The passing through the fire is described in the Hindu codes of Yajnavalkya and others, and in the Ramayana the virtuous Sita thus proves her innocence to her jealous husband Rama (Stenzler, p. 669 ; Pictet, Origines Indo-Europeennes, part ii. p. 457). In European law and chronicle, Richardis, wife of Charles the Fat, proves her innocence by going into a fire clothed in a waxed shift, and is unhurt by the fire (Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthiimer, p. 912). Yet more minutely prescribed in the Hindu ordeal-books is the rite of carrying the glowing hot iron seven steps, into the seven or nine circles traced on the ground, the examination of the hands to see if they show traces of burning, and the binding them up in leaves. In a Scandinavian law it is prescribed that the red hot iron shall be carried nine steps (Grimm, op. cit., p. 918). In Anglo-Saxon laws the iron to be carried was at first only one pound weight, but Athelstan's law (in Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, iv. 6) increased it to three pounds. Another form well known in old Germany and England was the walking barefoot over glowing ploughshares, generally nine. The law-codes of the early middle ages show this as an ordinary criminal procedure (see the two works last referred to). Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, accused of familiarity with Alwyn bishop of Winchester, triumphantly purged herself and him by the help of St. Swithin—each of the two thus acquitted giving nine manors to the church of Winchester, in memory of the nine ploughshares, and the king being corrected with stripes (John Bromton, see Freeman's Norm. Conq., vol. ii. App.). To dip the hand in boiling water or oil or melted lead and take out a stone or ring is another ordeal of this class. Some of these fiery trials are still in use, in regions of Africa or further Asia—the negro plunging his arm into the caldron of boiling oil, the Burman doing feats with melted lead, while the Bedouin will settle a conflict of evidence by the opposing witnesses licking a glowing hot iron spoon (Kennett, Arabian justice). This latter feat may be done with safety, pro vided the iron be clean and thoroughly white hot, while if only red-hot it would touch and burn the tongue. Probably the ad ministerers of the ordeal know this, and the possibility of dipping the hand in melted metal; and there are stories of arts of protect ing the skin (see the recipe in Albertus Magnus, De Mirabilibus), though it is not known what can be really done beyond making it horny like a smith's, which would serve as a defence in stepping on hot coals, but not in serious trials like that of carrying a heavy red-hot iron. The fire-ordeals are still performed by mountebanks.
Fire walking is still practised by Hindus and was performed in Natal in the autumn of 1925. The Hindu code of Manu (viii. 115) avers that "He whom the flame does not burn, whom the water does not cast up, or whom no harm soon befalls, is to be taken as truthful in his oath." This water-ordeal is well known in Europe, where the accused is thrown bound into the water, which receives him if innocent, but rejects him if guilty. The directions given by Archbishop Hincmar in the 9th century provide that he who is let down into the water for trial is to be fastened by a rope, that he may not be in danger if the water receives him as innocent, but may be pulled out. In the later middle ages this ordeal by "swimming" or "fleeting" became the most approved means of trying a suspected witch : she was stripped naked and cross bound, the right thumb to the left toe, and the left thumb to the right toe. In this state she was cast into a pond or river, in which it was thought impossible for her to sink (Brand iii. 21). Cases of "ducking" witches which used to occur in England were remains of the ancient ordeal.
When in the warfare of Greeks and Trojans, of Jews and Philistines, of Vandals and Alamans, heroes come out from the two sides and their combat decides the victory, then we have the ordeal by battle. A passage from old German law shows the single combat accepted as a regular legal procedure : "If there be dis pute concerning fields, vineyards, or money, that they avoid perjury let two be chosen to fight, and decide the cause by duel" (Grimm, Rechtsaltert., p. 928). In England, after the Conquest, trial by combat superseded other legal ordeals, which were abol ished in the time of Henry III. A lord often sent his man in his stead to such combats, and priests and women were ordinarily represented by champions. The wager of battle died out so quietly in England without being legally abolished that in the court of king's bench in 1818 it was claimed by a person charged with murder, which led to its formal abolition (Ashford v. Thornton in Barnewall and Alderson 457; see details in H. C. Lea, Superstition and Force, ii.). A distinct connection may, however, be traced between the legal duel and the illegal private duel. (See DUEL.)