Empathy in history. Understanding a past institution (ordeal) in children and young adults when description and rationale are provided.

A total of 150 students, from 8-9 to 25 years, were interviewed about ordeal1 in the Middle Ages, after reading a shorter and simplified version of a text used in previous research on this topic (e.g., Lee & Ashby, 2001). Unlike previous studies, at all ages nearly all students understood that ordeal involved the intervention of God, and was related to religious beliefs different from the present. With age, there was an increase in the number of students also referring to the backwardness of the Middle Ages, or stating that at least some Medieval peoples did not expect ordeal to be decisive about the guilt or innocence of an accused, using it instead to find a culprit in any case, or as a punishment or deterrent.