skærsl (OSw) skírsl (ON) skírsla (ON) skirsl (OSw) noun

Related to the verb skíra (‘to cleanse, to purify, to baptise’). In the Norwegian laws skírsla is sometimes used as a synonym for skírn (‘baptism’). Often used to refer to an ordeal, carrying a hot iron (jarnbyrþ) for men or plucking stones from boiling water (ketiltak) for women. Since the ordeal was used as a means for determining guilt in certain cases, skírsl also bears the connotation of ‘evidence’ or ‘proof of innocence’. Ordeals seem to have been brought into Scandinavia through Christian influence, though the turf ordeal (mentioned only in sagas) seems to have been native to Iceland, and some have argued that the concept of the ordeal was a native development (cf. Boyer 1990, 181).

In Grg ordeals are used specifically for paternity cases, adultery and incest. A few other infractions, such as theft and homicide, involve ordeals in Icelandic saga literature. Ordeals for legal procedures were prohibited by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, but they are thought to have remained in use in Iceland until sometime between 1248 and 1275 (cf. GrgTr II:49). It has been suggested that ordeals were less common in Iceland, where witness testimony was favoured, than in Norway, where compurgation was preferred.

baptism ONorw BorgL 2
ONorw FrL KrbA 3
defence ONorw GuL Mhb
evidence OIce Js Mah 18
OIce KRA 33
ordeal OIce Grg Ómb 143 Feþ 156 Tíg 264
ONorw FrL KrbA 1
proof of innocence OIce Jó Þjb 24
purification ONorw EidsL 42.2
OSw SdmL Kkb
OSw YVgL Kkb
trial by ordeal ONorw GuL Krb
Expressions:

guðs skírslir (ON)

ordeal ONorw GuL Krb

Refs:

Boyer 1990; GrgTr; KLNM s.v. gudsdom, dåp; Miller 1988; NGL V s.v. skírsl; Nilsson 2001; von See 1964, 123−25