Water-Ordeal and Witchcraft Trials in the Synodal Legislation of the Metropolis of Gniezno in the 16th–18th Centuries (Between the Legal Norm and Reality)

Abstract

Water-ordeal – unlike other medieval trials by ordeal and despite prohibitions on its use in ecclesiastical law since the 13^th century – was still used in the 16^th–18^th centuries, almost exclusively in connection with witchcraft trials. In these trials, conducted in rural and urban courts in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, the use of other tortures was also permitted, as well as the punishment of those found guilty by death by burning at the stake. Individual bishops spoke out against the initiation and conduct of witchcraft trials by secular courts in the synodal statutes, arguing that these cases belonged to clerical courts. However, as preserved sources indicate, the practice in this area varied, and synodal legislation, as well as church and state law, were often – even in the 19^th century – broken by representatives of local communities who were guided by their own laws, beliefs, and customs established for centuries.