Editing Vehmic court (section)

==The spread of the Vehmic courts==
The system, though ancient, came into wider use only after the division of the [[duchy of Saxony]] after the fall of [[Henry the Lion]], when the archbishop of Cologne [[Engelbert II of Berg]], (also duke of Westphalia from 1180) placed himself at the head of the Fehme as representative of the emperor. The organization then spread rapidly. Every free man born in lawful wedlock and not excommunicated nor an outlaw was eligible for membership.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=237}}

Princes and nobles were initiated; and in 1429 even the [[Emperor Sigismund]] himself became "a true and proper {{lang|de|Freischöffe}} of the Holy Roman Empire."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=237}} There is a manuscript in the Town Hall of the Westphalian town of [[Soest, Germany|Soest]] which consists of an original Vehmic Court Regulation document, along with illustrations.

By the middle of the 14th century these {{lang|de|Freischöffen}} (Latin {{lang|la|scabini}}), sworn associates of the Fehme, were scattered in thousands throughout the length and breadth of Germany, known to each other by secret signs and pass-words, and all of them pledged to serve the summons of the secret courts and to execute their judgment.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=237}}