Corsned

In Anglo-Saxon law, corsned (OE cor, "trial, investigation", + snǽd, "bit, piece"; Latin panis conjuratus), also known as the accursed or sacred morsel, or the morsel of execration, was a type of trial by ordeal consisting in the eating of a piece of barley bread and cheese, totalling about an ounce in weight, consecrated with a form of exorcism, and to be swallowed by a suspected person, as a trial of his innocence. If guilty, it was supposed the bread would produce convulsions and paleness, and cause choking. If innocent, it was believed the person could swallow it freely, and the bread would turn to nourishment.Blackstone, Sir William (1769). Commentaries on the laws of England. IV. 339. "Corsned, or morsel of execration: being a piece of cheese or bread, of about an ounce in weight, which was consecrated with a form of exorcism; desiring of the Almighty that it might cause convulsions and paleness, and find no passage, if the man was really guilty; but might turn to health and nourishment, if he was innocent."
The term dates to before 1000 AD; the laws of Ethelred II reference this practice: "Gif man freondleasne weofod-þen mid tihtlan belecge, ga to corsnæde."'Laws of Ethelred ix. 22 in Thorpe I. 344'. Thorpe, Benjamin (1865). "Ordel". Diplomatarium anglicum aevi saxonici. p 659. 
The ecclesiastical laws of Canute the Great also mention the practice.Ecclesiastical Laws of Canute the Great, Article 5:
*English: "And if a friendless servant of the altar be charged with an accusation, who has no support to his oath, let him go to the corsned, and then thereat fare as God will, unless he may clear himself on the housel." Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne (1892). Ancient Facts and Fictions concerning Churches and Tithes. London: Macmillan and Co. Appendix E, p 340.
*Latin: "Si quis altari ministrantium accusetur, et, amicis destitutus, consacrementales non habeat, vadat ad judicium, id est ad panem conjuratum, quod Anglice dicitur corsned, et fiat sicut Deus velit; nisi super sanctum corpus Domini permittatur ut se purget." Great Britain (1840). "Legis Regis Cnuti", v. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. Printed by G. E. Eyre and A. Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. p 523.
According to Isaac D'Israeli, the bread was to be of unleavened barley, and the cheese made of ewe's milk in the month of May.D'Israeli, Isaac. "Trials and Proofs of Guilt in Superstitious Ages". Curiosities of Literature. 
Writers such as Richard Burn and John Lingard have considered it an imitation of the "water of jealousy" used in the ordeal prescribed in Numbers 5:11-31 for cases of jealousy.Burn, Richard and John Burn (1792). A new law dictionary: intended for general use, as well as for gentlemen of the profession. By Richard Burn, ... And continued to the present time by John Burn, Esq. his son, ... In two volumes. Vol. 1. London. pp 231-232.Lingard, John (1810). The antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Newcastle : Printed by E. Walker, sold by J. Booker and Keating. pp 310-311.
In this ordeal, the priest wrote the Lord's Prayer on the bread, of which he then weighed out ten pennyweights, and so likewise with the cheese. Under the right foot of the accused, he set a cross of poplar wood, and holding another cross of the same material over the man's head, threw over his head the theft written on a tablet. He placed the bread and cheese at the same moment in the mouth of the accused, and, on doing so, recited the conjuration:Snell, Frederick John. "The Judgement of the Morsel". The Customs of Old England. pp 137-138.
The following prayer and exorcism were also used and ordered to be repeated three times:
Legal historian Richard Burn believed that corsned bread may have originally been the very sacramental bread, but that later the bishops and clergy would no longer allow the communion bread for such superstitious purposes; they would however grant the people to use the same judicial rite, in eating some other morsels of bread, blessed or cursed for the same uses.
It has been asserted that this ordeal was specifically preserved for the clergy,Thomson, Richard (1828). Illustrations of the History of Great Britain, vol 1. Edinburgh: Constable & Co. p 166. however Godwin, Earl of Wessex is said to have been killed in this manner in 1053 while denying that he had any role in the death of King Edward the Confessor's brother Alfred in 1036;Cowell, John (1701). "Corsned". The interpreter of words and terms, used either in the common or statute laws of this realm, and in tenures and jocular customs... London. 351pp. p 95. however, the primary contemporary source for this information is the Croyland Chronicle, attributed to Ingulph (d. 1109), which has since been shown to be a much later forgery.E. Cobham Brewer (1894). "Ingulph's 'Croyland Chronicle'". Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. "Proved to be a forgery by H. J. Riley in the Archaeological Journal, 1862. He dates the forgery between 1393 and 1415, and attributes it to Prior Richard of Croyland and Sergeant William Ludyngton."
The practice has long since been gradually abolished. Du Cange observed that the expression, "May this piece of bread choke me!" comes from this custom. Other common phrases of the same origin include, "I will take the sacrament upon it!" and "May this morsel be my last!"
==See also==
*Alphitomancy
*Witches of Belvoir - one of the women in this case reportedly died after wishing she should choke on her food if she was guilty.
==References==
Category:Exorcism
Category:Breads
Category:Divination
Category:Ceremonial food and drink