Note 41 — Chapter IX · LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE REIGN

Instances of the blessing of the ordeal pits occur in the Pipe Rolls. In 1166, for instance, 10s. was paid to two priests for blessing the pits (fossarum) at Bury St. Edmunds, and in Wiltshire 5s. was paid for preparing the pools (polis) for the ordeal of thieves, and 20s. to priests for blessing the same pools. As early as 1158 the sheriff of Wiltshire accounted for making “the pools of the moneyers,” and in 1175 in Hampshire there were payments made for “blessing the ordeal pits (fossis iuisse), and the cost of doing justice on the peasants who burnt their lord.”