If festering blood was found in the track of the iron, the accused was
judged to be guilty; if otherwise, he stood acquitted. An infraction of
the rules not only rendered the ordeal void, but was punishable by a
fine of 120 shillings.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE PLOUGHSHARES
Instead of carrying iron of a given weight a stipulated distance, an
accused person might traverse barefoot a certain space in which nine hot
ploughshares were laid lengthwise. To this species of judgment Queen
Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, is alleged to have submitted, when
charged with adultery with Alwyn, Bishop of Winchester. The precise
nature of this trial is more than usually obscure, and there is some
reason for doubting whether Blackstone's account is accurate. He states
that the accused person was blindfolded and that the ploughshares were
placed at irregular intervals--evidently with the design that the person
might escape contact with some of the irons: possibly all. Blackstone's
authority, Rudborn, in his story of the trial of Queen Emma, conveys a
totally different impression of the proceedings--at any rate, on that
occasion. He says distinctly that she was _not_ blindfolded, and that
she pressed each ploughshare with the whole weight of her body: "Emma
vero nullam mamphoram sive pannum ante oculos habens--super novem
vomeres novem passus faciens et singulos eorum totius corporis pleno
pressens pondere.
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