A drunkard's cloak was a tub with holes for the arms to pass through, formerly used as a punishment for scolds and drunkards. Research Drunkard's Cloak
Femgerichte (Fehmgerichte or Vehmgerichte) were criminal courts of Germany in the middle ages, which took the place of the regular administration of justice (then fallen into decay), especially in criminal cases. These courts originated and had their chief jurisdiction in Westphalia, and their proceedings were conducted with the most profound secrecy. They seem to have been a survival of old territorial jurisdictions which, on the general distraction and lawlessness prevalent after the fall of Henry the Lion in 1182, acquired an extensive and tremendous authority. In process of time, however, they degenerated, and no longer confined themselves to law and precedent, so that the secrecy in which they enveloped themselves only served as a cloak to their criminal purposes.
The flagrant abuse of their power brought about their fall. In 1461 various princes and cities of Germany, as well as the Swiss confederates, united in a league against them, but their influence was not entirely destroyed until an amended form of trial and penal judicature was introduced. The last Femgericht was held at Zeil in 1568.
The president of the secret tribunal was called the Freigraf, and was generally a prince or count. His associates, who concurred in and executed the sentence, were called Freischoffen. These were scattered through all the provinces of Germany, and recognized one another by certain signs and watchwords. They acknowledged the emperor as their superior, and for this reason generally made him one of their number at his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle. The assemblies of the tribunal were open or secret. The former were held by day in the open air; the latter by night, in a forest or in concealed and subterranean places. In these different cases the circumstances of judgment and the process of trial were different. The crimes of which the secret tribunal usurped cognizance were heresy, sorcery, rape, theft, robbery, and murder.
The accusation was made by one of the Freischoffen, who, without further proof, declared upon oath that the accused had committed the crime. The accused was now thrice summoned to appear before the secret tribunal, and the citation was secretly affixed to the door of his dwelling or some neighbouring place; the accuser remained unknown. If, after the third summons, the accused did not appear, he was once more cited in a solemn session of the court, and if still contumacious, was given over to the Freischoffen. The first Freischoffe who met him was bound to execute the decree of the court. A dagger was left by the corpse to show that it was not a murder, but a punishment inflicted by one of the Freischoifen. How many judicial murders were perpetrated in this manner from revenge, interested motives, or malice, may well be imagined. Research Femgerichte
The Gowrie Conspiracy was one of the strangest episodes in Scottish history. It took place in August, 1600. King James VI. while hunting in Falkland Park, Fifeshire, was asked by Alexander Ruthven (brother of the Earl of Gowrie) to accompany him to Gowrie House, near Perth, on the pretext that they had caught a Jesuit with an urn of foreign golden pieces hid under his cloak. On arriving at Gowrie House an attempt was made on the life or liberty of the king, but an alarm being raised, both the Ruthvens were slain, and James VI escaped, though not without difficulty as the Gowries were very popular among the inhabitants of Perth. Research Gowrie Conspiracy
The Order of the Thistle is a Scottish order of knighthood. It was founded in 1687 by James II. The order consists of the sovereign and sixteen knights. The knights wear a collar of thistles, alternating with double sprigs of rue in saltire in their proper colours and pendant there from a golden star of eight rays, called the glory. Upon the star is the figure of St Andrew in a green and purple cloak, holding in front of him a white saltire. The ribbon is green. The motto of the order is Nemo me impune lacessit. Research Order of the Thistle
The Augustins were members of several monastic fraternities who follow rules framed by St Augustine, or deduced from his writings, of which the chief are the Canons Regular of St Augustine, or Austin Canons, and the Begging Hermits or Austin Friars. The Austin Canons were introduced into Britain about 1100, and had about 170 houses in England and about 25 in Scotland. They took the vows of chastity and poverty, and their habit was a long black cassock with a white rochet over it, having over that a black cloak and hood. The Austin Friars, originally hermits, were a much more austere body, went barefooted, and formed one of the four orders of mendicants. An order of nuns had also the name of Augustines. Their garments, at first black, were latterly violet. Research Augustins
The blue-gowns were an order of paupers in Scotland, called also the King's -Bedesmen, to whom the kings annually distributed certain alms on condition of their praying for the royal welfare. Their number was equal to the number of years the king had lived. The alms consisted of a blue gown or cloak, a purse containing as many shillings Scots (pennies sterling) as the years of the king's age, and a badge bearing the words 'Pass and reposs', which protected them from all laws against mendicity. Edie Ochiltree, in Sir Walther Scott's novel of the Antiquary, is a type of the class. The practice of appointing bedesmen was discontinued in 1833, and the last of them drew his last allowance from the exchequer in Edinburgh in 1863. Research Blue-Gowns
Carmelites are mendicant friars of the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. From probably the 4th century holy men took up their abode as hermits on Mount Carmel in Syria, but it was not until about the year 1150 that pilgrims established an association for the purpose of leading a secluded life on this mountain, and so laid the foundation of the order. Being driven by the Saracens to Europe in 1247 they adopted all the forms of monastic life and a somewhat milder rule. In time they became divided into several branches, one of them distinguished by walking barefooted. The habit of the order is of a dark-brown colour, and over it when out of doors they wear a white cloak, with a hood to cover the head. Research Carmelites
The Carthusians were a religious order instituted by Saint Bruno in 1084. He built several hermitages four leagues from Grenoble in south-east France, and, with six companions, united the ascetic with the monastic life. They practised the greatest abstinence, wore coarse garments, and ate only vegetables and the coarsest bread. From their original seat they were called Carthusians. Their fifth general, Guigo (died 1137), prescribed, besides the usual monastic vows, eternal silence and solitude. In the following centuries they received additional statutes, which forbade altogether the eating of flesh, and allowed them to speak only during certain hours on Thursdays and the days on which the chapter met. With increasing wealth some modifications were introduced in their silent and solitary life. Their habit is a hair-cloth shirt, a white tunic, a black cloak, and a cowl. The Carthusians were introduced into England about 1180, and built the Charterhouse (a name corrupted from Chartreuse) in 1371. Their chief house was long La Grande Chartreuse. Research Carthusians
The Celts were, according to some sources, ancient tribes of people which came to Britain from central Europe in the late Bronze age and again in the Iron Age. The name is also applied to the Ancient Britons, peoples living in Britain around the time of the bronze age until the invasion by the Romans. The Celts left no written accounts of their life, written accounts were made by the Romans, who in all probability were less than gracious.
Through archaeology we are able to understand a little of Celtic life, we know that they wove cloth, and yet corpses found are all dressed identically in a cloth made of brown felt, like a blanket, comprising a skirt and a cloak like top covering, in the case of women sometimes a crop top arrangement. These clothes found on dead Celts are often very tatty, full of holes, even though the deceased was obviously wealthy and of status, established from the artefacts found buried with the body.
We think that the Celts lived in round houses constructed of wattle and daub, and thatched with straw - these houses did not have a hole in the roof to emit the smoke from the interior fire, contrary to popular belief. If they had, the roof would fall outwards, and rain fall in and extinguish the fire. Rather, the smoke from the interior fire assisted in seasoning the wood and killing insects. They were farmers, growing wheat, barley and keeping sheep, pigs and goats. They were very eco-friendly, sustaining their environment for over a thousand years, and understanding herbalism which was used for medicine, and the production of coloured dyes.
At an early date the Celts divided into two great branches, speaking dialects widely differing from each other, but doubtless belonging to the same stock. One of these branches is the Gad-helic or Gaelic, represented by the Highlanders of Scotland, the Celtic Irish, and the Manx; the other is the Cymric, represented by the Welsh, the inhabitants of Cornwall, and those of Brittany. The Cornishdialect is now extinct.
The sun seems to have been the principal object of worship among the Celts, and groves of oak and the remarkable circles of stone commonly called 'Druidical Circles', their temples of worship. All the old Celts seem to have possessed a kind of literary order called Bards. The ancient Irish wrote in a rude alphabet called the Ogham; later they employed the Roman alphabet, or the Anglo-Saxon form of it. The chief literature existing consists of the hymns, martyrologies, annals, and laws of Ireland, written from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The Scottish Gaelic literature extant includes a collection of manuscripts in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, some of v/hich date from the 12th century; the Book of the Dean of Lismore, 16th century; a number of songs from the 17th century to the present day; and the so-called poems of Ossian. The Welsh literary remains date from the 9th century, and consist of glossaries, grammars, annals, genealogies, histories, poems, prose tales, etc. Research Celts
The Franciscans are the members of the religious order established by St Francis of Assisi about 1210. They are also called Minorites, or Fratres Minores ('lesser friars'), which was the name given them by their founder in token of humility, and sometimes Gray Friars, from the colour of their garment. The order was distinguished by vows of absolute poverty and a renunciation of the pleasures of the world, and was intended to serve the church by its care of the religious state of the people. The rule of the order destined them to beg and to preach. The popes granted them extensive privileges, and they had an evil repute as spies, frequenting the courts of princes and the houses of noblemen, gentry, etc. Early in the 15th century they split up into two branches, the Conventuals and the Observants or Sabotiers. The former went barefooted, wore a long gray cassock and cloak and hood of large dimensions, covering the breast and back, and a knotted girdle. The Observants wore wooden sandals, a cassock, a narrow hood, a short cloak with a wooden clasp, and a brown robe. In France the members of the order not belonging to any particular sect are called Cordeliers, from the cord which they tie about them. The Capuchins, so called from the peculiar kind of hood or cowl (capuce) which they wear, originated in a reform introduced among the Observantists by Matthew of Baschi in the early part of the 16th century, and although it received the approbation of different popes within a short time after its foundation, it did not receive the right of electing a particular general and become an independent order until 1619.
St Francis himself collected nuns in 1209. St Clara was their prioress; hence they were called the nuns of St Clara. The nuns were also divided into branches, according to the severity of their rules. The Urbanists were a branch founded by PopeUrban IV; they revered St Isabelle, daughter of Louis VIII of France, as their mother. St Francis also founded in 1221 a third order, of both sexes, for persons who did not wish to take the monastic vows, and yet desired to adopt a few of the easier observances. They are called Tertiarians or Tertiaries, and were very numerous in the 13th century. From them proceeded several heretical fraternities, as the Fraticelli and Beghards. The whole number of Franciscans and Capuchins in the 18th century amounted to 115,000 monks, in 7000 convents. At the dissolution of the monasteries in England there were sixty-five houses of the Franciscans. The order has given five popes and more than fifty cardinals to the church. Research Franciscan
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Drunkard's Cloak
