| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"wbarwell" |
| Date: |
29 May 2006 01:50:53 AM |
| Object: |
The Holy Vehm |
In the middle of the thirteenth century, when outlaw bands and mercenaries
roamed the lawless territory between the Rhine and the Weser rivers in
Westphalia, Germany, the Chivalrous Order of the Holy Vehm (or Fehm), a
secret vigilante society, was formed by free men and commoners to protect
themselves from the marauders. In the beginning, the resistance group had
the approval of both the church and the Holy Roman emperor, but as time
passed the Holy Vehm became a law unto itself, passing judgment on all
those whom they decided should receive a death sentence.
Because the society began with only a handful of members and violent
retaliation could be expected from any gang of outlaws who might learn the
identities of those commoners who dared to oppose them, an oath of secrecy
was imposed upon all those with the courage to join the ranks of the Vehm.
During the initiation ceremonies, candidates vowed to kill themselves and
even their spouses and children, rather than permit any society secrets to
be betrayed. Once the oath had been made, one of the Vehm's Stuhlherren or
judges, would move his sword across the initiates' throats, drawing a few
drops of blood to serve as a silent reminder of the fate that awaited all
traitors to the society. After this ritual had been observed, the initiates
kissed the cross that was formed by the space between the sword's blade and
hilt. Below the Stuhlherren in rank were the deputy judges, the
Freischoffen, and the executioners, the Frohnboten. The deputy judges and
the executioners carried out the various tasks of inquisitors, jury, and
hangman.
The name "Vehm" or "Fehm" was a corruption of the Latin word "fama," a law
founded upon a common or agreed upon opinion. However, "Fehm" could also
mean something that was set apart, and the leaders of the Holy Vehm soon
decided that their crusade against evildoers had set them apart and above
the laws that governed others. Within a few decades of its formation, the
Vehm had more than 200,000 free men and commoners in its ranks?each man
sworn to uphold the Ten Commandments and to eliminate all heresies,
heretics, perjurers, traitors, and servants of Satan. Once anyone was
suspected of violating one or more of the Lord's commandments or laws, he
or she was brought before one of the Holy Vehm's courts and was unlikely to
escape the death sentence to be hanged.
Because of the great power that the Vehm acquired, it conducted trials of
noted outlaws and thieves unopposed in public places, such as village
squares or market places, in the full light of midday. As its numbers and
influence grew, the Vehm had little reason to fear anyone speaking out
against them, but the harsh and punitive secret courts conducted by the
society, the Heimliches Gericht, were always held at midnight in order to
create an even more sinister and frightening effect to their reading of the
death sentence. Even less merciful to those suspected of witchcraft or
heresy were the "forbidden court," Verbotene Acht, and the Heimliches Acht,
the "secret tribunal," both of which were conducted by the Black Vehm, a
splinter group of the Holy Vehm.
Once the outlaws, thieves, and other assorted brigands had been largely
driven from Westphalia, the Vehm turned its attention to those men and
women suspected of heresies or of betraying the commandments of God in a
variety of sins. Before suspects came to court, they were served with three
summonses, each of which gave them the opportunity of attending
voluntarily. Each summons also gave the accused a period of consent of six
weeks and three days. Because the tribunals of the Vehm had gained a
reputation of pronouncing only death sentences, few people attended the
courts of their own volition. Those who tried to escape were condemned
without the usual pretense of a trial and Vehm executioners were assigned
to hunt them down.
Because the tribunals of the Vehm were willing to accept the weakest of
circumstantial evidence against any individual accused of a crime or an act
of heresy, there appears to be no record of any of the secret courts ever
finding anyone innocent. While no accurate records of their victims were
ever kept, historians have estimated that thousands of men and women?the
innocent along with the guilty?were dragged into the night to attend one of
the Vehm's secret courts.
An entire population of sleeping villagers might be awakened by the thudding
of swords' hilts on their doors and be summoned by torchlight to attend a
midnight tribunal that accused one of their neighbors of some act of heres
?real or imagined. Regardless of the charges levied against those victims
the Vehm accused, the sentence was always death. And if any spoke in
defense of their friends, they were likely to be hanged as well, for giving
false witness to defend a heretic or a traitor. On those rare occasions
when the tribunal failed to convince even its own members of an accused
individual's guilt, that unfortunate person was hanged to preserve the
secrecy of the tribunal.
Eventually the Holy Vehm was condemned by the church and the German state,
but the secret society remained active in a greatly diminished capacity.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, it went under-ground and
seemingly ceased all acts of violence. In the 1930s, with the rise of the
Nazis to power in Germany, for the first time in its 700-year history the
Vehm came into the open, focusing its bigotry upon the Jewish people,
judging them to be guilty of heresy. The Chivalrous Order of the Holy Vehm
appears to have been destroyed along with their Nazi allies with the fall
of the Third Reich in 1945.
DELVING DEEPER
Angebert, Jean-Michel. The Occult and the Third Reich. New York: Macmillan,
1974.
Daraul, Arkon. A History of Secret Societies. New York: Pocket Books, 1969.
Heckethorn, Charles William. Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries.
Kila, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 1997.
--
"Its the hit dog what yelps."
- Mark Twain
Cheerful Charlie
.
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| User: "Ordog" |
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| Title: Re: The Holy Vehm |
29 May 2006 02:31:15 AM |
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wbarwell wrote:
In the middle of the thirteenth century, when outlaw bands and mercenaries
roamed the lawless territory between the Rhine and the Weser rivers in
Westphalia, Germany, the Chivalrous Order of the Holy Vehm (or Fehm), a
secret vigilante society, was formed by free men and commoners to protect
themselves from the marauder
etc....
<snip>
That was really nice. But is this assay relevant to atheism?
=D6rd=F6g
Beware of the man whose God is in the skies." Bernard Shaw
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| User: "wbarwell" |
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| Title: Re: The Holy Vehm |
29 May 2006 06:48:46 AM |
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Ordog wrote:
wbarwell wrote:
In the middle of the thirteenth century, when outlaw bands and
mercenaries roamed the lawless territory between the Rhine and the Weser
rivers in Westphalia, Germany, the Chivalrous Order of the Holy Vehm (or
Fehm), a secret vigilante society, was formed by free men and commoners
to protect themselves from the marauder
etc....
<snip>
That was really nice. But is this assay relevant to atheism?
Ördög
Beware of the man whose God is in the skies." Bernard Shaw
I just noted that this Vehm started as a vigilante group against
bandits and ended up being a witchhunt against heretics for
some time.
I found that interesting. Imagine if it had spread, it would have been
like living in Iraq today, never knowing when some religious fanatic has
essentially sentenced you to death.
Simply another one of those historical religious horrors nobody much
remembers.
It is interesting to see it went underground in a moribund state
and revived with the Nazis and was crushed with the Nazis.
--
"Its the hit dog what yelps."
- Mark Twain
Cheerful Charlie
.
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