A treaty between Prussia and Austria, signed in 1742, after Frederick’s victory at Chotusitz. Austria ceded Silesia to Prussia.
A treaty, signed in 1360, four years after the battle of Poitiers, between Edward III and the Dauphin Charles. By it France surrendered to England, Gascony, Guienne, and Poitou, Saintonge, Périgord, Limoges and other counties in the south, Montreuil, Ponthieu and Calais in the north, freed from all feudal claims. England surrendered her claim to the French crown, and to all sovereignty in Normandy, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, Brittany and Flanders, and agreed to release King John on payment of a ransom of three million gold pieces.
A revolutionary club formed in Paris in the early days of the Revolution. Its founders were certain Breton deputies, and among its members were many who were afterwards prominent Jacobins, amongst others Robespierre.
The code of laws under which the Celtic inhabitants of Scotland were governed, up to the thirteenth century. This code was abolished by an edict of Edward I, when he conquered Scotland in 1305.
Under the Saxon Heptarchy, the sovereign of one of the seven kingdoms was often acknowledged as the leader of the Federation, under the title of Bretwalda.
James van Arteveldt, the leader of the Burgher party in Flanders in 1338, was so called.
A conspiracy against William I, entered into at the bridal feast of Ralph of Gwader, Earl of Norfolk, and Emma, sister of the Earl of Hereford. The two earls, with Waltheof, Earl of Nottingham, designed to depose William and divide the kingdom between them. Waltheof seems to have repented, and confessed the plot to Lanfranc. The conspiracy was at once suppressed, Waltheof executed, and Hereford imprisoned for life, while Ralph escaped to Brittany.
Venice was so called, in allusion to the annual ceremony of the Marriage of the Adriatic.
In Anglo-Saxon times, a tax levied on freemen for the repair of bridges.
A treaty between England and Scotland signed in 1290, by which a marriage was arranged between the Maid of Norway, heiress to the Scottish throne, and the son of Edward I. It was agreed that the two kingdoms, though under one crown, should remain separate, each under its own laws. England was not to call on Scotland for military aid, and no appeal was to lie from the Scotch to the English courts. The death of the Maid of Norway, however, rendered the stipulations of this treaty null and void.
The clauses in the Irish Land Act of 1870, dealing with the sale of land to tenants are so called, John Bright having for many years advocated State aid in the creation of a peasant proprietary in Ireland.
Charles XII of Sweden is so called.
The followers of Brissot, one of the leaders of the Gironde, during the French Revolution. The name fell into disuse, as the party became merged in the Girondins.
A riot in Bristol in 1831, consequent upon the rejection of the Reform Bill by the House of Lords. The Recorder of Bristol, Sir Charles Wetherell, was mobbed on his entrance into the city, and the rioters seized the town hall. The weakness of the authorities left the disorder unchecked for two days, but at the last the military were called out and the disturbance suppressed.
An association formed in 1896 to carry on the work of the Imperial Federation League, in educating the nation to an understanding of the needs of the Empire. The Duke of Devonshire was the first president.
Pelham’s Ministry as reconstructed in 1744 was so called, because it contained members representing every shade of Whig opinion, and even a certain admixture of Toryism.
A treaty between Sweden and Denmark, signed in 1645, by which Denmark surrendered Jämtland, Hejealand and Halland, and granted to Swedish vessels exemption from the payment of Sound Dues.
The nickname of the American nation.
The name given to the battle of Fontenay, June 25, 841, at which Charles the Bald and Louis the German, sons of Louis le Debonaire, totally defeated their brother Lothair.
A dissenting sect, who seceded from the Church in 1582. They objected to general church government, and claimed for each congregation the right to regulate its own worship. They may be considered the forerunners of the Independents.
SeePerpetual League.
A conference of the Powers held in Brussels in 1874, at the suggestion of the Russian Government, to consider the usages of war. Great Britain entered the conference with many reservations, declining to send a plenipotentiary, and no changes of any importance were agreed to.
A conference of the Powers held at Brussels in 1876, at which an International Association was formed for the purpose of exploring and civilizing Central Africa. This association was the germ of the Congo Free State.
A convention signed by the sugar-producing countries in 1902, by which the contracting parties undertook that in the event of any sugar-producing country declining to abolish bounties, they would prohibit the importation of sugar from such country, or impose countervailing duties.
An agreement, signed in 1517 by certain Catholic noblemen of the Netherlands, to unite for the purpose of expelling the Spanish garrison, while at the same time maintaining the Catholic religion, and the sovereignty of the king.
An association of sea-rovers formed about 1525, to harry the Spanish possessions in South America, and prey upon their commerce. They were of various nationalities, but chiefly English and French, and their most famous leaders were Montbars, known as the Exterminator, and Henry Morgan, afterwards Sir Henry, and Deputy-Governor of Jamaica. Under the latter leader they crossed the Isthmus and sacked the city of Panama in 1671, and for years they paralyzed the Spanish trade, both in the Caribbean Sea and in the Pacific. They ceased toexist as an association early in the eighteenth century, but some of them continued a career of indiscriminate piracy for many years longer. They were called by the French Flibustiers.
A treaty, signed by Russia and Turkey in 1812, after the war which began in 1806, and ended in the defeat of the Turks by Kutusoff in the later year. Turkey by this treaty surrendered all her territory north of the Pruth.
The popular name of the State of Ohio, U.S.A., from the number of buckeye-trees found within its borders.
A treaty between Poland and Turkey, signed in 1670, by which Poland surrendered the Ukraine, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of 20,000 ducats.
A rising of the Mohammedan inhabitants of Bulgaria, assisted by the Bashi-Bazouks, or Turkish Irregulars, against the Christians in 1876. Thousands of Christians were massacred, and horrible cruelties perpetrated, though it is held by some authorities that the stories told were grossly exaggerated. Turkey refused redress, and Russia consequently declared war in the following year.
SeeAdrian, Ausculta Fili, Clericis Laicos, Cum ex Apostolatus, Decet Romanum, Demarcation, Deposition, Dominus ac Redemptor, Exsurge Domine. Golden, Greater, In Coena Domini, In Eminenti, Ineffabilis Deus, Inter Gravissimas, Lesser, Regimen Militantis, Unam Sanctam, Unigenitus, Vox in Excelso.
The assembly of representatives of the twenty-two states forming the North German Confederation.
A peasant revolt in Germany in 1502.
The tenure by which burgesses of towns held their lands. It was similar to socage.
A confederation of the cities of the Rhine, formed for commercial purposes, circ. 1255.
A council of six members, established at the Cape in 1796, after the capture of that Colony by the English. Its duties were to advise the Governor in matters of internal administration. It was abolished in 1828.
A code of laws regulating the employment of Indian labour in the Spanish-American Colonies, promulgated at Burgos in 1572.
SeeArmagnacs.
SeeJedburgh Justice.
A feud between the Crichtons of Frendraught and the Gordons of Huntly having been temporarily adjusted, the Gordons escorted the Crichtons home. The Gordon party, includingLord Aboyne, Huntly’s heir, were entertained for the night by the Crichtons, and during the night the tower in which they were sleeping was burnt to the ground. The fire was believed to be incendiary, but the crime was not brought home to the Crichtons.
The name given to the march of Edward III into Scotland in 1355. He burnt every building, and laid waste the country for a distance of twenty miles from the coast.
A plot initiated by Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett in 1805, to free Mexico from Spanish rule, and unite it into an independent empire with some of the Western American States. Burr was arrested and tried for treason in Kentucky, and again in Virginia in 1807, but was on both occasions acquitted.
A club of German students who had fought in the Napoleonic wars, founded at Jena in 1815. It was suspected of revolutionary tendencies, and was dissolved by the Prussian Government in 1819.
The Duke of Cumberland was so called by the Scots, on account of his cruelties after the battle of Culloden in 1746.
A conspiracy in 1603, under the leadership of George Brooke and Markham, to unite the Roman Catholics and Puritans in an attempt to secure toleration for the extremists of both classes. Their idea was to seize James I, and hold him to ransom. At the same period a plot to overthrow Cecil was entered into by Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Cobham, the Duke of Northumberland and others, known as the Main Plot. These plots were betrayed to Cecil by the Jesuits, one of whom named Watson had been concerned in them, and the ringleaders were arrested. Watson and another were executed, Raleigh imprisoned, and the others pardoned.
Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State who had no land of their own, and lived by working on the farms of others, or sometimes as small tenant farmers.
A revolutionary song, highly popular in Paris, composed in 1789 for the Fête de la Fédération.
The sacred shrine of Mecca, the holy place of the whole Moslem world. A Mohammedan who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca is known as a Hadji.
The Ministry which succeeded to power when Charles II dismissed Clarendon in 1667. Its members were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley (afterwards Lord Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale, the initials of these names forming the word “Cabal.”
A low intrigue in the American Congress in 1777, directed against Washington. Those concerned in it were mostly representatives of the Northern States, and its object was the advancement of Lee. It is also known as Conway’s cabal, from the name of its leader.
The rebels who overran the Amazon Valley and other parts of Brazil, in 1833 to 1836, after the abdication of Pedro I. The name means cottagers.
A department of the French Post Office, established in the reign of Louis XIV, for the surveillance of the correspondence of suspected persons. Napoleon III availed himself of its services freely, and it was only abolished in 1886.
The guild of butchers in Paris, so called from Caboche, one of their leaders. They were bitter opponents of the Armagnacs, and were guilty of terrible atrocities on the persons of their political foes. The corporation was dissolved in 1416.
A political party in Guatemala in 1820, who favoured complete separation from Spain, and the establishment of a republic. The word means pickpockets.
A treaty between the leading German Princes, signed in 1534, by which Ferdinand of Austria acknowledged Ulrich, Duke of Würtemberg, with the proviso that Würtemberg was to be considered anarrière-fiefof the Empire, dependent on Austria. The League of Schmalkald acknowledged Ferdinand as King of the Romans, but stipulated that in future that dignity should only be conferred by the unanimous vote of the electors.
A treaty between William Rufus and Robert of Normandy, signed in 1091, by which Robert renounced all claim to England, and recognized William’s feudal rights over certain Norman Seigneuries, among others those of Cherbourg, Fécamp, and Mont St. Michel.
The instructions given to the Deputies of the States-General, as to the grievances to be laid before the King in 1789. The principal demands were: equality in punishments; suppression of the sale of public offices; suppression of seignorial judicial powers, of the Gabelle, the corvée and the militia ballot; religious toleration, and amelioration of the condition of the parish clergy.
A species of bank, established at Poissy, near Paris, under municipal control, to secure the proper provisioning of the Paris market. It proceeded by way of loan to the butchers, charging interest on the advances and a percentage on all meat purchased, and as none could enter the markets without a certificate of the payment of this fee, it had absolute control of the trade. Itwas abolished in 1791, re-established in 1810, under the control of the Prefect of the Seine, and finally abolished in 1858.
A Spanish order of religious chivalry, established by Papal Bull in 1164. The rules of the order were similar to those of the Benedictines, the knights being bound, among other vows, to perpetual celibacy. The object of the order was the expulsion of the Mussulman power from Spain.
An Act passed in 1751 substituting the Gregorian for the Julian Calendar. With the exception of Sweden and Russia, England was the last country to adopt the new style.
The more moderate of the two sections into which the Hussite sect was divided after the death of Jerome of Prague. The more fanatical section was that of John Zisca, known as the Taborites.
The profession of the Calvinistic doctrine, issued by Calvin, 1535.
The name given to the favourites and admirers of Ferdinand VII of Spain, after his restoration in 1814. They were in reality the rulers of Spain, distributing justice and office throughout the kingdom to the highest bidder.
An alliance between Louis XII and the Emperor Maximilian, formed in 1508, for the partition of the Venetian provinces between the contracting parties. The Venetian armies were forced to retreat before the allies, but the partition was never carried into effect, and the league was dissolved by the Treaty of Noyon in 1516.
A treaty between Charles V and Francis I, signed in 1529, confirming the main provisions of the Treaty of Madrid (1526), which had been found unacceptable by the French notables. This treaty is generally known as the Paix des Dames.
A nickname of Mohammed.
An extreme section of the Covenanters who followed Richard Cameron in 1679. They were afterwards (1689) formed into a regiment, and served against the Jacobites in the Highlands in that year. The regiment later became the Twenty-sixth Regiment of the Line, and is now known as the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
The Protestants of the Cevennes, who rose in rebellion in 1702. The revolt was suppressed in 1704.
A secret society in Naples, which for many years terrorized the kingdom. An attempt was made by Francis II of Naples to suppress the society, and many of its members were deported, but the remainder joined the Garibaldians and were largely instrumental inthe expulsion of the Bourbons in 1867.
A treaty between France and Austria, following Napoleon’s successful campaign in Northern Italy, signed in 1797. France secured possession of the Belgian provinces, the left bank of the Rhine, and the Ionian Islands, and recognized the Cisalpine Republic, formed out of the territories conquered from Austria, Venice and the Pope. Austria resigned the city of Venice, and her eastern provinces, Dalmatia, Friuli and Istria.
An Act passed in 1774, giving a constitution to Canada.
An Act was passed in 1867, for the purpose of confederating the two provinces of Canada with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and providing a federal constitution. Provision was also made for the admission into the Dominion of such other of the North American Colonies as might desire to come in. Under this clause Manitoba joined the confederation in 1870, British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island in 1871, and Prince Edward’s Island in 1873. The Hudson’s Bay Territory having been acquired in 1869, the whole of the British possessions in North America are now included in the Dominion, with the exception of Newfoundland.
A long-standing dispute between Canada and the United States, dating from the treaty of peace of 1783, when American fishermen were given fishing rights on the coast of Canada. The Americans claimed that this right was inalienable, England that it was forfeited during the second war. In 1818 amodus vivendiwas arrived at by which the Americans were allowed to fish outside the three mile limit, but friction still continued till 1871, when a treaty was signed at Washington giving the two countries reciprocal rights. Canada maintained that the right to fish off the American coast was of little value to her, and in 1877 a commission was appointed, which met at Halifax, to assess the damage she had sustained. The award of the commission was that Canada and Newfoundland should receive five and a half million dollars as compensation.
The new canons, issued by Convocation in 1604, contained regulations for the conduct of public worship. They excommunicated all who attacked the Prayer Book, the Thirty-nine Articles, or the Supremacy of the Crown, as also those who seceded from the Church. They were, however, held by the Courts at Westminster to be binding only on the clergy.
A series of seventeen canons, supplementary to the canons of 1604, issued by Convocation, and confirmed by the King, under the Great Seal. Parliament subsequently passed a measure giving them full canonical validity, but not the force of an Act of Parliament.
The castle of Matilda of Tuscany, where Gregory VII was staying when the Emperor Henry IV made a pilgrimage to Italy, in 1077, to make his submission to the Pope, who had excommunicated him. He was treated in the most humiliating fashion by Gregory, who left him for three days in the snow in the courtyard of the Castle before consenting to receive him. It is to this incident that Bismarck referred in the famous phrase, “Nach Canossa gehen wir nicht” (We are not going to Canossa), uttered in the Reichstag in 1872, during the Kulturkampf.
A bill introduced into the Prussian Landstag in 1880, making great concessions to the Catholic clergy, but maintaining the supremacy of the State over the Church.
The edicts of the early French Kings were so called.
Arrangements by which foreigners are subject to the jurisdiction of their own consuls, and not to the tribunals of the country in which they are residing. These are generally in force in Mohammedan and other non-Christian states, where Western ideas of justice are non-existent.
Napoleon was so called by his adherents in France, during his exile in Elba in 1814-15.
A treaty between the five Catholic Cantons of Switzerland, and Zurich and Berne, following the defeat of the two latter States at Cappel, and the death of Zwingli, in 1531. Zurich and Berne consented to tolerate Catholicism in their dominions.
A Sicilian secret society, utilized by the Bourbons of Naples against Murat. The name was afterwards adopted by the ultra-royalist secret societies in France, which conspired against Louis XVIII in 1822.
A statute of 1307, enacting that no Papal instruments should be permitted in England.
The supporters of Don Carlos and his branch of the Bourbon family, as claimants to the Spanish throne. Don Carlos was the younger brother of Ferdinand VII, and under the constitution of 1812 should have inherited the throne, as the female succession was excluded. In 1832, however, Ferdinand, who had already, by a decree which he subsequently withdrew, readmitted the principle of female succession, finally settled the crown on his daughter Isabella, who succeeded in the same year, with her mother, Christina, as regent. Don Carlos was exiled, but various risings have since taken place in support of his claims, chiefly in the Biscayan provinces, including the first Carlist War, which lasted till 1840.
A treaty signed in 1699, by which Turkey finally surrendered the various provinces of the Ottoman Empire conquered by the Allies during the wars of the preceding forty years. Austria retained Transylvania, Sclavonia and Hungary; Poland took Podolia and part of the Ukraine; Russia, her conquests on the Black Sea, and Venice, the Morea.
A congress of Austria, Prussia, and other German States, held in 1819, to consider measures for dealing with the growth of democratic movement in Germany. It issued the Carlsbad Decrees.
A series of proposals submitted to the German Diet by the Congress of Carlsbad, and accepted by the Diet. They included the establishment of a strict censorship of the press, and the suppression of the Burschenschaft.
The favourite song of the Paris mob, during the Reign of Terror (1792-3.)
A religious order, originally formed by associating the hermits living on the slopes of Mount Carmel about 1156. They were recognized as a monastic order by Honorius III, in 1224. They were driven out of Palestine by the Saracens in 1238, and were made a mendicant order by Innocent IV. in 1247.
The original landowners of Carolina, to whom the Colony was granted by Charles II in 1643. They were eight in number, among whom were Clarendon, Monk and Lord Craven. Their authority was practically absolute, Charles exacting a bare allegiance to the English crown.
In 1885 Germany endeavoured to establish a protectorate over the Caroline Islands, which Spain claimed to have been under her dominion since the seventeenth century. Germany disputed this claim and occupied Yap. Matters became very serious, and the two countries were on the verge of war. It was, however, finally agreed to submit the question to the Pope, who gave his award in favour of Spain, as to the sovereignty, but allowed to Germany free trading and colonizing rights.
A codification of the criminal laws of Germany, issued by the Diet of Ratisbon, in the name of Charles V, in 1532.
Northerners who came into the Southern States after the Civil War, many of them with the object of getting returned for Congress by the aid of the negro vote. The name was intended to convey the idea that they had no stake or interest in the country, beyond the baggage they carried with them.
A system prevailing in Germany and Austria, by which a ring of sugar manufacturers, aided by heavy import duties,combine to obtain very high prices for all sugar consumed at home. They utilize the large profits thus secured to ship the surplus sugar below cost price, thus securing for themselves all unprotected markets.
A party in the German Reichstag, formed in 1888, by a coalition of the Conservatives and the old National Liberals, and pledged to support Bismarck.
Lübeck was so called when the head of the Hanseatic League.
A monastic order, with very severe rules, founded by St. Bruno, during the papacy of Urban II in 1086. The order was recognized by Alexander III in 1176. Their most famous convent is that of La Grande Chartreuse, near Grenoble. The Charterhouse, in London, was formerly one of their monasteries.
A tax imposed by the early English Kings on every carucate or hundred acres of land. It was first levied by Richard I in 1198, when the tax amounted to five shillings on the carucate.
All cases in which the sovereign and his interests were concerned were so called in France. By the “Etablissements” of Louis IX, all such cases were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of feudal courts, and could be decided only by the Royal Bailiffs, or by the Parlement.
SeeBread and Cheese War.
A series of letters and sonnets, purporting to be written by Mary Queen of Scots to Bothwell, and left behind by him when he fled from Edinburgh in 1567. If genuine, these letters undoubtedly prove Mary to have been privy to the murder of Darnley.
A secret treaty between Russia and China, supposed to have been signed in 1896, by which Russia secured certain definite rights over Manchuria. She has since made several attempts to replace this agreement by a public treaty, but has been prevented by the opposition of the Powers. Russia’s present position in Manchuria, therefore, is correct so far as China is concerned, but has not been acknowledged by the other Powers.
A council established in Dublin by Lord Wentworth in 1633.
An unsuccessful attempt on the part of the British to burn Napoleon’s flotilla in Boulogne harbour in 1804.
A treaty between Henry II of France and the Emperor, Charles V. Both parties agreed to return the conquests made by them during the war of the previous eight years, and bound themselves to maintain the Catholic faith throughout their dominions.
A list of Imperialists whoseproscription he advocated, drawn up by La Bourdonnaye, in 1815. They were divided into three categories.
A conspiracy entered into by Catherine II of Russia, with the Orloffs and Princess Dashkoff, to remove her husband, Peter III, and ascend the throne as his successor. She succeeded in getting herself recognized by the nobles as Catherine II, and in 1762 the conspirators, headed by one of the Orloffs, strangled Peter III at a house near Peterhof.
An association formed by Daniel O’Connell in 1823, to press the claims of the Irish Catholics upon Parliament. It held entirely aloof from all the secret societies, and endeavoured to keep strictly with the limits of the law, but in 1825 it had become so powerful that an Act was passed declaring it an illegal association.
An Act passed in 1829, substituting for the old formula, which included abjuration, a new form of oath, and thus enabling Catholics to sit in either House. It opened to them all offices under the state, except those of Regent, Lord Chancellor, Viceroy of Ireland, and Royal Commissioner of the General Assembly of Scotland. The Roman Catholic Church was to remain a dissenting church, and restrictions were placed on the immigration of members of the monastic orders, and especially of Jesuits, while the use of ecclesiastical titles was forbidden.
SeeLeague.
A league of the Catholic Princes of Germany, formed at Frankfort in 1651, to carry out the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia.
An Act passed in 1793, admitting Catholics to the magistracy, grand juries, and the franchise.
An unauthorized tax or cess levied upon Irish Catholics by O’Connell’s Catholic Association in 1823, and afterwards. The funds thus obtained were placed in O’Connell’s hands, to be used at his absolute discretion for furthering the objects of the Association.
A plot to murder the Ministers, during Lord Liverpool’s administration in 1820, at a dinner which they were to attend at Lord Harrowby’s house. The plot was discovered by a police agent named Edwards, who posed as one of the conspirators, and Thistlewood, the ringleader, and four others were executed.
A private meeting of members of a political party to decide upon the adoption of candidates, or the platform of the party. The name is of American origin.
The Dutch towns of Flushing, Walcheren, Rammerkins and Briel, which were handed over to Elizabeth in 1585, to be held as security for the payment ofthe English troops in the Netherlands. They were restored to Holland by James I.
SeePensioned Parliament.
The supporters of Charles I against the Parliament. The name was first applied to them in the course of the frequent disturbances which arose in London between the King’s party and the City party, the “Roundheads,” in 1641.
SeeAdullamites.
The massacre by Nana Sahib of the English Garrison in Cawnpore, during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The garrison had surrendered under a pledge of being permitted to retire unharmed. Of those massacred, 560 were women and children.
The name given to an Act passed by Cecil, Lord Burleigh, after the Reformation, enjoining the eating of fish on certain days. Fish had almost ceased to be an article of diet in England, as it was looked upon as a badge of Romanism.
SeeHundred Days.
A party in Mexico, who support the centralized republican government, and are opposed to undue extension of the autonomy of the various states. The party came into existence about 1823.
A party in Switzerland in 1800, who supported the Helvetic Constitution, which established a uniform republican government, and abolished the old cantonal liberties.
Colorado is so called, as having been admitted a State in 1876, the year of the centenary of the Union.
A league of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador, formed in 1842, with the object of uniting the Central American States into a federal republic. Guatemala opposed the scheme and it fell to the ground.
The Centre, or Clerical, party in the first German Reichstag in 1871, under the leadership of Dr. Windhorst. They were strong supporters of the Papal claims in the subsequent Kulturkampf.
The list of grievances and charges against the Roman Catholic clergy, drawn up by the Diet of Nuremburg in 1523.
In Saxon times, a freeman owning his own land, and independent of any overlord.
A court, specially composed of bigoted Catholics, established by Henri II in 1551, for the trial of heretics.
The French Assembly elected in 1815, and dissolved in the following year, was so named by Louis XVIII.
The annual meetings of the Franks for military purposes during the early times were held during the month of March. At a later period the month of meeting appears to have been altered to May, when the assembly was called a Champ de Mai. The great parade-ground in Paris is known as the Champ de Mars.
The White Capes, the popular party in Ghent in 1379, under the leadership of Jan Yoens.
The name given by the Scots to the defeat of the Archbishop of York’s forces at Mitton, in 1319, by a Scottish invading army. It was so called on account of the number of ecclesiastics in the Archbishop’s army.
The charter issued by Louis XVIII on ascending the French throne in 1814. He proclaimed the equality of all Frenchmen before the law, liberty of opinion and liberty of the press, and confirmed the inviolability of all property sold by the state. He established an hereditary peerage, and fixed, as the qualification for electors to the Chamber of Deputies, the payment of direct taxes amounting to 300 francs per annum.
A constitution promulgated by Pedro IV of Portugal, on the model of the English Parliamentary system.
SeeActe Additionel, Aragon, Confirmatio, First, Forests, Fuero, Groote Privilegie, Irish, Joyeuse Entrée, Justice, Maryland, Magna, Massachusetts, People’s, Pfaffenbrief, Priests’, Virginia.
An agitation which broke out in 1837 and culminated in the Chartist riots of 1839. It was probably due to the declaration by the Liberal party that they were satisfied with the results of the Reform Bill of 1832, and did not intend to press for further reform in this direction. The movement takes its name from the “People’s Charter,” a manifesto setting forth the aims of the agitators. This Charter demanded manhood suffrage, annual Parliaments, the ballot, abolition of the property qualification for a member of Parliament, payment of members, and equal electoral districts. The most prominent Chartists were Feargus O’Connor, Frost, and Williams.
A treaty signed in 1299, by Edward I of England and Philip IV of France, after Edward’s abortive Flemish expedition. England recovered Guienne, and undertook to give up the Flemish alliance, while France renounced the alliance with Scotland.
The massacre, by Ivan the Terrible, of over 1,500 prominent citizens of Novgorod, owing to his suspecting the aristocracy of the city of a design to open the gates to the Poles.
An edict issued by Henri III,enacting severe measures against heresy. Among its provisions was one forbidding all argument on religious matters, and another confiscating the property of any person who went to Geneva. This edict also established the Chambre Ardente.
A congress opened at Châtillon on February 5, 1814, to treat with Napoleon as sovereign of France. The allies, however, found his demands impossible, and before the Congress was dissolved, the Treaty of Chaumont had been signed, by which Napoleon lost all chance of obtaining the terms that the allies were at first prepared to grant.
Bands of brigands, who in 1793 infested the northern and afterwards the central departments of France. They took their name from their habit of roasting the feet of their victims, to force them to disclose the whereabouts of their valuables.
A treaty signed by England, Austria, Russia and Prussia, in March, 1814, after the allies had entered France. The signatories bound themselves for twenty years to unite in resisting the designs of France. Each of the contracting parties was to provide 150,000 men, and England in addition a subsidy of £5,000,000. It was the knowledge of the signature of this treaty which induced Joseph, in Napoleon’s absence, to order the Marshals to capitulate, and the army to leave Paris, thus entailing the abdication of the Emperor.
Originally an unreasoning admiration for Napoleon, the name being taken from Chauvin, a character in Scribe’s “Le Soldat Laboureur.” At the present time, the word has lost its dynastic significance, and is used to express a perfervid patriotism, somewhat corresponding to the English Jingoism.
A convention between Great Britain and China, negotiated by Sir Thomas Wade in 1876, by which China recognized the right of foreigners to travel in the interior, and to be duly protected while so doing.
A County Palatine, established by William the Conqueror, who bestowed it on his nephew, Hugh Lupus. The earldom was seized by Henry III in 1237, and has since been an appanage of the crown.
Pierre du Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard (1476-1524), is called by his biographer “the fearless and stainless knight.”
A band of royalists, who, armed with daggers and hunting knives, assembled at the Tuileries on February 28, 1791. They were dispersed and disarmed by Lafayette, and being charged with a conspiracy to carry off the king, maintained that they were assembled only for his protection.
The Hundreds of Bodenham, Desborough, and Stoke, in Buckinghamshire, the stewardship of which is a sinecure, in the gift of the crown, originally established to keep down the bands of robbers which infested the Chiltern Hills. It is now used as a means of enabling a member of Parliament to vacate his seat, as by accepting the office he becomes disqualified for a seat in Parliament, unless re-elected.
SeeHearth Money.
A name given to the Confederacion Centro-Americana, which was formed at Chinandega in 1842, with the object of uniting the Central American States.
The sobriquet of General Charles Gordon, the conqueror of the Taepings.
In old Japan the wardsmen or trading class, the lowest in rank of the four Japanese classes.
The royalist party in La Vendée and other parts of Brittany, who held out against the revolutionary armies until 1779. Among their most celebrated leaders were Larochejaquelin and Cadoudal.
SeeBelski.
A Portuguese order of knighthood, founded circ. 1318.
An offensive and defensive alliance entered into in 1529 by Austria and the Canton of Zurich. It was also known as the Treaty of Ferdinand.
The Spanish party supporting the Regency of Queen Christina in 1833, in opposition to the Carlists.
Small cakes of unleavened bread, which were sent through the villages of British India just before the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1857. It is supposed that they were a signal to prepare for a rising, though other explanations have been given of their meaning.
A sobriquet of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708-1778).
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, a celebrated Spanish chieftain, in the reigns of Ferdinand I, Sancho II, and Alfonso VI, was known as the Cid Campeador, or Campaigning Chief. He died in 1099.
The name given during the French Revolution to those who, owing to the abolition of all titles of honour, were no longer known by their titles, but by their family names. Thus Marie Antoinette was brought to trial as the “Widow Capet.”
A sobriquet of George Washington.
A conspiracy directed against Richelieu, the leaders of whichwere Cinq-Mars, the favourite of Louis XIII, the Duc d’Orléans and De Thou. An arrangement was made with Spain, by which she was to support the conspirators with men and money. This agreement was discovered by Richelieu in 1642, and Cinq-Mars and De Thou were arrested and executed.
The sixteenth century, the later period of the Italian Renaissance.
These were originally Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich, to which were afterwards added Rye and Winchilsea. They were incorporated at a very early, though uncertain date, to provide and man ships for the defence of the Channel, and in return enjoyed certain privileges, judicial and other. Their earliest known charter was granted by Edward I, but they were summoned to send Barons to Parliament by Henry III in 1265, there is no doubt that they were incorporated in some form at a considerably earlier period. Their privileges were finally abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835.
A convention signed by Junot and Sir Hew Dalrymple in 1808, after the defeat of the French at Vimeira. It permitted Junot to evacuate Portugal, England providing transport, with liberty to him and his troops to serve elsewhere. The convention caused great indignation in England, and led to the recall of the three English generals, Dalrymple, Burrard, and Wellesley.
Madame Roland was so called from the influence exercised by her fascinating manner over the leaders of the French Revolution, and especially over the Girondins.
A statute of Edward I, issued in 1205, to put a stop to the pretensions of the ecclesiastical courts, which were gradually encroaching more and more upon the functions of the civil courts.
A republic formed by Napoleon out of the provinces conquered by him in Northern Italy in 1796-1797.
A republic, with Bologna for its capital, established by Napoleon in Italy in 1797.
A Bill introduced into the Hungarian Diet in 1893, by Dr. Wekerle. It made civil marriage compulsory, permitted marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, and made sundry changes in the divorce laws in the direction of greater freedom. It was violently opposed by the Catholics, and only passed the Upper House through the personal interposition of the King Emperor.
An Act of Congress, passed in 1875, conferring equal rights on all citizens, black or white,in the matter of public conveyances, inns, places of amusement and jury service.
A declaration by the Scottish Convention of 1689, accompanying the offer of the crown to William III. It was similar in character to the Declaration of Rights of the English Parliament, but in addition it proclaimed the abolition of the Episcopacy.
Thomas Castro, alias Arthur Orton, a butcher of Wagga-Wagga, New South Wales, who in 1871 brought an action with intent to prove that he was Sir Roger Tichbourne, the rightful owner of the Tichbourne estates in Hampshire. His case broke down, after a long trial, and in 1874 he was convicted of perjury and sentenced to fourteen years’ penal servitude.
A treaty between Charles the Simple of France, and the Northmen under Rolf the Ganger, in 912. In order to obtain immunity from the Viking raids, Charles ceded to the Northmen the coast of Normandy.
An Act passed in 1715, providing (1) that if a feudal chief rebelled, all his vassals who remained loyal should in future hold direct from the crown. (2) That a loyal tenant whose landlord was convicted of treason should have two years gratuitous possession added to his lease. (3) That the lands of a disloyal tenant should revert to his chief if loyal. (4) That settlements of estates after August 1, 1714, should be no bar to their forfeiture for high treason.
A combat between thirty picked men of each of these clans was fought at Perth in 1396. It is supposed to have been for the purpose of deciding a dispute as to the chieftainship of the Clan Chattan.
An Irish secret society, an offshoot of the Fenians, formed in 1881. It was composed of the extreme physical force men among the Fenians, and was also known as the United Brotherhood.
The name given to the four Acts composing the repressive ecclesiastical legislation of Clarendon, in the reign of Charles II, namely the Corporation, Uniformity, Conventicle, and Five Mile Acts.
SeeConstitutions of Clarendon.
An Act of the Scots Parliament, passed in 1649, disqualifying from public office and seats in Parliament, all Malignants, enemies of the Covenant, Engagers, etc.
A treaty between Great Britain and the United States, signed in 1850, providing for the construction of a canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was stipulated that in the event of such canal beingconstructed, neither party should erect fortifications on the line of the canal, nor assume any sovereign rights over any portion of Central America. The United States afterwards repudiated the treaty, and it is now superseded by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty.
The name given to a brawl in the streets of Edinburgh in 1519, in which the Douglas faction were attacked by the supporters of the Government. The Douglasses swept their opponents from the streets, killing their leader, Sir Patrick Stuart.
The extreme democratic party in Canada in 1850 were so called. They were in favour of secession from England and annexation to the United States.
A nickname given to Lord Canning, Governor-General of India, in consequence of what many considered his undue leniency in the treatment of the rebels, after the suppression of the Indian Mutiny in 1858.
SeeHoly League.
A manifesto issued by Bossuet in 1682, declaring that the Pope had no power in France in temporal affairs, and that his spiritual authority was subject to that of a General Council, as proclaimed by the Council of Constance; that the constitution of the Gallican Church was not to be subverted, and that, in questions of faith, the Pope’s opinion was not binding unless supported by the Church. This declaration was, by Royal Edict given the force of law.
A Bull issued by Pope Boniface VIII in 1296, forbidding the clergy to pay tribute to a temporal sovereign. The result of this Bull in England was that the clergy refused to pay taxes. They were consequently outlawed, and much church property was confiscated by Edward I.
A Council summoned by Urban II in 1095, at which the Pope proclaimed the duty of Christians to free the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of Saracens. At the Council Godefroi de Bouillon and other notable personages assumed the red cross, and the First Crusade followed.
The nickname by which Frederick William IV of Prussia was known in England.
The name given to an incident which marked the collapse of O’Connell’s Repeal agitation. A monster meeting was fixed to be held at Clontarf on October 8, 1843. The Government proclaimed the meeting, and O’Connell did his best to prevent the peasants assembling. In this he was successful, but the proof that he did not mean under any circumstances to resort to strong measures was the death blow to his movement.
The name given to the attack on Lookout Mountain by the Federal troops at the battle of Chattanooga in 1863, during the American Civil War. They advanced to the attack through a heavy mist, and the battle was fought in a clear atmosphere, with the fog below.
A convention, signed in July, 1757, between the French and the Duke of Cumberland, who had advanced to the Weser in command of an English force, and had been driven back by a French army, under D’Estrées, to the mouth of the Elbe. The Duke agreed to disband his army.
A section of the Whig party in Scotland, who, at the accession of William and Mary, advocated extreme views as to the limitations to be set to the power of the king. Notwithstanding their opinions, they did not hesitate to ally themselves with the Jacobites in their opposition to William.
The Parliament of 1346, so called because the Barons attended it accompanied by their retainers armed with clubs. It is also called the Parliament of Bats (or Batons.)
The name assumed by bands of peasants who, in 1644, assembled in various parts of England, but especially in the West, to protect their lands from the ravages of the civil war. They sided with neither party, but attacked both impartially when their property was threatened.
A Ministry formed under Lord Aberdeen in 1853, composed of Liberals and Peelites, and including among its members, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone.
The Betting Act, passed in 1853, is so called after its introducer, Sir Alexander Cockburn. It did away with betting houses, and rendered the exhibition of betting lists illegal. In 1874 the Act was extended to Scotland.
A judgment in the Court of Queen’s Bench in the case of Reginav.Cockerton. Mr. Cockerton, the auditor of the Local Government Board, had surcharged certain expenditure of the London School Board, and the correctness of his action being called in question, the court held that it was illegal to make a payment out of the rates (1) for advanced instruction in art and science in elementary day schools, (2) for any instruction to adults at evening continuation classes.
The name given to Belgium on account of the numerous important battles which have been fought there.
The Code of Law issued by Napoleon in 1803. It was based on the old French law, with such alterations as had beenrendered necessary by the Revolution, and certain new provisions, introduced by Napoleon, notably those relating to the law of succession and to the marriage law. For the purpose of this codification, which remains the law of France, he called to his councils the most eminent French lawyers, irrespective of party, among others Tronchet, Cambacérès, Portalis and Roederer.
Allgemeines Landrecht, Brehon, Bretts and Scots, Burgos, Caroline Ordinance, Clarendon, Consolato, Doom-Book, Etablissements, Frédéric, Frostathing, Fuero Juzgo, Grágás, Gulathing, Jus Magdeburgicum, Jutland, Landrecht, Louis, Libro de Tasas, Lübeck, Ludlow, Martian, Mulmutine, Noir, Oleron, Recess of Colding, Regiani Majestatem, Savary, Siete Partidas, Thirty-three Articles, Wisbuy, Wisliza.
The Pigtail Party, a name given by the supporters of the House of Savoy to the Papal party in Rome, the suggestion being that they are behind the times.
An Act of Parliament passed in 1833, giving the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland power to prohibit any meeting of whatever nature which he regarded as dangerous to the peace, and to declare any district to be in a disturbed state. The bill gave the right to search for arms and suspended the Habeas Corpus Act in the proclaimed districts, substituting martial law for the regular tribunals.
The sobriquet of Richard I of England.
SeeHoly League.
A form of socialism, the leading tenet of which is that capital and the means of production should be in the hands of associations of workers, and not be privately owned.
The supreme court of Scotland in civil cases. It was established by James V in 1533, and was composed of fourteen judges and a president. At the same time the body of Advocates was created.
A conference held in London in 1902, between Mr. Chamberlain and the Colonial Premiers. The principal recommendations of the conference were an increase in the Colonial contribution to the navy, increased facilities for Colonial cadets to enter the services, that preferential duties between Great Britain and the Colonies should be kept in view, that the metric system should be adopted, and that postage rates should be lowered.
A Council appointed by Charles II in 1660, to supervise all the affairs of the oversea plantations.