ordeal

Hist. A primitive form of trial in which an accused person was subjected to a usu. dangerous or painful physical test, the result being considered a divine revelation of the person’s guilt or innocence.

• The participants believed that God would reveal a person’s culpability by protecting an innocent person from some or all consequences of the ordeal. The ordeal was commonly used in Europe until the 13th century, but only sporadically after 1215, when the Fourth Lateran Council forbade the clergy from participating in ordeals.

— Also termed trial by ordeal; judicium Dei (“judgment of God”); vulgaris purgatio. Cf. CANFARA.

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