Anne of Geierstein

ical works, and especially the memoirs of the middle ages, amidst which I had been accustomed to pursue the composition of my fictit

but in the following details there is no doubt much that will instruct the antiquarian, as well as amuse the popular reader.The Court,” says Mr. Palgrave, “was held with known and notorious publicity beneath the ‘eye of light;’ and the sentences, though speedy and severe, were founded upon a regular system of established jurisprudence, not so strange, even to England, as it may at first sight appear.Westphalia, according to its ancient constitution, was divided into districts called ‘Freygraffschafften,’ each of which usually contained one, and sometimes many, Vehmic tribunals, whose boundaries were accurately defined. The right of the Stuhlherr,’ or Lord, was of a feudal nature, and culd be transferred by the ordinary modes of alienation; and if the Lord did not chose to act in his own person, he nominated a ‘Freigraff’ to execute the office in his stead. The court itself was composed of Frey-schoppfen,’ Scabini or Echevins, nominated by the Graff, and who were divided into two classes: the ordinary, and the ‘Wissenden’ or ‘Witan,’ who were admitted under a strict and singular bond of secrecy.The initiation of these, the participators in all the mysteries of the tribunal, could only take place upon the ‘red earth,” or within the limits of the ancient Duchy of Westphalia. Bareheaded and ungirt, the candidate is conducted before the dread tribunal, He is interrogated as to his qualifications, or rather as to the absence of any disqualification. He must be freeborn, a Teuton, and clear of any accusation cognizable by the tribunal of which he is to become a member. — If the answers are satisfactory, he then takes the oath, swearing by the Holy Law that he will conceal the secrets of the Holy Vehme from wife and child — from father and mother — from sister and brother — from fire and water from every creature upon which the sun shines, or upon which the rain, falls from every being between earth and heaven.“Another clause relates to his active duties. He further swears, that he will I say forth ‘ to the tribunal all crimes or offences which fall beneath the secret ban of the Emperor, which he knows to be true, or which he has heard from trustworthy report; and that he will not forbear to do so, for love nor for loathing, for gold nor for silver nor precious stones. — This oath being imposed upon him, the new Freischodff was then intrusted with the secrets of the Vehmic tribunal. He received the password by which he was to know his fellows, and the grip or sign by which they recognized each other in silence; and he was warned of the terrible punishment awaiting the perjured brother. — if he discloses the secrets of the Court he is to expect that he will be suddenly seized by the ministers of vengeance. Ths eyes are bound, he is cast down on the soil his tongue is torn out though the back of his neck — and he is then to be hanged seven times higher than any other criminal. And whether restrained by the fear of punishment or by the stronger ties of mystery, no instance was ever known of any violation of the secrets of the tribunal.“Thus connected by an invisible bond, the members of the ‘Holy Vehme’ became extremely numerous. In the fourteenth century, the league contained upwards of one hundred thousand members. Persons of every rank sought to be associated to this powerful community, and to participate in the immunities which the brethren possessed. Princes were eager to allow their ministers to become the members of this mysterious and holy alliance; and the cities of the Empire were equally anxious to enrol their magistrates in the Vehmic union.The supreme government of the Vehmic tribunals was vested in the great or General Chapter, composed of the Freegraves and all the other initiated members, high and low. Over this assembly the Emperor might preside in person, but more usually by his deputy, the Stadtholder of the ancient Duchy of Westphalia; an once which, after the fall of Henry the Lion, Duke of Brunswick, was annexed to the Archbishopric of Cologne.“Before the general Chapter all the members were liable to account for their acts. And it appears that the ‘Freegraves’ reported the proceedings which had taken place within their jurisdictions in the course of the year. Unworthy members were expelled, or sustained a severe punishment. Statutes, or ‘Reformations,’ as they were called, were here enacted for the regulation of the Courts, and the amendment of any abuses; and new and unforeseen cases, for which the existing laws did not provide a remedy, received their determination in the Vehmic Parliament.“As the Echevins were of two classes, uninitiated and initiated, so the Vehmic Courts had also a twofold character: she ‘Ofenbare Ding’ was an Open Court or Folkmoot but the ‘Heissliche Acht’ was the far-famed Secret Tribunal.The first was held three times in each year. According to the ancient Teutonic usage, it usually assembled on Tuesday, anciently called, ‘Dingstag,” or court-day, as well as ‘Dienstag,’ or serving-day, the first open or working-day, after the two great weekly festivals of Sun-day and Moon-day. Here all the householders of the district whether free or bond, attended as suitors. The ‘Offenbare Ding’ exercised a civil jurisdiction: and in this Folkmoot appeared any complainant or appellant who sought to obtain the aid of the Vehmic tribunal in those cases when it did not possess that summary jurisdiction from which it has obtained suck fearful celebrity. Here also the suitors ofthe district made presentments or ‘wroge,’ as they are termed, of any offences consmitted within their knowledge, and which were to be punished by the Graff and Echevins.The criminal jurisdiction of the Vebmie Tribunal took the widest range. The ‘Vehme’ could punish mere slander and contumely. Any violation of the Ten Commandments was to be restrained by the Echevins. Secret crimes, not to be proved by the ordinary testimony of witnesses, such as magic, witch-craft, and poison, were particularly to be restrained by the Vehmic Judges; and they sometimes designated their jurisdiction as comprehending every offence against the honor of man or the precepts of religion. Such a definition, if definition it can be called, evidently allowed them to bring every action of which an individual might complain within the scope of their tribunals. The forcible usurpation of land became an offence against the ‘ Vehme.’ And if the property of an humble individual was occupied by the proud Burghers of the Hanse, the power of the Defendants might aford a reasonable excuse for the interference of the Vehmic power.“The Eckevins, as Conservators of the Ban of the Empire, were bound to make constant circuits within their districts, by night and by day. If they could apprehend a thief, a murderer, or the perpetrator of any ether heinous crime, in possession of the ‘mainour,’ or in the very act — or if his own mouth confessed the deed, they hung him upon the next tree. But to render this execution legal the following requisites were necessary: — Fresh suit, or the apprehension and execution of the offender before daybreak or nightfall; the visible evidence of the crime; and lastly, that three Echevins, at least, should seize the offender, testify against him, and judge of the recent deed.“If without any certain accuser, and without the indication of crime, an individual was strongly and vehemently suspected; or when the nature of the offence was such as that its proof could only rest upon opinion and presumption, the offender then became subject to what the German jurists term the inquisitorial proceeding; it became the duty of the Echevin to denounce the ‘Leumund,’ or manifest evil fame, to the secret tribunal. if the Echevins and the Freygraff were satisfied with the presentment, either from their own knowledge, or from the information of their compeer, the offender was said to be ‘verfambt’ — his life was forfeited; and wherever he was found by the brethren of the tribunal, they executed him without the slightest delay or mercy. An offender who had escaped from the Echevins was liable to the same punishment; and such, also, was the doom of the party who, after having been summoned pursuant ta an appeal preferred in open court, made default in appearing. But one of the ‘Wissenden’ was in no respect liable to the summary process, or to the inquisitonal proceeding, unless he had revealed the secrets of the Court. He was presumed to be a true man; and if accused upon vehement suspicion, or ‘Leumund,’ the same presumption or evil repute which was fatal to the uninitiated, might be entirely rebutted by the compurgatory oath of the free Echevin. If a party, accused by