den by many edicts on the Continent, it was
administered in England under the direction of the clergy, and its
details prescribed by the canons during a period extending from the
laws of Alfred to the directions given in the ecclesiastical laws of
Edward the Confessor, the year before the Norman Conquest, A.D. 1065.
The first prohibition of its use in England is in the third year of
Henry the Third.

There were three principal modes of its administration. In the first,
the ordeal by water, the accused had to take a heavy piece of iron
from a boiling cauldron placed in the church--in the second, to carry
a bar of heated iron nine feet. The hand or arm was bound in linen,
the bandage sealed by the priest, and on the third day the limb was
uncovered. If the burn or scald had healed the prisoner was pronounced
innocent, otherwise he had to suffer the punishment due to his
offence.

The details given in the text are chiefly taken from the Canons of
Athelstane; but the mode of purgation therein described is similar to
that by which it is said Queen Emma repelled an accusation made by
Robert, Bishop of London, in the year 1046. This mode of
administration was perhaps more frequently used when a prompt appeal
was needed to the judgment of God, or in the case of persons of rank,
were they ever, as was seldom the case, compelled to appeal to its
decision.

xx It was a subject of complaint against Canute in Denmark that he
gave away most of the bishoprics to Englishmen.

xxi Character of Canute.

The great change in Canute's character after his accession to the
throne has been noticed by all writers. Each year he seemed to grow in
self-command and in the practice of virtue, while all men were edified
by his strict attention to his religions duties. Later in life he made
a pilgrimage to Rome, and a letter written thence gives a good idea of
his general affection for his people. It is addressed to the
archbishops and bishops and great men, and to all the English people,
and is written in the familiar style a father might use to his
children, especially telling them all he had seen at Rome, and about
the way in which he spent Easter with Pope John and the Emperor, whom
he persuaded to abolish certain dues exacted from English pilgrims. In
the last portion of the letter he tells them how he has made up his
mind to amend his life in every way, and to atone for all the wrongs
committed in the violence of youth. He forbids any per