The trial by compurgators was one in which, if the accused could bring twelve of his neighbors, who would make oath that they believed him innocent, he was held to be so.
At the appointed time, in September, 1210, a number of prelates and nobles were assembled at St. Gilles, and Raymond presented himself with his compurgators in the full confidence of a final reconciliation with the Church.
On the same principle from which the trial by the oath of compurgators was derived, was derived also the Trial by the Country, which was the method of taking the sense of the neighborhood on any dubious fact.
These compurgators were at first to be three; afterwards five were required; in process of time twelve became necessary.
One was governor of his State, and another is among the compurgators cited in the preface.
One wonders what happened when the man produced compurgators and the lady failed to do so: for these misdemeanours a deux the compurgatorial system would seem a little uncertain.
If a man's guilt were proven by his failure to provide compurgators or to come before the Bishop, it remained to decree his punishment.
The result of his attempt to find compurgators is not known, but the Prioress had already failed to get four of her nuns to support her and had been pronounced guilty.
Usually the bishop showed himself lenient and allowed the agitated sinner an extension of time, if she could not find her compurgators within the period allotted to her[1520].
The compurgators had to be Old Christians, zealous for the faith, who had known the accused for a specified number of years, and were not of kin or well disposed towards him.
In their presence the accused was to deny under oath the charges which were recapitulated by the inquisitors, and the compurgators were simply to be asked whether they believed that he swore the truth, and no other questions.
In 1523 it was ordered that the fiscal should not be present after the compurgators were sworn, which is suggestive of his influencing them adversely.
They were known as conjurators or compurgatorsand were in no sense witnesses; they pretended to no knowledge of the facts but only to their confidence in the veracity of their principal.
The inquisitors again read the accusatory evidence and the defence, the compurgatorswere sworn to tell the truth, and the inquisitors polled them.
On the other hand if the prosecution were on the part of the Crown, seven compurgators were deemed enough, the reason being that the King had not the personal interest in bringing a criminal to justice of a private appellor.
The date of the election of the compurgators was fixed, at the will of the Justices, and on that day fortnight the accused had to answer the appeal, unless the Justices chose to assign a longer term.
The old English way of dealing with criminals had been by calling on an accused person to swear to his own innocence and to bring compurgators to swear that his oath was true.
If the accused failed to find compurgators he was sent to the ordeal.
If he could not find men willing to be his compurgators he could appeal to the judgment of the gods, which was known as the Ordeal.
Then the six compurgators came forward and vouched for Ventimore's fitness to receive the freedom.
If the accused wanted to outweigh this evidence, he was obliged to come forward with thirteen or twenty compurgators and swear to his innocence.
The accuser could prevent the accused from clearing himself thus easily, by offering himself and six compurgators to swear to the truth of his charge.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "compurgators" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
