Trial by Ordeal

Medieval justice often let God decide guilt. In a trial by ordeal, the accused might plunge a hand into boiling water to retrieve a stone. If the wound healed cleanly within three days, God had declared them innocent. If it festered, they were guilty.

Other ordeals included carrying red-hot iron or being thrown into water, where floating meant guilty. Pope Innocent III banned clerical participation in ordeals in 1215, pushing courts toward witness evidence.