Fire trials were one of several medieval trials used for unseen acts. The accused would walk on hot iron plowshares or hold a red-hot iron rod. If they completed the task without infection, they were innocent. Emma of Normandy underwent a fire trial to prove the Bishop of Winchester’s innocence. Trials by ordeal were eventually banned by Pope Innocent III in 1215.
Trial by fire is one of the trials of trials that existed in medieval times throughout Europe. Other trials included water, ingestion, and cross trials. These are related to trial by combat, where the defendant fights the accuser. In fire trials, the defendant goes through the process unaided.
In English common law and the laws of many kingdoms throughout medieval Europe, trial by trial was used for unseen acts. If an act was witnessed, the prosecution and defense may call witnesses to testify. From this, the judges and/or jurors can make a decision on the guilt of the defendant. When an act lacked witnesses, they turned to God for assistance; if the accused was innocent, they believed that God would help them with a trial of some kind.
A test by fire involved no open flames. Instead, the iron was heated. One method had the defendant hold a red-hot iron rod as he walked 9 feet (2.74 m). The other, more common method was for the accused to walk on incandescent iron plowshares. Trial by water often required flames to boil barrels of water, oil, or lead so that the accused could pluck a stone from the bottom of the pot.
If the accused managed to complete the task, he would be bandaged and given a three-day grace. Judges in these matters believed that God would intervene to perform a miracle on behalf of the innocent while leaving the guilty to rot. After three days, they would check the wounds for any signs of infection. If the wound was infected, the defendant was found guilty; otherwise, he was found innocent.
A famous trial by fire case involves Emma of Normandy in mid-11th century England. Emma had been the wife of Æthelred the Entrepreneur and later of Cnut. She was also the mother of the then king, Edward the Confessor. According to the accounts and the legends that grew up around them, she, then twice a widow, was accused of adultery with the Bishop of Winchester.
To prove the Bishop’s innocence, he underwent the process of fire. Edward consulted his Norman priests and agreed, stipulating that he would have to cross nine hot plowshares. On the day of the trial, he strode across the courthouse to ask the judges when the ordeal would take place. Then they told her she had already passed, so he turned and saw the plowshares behind her.
Pope Innocent III forbade priests to participate in any trials by fire or other trials of the ordeal during the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215. As the medieval period wore on, such trials became less frequent. Eventually they became extinct.
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