t it was, and every hypothesis on this subject must be
looked upon as uncertain or erroneous. By one of the fundamental statutes
of the Terre Rouge, a member convicted of betraying the secrets of the
order was condemned to the most cruel punishment; but we have every reason
for asserting that this sentence was never carried out, or even issued
against a free judge.

[Illustration: Fig. 322.--The Landgrave of Thuringia and his
Wife.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Collection of the Minnesinger,
Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century.]

In one case alone during the fourteenth century, was an accusation of
this sort made, and that proved to be groundless.

It would have been considered the height of treason to have given a
relation, or a friend, the slightest hint that he was being pursued, or
that he had been condemned by the Holy Vehme, in order that he might seek
refuge by flight. And in consequence of this, there was a general mistrust
of any one belonging to the tribunal, so much so that "a brother," says a
German writer, "often feared his brother, and hospitality was no longer
possible."

The functions of free judges consisted in going about the country seeking
out crimes, denouncing them, and inflicting immediate punishment on any
evil-doer caught in the act (Figs. 323 and 324). The free judges might
assemble provided there were at least seven in number to constitute a
tribunal; but we hear of as many as three hundred assisting at a meeting.

[Illustration: Figs. 323 and 324.--Free Judges.--Fac-simile of two
Woodcuts in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: in folio, 1552.]

It has been erroneously stated that the sittings of the Vehmic tribunals
were held at night in the depths of forests, or in subterranean places;
but it appears that all criminal business was first heard in public, and
could only be subjected to a secret judgment when the accused had failed
either publicly to justify himself or to appear in person.

When three free judges caught a malefactor in the very act, they could
seize him, judge him, and inflict the penalty on the spot. In other cases,
when a tribunal considered that it should pursue an individual, it
summoned him to appear before it. The summons had to be written, without
erasures, on a large sheet of vellum, and to bear at least seven
seals--that of the free count, and those of six free judges; and these
seals generally represented either a man in full armour holding a sword,