In many situations in our daily lives, we are forced to use a lie or omit the truth for reasons of self-interest. Despite being part of our daily lives, we know that a lie can be crucial for our credibility to be threatened with a third party. Often, those who are not very credible end up resorting to various pleas to be taken seriously. Often, they attest to the value of their words "swearing their feet together."
For us, the origin of this word seems unknown to us. After all, what is the relationship between telling the truth and keeping your feet together? Was this some kind of old superstition? Or would this term refer to a position that can be understood as a sign of respect and truth? Neither this nor that! To know where this type of oath comes from, we must go back to medieval times, more specifically to the period of the Inquisition.
During the Low Middle Ages, we observed that the development of heresies constituted a serious threat to the hegemony of dogmas preached by the Catholic Church. After all, the emergence of other understandings of faith could pave the way for the foundation of new religions or other movements that would shake the image of the Church as holder of knowledge religious. It was from there that, in the 13th century, the Court of the Holy Office was created, founded to punish crimes against the Catholic faith.
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When accused of a religious crime, the investigated person passed through the prison and had their house searched. During this time of seclusion, the members of the Church made room for the investigated person to make a confession of their most serious sins. If this did not happen, the clerics used methods of torture that should force the poor Christian to admit his faults. That's where the expression “swearing with your feet together” came about.
Among the various tortures employed, suspects often had their hands and feet tied or terribly nailed to wooden posts. In many situations, the unconfessed was placed upside down, which only increased their discomfort. Therefore, not supporting the pain of that type of aggression, they ended up confessing to any type of religious crime. They literally ended up “swearing their feet together” to commit the offenses that brought them to that torment.
Over time, inquisitorial torture ended up becoming a popular expression in the Iberian Peninsula, coincidentally, one of the regions most affected by the Catholic Inquisition. In Portuguese lands, in addition to the use shown here, the Portuguese also use its antonym saying “deny with your feet together”. Among the Spanish neighbors, we already witness the variation “believing with our feet together”, which means to believe unconditionally in something.
By Rainer Sousa
Master in History
Brazil School Team
Curiosities - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "Swearing with feet together"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/jurar-pes-juntos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
