The Judgment of Cold Water
The cold water ordeal is in some ways the most interesting of all. In this instance the accused was thrown into a pond or tank, which was technically described as the fossa or "pit." If he floated, he was adjudged guilty; if he sank, his innocence was regarded as divinely proved. It is sometimes stated "if he floated without any appearance of swimming," but swimming appears to have been precluded if it be true that his thumbs were tied to his toes, or he was bound hand and foot! Grimm explains the principle of this test by tracing it to an old heathen superstition that the holy element, the pure stream, would receive no misdoer within it. King James I. in his "Demonologie," however, lays it down in the case of witches that they having renounced their baptism, the element with which the holy rite is performed will justly reject them. This elucidation is in exact accord with the ancient formula of consecration pronounced over the accused, which was as follows:
"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 receive thee in baptism receive thee now. Through Christ our Lord."
The priest afterwards exorcized the water, saying to it:
"I adjure thee, water, in the name of the Father Almighty, who did create thee in the beginning, who also did order thee to be separated from the water above ... that in no manner thou receive this man, if he be in any way guilty of the charge 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" [i.e., the circumstance of his guilt].
The Judgment of the Morsel
A fifth form of the ordeal was the test of eating consecrated bread and cheese. This was known as the corsned, or morsel of execration. The priest wrote the Lord's Prayer on the bread, of which he then weighed out a certain quantity—ten pennyweights—and so likewise with the cheese. Under the right foot of the accused he set a cross of poplar wood, and holding another cross of the same material over the man's head, threw over his head the theft written on a tablet. He placed the bread and cheese at the same moment in the mouth of the accused, and, on doing so, recited the conjuration:
"I conjure thee, O man, by the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and by the four-and-twenty elders, who daily sound praises before God, and by the twelve patriarchs, the twelve prophets, the twelve apostles, the evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, by all the saints and by 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 wast a partner in this theft or didst know of it, or hadst any fault, that bread and cheese may not pass thy gullet and throat, but that thou mayest 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."
The following prayer and exorcism were also used and ordered to be repeated three times:
"Holy Father, omnipotent, eternal God, maker 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.