Vehmique

Schoppen is the name generally assigned to them, signifying officials, or sergeants of the Vehmique

Anne of Geierstein 2008

The meeting being assembled, a coil of ropes, and a naked sword, the well-known signals and emblems of Vehmique authority, were deposited on the altar; where the sword, from its being usually straight, with a cross handle, was considered as representing the blessed emblem of Christian

Anne of Geierstein 2008

For it must be observed, that the Vehmique Institution, [1] which was the name that it commonly bore, although its power consisted in a wide system of espionage, and the tyrannical application of force which acted upon it, was yet, (so rude were the ideas of enforcing public law,) accounted to confer a privilege on the country in which it was received, and only freemen were allowed to experience its influence.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 373, Supplementary Number Various

The meeting being assembled, a coil of ropes, and a naked sword, the well-known signals and emblems of Vehmique authority, were deposited on the altar; where the sword, from its being usually straight, with a cross handle, was considered as representing the blessed emblem of

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 373, Supplementary Number Various

24 The Archbishop of cologne was recognized as head of all the Free Tribunals (i.e. the Vehmique benches) in Westphalia, by a writ of privilege granted in 1333 by the

Anne of Geierstein 2008

Vehmique institutions, is as true as those which he has found himself unable to deny.”

Anne of Geierstein 2008

Prelates are often heads of a Vehmique bench, and the Archbishop of Cologne exercises the dreadful office of their chief as Duke of Westphalia, the principal region in which these societies flourish. 24 Such privileges attach to the secret influence of the chiefs of this dark association, as may well seem supernatural to those who are unapprised of circumstances, of which men shun to speak in plain terms.”

Anne of Geierstein 2008