Source: Ernest J. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London and New York: G. Bell & sons, 1910).
Transcribed by Joshua A. Haft
A. The Judgment of the Glowing Iron.
After the accusation has been lawfully made, and three days have been
passed in fasting and prayer, the priest, clad in his sacred vestments
with the exception of his outside garment, shall take with a tongs the
iron placed before the altar; and, singing the hymn of the three youths,
namely, "Bless him all his works," he shall bear it to the fire, and shall
say this prayer over the place where the fire is to carry out the judgment:
"Bless, O Lord God, this place, that there may be for us in it sanctity,
chastity, virtue and victory, and sanctimony, humility, goodness, gentleness
and plentitude of law, and obedience to God the Father and the Son and
the Holy Ghost."--After this, the iron shall be placed in the fire and
shall be sprinkled with holy water; and while it is heating, he shall celebrate
mass. But when the priest shall have taken the Eucharist, he shall adjure
the man who is to be tried ... and shall cause him to take the communion.
Then the priest shall sprinkle holy water above the iron and shall say:
"The blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost descend upon
this iron for the discerning of the right judgment of God." And straightway
the accused shall carry the iron to a distance of nine feet. Finally his
hand shall be covered under seal for three days, and if festering blood
be found in the track of the iron, he shall be judged guilty. But if, however,
he shall go forth uninjured, praise shall be rendered to God.
B. Judgment of the Ploughshares.
Lord God omnipotent…we invoke Thee, and, as suppliants, exhort Thy majesty,
that in this judgment and test Thou will’st order to be of no avail all
the wiles of diabolical fraud and ingenuity, the incantations either of
men or of women, also the properties of herbs; so that to all those standing
around it may be apparent, that Thou art just and lovest justice, and that
there is none who may resist Thy majesty. And so O Lord, Ruler of
the heavens and the earth, creator of the waters, king of thy whole creation,
in Thy holy name and strength we bless these ploughshares, that they may
render a true judgment; so that if so be that that man is innocent of the
charge in this matter which we are discussing and treating of amongst us,
who walks over them with naked: thou O omnipotent God, as thou didst deliver
the three youths from the fiery furnace, and Susanna from the false charge,
and Daniel from the den of lions, --so thou may’st see fit, by Thy potent
strength to preserve the feet of the innocent safe and uninjured.
If, moreover, that man be guilty in the aforesaid matter; and, the devil
persuading, shall have dared to tempt Thy power, and shall walk over them:
do Thou, who art just and a Judge, make a manifest burn to appear on his
feet, to Thy honour and praise and glory; to the constancy and confidence
in Thy name, moreover, of as thy servants; to the confusion and repentance
of their sins of the perfidious and the blind; so that, against their will,
they may perceive, what willingly they would not, -- that Thou, living
and reigning from ages to ages, art the judge of the living and the dead.
Amen.
C. The Judgment of Boiling Water.
Having performed the mass the priest shall descend to the place appointed
where the trial itself shall be gone through with; he shall carry with
him the book of the gospels and a cross, and shall chant a moderate litany;
and when he shall have completed that litany, he shall exorcize and bless
that water before it boils.—After this he shall divest him (the accused)
of his garments, and shall clothe him or them with clean vestments of the
church—that is, with the garment of an exorcist or of a deacon—and shall
cause him or them to kiss the gospel and the cross of Christ; and he shall
sprinkle over them some of the water itself; and to those who are about
to go in to the Judgment of God, to all of them, he shall give to drink
of that same holy water. And when he shall have given it, moreover,
he shall say to each one: “I have given this water to thee or to you for
a sign to-day.” Then pieces of wood shall be placed under the cauldron,
and the priests shall say….prayers when the water itself shall have begun
to grow warm.—And he who puts his hand in the water for the trial itself,
shall say the Lord’s prayer, and shall sign himself with the sign of the
cross; and that boiling water shall hastily be put down near the fire,
and the judge shall suspend that stone, bound to that measure, within that
same water in the accustomed way; and this he who enters to be tried by
the judgment shall extract it thence in the name of God himself.
Afterwards, with great diligence, his hand shall thus be wrapped up, signed
with the seal of the judge, until the third say; when it shall be viewed
and judged of by suitable men.
D. Test of the Cold Water.
Consecration to Be Said over the Man. May omnipotent God, who did order
baptism to be made by water, and did grant remission of sins to men through
baptism: may He, through His mercy, decree a right judgment through that
water. If, namely, thou art guilty in that matter, may the water which
received thee in baptism not receive thee now; if however, thou art innocent,
may the water which received thee in baptism receive thee now. Through
Christ our Lord.
Afterwards He Shall Exorcise the Water Thus: I adjure thee, water,
in name of the Father Almighty, who did create thee in the beginning, who
also did order thee to be separated from the waters above,. . . that in
no manner thou receive this man, if he be in any way guilty of the charge
that is brought against him; by deed, namely, or by consent, or by knowledge,
or in any way: but make him to swim above thee. And may no process be employed
against thee, and no magic which may be able to conceal that (fact of his
guilt).
E. Judgment of the Morsel.
(Prayer.) Holy Father, omnipotent, eternal God, maker of all things visible and of all things visible and of all things spiritual; who dost look into secret places, and dost know all things; who dost search the hearts of men, and dost rule as God, I pray Thee, hear the words of my prayer: that whoever has committed or carried out or consented to that theft,--that bread and cheese may not be able to pass through his throat.
(Exorcism.) “I exorcize thee, most unclean dragon, ancient serpent, dark night, through the word of truth and the sign of light, through our Lord Jesus Christ the immaculate Lamb, generated by the Most High, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary—whose coming Gabriel the archangel did announce; whom seeing, John did call out: this is the living and true Son of God—that in no wise may’st thou permit that man to eat this bread and cheese, who has committed this theft or consented to it or advised it. Adjured through Him who is to come to judge the quick and the dead, do thou close his throat with a band, not, however, unto death.”
And thou shalt repeat those prayers three times. And before thou
sayest those prayers, thou should’st write on the bread itself the Lord’s
prayer. And of that bread thou should’st weigh out ten denars weight,
and of the cheese likewise. And thou should’st place the bread and
the cheese at the same time in his mouth, and make two crosses of poplar
wood, and put one under his right foot; and the other cross the priest
shall hold with his hand above his (the accused’s) head, and shall throw
above his head that theft written on a tablet. And when thou dost
place that bread in his mouth, thou should’st say the following conjuration:
(Conjuration.) I conjure thee, O man, through the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, and through the twenty-four elders who daily
sound praises before God, and through the twelve patriarchs, through the
twelve prophets, and through the twelve apostles, and the evangelists,
through the martyrs, through the confessors, through the virgins, and through
all the saints, and through our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, who for
our salvation and for our sins, did suffer His hands to be affixed to the
cross: that if thou werst a partner in this theft, or did’st know of it,
or have any fault in it, that bread and cheese may not pass thy gullet
and throat: but that thou may’st tremble like an aspen-leaf, amen; and
not have rest, O man, until thou dost vomit it forth with blood, if thou
hast committed aught in the matter of the aforesaid theft, Through Him
who liveth, etc.
F. Judgment with the Psalter.
One piece of wood shall be made with a button on top, and shall be put
in psalter above this verse: “Thou art just O Lord and righteous are Thy
judgments,” and the psalter being closed shall be strongly pressed, the
button projecting. Another piece of wood also shall be made with
a hole in it, in which the button of the former piece shall be placed sp
that the psalter hangs from it and can be turned. Let two persons, moreover,
hold the wood, the psalter hanging in the middle; and let him who is suspected
be placed before them. And one of those who holds the psalter shall
say to the other, thrice, as follows: “He has this thing” (i.e. the thing
stolen). The other shall reply thrice: “He has it not.” Then
the priest shall say: “This He will deign to make manifest unto us, by
whose judgment are ruled things terrestrial and things celestial.
Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are Thy judgments. Turn away
the evils of my enemies, and destroy them with Thy truth.”
(Prayer.) Omnipotent, everlasting God, who did’st create all things
from nothing, and did’st form man from the clay of the earth, we pray thee
as suppliants through the intercession of Mary the most holy mother of
God….that Thou do make trial for us concerning this matter about which
we are uncertain: so that if so be that this man is guiltless, that book
which we hold in our hands shall (in revolving) follow the ordinary course
of the sun; but if he be guilty that book shall move backwards.