Art, obsession, and identity
In the Middle Ages, animals (from domesticated pigs to insectile pests) were often subjected to legal trials. Animals that inflicted harm on people went through these proceedings so that they may be held accountable.
Despite the Catholic Church's stance that animals lacked souls, animals were sometimes excommunicated in religious trials. Although they were unendorsed by the Church, these rituals persisted to satisfy public faith in divine justice.
During this era, there were two type of animal trials. Traditional secular courts dealt with individual cases like farm animals harming humans, while religious trials addressed mass infestations like locusts or rats.
Many of the animal trials involved rituals that combined spirituality, magic, and Church doctrine to excommunicate animals and cleanse the town, all to give people hope that the problems had been resolved. Naturally, the Church did not agree with this.
Historians have unearthed around 200 records of medieval animal trials, the earliest having occurred in the mid-1200s, with some peculiar blend of law, religion, and folklore used to resolve societal conflicts.
Many of the animals brought into the courtroom were domestic, from bulls to horses and even cows. They were typically subjected to trials after maiming or killing civilians.
Aside from domesticated mammals, locusts and rats were also put on trial, although these were more for show. Ultimately, individual animals found guilty of their alleged crimes could be put to death, but insects and vermin couldn’t be gotten rid of so easily.
Animal trials were public events that involved detailed legal procedures, including appointing defense lawyers for the accused animals. Medieval societies truly treated this practice with absolute seriousness, even if the outcomes often lacked practical solutions.
Pigs were frequent defendants in medieval courts due to their close proximity to humans and their potential to cause harm. Often, these trials culminated in the pig being executed in a manner that mirrored human criminal punishments.
In December of 1457, a sow in the French village of Savigny was sentenced to death for killing an infant after its six piglets went on a violent rampage.
Since the village was determined to hold as many parties accountable, the pig's owner was also accused of negligence alongside the sow’s sentencing. The pig was sentenced to death and hung by its legs, which was not uncommon.
Animal trials that resulted in a hanging of the accused were some of the more banal ways of execution at the time. Indeed, some animals were subject to the same laws as humans, which included burning at the stake or beheading.
During the Middle Ages, only the elite were able to hunt animals such as deer. As a result, meat was profoundly expensive, but pigs were a common source of it. Even wild boars were hunted and sometimes used to hunt for truffles.
Domesticated pigs were a food staple, and wild boars were common game for hunters. But the semi-feral nature of medieval pigs made them prone to accidents, sometimes resulting in fatal encounters with humans.
Pigs were a major source of prosperity, and owning them in early medieval Europe was a sign that civilians had enough to eat. Over time, home banks adopted the term “piggy banks” to reflect this.
The pig's importance extended into myth and storytelling, with its trials and symbolic roles captured in medieval literature and modern depictions in films and books.
One particular 1993 film, known as ‘The Hour of the Pig’ (or ‘The Advocate’ in the US), centered around the trial of a pig and a lawyer tasked to defend it.
The lawyer in ‘The Hour of the Pig’ was based on a real-life jurist by the name of Bartholomew Chassenee, who also defended rats that were put on trial for destroying crops in France.
The earliest recorded animal trial took place in 1266 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, just outside Paris. By the 15th century, they were an established practice in Normandy and the Île-de-France.
After spreading to the French regions of Burgundy, Lorraine, Picardy, and Champagne, they were eventually exported to Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries.
Many of the animal trials followed the same rhythm and pattern. Once animals were arrested and formal charges were drawn up, they were kept in prison for some time before their cases were heard either by a bailiff or a judge. In most cases, the accused was found guilty.
In today’s society, animals are often held accountable for actions taken against people. For example, dogs are often put down after having bitten someone. But there is no longer any traditional trial brought before a court of law.
It is also common law in contemporary times that animals cannot be put on trial because they cannot be culpable. Since animals lack reason, they are incapable of harboring criminal intent, and so they cannot be guilty of a crime.
Medieval societies did not hold the same regard. Humans were indeed held accountable for negligence, but accused animals were put to death. Folk beliefs made this worse, since they often anthropomorphized animals (i.e. gave them human traits).
In the Middle Ages, animal trials were also a way for people to reclaim their apparent dominance and power over the natural world. Injury from an animal was considered a grave threat to humanity’s control, and these trials were people’s way to reassert it.
Village residents who had lost their children to the violence of animals were naturally wracked by grief and the unpredictability of life. Animal trials meant that humanity’s order in the universe could be ritually restored.
Modern law practices dictate that, if an animal injures a person due to the neglect of the owner or caretaker, then the human should be held liable on grounds of negligence, rather than the animal itself.
Ultimately, animal trials were designed to be nothing more than a band-aid for civilians. While it would have been far easier to simply kill an animal that had caused harm, legal trials meant that people could find retribution—even if the scapegoat didn’t understand what was happening.
Sources: (TheCollector) (History Today) (Britannica)
Pigs in the Middle Ages symbolized sustenance, and were used in various ways to treat conditions such as skin disease, stomach pains, and even arthritis.
The Middle Ages were a time of extraordinary customs, but few are as bizarre as putting animals on trial. From pigs accused of murder to swarms of pests excommunicated by clergy, these peculiar legal proceedings are a strange indication of law, religion, and folklore of the time. Rooted in a desire for order amidst chaos, medieval societies brought beasts both great and small into the courtroom, treating them as participants in the laws of humanity.
Why were such unusual legal arguments actually valid at the time? And what were the results of these so-called trials? Click through this gallery to find out!
The history of animal trials in medieval Europe
Animal trials were truly a strange part of Europe’s medieval history
LIFESTYLE History
The Middle Ages were a time of extraordinary customs, but few are as bizarre as putting animals on trial. From pigs accused of murder to swarms of pests excommunicated by clergy, these peculiar legal proceedings are a strange indication of law, religion, and folklore of the time. Rooted in a desire for order amidst chaos, medieval societies brought beasts both great and small into the courtroom, treating them as participants in the laws of humanity.
Why were such unusual legal arguments actually valid at the time? And what were the results of these so-called trials? Click through this gallery to find out!