Zechin, a Venetian gold coin, worth from 9s. to 10s.
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.