therefore, must be given the credit of making the first determined effort to limit, if not to abolish, the ravages of private war. The famous "Truce of God," which originated in Aquitania in 1033, marks a new era.[359:2] Private war was the curse of the Middle Ages and the Church made an effort to check the evil. According to its provisions, bishops and abbots were to see to it that all feuds should cease from Wednesday evening till Monday morning. The penalty for violating the truce was at first excommunication, but later expulsion from a bishopric, loss of a benefice or property, severance of the right hand, decapitation, scalping, and other punishments were added. Archbishop Raimbald of Arles with other bishops and abbots asked the Church in Italy in 1041 to adopt the "Truce of God."[360:1] Pope Nicholas II. (1059) and Alexander II. (1068) made public proclamation of the peace, and, as a result of all these endeavours, it soon spread over France,[360:2] Italy,[360:3] Burgundy, Spain, and Germany.[360:4] Rulers were not slow to sanction and to enforce these peace measures. Emperor Henry IV. issued an edict in 1085 to enforce the "Truce of God" under frightfully severe penalties.[360:5] Pope Urban II. in the Council of Clermont, held a decade later, made it the general law of the Church.[360:6] The time was extended to the periods between Advent and Epiphany, Ash Wednesday and Easter, Ascension Day and Pentecost.[360:7] Various festivals and vigils were also included. If strictly enforced the "Truce of God" would have given Christendom peace for about 240 days out of the year. Its operation was preceded by the ringing of bells. The first Lateran Councils (1121, 1139, 1179) confirmed it and made it a part of the _Corpus Juris Canonici_. The "Truce of God" later helped to produce the "land peace" in various parts of the Empire.[360:8] The Church sanctioned and used the "judgment of God" or the ordeal as a better means of obtaining justice than by war.[361:1] This process of justice was not new, but had prevailed in the Orient and among the Celts and Teutons. It rested on this fundamental principle that the accused is guilty until he proves himself innocent and that God, as the source of justice, will protect the innocent. "Let doubtful cases," ran a Carolingian capitulary, "be determined by the judgment of God. The judges may decide that which they clearly know, but that which they cannot know shall be reserved for divine judgment. He whom God has reserved for His own judgment may not be condemned by human means."