FOOTNOTES:
[1] The word Wehme, pronounced Vehme, is of uncertain derivation, but was always used to intimate this inquisitorial and secret Court. The members were termed Wissenden, or Initiated, answering to the modern phrase of Illuminati. Mr. Palgrave seems inclined to derive the word Vehme from Ehme, i.e. Law, and he is probably right.
[2] The term Strick-kind, or child of the cord, was applied to the person accused before these awful assemblies.
[3] The parts of Germany subjected to the operation of the Secret Tribunal were called, from the blood which it spilt, or from some other reason (Mr. Palgrave suggests the ground tincture of the ancient banner of the district), the Red Soil. Westphalia, as the limits of that country were understood in the Middle Ages, which are considerably different from the present boundaries, was the principal theatre of the Vehme.
[4] Baaren-hauter,—he of the Bear's hide,—a nickname for a German private soldier.
[5] See [Editor's Notes] at the end of the Volume. Wherever a similar reference occurs, the reader will understand that the same direction applies.
[6] The Lancastrian party threw the imputation of bastardy (which was totally unfounded) upon Edward IV.
[7] The chief order of knighthood in the state of Burgundy.
[8] [Note I].—The Troubadours.
[9] [Note II].—Parliament of Love.
[10] Bransle, in English, brawl—a species of dance.
[11] The Archbishop of Cologne was recognised as head of all the Free Tribunals (i.e. the Vehmique benches) in Westphalia, by a writ of privilege granted in 1335 by the Emperor Charles IV. Winceslaus confirmed this act by a privilege dated 1382, in which the Archbishop is termed Grand Master of the Vehme, or Grand Inquisitor. And this prelate and other priests were encouraged to exercise such office by Pope Boniface III., whose ecclesiastical discipline permitted them in such cases to assume the right of judging in matters of life and death.
[12] Cupidus novarum rerum.
[13] Guantes, used by the Spanish as the French say étrennes, or the English handsell or luckpenny—phrases used by inferiors to their patrons as the bringers of good news.
END OF VOL. II.
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