ABSTRACT
Lacking direct physical evidence to prove witchcraft, contemporaries had to rely on other methods for the discovery of witches. The three main remaining evidential possibilities were supernatural signs, circumstantial evidence and testimonies. Supernatural signs enjoyed popularity, but they were not part of the official procedure. The chief supernatural method for the discovery of witches was the swimming test. The ordeal by swimming, judicium aquae frigidae, was mentioned in English laws and decrees as early as the tenth century. The swimming test persisted despite fierce attacks on it by the judiciary and clergy. Physicians emphasized natural explanations, clergymen focused on its religious inadequacy and judges deplored its illegality. Some magistrates refused to conduct swimming tests for reasons of illegality, but ordered other ordeal-type tests instead. Although assize judges came out explicitly against the test and many magistrates agreed that they lacked authority to order. Clergymen rejected the test for religious reasons. Assize judges denounced its illegality and even punished its performers.
