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Historical Secret Societies of the Middle Ages: Assassins, Templars, and Westphalian Tribunals by Thomas Keightley $18.95 / Red Wheel/Weiser / 2005 While the recent triumph of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code has drawn new attention to the Knights Templar. Thomas Keightley's 1837 Secret Societies of the Middle Ages seems like a surprisingly contemporary work. This Victorian tome is well-researched, extensively detailed, and surprisingly fair-minded as a seminal work in the study of secret societies. His study of the Assassins begins with a brief history of Islam. Although Keightley considered the prophet Mohammed to be a charlatan, he also reminds the reader that Islam was responsible for a great deal of good and, in many ways, its practitioners were less given to superstition than the Christians of the time. His treatment of the Old Man of the Mountain and his devoted followers is similarly balanced. Keightley does not shrink from describing the murders committed by the Assassins, but neither does he hide his admiration for the devotion and loyalty of the brotherhood. Indeed , Keightley is more critical of medieval Christianity than medieval Islam, and his scorn for the strains of Christian thought which fueled the Crusades is evident throughout his chapter on the Templars. He claims that the Eastern Orthodox version of Christianity was too pacifistic (an interesting claim, and one which is belied by the history of the Byzantine Empire) while the Roman Catholic version was a militant remix of Gothic and Vandal Paganism. But still he manages to show respect for the honor and bravery of the Templars. Keightley admits that they had become arrogant and decadent during the last days of the order's existence in the 14th century but, nevertheless, presents compelling evidence that their trial and subsequent dissolution was an unjust fraud. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book, however, is the briefest. Keightley's study of the Fehm, or the Secret Tribunals of Westphalia, sheds light on a little- known group which helped to preserve order during a period of chaos and lawlessness in Germany in the 14th and 15th centuries. This group of bourgeois citizens and nobles acted as judge, jury, and executioner throughout Westphalia (an area in modern-day Germany that is bordered by the Rhine and Weser Rivers). Their identities were unknown to those outside the Fehm, and their secret rites remain a mystery to this day. But this anonymity made them feared by criminal and noble alike: no one could tell when or where their vengeance would fall, or who would be the instrument of that vengeance. Keightley traces their career from its heyday to their decadence and decline. This is a facsimile edition, and the publisher did not re-edit the text but rather printed verbatim pages from an old book. (Unfortunately, at times the text is blurry and a few words are obscured altogether by ink blots or typographical errors.) The publishers have also retained some of Keightley's archaic spellings, such as "Soonees" and "Soofees" instead of "Sunni" or "Sufis." Still, this 1837 book is a worthy addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of secret societies. —Kevin Filan

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