T H E JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES

EDITOR: Marcel Tetel, Duke University

ADVISORY BOARD: Wlliam J. Bouwsma, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley Derek S. Brewer, Cambridge University Arthur B. Ferguson, Duke University Creighton E. Gilbert, Yale University Anthony Grafton, Princeton University V. A. Kolve, Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles Irving Lavin, Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton Eugene F. Rice, Jr., Columbia University Lionello Sozzi, Universiti di Torino

Volume 24

Copyright @ 1994 by Duke University Press Durham, North Carolina

The crisis of the ordeal: literature, law, and religion around I zoo

J 0 H N W. BALDW I N , The Johns Hopkins University

When the English chronicler Matthew Paris tallied up the notable events that had taken place in his world between r 2 0 0 and I 250, among those that caught his attention was the prohibition of ordeals through water and fire.' Adost modern historians agree that the Fourth Lateran Council of I 2 15, which forbade the cler& from participating in or- deals, coincided with a distinct turning point in the practice in Euro- pean society. (In this paper I shall limit consideration to the unilateral species of hot iron, hot water, and cold water and to the bilateral ju- dicial duel.) Ordeals are often envisaged as occupying the center of medieval mentality. Embodying immanent justice, they affirmed that God could and, in fact, did intervene directly in human affairs to re- solve perplexing judicial decision^.^ They constituted the legal pendant to the saint, whose canonization required not only exemplary piety but also the performance of clearly attested miracles. The practice of ordeals has produced an abundant quantity of evidence from the early A!Iiddle Ages onward, but the quality of the documentation is frag- mentary and sketchy. What has survived has been compiled by mod- ern historians beginning with the broad compendiums of Henry C. Lea and Frederico Patteta, passing through the magisterial synthesis of Hermann Nottarp and arriving at the recent interpretative essays of Paul Hyams and Robert Bartlett.3 Historians have been particularly

Joztr~znl of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 24: 3, Fall 1994. Copyright @ 1994 by Duke Uiversi ty Press. CCC oo47-2573/94/$1 .SO

I. Matthew Paris, Chronica majora, ed. Henry Luard, Rolls Series, no. 57, 7 vols. (London: Longman, 1872-83), 5:rgz.

2. Paul Rousset, "La Croyance en la justice immanente B l'&poque fkodale," Le Moyen Age, 4th ser., 3 (1948) : 225-48, especially 235-41.

3. Henry C. Lea, Superstition and Force (Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, 1878); Frederico Patetta, Le ordalie (Turin: Fratelli Becca, 1890); Herman Nottarp, Got- teszrrteilstudien, Bamberger Abhandlungen und Forschungen, 2 (Munich: Kijsel, 1956) ; Paul R. Hyams, "Trial by Ordeal: The Key to Proof in the Early Common Law," in Alorris S. Arnold et al., eds., O n the Laws and Custonzs of England: Essays in Honor of S;mz:lel E. Thorne (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981 ), 90-126; Robert Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water: T h e Mediezjal Judicial Ordeal (Oxford: Clarendon, 1986). Dominique Barthklemy, "Dil-ersit6 des ordalies mkdiCvales," Revue historique 280 (1988): 3-25, emphasizes the complexity of the practices. Margaret H. Kerr, Richard D. Forsyth, and Michel j. Plyley, "Cold Water and Hot Iron: Trial by

3 28 journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( I 994) 3

preoccupied with the decline or the crisis of the ordeal in the twelfth century. Since few moderns would willingly entrust their fortunes to the decision of the iron or water, the abolition of the ordeal has usually been applauded as heralding the dawn of modern judicial procedure. Yet within all of this attention to the crisis of the ordeal, legal his- torians have taken little notice of the image of the ordeal in contem- porary vernacular literature, doubtless because literature is fictional and presumably not pertinent to the domain of legal p r a ~ t i c e . ~ As literary historians have long known, however, in the four decades pre- ceding I z I 5 the ordeal appeared prominently in three families of ver- nacular romance: ( I ) the Tristan legend, including a homologue from ChrCtien de Troyes's Chevalier de la charrete, ( 2 ) the early branches of the Roman de Renart, and ( 3 ) the Ronzafz de la rose of Jean Renart (also known as the Guillauwze de Dole) and its sequel the Roman de la violette of Gerbert de M o n t r e ~ i l . ~ These literary texts not only depict the ordeal's operations with greater detail than is usually found in the historical sources, but, equally important, they also articulate an under- lying rationale.

M y purpose in reading these romances is twofold. In a preliminary

Ordeal in England," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 22 ( 1 ~ ~ 2 ) : 573-97, combine evidence of judicial practice in England ( I 194-1208) with modem investigations into the physiological differences between males and females.

4. This lacuna, however, has been addressed by the literary historian Pierre Jonin, Les Personnages fiminins duns les romans frangais de Tr i s tm m XlIe sidcle: Etude des influences contenzporaines (Gap: Ophrys, 1958), 59-105, who provides the legal context for Iseut's trial, and by R. Howard Bloch, Medieval French Literature and the Law (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977)~ 13-26.

5. For the texts and translations of the vernacular romances employed here: BCroul, Le Roman de Tristan, ed. Ernest Muret and L. M. Defourques, Classiques fran~ais du moyen 8ge (Paris: Champion, 1947)~ trans. Alan S. Fedrick, T h e Romance of Tristan (Hannondsworth: Penguin, 1970); Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan und Isolde, ed. Friedrich Ranlte (Berlin: Weidmann, 1967), trans. A. T. Hatto, Tr i s tm (Harmonds- worth: Penguin, 1960) ; Brother Robert, Tristrirms saga ok Isondar, ed. Eugen Kolbing (Heilbronn: Henninger, IS@), trans. Paul Schach, T h e Saga of T r i s t r m and lsond (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1976) ; Chrktien de Troyes, Le Chevalier de la charrete, Classiques fransais du moyen bge (Paris: Champion, 1958), trans. William Kibler, Artburinn Ronzances (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991); Le Roman de Renart, ed. Ernest Martin (Strasbourg: Triibner, 18821, I, trans. Patricia Terry, Renard the Fox (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992); Jean Renart, Le RomanAde la rose ou de Guillaz~me de Dole, ed. FClix Lecoy, Classiques fran~ais du mopen age (Paris: Champion, 1979), trans. Jean Dufournet et al., Guillaume de Dole ou le Ro?rzmz de la rose (Paris: Champion, 1979) ; Gerbert de Montreuil, Le Roman de Ea violette ou de Gerart de Nevers, ed. Douglas L. Buffum, Sociktk des anciens textes fran~ais (Paris: Champion, 1928), trans. Mireille Demaules, Le Roman de la violette (Paris: Stock, rggz). I am grateful to Stephen G. Nichols for reviewing my translations of Le Ronzan de Renart.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 2 9

way I wish to show that the ordeal functioned in the literary texts in ways congruent to those found in other historical documents. In other words, there is little significant disjunction benveen the portrayal of ordeals in fictional accounts and what we know about them from other historical documentation. Asly second and more important task is to highlight the crisis of the ordeal as revealed in literary texts. W e shall see that in this discourse the ordeal was both opposed and reaffirmed. T o contextualize the controversy in romance I shall introduce and juxtapose three well-known elemints: the theological theories of Peter the Chanter, who was the most vociferous opponent of the ordeal a t the time, the legal remedies formulated by the canonists and subse- quently adopted by Pope Innocent 111, who convoked the Lateran Council, and finally the religious beliefs expressed in contemporary saints' lives. Although as historians we already know the outcome of the debate, we should nonetheless refrain from viewing the censure of the ordeal as inevitable, but focus our attention on the process of decline by listening attentively to the controversy that persisted during the decades preceding 1 2 1 5 . After the decision had been taken, u7e shall finally measure its influence on a succeeding generation of romances exemplified by the Ronzan de la violette of Gerbert de Alontreuil.

If ordeals were employed to resolve a wide range of disputes in the historical record, a significant number nonetheless invoIved sexual matters such as fornication, adultery, paternity, and the like.G In Nor- way, for example, where kings named Olaf, Harold, and htagnus gen- erously sowed their genes on the population, single mothers were encouraged to claim royal paternity for their sons. An ambitious mother, such as Inga Varteig, for example, proposed to carry the hot iron to prove the kingly blood in her son Hakon, thereby wagering temporary pain if she failed against enormous social gain if she won.7 Since romances characteristically featured lovers rather than thieves, this literature narrated disputes 01 a sexual nature. Our three families of romance contain extended and vivid examples of ordeals used to decide questions of adultery, rape, and seduction.

6. See the sampIes provided by Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 13 , 16-20, 33, 9, 46, 80, and by Hyarns, "Trial by Ordeal," 98.

7. Jenny M. Jochens, "The Politics of Reproduction: Medieval Norwegian King- ship," American Historical Review 92 (1987): 333-45. On the use of the ordeal in paternity cases in Iceland see William Ian Miller, "Ordeal in Iceland," Scandinavian Studies 60 (1988): 18p-too.

3 30 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( 1 9 9 ~ ) 3

T h e Tristan legend survives only in framents, of which the earliest 9

to contain the ordeal is Btroul's version In French (c. I 170?). T h e adulterous triangle of King Marc, Queen Iseut, and Tristan produced b y the love potion is well known and requires only the highlighting of passages relevant to our theme. In a central episode a malignant dn-arf attempts to entrap the lovers by spreading flour on the floor benveen their beds during the king's absence. Tristan foils the trick by vaulting from his bed to Iseut's, but this leap opens a wound which sprinkles blood on the flour and stains the queen's sheets. Convinced b y this evidence, the king orders summary execution of the guilty pair b y fire.8 The lovers escape; after three years the effects of the magic po- tion wear off; they repent of their past and return to court, where Tristan offers to defend the queen's honor in battle. JYhen three barons persist in accusing the queen of adultery, Iseut offers to clear herself by oath at the court of King Arthur. T o prepare for the jud,pent she instructs Tristan to disguise himself as a leper and await her at a ford, where he carries her across on his back. Before the assembled court the queen solemnly swears that she has been close to no man except her husband and now this leper.g T h e court accepts this justification, the lovers return to their former habits, once again are discovered, and Btroul's fragment breaks off.

The extant fragments of Thomas's French version ( I I 72-75?) omit the ordeal, but it can be reconstructed from the hliddle High German adaptation of Gottfried von Strassburg (1200-1 2 10) and the Old Norse version of Brother Robert ( I 2 2 6 ) . T h e episode of the bloody sheets becomes the direct occasion for Iseut's oath. Tristan is instructed to dress as a pilgrim and to carry the queen from a ship. When he falls on her, Iseut is once again furnished the occasion to offer an ambiguous oath. In Thomas's version, however, the queen confirms her solemn oath by carrying the hot iron, which she accomplishes without harm.1° ChrLtien de Troyes's story of Lancelot and Queen Guenikvre in the Chevalier de la charette contains similarities sufficient to link it t o the

8. Bkroul, Tristan, 11.643-903. 9. Ibid., 11.3228-4231. 10. Gottfried, Tristan, trans. Hatto, 240-48; Brother Roben, Tristranzs saga, 7-74;

T h e Saga of Tristram and Isond, trans. Schach, 89-94. According to Norman custom, women accused in criminal actions who cannot find a champion in battle may clew themselves by the ordeal (jusio) ; "Summa de legibus," 76, in Coutumiers de Norman- die, ed. Ernest Joseph Tardif (Rouen: Cagniard, 1896), 3: rgo-gr. Ernest C. York, "Isolt's Trial in BCroul and La Folie Tristan d70xford," Medievalia et Humnis t i ca , n.s., 6 (197j ) : 157-61, detects Anglo-Saxon precedents for Iseut's ordeal.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 3 I

Tristan tradition. When Lancelot consummates his adulterous love for the queen at the end of his quest, he injures himself in dismantling the bars over the window of her chamber. The resulting bloodstained sheets implicate the wounded seneschal Kay, who is convalescing in Guenii-rre's quarters. Icay is too severely injured to defend himself against the accusations of the jealous Mtltagant in battle, but Lancelot, 11-ho has escaped unnoticed, is recruited to fight in the seneschal's place. The queen's lover swears that Kay was not in GueniAvre's bed and successfully defends the seneschal's innocence."

In all likelihood, the Roman de Renart originated from the same period as the Tristan legend.12 Designating animals as principal char- acters, Pierre de Saint-Cloud, the first author, and his continuators in branches 2, ga, I , and 6 (according to the edition of Ernest Martin), all completed by I 190, ~roblematize and parody the contemporary judicial process. Through an interminable series of ruses Renart the fox preys on his animal neighbors. One day he comes across an old girlfriend, Hersent the she-wolf, who welcomes him with kisses and more. Learning of this reception, Ysengrin, her wolf-husband, the royal marshall, is provoked to jealous rage, and the couple sets off in pursuit of the fox. Hersent arrives at Renard's castle first, attempts to enter the fox's lair, and becomes firmly lodged in the doorway, head in, nether parts out. Renart exits by another door and proceeds to roger her at leisure. When Ysengrin arrives, the fox denies that it is rape, asserting that Hersent has enjoyed the experience, and offers to clear himself by oath.13 A judgment is held at the court of King Noble the Lion, where Renart is summoned to take an oath on the tooth of Roenel the dog. The wily fox, however, will not venture to put his hand into the gaping jaws, bolts the court, and reaches the safety of his castle.14 At a second trial Renart is cited three times to Noble's court and appears only on the third, when summoned by a sealed char- ter. H e repents of his sins, receives absolution from Grinbert the badger, and confesses to adultery with Hersent, for which his sentence is commuted from hanging to taking the crusading vow. When at a safe distance from the court, he rips off his cross, renounces his vow,

I I. Chrktien, Le Chevalier de la Charrete, H. 4533-5043. 12. Bkroul alludes to Renart's castle of Malpemis, and Pierre de Saint-Cloud, the

first author of the Roman, both names Tristan and is aware of the legend's salient fea- tures. BCroul, Tristaz, 1.4286; Roman de Rezart 2.5.

I 3. Ronwn de Renart, 2.

14. Ibid, ga.

332 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( 1 9 ~ ~ ) 3

and returns home.15 In a third trial he is finally compelled to do battle with the wolf over the charge of rape. They take their oaths and fight until the fox is finally overcome on the field. For amends Renart agrees to take monks' vows but abandons his vocation after sampling the monastic diet.16

Writing in the first decade of the thirteenth century (c. I zog), Jean Renart may well have chosen his 7zom de pluvze from the romance of the crafty fox, to whom he pointedly alludes.17 His romances demon- strate direct familiarity with the Tristan legend as well. His Ronza~z de la rose, our concern here, is the story of the love of the German em- peror Conrad for the fair Lienor, an orphaned daughter of a lowly knight from Dole. The threat of ;r7.zksalliance incites the jealousy of a wicked seneschal, who travels quickly to Dole and learns from L'ienor's improvident mother that she has a birthmark in the shape of a rose on her inner thigh. Armed with this compromising detail (although he has never seen the girl), the seneschal convinces the emperor that he has debauched the maiden, thus rendering her unfit for marriage to the emperor.ls Not to be outmaneuvered, Lienor devises her own plan. Journeying to the imperial court at Mainz, she sends the seneschal a belt, purse, and jewels as a gage d'anzour from a fictitious chftelaine de Dijon who requests the seneschal to wear them nest to his skin if he cares to enjoy her favors. Appearing before the emperor's court, Lienor then accuses the seneschal of raping her and stealing her jewels. Having never seen Lienor before, the seneschal quickly denies the charges, but his innocent plea collapses when he is required to reveal the belt and purse under his tunic. Confronted with inculpating evi- dence, the seneschal's first legal recourse is to propose compurgation. Supported by the oaths of a hundred knights, he swears that he is a victim of magic. When that motion is rejected, he requests the cold water ordeal.lS Taking an oath that he had never raped the girl, he enters the ordeal basin, sinks, and is straightway cleared. But so is Llenor. If the seneschal has not raped the girl, neither has he had her

15. Ibid., I. 16. Ibid., 6. 17, Renart, Roman de la rose, 11. 54to-z1. 18. Ibid., 11.3196-3603. 19. In all likelihood, Jean Renart selected the cold water ordeal for dramatic

purposes because it rendered an immediate verdict. See Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water , 23.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 3 3

maidenhood, because as Li'enor proudly proclaims, "je sui la pucele a Ia rose!"20 The seneschal is condemned to serve on a crusade, and the romance ends to the sound of wedding bells.

Despite the romantic allure of these fictional plots, the vernacular authors exercised great care to place the ordeals in settings that accord with contemporary chronicles and charters. Without exception the judgments were held in the presence of the clergy or their accouter- ments." Every oath was sworn upon holy relics. In Biroul a11 of the relics of Cornwall are displayed on a carpet for Iseut's solemn swear- ing.= Even on the field of battle, relics are produced for the oaths of Lancelot, Mtltagant, Renart, and Y~engr in .~ With blasphemous par- ody Roenel the dog declares that his farm contains more than enough bones to furnish suitable relics and designates his own tooth as the sacred In the Thomas version, bishops consecrate the glowing iron while Iseut hears mass and distributes alms to the At Mainz the water ordeal takes place in the church of Saint Peter's, as it did in cathedrals and large ciurches throughout western Christendom. The archbishop of Cologne administers the ceremony and blesses the waters; the clergy chant praises and ring bells after the decision.26

These touches of authenticating realism extended to the procedures of battle as well. Picturing Lancelot and MCliagant as knights in com- bat on horseback, Chrttien de Troyes7s attention was limited to the features of oaths and relics, but in the Ronran de Renart the operations of a judicial duel are fully detailed. Renart offers the wager of battle, which Ysengrin and Noble accept.27 The king demands three pledges

20. Renart, R m de la rose, 11. 4024-5101. 21. T w o useful studies of the practice of ordeals in medieval France are Yvonne

Bongert, Recherches sur les cours lalques du X e au XIlIe sidcle (Paris: Picard, 1949), 205-51, and Marguerite Boulet-Sautel, "Aperqus sur les syst6mes des preuves dans la France coutumi&re," La Preuve 2, Recueil de la Socie'tk Jean Bodin pour l'histoire comparative des institutions 17 (1965) : 278-303. On the religious context, see Bongert, Recherches, ~zj- t5; Boulet-Sautel, "Apergus," 281.

22. BCroul, Tristan, 11.4130-36. 23. Chretien, Le Chevalier de, !a Charrete, l. 4961; Roman d e R m r t , 6.106670. 24. Roman de Renart, ga.~ooo-1013. 25. Gotdried, Trirtan, trans. Hatto, 247; Brother Robert, Tristrams saga, 73; T h e

Saga of Trirtram and Isond; trans. Schach, 93. 26. Renart, Roman de la rose, ll. 4995-5051. For ordeal basins in churches, see Bart-

lett, Trial by Fire and Water, 51-52, 88-89, 93; and Bongert, Recherches sur les cours laiques, 216, 225. In Normandy one basin was twelve feet deep and twenty feet in diameter.

27. Roman de Renmt, 6.792-96.

334 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, t q ( I 5 1 ~ ~ ) 3

from either side to guarantee the appearance of the two champions, and a date of two weeks later is set.28 O n the appointed day, as occurred frequently in practice, four barons request that the parties settle their differences without battle, which pleases the king, but is refused b y Ysengrin.'' After the combatants kneel before the reliquary held b y the chaplain and swear their oaths, they fight on foot with staves.30 Twice during the combat the fox offers a peaceful settlement, bu t unsuc~essfully.~~ Except for occasional poetic flourishes, this wager of battle is conducted fully in accordance with French customary practices.32

The central legal problem of these literary cases was that of un- certain proof, precisely the question that encouraged the practice of ordeals. In law and practice ordeals were accepted in jud,gments where other modes of proof were una~a i lab le .~~ T h e factor of uncertainty was particularly pertinent to sexual accusations of seduction, rape, and especially adultery. In the last case the canonist Rufinus distinguished between mild suspicion and violent presumption, the former repre- sented by a handsome youth making improper gestures to one's wife, the latter when one finds the two in the same bed at night, even though they are not actually observed ~ o p u l a t i n g . ~ ~ This example recalled the ancient Roman law of in fEagrante delicto. Peter the Chanter com- mented that in his day if a husband found an adulterer with his wife and killed the man, he would not be punished for murder in accord- ance with Roman law. If the husband chose not to kill the adulterer, however, he could cite him before the secular judge and have him tried, although the Chanter confessed that he had never seen such a case.35 Customary law did not explicitly pronounce on such matters

28. Ibid., 6.803-20. 29. Ibid., 6.977-82. 30. Ibid., 6.10661 I 10.

31. Ibid.,6.1155, 1218-21. 32. For French practices in battle, see Bongert, Recherches sur les cours laiques,

239-5'. 33. Ibid., 219, 22 I ; Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water , 151. 34. Rufinus, S m m a decretorum, ed. H. Singer (Paderborn: Schoningh, ~goz) , 476.

See James A. Bmndage, Law, Sex, and Christian Society i n Medieval Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 321.

35. Pierre le Chantre, S m m a de sacramentis et animae consiliis, ed. Jean-Alben Dugauquier, Analecta mediaevalia Namurcensia 16 (Louvain: Editions Nauwelaerts, 1963), 111 (za), 351. The Roman law procedure was defined in the Lex Julia de adulteriis. Digesta 48.5.24; Codex 9.9.4. Philippe de Reaumanoir, Coutunzes de Beauvaisis, ed. A. Salmon (Paris: Picard, 1899), 1:471-72, par. 932, recalled a case from the time of Philip Augusrus (117~1zz3) of a husband who killed a man who boasted of being

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 3 5

in France until the end of the thirteenth century, when Philippe de Beaumanoir (d. r 296) exposed the difficulties of proving in pagrante delicto. The suspicious husband will make noises while entering the house and may have to break down the door, allowing the couple time to dress. If they are found alone in a private place, the presumption must nonetheless be very clear before they can be killed and vengeance must be taken immediately; otherwise, the normal procedure of accu- sation in court applies.36

The literary examples well illustrate the difficulty of executing the remedy of in flapante delicto. Even the wolf Ysengrin, who sees Renart drop his pants and mount his wife from behind (the accusation oscillates between rape and adultery in the different versions), hesi- tates to assault the fox and prefers to accuse him in In Btroul's version, since King Marc de~ieves that the bloodstained sheets present clear evidence (veraie enseigne) that requires no further proof, he immediately sentences the entrapped couple to the stake without judgment, but Tristan persistently challenges the decision and offers defense bv battle.38 Although the sheets continue to present strong presumption in Thornas's version, they remain uncertain proof. A venerable bishop advises the king: "You have not apprehended them in such acts as would clearly enable you to prove their guilt."3g An ordeal is therefore necessary to convict Queen Iseut, just as battle was required for Queen Guenikvre under similar conditions. Although hlkltagant has found clear proof (ansignes bien ueraies) in the bed, he must prove his accusation on the field.40 When Lienor accuses the seneschal of rape and robbery, the belt and purse on his body furnish clear evidence, making roof by battle unnecessary. The defendant's sole recourse is to plead trickery by magic and to offer an oath sup-

his wife's lover. The husband surrendered to the king for judgment but was set free \\-ithout penalty.

36. Philippe de Beaumanoir, Coutumes de Beauuaisis, 1:473, par. 934. See also R. Howard Bloch, "Tristan, the Myth of the State and the Language of Self," Yale French Stz~dies 5 I ( 1974) : 64-66.

37. Rovm de Renart, 2.1278; ga.z6&z, 422-23; 1.88-90; 6.563-73. When the accu- sation against Renart alternates benveen rape and adultery, the legal concept of rape is subverted. See the interpetation of rape in the Roman de Renart by Kathryn Gravdal, Ravishing Maidens: Writing Rape in Medieval French Literature and Law (Phila- delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991 ), 72-103.

38. l%roul, Tristan, 11. 778-79, 799-803, 2568-74, 2623. 39. Gottfried, Tristan, vans. Hano, 242; Brother Robert, Tristrams saga, 71; T h e

Saga of Tristrmz and Isond, trans. Schach, 89. 40. Chrktien, Le Chevalier de la Charrete, 11. 4768-74.

336 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2 4 (1994) 3

ported by an ordeal to purge the strong suspicion.41 Although pre- sumption is strong in the above cases, it must be proven by the open judgment of ordeal or battle. Tristan continues to contend that King Marc has committed a gross injustice by condemning the lovers with- out this judgment.

In these cases, as in contemporary judicial practice, the ultimate proof and decision were founded on the swearing of an oath.49 Throughout the Roman d e Renart, the fox is ever prepared to offer oaths, which are routinely rejected-with one exception-because of his deserved reputation as a perjurer.43 Because of their importance, however, oaths were formulated with the utmost care. In BCroul, Arthur proposes a declaration to Iseut, which she skillfully modifies in one important In the Thomas tradition, the wording of Iseut's oath is debated by the nobles, who conclude that it must be rigoro~s.~' In the Ro7nan d e La rose, the seneschal pays no attention to L'ienor's accusation at first. \\'hen the emperor advises him to take counsel, he summarily refuses, but after being forced to reveal the evi- dence on his person, he does indeed turn to his barons for advice on framing an oath that precisely denies the charge of rape.46 Only in the Roman d e Renart does the fox merely affirm that he has done no wrong, to which the wolf swears that his oath is false.47

Withour exception all principals are explicit in invoking God and his saints in their behalf. "So help me God and Saint Hilaire," swears Bkroul's Iseut. "This I affirm before God and the saints," is Thornas's version. "God and the saints are my witness," proclaims Alkltagant.

41. Renart, Roman de la rose, U . 4864-67, 4908-24. 42, Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 30, 50; Bongen, Recherches m r les cozcrs

laiques, 205-10, 240; Boulet-Sautel, ''Aper~us," 284, 28687. 43. Roman de Renart, 5a.8642; 2.1321-24; 6.556. ++. Bkroul, Tristan, 11. 416146, 4197-4216. 45. Gottfried, Tristan, trans. Hatto, 247; Brother Roben, Tristrams saga, 73-74;

The Saga of Tristram and Isond, mans. Schach, 93. 46. Renart, Roman de la rose, 11. 4798-4813, 4904-24. 47. Ro7xan de Renart, 6.1094, I 101-2. In Chritien de Troyes's Chevalier au lion, ed.

Mario Roques (Paris: Champion, 1980), 11. 3598-3743, 4307-4569, and !835:6439, nyo judicial duels are presented. In the second, Gauvan and Yvain fight a judiclal duel In King Arthur's court over a suit of disinheritance of a younger by an older sister without any apparent swearing of an oath. When they are unable to reach a decision by battle, they swear ("ont . . . acreanti") to accept the judgment of the king, who, in turn, tricks the older sister t o admit forcible and malicious disseizin and accordingly awards the suit to the younger sister. Ross G. Arthur ("The Judicium Dei in the Yvain of Chritien de Troyes," Romance Notes 28 119871: 3-12) argues that Chritien is subtly discrediting the customary procedure.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 37

"God help me," counters Lancelot. "By God, my upbringing [nor- reture], my merits, and my friendship," affirms the seneschal. "By Saint Germain and all the saints present," prevaricates the TO swear an oath was to take the awesome step of calling upon God and his saints to witness the truth of one's declaration. In Btroul's version it was sufficient for the queen to swear in the presence of all the relics of Cornwall in order to be cleared. (Renart tries the same strategy in his first trial, but aborts the oath when confronted with the canine jaws.) In all judgments except Btroul's the oaths were followed by a unilateral or bilateral ordeal to provide God the occasion to confirm or deny the veracity of the sworn statement that invoked his testi- mony. It is important to note that in the romances every oath con- firmed by an ordeal was, in fact, true-true, that is, according to the literal phrasing of the declaration as set in the story's narrative. Even Renart's studiously casual oath was sufficient to convict him of his crimes. In effect, then, God's immanent justice was unerringly at work at the most literal level of the romance world.

T o contemporary audiences, however, the crux was whether the literal truth was really true, which calls to our attention the well- studied topos of the equivocal oath.4g According to Btroul, Arthur proposed a formulation that addressed the obvious question: "She will swear to the heavenly king with her right hand on the saints that she never had physical love [avzor commz~ne] with her nephew." As the audience would immediately have recognized, Iseut's counterformu- lation, although professing to exceed Arthur's, in fact introduced a crucial equivocation: "Now hear what I swear of which the king is assured . . . that no man has entered between my thighs except the leper who made himself my ~ackhorse and King Alarc my husband. . . . I exclude these two from my oath but no one else."50 When we first meet Iseut in BQoul's fragment, she is already adept in the art of equivocation. As she engages Tristan in conversation to mislead Marc, who is listening, she states: "May God be the pledge of my loyalty and

48. Bkroul, Tristan, 4210; Gottfried, Tristan, trans. Hatto, 248; Brother Robert, Tristrawzs saga, 74; The Saga of Tristram and Isond, trans. Schach, 93; Chritien, Le Cheealier de la Charrete, U. 4967,4982; Renart, Roman de la rose, 11.4914-15; Roman de Renart, 6.1 192-93.

49. Helaine Newstead, "The Equivocal Oath in the Tristan Legend," Me'langer offerts 2 Rita Lejeune (Gembloux: Duculot, 1969), z:ro77-85; Ralph J. Hexter, Equii.oca1 Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature (Cambridge: Han~ard University Press, 1975).

so. Bkroul, Tristan, 11.4161-63, 4199-42 10.

338 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( 1994) j

punish my body that no one has had my love except he who had my virginity." (Clearly either of the two men present could understand that affirmation as applying to himself.)" "That no man in the world had carnal knowledge of me or lay in my arms or beside me but you, always excepting the poor pilgrim whom with your own eyes, you saw lying in my arms," is Thomas's version.j2 Adapted to Chrttien7s circumstances, Mtltagant's oath states "that Kay was the companion of the queen that night in bed and had of her all his delight." "I hold you as perjurer," objects Lancelot, the actual lover, "and I swear again that he did not lie there or touch her."j3 Obfuscated by oaths such as these, the judgment of God was ineffectual for convicting adulterers.

These equivocal oaths were pertinent to Peter the Chanter's tn70- fold analysis of truth. Logicians and philosophers hold a proposition to be true (verus) according to the statement (dictis), that is, by the agreement and coherence of the predicate with the subject. Theo- logians, however, hold a proposition to be truthful (verax) by the intention of the speaker (dicentis). A statement may be verus as a statement but not verax as intention; it may, rather, be deceitful (mendax) in intention to deceive.j4 Btroul's interpretation of the lovers' mendacity is further undercut by multiple layers of ambiguity. Were they guiltless because of the overwhelming effects of the potion? Were they justified when Marc refused Tristan the right to clear him- self by battle? Or was it at all blasphemous to assert that God himself favors and protects true lovers?55 Gottfried von Strassburg explicitly

51. Ibid., 22-26. 52. Gottfried, Tristan, trans. Hatto, 247-48; Brother Robert, Tristrams saga, 74;

T h e Saga of Tristram and Isond, trans. Schach, 93. 53. ChrCtien, Le Chevalier de la Charrete, 11. 4967-72. 54. "Est autem dupplex veritas. Veritas, scilicet, dicti que est in compositione

vel coherentia predicati ad subiectum, ut sic sit in re sicut dicitur, et hec est logicorum vel philosophorum. E t est veritas dicentis que est in proposito dicentis sive falsunl dixerit sive verum. Sapiens enim pro utilioribus sepe mutat consilium ut apos- tolus, et hoc est theologi. Secundum hanc dicitur aut vera aut sacrilega, vera veracitate que semper est virtus potius quam veritate que est predicati ad subiectum. Sepe autem aliquis est verus et non est verax, et ideo mendax. Si utrumque esse potes, bene; si utrumque non potes, semper esto verax." Peter the Chanter, Verbum abbreviatu7n (long version), Ms. Vatican Reg. lat. 106, fol. 141rb. See also short version in PL 205: 31oD.

55. Stephen G. Nichols, Jr., "Ethical Criticism and Medieval Literature: Le Roman de Tristan," Medieval Secular Literature: Four Essays, ed. William ihfatthems, UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Contributions I (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), 75-77, stresses that by refusing judgment Mark has denied due process to the couple. Jonin, Personnagex fknzinins, 339-72, investigates the reli- gious context for Iseut's equivocal oath and, in particular, the laxist doctrines of Saint

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 339

posed the last question when he has Iseut confiding her troubles to God while she simultaneously devises her subterfuge. Before she swears her oath, she surrenders herself to God's mercy and "renders up heart and hand to the grace of God for him to keep and preserve." IYhen God honors her equivocal oath, Gottfried's cynical conclusion is noteworthy: "Thus it was made manifest and confirmed to all the world that dhrin in his great virtue is pliant as a windblown sleeve. H e falls into place and clings, whichever way you try him. . . . He is at the beck and call of every heart for honest deeds or fraud. . . . This was amply revealed in the facile Queen. She was saved by guile and by the doctored oath that went flying up to God."56

In an outrageous parody of justice the two lovers in the Roman de Renart were also saved by guile. Problematizing the operations of the court, Pierre de Saint-Cloud and his continuators focused on the offer- ing of oaths and ordeals. In addition to Renart's repeated perjuries, Hersent the she-wolf competes with Iseut for the consummate equiv- ocal oath: "By all the saints which one honors, may the Lord God help me. Renart has not done to me what he has not done to his mother." When that oath goes unnoticed, she tries again: "By the faith I owe to Saint hlary, never did I commit whoredom with my body, misdeeds, or wicked affairs, which a nun has not done."57 It is little wonder that she concludes: "If I were to take an ordeal of hot water or hot iron, what would my clearing be worth . . . when I shall not be believed?" Her husband Ysengrin is more respectful of the process: "If Hersent carries the iron, and she is burned and convicted, some who were ignorant will learn about her. Those who hate me will be happy."58 Like Iseut, Renart presumes to ask God's help in his defense. At the final summons, he confesses his sins to Grinbert the badger, and receiving absolution, he offers a prayer: "0 God om- nipotent king, preserve my knowledge and my sense that I do not lose them out of fear before the king my lord, when Ysengrin accuses me of any charge he requests. May I be able to offer a defense either

Hilaire, on whom Iseut expressly takes her oath. See also the discussion of Jean- Charles Payen, Le Motif du repentir dans la litte'rnture frnngaise me'die'vale (des origines 2 1230) (Geneva: Droz, r967), 331-54. Rita Lejeune, "Les Influences con- temporaines dans Ies romans fransais de Tristan au XIIe siicle: A propos d'un Iivre rCcent," Le Moyen iige, 4th ser., 15 (1960): 156-57, is less convinced that Saint Hilaire was laxist.

56. Gottfried, T r i m , trans. Hatto, 24648. 57. Roman de Remt t , 1.147-50, 175-78. 58. Ibid., 1.142-46,241-4q.

340 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 (1994) 3

to deny or to answer it."59 Equivocal oaths that make a mockery of solemn ordeals and prayers imploring God to protect sinners who violate his laws surely suggest, as scholars have long recognized, a crisis of faith over the ordeal in the romance world of the late nvelfth century.

A t the same time the canon lawyers of the Latin church began t o intensify their debate over the legitimacy of these so-called "judg- ments of God." 60 From the early Aliddle Ages churchmen were of n v o minds. In general they resisted widespread use of those procedures which they called izrdicia pwegina (foreign judgments) or purgationes vulgares, to be distinguished from acceptable pzlrgationes canonice, o r purgations by oath. Yet churchmen could also conceive of occasions when such jud,ments became necessary in the absence of reliable proof by documents and witnesses. At the mid-twelfth century, f o r example, Gratian had included in his Decretunz the canon Statuit f r o m the eleventh century that admitted a divine judgment in an accusation of adultery.61 Throughout the second half of the century canonists were engaged in lively discussion whether the exceptions nullified t h e general ~rohibition, but by the turn of the century, Huguccio, t h e foremost authority on canon law at Bologna, finally resolved all ambivalence. Addressing each specific exception, he concluded that they should be totally eradicated from both ecclesiastical and secular

Undoubtedly the most strident voice against the ordeals came f r o m Peter the Chanter, who taught theology at Paris at the same t ime Huguccio lectured on canon law at Bologna. His polemics may b e reduced to three points.'j3 First, ordeals are fundamentally immoral. By insisting that God intervene directly in the judicial process a t the request of a human judge, the ordeal violates the Old and New Tes- tament commandment "Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 6: I 6, Matthew 4: 7). Secondly, by condemning the innocent and setting free the guilty, ordeals frequently do not svork. T h e hot iron merely tests the calluses on the proband's hand; the cold

59. Ibid., r . r r zp-36. 60. For the canonists, see John W. Baldwin, "The Intellectual Preparation f o r the

Canon of 1215 against Ordeals," Speculum 36 (1961) : 613-26. 61. Gratian, Decretum C . 2 q. 5 c. 25 Statuit. 62. For Huguccio's texts see Baldwin, "Intellectual Preparation," 624-26. 63. Ibid., 62637. See also idem, Masters, Princes, and Illerchants: The Social V i m S

of Peter the Chanter and His Circle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970 )~ I:323-32.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 341

water functions according to the proband's specific gravity. T o oppose the hagiographic literature that recounted how God worked miracles through saints in ordeals, Peter took malicious delight in collecting stories about the failure of ordeals. His most noteworthy concerned two English pilgrims to Santiago de Cornpostela. When one returned home without the other, he was accused by the other's kinsmen of murder and put to the water test; he failed and was hanged-much to the sorrow of the companion, who showed up later.G4 In the third place, since ordeals depend upon the blessing of the iron and the water by the clergy, ecclesiastics should be unconditionally excluded from participation on the grounds that they are thereby implicated in judg- ments leading to the shedding of blood. Assuming a bold personal stance, the Chanter declared: "Even if the universal church under the penalty of anathema commanded me as a priest to bewitch the iron or bless the water I would quicker undergo the perpetual penalty than to perform such a thing." By removing the clergy, the Chanter hoped to lay an ax to the root of the practice. Arguing passionately through- out his biblical commentaries, theological questions, and popular trea- tises, Peter carried his campaign personally to the cardinals at R~rne ."~

Among the students at Paris and at Bologna was a young Italian careerist by the name of Lothario di SegniG6 When he was raised to the papal throne as Innocent I11 in r 198, he began to implement his masters' program by issuing a series of decretals against ordeals. T o the bishop of Strassburg, for example, he admonished that although the vulgaria judicia of the cold and hot water and the duel were ad- mitted by secular judges, they were never allowed in church courts according to Scripture, "Thou shalI not tempt the Lord thy God." T o the archbishop of Besanqon he specified that the hot water trial was not to be admitted to matrimonial cases.67 ,4s we know, this legislation

64. Peter the Chanter, Verbum abbreviatum, PL zog:z3oD, zjrA, 547A. 65. Peter the Chanter, Verbum abbreviatum, PL zog:543A; Baldwin, Masters,

Princes, and Merchants, z:z33, n. 238. 66. Lothario studied at Paris and Bologna while the Chanter and Huguccio were

teaching in the two cities. Whether he studied directly with the two masters is difi- cult to establish from direct testimony, but many of his Iater views as pope accorded with those of the theologian and canonist. Kenneth Pennington, "The Legal Education of Pope Innocent 111," Bzclletin of Medieval Canon Law, n.s., 4 (1974): 70-77, argues against legal study with Huguccio for the lack of specific documentation and suggests that Lothario's training was more likely theological. For the evidence of the Chanter's influence, see Baldwin, Masters, Princes, a~zd Merchants, I : 342-43.

67. Augustus Potthast, Regerta pontificunz Romanorurn (Berlin: Decker, 1874), I, no. 4358, PL z16:5ot, zr7:zrq; Potthast no. 3342, PL 21~:r372.

342 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, z q (1994) 3

culminated in canon I 8 of the Fourth Lateran Council of I 2 I 5 . Adopt- ing the Chanter's suggestions, Innocent framed ordeals in the contest of blood judgments and forbade the clergy to consecrate the cold or hot water and the hot iron. In addition, as had been promulgated for almost a century, judicial duels in which blood was shed were alto- gether ~ensured.~'

During the four decades preceding the Lateran Council, writers of romance had therefore joined their voices to the canonists, theologians, and popes in protest against the immorality and chicanery of the or- deal. Although their eventual success suggests widespread unanimity, the reform program was not unopposed. Within each of the specific discourses we have considered, we can hear sounds of dissent. Although Jean Renart knew the Tristan legend and the Renart fable, he none- theless averred that ordeals facilitated immanent justice on the very eve of the council. The cold-water judgment effectively exposes a double falsehood-Lienor's fabricated accusation of rape against the seneschal and, consequently, the seneschal's calumny against L'ienor. Despite Jean's penchant for irreligion, he nonetheless narrated a tale of divine intervention. As readers of romance are well aware, vernacu- lar dialogue is punctuated with innumerable oaths calling upon God and the saints. "My God," "by Saint Paul," "God save you," "if God pleases," "God help me" (to take examples from Jean Renart) appear with such frequency that they become conventional interjections to fill out rhyme and meter. In the Ronzan de la rose, however, these in- vocations are integrated into the narrative. As L'ienor devises her strategy, she calls upon the Holy Spirit to counsel her.'j9 She expresses confidence that Christ, who fed his entourage with five loaves of bread and two fishes in the Gospels, will now produce an open miracle for her. God finds suitable lodgings for her at Mainz in the hostel of two bourgeois women who have just returned from mass.70 As she enters the imperial court, she crosses herself and addresses her complaint to the emperor, interspersed with banal oaths now freighted with provi- dential meaning: "Noble and honorable emperor, for God's sake, hear

68. C. 18 in J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et a7?zplissima collectio (Flor- ence: Zatta, ~ ~ ~ g - g ; ) , z z : 10067.

69. Renart, Ronzan de la rose, 11. 4038-40. The name of the Holy Spirit is evoked frequently throughout the romance: U. 677, 10x0, 24;F4.4365, and 5384. The date of Jean Renart's Ronzan is disputed in modern scholarship. In opposition to 1227, which has been frequently maintained, I shall argue for c . 1209 in a forthcoming publication.

70. Renart, Roman de la rose, 11.405~$-57,4~68-70, 4115-19.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 343

me now, and may God help me because I. am in need. One day, not long ago, a man, your seneschal over there, came by chance to a place where I was sewing. . . ."71 After the seneschal formulates an oath of denial and proposes the ordeal, L~enor prays once again to God "to perform an open miracle. All those present echo, Amen."7" Unlike the imposture of the Ronzan de Renart and the scandalous blasphemy of Gonfried's Iseut, Jean Renart's God does hear Llenor's plea and restores justice.

If the canonists found it difficult to suppress their ambivalence toward divine judgments, it was because Gratian had followed the most forceful interdiction with a biblical example that shared the salient properties of an This passage was excerpted from the book of Kumbers, where a jealous husband, who suspects his wife of adultery but has no witness nor has caught her in fragrafzte delicto, can oblige her to come before the altar of the tabernacle, talie an oath, and drink bitter waters prepared by the priest with imprecations. If the woman's stomach does not swell from the noxious concoction, she is cleared of guilt. The procedure was designed to answer precisely the question that troubled King Marc and the marshal1 Ysengrin. In- cluded in the basic collection of canon law, it continued to lend scrip- tural authority to the medieval versions of the ordeal until they were finally abrogated.

If Scripture pictured God intervening directIy in past human affairs, the vast production of hagiography demonstrated that God had not ceased to perform miracles through his saints. At the end of the twelfth century, saints' lives remained the most powerful evidence of the or- deal's efficacy. One example circulating in this period was the legend of Gengulfus, an eighth-century contemporary of Pepin the Short. Having recently acquired property in Champagne that contained a frigid spring, Gengulfus decided to use the fountain to test the fidelity of his wife, whom rumor had accused of loving a cleric. The spouse \+-as required to recover a pebble from the bottom of the spring. When she extracted her arm, her flesh was scalded as if it had passed through

71. Ibid., U. 4602-3, 4775-82. I t is of interest to note that when Iseut and Tristan contrive to deceive Marc, who, they know, is eavesdropping, their conversation is punctuated with an unusual proportion of ecocations of God and the saints; Besoul, Tristmz, 11.5-240.

72. Renart, Roman de la rose, U . 4988-91. 73. Numbers ~ : I I - - 3 1 . Gratian, Decrenmz C. 2 q. 5 c. 2 0 Consulzcisti; c. 21 In libro.

O n the proof by bitcer waters, see Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water, 84.

344 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( I 994) 3

fire. In France this saint's life was recopied into the thirteenth century, and at the turn of the century an abbreviated version was inserted into the chronicle of Hklinand de Froidmont, a Cistercian with connections to the Capetian court.74 Apparently the story sufficiently impressed at least one of the Chanter's students or scribes to induce him to attach an extended version to the margin of the theologian's Verbz~nz ab- breuiatunz. Other scribes appended a synopsis to dozens of manu- script~.~' Peter the Chanter's V~bzlnz abbreviatzrm, which had heaped ridicule on ordeals that did not work, now circulated widely with subversive maroinalia containing Saint Gengulfus's hot-water ordeal.

b. As a theolog~an, the Chanter could not deny that God retained

power to work miracles through his saints in modern times as he had in biblical history, but Peter nonetheless repeated the canonistic aphor- ism that the privileges of the few do not make common law and their consequences should not be extended to others.7G Seeking to under- stand the mysteries of divine operations in this world, he made dis- tinctions between good miracles produced by saints in recent times, wicked miracles produced by Pharaoh's magicians in biblical times, the Eucharist, which is a perpetual miracle, and ordeals, which are forbidden. He would not deny that God could work in these cases, but it was solely because of divine will, not the power of incantation or the priest's office. In Scripture true miracles consist of three ele- ments: the meritorious life of the minister, the utility of the operation, and the transformation of the subject's nature. Through personal merit and good purpose modern saints can perform miracles, but most people are prevented by s inf~ lness .~~

74. Vita Garzgulfi martyris Varennensis, ed. W. Levison, MGH, Scriptores rerum Merovingicitrzrrn, vol. 7 (Hannover: Hahn, ~ g z o ) , 142-70; for the manuscripts, see 147-50. HClinand de Froidmont, Chronica, PL z1z:8jo-31. O n Hklinand's relations with the Capetian court, see John W. Baldwin, T h e Government of Philip A u p t u s (Berke- ley: Unirersity of California Press, 19861, 570-71.

75. The long marginal version is found in Paris, Bibliothkque Nationale, Ms. lat. 16383, fol. ,-3rb-va and in a manuscript from Saint-Vaast, Arras, now lost, edited b y Georges Galopin in PL ZO,-:~~IA-D. The short version is edited in PL zo,-:471D-~~2.4 from a manuscript from the abbey of Cambron (Belgium) now in the Huntingdon Library, Ms. H M 41537, fol. 6zra. I have found it in at least thirteen other manuscripts of the Verbum abbreviatum.

76. Peter the Chanter, Verbunz abbreviatm, PL 205:zzjD. See Gratian, Decretzm C. 26 q. z c. 4 Non exemplo.

77. Peter the Chanter, Verbum abbreviat~m, PL zo~:zzjC, 543D-544B; idem, "Summa," Paris, Bibliothkque nationale, Ms. lat. 3477, fol. 64Vb.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 345

At the outset of his pontificate Pope Innocent I11 was liltewise con- fronted by the examples of two formidable saints. When the pope came to the throne in I 198, an inquest into the canonization of Cune- p n d a of Luxemburg was already under way. Cunegunda was the wife of the last Ottonian emperor, Henry 11, who died in 1024.'~ Since the imperial couple produced no children, they were credited during their lifetime with living a continent marriage according to the pattern of Joseph and Mary. Their lavish donations to churches enhanced their reputation for sanctity, especially at the cathedral of Bamberg, xhich Henry founded and which Cunegunda endowed from her dowry. Before Henry's canonization by Pope Eugenius I11 in r 147, the legend of their virginal marriage was already reported by contem- porary historians and included in a saint's life devoted to the ernper~r.~' ,Added to the vita was a new story in which the devil, unable to cor- rupt the couple's chastity, initiated rumors that cast suspicion on the empress's virtue. T o put a halt to the calumny, Cunegunda chose to clear herself by the ordeal of glowing hot plowsbares. Calling upon the Lord God as judge and witness, she declared before the emperor and his court that neither Henry nor any other man had had carnal knowledge of her. Then to the terror and astonishmenr of all she rrod barefoot over the plowshares unharmed. Cunegunda's own canoniza- tion waited another half century, but investigations were initiated in the I 190s under pressure from the Bamberg clergy. Of two versions drafted of her hagiography, one referred to her ordeal briefly, but the

78. From an abundant bibliography, the principal studies on Saints Henry and Cunegunda are: Robert Folz, Les Saints Rois du rizoyen 2ge elz occident (Yle-Xllle sii'cles), Subsidia hagiographica 68 (Brussels: Socikt6 des Bollandistes, 1984), 84-91; idem, Les Sai7ltes Rehes du m o y m &ge en occident (Vle-XIlle sidcles), Subsidia hagiographica 76 (Brussels: Sociktk des Bollandjstes, r g g z ) , 82-93; Renata Klauser, Der Heinrichs- und Kunigundenkult irn mittelalterlichen Bistum Bamberg (Bamberg: Hiscorischer Verein Bamberg, 1957); and Klaus Guth, Die heiligen Heinrich und Kzl~zigunde: Leba , Legende, Kult, und Kunst (Bamberg: St. Orto-Verlag, 1986).

O n the development of the saints' lives see Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, Sub- sjdia hagiographica 6 (Brussels: Sociht6 des Bollandistes, 189899), I : 302-3, 568-69; Klauser, Der Heinrichs- und Kunigundenkult, 70-100, 108-13; Guth, Die heiligen Heinrich und Kunigunde, 68-79.

79. AdaJberti Vita Henrici I1 kperatoris, ed. G. Waitz, MGH, Scriptores (Hann- over: Hahn, 1841), 4:805, 810. A second version, made around 1170, added passages relating t o Henry's foundation of the church of Bamberg. One manuscript of the sec- ond version was copied by a deacon of Bamberg named Adalberc ( I 170-84), but it is unlikely that he is the author of this version, although his name has been attached to the vita. See Klauser, Der Heinrichs- und Kwigundenkult, 83-84.

346 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 (199%) 3

other incorporated verbatim the account previously drafted in Henrv's v i t ~ . ~ ' In the solemn bull of canonization on 3 April I zoo, Innocent 111 declared that full and careful investiuation had confirmed the nvo ='. qualities necessary for sainthood: the vlrtue of morals, or merits, and the virtue of signs, or nziracula. Among the former, Innocent listed both the endowments to Bamberg and the virginal marriage, Among the latter, he included not only the miracles occurring at her tomb, but also that during her lifetime, as recorded in Henry's and her vitae, she had proved her innocence of diabolically inspired suspicions with her bare feet on glowing plo~vshares .~~

Once Cunegunda was officially inscribed into the Roman calendar of saints, the account of her ordeal took on renewed life. Shortly after canonization, an addition was composed for the life of Saint H e m y that transformed the whole story into a romance. Unable to disturb the love and continence of the imperial couple, the devil assumes the likeness of a knight who exits the empress's chamber after Cunegunda has arisen at dawn. When this happens for three days in full view of the domestics, malicious rumors reach the emperor's ears. Cunegunda notices a change in her husband's affection and requests him to sum- mon his princes and bishops so that they can hear the charges against her b y judicial procedure. T o the emperor's accusation that she had seduced another man in contempt of legitimate marriage, the empress replies: "Since the most prestigious of all women has been accused of the most infamous crime, it is necessary that she be tried by the hardest of judgments." Twelve glowing plowshares are brought to the basil- ica. T h e empress approaches them, guided by two bishops on either side, like a sheep led to the slaughter. Unable to endure the horrible sight any longer, Henry affirms his belief in her innocence and be- seeches her to cease, but Cunegunda raises her eyes to heaven and calls upon God to witness her oath. Although the emperor suffers as if he had lost his firstborn son, she walks across the smoking irons as if they were flowers. Having trodden upon eleven, she pauses on the last to praise the supreme king through whom she has vanquished the deviLgz

80. Vira sanctae Cunegundis, ed. G. Waitz, AIGH, Scriptores, 4:8z1. "De S. Cunigunde imperatorice. Vita." Acta Sanctorum, Martii I (Paris: Victor Palmk, 1865), 271-72.

81. PL 14o:z1g-22; Potthast no. 1000. TWO copies were produced by the papal chancery. For a full discussion and a critical edition see Jiirgen Petetsohn, "Die Lit- terae Papst Innocenz 111. zur Heiligsprechung der Kaiserin Kunigunde zoo)," Jahr- buch fur frankische Landesforschung 27 (1977) : 1-25.

82. Vitae sancti Henrici addimentm, ed. G. Waitz, MGH, Scriptores, 4:s 19-20.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 347

In unmistakable contrast to the Tristan legend, Queen Cunegunda had finally become an anti-Queen I se~ t . ' ~ The event was explicitly memo- rialized in contemporary sermons and in liturgies sung at Bamberg on the feast days of the two saints.e4 Its high drama was depicted in manu- script illumination to the queen's life drawn for the church of Bamberg at the beginning of the century, and it became a popular iconographic motif throughout the empire by the late Middle Ages.e5

TVhen Innocent I11 pronounced the empress's canonization in I zoo, he had two reasons for hesitation. Barnberg was an imperial church tradirionally loyal to the Staufen dynasty, whose claims to the empire the popes contested. In I 2 0 1 Philip, duke of Smabia, the Staufen can- didate for the imperial throne, whom Innocent had personally ex- communicated, called his supporters to a Reichstag at Bamberg. On 8 September, the third anniversary of his own coronation, he had Cune- gunda's body translated to a new burial site near the altar of the choir, thus associating the saint with his political fortunes." Equally irnpor- tant, Innocent's bull of canonization, although Iinlited to information supplied by Bamberg, had nonetheless attested an ordeal among Cune- pnda ' s miracles. As Huguccio's and the Chanter's student, the pope had already demonstrated his determined opposition to the procedure. This dilemma confirmed Innocent's resolve to accelerate the policy of bringing canonization proceedings more closely under papal control. Supervising the recognition of saints had been a papal goal since the eleventh century. In the canonization of Emperor Henry in I 147, for example, the pope and cardinals had played a leading role. Pope Alex- ander F11 had formulated the doctrine of "pontifical reserve" in I I 7 I 1 7 2

83. Cunegunda's legend may well have inspired a similar account (c. 1200) attached to the personage of Queen Emma, the mother of Edward the Confessor, by the "Annales de Wintonia," in Annales momstici, ed. Henry R. Luard, Rolls Series, no. 36, j vols. (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865), 2:zo-25.

8+. For closely contemporaneous sermons: De smine scripturarunz (1201-4, attrib- uted later to Joachirn of Fiore), ed. Franz Pelster, "Ein Elogiunl Joachims von Fiore auf Kaiser Heinrich 11. und seine Gemahlin, die heilige Kunigunde," in Bernhard Bischoff and Suso Brechter, eds., Liber floridus: nlittellateinische Studien: Pnzsl Leh- nzalzn (St. Ottilien: Eos Verlag der Erzabtei, 1g5o), 351; Sermo de sancta Chunigunda (1200-rzo4), ed. in Klauser, Dm Heinrichs- 2nd Kundigrmdm~kult, 195-96, and Sermo ./rzctgistri Conradi (before 1208), ed. in ibid., 189. For the liturgy see ibid., 143-48, and Roberr Folz, "La Lkgende liturgique de Saint Henri 11, empereur et confesseur," in Rita Lejeune and Joseph Deckers, eds., Clio et son regard: Me'langes . . . Jacques S:i,wnon (Li6ge: Mardaga, 198z), 253-54.

85. See the title page of the Vita S. Cunegundis, Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. RB. MSC. 120 , fol. 3zV, reproduced in Guth, Die beiligen Heinrich und Kunigunde, 70.

86. Klauser, Der Heinrichs- ~7Zd Kunigundenkult, 6 7 6 8 ; Guth, Die heiligen Heinrich und Kunigunde, 74.

348 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 (1994) 3

and prohibited public veneration without explicit papal authorization. In Innocent's first canonization (the year before Cunegunda's), he emphasized the two requisite conditions for sanctity, merit and mir- acles. One element is never valid without the other. In Cunegunda's bull he asserted that the final j u d ~ e n t over sainthood belongs to the successor of Saint Peter and the vlcar of Christ. Innocent was particu- larly concerned with the authentication of miracles. Like ~ k t e r the Chanter, he recognized that just as Pharaoh's magicians produced prodigies in the Old Testament, so Antichrist can simulate miracles in the present. For that reason the papacy must be careful to conduct rigorous examinations to ensure that holy merits precede and that the miracles that follow are fully attested. T o the same end the Lateran Council of 12 15 decreed thit all new saints' relics must be approved by the Roman pontiff before they can be publicly ~enerated. '~

Attempting to regulate sainthood through the supervision of mir- acles, the Lateran Council also attempted to discourage extraneous mir- acles by unequivocally removing the clergy's presence from the uni- lateral ordeals and renewing the sanctions against bilateral duels. The effect of the legislation was mixed. Deprived of clerical blessing, the iron and water of the unilateral ordeal underwent a marked decline. It was explicitly repudiated in English and Danish law and quickly dis- appeared from practice elsewhere.es Trial by battle, however, which could operate independently of clerical presence, flourished in the thirteenth century as it had in the past, notwithstanding ecclesiastical sanctions. In France it encountered no serious opposition from laymen until the anti-duelling ordinances of King Louis IX in I 254 and I 258.89

The effect of the Fourth Lateran Council on the world of romance may be measured in the Roman de La violette, composed by Gerbert de Montreuil at least a decade later ( I ~ ~ ~ - 2 9 ) . Consciously aligning him-

87. C. 62, in Mansi, S a c r o m conciliorum . . . collectio, 22: 104p50. For a sketch of the development of papal supervision of canonization until Innocent I11 see AndrC Vauchez, La Saintete' m occident aux derniers siicles d u moyen ige (Rome: Ecole fran~aise de Rome, 1981), 2647.

88. Foederiz, conventiones, litterme, ed. Thomas Rymer (London: Churchill, 1816), I : 154; Diplonzatarium Danicum, zzzr-1223, ed. Niels Skyum-Nielsen (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1958), I Raekke. V Bind, 141. In Norman customary law unilateral or- deals were frequently mentioned before 1200 in the Tr2s ancien coutumier 38, 51, and 71, Coutumiers de N o m a n d i e 1:33, 42, and 67. In the later S m m a de legibus 76, Coutwniers de Nomandie 3: 1-1 they were declared to be abrogated by the church. Bartlett, Trial b y Fire and Water , I 27-28.

89. Boulet-Sautel, "Aper~us," 2.78-98, 315-16. Bongert, Recherches sur les cours layques, 234-37, traces Capenan resistance to battle back to Louis V11 in 1174.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 349

self to the tradition of Jean Renart, Gerbert both imitated the styIe and duplicated the contents of his predecessor, but he was aware of the Tristan legend as well. Like the Roman de la rose, the Ro7an de la - violette contains ordeals-in this case, two-but, written after the coun- cil, i t has substituted bilateral duels for the unilateral ordeal. Echoing the Tristan legend, the first example raises an accusation of in pagrante delicto, not over adultery, but over murder. Aleli'atir, one of the vil- lains of the romance, stabs Ysmaine, sister of the duke of Riietz, while she is asleep; he places the dagger in the hand of Euri'aut, the heroine of the romance, who is also asleep in Ysmaine's bed.90 When the deed is discovered, like King Marc Meli'atir argues for burning at the stake as the appropriate punishment in a case of in flagrante delicto. Since she has been found with the fact, she has been proven guilty. H e further objects that since she does not offer the ordeal (juzse) to clear herself, he is prepared to demonstrate that she is worthy of death by fire if no one defends her.g1 While the stake is prepared, the hero Gerart, Euri'aut's lover, arrives on the scene and in romance fashion offers to do battle for her sake. The duke of Metz, after consulting with his uncle, the count of Bar-le-Duc, declares that he will not pro- ceed without a judgment according to the law. Twelve peers are sum- moned to give counsel; they in turn delegate the procedural decision to two barons. The lord of Nancy, a kinsman of Rlleliatir, argues the case for immediate execution, since sight and fact make battle unnec- essary. On the other hand, the lord of Apremont exposes the improb- ability of the evidence. Either Euri'aut did the deed in her sleep, or she would have fled if she were awake. According to law a formal accusa- tion of murder should be put to her. If she denies it, hlel'iatir must prove the charge in battle, skce she now has a defender. On the advice of the peers the duke accepts the latter procedure. When interrogated, however, Euri'aut proposes to clear herself by the ordeal (juzsse), but Gerart rejects this alternative as long as he is ready to defend herng2 In the end Gerart defeats Alleli'atir on horse and on foot and forces him to confess his guilt, whereupon the duke has the villain dragged off by horses to a gibbet, where he is hanged.

Throughout the abundance of romance clichCs Gerbert de Mon- treuil closely followed his predecessors in the scrupulous reporting of

go. Gerbert de Montreuil, Le Roman de la violette, 11. 4008-32. 91. Ibid., 11.4081-86,4102-10. 92. Ibid., 11.5361-5484.

350 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 (1994) 3

twelfth-century judicial procedures, but after the Lateran Council he has introduced significant changes. T h e unilateral ordeal proposed by Mellatir and Euriaut is expressly rejected for the bilateral duel. Equally significant, the clergy, their relics, and oaths are co~~spicuously absent from the scene. T h e decision that clears the unjust charges against the heroine nonetheless expresses the operation of immanent justice ex- plicitly guaranteed by God. JVhile the flames of the stake are being fueled, Euri'aut offers a long recitation (over I jo lines) of the creed in the form of a prayer to Christ, followed by her confession of inno- cence and the Lord's Prayer. At the end of his legal brief, the lord of Apremont further affirms that God will acquit her if she is innocent, and Euriaut once again calls upon Jesus as the battle begins.93 Although confidence in divine justice remains unshaken in the romance world, the Lateran Council has imposed important adjustments. The unilateral ordeals have been replaced by bilateral duels, which now operate with- out benefit of clergy.

This one example taken by itself, however, does not reveal the full conlplexity of the judicial scene portrayed by Gerbert de Montreuil. In the Roman de la violette a second injustice remains to be righted. Another villain, Lisiart, count of Forez, has been able to calumniate the virtue of Euri'aut (as in Jean Renart's Ronza~z) after spying upon her in her bath. Armed with compromising information (the violet on her breast), he wins a wager with Gerart, thereby winning possession of the county of Nevers, Gerart's inheritance. A tournament called b y the count of Ailontfort at Montargis matches the two opponents on the field but without decisive results. T h e next morning Gerart ap- pears before the court of King Louis and reports conversations he had heard at Nevers that revealed Lisiart's falsehoods and his unjust claims. In the presence of Lisiart Gerart accuses him of treasonous betrayal and injury. If the accused denies the charge, the hero is prepared t o prove it in battle, body to body. Lisiart's first response is to ridicule his accuser, saying that Gerart, having lost his anzie, is now willing t o t ry anything, even t o risk his body, but he should rather conceal his shame. Goaded b y diabolic anger, however, Lisiart proceeds further and implores the king to burn or hang him if he does not avenge the insolent a c c u s a t i ~ n . ~ ~ Gerart accepts the challenge, and both offer wagers. As in the previous duel, Gerbert de Monu-euil was careful t o

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 3 5 I

outline the details of the judicial procedure. After the king receives the wagers, he demands pledges from both sides to guarantee the appearance of the nvo parties on the appointed day of hlonday after Pentecost. The men of the court attempt to reconcile the two oppo- nents before blows are exchanged. If an inquest can accommodate their differences, a peaceful settlement is preferred to battle." Unlike the previous duel, however, the clergy and their accouterments re- appear during the proceedings. All attend mass before the tournament and the session at the king's court. The testimony of Scripture is re- cited to confirm the claims of clerics and monks that treason is the worst of sins. After reconciliation is refused, however, the king imme- diately orders the relics to be brought out and the oath is sworn. "You will not go further," proclain~s Lisiart; "By Saint Clement," replies Gerart, "he who doesn't tell the truth, lies."% Successful in defeating Lisiart in a titanic battle, despite one final and desperate recourse to treachery, Gerart forces him to confess his treason. T h e king's punish- ment is the same as the duke's. The convicted is dragged behind horses and hanged from a tree.

iVhen this second duel is juxtaposed against the first, the influence of the Lateran Council on the romance world appears more equivocal. A dispute over the possession of land required the return of the clergy, or at least, of their instruments of mass and relics. I t is less cerrain, however, whether the clergy are actually present at the site of the ordeal; the Lateran Council evidently did not succeed in excluding clerical mediation in all cases. Nor did it diminish the demand for bi- lateral ordeals, because battle remained an appropriate mode of proof for trying cases of murder and disseizin in the minds of writers such as Gerbert de itlontreuil. The immediate success of the council was to have abolished the unilateral ordeals and to have initiated but not com- pleted the removal of the clergy from battle. Faith in the operations of divine justice, however, remailled as firm as i t had been for centuries.

Often skeptical of the efficacy of medieval legislation, modern his- torians have searched for deeper and more pervasive explanations of the Lateran Council's success. They haye pointed to the concomitant development of rational legal procedures, such as written documents, witnesses, and the They have detected fundamental societal

gj. Ibid., 11.6173-90,6307-17. 96. Ibid., U. 5868-72, 6108-29, 6320-33, 6;+8-53, 6368-71. 97. For example, Baldwin, "Intellectual Preparadon," 614; Boulet-Sautel, "Aperqu~"

35 2 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 24 ( 1994) 3

transformations, such as the shift from small communities formed by consensus to larger polities ruled by a~thor i ty .~ ' They have postulated a progression in cognitive mental structures, such as a child might un- dergo in attaining intellectual maturity.99 The texts we have assembled here from literature, law, theology, and saints' lives cannot fully ad- dress these deep-seated explanations, but they do help us to hear more distinctly the debate that was waged across society on the eve of the Council. First to be noted, it was not a debate between clerics who were against and laymen in favor. The party in opposition included not only the theologian Peter the Chanter, the canonist Huguccio, and Pope Innocent 111, but also the vernacular writers of the Tristan tradition and the Renart branches. Since modern historians have been sympathetic to this cause, they have privileged these arguments. In the years immediately preceding the Council, however-in fact, after the Chanter's death and the composition of the Tristan and the Renart romances-distinct voices can still be heard arguing for ordeals as in- struments of divine justice. Not only was Saint Gengulfus's water ordeal explicitly recalled in the Chanter's circle, but Saint Cunegunda's hot iron trial was officially recognized by Innocent 111, and Jean Renart publicized the efficacy of the water trial for aristocratic audiences. Gerbert de Montreuil continued to believe in the justice of bilateral duels after the Lateran Council. I have reserved this perspective for the end to underscore the vigor of the controversy at the eleventh hour. In the second place, the vociferous debate does not suggest a gradual decline in belief in ordeals over the last century and half during which clerical intellectuals finally caught up with men of action and merely administered a coup de grdce to a moribund inst i tut i~n. '~~ Credence in God's continued working through saints' miracles and the ordeal was still strong among both clerics and laymen on the eve of the Lat-

277-79, 292-93, 308; Raoul van Caenegem, The Birth of English Conmzon Law (Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 ~ 7 3 ) ~ 63; idem, "La Preuve dans le droit du moyen Pge occidental," La Preuve, pt. z, Recueils de la Sociktb Jean Bodin pour l'histoire comparative des institutions (Brussels: Editions de la Librairie Encyclo- pCdique, 19651, 691-753.

98. Hyams, "Trial by Ordeal," 95-96, working from suggestions by anthropologists, and Peter Brown, "Society and the Supernamsal: A Medieval Change," Daedalus 104 (1975): '35-5'

99. Charles M. Radding, "Superstition to Science: Nature, Fortune, and the Passing of the Medieval Ordeal," American Historical Review 84 (1979): 945-69; idem, A World Made by Men: Cognition and Society, 400--ZZOO (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 5-16.

loo. Here I take exception to Hyams, "Trial by Ordeal," 101-3.

Baldwin Crisis of the ordeal 35 3

eran Council. The Chanter and Innocent, who opposed the ordeal, had no doubt that God could work wonders, but merely believed that these judicial proofs were inappropriate channels for divine interven- tion. Others, such as Jean Renart and the hagiographers, found these customary procedures less objectionable. Situated in this contest, the conciliar legislarion suggests, finally, an abrupt and decisive measure. The water and iron did not fade away; they were suddenIy aban- doned.I0' Like most historical transformations, however, the victory was only partial. Battle persisted in western Europe for another cen- tury, but a significant step had nonetheless been taken to transform the judicial process.

101. Here I agree with Bardett, Trial by FiTe and Water, 70, 100.