Trial by Ordeal

Much has been made of trial by ordeal, much of it wrong. To begin with, it was not imposed upon the defendant unless he insisted that he was innocent even after the oaths described in the previous section. Also, it was not a means of judicial torture, carried out to drag a confession from someone. The Church was responsible for administering the ordeal, which was preceded by a three-day fast and a mass in which the accused was given the opportunity to confess. If he still maintained his innocence, he was able to decide between two ordeals: water or iron. In the ordeal of cold water, the accused was given holy water to drink, then thrown into the river. The guilty floated, while the innocent sank (and were hopefully dragged out PDQ).

In the ordeal of hot water, the accused had to plunge his hand into boiling water to take out a stone. In the ordeal of iron, the accused had to carry a glowing iron bar nine feet. In both of these, the accused's hand was bandaged, and if the wound was healing cleanly, without festering, after three days, he was obviously innocent. Elaborate rituals for use in ordeals of all kinds are contained in the ritual books of the Anglo-Saxon clergy.

Passing Sentence

All that I have described so far was intended to decide whether or not the defendant was actually guilty. Most law-suits that appeared before the hundred court were mind-numbingly routine, and dealt with in minutes; only a few went to the ordeal. With guilt established, sentence was passed. Anglo-Saxon England had no mechanism for passing custodial sentences - there were no jails or prison officers - so the only options were fines, mutilation, or death. Fines were the usual penalty, and the law codes often list the amount to be paid. Even manslaughter could be covered by a fine if there were mitigating circumstances, or if the victim were a slave. Compensation was paid to the victim or the victim's family, while a fine was also paid to the king's reeve. If the guilty man did not pay his fine, and if his family refused or was unable to pay, he was declared an outlaw: anyone could kill him, and anyone who helped him could receive a heavy fine or worse.

Some crimes were known as bootless crimes, for which no compensation could be offered: arson, house-breaking, open theft, obvious murder, and treachery to one's lord were all bootless. The only punishment was death and forfeiture of property to the king, though the Church advocated mutilation, as this gave the guilty man a chance to expiate his crime in this world and thus save his soul. In some cases, a criminal could be reprieved if he or his family and friends could raise the price of his wergild. Death was usually by hanging, though beheading and drowning are both mentioned.

Another form of sentence was slavery, which usually resulted when it was obvious that an offender had no chance of paying off all his fines and compensation. Slavery was usually for a set period of time and at the end of it the guilty man was declared innocent - though the period of time was often very long.