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SECTION F.

OATHS OF COMPURGATORS.

Of the oaths which most frequently occur in European history, one class, objected to from time to time very solemnly, even during their general prevalence, and now no longer allowed by law*, were the oaths of purgation. When an individual was charged with a crime, either already committed, or alleged to be intended and meditated by him, he was often compelled to clear himself from the accusation upon oath†.

One of the earliest instances of this in the christian church, which I have found given in detail, is quoted by L. A. Muratori, in his Antiquities of Italy through the Middle Ages ‡. In the year 404, a disciple of St. Augustin was accused by a priest

* Many magistrates however, even in the present day, sanction a practice very similar in its nature and tendency.

† We cannot but regret to find the existence of such an oath, in former days, even in Protestant England. It was called the Oath ex officio, and was much abused in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by the Commission of Inquiry appointed ⚫ by her. Persons were bound by that oath to answer all questions, and were often compelled to accuse themselves, or their most intimate friend.-Eliz. 1584.

38.

Muratori, Antiq. Ital. Med. Ev. Vol. iii., Dissert.

named Boniface, and charged his accuser with the crime. In this state of doubt and scandal, Augustin bound them both to go to some place of extraordinary sanctity, where the more than usually terrible judgments of God would lay open the guilty conscience of any one, and would compel them, either by punishment or fear, to confess. “The sanctity of the place," (such are the words of Augustin*,) "is known to very many,―where the body of St. Felix of Nola is entombed,-whither I was desirous that they should go, because whatever was there supernaturally discovered might be recorded with greater ease and fidelity: for we have ourselves known, at the shrines of Saints at Milan (when the devils made confession in a most wonderful and terrible manner), that a certain thief who had come for the purpose of deceiving by a false oath, was compelled to acknowledge the theft, and make restitution." Not all places dedicated to the saint's memory had the gift or privilege of thus detecting falsehood. The observations of Augustin, in which piety and superstition are so intimately combined, will be read with interest ;-" God, indeed, is to be worshipped every where, and he must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Still, in things made visible to mortals, who can see clearly through his counsel, why in some places these miracles should be done,

* August., Epist. 78.

in others not? Is not Africa, also, full of the bodies of holy martyrs?—and yet no where there do we know of such things being done. For, as what the apostle says, all saints have not the gift of healing, nor have all the discerning of spirits, so neither is it the will of Him who divideth to every one severally as he will, that these things should be done at all shrines of the saints." Thus, too, Gregory the Great declares that he had found no fault in a Bishop named Leo, but adds, "that nothing might seem to be omitted, or any doubt remain in our breast, over and above what was necessary, I compelled him to take the most solemn oaths at the most holy body of the blessed Peter; which done, we rejoiced exceedingly that his innocence evidently displayed itself by this test+."

But a man's own oath was frequently deemed an inadequate guarantee of the truth, and the accuser required him to confirm it by the oaths of jointpurifiers, called Compurgators and Conjurators. The oath was called a greater or a lesser oath, with reference to the number of persons sworn. Generally, persons of the same rank and profession, even of the same sex, were required to be compurgators. Thus, in the laws of Hoel the Good, Prince of Wales, it is enacted that a female, whose reputa

* Apud omnes memorias sanctorum.

+ Gregor., Epist. ii., 33.

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tion is impeached, shall clear herself by the oaths of seven women, for the first time a stain is attempted to be fixed upon her character; of fourteen, on the second charge; and, should a third charge be brought with any show of certainty, the oaths of fifty women were necessary, before her fair fame could be restored even in the eye of the law; how far such a process reinstated her in the private opinions of her neighbours may be a very different question.

The Bishop of Ely was once required, on the summons of the Archbishop of York, to swear himself, and to support his own oath by the oaths of a hundred priests, that he had not willed or planned the capture of the said archbishop. There is an instance upon record, of the oaths of three hundred compurgators being required*.

The usual manner of swearing was for the compurgators to lay their hands upon the pyx, or the case in which the consecrated wafer or the relics were kept, and the accused placing his hand upon theirs, said, "So help me God, or, these relics, as I am innocent.”

* Or rather with ninety-nine compurgators in the one case, and two hundred and ninety-nine in the other; the oath of the principal always reckoning as one. Thus "jurare duodecima manu," means that eleven compurgators swore with the principal in the cause.-See Du Cange, Gloss: Juram.

These compurgators were not called upon to testify to any fact, but merely that they believed the oath of the accused in declaring himself innocent. This was little if any thing more, in a moral point of view, than calling witnesses to character in our present courts of justice; though then justice was satisfied with their mere oath, and the accused was acquitted; at present, oaths to character weigh only as probabilities against the culprit's guilt in cases admitting of some doubt, or in mitigation of punishment when discretion is left to the judge. Those compurgators were just as easy to be procured then, as testimonials to character, and to an individual's qualifications to any office, are now, and were worth about as much. It is quite startling to find with what a total absence of scruple, numbers are found to testify to the character of a person, of whom they know little more than his name. A paper is circulated, and "it is only to put your name;" a refusal to sign is regarded as a very unkind act, and as somewhat of disrespect towards those who patronize the candidate for one's signature. The same observation is too generally applicable in the case of the more solemn attestation to character in a court of justice. It is surprising to see with what facility persons are brought forward to swear that they would not believe such a witness in the cause upon oath. The admission of such testimony against character is, I believe, much

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