Oaths and the taking of oaths, and the powerful, dramatic and formal ritual ceremony surrounding them have been undertaken since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks.
Oaths among many other matters govern behaviour in the courts, commerce when deals are being made, international relations between nations, and the signing of contracts and the making of enforceable promises between private parties.
Oaths may be taken secretly or before witnesses (necessary if they are to be proved in a court of law).
For an oath to be valid it must be made according to some proper or prescribed formula. There must exist a conventional procedure having a conventional effect.
In Ancient Greek times oaths were used in the tragedies and comedies by the dramatists to mark points in the drama where the plot changes direction here characters in that plot might be being compelled to act in ways not necessarily in their st interests or by their own moral conviction.
The taking of an oath might be considered to be an illocutionary act. That is an act where the very act of speaking it in itself constitutes the intended action.
The ritual behind the taking of an oath was pretty much fixed over time and place, a ritual very much traditional and stable in the society in which it is held..
What did this ritual comprise?
1) The invitation and offer.
2) The invocation of God or the gods or other supernatural beings as witnesses and guarantors of the oath.
When making an oath it must attract the attention of the guaranteeing God or gods.
An oath is a kind of prayer to a God or gods, or a supernatural being to witness a promise or an assertion, and to enforce it.
Historically the taking of an an oath was a divinely ordained act and might be considered to be an illocutionary supernaturally protected ritual. In medieval times its sanctity was was sanctioned, aided and assured by God.
3) A verb of swearing.
4) The body of the promise or oath
5) The conditional curse. Every oath carries a conditional and implicit self curse.
It is a promise guaranteed by an invocation to God (or gods) and the offering of a self-curse if it is not kept or fulfilled, in the event if the promise is broken or perjured in any way.
6) Oaths sometimes include and involve details of the sacrifice and sanctifying ritual such as swearing on a bible or holy relic
In Ancient Egypt and Greece an oath was often made binding by a sacrifice on the altar of the witnessing and guaranteeing god
Documenting or the writing down an oath as text tends to have the effect of , i.e. encourages having the oath read out loud. Written language was always meant to be spoken. In earlier societies laws where most members of that society were illiterate, these societies always had a law-giver, someone who memorised and spoke the legal text of a law. The reading out loud of an oath made its content public.
Judith Fletcher (2011). Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-50035-7.
Alan H. Sommerstein; Judith Fletcher (2007). Horkos: The Oath in Greek Society. Bristol Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-904675-67-9.
Wilfred Lewis Warren (1973). Henry II. Henry II as Oathbreaker: University of California Press. pp. 217–. ISBN 978-0-520-02282-9.
CHEYETTE, FREDRIC L. "C." In Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours, 187-98. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 2001. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv3s8ngk.19.
https://goo.gl/RpQk8v
Godefridus J. C. Snoek (1995). Medieval Piety from Relics to the Eucharist: A Process of Mutual Interaction. Oath Taking on the Relics and the Eucharist: BRILL. pp. 132–. ISBN 90-04-10263-9.
Gaines Post (2006). Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law and the State 1100-1322. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. pp. 415–. ISBN 978-1-58477-692-5.
POST, GAINES. "THE ROMAN LAW AND THE “INALIENABILITY CLAUSE” IN THE ENGLISH CORONATION OATH." In Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law and the State 1100-1322, 415-33. Princeton University Press, 1964. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183pr3p.13.
THE CORONATION IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND: The Evolution of the Office and the Oath
H. G. RICHARDSON
Traditio
Vol. 16 (1960), pp. 111-202
Published by: Cambridge University Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27830405
Oaths may be taken secretly or before witnesses (necessary if they are to be proved in a court of law).
For an oath to be valid it must be made according to some proper or prescribed formula. There must exist a conventional procedure having a conventional effect.
In Ancient Greek times oaths were used in the tragedies and comedies by the dramatists to mark points in the drama where the plot changes direction here characters in that plot might be being compelled to act in ways not necessarily in their st interests or by their own moral conviction.
The taking of an oath might be considered to be an illocutionary act. That is an act where the very act of speaking it in itself constitutes the intended action.
The ritual behind the taking of an oath was pretty much fixed over time and place, a ritual very much traditional and stable in the society in which it is held..
Structure of an Oath
What did this ritual comprise?
1) The invitation and offer.
2) The invocation of God or the gods or other supernatural beings as witnesses and guarantors of the oath.
When making an oath it must attract the attention of the guaranteeing God or gods.
An oath is a kind of prayer to a God or gods, or a supernatural being to witness a promise or an assertion, and to enforce it.
Historically the taking of an an oath was a divinely ordained act and might be considered to be an illocutionary supernaturally protected ritual. In medieval times its sanctity was was sanctioned, aided and assured by God.
3) A verb of swearing.
4) The body of the promise or oath
5) The conditional curse. Every oath carries a conditional and implicit self curse.
It is a promise guaranteed by an invocation to God (or gods) and the offering of a self-curse if it is not kept or fulfilled, in the event if the promise is broken or perjured in any way.
6) Oaths sometimes include and involve details of the sacrifice and sanctifying ritual such as swearing on a bible or holy relic
In Ancient Egypt and Greece an oath was often made binding by a sacrifice on the altar of the witnessing and guaranteeing god
Consequences of keeping or not keeping an oath
Oaths bring success prosperity and triumph, and an honorable reputation to the pious man if they are honoured.
If they are perjured they bring destruction, excommunication and suspension to the individual who failed to fulfill the conditions. This is the very essence of pure tragedy. [traditionally perjury was the bearing of false witness or making a false oath.]
Documenting oaths
Oaths bring success prosperity and triumph, and an honorable reputation to the pious man if they are honoured.
If they are perjured they bring destruction, excommunication and suspension to the individual who failed to fulfill the conditions. This is the very essence of pure tragedy. [traditionally perjury was the bearing of false witness or making a false oath.]
Documenting oaths
Types of oath:
Evidentiary oath = swearing that the testimony that one is about to give is “true”.
Promissory oath = commitment to do or not to do something.
References
Evidentiary oath = swearing that the testimony that one is about to give is “true”.
Promissory oath = commitment to do or not to do something.
References
Judith Fletcher (2011). Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-50035-7.
Alan H. Sommerstein; Judith Fletcher (2007). Horkos: The Oath in Greek Society. Bristol Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-904675-67-9.
Wilfred Lewis Warren (1973). Henry II. Henry II as Oathbreaker: University of California Press. pp. 217–. ISBN 978-0-520-02282-9.
Saints in Invocations and Oaths in Medieval Literature
Jan Ziolkowski
The Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Vol. 87, No. 2 (Apr., 1988), pp. 179-192
Vol. 87, No. 2 (Apr., 1988), pp. 179-192
Published by: University of Illinois Press
CHEYETTE, FREDRIC L. "C." In Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours, 187-98. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 2001. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv3s8ngk.19.
https://goo.gl/RpQk8v
Godefridus J. C. Snoek (1995). Medieval Piety from Relics to the Eucharist: A Process of Mutual Interaction. Oath Taking on the Relics and the Eucharist: BRILL. pp. 132–. ISBN 90-04-10263-9.
Gaines Post (2006). Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law and the State 1100-1322. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. pp. 415–. ISBN 978-1-58477-692-5.
POST, GAINES. "THE ROMAN LAW AND THE “INALIENABILITY CLAUSE” IN THE ENGLISH CORONATION OATH." In Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law and the State 1100-1322, 415-33. Princeton University Press, 1964. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183pr3p.13.
THE CORONATION IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND: The Evolution of the Office and the Oath
H. G. RICHARDSON
Traditio
Vol. 16 (1960), pp. 111-202
Published by: Cambridge University Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27830405
The English Coronation Oath
H. G. Richardson
Speculum
Vol. 24, No. 1 (Jan., 1949), pp. 44-75
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Medieval Academy of America
DOI: 10.2307/2853920
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2853920
Edward Stillingfleet (bp. of Worcester); Abednego Seller (1689). A discourse [by E. Stillingfleet] concerning the unreasonableness of a new separation, on account of the oaths, with an answer to the History of passive obedience [by A. Seller.].
Edward Stillingfleet (bp. of Worcester); Abednego Seller (1689). A discourse [by E. Stillingfleet] concerning the unreasonableness of a new separation, on account of the oaths, with an answer to the History of passive obedience [by A. Seller.].
