This instruction for the trial by cold water was copied into a manuscript associated with Hincmar of Reims. That manuscript is now lost, but an early modern transcription survives. I provide an edition of this transcription of the ordeal liturgy, and a discussion of the text, in a contribution to Beyond Time and Space: Studies by and in Memory of Miriam Czock (forthcoming).

Translation

The test of cold water.

When the Romans, on account of jealousy, took Pope Leo’s eyes and tongue for the treasure of St Peter, Leo went to Emperor Charles, so he would help him against his enemies. Then the emperor brought him back to Rome, and restored him to his position, and he could find the aforementioned treasure only through this ordeal. St Eugenius and Leo and the emperor performed this ordeal, so that bishops and abbots and counts should firmly hold to it and trust it, since those holy men, who devised it, had proven it.

When you wish to put people to the test, take those whom you want to examine, and lead them to the church, and let the priest sing the Mass for them and make them take part in that Mass. But when they come to take the communion, before they do so, let the priest question them, saying to them with an oath:

‘I adjure you men, through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, through the Trinity and through your Christianity which you accepted, and through this Gospel Book, and through these relics which are in this church, that you in no way dare to take communion or approach the altar, if you did this thing which you are accused of, or agreed to it’.

And if everyone is silent, and no one denies this, let the priest go to the altar and give communion to those who he wishes to test in the water. When they take communion, let the priest say to each one, ‘May this body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be a test for you today’. Once the Mass is finished, let the priest make holy water, and let him take that water, and go to that place where the ordeal is done, and let him give them all that holy water to drink. When he gives it, let him say to each one ‘May this water be a test for you’.

Afterwards let him adjure the water in which he wants to test them in this way.

‘I adjure you, water, in the name of God the Almighty Father who created you in the beginning, and ordered you to exist for human needs, and who commanded you to be separated from the upper waters. I adjure you also through the ineffable name of Jesus Christ, the son of Almighty God, under whose feet the sea made itself treadable. I adjure you also through the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Lord baptised in you. I adjure you in the name of the Holy Trinity, by whose will the element of water was divided, and the people of Israel crossed through it with dry feet, and also by whose invocation Elias, when he threw the hot iron on the waters, made it float. In no way should you receive this man if he is in any way guilty of what he is accused of, whether by deed, consent, knowledge or any other way, but make him float on you, and let no trickery or deception be able to prevail here, so that what is sought may now be manifest, revealing what the secrets of the heart do not disclose. I adjure you through the name of Jesus Christ  and I command you, trusting in the strength of God alone, that you shall obey us through His name, whom every created thing obeys, and whom the Cherubin and Seraphin praise with incessant voice, saying ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, the heavens and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna in excelsis, you who reigns and rules for ever and ever, Amen’.

After this conjuration of the water, let him remove their clothing, and make them one by one kiss the sacred gospel and cross of Christ. And afterwards let him sprinkle each of them with holy water according to custom. And turning to the person who must be put to the ordeal, let him say

‘I adjure you, man, in the present ordeal (iudicium) of cold water, and through the invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I adjure you through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the inseparable Trinity, through Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the angels and through the archangels, the virtues and powers, the dominations, the thrones of the Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the heavenly columns, and through the day of shuddering judgement, and through the 24 lords and the 4 evangelists Matthew Mark Luke and John and through the 12 apostles, through the martyrs, through the confessors and virgins, and through the three boys Sydrac, Misach and Abdenago who sit before God with the rest, and through the 144 thousand who were taken from the earth and followed the Lamb wherever he went, and through all the holy people of God and through that baptism by which the priest regenerated you – I adjure you that if committed this theft, or if you saw someone else do it or assisted, or took it in your house, or you in any way gave consent, or if you have a fattened, hardened heart, and you are guilty, may the present water not receive you. Nor by any of your witchcraft (maleficium) may the matter be hidden, which we believe the omnipotence of God will reveal. Therefore we beseech You, Lord Jesus Christ: show us a sign of your majesty, so that if this man is guilty in this matter, he will in no way be received by the water. Do this, Lord Jesus Christ, for the honour and glory and invocation of Your name, so that everyone may recognise that You are our Lord, who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and reigns for ever and ever, Amen.’

After this is said, let the man who is to be put in the water be put in the water, tied up in usual fashion.

Trial by Cold Water / Earlier medieval history by is licensed under a