Două ordalii germanice – inflexiuni ale gândirii umane
Two Germanic Ordeals – Inflections of Human Thought

Summary/Abstract: Far from setting an ambitious goal such as clarifying the origins of Germanic ordeals, this paper focuses on the relationship established between this type of legal structure and Christianity, one of the factors that shaped the physiognomy of „ordeal” or „God's judgment”. Various opinions on this subject have been expressed in the German literature, although the influence of Christianity on the evolution of ordeals cannot be overlooked. On the one hand, it has been argued that the Germanic ordeals were formed on an Indo-European basis, although, according to other points of view, they were, in fact, the result of a loan from the Orient. Since different types of ordeals did not come into being simultaneously, some being older than others, the aim of this paper is to offer a critical approach on the manner in which the Christianity shaped two of the Germanic ordeals: the Abendmahlsprobe and the geweihten Bissensprobe.

• Details
• Contents