[103] Almost every charge brought against the Templars had been previously made against the Albigenses, with how much truth every one is aware.

[104] Our readers will call to mind the well-known anecdote of King Richard I. When admonished by the zealous Fulk, of Neuilly, to get rid of his three favourite daughters, pride, avarice, and voluptuousness,—"You counsel well," said the king, "and I hereby dispose of the first to the Templars, of the second to the Benedictines, and of the third to my prelates."

[105] Similar charges are said to have been brought against the Hospitallers in the year 1238, but without effect. There was no Philip the Fair at that time in France.

[106] Clement, in a bull dated but four days after that of the suppression, acknowledged that the whole of the evidence against the order amounted only to suspicion!

[107] We mean the illustrious Jos. von Hammer, whose essay on the subject is to be found in the sixth volume of the Mines de l'Orient, where it will be seen that he regards Sir W. Scott, in his Ivanhoe, as a competent witness against the Templars, on account of his correct and faithful pictures of the manners and opinions of the middle ages. We apprehend that people are beginning now to entertain somewhat different ideas on the subject of our great romancer's fidelity, of which the present pages present some instances.

[108] See Manuel des Templiers. As this book is only sold to members of the society, we have been unable to obtain a copy of it. Our account has been derived from Mills's History of Chivalry. That this writer should have believed it implicitly is, we apprehend, no proof of its truth.

[109] This has, we think, been fully proved by Sr. Rossetti. It must not be concealed that this writer strongly asserts that the Templars were a branch of this society.

[110] Dr. Berck has, in his elaborate work on this subject (Geschichte der Westphälischen Femgerichte, Bremen, 1815), collected, we believe, nearly all the information that is now attainable. This work has been our principal guide; for, though we have read some others, we cannot say that we have derived any important information from them. As the subject is in its historical form entirely new in English literature, we have, at the hazard of appearing occasionally dry, traced with some minuteness the construction and mode of procedure of these celebrated courts.

[111] The romantic accounts of the Secret Tribunals will be found in Sir W. Scott's translation of Goëthe's Götz von Berlichingen, and in his House of Aspen and Anne of Geierstein. From various passages in Sir W. Scott's biographical and other essays, it is plain that he believed such to be the true character of the Secret Tribunals.

[112] The Vends (Wenden) were a portion of the Slavonian race who dwelt along the south coast of the Baltic.

[113] Arnold of Lübeck, Chronica Slavorum, l. iii. c. 1., apud Leibnitz Scriptores Rerum Brunsvicarum, t. ii. p. 653.

[114] Berck, pp. 259, 260.

[115] See Berck, l. i. c. 5, 6, 7.

[116] Spelt also Fem, Fäm, Vem, Vehm. In German f and v are pronounced alike, as also are ä and e. The words from which Fahm has been derived are Fahne, a standard; Femen, to skin; Fehde, feud; Vemi (i. e. væ mihi), wo is me; Ve or Vaem, which Dreyer says signifies, in the northern languages, holy; Vitte (old German), prudence; Vette, punishment; the Fimmiha of the Salic law; Swedish Fem, Islandic Fimm, five, such being erroneously supposed to be the number of judges in a Fehm, or court. Finally, Mözer deduces it from Fahm, which he says is employed in Austria and some other countries for Rahm, cream.

[117] Common fame was a sufficient ground of arraignment in England, also, in the Anglo-Saxon period.

[118] In the northern languages, Ting; hence the Store Ting (in our journals usually written Storthing), i. e. Great Ting, or Parliament of Norway.

[119] Stuhlherr is tribunal-lord, or, literally, lord of the seat (of judgment); stuhl (Anglice, stool) being a seat, or chair.

[120] This word, which cannot be adequately translated, is the low-Latin Scabini, the French Echevins. We shall take the liberty of using it throughout. The schöppen were called frei-(free) schöppen, as the count was called frei-graf, the court frei-stuhl, on account of the jurisdiction of the tribunals being confined to freemen.

[121] Frohnbote is interpreted a Holy Messenger, or a Servant of God.

[122] When a person was admitted into the society he paid, besides the fee to the count already mentioned, to each schöppe who was assisting there, and to each frohnbote, four livres Tournois.

[123] The natives of Prussia were still heathens at that time.

[124] In German Verfehmt. We have ventured to coin the word in the text. The English for answers to the German ver; vergessen is forget; verloren is forlorn.

[125] In German, Dienstag, probably Dinstag, i.e. Court-day.

[126] Berck, p. 231, from Spittler's History of Hanover.

[127] Vimricht, i.e. Fehm-law, the German word, of which the author presently gives a childish etymology.

[128] Friederika Brun. Episoden aus Reisen durch das Südliche Deutschland, &c.

[129] Golberry, Voyage en Afrique, t. i. p. 114, and seq.

[130] The following is one of his predictions, delivered by him, under the name of Master Von Dolete, in the year 1457: "In the ensuing month, September, the sun will appear like a black dragon; cruel winds will blow, the sea will roar, and men will be knocked to pieces by the wind. The sun will then be turned to blood; that betokeneth war in the East and West. A mighty emperor will die; the earth will quake, and few men will remain alive. Wherefore secure your houses and chambers; lay up provisions for thirty days in caverns," &c., &c. The arts of knaves and the language of impostors are the same in all ages and countries.