle Ages or Medieval Period

In the history of Europe, the Middle

Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th
to the 15th century. It began with the 
fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged
into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
The Middle Ages is the middle period of the
three traditional divisions of Western history: 
classical antiquity, the medieval period, and
the modern period. The medieval period is
itself subdivided into the Early, High, and 
Late Middle Ages.
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a people who have
inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. They
comprise people from Germanic tribes who
migrated to the island from continental Europe,
their descendants, and indigenous British groups.
* includes the creation of an English nation,
with many of the aspects that survive today,
including regional government of shires and 
hundreds. During this period, Christianity was re-
established and there was a flowering of literature
and language. Charters and law were also
established.
Fealty or Oath
An oath of fealty, from the Latin
 fidelitas (faithfulness), is a pledge
of allegiance of one person to
another.
 "Fealty" also referred to the
duties incumbent upon a
vassal that were owed to the
lord, which consisted of
service and aid. One part of
the oath of fealty included
swearing to always remain
faithful to the lord.
2. Wager of Battle
In the wager of battle, the judgment
of God was thought to determine the
winner, and the defeated party was
allowed to live as a recreant, that is, on
retracting the perjury that had been
sworn. Similar in concept is the Burmese
ordeal by divination, which involved two
sides in a dispute holding lighted
candles. Whoever’s candle lasted longest
was pronounced the winner.
 3. Ordeal by Balance

Practiced in the Institute of Vishnu,

India. A scale of balance is used; in one
end of the scale the accused is placed and
in the other end is a counter balance. The
person will step out of the scale and listen
to a judge to deliver an exhortation on the
balance and get back in. If he was found
lighter than before, , then he should be
acquitted.
 4. Ordeal by Water

In this type of ordeal, the

water was symbolic of the flood of
the Old Testament, washing sin
from the face of the earth,
allowing only the righteous
minority to survive.
There are two kinds of
ordeal by water: the boiling
water and of cold water.
Ordeal by water was the
usual mode of trial allowed
to members of the lower
classes.
a. Boiling Water Ordeal – according
to the laws of Athelstan, the first king
of England, the ordeal of boiling water
consisted of lifting a stone out of
boiling, with the hand inserted as deep
as the wrist. More serious offenses
demanded that arm was sub merged
up to the elbow. The burn was
bandaged for three (3) days before
fateful examination.
 One place in Cordillera still
practice boiling water ordeal but
it is performed by various
rituals. This ordeal is
administered to the accused
being a thief.
 b. Cold Water Ordeal – The
person allowed the ordeal of cold
water , the usual mode of trial for
witchcraft, was flung into a body of
water. In this ordeal, the accused
was tied at feet and hands and was
lowered to cold water by rope. This
rope is tied around the defendant’s
waist and had a knot a particular
distance from the torso.
 If both knot and accused dipped
beneath the surface of the water, the
accused was proven innocent . If the
knot is dry or if the water refused to
receive him, or if they floated, it
meant he, the defendant, was guilty.
This was based on the principle that
water, considered the element
“universal” and sacred, would have
refused the accused as they are
guilty.
 The ordeals were banned
and their last official use was
recorded in England in 1717.
However, the people did not
so easily abandon them and
continued to implement
them until the second half
of the 1700s.
5. Ordeal by Rice Chewing
It is performed with a kind of rice
called sathee, prepared with various
incantations. The person on trial eats
the sathee, with the face to the east
and then spits upon a pea leaf. If saliva
is mixed with blood, or the corner of
his mouth swells, or he trembles, he is
declared to be a liar. Indians practice
this ordeal.
5. Ordeal of the Red Water

The ordeal of the “sassy bark” or red

water is used in the wide region of
Eastern Africa. The accused is made to
fast for twelve hours, and then swallows
a small amount of rice. He is then
immersed into dark colored water. The
water is actually emetic and if the
suspect ejects all the rice, he is
considered innocent of the charge.
Otherwise, the accused is guilty.
7. Ordeal by Combat
The aggrieved party claimed the right to fight
the alleged offender or to pay a champion to
fight for him. The victor is said to win not by his
own strength but because of supernatural
powers that had intervened on the side of the
right, as in the duel in the European Ages in
which the “judgment of God was thought to
determine the winner”. If still alive after combat,
the loser might be hanged or burned for a
criminal offense or have a hand cut off and
property confiscated in civil actions.
 In England, King Henry III
abolished all legal ordeals
except Ordeal by Combat.
This ordeal was vividly
dramatized in the movie
“Ivanhoe” based on the novel
of the same title.
8. Ordeal of the Corsned
(ordeal by Blessed Bread)

A priest puts the corsned or

hallowed bread into the mouth of
the accused, with various
imprecations. If the accused
swallowed it, he was freed from
punishment.
 Corsned is a ordeal followed in old
English law. Any person accused of a
crime was given a one-ounce piece of
bread or cheese that a priest had solemnly
charged to stick in the throat of the guilty.
If the person choked he was declared
guilty and if the person did not choke he
was declared innocent. This is also
referred to as ordeal of the morsel,
corsnaed, trial by corsnaed, judicial
morsel and morsel of execration.
9. Test of the Eucharist

This was applied chiefly among the clergy and

monks. When they took the host, it was
believed that God would smite the guilty with
sickness or death. Others believe that if the
accused is innocent, when given a poisonous
drink for him to take in, Angel Gabriel will
descend from heaven to prevent the accused
from taking in the poisonous drink.
10. Ordeal of the Bier

It was an ancient belief that the slain

dead could point out their killer. In England, it
was customary for the accused to approach the
bier where the corpse lay. In the view of the
witness, the wounds of the victim were observed
to see if the began to bleed again. They believe
that the murderer is near, which causes the
blood to flow out from the wound of the victim.
This ordeal was recorded well by Shakespeare in
“Richard III”.
.
A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is
placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave