Moreover,
the ordeal might be single or triple, according to the degree of
immersion or the weight of the iron employed. The laws of Athelstan
prescribe that in the hot-water ordeal, if single, the hand should dive
after the stone up to the wrist; if triple, up to the elbow. Similarly,
by the laws of King Edgar, the weight of the iron for the single ordeal
was to be one pound, and for the triple ordeal three pounds.
The ordeal, being the Judgment of God, was distinctly a religious
ceremony, and the whole of the proceedings were in the hands of the
clergy. The three days following the accusations were spent in prayer
and fasting, and the rite, varied according to the nature of the ordeal,
was performed in a church.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE GLOWING IRON
The iron was placed before the altar, whence the priest, clad in full
canonicals with the exception of the cope, removed it with a pair of
tongs to the fire, singing as he did so the hymn of the Three Children,
_Benedicite, Omnia, Opera_. Over the place where the fire was he then
recited the prayer: "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 plenitude of law, and obedience to
God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost."[9]
We learn from the laws of Athelstan that no man was permitted to enter
the church, after the fire had been borne in wherein the ordeal was to
be heated, with the exception of the mass priest and the accused; and
the latter had to measure with his feet nine feet from the stake to the
mark.
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