Ordeal
An ordeal is a difficult or painful experience that tests a person’s endurance, trustworthiness, or truth. In historical legal contexts, the term referred to a formal procedure in which guilt or innocence was believed to be revealed through divine intervention, with the assumption that the innocent would be protected and the guilty punished by supernatural forces.
Ordeals were used in many ancient and medieval societies, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, and parts
During the late medieval period and into early modern times, secular courts increasingly replaced ordeals with
Today, ordeal also serves as a metaphor for any severe, protracted, or trying experience. The term originates