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Ordeal was one of the medieval judicial systems in which judges decided whether the accused was innocent or guilty by depending on divine power as a last resort. This method was used in cases of the absence of reliable proof: confession of the accused, and witness’s testimony in “occult” crimes like theft, rape, heresy and sorcery. It played an important role in making possible small communities’ ability to reach a social consensus without falling into discord on judicial disputes in the age when both natural and human phenomena were regarded as the result of the Providence of God. In the twelfth century, however, the method of ordeal was faced with a crisis due to the intellectual elites’ bitter criticism, the change of social structure and the development of rational thought. A turning point in the history of ordeal was the decision of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) according to which any clergy was forbidden to celebrate benediction or consecration in all forms of ordeal. Therefore, it was impossible for divine power to intervene in confirming the innocence or guilt of the accused. Almost all forms of ordeal (other than judicial duel) were disappearing in the course of the thirteenth century in western European countries strongly centralizing like France. Even so, confession and torture, as integral parts of ordeal, had the same religious significance in the newly established judicial system well into the late fourteenth century.
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Ordeal,Providence of God,Adversary System, Inquisitorial System,Confession and Torture
