Equivocal Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature

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Equivocal Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature is written by Ralph J. Hexter and published by Harvard University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0674260368 (ISBN 10) and 9780674260368 (ISBN 13).

The use of ordeals and sworn oaths to prove one's innocence invites trickery. The guilty trickster cannot influence the judgment of the divine powers, but he can--by disguise or by equivocation in wording the oath--create a presumption of innocence. Ralph Hexter surveys the varieties of such stories in a number of folk literatures and looks at the use of this motif in three important medieval story cycles, with special attention to the way Christian writers handled story material based on a pre-Christian act of truth.