Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-02
Oaths of the Middle Ages.

A writer in All the Year Round
says;
Several oaths of the middle ages
were borrowed from the pagans. as
idols upon arms, the usual mode of
adjuratlOn among Northern nations
upon the scabbard of the sword CON
hrmation Of the oath by joininghands:
by taking hold of the hem Of the gar
ment; swearing by the feet of the
abbot and monks, upon bracelets and
others. Concerning the bracelet oath.
Sir Henry Ellis has observed that
Arngrim Jonas, in his work on Ice
land, describes a bracelet of twenty
ounces weight, which was kept upon
the altar, and, being sprinkled with
the blood Of victims, was touched by
those who took any solemn oaths. He
says it was either Of silver or of silver
and brass mixed. He adds in another
page, that for this purpose it was worn
on the judges arm during trial. Sir
Henry Ellis was reminded by this "of
very remarkable passage in the Saxon
Chronicles, made under the rear S76.
where, when the Danes made peace
with the English Alfred, at Wareham,
in Wessex, they gave him the noblest
among them as hostages. and swore
an oath to him on the holy bracelet. ("
OF swearing on the sword, we
have an interesting instance in
the life Of Of the great Gustavus Vasa,
Of Sweden. In 1910 he assembled the
States, in which it was decided that
the monarchy should be hereditary,
whereupon the king drew his sword
and extended it before him, saying
In the name Of the Holy Trinity and
by the power Of Almighty God, who
hath bestowed on us our children, and
hath caused them to be the heirs of
the Swedish empire, we stretch over
you the sword of justice, as a testi-
mony from us and our heirs, to YOU
and all our subjects, faithfully to
guide, guard and rule you, and for
confirmation, stand forth every one of
you, and touching the sword with your
corporeal fingers, thus repeat the oath
Of truth and fidelity, that to us and
our heirs you have already offered. /"
Hearing this, the States approached,
senators, mobiles, citizens, peasants, all
laid their hands on the royal sword,
and each took the oath of allegiance
and fidelity Swearing on the cross
was practiced by the Russians from
early times thus, in 1857, on the CON
clusion of a treaty of peace with
Sweden, Ivan ratified it by kissing the
cross before the eyes of the ambassa-
doris, ceremony that was repeated
by his representative at Stock
holm, in the presence of the Swed-
ish monarch. In the reform of
the statutes of the Order of the
Garter, by Henry VIII, the knights
were enjoined to make general oath
upon the Holy Gospels to obey the
statutes without fraud or delusion, +"
touching the book and kissing the
cross. Selden mentions an oath taken
by the Spaniards, which is very curl
/ Gus III nrst deslgnedly fail OF this
oath on that day, We powers above tor
ment me my body in this life, and my
soul in the next, with horrid tortures.
Make my strength and my words fail.
| In battle, let my horse and arms and
spurs and subjects fail me, when need
. is sorest.' This oath was confirmed
by the parties shaing between them
the consecrated wafer, The oath "by
the bosom, formerly observed in Ger
many, had curious and interesting
origin. Women and boys were gener-
ally accustomed to carry on their bo-
som, suspended from the neck, a small
copy of the gospel 80 the hand, when
/ laid upon the breast, was in reality
laid upon the gospel. Chrysostom
mentions similar custom as prevail
ing in his time,