Punishment by cake?: Three curious trials from the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are widely remembered for the castles, Crusades and plagues. But it also had a host of legal trials which were… interesting to say the least. From obscure ordeals, to curious court cases, it wasn’t exactly law and order as we know it.

Here are some legal trials from the Middle Ages that you need to hear about.

Order in the court! Animal trials

In 14th Century Mainz, Germany, a serious lawsuit was brought to the courts by the local people. The crime? Accusations were fly-ing around that a certain gang of Spanish flies had been causing trouble in the neighbourhood. Not only were they a threat to vegetation, but they were also posing a danger to livestock, which provoked fury amongst farmers.

On the day of the trial the flies failed to appear in court after being swiftly summoned. Luckily for them the judge must’ve been in good spirits, as the court took pity on the flies, taking both their small size and young age into consideration. They were even appointed an improved defence counsel to prevent any future no-shows.

At the deliberation, records show that the locals may have lost the case, as the flies were granted “the use of a piece of land, to which they were permitted peaceably to retire”.

But animal trials were no rare phenomena, in fact, their occurrence peaked from the 14th to 16th Centuries and were official proceedings.

Another notable case involved a gang of rats, represented by one of the most influential lawyers of Renaissance Europe. He won adjournment after being suspected of destroying local barley crops.

Let them eat cake!

In Anglo-Saxon law, a trial by ordeal would be used as a formal process to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. Believed to be the judgement of divine control, these trials were usually very dangerous, painful and unpleasant.

The introduction of the ‘trial by cake’ ordeal, formally known as corsned, consisted of a suspected person attempting to swallow ‘cake’, typically a dry lump of consecrated bread and cheese, in order to prove their innocence. If the piece was consumed without a hitch, it was proof of innocence. But if the accused choked even once, they were considered guilty.

The ritual would begin with the priest writing the Lord’s Prayer on the bread, before weighing out each quantity of bread and cheese. Having placed ‘cake’ in the accused’s mouth, they would begin to recite a conjuration.

Godwin, Earl of Wessex was said to have died in the trial by cake in 1053, while solemnly swearing that he had no role in the death of King Edward the Confessor’s brother. Yikes!

Being a pope in the Middle Ages was tricky business! Not only were popes responsible for deciding official doctrines of the Catholic Church, they also had a strong influence over the appointment of kings and were often able to issue orders to them. For this reason, they possessed a lot of power and authority.

A deadly serious trial

In January 897, a rivalry between two popes, Pope Formosus and Pope Stephen VI reached a climatic height, during an ecclesiastical trial in Rome. The former Pope stood accused of a number of charges, including breaking Canon law and perjury .

The trial went ahead at the Vatican as planned, but not without a tiny hitch…Pope Formosus had been dead for about nine months. Pope Stephen VI, his living successor, wasted no time in grilling Pope Formosus, who to no one’s surprise didn’t have much to say. As a result, Stephen even appointed a deacon to speak on the corpse’s behalf.

To make matters even more bizarre, an earthquake was reported to have shaken the room in the middle of the trial. A later (and slightly exaggerated) report from commentators noted, “the stones themselves then cried out with their own voice by knocking against each other”.

Eventually Pope Formosus was found guilty and stripped of all his appointments, before being cast into the Tiber River. However Pope Stephen VI’s victory didn’t last long - within a few months he faced a public uprising, leading to his own imprisonment a few months later.

This article was published in March 2026