The accused then proceeded to the ordeal and carried the iron the measured distance--nine feet, divided into three equal parts, over which the person had to pass in as many steps regulated by signal. His hand was thereupon enclosed in an envelope under seal, and so remained until the expiration of three days, when the envelope was removed and an examination took place to see whether the hand was foul or clean within. If festering blood was found in the track of the iron, the accused was judged to be guilty; if otherwise, he stood acquitted. An infraction of the rules not only rendered the ordeal void, but was punishable by a fine of 120 shillings. THE JUDGMENT OF THE PLOUGHSHARES Instead of carrying iron of a given weight a stipulated distance, an accused person might traverse barefoot a certain space in which nine hot ploughshares were laid lengthwise. To this species of judgment Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, is alleged to have submitted, when charged with adultery with Alwyn, Bishop of Winchester. The precise nature of this trial is more than usually obscure, and there is some reason for doubting whether Blackstone's account is accurate. He states that the accused person was blindfolded and that the ploughshares were placed at irregular intervals--evidently with the design that the person might escape contact with some of the irons: possibly all. Blackstone's authority, Rudborn, in his story of the trial of Queen Emma, conveys a totally different impression of the proceedings--at any rate, on that occasion. He says distinctly that she was _not_ blindfolded, and that she pressed each ploughshare with the whole weight of her body: "Emma vero nullam mamphoram sive pannum ante oculos habens--super novem vomeres novem passus faciens et singulos eorum totius corporis pleno pressens pondere."