Chapter 14

See F. Girolami-Cortona,Géographie générale de la Corse(Ajaccio, 1893); A. Andrei,À travers la Corse(Paris, 1893); Forcioli-Conti,Notre Corse(Ajaccio, 1897); R. Le Joindre,La Corse et les Corses(Paris, 1904); F. O. Renucci,Storia di Corsica(2 vols., Bastia, 1833), fervidly Corsican, but useful; Antonio Pietro Filippini,Istoria di Corsica(1st ed., 1594; 2nd ed., corrected and illustrated with unpublished documents by G. C. Gregori, 5 vols., Pisa, 1827-1832); J. M. Jacobi,Hist. gén. de la Corse, 2 vols., (Paris, 1833-1835), with many unpublished documents; L. H. Caird,History of Corsica(London, 1899). Further works and references to articles in reviews, &c., are given in Ulysse Chevalier’sRépertoire des sources, &c.,Topo-bibliographie, t. ii. s.v.

1See “Conventions entre quelques seigneurs Corses et l’office de St Georges (1453),” inBulletin soc. scientif. Corse(1881-1882), pp. 286, 305, 413, 501, 549 and (1883) 147; also the report of the deputies sent by the bank to Pope Nicholas V. in 1453, ib. p. 141.2Hammer-Purgstall,Gesch. des Osmanischen Reichs(Pest, 1840), ii. 288.3Father Cancellotti, who visited every part of the island, estimated the number of murders committed in 20 years at 28,000 (quoted in the article on Corsica inLa Grande Encyclopédie).

2Hammer-Purgstall,Gesch. des Osmanischen Reichs(Pest, 1840), ii. 288.

3Father Cancellotti, who visited every part of the island, estimated the number of murders committed in 20 years at 28,000 (quoted in the article on Corsica inLa Grande Encyclopédie).

CORSICANA,a city and the county-seat of Navarro county, Texas, U.S.A., situated in the N.E. part of the state, about 55 m. S. of Dallas. Pop. (1890) 6285; (1900) 9313, of whom 2399 were of negro descent; (1910 census) 9749. It is served by the Houston & Texas Central, the St Louis South Western, and the Trinity & Brazos Valley railways. It is the centre of a large and productive wheat- and cotton-growing region, which has also numerous oil wells (with a total production in 1907 of 226,311 barrels). The city has two oil refineries, a large cotton gin and a cotton compress, and among its manufactures are cotton-seed oil, cotton-cloth, flour and ice. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was $1,796,805, being an increase of 50.3% since 1900. Natural gas is extensively used for fuel and for lighting. Corsicana is the seat of the Texas state orphan home and of an Odd Fellows widows’ and orphans’ home, and has a Carnegie library. Corsicana was named in honour of the wife of a Mexican, Navarro, who owned a large tract of land in the county and from whom the county was named. The first permanent settlement here was made in 1848, and Corsicana was incorporated as a village in 1850 and chartered as a city in 1871.

CORSINI,the name of a Florentine princely family, of which the founder is said to be Neri Corsini, who flourished about the year 1170. Like other Florentine nobles the Corsini had at first no titles, but in more recent times they received many from foreign potentates and from the later grand dukes of Tuscany. The emperor Charles IV. created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and Civitella in 1629, of Lajatico and Orciatico in 1644, of Giovagallo and Tresana in 1652; in 1730 Lorenzo Corsini was elected pope as Clement XII., and conferred the rank of Roman princes and the duchy of Casigliano on his family, and in 1732 they were created grandees of Spain. They own two palaces in Florence, one of which on the Lung’ Arno Corsini contains the finest private picture gallery in the city, and many villas and estates in various parts of Italy.

See L. Passerini,Genealogia e storia della famiglia Corsini(Florence, 1858); A. von Reumont,Geschichte der Stadt Rom(Berlin, 1868);Almanach de Gotha.

(L. V.*)

CORSON, HIRAM(1828- ), American scholar, was born on the 6th of November 1828, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He held a position in the library of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (1849-1856), was a lecturer on English literature in Philadelphia (1859-1865), and was professor of English at Girard College, Philadelphia (1865-1866), and in St John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland (1866-1870). In 1870-1871 he was professor of rhetoric and oratory at Cornell University, where he was professor of Anglo-Saxon and English literature (1872-1886), of English literature and rhetoric (1886-1890), and from 1890 to 1903 (when he became professor emeritus) of English literature, a chair formed for him. He edited Chaucer’sLegende of Goode Women(1863) andSelections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales(1896), and wrote aHand-Book of Anglo-Saxon and Early English(1871), and, among other text-books,An Elocutionary Manual(1864),A Primer of English Verse(1892), andIntroductionsto the study of Browning (1886, 1889), of Shakespeare (1889) and of Milton (1899). The volume on Shakespeare and theJottings on the Text of Macbeth(1874) contain some excellent Shakespearian criticism. He also publishedThe University of the Future(1875),The Aims of Literary Study(1895), andThe Voice and Spiritual Education(1896). He translated theSatires of Juvenal(1868) and edited a translation by his wife, Caroline Rollin (d. 1901), of Pierre Janet’sMental State of Hystericals(1901).

CORSSEN, WILHELM PAUL(1820-1875), German philologist, was born at Bremen on the 20th of January 1820, and received his school education in the Prussian town of Schwedt, to which his father, a merchant, had removed. After spending some time at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin, where his interest in philological pursuits was awakened by the rector, Meinike, he proceeded to the university, and there came especially under the influence of Böckh and Lachmann. His first important appearance in literature was as the author ofOrigines poesis romanae, by which he had obtained the prize offered by the “philosophical” or “arts” faculty of the university. In 1846 he was called from Stettin, where he had for nearly two years held a post in the gymnasium, to occupy the position of lecturer in the royal academy at Pforta (commonly called Schulpforta), and there he continued to labour for the next twenty years. In 1854 he won a prize offered by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences for the best work on the pronunciation and accent of Latin, a treatise which at once took rank, on its publication under the title ofÜber Aussprache, Vocalismus, und Betonung der lateinischen Sprache(1858-1859), as one of the most erudite and masterly works in its department. This was followed in 1863 by hisKritische Beiträge zur lat. Formenlehre, which were supplemented in 1866 byKritische Nachträge zur lat. Formenlehre. In the discussion of the pronunciation of Latin he was naturally led to consider the various old Italian dialects, and the results of his investigations appeared in miscellaneous communications to Kuhn’sZeitschrift für vergleichende Schriftforschung. Ill-health obliged him to give up his professorship at Pforta, and return to Berlin, in 1866; but it produced almost no diminution of his literary activity. In 1867 he published an elaborate archaeological study entitled theAlterthümer und Kunstdenkmale des Cistercienserklosters St Marien und der Landesschule Pforta, in which he gathers together all that can be discovered about the history of the Pforta academy, the German “Eton,” and in 1868-1869 he brought out a new edition of hiswork on Latin pronunciation. From a very early period he had been attracted to the special study of Etruscan remains, and had at various times given occasional expression to his opinions on individual points; but it was not till 1870 that he had the opportunity of visiting Italy and completing his equipment for a formal treatment of the whole subject by personal inspection of the monuments. In 1874 appeared the first volume ofÜber die Sprache der Etrusker, in which with great ingenuity and erudition he endeavoured to prove that the Etruscan language was cognate with that of the Romans. Before the second volume (published posthumously under the editorship of Kuhn) had received the last touches of his hand, he was cut off in 1875 by a comparatively early death.

CORT, CORNELIS(1536-1578), Dutch engraver, was born at Horn in Holland, and studied engraving under Hieronymus Cockx of Antwerp. About 1565 he went to Venice, where Titian employed him to execute the well-known copperplates of St Jerome in the Desert, the Magdalen, Prometheus, Diana and Actaeon, and Diana and Calisto. From Italy he wandered back to the Netherlands, but he returned to Venice soon after 1567, proceeding thence to Bologna and Rome, where he produced engravings from all the great masters of the time. At Rome he founded the well-known school in which, as Bartsch tells us, the simple line of Marcantonio was modified by a brilliant touch of the burin, afterwards imitated and perfected by Agostino Caracci in Italy and Nicolas de Bruyn in the Netherlands. Before visiting Italy, Cort had been content to copy Michael Coxcie, F. Floris, Heemskerk, G. Mostaert, Bartholomäus Spranger and Stradan. In Italy he gave circulation to the works of Raphael, Titian, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Baroccio, Giulio Clovio, Muziano and the Zuccari. His connexion with Cockx and Titian is pleasantly illustrated in a letter addressed to the latter by Dominick Lampson of Liége in 1567. Cort is said to have engraved upwards of one hundred and fifty-one plates. In Italy he was known as Cornelio Fiammingo.

CORTE,a town of central Corsica, 52 m. N.E. of Ajaccio by the railway between that town and Bastia. Pop. (1906) 4839. The upper town is situated on a precipitous rock overhanging the confluence of the Tavignano and Restonica, the rest of the town lying below it on both banks of the rivers. On the summit of the rock stands a citadel built by Vincentello d’Istria (seeCorsica). Other interesting buildings are the house in which Pasquale Paoli lived while Corte was the seat of his government (1755 to 1769), and the house of another patriot, Giampietro Gaffori, whose wife defended it from the Genoese in 1750. There are statues of Paoli, of General Gaffori, and of General Arrighi di Casanova, duke of Padua (d. 1853). Corte is capital of an arrondissement of the island, has a subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance and a communal college, and manufactures alimentary paste. There are marble quarries in the vicinity, and the town has trade in wine and timber. In the 18th century Corte was the centre of the resistance to the Genoese, and it was the seat of a university erected by Paoli.

CORTE-REAL, JERONYMO(1533-1588), Portuguese epic poet, came of a noble Portuguese stock. Of the same family were Gaspar Corte-Real, who in 1500 and 1501 sailed to Labrador and the Arctic seas; and his brothers Miguel and Vasco. Their voyages opened the way for important Portuguese fisheries on the Newfoundland coast (see Henry Harrisse,Les Corte-Real et leurs voyages au Nouveau-Monde, andGasper Corte-Real: la date exacte de sa dernière expédition au Nouveau-Monde, Paris, 1883). In his youth Jeronymo fought in Africa and Asia according to the custom of noblemen in that age. There is a tradition that he was present at the affair of Tangier on the 18th of May 1553, when D. Pedro de Menezes met his death. Returning home, it is supposed about 1570, he spent the rest of his days in retirement. In 1578 he placed his sword at the disposal of King Sebastian for the fatal expedition to Africa, but the monarch dispensed him from the journey (it is said) on account of his age, and in 1586 we find him acting asprovedorof theMisericordiaof Evora. He married D. Luiza da Silva, but left no legitimate issue. Corte-Real was painter as well as soldier and poet, and one of his pictures is still preserved in the church of S. Antão at Evora. His poetical works are believed to have been composed in his old age at the mansion on his estate near Evora, known as “Valle de Palma.”O Segundo cerco de Diu, an epic in 21 cantos, deals with the historic siege of that Indian island-fortress of the Portuguese. First printed in 1574, it had a second edition in 1783, while a Spanish version appeared at Alcalá in 1597.Austriada, an epic in 15 cantos celebrating the victory of Don John of Austria over the Turks at Lepanto, was written in Spanish and published in 1578. King Philip II. accepted the dedication in flattering terms and visited the poet when he came to Portugal.Naufragio de Sepulveda, an epic in 17 cantos, describes the tragic shipwreck on the South African coast and the death of D. Manoel de Sepulveda with his beautiful wife and young children, a disaster which drew some feeling stanzas from Camoens (Lusiads, v. 46). The poem was published four years after the death of Corte-Real by his heirs, and had two later editions, while a Spanish version appeared in Madrid in 1624 and a French in Paris in 1844.Auto dos quatro novissimos do homemis a short poem printed in 1768. Except theNaufragio de Sepulveda, which is highly considered in Portugal, Corte-Real’s poetry has hardly stood the test of time, and critics of later generations have refused to ratify the estimate formed by contemporaries, who considered him the equal, if not the superior, of Camoens. His lengthy epics suffer from a want of sustained inspiration, and are marred by an abuse of epithet, though they contain episodes of considerable merit, vigorous and well-coloured descriptive passages, and exhibit a pure diction.

SeeSubsidios para a biographia do poeta Jeronymo Corte-Real(Evora, 1899); also Ernesto do Canto’s Memoir on the family in Nos. 23 and 24 of theArchivo dos Azores, and Dr Sousa Viterbo’sTrabalhos nauticos dos Portuguezes, ii. 153 et seq.

(E. Pr.)

CORTES, HERNANorHERNANDO(1485-1547), Spanish soldier, the conqueror of Mexico, was born at Medellin, a small town of Estremadura, in 1485. He belonged to a noble family of decayed fortune, and, being destined for the law, was sent, at fourteen years of age, to the university of Salamanca; but study was distasteful to him, and he returned home in 1501, resolved to enter upon a life of adventure. He arranged to accompany Ovando, who had been appointed to the command of San Domingo, but was prevented from joining the expedition by an accident that happened to him in a love adventure. He next sought military service under the celebrated Gonsalvo de Córdoba, but a serious illness frustrated his purpose. At last, in 1504, he set out, according to his first plan, for San Domingo, where he was kindly received by Ovando. He was then only nineteen, and remarkable for a graceful physiognomy and amiable manners, as well as for skill and address in all military exercises. He remained in San Domingo, where Ovando had successively conferred upon him several lucrative and honourable employments, until 1511, when he accompanied Diego Velazquez in his expedition to the island of Cuba. Here he became alcalde of Santiago, and displayed great ability on several trying occasions.

An opportunity was soon afforded him of showing his powers as a military leader. Juan Grijalva, lieutenant of Velazquez, had just discovered Mexico, but had not attempted to effect a settlement. This displeased the governor of Cuba, who superseded Grijalva, and entrusted the conquest of the newly discovered country to Cortes. The latter hastened his preparations, and, on the 18th of November 1518, he set out from Santiago, with 10 vessels, 600 or 700 Spaniards, 18 horsemen and some pieces of cannon. Scarcely had he set sail, however, when Velazquez recalled the commission which he had granted to Cortes, and even ordered him to be put under arrest; but the attachment of the troops, by whom he was greatly beloved, enabled him to persevere in spite of the governor; and on the 4th of March 1519 he landed on the coast of Mexico. Advancing along the gulf, sometimes taking measures to conciliate the natives, and sometimes spreading terror by his arms, he took possession of the town of Tobasco. The noise of the artillery, the appearance of the floating fortresses which had transported the Spaniards over the ocean, and the horses on which they fought, all new objects to thenatives, inspired them with astonishment mingled with terror and admiration; they regarded the Spaniards as gods, and sent them ambassadors with presents. Cortes here learned that the native sovereign was called Montezuma; that he reigned over an extensive empire, which had lasted for three centuries; that thirty vassals, called caciques, obeyed him; and that his riches were immense and his power absolute. No more was necessary to inflame the ambition of the invader, who did not hesitate to undertake the conquest of this great empire, which could only be effected by combining stratagem and address with force and courage. He laid the foundation of the town of Vera Cruz, caused himself to be elected captain-general of the new colony, and burned his vessels to cut off the possibility of retreat and show his soldiers that they must either conquer or perish. He then penetrated into the interior of the country, drew to his camp several caciques hostile to Montezuma, and induced these native princes to facilitate his progress. The republic of Tlaxcala, which was hostile to Montezuma, opposed him; but he routed its army, which had resisted all the forces of the Mexican empire, dictated peace on moderate terms and converted the people into powerful auxiliaries. His farther advance was in vain attempted to be checked by an ambuscade laid by the inhabitants of Cholula, on whom he took signal vengeance.

Surmounting all other obstacles he arrived, with 6000 natives and a handful of Spaniards, in sight of the immense lake on which was built the city of Mexico, the capital of the empire. Montezuma received him with great pomp, and his subjects, believing Cortes to be a descendant of the sun, prostrated themselves before him. The first care of Cortes was to fortify himself in one of the beautiful palaces of the prince, and he was planning how to possess himself of the riches of so opulent an empire, when intelligence reached him that a general of the emperor, who had received secret orders, had just attacked the garrison of Vera Cruz and killed several of his soldiers. The head of one of the Spaniards was sent to the capital. This event undeceived the Mexicans, who had hitherto believed the Spaniards to be immortal, and necessarily altered the whole policy of Cortes. Struck with the greatness of the danger, surrounded by enemies, and having only a handful of soldiers, he conceived and instantly executed a most daring project. Having repaired with his officers to the palace of the emperor, he announced to Montezuma that he must either accompany him or perish. Being thus master of the person of the monarch, he next demanded that the Mexican general and his officers who had attacked the Spaniards should be delivered into his hands; and when this had been done he caused these unfortunate men, who had only obeyed the orders of their sovereign, to be burned alive before the gates of the imperial palace. During this cruel execution Cortes entered the apartment of Montezuma, and caused him to be loaded with irons, in order to force him to acknowledge himself a vassal of Charles V. The unhappy prince yielded, and was restored to a semblance of liberty on presenting the fierce conqueror with 600,000 marks of pure gold, and a prodigious quantity of precious stones. Scarcely had he reaped the fruits of his audacity, however, when he was informed of the landing of a Spanish army, under Narvaez, which had been sent by Velazquez to compel him to renounce his command. In this emergency Cortes acted with his usual decision and courage. Leaving 200 men at Mexico, under the orders of his lieutenant (Alvarado), he marched against Narvaez, whom he defeated and made prisoner, and he then enlisted under his standard the Spanish soldiers who had been sent to attack him. On his return to the capital, however, he found that the Mexicans had revolted against the emperor and the Spaniards, and that dangers thickened around him. Montezuma perished in attempting to address his revolted subjects; the latter, having chosen a new emperor, attacked the headquarters of Cortes with the utmost fury, and, in spite of the advantage of firearms, forced the Spaniards to retire, as the only means of escaping destruction. Their rear-guard, however, was cut in pieces, and they suffered severely during the retreat, which was continued during six days. Elated with their success, the Mexicans offered battle in the plain of Otumba. This was what Cortes desired, and it proved their destruction. Cortes gave the signal for battle, and, on the 7th of July 1520, gained a victory which decided the fate of Mexico. Immediately afterwards he proceeded to Tlaxcala, assembled an auxiliary army of natives, subjected the neighbouring provinces, and then marched a second time against Mexico, which, after a gallant defence of several months, was retaken on the 13th of August 1521.

These successes were entirely owing to the genius, valour and profound but unscrupulous policy of Cortes; and the account of them which he transmitted to Spain excited the admiration of his countrymen. The extent of his conquests, and the ability he had displayed, effaced the censure which he had incurred by the irregularity of his operations; and public opinion having declared in his favour, Charles V., disregarding the pretensions of Velazquez, appointed him governor and captain-general of Mexico, at the same time conferring on him the valley of Oaxaca, which was erected (1529) into a marquisate, with a considerable revenue. But although his power was thus confirmed by royal authority, and although he exertedhimselfto consolidate Spanish domination throughout all Mexico, the means he employed were such that the natives, reduced to despair, took arms against the Spaniards. This revolt, however, was speedily subdued, and the Mexicans were everywhere forced to yield to the ascendancy of European discipline and valour. Guatemotzin, who had been recognized as emperor, and a great number of caciques, accused of having conspired against the conquerors, were publicly executed, with circumstances of great cruelty, by order of Cortes. Meanwhile the court of Madrid, dreading the ambition and popularity of the victorious chief, sent commissioners to watch his conduct and thwart his proceedings; and whilst he was completing the conquest of New Spain his goods were seized by the fiscal of the Council of the Indies, and his retainers imprisoned and put into irons. Indignant at the ingratitude of his sovereign, Cortes returned in person to Spain to appeal to the justice of the emperor, and appeared there with great splendour. The emperor received him with every mark of distinction, and decorated him with the order of St Iago. Cortes returned to Mexico with new titles but diminished authority, a viceroy having been entrusted with the administration of civil affairs, whilst the military department, with permission to push his conquests, was all that remained to Cortes. This division of powers became a source of continual dissension, and caused the failure of the last enterprises in which he engaged. Nevertheless, in 1536, he discovered the peninsula of Lower California, and surveyed a part of the gulf which separates it from Mexico.

At length, tired of struggling with adversaries unworthy of him, whom the court took care to multiply, he returned to Europe, hoping to confound his enemies. But Charles V. received him coldly. Cortes dissembled, redoubled the assiduity of his attendance on the emperor, accompanied him in the disastrous expedition to Algiers in 1541, served as a volunteer, and had a horse killed under him. This was his last appearance in the field, and if his advice had been followed the Spanish arms would have been saved from disgrace, and Europe delivered nearly three centuries earlier from the scourge of organized piracy. Soon afterwards he fell into neglect, and could scarcely obtain an audience. The story goes that, having forced his way through the crowd which surrounded the emperor’s carriage, and mounted on the door-step, Charles, astonished at an act of such audacity, demanded to know who he was. “I am a man,” replied the conqueror of Mexico proudly, “who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities.” So haughty a declaration of important services ill-requited could scarcely fail to offend a monarch on whom fortune had lavished her choicest favours. Cortes, overwhelmed with disgust, withdrew from court, passed the remainder of his days in solitude, and died, near Seville, on the 2nd of December 1547.

The only writings of Cortes are five letters on the subject of his conquests, which he addressed to Charles V. The best edition of them is that of Don Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, archbishop of Mexico, entitledHistoria de Nueva-España escrita par su esclarecido conquistador, Hernan Cortes, aumentada con otros documientos y notas(Mexico, 1770, 4to), a work the noble simplicity of which atteststhe truth of the recital it contains. An English translation of the letters, edited by Francis A. MacNutt, was published in 1908. The conquests of Cortes have been described with pompous elegance by Antonio de Solis in hisHistoria de la conquista de Mejico(1684), and with more truth and simplicity by Bernardo Diaz del Castillo in his work under the same title (1632). See also Sir Arthur Helps’sLife of Hernando Cortes(2 vols., London, 1871), F. A. MacNutt’sFernando Cortes(“Heroes of the Nations” Series, 1909), and the bibliography toMexico.

CORTES,a Spanish term literally signifying the “courts,” and applied to the states, or assembly of the states, of the kingdom. (SeeSpainandPortugal.)

CORTI, LODOVICO,Count(1823-1888), Italian diplomatist, was born at Gambarano on the 28th of October 1823. Early involved with Benedetto Cairoli in anti-Austrian conspiracies, he was exiled to Turin, where he entered the Piedmontese foreign office. After serving as artillery officer through the campaign of 1848, he was in 1850 appointed secretary of legation in London, whence he was promoted minister to various capitals, and in 1875 ambassador to Constantinople. Called by Cairoli to the direction of foreign affairs in 1878, he took part in the congress of Berlin, but unwisely declined Lord Derby’s offer for an Anglo-Italian agreement in defence of common interests. At Berlin he sustained the cause of Greek independence, but in all other respects remained isolated, and excited the wrath of his countrymen by returning to Italy with “clean hands.” For a time he withdrew from public life, but in 1881 was again sent to Constantinople by Cairoli, where he presided over the futile conference of ambassadors upon the Egyptian question. In 1886 he was transferred to the London embassy, but was recalled by Crispi in the following year through a misunderstanding. He died in Rome on the 9th of April 1888.

CORTLAND,a city and the county-seat of Cortland county, New York, U.S.A., in the central part of the state, on Tioughnioga river, at the junction of its E. and W. branches. Pop. (1890) 8590; (1900) 9014, of whom 682 were foreign born; (1905) 11,272;(1910) 11,504. It is served by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and the Lehigh Valley railways. The Franklin Hatch library and a state normal and training school (opened in 1869) are in Cortland. The city has important manufactories of wire, and wire-cloth and netting (one of the largest in America), cabs, carriages and waggons, iron and steel, wall-paper, dairy supplies, corundum wheels, and clothing. The value of the city’s factory products increased from $3,063,828 in 1900 to $4,574,191 in 1905 or 49.3%. The town of Cortlandville, which formed a part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, was first settled in 1792, and until 1829 was a part of the town of Homer; from which in the latter year it was separated, and made the county-seat. In 1900 the village of Cortland in the town of Cortlandville was chartered as a city.

See H. C. Goodwin,Cortland County and the Border Wars of New York(New York, 1859).

CORTONA,a town and episcopal see of Italy, in the province of Arezzo, 18 m. S. by E. from the town of Arezzo by rail. The ancient and modern names are identical. Pop. (1901) of town, 3579; commune, 29,296. The highest point of Cortona, a medieval castle (Fortezza), is situated 2130 ft. above sea-level on a hill commanding a splendid view, and is approached by a winding road. It is surrounded by its ancient Etruscan walls, which for the greater part of the circuit are fairly well preserved. They are constructed of parallelepipedal blocks of limestone, finely jointed (though the jointing has often been spoilt by weathering), and arranged in regular courses which vary in size in different parts of the enceinte. Near the N.W. angle some of the blocks are 7 to 8½ ft. long and 2½ ft. high, while on the W. side they are a good deal smaller—sometimes only 1 ft. high (see F. Noack inRömische Mitteilungen, 1897, 184). Within the town are two subterranean vaulted buildings in good masonry, of uncertain nature, some other remains under modern buildings, and a concrete ruin known as the “Bagni di Bacco.” The museum of the Accademia Etrusca, a learned body founded by Ridolfino Venuti in 1726, is situated in the Palazzo Pretorio; it contains some Etruscan objects, among which may be specially noted a magnificent bronze lamp with 16 lights, of remarkably fine workmanship, found in 1740, at the foot of the hill, two votive hands and a few other bronzes, and a little gold jewellery. The library has a good MS. of Dante. The cathedral, originally a Tuscan Romanesque building of the 11th-12th centuries, is now a fine Renaissance basilica restored in the 18th century, containing some paintings by Luca Signorelli, a native of the place. Opposite is the baptistery, with three fine pictures by Fra Angelico. S. Margherita, just below the Fortezza, is an ugly modern building occupying the site of a Gothic church of 1294, and containing a fine original rose window and reliefs from the tomb of the saint by Angelo e Francesco di maestro Pietro d’Assisi. Other works by Signorelli are to be seen elsewhere in the town, especially in S. Domenico; Pietro Berettini (Pietro da Cortona, 1596-1669) is hardly represented here at all. Below the town is the massive tomb chamber (originally subterranean, but now lacking the mound of the earth which covered it) known as the Grotta di Pitagora (grotto of Pythagoras). To the E. is the church of S. Maria del Calcinaio, a fine early Renaissance building by Francesco di Giorgio Martini of Siena, with fine stained glass windows.

The foundation of Cortona belongs to the legendary period of Italy. It appears in history as one of the strongholds of the Etruscan power; but in Roman times it is hardly mentioned. Dionysius’s statement that it was a colony (i. 26) is probably due to confusion.

See G. Dennis,Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria(London, 1883), ii. 394 seq.; A. Della Cella,Cortona Antica(Cortona, 1900).

(T. As.)

CORUMBÁ,a town and river port of Brazil on the W. bank of the Paraguay river, 1986 m. above Buenos Aires and 486 m. above the Paraguayan frontier. Pop. (1890) 8414. Corumbá is a fortified military post, has the large Ladario naval arsenal, where small river boats are built and repaired, and is the commercial entrepôt of the state of Matto Grosso. It is near the Bolivian frontier and is strongly garrisoned. Although the climate is extremely hot, the neighbouring country has many large cattle farms. Corumbá is one of the most important places in the interior of Brazil.

CORUNDUM,a mineral composed of native alumina (Al2O3). remarkable for its hardness, and forming in its finer varieties a valuable gem-stone. Specimens were sent from India to England in the 18th century, and were described in 1798 by the Hon. C. Greville under the name of corundum—a word which he believed to be the native name of the stone (Hindi,kurund; Tamil,kurundam; Sanskrit,kuruvinda, “ruby”). The finely coloured, transparent varieties include such gem-stones as the ruby and sapphire, whilst the impure granular and massive forms are known as emery. The term corundum is often restricted to the remaining kinds, i.e. those crystallized and crystalline varieties which are not sufficiently transparent and brilliant for ornamental purposes, and which were known to the older mineralogists as “imperfect corundum.” Such varieties were termed by J. Black, in consequence of their hardness, adamantine spar, but this name is now usually restricted to a hair-brown corundum, remarkable for a pearly sheen on the basal plane.

Corundum crystallizes in the hexagonal system. In fig. 1, which is a form of ruby, the prism a is combined with a hexagonal pyramid n, a rhombohedron R, and the basal pinacoid C. In fig. 2, which represents a typical crystal of sapphire, the prism s is associated with the acute pyramids b, r, and a rhombohedron a. Other crystals show a tabular habit, consisting usually of the basal pinacoid with a rhombohedron, and it is notable that this habit is said to be characteristic of corundum which has consolidated from a fused magma. Corundum has no truecleavage, but presents parting planes due to the structure of the crystal, which have been studied by Prof. J. W. Judd.

Next to diamond, corundum is the hardest known mineral. Its hardness is generally given as 9, but there are slight variations in different stones, sapphire being rather harder than ruby, and ruby than common corundum. The colours are very varied, and it is probable that iron is responsible for many of the tints, though chromium is a possible agent in certain cases. The transparent varieties are often distinguished as “Oriental” stones. (SeeRubyandSapphire.) Corundum is used largely for watch-jewels, and for bearings in electrical apparatus.

The coloured corundums fit for gem-stones come chiefly from Ceylon, Burma, Siam and Montana. Coarse dull corundum is found in many localities, and usually has higher commercial value as an abrasive agent than emery, which is less pure. The coarse corundum, however, is often partially hydrated or otherwise altered, whereby its hardness is diminished. In India, where the native lapidaries use corundum-sticks and rubbers formed of the powdered mineral cemented with lac, it occurs in the Salem district, Madras, in Mysore and in Rewa. Large deposits of corundum exist in the United States, especially in N. Carolina and Georgia, where they are associated with peridotites, often near contact with gneiss. The mineral has been extensively worked, as at Corundum Hill, Macon county, N.C., near which, in 1871, were discovered numerous rubies, sapphires and pebbles of coarse corundum in the bed of a river. Corundum occurs also at many localities in Montana, where the crystals are often of gem quality. They are found mostly as loose crystals in gravel, but are known also in igenous rocks like andesite and lamprophyre. Prof. J. H. Pratt, who has studied the occurrence both in Montana and in N. Carolina, considers that the alumina was dissolved in a molten magma, from which it separated at an early period of consolidation, as illustrated by the experiments of J. Morozewicz. Corundum occurs also in Canada in an igneous rock, a nepheline-syenite, associated with Laurentian gneiss. Important deposits were discovered by the Geological Survey in 1896, in Hastings county, Ontario; and corundum is now worked there and in Renfrew county. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria are other localities for corundum. The mineral is found also in the Urals and the Ilmen Mountains, in the Alps (in dolomite), in the basalts of the Rhine, and indeed as a subordinate rock-constituent corundum seems to enjoy a wide distribution, being found even in the British Isles.

See Joseph Hyde Pratt, “Corundum and its Occurrence and Distribution in the United States,”Bulletin U.S. Geol. Surv., No. 269 (1906); T. H. Holland,Economic Geology of India(2nd ed.), Part i. (1898).

(F. W. R.*)

CORUNNA,a maritime province in the extreme north-west of Spain; forming part of Galicia, and bounded on the E. by Lugo, S. by Pontevedra, W. and N. by the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1900) 653,556; area, 3051 sq. m. The coast of Corunna is exposed to the full force of the Atlantic; it forms one succession of fantastically shaped promontories, divided by bays and estuaries which often extend for many miles inland, with reefs and small islands in their midst. Though well lighted, this coast is very dangerous to navigation, gales and fogs being frequent in winter and spring. The most conspicuous headlands are Cape Ortegal and Cape de Vares, the most northerly points of the Spanish seaboard, and Capes Finisterre and Toriñana in the extreme west. The principal bays are those of Santa Marta, Ferrol and Corunna, on the north; Corcubion, Muros y Noya and Arosa, on the west. Wild and rugged though this region appears to travellers at sea, the mountains which overspread the interior are covered with forests and pastures, and watered by an abundance of small rivers and streams. The climate is mild and singularly equable, but the rainfall is very heavy. All the fruits and vegetables of northern Europe thrive in the sheltered valleys, and the cultivation of cherries, strawberries, peas and onions, for export, ranks among the most profitable local industries. Heavy crops of wheat, rye, maize and sugar-beet are raised. The wines of Corunna are heady and of inferior flavour. Cattle-breeding, once a flourishing industry, had greatly declined by the beginning of the 20th century, owing to foreign competition. All along the coast there are valuable fisheries of sardines, lobsters, cod, hake and other fish. Copper, tin and gold are procured in small quantities, and other minerals undoubtedly exist. The exports consist chiefly of farm produce and fish; the imports, of coal and textiles from England, petroleum from the United States, marble from Italy, salt fish from Norway and Newfoundland, and hides. The principal towns are Corunna, the capital and chief port (pop. 1900, 43,971); Ferrol (25,281), another seaport; Santiago de Compostela (24,120), famous as a place of pilgrimage; Carballo (13,032); Ortigueira (18,426) and Ribeira (12,218). These are described under separate headings. Along the coast there are numerous trading and fishing stations of minor importance. Railway communication is very defective. From Corunna a line passes south-eastward to Lugo and Madrid, and from Santiago another line goes southward to Vigo and Oporto; but the centre and the north-west of the province are, to a great extent, inaccessible except by road; and many, even of the main highways, are ill-constructed and ill-kept. Very few Spanish provinces have so high a birthrate, but the population increases very slowly owing to emigration. For a description of the peasantry, who are distinguished in may respects from those inhabiting other parts of Spain, seeGalicia.

CORUNNA(Span.La Coruña; Fr.La Corogne; Eng. formerly oftenThe Groyne), the capital of the province described above; in 43° 22′ N., and 8° 22′ W.; on the bay of Corunna, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1900) 43,971. The principal railways of north-western Spain converge on Corunna, and afford direct communication with Madrid and Oporto. Corunna consists of an upper and a lower town, built respectively on the eastern side of a small peninsula, and on the isthmus connecting the peninsula with the mainland. The upper town is the more ancient, and is still surrounded by walls and bastions, and defended by a citadel; but it has been gradually outgrown by the lower, which, though at first a mere fishing village, as its name ofPescaderiaimplies, is now comparatively well built, and has many broad and handsome streets. There is little remarkable in the public buildings, although the churches of Santiago and the Colegiata date respectively from the 12th and 13th centuries, and there are several convents, two hospitals, a palace for the captain-general of Galicia, a theatre, a school of navigation, an arsenal and barracks. The harbour is on the east. Though difficult to approach in stormy weather, it is completely sheltered, and accommodates vessels drawing 22 ft. It is defended by several forts, of which the most important are San Diego, on the east, and San Antonio, on the west. These fortifications are of little practical value on the landward side, as they are commanded by a hill which overlooks the town. The so-called Tower of Hercules, on the north, has been increased by modern additions to a height of nearly 400 ft., and is surmounted by a fine revolving light. Many foreign steamers call here, for emigrants or mails, on their way to South America. Upwards of 1200 merchant ships, mostly British, entered the port in 1905. The exports are chiefly agricultural produce, wine and fish; the imports are coal, colonial products, and manufactured goods. Chief among the industrial establishments is a state tobacco factory; the sardine and herring fisheries also employ a large number of the inhabitants.

Corunna, possibly at first a Phoenician settlement, is usually identified with the ancientArdobrica, a seaport mentioned by the 1st-century historian, Pomponius Mela, as in the country of theArtabri, from whom the name ofPortus Artabrorumwas given to the bay on which the city is situated. In the middle ages, and probably at an earlier period, it was calledCaronium; and this name is much more probably the origin of the present designation than the LatinColumnawhich is sometimes put forward. The harbour has always been of considerable importance, but it is only in comparatively modern times that it has made a figure in history. In 1588 it gave shelter to the Invincible Armada; in 1598 the town was captured and burned by the British under Drake and Norris. In 1747, and again in 1805, the bay was the scene of a naval victory of the British over the French; and on the 16th of January 1809 a battle took placein the neighbourhood, which is celebrated in British military annals (seePeninsular War). The French under Marshal Soult attempted to prevent the embarcation of the English under Sir John Moore, but were successfully repulsed in spite of their superior numbers. Moore was mortally wounded and died shortly afterwards. He was hastily buried in the ramparts near the sea; a monument in the Jardin de San Carlos raised by the British government commemorates his death. The town joined the revolutionary movement of 1820, but in 1823 it was forced to capitulate by French troops. In 1836 it was captured by the Carlists. Corunna suffered heavily when Spain was deprived of Cuba and Porto Rico by the Spanish-American War of 1898, for it had hitherto had a thriving trade with these colonies.

CORVÉE,in feudal law, the term used to designate the unpaid labour due from tenants, whether free or unfree, to their lord; hence any forced labour, especially that exacted by the state, the word being applied both to each particular service and to the system generally. Though the corvée formed a characteristic feature of the feudal system, it was, as an institution, much older than feudalism, and was already developed in its main features under the Roman Empire. Thus, under the Roman system, personal services (operae) were due from certain classes of the population not only to the state but to private proprietors. Apart from the obligations (operae officiales) imposed on freedmen as a condition of their enfranchisement, which in the country usually took the form of unpaid work on the landlord’s domain, the semi-servilecoloniwere bound, besides paying rent in money or kind, to do a certain number of days’ unremunerated labour on that part of the estate reserved by the landed proprietor. The state also exacted personal labour (operae publicae), in lieu of taxes, from certain classes for such purposes as the upkeep of roads, bridges and dykes; while the inhabitants of the various regions were responsible for the maintenance of the posting system (cursus publicus), for which horses, carts or labour would be requisitioned.

Under the Frankish kings, who in their administration followed the Roman tradition, this system was preserved. Thus for the repair of roads, or other public works, within their jurisdiction the counts were empowered to requisition the labour of the inhabitants of thepagus, while themissiand other public functionaries on their travels were entitled to demand from the populationen routeentertainment and the means of transport for themselves and their belongings. It was, however, the economic revolution which between the 6th and 10th centuries converted the Gallo-Roman estates into the feudal model, and the political conditions under which the officials of the Frankish empire developed into hereditary feudal nobles, that evolved the system of the corvée as it existed throughout the middle ages and, in some countries, survived far into the 19th century. The Roman estate had been cultivated by free farmers, bycoloni, and by slave labour. Under Frankish rule the farmers becamecoloniorhospites, the slaves, serfs. The estate was now habitually divided into the lord’s domain (terra indominicata,dominicum) and a series of allotments (mansi), parcels of land distributed by lot to the cultivators of the domain, who held them, partly by payment of rent in money or kind, partly by personal service and labour on the domain, these obligations both as to their nature and amount being very rigorously defined and permanently fixed in the case of eachmansusand passing with the land to each new tenant. They varied, of course, very greatly according to the size of the holding and the needs of the particular estate, but they possessed certain common characteristics which are everywhere found. Luchaire (Manuel, p. 346) divides all corvées into two broad categories, (1) corvées properly so called, (2) military services. The second of these, so far as the obligation to serve in the host (Hostis et equitatus) is concerned, was common to all classes of feudal society; though the obligation of villeins to keep watch and ward (gueta,warda) and to labour at the building or strengthening of fortifications (muragium,munitio castri) are special corvées. We are, however, mainly concerned with the first category, which may again be subdivided into two main groups, (1) personal service of men and women (manoperae,manuum operae, Fr.manœuvres, manual labour), (2) carriage (carroperae,carragia,carrata, &c., Fr.charrois), i.e. service rendered by means of carts, barrows or draught animals. These again were divided into fixed services (operae rigae) and exceptional services, demanded when the others proved insufficient. To these latter was given in the 8th century the name ofoperae corrogatae(i.e. requisitioned works, fromrogare, to request.) From this term (corrupted intocorvatae,curvadae,corveiae, &c.) is derived the word corvée, which was gradually applied as a general term for all the various services.

As to the nature of these corvées it must be noted that in the middle ages the feudal lords had replaced the centralized state for all administrative purposes, and the services due to them by their tenants and serfs, were partly in the nature of rent in the form of labour, partly those which under the Roman and Frankish monarchs had been exacted in lieu of taxes, and which the feudal lords continued to impose as sovereigns of their domains. To the former class belonged the service of personal labour in the fields, of repairing buildings, felling trees, threshing corn, and the like, as well as the hauling of corn, wine or wood; to the latter belonged that of labouring on the roads, of building and repairing bridges, castles and churches, and of carrying letters and despatches. Corvées were further distinguished asreal, i.e. attached to certain parcels of land, andpersonal, i.e. due from certain persons.

In spite of the fact that the corvées were usually strictly defined by local custom and by the contracts of tenancy, and that, in an age when currency was rare, payment in personal labour was a convenience to the poor, the system was open to obvious abuses. With the growth of communal life in the towns the townsmen early managed to rid themselves of these burdensome obligations either by purchase, or by exchanging the obligation of personal work for that of supplying carts, draught animals and the like. In the country, however, the system survived all but intact; and, so far as it was modified, was modified for the worse. Whatever safeguards the free cultivators may have possessed, the serfs were almost everywhere—especially in the 10th and 11th centuries—actually as well as nominally in this respect at the mercy of their lords (corvéables à merci), there being no limit to the amount of money or work that could be demanded of them. The system was oppressive even when the nobles to whom these services were paid gave something in return, namely, protection to the cultivator, his family and his land; they became intolerable when the development of the modern state deprived the land-owners of their duties, but not of their rights. In the case of France, in the 17th century the so-calledcorvée royalewas added to the burden of the peasants, i.e. the obligation to do unpaid labour on the public roads, an obligation made general in 1738; and this, together with the natural resentment of men at the fact that the land which their ancestors had bought was still subject to burdensome personal obligations in favour of people whom they rarely saw and from whom they derived no benefit, was one of the most potent causes of the Revolution. By the Constituent Assembly personal corvées were abolished altogether, while owners of land were allowed the choice of continuing real corvées or commuting them for money. The corvée as an incident of land tenure has thus disappeared in France. Thecorvée royaleof repairing the roads, however, abolished in 1789, was revived, under the name ofprestation, under the Consulate, by the law of 4 Thermidor an X., modified by subsequent legislation in 1824, 1836 and 1871. Under these laws the duty of keeping the roads in repair is still vested in the local communities, and all able-bodied men are called upon either to give three days’ work or its equivalent in money to this purpose. It is precisely the same system as that in force under the Roman Empire, and if it differ from the corvée it is mainly in the fact that the burden is equitably distributed, and that the work done is of actual value to those who do it.

As regards other countries, the corvée was everywhere, sooner or later, abolished with the serfdom of which it was the principalincident (seeSerfdom). Though so early as 1772 Maria Theresa had endeavoured to mitigate its hardships in her dominions (in Hungary unpaid labour was only to be demanded of the serfs on 52 days in the year!) it survived longest in the Austrian empire, being finally abolished by the revolution of 1848. The duty of personal labour on the public roads is, however, still maintained in other countries besides France. This was formerly the case in England also, where the occupiers of each parish who, by the common law, had access to the roads were responsible also for their upkeep. An act of 1555 imposed four days of forced labour for the repair of roads, and an act of Elizabeth (5 Eliz. c. 13) raised the number of days to six, or the payment of a composition instead.Thesystem of turnpikes, dating from 1663, which gradually extended over the whole of England, lessened the burden of this system of taxation, so far as main roads were concerned, but the greater number of the local roads were subject to repair by statutory labour until the Highways Act 1835, by which highways were put under the direction of a parish surveyor, and the necessary expenses met by a rate levied on the occupiers of land. In Scotland, statutory labour on highways was created by an act of 1719, and abolished in 1883.

In Egypt, the corvée has been employed from time immemorial, more especially for the purpose of cleaning out the irrigation canals. In the days when only one harvest a year was reaped, this forced labour was not a very great burden, but the introduction of cotton and the sugar-cane under Mehemet Ali changed the conditions. These latter are crops which require watering at various seasons of the year, and very often the fellah was called away for work in the canals at times when his own crops required the utmost attention. Moreover, the inequality of the corvée added to the evil. In some districts it was possible to purchase exemption, and the more wealthy paid no more for the privilege than the humblest fellah, consequently the corvée fell with undue hardship on the poorer classes. Under the premiership of Riaz Pasha the corvée was gradually abolished in Egypt between the years 1888 and 1891, and a small rate on the land substituted to provide the labour necessary for cleaning the canals. The corvée is now employed only to a limited extent to guard the banks of the Nile during flood.

Back to Index Next