Medieval Academy of America The Intellectual Preparation for the Canon of 1215 against Ordeals Author(s): John W. Baldwin Source: Speculum, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct., 1961), pp. 613-636 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2856788 . Accessed: 17/02/2015 14:17 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Medieval Academy of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Speculum. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:17:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THIE INTELLECTUAL PREPARATION FOR TIIE CANON OF 1215 AGAINST ORDEALS BY JOHN W. BALDWIN AMONGthe most importantof the deliberationsof the Fourth Lateran Council convenedby Pope InnocentIII in 1215 was canon 18, whichdealt withthe prob- lem of ordeals.'In the generalcontext of prohibitingclerics from involving them- selves in judicial decisionswhich resulted in the sheddingof blood, the pope and his assembled bishops spoke authoritativelyagainst judicial proofsby ordeals. These practiceswere dividedinto two classes: the unilateral,represented by the hot and cold water and the hot irontrials, and the bilateral,represented by the judicial duel. The firstcategory of unilateralordeals was merelyremoved from ecclesiasticalauspices by forbiddingpriests to bless or consecratethe elements. Their use, however,in secular justice was not specificallydisallowed. In the second categoryof bilateralordeals the Council renewedthe censuresof former councils against judicial duels.2In the lightof canonical traditionthis prohibi- tionmost likely envisaged secular as well as ecclesiasticaljustice. Historiansof ordeals generallyconsider the Council of 1215 to be the turning point in the disappearanceof these customarypractices from European law.' In the realm of legal practicethe prohibitionsof InnocentIII had immediateand significanteffect against certain unilateral proofs at least in England,Normandy, and Denmark.4Although such customarytrials antedated the Christianera, in mediaeval practicethe blessingand consecrationof the elementsby the clergy played an importantpart in theiroperation. Withdrawal of the clergyplaced 1 J. D. Mansi, Sacrorumconciliorum nova et amplissimacollectio (Venice, 1778), XXII, 1006-1007. Othercustomary proofs not mentionedby the Councilbut foundin practiceare the unilateralwalking on glowingcoals and the eucharisticordeal, and the bilateralcross ordeal. 2 Apparentlythese censuresrefer to formerprohibitions against tournaments:for example, c.14 of the Lateran Council of 1139 (Mansi, xxi, 530) and c.20 ofthe Lateran Council of 1179 (Mansi, xxii, 229). 3 Of the numerousworks on the generalsubject of mediaeval ordeals whichserve as introduction to thisstudy may be citedthe olderclassic, Frederico Patetta, Le ordalie(Turin, 1890) and the recent and magisterialHermann Nottarp, Gottesurteilstudien, Bamberger Abhandlungen und Forschungen, 2 (Munich, 1956). Nottarpmakes abundant use of PetrusBrowe, De ordaliis,Textus et documenta in usum excercitationumet praelectionumacademicarum, Series theologica,4 et 11 (Rome, 1932, 1933), a comprehensivecollection of sources,which was not available to me. Kurt-GeorgCram, ludicium belli: Zum Rechtscharalcterdes Kriegesim deutschenMittelalter, Beihefte zum Archiv fur Kulturgeschichte,5 (Munster-Cologne,1955), is a recentwork which treats judicial battle. Two monographswhich concentrate on the ecclesiasticalopposition to ordealsare S. Grelewski,La Reaction contreles ordaliesen Francedepuis le IXI sieClejusqu'au Decretde Gratien,Thesis, Faculty of Catholic Theology(Strasbourg, 1924), and CharlotteLeitmaier, Die Kircheund die Gottesurteile,Wiener rechts- geschichtlicheArbeiten, 2 (Vienna,1953). 4Thomas Rymer,-ed., Foedera,conventiones, litterae (London, 1816), i, 154; Tres anciencoutumier, ch. 38, 51, and 71, in E.-J. Tardif,ed., Coutumier8de Normandie(Rouen, 1881), I, 33, 42, and 67; Niels Skyum-Nielsen,ed., DiplomatariumDanicum, 1211-1223 (Copenhagen, 1957), I Raekke,5 Bind, 141. 613 This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:17:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 614 Preparationfor theCanon of 1215 againstOrdeals serioushandicaps on theirpopular effectiveness.5Trial by battle was practiced more tenaciously,particularly because it was the customaryproof in cases in- volvingserfdom,6 but King Louis IX's famousordinance abolishing judicial duels in the French domain was obviouslyinspired by ecclesiasticalprecedent.7 Like- wise, EmperorFrederick II forbadeboth kinds of customaryproofs throughout his lands in Sicily,although religious influence is not immediatelyapparent.8 To be sure,neither unilateral nor bilateral ordeals disappearedaltogether from judi- cial practice;note the persistenceof the water ordeal in witches'trials as late as the seventeenthcentury. Nor was the Lateran Council solelyresponsible for the disappearanceof ordealsin practice.Their declinemust be viewedin the context of a generalmovement towards more rational legal procedureas exemplifiedby the use of the inquest in ecclesiasticaland French law, the developmentof jury trialin English law, and the appearance of merchantlaw throughoutEurope. In the developmentof the church'slegal positiontowards ordeals the canon of 1215 has even greatersignificance. Prior to 1215 two points of view concerning the mattermay be discernedin the canons of councilsand the decretalsof popes. Against such practicesauthoritative statements may be found as early as the popes of the ninthcentury9 or the Emperor Constantine.10These prohibitions were renewedat various times by the councils and the papacy up throughthe twelfthcentury. On the otherside, as early as the eighthcentury certain coun- cils under the pressureof legal practice publisheda number of canons which permittedvarious types of ordeals and were preservedin collectionsof church law.11XVhile succeeding popes and councils were usually unfavorableto these practices,on occasion they could be foundadmitting exceptions to the general prohibition.As late as the eleventhand twelfthcenturies Popes GregoryVII, 6 For the theoreticalfoundations which supportedthe practice of both bilateral and unilateral ordealsin mediaevalsociety see the discussionof Paul Rousset, "La croyanceen la justice immanente a l'epoque feodale,"Le MoyenAge, LIV (1948), 235 if. 6 PierrePetot, "La preuvedu servageen Champagne,"Revue historique de droitfranQaiset 4tranger, xiii (1930), 466-469; Paul Fournier,"Quelques observationssur l'histoiredes ordaliesau moyenAge," MWlangesGlotz (Paris, 1932), i, 374, 375. 7 Jourdan,DeCrusy, Isambert,Recueil ggne'ral des a?wiennesloisfranCaises (Paris, 1822), i, 284-290; Paul Viollet,ed., Les Etablissementsde Saint Louis (Paris, 1881), I, 483-493, ii, 8 if;Philippe de Beau- manoir,Coutumes de Beauvaisis,ed. A. Salmon (Paris, 1900), ii, no. 1148. Cf. Nottarp, Gottesurteil- studien,p. 377. 8 Constitutionesregni Siciliae, ii, 31, 33, in J.-L.-A. Huillard-Brbholles,ed., Historia diplomatica Fredericisecundi (Paris, 1854), iv(1), 102, 105, 106. Frederickcalled themsuperstitious and irrational. 9 Amongthe moreimportant examples, Pope Nicholas I in 867 prohibitedthe judicial duel in the affairof King Lothair II and Queen Teutberga,although he countenancedthe ordeal of hot water. Jaffe-Loewenfeld,Regesta pontificum Romnanorum (Leipzig, 1885), no. 2872; Gratian,Decretum, C.2 q.5 c.22 Monomachiam(references in Gratian will be cited,as here,solely by the methodof allegation approvedby the Instituteof Researchand Study in Medieval Canon Law). Pope StephenV between 886 and 889 prohibitedunilateral ordeals such as hot iron and cold water in a case of infanticide. Jaffe-Loevenfeld,no. 3443; C.2 q.5 c.20 Consului8ti.Although the pope actually misunderstoodthe nature of such ordeals, thinkingthem to be means of tortureto produce confessionrather than evidencein themselves,the wordingof his decretalimposed a generalcensure. 10 Constantine'sprohibition of gladiatorialcontests: Cod. 11.44.1 Cruenta. 1 A convenientlist of these councilsmay be foundin Leitmaier,Die Kirche,pp. 38-40. This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:17:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Preparationfor theCanon of 1215 againstOrdeals 615 Eugenius III, and AlexanderIII permittedordeals in special instances.'2Even Pope InnocentIII priorto the Council of 1215 was ambivalenton the subject.'3 Afterthe pronouncementof 1215, however,the authoritativestand of the churchagainst customaryproofs was firm.14In 1222 Pope Honorius III cleared up any ambiguityin the Lateran decreesby extendingthe prohibitionof unilat- eral ordealsspecifically into secularlaw.'5 It is truethat the frequentreissuing of the censuresby later popes and councilsindicated that the churchwas having difficultyin enforcingits stand in practice,but in theorythe officialstatements held true to the position of 1215. In theory,even more than in practice,the FourthLateran Council of Pope InnocentIII may be consideredas markingthe beginningof the end of ordealsin