See Weitbrecht,Wanderungen durch Geislingen und seine Umgebung(Stuttgart, 1896).
See Weitbrecht,Wanderungen durch Geislingen und seine Umgebung(Stuttgart, 1896).
GEISSLER, HEINRICH(1814-1879), German physicist, was born at the village of Igelshieb in Saxe-Meiningen on the 26th of May 1814 and was educated as a glass-blower. In 1854 he settled at Bonn, where he speedily gained a high reputation for his skill and ingenuity of conception in the fabrication of chemical and physical apparatus. With Julius Plücker, in 1852, he ascertained the maximum density of water to be at 3.8° C. He also determined the coefficient of expansion for ice between −24° and −7°, and for water freezing at 0°. In 1869, in conjunction with H.P.J. Vogelsang, he proved the existence of liquid carbon dioxide in cavities in quartz and topaz, and later he obtained amorphous from ordinary phosphorus by means of the electric current. He is best known as the inventor of the sealed glass tubes which bear his name, by means of which are exhibited the phenomena accompanying the discharge of electricity through highly rarefied vapours and gases. Among other apparatus contrived by him were a vaporimeter, mercury air-pump, balances, normal thermometer, and areometer. From the university of Bonn, on the occasion of its jubilee in 1868, he received the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy. He died at Bonn on the 24th of January 1879.
See A.W. Hofmann,Ber. d. deut. chem. Ges.p. 148 (1879).
See A.W. Hofmann,Ber. d. deut. chem. Ges.p. 148 (1879).
GELA, a city of Sicily, generally and almost certainly identified with the modern Terranova (q.v.). It was founded by Cretan and Rhodian colonists in 688B.C., and itself founded Acragas (seeAgrigentum) in 582B.C.It also had a treasure-house at Olympia. The town took its name from the river to the east (Thucydides vi. 2), which in turn was so called from its winter frost (γέλαin the Sicel dialect; cf. Lat.gelidus). The Rhodian settlers called it Lindioi (seeLindus). Gela enjoyed its greatest prosperity under Hippocrates (498-491B.C.), whose dominion extended over a considerable part of the island. Gelon, who seized the tyranny on his death, became master of Syracuse in 485B.C., and transferred his capital thither with half the inhabitants of Gela, leaving his brother Hiero to rule over the rest. Its prosperity returned, however, after the expulsion of Thrasybulus in 466B.C.,1but in 405 it was besieged by the Carthaginians and abandoned by Dionysius’ order, after his failure (perhaps due to treachery) to drive the besiegers away (E.A. Freeman,Hist. of Sic.iii. 562 seq.). The inhabitants later returned and rebuilt the town, but it never regained its position. In 311B.C.Agathocles put to death 5000 of its inhabitants; and finally, after its destruction by the Mamertines about 281B.C., Phintias of Agrigentum transferred the remainder to the new town of Phintias (now Licata,q.v.). It seems that in Roman times they still kept the name of Gelenses or Geloi in their new abode (Th. Mommsen inC.I.L.x., Berlin, 1883, p. 737).
(T. As.)
1Aeschylus died there in 456B.C.
1Aeschylus died there in 456B.C.
GELADA, the Abyssinian name of a large species of baboon, differing from the members of the genusPapio(seeBaboon) by the nostrils being situated some distance above the extremity of the muzzle, and hence made the type of a separate genus, under the name ofTheropithecus gelada. In the heavy mantle of long brown hair covering the fore-quarters of the old males, with the exception of the bare chest, which is reddish flesh-colour, the gelada recalls the Arabian baboon (Papio hamadryas), and from this common feature it has been proposed to place the two species in the same genus. The gelada inhabits the mountains of Abyssinia, where, like other baboons, it descends in droves to pillage cultivated lands. A second species, or race,Theropithecus obscurus, distinguished by its darker hairs and the presence of a bare flesh-coloured ring round each eye, inhabits the eastern confines of Abyssinia.
(R. L.*)
GELASIUS, the name of two popes.
Gelasius I., pope from 492 to 496, was the successor of Felix III. He confirmed the estrangement between the Eastern and Western churches by insisting on the removal of the name of Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, from the diptychs. He is the author ofDe duabus in Christo naturis adversus Eutychen et Nestorium. A great number of his letters has also come down to us. His name has been attached to aLiber Sacramentorumanterior to that of St Gregory, but he can have composed only certain parts of it. As to the so-calledDecretum Gelasii de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, it also is a compilation of documents anterior to Gelasius, and it is difficult to determine Gelasius’s contributions to it. At all events, as we know it, it is of Roman origin, and 6th-century or later.
(L. D.*)
Gelasius II. (Giovanni Coniulo), pope from the 24th of January 1118 to the 29th of January 1119, was born at Gaeta of an illustrious family. He became a monk of Monte Cassino, was taken to Rome by Urban II., and made chancellor and cardinal-deacon of Sta Maria in Cosmedin. Shortly after his unanimous election to succeed Paschal II. he was seized by Cencius Frangipane, a partisan of the emperor Henry V., but freed by a general uprising of the Romans in his behalf. The emperor drove Gelasius from Rome in March, pronounced his election null and void, and set up Burdinus, archbishop of Braga, as antipope under the name of Gregory VIII. Gelasius fled to Gaeta, where he was ordained priest on the 9th of March and on the following day received episcopal consecration. He at once excommunicated Henry and the antipope and, under Norman protection, was able to return to Rome in July; but the disturbances of the imperialist party, especially of the Frangipani, who attacked the pope while celebrating mass in the church of St Prassede, compelled Gelasius to go once more into exile. He set out for France, consecrating the cathedral of Pisa on the way, and arrived at Marseilles in October. He was received with great enthusiasm at Avignon, Montpellier and other cities, held a synod at Vienne in January 1119, and was planning to hold a general council to settle the investiture contest when he died at Cluny. His successor was Calixtus II.
His letters are in J.P. Migne,Patrol. Lat.vol. 163. The original life by Pandulf is in J.M. Watterich,Pontif. Roman. vitae(Leipzig, 1862), and there is an important digest of his bulls and official acts in Jaffé-Wattenbach,Regesta pontif. Roman.(1885-1888).See J. Langen,Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Gregor VII. bis Innocenz III.(Bonn, 1893); F. Gregorovius,Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 4, trans. by Mrs G.W. Hamilton (London, 1896); A. Wagner,Die unteritalischen Normannen und das Papsttum, 1086-1150(Breslau, 1885); W. von Giesebrecht,Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, Bd. iii. (Brunswick, 1890); G. Richter,Annalen der deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter, iii. (Halle, 1898); H.H. Milman,Latin Christianity, vol. 4 (London, 1899).
His letters are in J.P. Migne,Patrol. Lat.vol. 163. The original life by Pandulf is in J.M. Watterich,Pontif. Roman. vitae(Leipzig, 1862), and there is an important digest of his bulls and official acts in Jaffé-Wattenbach,Regesta pontif. Roman.(1885-1888).
See J. Langen,Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Gregor VII. bis Innocenz III.(Bonn, 1893); F. Gregorovius,Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 4, trans. by Mrs G.W. Hamilton (London, 1896); A. Wagner,Die unteritalischen Normannen und das Papsttum, 1086-1150(Breslau, 1885); W. von Giesebrecht,Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, Bd. iii. (Brunswick, 1890); G. Richter,Annalen der deutschen Geschichte im Mittelalter, iii. (Halle, 1898); H.H. Milman,Latin Christianity, vol. 4 (London, 1899).
(C. H. Ha.)
GELATI, a Georgian monastery in Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Kutais, 11 m. E. of the town of Kutais, standing on a rocky spur (705 ft. above sea-level) in the valley of the Rion. It was founded in 1109 by the Georgian king David the Renovator. The principal church, a sandstone cathedral, dates from the end of the preceding century, and contains the royal crown of the former Georgian kingdom of Imeretia, besides ancient MSS., ecclesiological furniture, and fresco portraits of the kings of Imeretia. Here also, in a separate chapel, is the tomb of David the Renovator (1089-1125) and part of the iron gate of the town of Ganja (now Elisavetpol), which that monarch brought away as a trophy of his capture of the place.
GELATIN, orGelatine, the substance which passes into solution when “collagen,” the ground substance of bone, cartilage and white fibrous tissue, is treated with boiling wateror dilute acids. It is especially characterized by its property of forming a jelly at ordinary temperature, becoming liquid when heated, and resolidifying to a jelly on cooling. The word is derived from the Fr.gélatine, and Ital.gelatina, from the Lat.gelata, that which is frozen, congealed or stiff. It is, therefore, in origin cognate with “jelly,” which came through the Fr.géleefrom the same Latin original.
The “collagen,” obtained from tendons and connective tissues, also occurs in the cornea and sclerotic coat of the eye, and in fish scales. Cartilage was considered to be composed of a substance chondrigen, which gave chondrin or cartilage-glue on boiling with water. Recent researches make it probable that cartilage contains (1) chondromucoid, (2) chondroitin-sulphuric acid, (3) collagen, (4) an albumoid present in old but not in young cartilage; whilst chondrin is a mixture of gelatin and mucin. “Bone collagen,” or “ossein,” constitutes, with calcium salts, the ground substance of bones. Gelatin consists of two substances, glutin and chondrin; the former is the main constituent of skin-gelatin, the latter of bone-gelatin.
True gelatigenous tissue occurs in all mature vertebrates, with the single exception, according to E.F.I. Hoppe-Seyler, of theAmphioxus lanceolatus. Gelatigenous tissue was discovered by Hoppe-Seyler in the cephalopodsOctopusandSepiola, but in an extension of his experiments to other invertebrates, as cockchafers andAnodonandUnio, no such tissue could be detected. Neither glutin nor chondrin occurs ready formed in the animal kingdom, but they separate when the tissues are boiled with water. A similar substance, vegetable gelatin, is obtained from certain mosses.
Pure gelatin is an amorphous, brittle, nearly transparent substance, faintly yellow, tasteless and inodorous, neutral in reaction and unaltered by exposure to dry air. Its composition is in round numbers C = 50, H = 7, N = 18, O = 25%; sulphur is also present in an amount varying from 0.25 to 0.7%.
Nothing is known with any certainty as to its chemical constitution, or of the mode in which it is formed from albuminoids. It exhibits in a general way a connexion with that large and important class of animal substances calledproteids, being, like them, amorphous, soluble in acids and alkalis, and giving in solution a left-handed rotation of the plane of polarization. Nevertheless, the ordinary well-recognized reactions for proteids are but faintly observed in the case of gelatin, and the only substances which at once and freely precipitate it from solution are mercuric chloride, strong alcohol and tannic acid.Although gelatin in a dry state is unalterable by exposure to air, its solution exhibits, like all the proteids, a remarkable tendency to putrefaction; but a characteristic feature of this process in the case of gelatin is that the solution assumes a transient acid reaction. The ultimate products of this decomposition are the same as are produced by prolonged boiling with acid. It has been found that oxalic acid, over and above the action common to all dilute acids of preventing the solidification of gelatin solutions, has the further property of preventing in a large measure this tendency to putrefy when the gelatin is treated with hot solutions of this acid, and then freed from adhering acid by means of calcium carbonate. Gelatin so treated has been calledmetagelatin.In spite of the marked tendency of gelatin solutions to develop ferment-organisms and undergo putrefaction, the stability of the substance in the dry state is such that it has even been used, and with some success, as a means of preserving perishable foods. The process, invented by Dr Campbell Morfit, consists in impregnating the foods with gelatin, and then drying them till about 10% or less of water is present. Milk gelatinized in this way is superior in several respects to the products of the ordinary condensation process, more especially in the retention of a much larger proportion of albuminoids.Gelatin has a marked affinity for water, abstracting it from admixture with alcohol, for example. Solid gelatin steeped for some hours in water absorbs a certain amount and swells up, in which condition a gentle heat serves to convert it into a liquid; or this may be readily produced by the addition of a trace of alkali or mineral acid, or by strong acetic acid. In the last case, however, or if we use the mineral acids in a more concentrated form, the solution obtained has lost its power of solidifying, though not that of acting as a glue. This property is utilized in the preparation of liquid glue (seeGlue). By prolonged boiling of strong aqueous solutions at a high, or of weak solutions at a lower temperature, the characteristic properties of gelatin are impaired and ultimately destroyed. After this treatment it acts less powerfully as a glue, loses its tendency to solidify, and becomes increasingly soluble in cold water; nevertheless the solutions yield on precipitation with alcohol a substance identical in composition with gelatin.By prolonged boiling in contact with hydrolytic agents, such as sulphuric acid or caustic alkali, it yields quantities of leucin and glycocoll (so-called “sugar of gelatin,” this being the method by which glycocoll was first prepared), but no tyrosin. In this last respect it differs from the great body of proteids, the characteristic solid products of the decomposition of which are leucin and tyrosin.
Nothing is known with any certainty as to its chemical constitution, or of the mode in which it is formed from albuminoids. It exhibits in a general way a connexion with that large and important class of animal substances calledproteids, being, like them, amorphous, soluble in acids and alkalis, and giving in solution a left-handed rotation of the plane of polarization. Nevertheless, the ordinary well-recognized reactions for proteids are but faintly observed in the case of gelatin, and the only substances which at once and freely precipitate it from solution are mercuric chloride, strong alcohol and tannic acid.
Although gelatin in a dry state is unalterable by exposure to air, its solution exhibits, like all the proteids, a remarkable tendency to putrefaction; but a characteristic feature of this process in the case of gelatin is that the solution assumes a transient acid reaction. The ultimate products of this decomposition are the same as are produced by prolonged boiling with acid. It has been found that oxalic acid, over and above the action common to all dilute acids of preventing the solidification of gelatin solutions, has the further property of preventing in a large measure this tendency to putrefy when the gelatin is treated with hot solutions of this acid, and then freed from adhering acid by means of calcium carbonate. Gelatin so treated has been calledmetagelatin.
In spite of the marked tendency of gelatin solutions to develop ferment-organisms and undergo putrefaction, the stability of the substance in the dry state is such that it has even been used, and with some success, as a means of preserving perishable foods. The process, invented by Dr Campbell Morfit, consists in impregnating the foods with gelatin, and then drying them till about 10% or less of water is present. Milk gelatinized in this way is superior in several respects to the products of the ordinary condensation process, more especially in the retention of a much larger proportion of albuminoids.
Gelatin has a marked affinity for water, abstracting it from admixture with alcohol, for example. Solid gelatin steeped for some hours in water absorbs a certain amount and swells up, in which condition a gentle heat serves to convert it into a liquid; or this may be readily produced by the addition of a trace of alkali or mineral acid, or by strong acetic acid. In the last case, however, or if we use the mineral acids in a more concentrated form, the solution obtained has lost its power of solidifying, though not that of acting as a glue. This property is utilized in the preparation of liquid glue (seeGlue). By prolonged boiling of strong aqueous solutions at a high, or of weak solutions at a lower temperature, the characteristic properties of gelatin are impaired and ultimately destroyed. After this treatment it acts less powerfully as a glue, loses its tendency to solidify, and becomes increasingly soluble in cold water; nevertheless the solutions yield on precipitation with alcohol a substance identical in composition with gelatin.
By prolonged boiling in contact with hydrolytic agents, such as sulphuric acid or caustic alkali, it yields quantities of leucin and glycocoll (so-called “sugar of gelatin,” this being the method by which glycocoll was first prepared), but no tyrosin. In this last respect it differs from the great body of proteids, the characteristic solid products of the decomposition of which are leucin and tyrosin.
Gelatin occurs in commerce in varying degrees of purity; the purer form obtained from skins and bones (to which this article is restricted) is named gelatin; a preparation of great purity is “patent isinglass,” while isinglass (q.v.) itself is a fish-gelatin; less pure forms constitute glue (q.v.), while a dilute aqueous solution appears in commerce as size (q.v.). The manufacture follows much the same lines as that of glue; but it is essential that the raw materials must be carefully selected, and in view of the consumption of most of the gelatin in the kitchen—for soups, jellies, &c.—great care must be taken to ensure purity and cleanliness.
In the manufacture of bone-gelatin the sorted bones are degreased as in the case of glue manufacture, and then transferred to vats containing a dilute hydrochloric acid, by which means most of the mineral matter is dissolved out, and the bones become flexible. Instead of hydrochloric acid some French makers use phosphoric acid. After being well washed with water to remove all traces of hydrochloric acid, the bones are bleached by leading in sulphur dioxide. They are now transferred to the extractors, and heated by steam, care being taken that the temperature does not exceed 85° C. The digestion is repeated, and the runnings are clarified, concentrated, re-bleached and jellied as with glue. Skin-gelatin is manufactured in the same way as skin-glue. After steeping in lime pits the selected skins are digested three times; the first and second runnings are worked up for gelatin, while the third are filtered for “size.”Vegetable gelatin is manufactured from a seaweed, genusLaminaria; from the tengusa, an American seaweed, and from Irish moss. TheLaminariais first extracted with water, and the residue with sodium carbonate; the filtrate is acidified with hydrochloric acid and the precipitated alginic acid washed and bleached. It is then dissolved in an alkali, the solution concentrated, and cooled down by running over horizontal glass plates. Flexible colourless sheets resembling animal gelatin are thus obtained. In America the weed is simply boiled with water, the solution filtered, and cooled to a thick jelly. Irish moss is treated in the same way. Both tengusa and Irish moss yield a gelatin suitable for most purposes; tengusa gelatin clarifies liquids in the same way as isinglass, and forms a harder and firmer jelly than ordinary gelatin.Applications of Gelatin.—First and foremost is the use of gelatin as a food-stuff—in jellies, soups, &c. Referring to the articlesGlue,IsinglassandSizefor the special applications of these forms of gelatin, we here enumerate the more important uses of ordinary gelatin. In photography it is employed in carbon-processes, its use depending on the fact that when treated with potassium bichromate and exposed to light, it is oxidized to insoluble compounds; it plays a part in many other processes. A solution of gelatin containing readily crystallized salts—alum, nitre, &c.—solidifies with the formation of pretty designs; this is the basis of the so-called “crystalline glass” used for purposes of ornamentation. It is also used for coating pills to prevent them adhering together and to make them tasteless. Compounded with various mineral salts, the carbonates and phosphates of calcium, magnesium and aluminium, it yields a valuable ivory substitute. It also plays a part in the manufacture of artificial leather, of India inks, and of artificial silk (the Vanduara Company processes).
In the manufacture of bone-gelatin the sorted bones are degreased as in the case of glue manufacture, and then transferred to vats containing a dilute hydrochloric acid, by which means most of the mineral matter is dissolved out, and the bones become flexible. Instead of hydrochloric acid some French makers use phosphoric acid. After being well washed with water to remove all traces of hydrochloric acid, the bones are bleached by leading in sulphur dioxide. They are now transferred to the extractors, and heated by steam, care being taken that the temperature does not exceed 85° C. The digestion is repeated, and the runnings are clarified, concentrated, re-bleached and jellied as with glue. Skin-gelatin is manufactured in the same way as skin-glue. After steeping in lime pits the selected skins are digested three times; the first and second runnings are worked up for gelatin, while the third are filtered for “size.”
Vegetable gelatin is manufactured from a seaweed, genusLaminaria; from the tengusa, an American seaweed, and from Irish moss. TheLaminariais first extracted with water, and the residue with sodium carbonate; the filtrate is acidified with hydrochloric acid and the precipitated alginic acid washed and bleached. It is then dissolved in an alkali, the solution concentrated, and cooled down by running over horizontal glass plates. Flexible colourless sheets resembling animal gelatin are thus obtained. In America the weed is simply boiled with water, the solution filtered, and cooled to a thick jelly. Irish moss is treated in the same way. Both tengusa and Irish moss yield a gelatin suitable for most purposes; tengusa gelatin clarifies liquids in the same way as isinglass, and forms a harder and firmer jelly than ordinary gelatin.
Applications of Gelatin.—First and foremost is the use of gelatin as a food-stuff—in jellies, soups, &c. Referring to the articlesGlue,IsinglassandSizefor the special applications of these forms of gelatin, we here enumerate the more important uses of ordinary gelatin. In photography it is employed in carbon-processes, its use depending on the fact that when treated with potassium bichromate and exposed to light, it is oxidized to insoluble compounds; it plays a part in many other processes. A solution of gelatin containing readily crystallized salts—alum, nitre, &c.—solidifies with the formation of pretty designs; this is the basis of the so-called “crystalline glass” used for purposes of ornamentation. It is also used for coating pills to prevent them adhering together and to make them tasteless. Compounded with various mineral salts, the carbonates and phosphates of calcium, magnesium and aluminium, it yields a valuable ivory substitute. It also plays a part in the manufacture of artificial leather, of India inks, and of artificial silk (the Vanduara Company processes).
GELDERLAND,Gelders, orGuelders, formerly a duchy of the Empire, on the lower Rhine and the Yssel, bounded by Friesland, Westphalia, Brabant, Holland and the Zuider Zee; part of which has become the province of Holland, dealt with separately below. The territory of the later duchy of Gelderland was inhabited at the beginning of the Christian era by the Teutonic tribes of the Sicambri and the Batavi, and later, during the period of the decline of the Roman empire, by the Chamavi and other Frank peoples. It formed part of the Caroling kingdom of Austrasia, and was divided intopagiorgauen, ruled by official counts (comites-graven). In 843, by the treaty of Verdun, it became part of Lotharingia (Lorraine), and in 879 was annexed to the kingdom of East Francia (Germany) by the treaty of Meerssen. The nucleus of the later county and duchy was thegauor district surrounding the town of Gelder or Gelre, lying between the Meuse and the Niers, and since 1715 included in Rhenish Prussia.
The early history is involved in much obscurity. There were inthe 11th century a number of counts ruling in various parts of what was afterwards known as Gelderland. Towards the close of that century Gerard of Wassenburg, who besides the county of Gelre ruled over portions of Hamalant and Teisterbant, acquired a dominant position amongst his neighbours. He is generally reckoned as the first hereditary count of Gelderland (d. 1117/8). His son, Gerard II.—the Long—(d. 1131), married Irmingardis, daughter and heiress of Otto, count of Zutphen, and their son, Henry I. (d. 1182), inherited both countships. His successors Otto I. (1182-1207) and Gerard III. (1207-1229) were lovers of peace and strong supporters of the Hohenstaufen emperors, through whose favour they were able to increase their territories by acquisitions in the districts of Veluwe and Betuwe. He acted as guardian to his nephew Floris IV. of Holland during his minority. Otto II., the Lame (1220-1271), fortified several towns and bestowed privileges upon them for the purpose of encouraging trade. He became a person of so much importance that he was urged to be a candidate for the dignity of emperor. He preferred to support the claims of his cousin, William II. of Holland. In return for the loan of a considerable sum of money William gave to him the city of Nijmwegen in pledge. His son Reinald I. (d. 1326) married Irmingardis, heiress of Limburg, and in right of his wife laid claim to the duchy against Adolf of Berg, who had sold his rights to John I. of Brabant. War followed, and on the 5th of June 1288 Reinald, who meantime had also sold his rights to the count of Luxemburg, was defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Woeringen. In this battle the count of Luxemburg was slain, and Reinald had to surrender his claims as the price of his defeat to John of Brabant. In 1310, in return for his support, Reinald received from the emperor Henry VII. for all his territoriesprivilegium de non evocando,i.e.the exemption of his subjects from the liability to be sued before any court outside his jurisdiction. In 1317 he was made a prince of the Empire. A wound received at the battle of Woeringen had affected his brain, and an insurrection against him was in 1316 headed by his son Reinald, who assumed the government under the title of “Son of the Count.” Reinald I. was finally in 1320 immured in prison, where he died in 1326.
Reinald II., the Black (1326-1343), was one of the foremost princes in the Netherlands of his day. He married (1) Sophia, heiress of Mechlin, and (2) in 1331 Eleanor, sister of Edward III. of England. By purchase or conquest he added considerably to his territories. He did much to improve the condition of the country, to foster trade, to promote the prosperity of the towns, and to maintain order and security in his lands by wise laws and firm administration. In 1338 the title of duke was bestowed upon him by the emperor Louis the Bavarian, who at the same time granted to him the fief of East Friesland. He died in 1343, leaving three daughters by his first marriage, and two sons, Reinald and Edward, both minors, by Eleanor of England. His elder son was ten years of age, and succeeded to the duchy under the guardianship of his mother Eleanor. Declared of age two years later, the youthful Reinald III. found himself involved in many difficulties through the struggles between the rival factions named after the two noble families of Bronkhorst and Hekeren. What was the quarrel between them, and what the causes they represented, cannot now be ascertained with certainty. There is good reason, however, to believe that they were the counterparts of the contemporary Cod and Hook parties in Holland, and of the Schieringers and Vetkoopers in Friesland. In Gelderland the quarrel between them was converted into a dynastic struggle, the Hekeren recognizing Duke Reinald, while the Bronkhorsten set up his younger brother Edward. At the battle of Tiel (1361) Reinald was defeated and taken prisoner, and Edward held the duchy till 1371. He was a good and successful ruler, and his death by an arrow wound, after a brilliant victory over the duke of Brabant near Baesweller (August 1371), was a loss to his country. He was in his thirty-fifth year and left no heirs. Reinald was now taken from the prison in which he had been confined to reign once more, but his health was broken and he died childless three years afterwards. The war of factions again broke out, the half-sisters of Reinald III. and Edward both claiming the inheritance; the elder, Matilda (Machteld), in her own right, the younger Maria on behalf of her seven-year-old boy William of Jülich, as the only male representative of the family. The Hekeren supported Matilda, the Bronkhorsten William of Jülich. The war of succession lasted till 1379, and ended in William’s favour, the emperor Wenceslas (Wenzel) recognizing him as duke four years later.
Duke William was able, restless and adventurous, an ideal knight of the palmy days of chivalry. He took part in no less than five crusades with the Teutonic order against the heathen Lithuanians and Prussians. In 1393 he inherited the duchy of Jülich, and died in 1402. He was succeeded by his brother, Reinald IV. (d. 1423), in the united sovereignty of Gelderland, Zutphen and Jülich, who, in accordance with a promise made before his accession, ceded the town of Emmerich to Duke Adolf of Cleves. He took the part of his brother-in-law, John of Arkel, against William VI. of Holland, and in a war of several years’ duration was not successful in preventing the Arkel territory being incorporated in Holland. On his death without legitimate issue, Gelderland passed to the young Arnold of Egmont, grandson of his sister Johanna, who had married John, lord of Arkel, their daughter Maria (d. 1415) being the wife of John, count of Egmont (d. 1451). Arnold was recognized as duke in 1424 by the emperor Sigismund, but in the following year the emperor revoked his decision and bestowed the duchy upon Adolf of Berg. Arnold in retaliation laid claim to the duchy of Jülich, which had likewise been granted to Adolf by Sigismund, and a war followed in which the cities and nobles of Gelderland stood by Arnold; it ended in Arnold retaining Gelderland and Zutphen, and Gerard, the son of Adolf (d. 1437), being acknowledged as duke of Jülich. To gain the support of the estates of Gelderland in this war of succession, Arnold had been compelled to make many concessions limiting the ducal prerogatives, and granting large powers to a council consisting of representatives of the nobles and the four chief cities, and his extravagance and exactions led to continual conflicts, in which the prince was compelled to yield to the demands of his subjects. In his later years a conspiracy was formed against him, headed by his wife, the violent and ambitious Catherine of Cleves, and his son Adolf. Arnold was at first successful and Adolf had to go into exile; but he returned, and in 1465, having taken his father prisoner by treachery, interned him in the castle of Buren. Charles the Bold of Burgundy now seized the opportunity to intervene. In 1471 he forced Adolf to release his father, who sold the reversion of the duchy to the duke of Burgundy for 92,000 golden gulden. On the 23rd of February 1473 Arnold died, and Charles of Burgundy became duke of Gelderland. His succession was not unopposed. Nijmwegen offered an heroic resistance and only fell after a long siege. After Charles’s death in 1477 Adolf was released from the captivity in which he had been held, and placed himself at the head of a party in the powerful city of Ghent, which sought to settle the disputed succession by forcing a match between him and Mary, the heiress of Burgundy. On the 29th of June 1477, however, he was killed at the siege of Tournai; and Mary gave her hand to Maximilian of Austria, afterwards emperor. Catherine, Adolf’s sister, made an attempt to assert the rights of his son Charles to the duchy, but by 1483 Maximilian had crushed all opposition and established himself as duke of Gelderland.
Charles of Egmont, however, did not surrender his claims, but with the aid of the French collected an army, and in the course of 1492 and 1493 succeeded in reconquering his inheritance. The efforts of Maximilian to recover the country were vain, and the successive governors of the Netherlands, Philip the Fair and his sister Margaret, fared no better. In 1507 Charles of Egmont invaded Holland and Brabant, captured Harderwijk and Bommel in 1511, threatened Amsterdam in 1512, and took Groningen. It was, undoubtedly, a great and heroic achievement for the ruler of a petty state like Gelderland thus to assert and maintain his independence for a long period against the overwhelming power of the house of Austria. It was not till 1528 that the emperor Charles V. could force him to accept the compromise of the treaty of Gorichen, by which he received Gelderland and Zutphen forlife as fiefs of the Empire. In 1534 the duke, who was childless, attempted to transfer the reversion of Gelderland to France, but this project was violently resisted by the estates of the duchy, and Charles was compelled by them in 1538 to appoint as his successor William V.—the Rich—of Cleves (d. 1592). Charles died the same year, and William, with the aid of the French, succeeded in maintaining his position in Gelderland for several years. The Habsburg power was, however, in the end too great for him, and he was forced to cede the duchy to Charles V. by the treaty of Venloo, signed on the 7th of September 1543.
Gelderland was now definitely amalgamated with the Habsburg dominions in the Netherlands, until the revolt of the Low Countries led to its partition. In 1579 the northern and greater part, comprising the three “quarters” of Nijmwegen, Arnhem and Zutphen, joined the Union of Utrecht and became the province of Gelderland in the Dutch republic. Only the quarter of Roermonde remained subject to the crown of Spain, and was called Spanish Gelderland. By the treaty of Utrecht (1715) this was ceded to Prussia with the exception of Venloo, which fell to the United Provinces, and Roermonde, which, with the remaining Spanish Netherlands, passed to Austria. Of this, part was ceded to France at the peace of Basel in 1795, and the whole by the treaty of Lunéville in 1801, when it received the name of the department of the Roer. By the peace of Paris of 1814 the bulk of Gelderland was incorporated in the United Netherlands, the remainder falling to Prussia, where it forms the circle of Düsseldorf.
The rise of the towns in Gelderland began in the 13th century, river commerce and markets being the chief cause of their prosperity, but they never attained to the importance of the larger cities in Holland and Utrecht, much less to that of the great Flemish municipalities. They differed also from the Flemish cities in the nature of their privileges and immunities, as they did not possess the rights of communes, but only those of “free cities” of the Rhenish type. The power of the feudal lord over them was much greater. The states of Gelderland first became a considerable power in the land during the reign of Arnold of Egmont (1423-1473). Their claim to large privileges and a considerable share in the government of the county were formulated in a document drawn up at Nijmwegen in April 1436. These the duke had to concede, and to agree further to the appointment of a council to assist him in his administration. From this time the absolute authority of the sovereign in Gelderland was broken. The states consisted of two members—the nobility and the towns. The towns were divided into four separate districts or “quarters” named after the chief town in each—Nijmwegen, Arnhem, Zutphen and Roermonde. In the time of the republic, as has been stated above, the province of Gelderland comprised the three first-named “quarters” only. The three quarters had each of them peculiar rights and customs, and their representatives met together in a separate assembly before taking part in the diet (landdag) of the states. The nobility possessed great influence in Gelderland and retained it in the time of the republic.
(G. E.)
GELDERLAND(Guelders), a province of Holland, bounded S. by Rhenish Prussia and North Brabant, W. by Utrecht and South Holland, N. by the Zuider Zee, N.E. by Overysel, and S.E. by the Prussian province of Westphalia. It has an area of 1906 sq. m. and a pop. (1900) of 566,549. Historically it was part of the duchy of Gelderland, which is treated separately above.
The main portion of Gelderland north of the Rhine and the Old Ysel forms as it were an extension of the province of Overysel, being composed of diluvial sand and gravel, covered with sombre heaths and patches of fen. South of this line, however, the soil consists of fertile river-clay. The northern portion is divided by the New (or Gelders) Ysel into two distinct regions, namely, the Veluwe (“bad land”) on the west, and the former countship of Zutphen on the east. In this last division the ground slopes downwards from south-east to north-west (131 to 26 ft.) and is intersected by several fertilizing streams which flow in the same direction to join the Ysel. The extreme eastern corner is occupied by older Tertiary loam, which is used for making bricks, and upon this and the river-banks are the most fertile spots, woods, cultivated land, pastures, towns and villages. The highlands of the Veluwe lying west of the Ysel really extend as far as the Crooked Rhine and the Vecht in the province of Utrecht, but are slightly detached from the Utrecht hills by the so-called Gelders valley, which forms the boundary between the two provinces. This valley extends from the Rhine along the Grift, the Luntersche Beek, and the Eem to the Zuider Zee, and would still offer an outlet in this direction to the Rhine at high water if it were not for the river dikes. The two main ridges of the Veluwe hills (164 and 360 ft.) extend from the neighbourhood of Arnhem north to Harderwyk and north-east to Hattem. In the south they stretch themselves along the banks of the Rhine, forming a strip of picturesque river scenery made up of the varied elements of sandhills and trees, clay-lands and pastures. A large number of country-houses and villas are to be found here, and the riverside villages of Dieren, Velp and Renkum. All over the Veluwe are heaths, scantily cultivated, with fields of rye and buckwheat, cattle of inferior quality, and sheep, and a sparse population. There is also a considerable cultivation of wood, especially of fir and copse, while tobacco plantations are found at Nykerk and Wageningen.
The southern division of the province presents a very different aspect, and contains many old towns and villages. It is watered by the three large rivers, the Rhine, the Waal and the Maas, and has a level clay soil, varied only by isolated hills and a sandy, wooded stretch between Nijmwegen and the southern border. The region enclosed between the Rhine and the Waal and watered by the Linge is called the Betuwe (“good land”), and gave its name to the Germanic tribe of Batavians, who are sometimes wrongly regarded as the parent stock of the Dutch people. There is here a denser population, occupied in the cultivation of wheat, beetroot and fruit, the breeding of excellent cattle, shipping and industrial pursuits. The principal centres of population, such as Zutphen, Arnhem (the chief town of the province), Nijmwegen and Tiel, lie along the large rivers. Smaller, but of equal antiquity, are the riverside towns of Doesburg, which is strongly fortified; Wageningen, with the State agricultural schools; Doetinchem, with a bridge over the Old Ysel which is mentioned as early as the 14th century; Zalt-Bommel, with an old church (1304), and a railway bridge over the Waal; and Kuilenburg, with a fine railway bridge (1863-1868) over the Rhine. Five m. S. of Zalt-Bommel, on the Maas, is the medieval castle of Ammerzode or Ammersooi, also called Amelroy during the French occupation in 1674. It is in an excellent state of preservation and has been restored in modern times. The first authentic record of the castle is its possession by John de Herlar of the noble family of Loo at the end of the 13th century. In 1480 it passed by marriage to the powerful lords van Arkel, and was partly destroyed by fire at the end of the 16th century. The chapel dates from the 15th century, and the keep from 1564. Among the family portraits are works by Albert Dürer. Zetten, on the railway between Nijmwegen and Tiel, is famous for the charitable institutions founded here by the preacher Otto Gerhard Heldring (d. 1876). They comprise a penitentiary (1849) for women; an educational home (1858) for girls; a theological training college (1864); and a Magdalen hospital. Nykerk, Harderwyk and Elburg are fishing towns on the Zuider Zee. Apeldoorn is situated on the edge of the sand-grounds. Heerenberg on the south-eastern border is remarkable for its ancient castle near the seat of the powerful lords van den Bergh. Other ancient and historical towns bordering on the Prussian frontier are Zevenaar, which was for long the cause of dispute between the houses of Cleves and Gelder and was finally attached to the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1816; Breedevoort, once the seat of a lordship of the same name belonging to the counts van Loon or Lohn, who built a castle here in the beginning of the 13th century which was destroyed in 1646—the lordship was presented to Prince William III. in 1697; Winterswyk, now an important railway junction, and of growing industrial importance; and Borkeloo, or Borkulo, the seat of an ancient lordship dating from the first half of the 12th century, whichfinally came into the possession of Prince William V. of Orange Nassau in 1777. The castle was formerly of importance.
Gelderland is intersected by the main railway lines, which are largely supplemented by steam-tram railways. Steam-tramways connect Arnhem and Zutphen, Wageningen, Nijmwegen, Velp, Doetinchem (by way of Dieren and Doesburg), whence there are various lines to Emmerich and Gendringen on the Prussian borders. Groenlo and Lichtenvorde, Borkulo and Deventer are also connected.
GELDERN, a town of Germany, in Rhenish Prussia, on the Niers, 28 m. N. W. of Düsseldorf, at the junction of railways to Wesel and Cologne. Pop. (1905) 6551. It has an Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches and a town hall with a fine council chamber. Its industries include the manufacture of buttons, shoes, cigars and soap. The town dates from about 1100 and was early an important fortified place; until 1371 it was the residence of the counts and dukes of Gelderland. Having passed to Spain, its fortifications were strengthened by Philip II., but they were razed by Frederick the Great, the town having been in the possession of Prussia since 1703.
See Nettesheim,Geschichte der Stadt und des Amtes Geldern(Crefeld, 1863); Henrichs,Beiträge zur innern Geschichte der Stadt Geldern(Geldern, 1893); and Real,Chronik der Stadt und Umgegend von Geldern(Geldern, 1897).
See Nettesheim,Geschichte der Stadt und des Amtes Geldern(Crefeld, 1863); Henrichs,Beiträge zur innern Geschichte der Stadt Geldern(Geldern, 1893); and Real,Chronik der Stadt und Umgegend von Geldern(Geldern, 1897).
GELL, SIR WILLIAM(1777-1836), English classical archaeologist, was born at Hopton in Derbyshire. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and subsequently elected a fellow of Emmanuel College (B.A. 1798, M.A. 1804). About 1800 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Ionian islands, and on his return in 1803 he was knighted. He went with Princess (afterwards Queen) Caroline to Italy in 1814 as one of her chamberlains, and gave evidence in her favour at the trial in 1820 (see G.P. Clerici,A Queen of Indiscretions, Eng. trans., London, 1907). He died at Naples on the 4th of February 1836. His numerous drawings of classical ruins and localities, executed with great detail and exactness, are preserved in the British Museum. Gell was a thorough dilettante, fond of society and possessed of little real scholarship. None the less his topographical works became recognized text-books at a time when Greece and even Italy were but superficially known to English travellers. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the Institute of France and the Berlin Academy.
His best-known work isPompeiana; the Topography, Edifices and Ornaments of Pompeii(1817-1832), in the first part of which he was assisted by J.P. Gandy. It was followed in 1834 by theTopography of Rome and its Vicinity(new ed. by E.H. Bunbury, 1896). He wrote alsoTopography of Troy and its Vicinity(1804);Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca(1807);Itinerary of Greece, with a Commentary on Pausanias and Strabo(1810, enlarged ed. 1827);Itinerary of the Morea(1816; republished asNarrative of a Journey in the Morea, 1823). All these works have been superseded by later publications.
His best-known work isPompeiana; the Topography, Edifices and Ornaments of Pompeii(1817-1832), in the first part of which he was assisted by J.P. Gandy. It was followed in 1834 by theTopography of Rome and its Vicinity(new ed. by E.H. Bunbury, 1896). He wrote alsoTopography of Troy and its Vicinity(1804);Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca(1807);Itinerary of Greece, with a Commentary on Pausanias and Strabo(1810, enlarged ed. 1827);Itinerary of the Morea(1816; republished asNarrative of a Journey in the Morea, 1823). All these works have been superseded by later publications.
GELLERT, CHRISTIAN FÜRCHTEGOTT(1715-1769), German poet, was born at Hainichen in the Saxon Erzgebirge on the 4th of July 1715. After attending the famous school of St Afra in Meissen, he entered Leipzig University in 1734 as a student of theology, and on completing his studies in 1739 was for two years a private tutor. Returning to Leipzig in 1741 he contributed to theBremer Beiträge, a periodical founded by former disciples of Johann Christoph Gottsched, who had revolted from the pedantry of his school. Owing to shyness and weak health Gellert gave up all idea of entering the ministry, and, establishing himself in 1745 asprivatdocentin philosophy at the university of Leipzig, lectured on poetry, rhetoric and literary style with much success. In 1751 he was appointed extraordinary professor of philosophy, a post which he held until his death at Leipzig on the 13th of December 1769.
The esteem and veneration in which Gellert was held by the students, and indeed by persons in all classes of society, was unbounded, and yet due perhaps less to his unrivalled popularity as a lecturer and writer than to his personal character. He was the noblest and most amiable of men, generous, tender-hearted and of unaffected piety and humility. He wrote in order to raise the religious and moral character of the people, and to this end employed language which, though at times prolix, was always correct and clear. He thus became one of the most popular German authors, and some of his poems enjoyed a celebrity out of proportion to their literary value. This is more particularly true of hisFabeln und Erzählungen(1746-1748) and of hisGeistliche Oden und Lieder(1757). The fables, for which he took La Fontaine as his model, are simple and didactic. The “spiritual songs,” though in force and dignity they cannot compare with the older church hymns, were received by Catholics and Protestants with equal favour. Some of them were set to music by Beethoven. Gellert wrote a few comedies:Die Betschwester(1745),Die kranke Frau(1748),Das Los in der Lotterie(1748), andDie zärtlichen Schwestern(1748), the last of which was much admired. His novelDie schwedische Gräfin von G.(1746), a weak imitation of Richardson’sPamela, is remarkable as being the first German attempt at a psychological novel. Gellert’sBriefe(letters) were regarded at the time as models of good style.
See Gellert’sSämtliche Schriften(first edition, 10 vols., Leipzig, 1769-1774; last edition, Berlin, 1867).Sämtliche Fabeln und Erzählungenhave been often published separately, the latest edition in 1896. A selection of Gellert’s poetry (with an excellent introduction) will be found in F. Muncker,Die Bremer Beiträge(Stuttgart, 1899). A translation by J.A. Murke,Gellert’s Fables and other Poems(London, 1851). For a further account of Gellert’s life and work see lives by J.A. Cramer (Leipzig, 1774), H. Döring (Greiz, 1833), and H.O. Nietschmann (2nd ed., Halle, 1901); alsoGellerts Tagebuch aus dem Jahre 1761(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1863) andGellerts Briefwechsel mit Demoiselle Lucius(Leipzig, 1823).
See Gellert’sSämtliche Schriften(first edition, 10 vols., Leipzig, 1769-1774; last edition, Berlin, 1867).Sämtliche Fabeln und Erzählungenhave been often published separately, the latest edition in 1896. A selection of Gellert’s poetry (with an excellent introduction) will be found in F. Muncker,Die Bremer Beiträge(Stuttgart, 1899). A translation by J.A. Murke,Gellert’s Fables and other Poems(London, 1851). For a further account of Gellert’s life and work see lives by J.A. Cramer (Leipzig, 1774), H. Döring (Greiz, 1833), and H.O. Nietschmann (2nd ed., Halle, 1901); alsoGellerts Tagebuch aus dem Jahre 1761(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1863) andGellerts Briefwechsel mit Demoiselle Lucius(Leipzig, 1823).
GELLERT, orKillhart, in Welsh traditional history, the dog of Llewellyn, prince of Wales. The dog, a greyhound, was left to guard the cradle in which the infant heir slept. A wolf enters, and is about to attack the child, when Gellert flies at him. In the struggle the cradle is upset and the infant falls underneath. Gellert kills the wolf, but when Prince Llewellyn arrives and sees the empty cradle and blood all around, he does not for the moment notice the wolf, but thinks Gellert has killed the baby. He at once stabs him, but almost instantly finds his son safe under the cradle and realizes the dog’s bravery. Gellert is supposed to have been buried near the village of Beddgelert (“grave of Gellert”), Snowdon, where his tomb is still pointed out to visitors. The date of the incident is traditionally given as 1205. The incident has given rise to a Welsh proverb, “I repent as much as the man who slew his greyhound.” The whole story is, however, only the Welsh version of a tale long before current in Europe, which is traced to the Indian Panchatantra and perhaps as far back as 200B.C.
See W.A. Clouston,Popular Tales and Fictions(1887); D.E. Jenkins,Beddgelert, its Facts, Fairies and Folklore(Portmadoc, 1899).
See W.A. Clouston,Popular Tales and Fictions(1887); D.E. Jenkins,Beddgelert, its Facts, Fairies and Folklore(Portmadoc, 1899).
GELLIUS, AULUS(c.A.D.130-180), Latin author and grammarian, probably born at Rome. He studied grammar and rhetoric at Rome and philosophy at Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office. His teachers and friends included many distinguished men—Sulpicius Apollinaris, Herodes Atticus and Fronto. His only work, theNoctes Atticae, takes its name from having been begun during the long nights of a winter which he spent in Attica. He afterwards continued it at Rome. It is compiled out of an Adversaria, or commonplace book, in which he had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books, and it comprises notes on grammar, geometry, philosophy, history and almost every other branch of knowledge. The work, which is utterly devoid of sequence or arrangement, is divided into twenty books. All these have come down to us except the eighth, of which nothing remains but the index. TheNoctes Atticaeis valuable for the insight it affords into the nature of the society and pursuits of those times, and for the numerous excerpts it contains from the works of lost ancient authors.
Editio princeps (Rome, 1469); the best editions are those of Gronovius (1706) and M. Hertz (1883-1885; editio minor, 1886, revised by C. Hosius, 1903, with bibliography). There is a translation in English by W. Beloe (1795), and in French by various hands (1896). See Sandys,Hist. Class. Schol.i. (1906), 210.
Editio princeps (Rome, 1469); the best editions are those of Gronovius (1706) and M. Hertz (1883-1885; editio minor, 1886, revised by C. Hosius, 1903, with bibliography). There is a translation in English by W. Beloe (1795), and in French by various hands (1896). See Sandys,Hist. Class. Schol.i. (1906), 210.
GELLIVARA[Gellivare], a mining town of Sweden in the district (län) of Norrbotten, 815 m. N. by E. of Stockholm by rail. It lies in the well-nigh uninhabited region of Swedish Lapland, 43 m. N. of the Arctic Circle. It owes its importance to the iron mines in the mountain Malmberget 4½ m. to the north, rising to 2024 ft. above sea-level (830 ft. above Gellivara town). During the dark winter months work proceeds by the aid of electric light. In 1864 the mines were acquired by an English company, but abandoned in 1867. In 1884 another English company took them up and completed a provisional railway from Malmberget to Luleå at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia (127 m. S.S.E.), besides executing a considerable portion of the preliminary works for the continuation of the line on the Norwegian side from Ofoten Fjord upwards (seeNarvik). But this company, after extracting some 150,000 tons of ore in 1888-1889, went into liquidation in the latter year. Two years later the mines passed into the hands of a Swedish company, and the railway was acquired by the Swedish Government. The output of ore was insignificant until 1892, when it stood at 178,000 tons; but in 1902 it amounted to 1,074,000 tons. Three miles S.W. rises the hill Gellivara Dundret (2700 ft.), from which the sun is visible at midnight from June 5 to July 11. The population of the parish (about 6500 sq. m.) in 1900 was 11,745; the greater part of the population being congregated at the town of Gellivara and at Malmberget.
GELNHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, on the Kinzig, 27 m. E.N.E. of Frankfort-on-Main, on the railway to Bebra. Pop. 4500. It is romantically situated on the slope of a vine-clad hill, and is still surrounded by ancient walls and towers. On an island in the river are the ivy-covered ruins of the imperial palace which Frederick I. (Barbarossa) built before 1170, and which was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War. It has an interesting and beautiful church (the Marien Kirche), with four spires (of which that on the transept is curiously crooked), built in the 13th century, and restored in 1876-1879; also several other ancient buildings, notably the town-hall, the Fürstenhof (now administrative offices), and the Hexenthurm. India-rubber goods are manufactured, and wine is made. Gelnhausen became an imperial town in 1169, and diets of the Empire were frequently held within its walls. In 1634 and 1635 it suffered severely from the Swedes. In 1803 the town became the property of Hesse-Cassel, and in 1866 passed to Prussia.
GELO, son of Deinomenes, tyrant of Gela and Syracuse. On the death of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela (491B.C.), Gelo, who had been his commander of cavalry, succeeded him; and in 485, his aid having been invoked by the Gamori (the oligarchical landed proprietors) of Syracuse who had been driven out by the populace, he seized the opportunity of making himself despot. From this time Gelo paid little attention to Gela, and devoted himself to the aggrandizement of Syracuse, which attained extraordinary wealth and influence. When the Greeks solicited his aid against Xerxes, he refused it, since they would not give him command of the allied forces (Herodotus vii. 171). In the same year the Carthaginians invaded Sicily, but were totally defeated at Himera, the result of the victory being that Gelo became lord of all Sicily. After he had thus established his power, he made a show of resigning it; but his proposal was rejected by the multitude, and he reigned without opposition till his death (478). He was honoured as a hero, and his memory was held in such respect that when all the brazen statues of tyrants were condemned to be sold in the time of Timoleon (150 years later) an exemption was made in favour of the statue of Gelo.