The name given to the followers of Dózsa, Tököli and Rákóczy in the various risings of the Hungarians against Austrian rule which they headed. It means the wearers of the Cross, or Crusaders.
A treaty between Catherine II of Russia and the Sultan Abdul-Hamed, signed in 1774, after the occupation by the Russians of Crim-Tartary, Moldavia and Wallachia. Turkey surrendered the Crimea, Azov and Taganrog, and by the seventh clause of the treaty undertook to protect the Christian religion and its churches, and to permit the Russian Minister to make at all times representations on behalf of the new church in Constantinople, such representations to be taken into consideration as proceeding from a sincerely friendly Power. In this clause lay the germ of the Crimean War, for Russia interpreted it as giving her the right to interfere for the protection of all Christians of the Greek Church in the Turkish Empire.
The revolution by which Queen Christina of Spain was compelled in 1836 to restore theconstitution of 1812 which had been abrogated by Ferdinand.
The name given to their opponents by the Hungarians under Tököli and Rákóczy in 1678 and 1704 respectively. It signifies the “foot people,” the Magyars being almost all mounted men.
A labour organization founded at Columbus, Ohio, in 1886, and now claiming to have over 600,000 members.
A statute passed in the reign of Edward III, after the Black Death in 1348. This pestilence had made labour scarce, and labourers were demanding exorbitant wages. It was enacted that all labourers should be compelled to serve their former masters and for the same wage that they had received before the plague.
The nickname of King John, given him because he received no fiefs from his father.
Æthelfled, daughter of Alfred the Great, was so called.
SeeStorthing.
A treaty signed in 1846, at the end of the first Sikh War, by which Dhulip Singh was recognized as Rajah of the Punjaub. The Sikhs surrendered the Doab to the British.
A congress of the European Powers held in 1821, at which armed intervention to suppress the Republican risings in Naples and Piedmont was decided upon.
A phrase used by a French merchant to Colbert, who asked him in what way he could aid trade. The meaning of the reply is “Leave us alone,” and the phrase has become the watchword of the freetraders and those who oppose Government interference.
The popular name of the State of Michigan, U.S.A. It is so called because it borders on Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Superior.
A series of nine articles, embodying the Calvinistic doctrine, drawn up in 1595 by Archbishop Whitgift. They were not, however, approved by the Queen, and were consequently never enforced.
A treaty between Henry III and Louis the Dauphin, signed in 1217, after the Fair of Lincoln. It provided for the immediate departure of Louis and his troops for France, an interchange of prisoners, and a general amnesty.
Lancaster was created a Palatine County by Edward III in 1351, and granted by him to John of Gaunt. It became Crown property on the accession of Henry IV, and has so remained. The Judicature Act of 1873, however, withdrew all the existing judicial privileges excepting those of the Chancery Court. The Chancellor of the Duchy is a member of the Government, and is frequently in the Cabinet.
An Act passed by the Legislature of New South Wales, by which half the land in the occupation of the squatters was reserved to them on a twenty-one years’ tenure and the remaining half thrown open to selection bybonâ fidesettlers.
A Commission established by the Irish Land Act of 1881. It was empowered to appoint sub-commissioners to sit as land courts for the purpose of fixing fair rents.
An association formed in Victoria in 1857 to oppose the Haines Land Bill and advocate Free Selection. Its leaders were Wilson Gray and Sir George Stephen.
An Irish organization, founded by Michael Davitt in 1879, with the object of driving out the landlords and establishing a peasant proprietary in Ireland. The agrarian outrages in which its members were implicated led to its being proclaimed an illegal association, and it was suppressed in 1881.
The chief magistrate in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland, elected by the Landsgemeinde.
A local magistrate in Dutch South Africa. The first official bearing this title was appointed to Stellenbosch in 1685. In addition to his judicial duties, he had the superintendence of the Dutch East India Company’s farms and outlying stations. He also presided over the Heemraden. The office was abolished in British South Africa in 1832, but in the independent Dutch States it has existed up to the present time (1903).
The raven banner of the Danes. The word means “Desolation of the Country.”
In mediaeval Germany the peace of the land, or freedom from private war, was so called. Many edicts were issued to secure it, but it was rarely attained.
The general levy of fighting men in Anglo-Saxon times. The origin of the Militia.
The codification of Prussian law, otherwise known as the Code Frédéric, published in 1751 under the auspices of Frederick the Great.
In Saxon times, a wealthy landowner, who acted as the King’s representative within the limits of his district, and had jurisdiction over the smaller freeholders. His position was in fact somewhat similar to that of a feudal baron.
The ancient popular assembly in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland. Every male above the age of sixteen had access to it. It elected the chief magistrate(Landamman), levied taxes, and exercised judicial functions.
The Prussian Parliament.
The final reserve of the German and Austrian armies. It can only be called out in times of emergency.
SeeRigsdag.
The country party in the Swedish Parliament. Originally it was composed almost entirely of landowners, but latterly the peasants have become the more powerful section of it.
The first reserve of the German and Austrian armies.
In old France the language of the southern provinces, from which the province of Languedoc took its name. In its modern form of Provencal it is little better than apatois, though there has been some attempt to revive it as a literary language during the nineteenth century.
The language of the northern provinces of France, and the parent of modern French. It contains a much larger admixture of Teutonic roots than the Langue d’Oc, though its grammatical form is Latin.
The Battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, is so called as being the last battle fought on British soil.
A sobriquet of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (1428-1471).
A nickname of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany (1493-1519).
Henry Stuart, Cardinal York, the last male descendant of the Stuart Kings, was so called. He died in 1807.
Colas de Rienzi, who was chosen tribune by the citizens of Rome in 1347, was so called. He was also known as the “Last of the Romans.”
The Extremists or Robespierre Section of the Mountain, in the French Convention. Their denunciation by Danton and Camille Desmoulins led to the condemnation and execution of the Dantonists in April 1794.
A Council summoned by Calixtus II in 1123. It is notable as being the first Œcumenical Council whose decrees were issued in the name of the Pope, and not in that of the Council.
An Œcumenical Council summoned by Innocent II in 1139, at which the marriage of the priesthood was forbidden.
A Council summoned to meet in Rome by Innocent III, in 1215, to consider the most effectual means of suppressing heresy. It declared that anyprince protecting heretics or permitting the dissemination of heretical doctrines in his dominions should be excommunicated. It further established the Inquisition, to deal with heretics individually.
An Œcumenical Council summoned by Julius II, in 1512, at which the acts of the Council of Pisa were condemned.
A confederation, for monetary purposes, of France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, formed in 1865. It provided for the establishment of a uniform and interchangeable coinage, on a bimetallic basis, for the countries concerned. Greece joined the union in 1868. Belgium left it in 1885.
A party in the English Church in the seventeenth century, who stood midway between the extreme Episcopal and the Puritan parties. It was the prototype of the modern Broad Church.
The proper name of the sect generally known as Mormons.
A secret society formed in Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to aid the movement of the Spanish-American colonies in the direction of independence.
A writ, in Scottish law, by which any person who made oath that he went in fear of violence from his neighbour, could have him bound over to keep the peace. This legal form was used in 1678 against the gentry of the West, who had refused to enter into a bond binding themselves and all their dependents to abstain from active sympathy with the Covenanters.
A law of Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, decreeing that any one who married a serf became a serf.
SeeMississippi Scheme.
A layman in receipt of tithes, an ecclesiastical form of revenue. Thelay impropriatororiginated in grants of lands made by abbeys and other Church communities to powerful laymen, in exchange for their protection.
The League, also called the Catholic League, was formed by the Guises in 1577, ostensibly to promote the ascendency of Catholicism, and to oppose the concessions granted to the Reformed Faith by Henri II of France. Secretly, however, it contemplated the deposition of the Valois dynasty, and the placing of a Guise on the throne. (SeeJoinville, Treaty of.)
A league of the Cantons of St. Gall and Appenzell with the towns of the Rheinthal, formed in 1405. It was broken up in 1408, Appenzell being defeated at Bregenz by the burghers of Constance and the Suabian nobles.
See Afrikander, Agrarian, Albanian, Anti-Corn Law, Anti-Semitism, Armed Neutrality, Association, Australasian, Ballarat, Bar, Barons, British Empire, Brunnen, Burgfrieden, Cambray, Catholic, Centro-Americana, Chinandega, Clementine, Cognac, Coloured, Confederate, Eight Cantons, Equador, Frankfort, Fürstenbund, Germanada, Germanic, Golden, Gotteshausbund, Grey, Hanseatic, Hermandad, Holy, Irish National, Land, Liberal, Lombard, Nationalverein, Perpetual, Pilsen, Poor Conrad, Presburg, Protestant, Reformverein, Rense, Rhenish, Rhine, Rome, Sandomierz, Santa Junta, Schmalkald, Seven Cantons, Six Cities, Sonderbund, Suabian, Targowitz, Ten Jurisdictions, Thirteen Cantons, Torgau, Triumvirate, Tuscany, United Irish, Utrecht, Venice, White, Würtzburg.
This phrase was applied to Disraeli’s Reform Bill of 1867 by Lord Cranbourne, and was afterwards adopted by Lord Derby as an accurate description of the course the Government was taking.
James I of England was called by Sully the most learned fool in Christendom.
An outbreak between the Druses and the Maronites having occurred in 1860, the Turkish authorities compelled the latter to lay down their arms, under promise of protection. This they failed to afford, and the Druses attacked the Maronite villages, and massacred hundreds. Later in the year, the fanatical anti-Christian spirit spread to Damascus, and the Christian quarter of the town was sacked, over two thousand Christians perishing at the hands of the Moslems, without any attempt at interference on the part of the Turkish Governor. A European Convention was held, and France and England were entrusted by the Powers with the task of restoring order in the disturbed districts. This they accomplished, and forced upon the Sultan the appointment of a Christian Governor in the Lebanon.
A document left by the Shôgun Iyeyasu, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shôguns, in 1598, as a guide to his successors in the conduct of affairs.
The provinces of Bologna, Ferrara and Romagna, over which the Popes claimed sovereign rights. They were surrendered to France by the Treaty of Tolentino in 1797.
A memorial drawn up by Defoe, in support of the Kentish Petition in 1701.
An armed band of Frisian peasants, some thousands in number, who rose in revolt in 1580, being exasperated beyond endurance by the license of the States’ soldiery. Though well-drilled and led, they were unable to stand against the veterans of the Count of Hohenlohe, by whom they were defeated and dispersed.
The only existing French order of knighthood, instituted by Napoleon, when First Consul, in 1802. Though military in form, it is open to civilians.
The supporters of the claims of the Bourbon branch of the Royal House of France from 1814 to 1883. On the death of the Comte de Chambord without issue in the latter year, they transferred their allegiance to the Orleans branch, with the exception of a small section, known as the Blancs d’Espagne, who support the Spanish Bourbons as the rightful occupiers of the throne of France.
The name assumed by the State of Vaud when she revolted from the Canton of Berne in 1798.
A Bull, the authenticity of which is somewhat doubtful, issued by Boniface VIII against Philip IV of France, shortly before the issue of the Bull “Ausculta Fili.” It is couched in somewhat milder terms than the latter, but is of similar tenour.
SeePanama Scandal.
Commissions granted by a belligerent to private individuals, authorizing them to arm ships for the purpose of capturing merchant vessels flying the enemy’s flag. This right was abolished by the Treaty of Paris in 1856.
The laws and ordinances of Godefroi de Bouillon, King of Jerusalem, were so called.
Warrants of arrest, issued by the French Kings, or their Ministers, under which persons obnoxious to the Court could be imprisoned indefinitely without being brought to trial.
Originally a religious sect, but later a political organization under the Commonwealth. They held extreme communistic views, and in 1649 their propagandism in the ranks of the army led to numerous mutinies. They were, however, ruthlessly suppressed by Cromwell, and after the loss of their leaders gave little further trouble.
The name given to agrarian bands, first formed in Limerick in 1761, who tore down the fences with which the commons had been enclosed. They were afterwards known as Whiteboys, from the white shirts they wore over their other garments.
An agreement between Henry III and Simon de Montfort, as leader of the Barons, after the defeat of the King at Lewes in 1264, by which the questions in dispute between the King and the Barons were to be submitted to the arbitration of a court composed of two Frenchmen and one Englishman.
An Act passed in 1791, transferring from the judge to the jury the duty of decidingwhether a statement was libellous or not.
A league formed in 1902, composed of Liberals who follow Lord Rosebery in his attitude with regard to the Boer War, and on Imperial questions generally.
A section of the Republican party in the United States, who favoured more tolerant treatment of the Southern States, and opposed the re-election of General Grant in 1872. They nominated Horace Greeley for President, but were disastrously defeated at the polls, and ceased thereupon to exercise any political influence.
The section of the Liberal party who seceded from Mr. Gladstone on the introduction of the Home Rule Bill in 1886. They have since acted with the Conservatives on most questions, and in 1895 their leaders accepted office under a Conservative Prime Minister.
Daniel O’Connell was so called.
Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, was so called. He headed the revolt of the Spanish-American colonies which broke out in 1810, taking the field in 1813. After successively freeing New Granada and Venezuela, he finally drove the Spaniards from Peru, Callao, the last fortress in their hands falling in January 1826.
A sect of free-thinkers and hedonists in France, circ. 1730.
The party who opposed the extreme stringency of the Calvinistic doctrine in Geneva, in 1541. They were severely handled by the Consistorium.
The nickname of Henry Clay, the American statesman, who ardently supported the South American States in their struggle for independence in 1820.
A provision in the ancient Polish constitution, giving every member of the Diet the right of vetoing a proposition under discussion. In other words, complete unanimity was necessary to effect any legislation whatever.
A code of laws, based on the ancient system of the Incas, prepared by Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of Peru from 1569 to 1580. This code determined the principles on which Peru was ruled by subsequent viceroys.
An Act to amend the licensing laws, passed in 1902. Its most important provisions are those dealing with habitual drunkards, who after successive convictions are placed on a black list, which prevents their obtaining any alcoholic liquor for three years, and those compelling the registration of all clubs where alcohol is sold, and their subjection to police supervision.
A republic, with Genoa as its capital, established by Napoleon in 1797. It was made a French Department in 1802.
A system of inland duties, levied at various points on the waterways and trade routes of China, greatly hampering the inland trade. The duties are farmed out to the Mandarins, who make large incomes out of their collection. By the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1902, these duties are to be abolished, subject to the consent of the other Powers having commercial treaties with China.
The terms accorded to the Irish by William III after the second siege of Limerick in 1691. To all Irish officers and soldiers who so desired, permission was given to withdraw to France, while the others were amnestied and allowed to return to their homes. To all other Catholics William restored the privileges accorded them by Charles II, and granted a complete amnesty, on condition of their taking the oath of allegiance.
The defeat of the revolted Barons and the forces of Louis, the Dauphin of France, by Pembroke, in the streets of Lincoln in 1216.
A rising fomented by the priests in 1536, following closely upon the dissolution of the monasteries. It was entirely a movement of the peasants, and had no countenance from the gentry. It was easily suppressed.
Johan Gustafsson Banér, the Swedish Field-Marshal (1595-1641), was so called.
The sobriquet of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1611-32).
Marshal Ney was so called from his red hair.
SeeBocca di Leone.
A law passed in Egypt in 1881, on the recommendation of the Commissioners of England, France, Italy, Germany and Austria, settling the conditions on which the debts due by the State on December 31, 1880, were to be regulated, and providing for the future apportionment of the revenue to the service of particular debts, and to general purposes.
A royal sitting of the States-General of France, when the King attended to enforce by edict an ordinance or law to which the States had refused their consent.
In China those who have passed the public examinations in literature, qualifying them for official positions under the State.
A guild of shipowners and merchants in London, which was in existence in the time of the Danish Kings.
A favourite Jacobite toast in the reign of Queen Anne. The allusion is to the death of William III, which was accelerated by an accident caused by his horse stumbling over a molehill.
SeeBarebone’s Parliament.
The popular name of the State of Rhode Island, U.S.A., the smallest State in the Union.
A popular name for the State of Florida, U.S.A.
A statute passed in 1461, in the reign of Edward IV, prohibiting the granting of liveries and the maintenance of retainers. It confirmed similar enactments of Edward I and Richard II.
An order of chivalry, founded at Riga in 1201, by Albert of Buxhœwden, Bishop of Riga. Their statutes were similar to those of the Templars, and their special object was to spread Christianity among the Livonians and neighbouring tribes. In 1237 a section of the Teutonic knights of Lithuania was merged into the Livonian order. The order was dissolved in the sixteenth century during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Grand Master ceding Livonia to Poland.
An Act carried through Parliament by Mr. Ritchie, establishing County Councils, to which were entrusted the various administrative functions previously exercised by committees of the county magistrates. The larger boroughs were exempted from their jurisdiction, being left under the control of their own municipalities, while a special County of London was created, comprising all the newer suburbs.
An Act completing the Local Government Act of 1888 by the creation of Parish and District Councils. One of the most important provisions of this Act is that giving the newly established bodies power to acquire land, compulsorily if necessary, for the purpose of providing labourers’ allotments.
The name given in 1835 to the Radical section of the Democratic party in the United States. At a meeting of this wing of the party, an opponent present turned off the gas, whereupon candles were procured, and lit by “locofoco” matches, from which time the faction was dubbed by its opponents the “Locofocos.”
A treaty signed in 1454 by the Republic of Venice and Duke Sforza of Milan, by which Sforza secured the whole of the Milanese.
In Saxon times labourers dependent on the feudal lord on whose land they worked. They are, however, not to be confounded with the theows, or slaves.
Among the Norsemen, theLaw Court, the highest authority of the State under the King. It consisted of thirty-six members, partlyex-officio, and partly elected.
A law passed in 1891 in France, by which, in the case of first offenders, the tribunal might suspend the sentence for five years. If during that period the culprit did not again make himself amenable to the law, the sentence lapsed. If again convicted, however, he had to serve the old sentence as well as the new.
A religious sect, followers of Wycliffe, which arose in Edward III’s reign. They attacked the abuses of the Church, and especially the wealthy religious orders, and claimed the right of private interpretation in matters of doctrine. They are said to have numbered, at one time, fully one-third of the population of England. In spite of continued persecution, the sect remained powerful through several reigns, and they doubtless paved the way for the ready acceptance by England of the Reformed Doctrines in the reign of Henry VIII.
A league of sixteen cities of Northern Italy, headed by Milan, and including Venice, formed in 1167 against Frederick Barbarossa. The league defeated the Emperor at Legnano in 1176, and in 1183, by the Peace of Constance he granted practical independence to the cities, subject to the recognition of his suzerainty, and the payment of certain small dues.
A league formed under the Marquis d’Este in 1255, to resist Pope Alexander IV. This league consisted mainly of the Guelf cities of Lombardy, while Alexander’s principal supporters were Ezzelino of Verona and his brother Alberic of Treviso. Ezzelino was disastrously defeated at Cassano in 1259.
The Italian merchants who spread over Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were known as Lombards. They were the first bankers of modern Europe.
A company formed in 1606, under charter from James I, with the object of colonizing Virginia.
A convention between Great Britain, France and Russia on the one side, and Bavaria on the other, by which Greece was erected into an independent kingdom, under the guarantee of the Powers, and Prince Otto of Bavaria placed on the throne, with the proviso, however, that the crowns of Greece and Bavaria should never be united in the person of one sovereign.
An instrument signed in London by Great Britain, France and Spain, agreeing to demand from Mexico a guarantee for the better protection of the subjects of the signatories, and at the same time undertaking not to seek for any territorial acquisitions, nor to interfere in the internal governmentof Mexico. It soon became evident that Napoleon III was determined to force Mexico into a war, with the object of placing Maximilian of Austria on the throne, whereupon Great Britain and Spain withdrew from the convention.
A convention between Great Britain and the Transvaal, amending the Convention of Pretoria of 1881. All direct reference to the suzerainty was omitted, but it was expressly stipulated that no treaties should be negotiated with Foreign Powers (excepting the Orange Free State), or with native chiefs, without the consent of Great Britain. The suzerainty was thus maintained in fact, as Great Britain retained full control of the foreign relations of the Transvaal. Provision was also made for the presence of a British Resident at Pretoria, and certain questions of frontier were re-adjusted.
The treaty between England and Holland closing the war of 1672, which arose out of England’s claim that foreign ships should salute her flag wherever it was met in the narrow seas. Holland accepted the principle involved, and agreed to pay an indemnity of 2,000,000 guilders. (SeeHonour of the Flag.)
A treaty between England, France and Russia, during the Greek War of Independence. The contracting parties bound themselves to take action for the purpose of securing the independence of Greece under Turkish suzerainty. The destruction of the Turkish and Egyptian fleets at Navarino followed closely the signature of this treaty.
An agreement between Great Britain and France on the one hand, and Holland on the other, providing for the erection of the Flemish and Walloon provinces into an independent kingdom, to be known as Belgium. This treaty was confirmed by the five Great Powers in 1839.
A treaty signed by Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, confirming the provisional treaty of 1833, with regard to the separation of Belgium from the Netherlands, subject to certain small changes as to the navigation of the Scheldt and the boundaries of Luxemburg.
SeeDardanelles.
A treaty signed by Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Sweden, settling the succession to the Danish throne upon Prince Christian of Schleswig Holstein and his issue. The integrity of the Danish monarchy was acknowledged, but the rights of the German Confederation over the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg were not in any way touched by the treaty.
The popular name for the State of Texas, derived fromthe single star in its coat of arms.
A Diet which met at Zurich in 1813, and after declaring the Constitution of Mediation extinct, proceeded to evolve a new Federal Constitution, known as the Federal Pact, which was accepted by the Powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
The Parliament which met in the reign of Charles I, in 1640, and lasted till 1653, when all that was left of it, known as the Rump, was forcibly expelled from the House by Cromwell.
The first Parliament of the Third French Republic, which was not dissolved till December 31, 1875.
A treaty between Catherine de’ Medici and the Huguenots, signed March 20, 1568, by which various concessions were granted the Huguenots. It was signed by the Queen to save Chartres, which was in danger of falling, and was broken within six months. It is known as theCourte Paix, or thePaix Fourrée.
The nickname of Edward I of England.
The sobriquet of William, Earl of Salisbury (1196-1226), the natural son of Henry II, and also of his son (died 1250).
A treaty signed in 1701 by England, Holland and the Emperor, to oppose the designs of Louis XIV. The signatories aimed at the conquest of Flanders, to be given to Holland, of Milan, Naples and Sicily, to be added to the Empire, and of the French and Spanish West Indies, to be divided between the two maritime Powers.
The name given to the battle near Erpingham, in Rutlandshire, in 1470, where Edward IV defeated the rebels under Sir Thomas Wells.
The boarding of this vessel, flying the British flag, in the Canton River in 1856, and the arrest of twelve of her crew on a charge of piracy, led to the war with China in 1857-8, when the English were aided by the French. The war resulted in the reception of British and French legations at Peking, and the concession of certain additional privileges to traders and missionaries.
Under the feudal system the Sovereign was so called, as the owner of the whole of the land, the great nobles holding under him as tenants-in-chief.
A body of peers, in the reign of Richard II, who impeached, as guilty of high treason, the Archbishop of York, the Duke of Ireland, and other favourites of the King, in 1386. They afterwards convened the Merciless Parliament, in 1388.
A movement started about1899 by the Austrian Pan-German Deputies, to detach their followers from the Roman Catholic Church. The object of the movement is to make the German States of Austria more acceptable members of the German Empire than they would be as rigidly Catholic countries, in the event of the break up of the Austrian Empire.
A codification of the laws relating to criminal procedure and evidence, issued as an edict by Louis XIV in 1667.
The purchase from France by the United States in 1803 of New Orleans and the territory West of the Mississippi, extending to the eastern spurs of the Rocky Mountains and to the British frontier on the North. The price was 15 million dollars.
A confession of the Catholic Faith, drawn up by the University of Louvain by order of Charles V in 1544. All Charles’ subjects in the Netherlands were required to conform to these articles, under pain of death, and that this was not an idle threat was shown by the burning at the stake, at Tournay, in February, 1545, of Peter du Breuil, a Calvinist preacher, who refused to obey the proclamation.
A sobriquet of Marshal Macmahon (1808-1893).
The law administered in the law courts and in the foreign factories of the Hanseatic League.
A treaty between the Emperor Ferdinand II and Christian IV. of Denmark, signed in 1629, after the latter had been driven out of Germany by Tilly and Wallenstein. Christian retained all his possessions, and agreed to interfere no further in German affairs, except in his capacity of Duke of Holstein. He made no stipulations in favour of any of his German allies, none of whom, in consequence, were parties to the treaty.
A series of outbreaks in the manufacturing districts of England, and especially about Nottingham, in 1811, as a protest against the introduction of machinery into the factories. The rioters, or rather conspirators, for their proceedings were secret, used to assemble at night, break into a factory, destroy the machinery, and then disperse, as a rule unmolested. They took their name from an idiot lad, named Ludd, who thirty years previously had gone about in the Nottingham district breaking stocking-frames.
A code of laws compiled by John Ludlow in 1650, for the colony of Connecticut.
The camp of Lothair, son of Louis the Pious, near Basle, where Louis surrendered to his revolted sons in 833. The false pretences by which the surrender was obtained, led to the incident being called the “Field of Lies,” or Lügenfeld.
The State of Maine, U.S.A., is so called, on account of its valuable forests.
A treaty between France and Austria, following on the disasters to the Austrian arms at Marengo and Hohenlinden. By its provisions France obtained an extension of territory on the north, as far as the Rhine from the Swiss to the Dutch frontiers, together with the cession of the Belgian provinces. In Italy Austria retired from the Milanese and the Venetian provinces, up to the line of the Adige, while Tuscany was taken from the Austrian Grand-Dukes, and conferred upon the House of Parma, with the title of the King of Etruria.
A treaty signed in 1867 by Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Holland, Russia and Prussia, agreeing to maintain on the throne of Luxemburg the House of Orange-Nassau, and constituting the Duchy a perpetual neutral State under the guarantee of the Powers. It was further agreed that the fortress of Luxemburg should be demolished and the Prussian troops withdrawn, and that the Duchy of Limburg should form part of the Netherlands.
A phrase having the same signification as “Jedburgh Justice.”
The substitution of an irregular trial for the regular process of law, common in the Western States of America during the wilder days of the fifties and sixties, and now rife in the Southern States, in the case of negroes charged with offences against white women. The name is supposed to be derived from James Lynch, of Piedmont, Virginia, who introduced it in 1688, to enable criminals to be promptly dealt with when the proper officers of the law were scattered and hard to come at.
A council summoned by Innocent IV in 1245. It deposed the Emperor Frederick II, and absolved his subjects from their allegiance, thus endorsing the claim of Gregory VII that the Church could appoint and depose Sovereigns.
An Œcumenical Council, held in 1275 under Gregory X, at which the rules governing the election of the Pope by the Cardinals were amended by the provision that the Cardinals, within ten days of the death of the late Pope, should be shut up in conclave until his successor was elected.
The murder of a family named Joyce in Ireland in 1882. Ten men were put on their trial for the crime, of whom two turned Queen’s Evidence, and the remainder were convicted, three being hanged. In 1884 Casey, one of the informers, declared that he had given falseevidence against Myles Joyce, one of the men who had been hanged, and that he had been ordered by the officials, on pain of capital punishment, to swear away this man’s life. A searching inquiry confirmed the justice of the sentence, but the case was made the pretext for a violent attack in Parliament upon the Irish Secretary.
A Tariff Act passed in the United States in 1890. Large increases were made in the import duties, and the measure as a whole was one of thoroughgoing protection. It was repealed in 1894.
The Cameronians were so called, after the Revolution, from the name of their minister, McMillan.
The sobriquet of Prince Rupert of Bavaria, nephew of Charles I.
A Parliament of Henry III, which met in June 1258. It was by this Parliament that the Commission was appointed which drew up the Provisions of Oxford.
SeeMonsieur Véto.
A sobriquet of Charles XII of Sweden (1682-1718).
A mutiny of the officers in the Madras Army of the East India Company in 1809. It was caused by the action of the Board of Directors in depriving the officers of some of their perquisites. Sir George Barlow appealed to the sepoys, who supported the authorities against their officers, and the latter were forced to give in. With the exception of twenty-one of the ringleaders, the mutinous officers were forgiven, and allowed to resume their posts.
A treaty between Haidar Ali and the British, closing the first Mysore War in 1769. It provided for mutual restoration of all conquered territories, and a mutual guarantee of the integrity of each other’s dominions.
A conference of the Powers, held in 1880, to consider the affairs of Morocco, and especially the treatment of Jews, and the right of foreign nations to protect their subjects. An agreement was arrived at, and a joint Note addressed to the Sultan, insisting on the necessity of respecting liberty of conscience, and of enforcing toleration on the part of his subjects.
A treaty between Charles V and Francis I, putting an end to the captivity of Francis, signed in 1526. The French King ceded Burgundy to Charles, and renounced the sovereignty of Flanders and all his rights in Italy.
A secret society which largely controlled the appointment of officials, and practically governed Sicily. The disclosures following the murder of Signor Notarbartolo, deputy for Palermo, in 1899, caused the ItalianGovernment to institute a searching inquiry, which led to the suppression, temporarily at least, of the Maffia.
At the capture of Magdeburg by the Austrian General, Tilly, in 1629, during the Thirty Years’ War, the Protestant inhabitants were put to the sword with ruthless barbarity.
The Great Charter of English liberty, extorted from John by his Barons in 1215. It prescribed the constitution of the Great Council of the Kingdom, the members whereof were to be summoned by writ; it defined and limited the feudal obligations of the Barons and other tenants of the Crown; restricted the powers of the sheriffs and other royal officers, and secured the liberties of the free towns. It further declared the right of an accused person to be tried by his peers.
The Great Council of the Realm, which in Norman times took the place of the Anglo-Saxon Witanegemot, and was the forerunner of the Parliament. It consisted in the main of the King’s great vassals, and with the King exercised legislative functions and initiated taxation. Its constitution was defined, and the mode of summoning it prescribed in Magna Charta.
The original Turanian invaders of Pannonia, the modern Hungary. The name is now applied to Hungarians generally, whether of pure Turanian descent or not. It is often erroneously used as referring to the Hungarian nobles or magnates only, but it carries with it no idea of rank or dignity.
The expected Messiah of the Moslems, said to have been promised by Mohammed. The title has been claimed by several pretenders, the best known being Mohammed Ahmed, who headed a rising in the Eastern Soudan in 1881, and afterwards captured Khartoum.
The daughter of Eric, King of Norway, and grand-daughter of Alexander III of Scotland. On the death of her grandfather in 1286, she succeeded to the Scottish throne, but died on her voyage to Scotland, leaving the throne open to numerous claimants, of whom Balliol was eventually chosen. Had she lived she was to have become the wife of Edward, son of Edward I of England, thus uniting the two crowns.
The name given to Jeanne d’Arc, after the relief of Orleans in 1429.
The name given to Agostina Zaragoza, in consequence of her bravery at the siege of Saragossa in 1808, where she took her part with the soldiers in fighting the guns on the ramparts.
The sobriquet of Malcolm IV of Scotland (1153-1165).
Elizabeth of England is so called.
A rising in Paris in 1382, against a tax on the sale of provisions and merchandise. The name is derived from the heavy iron maces with which the majority of the insurgents were armed.
SeeBye-Plot.
A law passed in the State of Maine, U.S.A., in 1851, prohibiting the trade in intoxicants. It has since been incorporated in the constitution of the State, rendering repeal impossible without previous recourse to a popular vote.
Bodies of retainers in the service of the great feudal lords. It was to check the abuses arising from the system of maintenance that the Star Chamber was originally established.
The prime ministers of the later Merovingian Kings, and thede factorulers, as these monarchs took no part in the Government. The last Maire du Palais was Charles Martel, the father of Pepin, and founder of the Carlovingian dynasty.
The military household of Louis XIV of France. It consisted of the Gardes du Corps and the Mousquetaires du Roi, all gentlemen by birth, numbering twelve thousand.
An edict issued by the Emperor Rudolph II in 1609 granting to all Bohemians of certain recognized religions freedom of conscience, admission to the University of Prague, and the right to build churches on Crown lands. The edict further declared that any subsequent ordinances issued in contravention of this charter were null and void.
Twelve officers, commanding the twelve military districts into which Cromwell divided England in 1655. They were given command of the militia, and their functions were to suppress any Royalist rising, and to supervise the collection of the 10 per cent. tax levied from Royalists. The plan was abandoned in 1651, Parliament refusing to vote the money for the militia.
The scene of the defeat of General Colley’s force by the Boers on February 27, 1881, which virtually closed the Boer War of that year. The surrender of the British Government to the Boer demands is generally known as the “Majuba Surrender,” and the bitter feeling thereby aroused caused “Remember Majuba” to be a sort of war-cry at the outbreak of the war of 1899-1902. The Paardeberg surrender on the anniversary of Majuba in 1900 was hailed as in some degree wiping out the disgrace attached to the word.
In 1578 the Walloon troops of the Netherlands, being irritated by the promulgation of the Religious Peace, and by their pay being in arrear, mutinied under the leadership of the Seigneur de Montigny. Attempts to appease them were fruitless, and eventually, with the support of the nobles of Hainault and Artois, the mutiny ended in the formation of a confederacy of the Walloon provinces, pledged to support the Pacification of Ghent, and owning allegiance to Philip II.
A plot contrived by General Malet and the Abbé Lafone, in 1812, to dethrone Napoleon. By means of forged papers Malet persuaded a section of the Paris garrison that Napoleon was dead, and that he was entrusted by the Senate with the command of the troops. He then proceeded to the police ministry, where he arrested Savary, the minister, and the prefect of police. Attempting, however, to dispose in the same way of General Hullin, the Commandant of Paris, he was overpowered by the General’s orderlies, and the plot came to an abortive end.
An additional tax of forty shillings the sack on the export of wool imposed by Edward III in 1337.
During the latter part of the Civil War and under the Commonwealth, those who had borne arms on the King’s side were so called by the Parliamentarians.
A company under the control of the French Government, formed about 1767 to keep up the price of breadstuffs. The company took advantage of the scarcity to make enormous profits, and it seems clear that Louis XV was pecuniarily interested in its transactions. About 1774 it became known as the Pacte de Famine.
An order of religious chivalry, established in Malta in 1104. In 1310 they captured Rhodes, and were known as the Knights of Rhodes until they were expelled from that island by the Turks in 1503, when they returned to Malta. They are now known as the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, and have become an English order, interesting themselves specially in ambulance work.
The name given by the Dutch to the Treaty of Commerce between England and Philip of Burgundy signed in 1506. By this instrument British ships were admitted free of harbour dues to the Ports of Antwerp, Bruges, Berghem and Middelburg, and English merchants were permitted to sell cloth throughout the Netherlands. In return Henry VII. agreed to surrender to Philip all rebels and fugitives from the Burgundian States captured in his dominions, a provision which was of no benefit to the Dutch.
Bands of half-breeds who raided the missions of the Jesuits in Paraguay in the seventeenth century, carrying off the converts as slaves. The word is generally applied in Brazil to those of mixed Indian and Negro blood.
The bodyguard of the Egyptian Sultans, chiefly composed of Circassian and Georgian slaves. In 1250 they mutinied, murdered the Sultan, and founded a dynasty of their own, nominating and removing the Sultans at their will. The Mameluke Dynasty lasted till 1517, when they were finally suppressed by the Sultan Selim.
The name given to the Savoy party in Geneva in the sixteenth century.
Allen, Larkin and O’Brien, who were executed for the murder of a policeman in the attempt to rescue the Fenian prisoners at Manchester in 1867, are so called by the disloyal Irish.
A cavalry charge through a crowded meeting which was being held in St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, in connexion with the Reform agitation in 1819. Many persons were injured. The accident, for it practically amounted to no more, was entirely due to the mismanagement of the magistrates, who attempted to arrest the agitator, Hunt, while on the platform in the centre of the meeting. This affair is also called, derisively, “Peterloo.”
A political and economic school, which was responsible for the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League, under Cobden, in 1838. They believed in the principle oflaissez faire, in free competition and freedom of contract, and looked upon Government interference with, or control of trade, as an economic heresy.
A council of thirty-six members, formed by Gage, the Governor of Massachusetts, after the subversion of the constitution in 1774. As no one of any standing would accept an appointment to this council. Gage, in whom was vested the whole of the administrative and judicial authority, appointed those whom he selected by writ of mandamus.
The name given by Europeans to the Chinese official classes. The word is of Portuguese origin, and means “officer” or “commander.”
A treaty signed in 1818, by which Holkar of Indore, after his defeat at Mahidpore, renounced his claim to suzerainty over the Rajput States, and placed himself under British protection.
A treaty between the British and Tippu Sahib, at the close of the second Mysore War in 1784, by which a return was agreed upon to thestatus quo ante.
The fabled capital city of El Dorado, said to be situated to the East of the Andes, nearthe equator. It was the objective of an expedition led by Gonzalo Pizarro from Quito in 1539, who had many imitators, both Spanish and English, as unsuccessful as himself. According to the Indian tales, gold was so plentiful in the district of El Dorado that it was used for the gates and roofs of the houses in Manoa.
In Anglo-Saxon times the court of a township built on the land of a lord, and not on public land. Such townships were known as manors, and the lord undertook the duties, and enjoyed the privileges which in other townships were in the hands of the freeholders.
A treaty signed in 1791 by Austria, Spain and Sardinia, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to provide forces to act on the French frontiers, with the object of overawing the revolutionists, and to issue a manifesto to the French nation, calling upon them to submit to the authority of their King, failing which the allies would take active steps to coerce them.
The murder by brigands, near Athens, of a party of Englishmen, including Mr. Herbert, a secretary of the British Legation, in 1870. The Greek Government were greatly blamed for the action they took in moving troops against the brigands, contrary to their express undertaking, before the required ransom, which had been provided, had been handed over to the brigands and the prisoners released.
A system of land tenure, apparently of a communistic nature, which prevailed in Germany in very early times. It seems to have been introduced into England by the Saxon invaders, and traces of it are found in the common lands.
A re-enactment by the Parliament of Marlborough in 1267, after the Barons’ War, of the Provisions of Oxford, with some slight changes, giving the King the power of appointing the Ministers of the Crown and the sheriffs.
The fugitive slaves in Jamaica, who, after the conquest of the island by England in 1655, took refuge in the mountains, and maintained a guerilla warfare against the colonists, which lasted until 1795.
The Spanish Moors who, after the conquest of Granada, accepted Christianity.
SeeHardwicke’s Act.
An Act passed in 1882, by which, in all marriages subsequent to the passing of the Act, a wife’s property is vested in herself, and is not subject to her husband’s control, as was previously the case.