Chapter XXV: Act 1906: , specifying as it does cheques alone, appears to exclude documents (20)

AUTHORITIES.--Mansi, vol. xxix.-xxxi.; Aeneas Sylvius, _De rebus Basileae gestis_ (Fermo, 1803); Hefele, _Conciliengeschichte_, vol. vii. (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1874); O. Richter, _Die Organisation und Geschaftsordnung des Baseler Konzils_ (Leipzig, 1877); _Monumenta Conciliorum generalium seculi xv., Scriptorum_, vol. i., ii. and iii. (Vienna, 1857-1895); J. Haller, _Concilium Basiliense_, vol. i.-v. (Basel, 1896-1904); G. Perouse, _Le Cardinal Louis Aleman, president du concile de Bale_ (Paris, 1904). Much useful material will also be found in J. C. L. Gieseler's _Ecclesiastical History_, vol. iv. p. 312, &c., notes (Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1853).

(N. V.)

BASEMENT, the term applied to the lowest storey of any building placed wholly or partly below the level of the ground. It is incorrectly applied to the ground storey of any building, even when, as for instance in the case of Somerset House, London, the ground floor is of plain or rusticated masonry, and the upper storey which it supports is divided up and decorated with columns or pilasters.

BASHAHR, or BISAHIR, a Rajput hill state, within the Punjab, amid the Himalayan mountains, with an area of 3820 sq. m. and a population in 1901 of 80,582. In 1898, the raja being of weak intellect and without heir, the administration was undertaken by a British official. In 1906 there were some local troubles owing to the refusal of the people to pay taxes. The revenue is obtained chiefly from land and forests, the latter being leased to the British government.

BASHAN, a region lying E. of the Jordan, and towards its source. Its boundaries are not very well defined, but it may be said in general to have been north of the territory of Gilead. The name first appears in Hebrew history in connexion with the wanderings of the Israelites. According to Numbers xxi. 33, the tribes after the rout of Sihon, king of the Amorites, turned to go by the land of Bashan; and its king, Og, met them at Edrei, and was there defeated and slain. The value of this narrative is a matter of much dispute. The gigantic stature of the king, and the curious details about his "bedstead" (Deut. iii. 11) are regarded as suggestive of legend; to say nothing of the lateness of all the documents relating to the wars of Og, and the remoteness of Bashan from the regions of the Israelites' wandering. The story, however, had so firm a hold on Hebrew tradition that it can hardly fail to have some basis in fact; and an invasion by Israel of Bashan before coming to Jordan is by no means an improbability.

The great stature of Og is explained in the passage of Deuteronomy mentioned by the statement that he was of the remnant of the aboriginal _Rephaim_. This was a race distinguished by lofty stature; and in Genesis xiv. 5 we find them established in Ashteroth-Karnaim (probably the same as _Ashtaroth_, which, as we shall see, was an important city of Bashan). The territory [v.03 p.0465] was allotted on the partition of the conquered land to the eastern division of the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers xxxiii. 33; Josh. xiii. 29). One of the cities of refuge, Golan, was in Bashan (Deut. iv. 43). By Solomon, Bashan, or rather "the region of Argob in Bashan," containing "threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars," was assigned to the administrative district of Ben-Geber, one of his lieutenants (1 Kings iv. 13, compare ver. 19). In the days of Jehu the country was taken from Israel by Hazael, king of Syria (2 Kings x. 33). This is the last historical event related in the Old Testament of Bashan. In the poetical and prophetic books it is referred to in connexion with the products for which it was noted. From a passage in the "Blessing of Moses" (Deut. xxxiii. 22) it seems to have been inhabited by lions. Elsewhere it is referred to in connexion with its cattle (Deut. xxxii. 14; Ezek. xxxix. 18), which seem to have been proverbial for ferocity (Ps. xxii. 12); Amos (iv. 1) calls the wealthy women of Samaria, who oppressed the poor, "kine of Bashan." It is also noted for its mountain (Ps. lxviii. 15), and especially for oaks, which are coupled with the cedars of Lebanon (Isa. ii. 13; compare xxxiii. 9; Zechariah xi. 2). Oars were made from them (Ezek. xxvii. 6).

The boundaries of Bashan may to some extent be deduced from the indications afforded in the earlier historical books. Og dwelt at Ashteroth, and did battle with the Israelites at Edrei (Deut. i. 4). In Deut. iii. 4, "the region of Argob" with its threescore cities is mentioned; Mt. Hermon is referred to as a northern limit, and Salecah is alluded to in addition to the other cities already mentioned. Josh. xii. 4 and Josh. xiii. 29 confirm this. Josephus (_Ant._ iv. 5. 3; _Wars_, ii. 6. 3) enumerates four provinces of Bashan, Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, Auranitis and Batanaea. Gaulanitis (which probably derived its name from the city of refuge, Golan, the site of which has not yet been discovered) is represented by the modern Jaul[=a]n, a province extending from the Jordan lakes to the Haj Road. Josephus (_Wars_, iv. 1. 1) speaks of it as divided into two sections, Gamalitis and Sogana. Trachonitis (mentioned in Luke iii. 1 as in the territory of Philip the tetrarch) adjoined the territory of Damascus, Auranitis and Batanaea. This corresponds to the _Trach[=o]nes_ of Strabo (xvi. 20), and the modern district of the Lej[=a]; inscriptions have been found in the Lej[=a] giving Trach[=o]n as its former name. Auranitis is the Hauran of Ezekiel xlvii. 16, and of the modern Arabs. It is south of the Jaul[=a]n and north of Gilead. According to Porter (_Journal Soc. Lit._, 1854, p. 303), the name is locally restricted to the plain south of the Lej[=a]. and the narrow strip on the west; although it is loosely applied by strangers to the whole country east of the Jaul[=a]n. The fourth province, Batanaea, which still is remembered in the name _'Ard el-Bathaniyeh_, lies east of the Lej[=a] and the Hauran plain, and includes the Jebel ed-Dr[=u]z or Hauran mountain.

The identification of Argob, a region of the kingdom of Og, is a matter of much difficulty. It has been equated on philological grounds to the Lej[=a]. But these arguments have been shown to be shaky if not baseless, and the identification is now generally abandoned. The confidence with which the great cities of Og were identified with the extensive remains of ancient sites in the Lej[=a] and Hauran has also been shown to be without justification. All the so-called "giant cities of Bashan" without exception are now known to be Greco-Roman, not earlier than the time of Herod, and, though in themselves of very high architectural and historical interest, have no connexion whatever with the more ancient periods. No tangible traces of Og and his people, or even of their Israelite supplanters, have yet been found.

This fact somewhat weakens the various identifications that have been proposed for the cities of Bashan enumerated by name. Edrei for example is identified with _Ed-Dera'a_. This is perhaps the most satisfactory comparison, for besides the Greco-Roman remains there is an extensive subterranean city of unknown date, which may be of great antiquity, though even this is still _sub judice_. The other identifications that have commanded most acceptance are as follows:--Ashteroth Karnaim, also called Ashtaroth and (Josh. xxi. 27) Be-eshterah, has been identified with _Busrah_ (Bostra), where are very important Herodian ruins, but there is no tangible evidence yet adduced that the history of this site is of so remote antiquity. From the similarity of the names, it has also been sought at _Tell Ashari_ and _Tell 'Ashtera_. The true site can be determined, if at all; by excavation only; identifications based on mere outward similarity of names have always been fruitful sources of error. Salecah is perhaps less doubtful; it is a remarkable name, and a ruin similarly styled, _Salkhat_, is to be seen in the Hauran. It is inhabited by Druses. Another town in eastern Manasseh, namely Kenath, has been identified by Porter with Kanawat, which may be correct.

In the later history Bashan became remarkable as a refuge for outlaws and robbers, a character it still retains. The great subterranean "city" at Ed-Dera'a has been partially destroyed by the local sub-governor, in order to prevent it becoming a refuge of fugitives from justice or from government requirements (conscription, taxation, &c.). Strabo refers to a great cave in Trachonitis capable of holding 4000 robbers. Arab tradition regards it as the home of Job; and it is famous as being the centre of the Ghassanid dynasty. The Hauran is one of the principal habitations of the sect of the Druses (_q.v._).

The physical characteristics of Bashan are noteworthy. Volcanic in origin--the Jebel ed-Druz is a group of extinct volcanoes--the friable volcanic soil is extraordinarily fertile. It is said to yield wheat eighty-fold and barley a hundred. The oaks for which the country was once famous still distinguish it in places.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--In addition to books mentioned under PALESTINE see the following:--U. J. Seetzen, _Reisen durch Syrien, Palastina, Phonicien, &c._ (4 vols., 1854); Rev. J. L. Porter, _Five Years in Damascus_ (2 vols., 1855); _The Giant Cities of Bashan_ (out of date, but some of the descriptions good, 1865); J. G. Wetzstein, _Reisebericht ueber Hauran und die Trachonen_ (Berlin, 1860); Sir R. F. Burton and C. F. T. Drake, _Unexplored Syria_ (1872); G. Schumacher, _The Jaul[=a]n_ (1888); _Abila, Fella and Northern Ajlun_ (1890); _Across the Jordan_ (1886), (Palestine Exploration Fund); Rev. W. Ewing, _A Journey in the Hauran_ (with a large collection of inscriptions); Palestine Exploration Fund _Quarterly Statement_, 1895; W. H. Waddington's _Inscriptions of Syria_ may also be consulted; Dussaud (Rene) and Frederic Macler, _Voyage archeologique au Safa et dans le Djabel ed-Dr[=u]z_ (1901). In 1900 an important survey of the Hauran and neighbouring regions was made under American auspices, directed by Dr Enno Littmann; the publication of the great harvest of results was begun in 1906.

(R. A. S. M.)

BASHI-BAZOUK, the name given to a species of irregular mounted troops employed by the Turks. They are armed and maintained by the government but do not receive pay. They do not wear uniform or distinctive badges. They fight either mounted or dismounted, chiefly the latter, but are incapable of undertaking serious work, because of their lack of discipline. Their uncertain temper has sometimes made it necessary for the Turkish regular troops to disarm them by force, but they are often useful in the work of reconnaissance and in outpost duty. They are accused, and generally with justice, of robbery and maltreatment of the civil population, resembling in those things, as in their fighting methods and value, the Croats, Pandours and Tolpatches of 18th-century European armies. The term is also used of a mounted force, existing in peace time in various provinces of the Turkish empire, which performs the duties of gendarmerie.

BASHKALA, the chief town of a sanjak of the vilayet of Van in Asiatic Turkey. It is a military station, situated at an elevation of 7500 ft. above sea-level in the valley of the Great Zab river. It stands on the east slope of lofty bare mountains, overlooking a wide valley on the farther side of which flows the Zab. On a knoll above is a ruined fortress formerly occupied by a Kurdish Bey. The population numbers some 10,000, principally Kurds, but including 1500 Armenians and 1000 Jews. The place is important as the centre of the Hakkiari sanjak, a very difficult mountain district to the south-west containing numerous tribes of Kurds and Nestorian Christians, and also the many Kurdish tribes along the Persian frontier. The houses are well built of sun-dried brick, and the streets are wide and fairly clean. Good smiths' and carpenters' work is [v.03 p.0466] done. The bazaar is small, although a thriving trade is done with the mountain districts. Owing to the great elevation the winter is extremely severe, and the summer of short duration. Wheat, barley, millet and sesame are cultivated on the plain, but fruit and vegetables have mostly to be imported from Persia. Roads lead to Van, Urmia in Persia and Mosul through the Nestorian country. The Kurd and Nestorian tribes in the wilder parts of the Hakkiari Mountains are under slight government control, and are permitted to pay tribute and given self-government in a large degree.

(F. R. M.)

BASHKIRS, a people inhabiting the Russian governments of Ufa, Orenburg, Perm and Samara, and parts of Vyatka, especially on the slopes and confines of the Ural, and in the neighbouring plains. They speak a Tatar language, but some authorities think that they are ethnically a Finnish tribe transformed by Tatar influence. The name Bashkir or Bash-kurt appears for the first time in the beginning of the 10th century in the writings of Ibn-Foslan, who, describing his travels among the Volga-Bulgarians, mentions the Bashkirs as a warlike and idolatrous race. The name was not used by the people themselves in the 10th century, but is a mere nickname.

Of European writers, the first to mention the Bashkirs are Joannes de Plano Carpini (_c._ 1200-1260) and William of Rubruquis (1220-1293). These travellers, who fell in with them in the upper parts of the river Ural, call them Pascatir, and assert that they spoke at that time the same language as the Hungarians. Till the arrival of the Mongolians, about the middle of the 13th century, the Bashkirs were a strong and independent people and troublesome to their neighbours, the Bulgarians and Petchenegs. At the time of the downfall of the Kazan kingdom they were in a weak state. In 1556 they voluntarily recognized the supremacy of Russia, and, in consequence, the city of Ufa was founded to defend them from the Kirghiz, and they were subjected to a fur-tax. In 1676 they rebelled under a leader named Seit, and were with difficulty reduced; and again in 1707, under Aldar and Kusyom, on account of ill-treatment by the Russian officials. Their third and last insurrection was in 1735, at the time of the foundation of Orenburg, and it lasted for six years. In 1786 they were freed from taxes; and in 1798 an irregular army was formed from among them. They are now divided into cantons and give little trouble, though some differences have arisen between them and the government about land questions. By mode of life the Bashkirs are divided into settled and nomadic. The former are engaged in agriculture, cattle-rearing and bee-keeping, and live without want. The nomadic portion is subdivided, according to the districts in which they wander, into those of the mountains and those of the steppes. Almost their sole occupation is the rearing of cattle; and they attend to that in a very negligent manner, not collecting a sufficient store of winter fodder for all their herds, but allowing part of them to perish. The Bashkirs are usually very poor, and in winter live partly on a kind of gruel called _yuryu_, and badly prepared cheese named _skurt_. They are hospitable but suspicious, apt to plunder and to the last degree lazy. They have large heads, black hair, eyes narrow and flat, small foreheads, ears always sticking out and a swarthy skin. In general, they are strong and muscular, and able to endure all kinds of labour and privation. They profess Mahommedanism, but know little of its doctrines. Their intellectual development is low.

See J. P. Carpini, _Liber Tartarorum_, edited under the title _Relations des Mongols ou Tartares_, by d'Avezac (Paris, 1838); Gulielmus de Rubruquis, _The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World_, translated by W. W. Rockhill (London, 1900); Semenoff, _Slovar Ross. Imp._, s.v.; Frahn, "De Baskiris," in _Mem. de l'Acad. de St-Petersbourg_ (1822); Florinsky, in _Westnik Evropi_ (1874); and Katarinskij, _Dictionnaire Bashkir-Russe_ (1900).

BASHKIRTSEFF, MARIA CONSTANTINOVA [MARIE] (1860-1884), Russian artist and writer, was born at Gavrontsi in the government of Pultowa in Russia on the 23rd of November 1860. When Marie was seven years old, as her father (marshal of the nobility at Pultowa) and her mother were unable through incompatibility to live together, Madame Bashkirtseff with her little daughter left Russia to spend the winters at Nice or in Italy, and the summers at German watering-places. Marie acquired an education superior to that given to most girls of her rank. She could read Plato and Virgil in the original, and write four languages with almost equal facility. A gifted musician, she at first hoped to be a singer, and studied seriously in Italy to that end; her voice, however, was not strong enough to stand hard work and failed her. Meanwhile she was also learning to draw. When she lost her voice she devoted herself to painting, and in 1877 settled in Paris, where she worked steadily in Tony Robert-Fleury's studio. In 1880 she exhibited in the salon a portrait of a woman; in 1881 she exhibited the "Atelier Julian"; in 1882 "Jean et Jacques"; in 1884 the "Meeting," and a portrait in pastel of a lady--her cousin--now in the Luxembourg gallery, for which she was awarded a _mention honorable_. Her health, always delicate, could not endure the labour she imposed on herself in addition to the life of fashion in which she became involved as a result of her success as an artist, and she died of consumption on the 31st of October 1884, leaving a small series of works of remarkable promise. From her childhood Marie Bashkirtseff kept an autobiographical journal; but the editors of these brilliant confessions (_Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff_, 1890), aiming apparently at captivating the reader's interest by the girl's precocious gifts and by the names of the various distinguished persons with whom she came in contact, so treated certain portions as to draw down vehement protest. This, to some extent, has brought into question the stamp of truthfulness which constitutes the chief merit of this extraordinarily interesting book. A further instalment of Marie Bashkirtseff literature was published in the shape of letters between her and Guy de Maupassant, with whom she started a correspondence under a feigned name and without revealing her identity.

See Mathilde Blind, _A Study of Marie Bashkirtseff_ (T. Fisher Unwin, 1892); _The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff: an Exposure and a Defence_, by "S." (showing that there is throughout a mistake of four years in the date of the diary); _Black and White_, 6th Feb. and 11th April 1891, pp. 17, 304; _The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff_, translated, with an Introduction, by Mathilde Blind (2 vols., London, 1890); _The Letters of Marie Bashkirtseff_ (1 vol.).

(B. K.)

BASIL,[1] known as BASIL THE GREAT (_c._ 330-379), bishop of Caesarea, a leading churchman in the 4th century, came of a famous family, which gave a number of distinguished supporters to the Church. His eldest sister, Macrina, was celebrated for her saintly life; his second brother was the famous Gregory of Nyssa; his youngest was Peter, bishop of Sebaste; and his eldest brother was the famous Christian jurist Naucratius. There was in the whole family a tendency to ecstatic emotion and enthusiastic piety, and it is worth noting that Cappadocia had already given to the Church men like Firmilian and Gregory Thaumaturgus. Basil was born about 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia. While he was still a child, the family removed to Pontus; but he soon returned to Cappadocia to live with his mother's relations, and seems to have been brought up by his grandmother Macrina. Eager to learn, he went to Constantinople and spent four or five years there and at Athens, where he had Gregory (_q.v._) of Nazianzus for a fellow-student. Both men were deeply influenced by Origen, and compiled the well-known anthology of his writings, known as _Philocalia_ (edited by J. A. Robinson, Cambridge, 1893). It was at Athens that he seriously began to think of religion, and resolved to seek out the most famous hermit saints in Syria and Arabia, in order to learn from them how to attain to that enthusiastic piety in [v.03 p.0467] which he delighted, and how to keep his body under by maceration and other ascetic devices. After this we find him at the head of a convent near Arnesi in Pontus, in which his mother Emilia, now a widow, his sister Macrina and several other ladies, gave themselves to a pious life of prayer and charitable works. He was not ordained presbyter until 365, and his ordination was probably the result of the entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors, who wished to use his talents against the Arians, who were numerous in that part of the country and were favoured by the Arian emperor, Valens, who then reigned in Constantinople. In 370 Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him. It was then that his great powers were called into action. Caesarea was an important diocese, and its bishop was, _ex officio_, exarch of the great diocese of Pontus. Hot-blooded and somewhat imperious, Basil was also generous and sympathetic. "His zeal for orthodoxy did not blind him to what was good in an opponent; and for the sake of peace and charity he was content to waive the use of orthodox terminology when it could be surrendered without a sacrifice of truth." He died in 379.

The principal theological writings of Basil are his _De Spiritu Sancto_, a lucid and edifying appeal to Scripture and early Christian tradition, and his three books against Eunomius, the chief exponent of Anomoian Arianism. He was a famous preacher, and many of his homilies, including a series of lenten lectures on the _Hexaemeron_, and an exposition of the psalter, have been preserved. His ascetic tendencies are exhibited in the _Moralia_ and _Regulae_, ethical manuals for use in the world and the cloister respectively. His three hundred letters reveal a rich and observant nature, which, despite the troubles of ill-health and ecclesiastical unrest, remained optimistic, tender and even playful. His principal efforts as a reformer were directed towards the improvement of the liturgy, and the reformation of the monastic orders of the East. (See BASILIAN MONKS.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Editions of his works appeared at Basel (1532); Paris, by J. Garnier and P. Maranus (1721-1730), and by L. de Sinner (1839). Migne's _Patrol. ser. graec._ 29-32; _De Spiritu Sancto_, ed. C. F. H. Johnston (Oxford, 1892); _Liturgia_, ed. A. Robertson (London, 1894). See also the patrologies, _e.g._ that of O. Bardenhewer, and the histories of dogma, _e.g._ those of A. Harnack and F. Loofs.

[1] The name Basil also belongs to several other distinguished churchmen, (1) Basil, bishop of Ancyra from 336 to 360, a semi-Arian, highly favoured by the emperor Constantine, and a great polemical writer; none of his works are extant. (2) Basil of Seleucia (fl. 448-458), a bishop who shifted sides continually in the Eutychian controversy, and who wrote extensively; his works were published in Paris in 1622. (3) Basil of Ancyra, fl. 787; he opposed image-worship at the second council of Nicaea, but afterwards retracted. (4) Basil of Achrida, archbishop of Thessalonica about 1155; he was a stanch upholder of the claims of the Eastern Church against the widening supremacy of the papacy.

BASIL I. (d. 886), known as the "MACEDONIAN", Roman emperor in the East, was born of a family of Armenian (_not_ Slavonic) descent, settled in Macedonia. He spent a part of his boyhood in captivity in Bulgaria, whither his family was carried by the Bulgarian prince Krum in 813. He succeeded in escaping and was ultimately lucky enough to enter the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of the Caesar Bardas (uncle of Michael III.), as groom. It seems that while serving in this capacity he visited Patrae with his master, and gained the favour of Danielis, a very wealthy lady of that place, who received him into her household, and endowed him with a fortune. He earned the notice of Michael III. by winning a victory in a wrestling match, and soon became the emperor's boon companion and was appointed chamberlain (_parakoem[=o]menos_). A man of his stamp, advancing unscrupulously on the road of fortune, had no hesitation in divorcing his wife and marrying a mistress of Michael, Eudocia Ingerina, to please his master. It was commonly believed that Leo VI., Basil's successor and reputed son, was really the son of Michael. The next step was to murder the powerful Caesar Bardas, who, as the emperor was devoted to amusement, virtually ruled the empire; this was done with the emperor's consent by Basil's own hand (April 866), and a few weeks later Basil was raised to the imperial dignity. Hitherto few perhaps had divined in the unprincipled adventurer, who shared in the debauches of the imperial drunkard, the talents of a born ruler. On the throne he soon displayed the serious side of his nature and his exceptional capacities for administration. In September 867 he caused his worthless benefactor to be assassinated, and reigned alone. He inaugurated a new age in the history of the empire, associated with the dynasty which he founded,--"the Macedonian dynasty" it is usually called; it would be more instructive to call it "Armenian." It was a period of territorial expansion, during which the empire was the strongest power in Europe. The great legislative work which Basil undertook and his successor completed, and which may be described as a revival of Justinianean law, entitles him to the designation of a second Justinian (the _Basilica_, a collection of laws in sixty books; and the manuals known as the _Prochiron_ and _Epanagog[=e]_. For this legislation see BASILICA and ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER). His financial administration was prudent. His ecclesiastical policy was marked by a wish to keep on good terms with Rome. One of his first acts was to exile the patriarch Photius and restore his rival Ignatius, whose claims were supported by the pope. Yet he had no intention of yielding to Rome's pretensions beyond a certain point. The decision of the Bulgarian tsar Michael to submit the new Bulgarian Church to the jurisdiction of Constantinople was a great blow to Rome, who had hoped to secure it for herself. In 877 Photius became patriarch again, and there was a virtual though not a formal breach with Rome. Thus the independence of the Greek Church may be said to date from the time of Basil. His reign was marked by a troublesome war with the Paulician heretics, an inheritance from his predecessor; the death of their able chief Chrysochir led to the definite subjection of this little state, of which the chief stronghold was Tephrice on the upper Euphrates, and which the Saracens had helped to bid a long defiance to the government of Constantinople. There was the usual frontier warfare with the Saracens in Asia Minor. Cyprus was recovered, but only retained for seven years. Syracuse was lost, but Bari was won back and those parts of Calabria which had been occupied by the Saracens. The last successes opened a new period of Byzantine domination in southern Italy. Above all, New Rome was again mistress of the sea, and especially of the gates of the Adriatic. Basil reigned nineteen years as sole sovereign. His death (29th of August 886) was due to a fever contracted in consequence of a serious accident in hunting. A stag dragged him from his horse by fixing its antlers in his belt. He was saved by an attendant who cut him loose with a knife. His last act was to cause his saviour to be beheaded, suspecting him of the intention to kill and not to rescue. Basil is one of the most remarkable examples of a man, without education and exposed to the most demoralizing influences, manifesting extraordinary talents in the government of a great state, when he had climbed to the throne by acts of unscrupulous bloodshed.

SOURCES.--_Vita Basilii_, by his grandson Constantine VII. (bk. v. of the _Continuation of Theophanes_, ed. Bonn); Genesius (ed. Bonn); _Vita Euthymii_, ed. De Boor (Berlin, 1888). Of the Arabic sources Tabari is the most important.

MODERN WORKS.--Finlay, _History of Greece_, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1877); Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, vols. v. and vi. (ed. Bury, London, 1898); Hergenroether, _Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel_, vol. ii. (Regensburg, 1867).

(J. B. B.)

BASIL II. (_c._ 958-1025), known as BULGAROKTONOS (slayer of Bulgarians), Roman emperor in the East, son of Romanus II. and Theophano, great-great-grandson of Basil I., was born about 958 and crowned on the 22nd of April 960. After their father's death (963) he and his younger brother Constantine were nominal emperors during the actual reigns of Nicephorus Phocas, their stepfather, and John Tzimisces. On the death of the latter (10th of January 976) they assumed the sovereignty without a colleague, but throughout their joint reign Constantine exercised no power and devoted himself chiefly to pleasure. This was in accordance with the Byzantine principle that in the case of two or more co-regnant _basileis_ only one governed. Basil was a brave soldier and a superb horseman; he was to approve himself a strong ruler and an able general. He did not at first display the full extent of his energy. The administration remained in the hands of the eunuch Basileios (an illegitimate son of Romanus I.), president of the senate, a wily and gifted man, who hoped that the young emperors would be his puppets. Basil waited and watched without interfering, and devoted himself to learning the details of administrative business and instructing himself in military science. During this time the throne was seriously endangered by the rebellion of an ambitious general who aspired to play the part of Nicephorus Phocas or Tzimisces. This was Bardas [v.03 p.0468] Sclerus, whom the eunuch deposed from his post of general in the East. He belonged to the powerful landed aristocracy of Asia Minor, whose pretensions were a perpetual menace to the throne. He made himself master of the Asiatic provinces and threatened Constantinople. To oppose him, Bardas Phocas, another general who had revolted in the previous reign and been interned in a monastery, was recalled. Defeated in two battles, he was victorious in a third and the revolt was suppressed (979). Phocas remained general in the East till 987, when he rebelled and was proclaimed emperor by his troops. It seems that the minister Basileios was privy to this act, and the cause was dissatisfaction at the energy which was displayed by the emperor, who showed that he was determined to take the administration into his own hands and personally to control the army. Phocas advanced to the Hellespont and besieged Abydos. Basil obtained timely aid, in the shape of Varangian mercenaries, from his brother-in-law Vladimir, the Russian prince of Kiev, and marched to Abydos. The two armies were facing each other, when Basil galloped forward, seeking a personal combat with the usurper who was riding in front of his lines. Phocas, just as he prepared to face him, fell from his horse and was found to be dead. This ended the rebellion.

The fall of Basileios followed; he was punished with exile and the confiscation of his enormous property. Basil made ruthless war upon the system of immense estates which had grown up in Asia Minor and which his predecessor, Romanus I., had endeavoured to check. (For this evil and the legislation which was aimed at it see ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER.) He sought to protect the lower and middle classes.

Basil gained some successes against the Saracens (995); but his most important work in the East was the annexation of the principalities of Armenia. He created in those highlands a strongly fortified frontier, which, if his successors had been capable, should have proved an effective barrier against the invasions of the Seljuk Turks. The greatest achievement of the reign was the subjugation of Bulgaria. After the death of Tzimisces (who had reduced only the eastern part of the Bulgarian kingdom), the power of Bulgaria was restored by the Tsar Samuel, in whom Basil found a worthy foe. The emperor's first efforts against him were unsuccessful (981), and the war was not resumed till 996, Samuel in the meantime extending his rule along the Adriatic coast and imposing his lordship on Servia. Eastern Bulgaria was finally recovered in 1000; but the war continued with varying successes till 1014, when the Bulgarian army suffered an overwhelming defeat. Basil blinded 15,000 prisoners, leaving a one-eyed man to every hundred to lead them to their tsar, who fainted at the sight and died two days later. The last sparks of resistance were extinguished in 1018, and the great Slavonic realm lay in the dust. The power of Byzantium controlled once more the Illyrian peninsula. Basil died in December 1025 in the midst of preparations to send a naval expedition to recover Sicily from the Saracens.

Basil's reign marks the highest point of the power of the Eastern empire since Justinian I. Part of the credit is due to his predecessors Nicephorus and Tzimisces, but the greater part belongs to him. He dedicated himself unsparingly to the laborious duties of ruling, and he had to reckon throughout with the ill-will of a rich and powerful section of his subjects. He was hard and cruel, without any refinement or interest in culture. In a contemporary psalter (preserved in the library of St Mark at Venice) there is a portrait of him, with a grey beard, crowned and robed in imperial costume.

AUTHORITIES.--Leo Diaconus (ed. Bonn, 1828); Psellus, _History_ (ed. Sathas, London, 1899); George Cedrenus (_Chronicle_, transcribed from the work of John Scylitzes, vol. ii., ed. Bonn, 1839); Zonaras, bk. xvii. (ed. Bonn, vol. iii., 1897); Cecaumenus, _Strategikon_ (ed. Vasilievski and Jernstedt, St Petersburg, 1896); Yahy[=a] of Antioch (contemporary Asiatic chronicle), extracts with Russian translation by Rosen (St Petersburg, 1883); Al Mekin (Elmacinus), _Historia Saracenica_, (ed. with Latin translation by Erpenius, Leiden, 1625); "Laws (_Novellae_) of Basil" (ed. Zachariae von Lingenthal, in _Jus Graeco-Romanum_, vol. iii., 1853); Finlay, _Hist. of Greece_; Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_; G. Schlumberger, _L'Epopee byzantine_, part i. and part ii. (Paris, 1896, 1900).

(J. B. B.)

BASIL (Russ. VASILY), the name of four grand-dukes of Moscow and tsars of Muscovy.

BASIL I. DMITREVICH (1371-1425), son of Dmitri (Demetrius) Donskoi, whom he succeeded in 1389, married Sophia, the daughter of Vitovt, grand-duke of Lithuania. In his reign the grand-duchy of Muscovy became practically hereditary, and asserted its supremacy over all the surrounding principalities. Nevertheless Basil received his _yarluik_, or investiture, from the Golden Horde and was compelled to pay tribute to the grand khan, Tokhtamuish. He annexed the principality of Suzdal to Moscovy, together with Murom, Kozelsk Peremyshl, and other places; reduced the grand-duchy of Rostov to a state of vassalage; and acquired territory from the republic of Great Novgorod by treaty. In his reign occurred the invasion of Timur (1395), who ruined the Volgan regions, but did not penetrate so far as Moscow. Indeed Timur's raid was of service to the Russian prince as it all but wiped out the Golden Horde, which for the next twelve years was in a state of anarchy. During the whole of this time no tribute was paid to the khan, though vast sums of money were collected in the Moscow treasury for military purposes. In 1408 the Mirza Edigei ravaged Muscovite territory, but was unable to take Moscow. In 1412, however, Basil found it necessary to pay the long-deferred visit of submission to the Horde. The most important ecclesiastical event of the reign was the elevation of the Bulgarian, Gregory Tsamblak, to the metropolitan see of Kiev (1425) by Vitovt, grand-duke of Lithuania; the immediate political consequence of which was the weakening of the hold of Muscovy on the south-western Russian states. During Basil's reign a terrible visitation of the "Black Death" decimated the population.

See T. Schiemann, _Russland bis ins 17. Jahrhundert_ (Gotha, 1885-1887).

BASIL II., called TEMNY ("the BLIND") (1415-1462), son of the preceding, succeeded his father as grand-duke of Moscow in 1425. He was a man of small ability and unusual timidity, though not without tenacity of purpose. Nevertheless, during his reign Moscow steadily increased in power, as if to show that the personality of the grand-dukes had become quite a subordinate factor in its development. In 1430 Basil was seized by his uncle, George of Halicz, and sent a prisoner to Kostroma; but the nation, dissatisfied with George, released Basil and in 1433 he returned in triumph to Moscow. George, however, took the field against him and Basil fled to Novgorod. On the death of George, Basil was at constant variance with George's children, one of whom, Basil, he had blinded; but in 1445 the grand-duke fell into the hands of blind Basil's brother, Shemyak, and was himself deprived of his sight and banished to Uglich (1445). The clergy and people, however, being devoted to the grand-duke, assisted him not only to recover his throne a second time, but to put Shemyak to flight, and to seize Halicz, his patrimony. During the remainder of Basil II.'s reign he slowly and unobtrusively added district after district to the grand-duchy of Muscovy, so that, in fine, only the republics of Novgorod and Pskov and the principalities of Tver and Vereya remained independent of Moscow. Yet all this time the realm was overrun continually by the Tatars and Lithuanians, and suffered severely from their depredations. Basil's reign saw the foundation of the Solovetsk monastery and the rise of the khanate of the Crimea. In 1448 the north Russian Church became virtually independent of the patriarchal see of Constantinople by adopting the practice of selecting its metropolitan from among native priests and prelates exclusively.

See S. M. Solovev, _History of Russia_ (Russ.), (Petersburg, 1895).

BASIL III., IVANOVICH (1479-1533), tsar of Muscovy, son of Ivan III. and Sophia Palaeologa, succeeded his father in 1505. A crafty prince, with all the tenacity of his race, Basil succeeded in incorporating with Muscovy the last remnants of the ancient independent principalities, by accusing the princes of Ryazan and Syeversk of conspiracy against him, seizing their persons, and annexing their domains (1517-1523). Seven years earlier (24th of January 1510) the last free republic of old Russia, Pskov, was deprived of its charter and assembly-bell, which were sent [v.03 p.0469] to Moscow, and tsarish governors were appointed to rule it. Basil also took advantage of the difficult position of Sigismund of Poland to capture Smolensk, the great eastern fortress of Poland (1512), chiefly through the aid of the rebel Lithuanian, Prince Michael Glinsky, who provided him with artillery and engineers from western Europe. The loss of Smolensk was the first serious injury inflicted by Muscovy on Poland and only the exigencies of Sigismund compelled him to acquiesce in its surrender (1522). Equally successful, on the whole, was Basil against the Tatars. Although in 1519 he was obliged to buy off the khan of the Crimea, Mahommed Girai, under the very walls of Moscow, towards the end of his reign he established the Russian influence on the Volga, and in 1530 placed the pretender Elanyei on the throne of Kazan. Basil was the first grand-duke of Moscow who adopted the title of tsar and the double-headed eagle of the East Roman empire. By his second wife, Helena Glinska, whom he married in 1526, Basil had a son Ivan, who succeeded him as Ivan IV.

See Sigismund Herberstain, _Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii_ (Vienna, 1549); P. A. Byelov, _Russian History Previous to the Reforms of Peter the Great_ (Russ.), (Petersburg, 1895); E. I. Kashprovsky, _The War of Basil III. with Sigismund I._ (Russ.), (Nyezhin, 1899).

BASIL IV., SHUISKY (d. 1612), tsar of Muscovy, was during the reigns of Theodore I. and Boris Godunov, one of the leading boyars of Muscovy. It was he who, in obedience to the secret orders of Tsar Boris, went to Uglich to inquire into the cause of the death of Demetrius, the infant son of Ivan the Terrible, who had been murdered there by the agents of Boris. Shuisky obsequiously reported that it was a case of suicide; yet, on the death of Boris and the accession of his son Theodore II., the false boyar, in order to gain favour with the first false Demetrius, went back upon his own words and recognized the pretender as the real Demetrius, thus bringing about the assassination of the young Theodore. Shuisky then plotted against the false Demetrius and procured his death (May 1606) also by publicly confessing that the real Demetrius had been indeed slain and that the reigning tsar was an impostor. This was the viler in him as the pseudo-Demetrius had already forgiven him one conspiracy. Shuisky's adherents thereupon proclaimed him tsar (19th of May 1606). He reigned till the 19th of July 1610, but was never generally recognized. Even in Moscow itself he had little or no authority, and was only not deposed by the dominant boyars because they had none to put in his place. Only the popularity of his heroic cousin, Prince Michael Skopin-Shuisky, who led his armies and fought his battles for him, and soldiers from Sweden, whose assistance he purchased by a disgraceful cession of Russian territory, kept him for a time on his unstable throne. In 1610 he was deposed, made a monk, and finally carried off as a trophy by the Polish grand hetman, Stanislaus Zolkiewski. He died at Warsaw in 1612.

See D. I. Ilovaisky, _The Troubled Period of the Muscovite Realm_ (Russ.), (Moscow, 1894); S. I. Platonov, _Sketches of the Great Anarchy in the Realm of Moscow_ (Petersburg, 1899); D. V. Tsvyeltev, _Tsar Vasily Shuisky_ (Russ.), (Warsaw, 1901-1903); R. Nisbet Bain, _Slavonic Europe_, ch. viii. (Cambridge, 1907).

(R. N. B.)

BASILIAN MONKS, those who follow the rule of Basil the Great. The chief importance of the monastic rule and institute of St Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of the monasticism of the Greek and Slavonic Churches, though the monks do not call themselves Basilians. St Basil's claim to the authorship of the Rules and other ascetical writings that go under his name, has been questioned; but the tendency now is to recognize as his at any rate the two sets of Rules. Probably the truest idea of his monastic system may be derived from a correspondence between him and St Gregory Nazianzen at the beginning of his monastic life, the chief portions whereof are translated by Newman in the _Church of the Fathers_, "Basil and Gregory," ss. 4, 5. On leaving Athens Basil visited the monasteries of Egypt and Palestine; in the latter country and in Syria the monastic life tended to become more and more eremitical and to run to great extravagances in the matter of bodily austerities (see MONASTICISM). When (_c._ 360) Basil formed his monastery in the neighbourhood of Neocaesarea in Pontus, he deliberately set himself against these tendencies. He declared that the cenobitical life is superior to the eremitical; that fasting and austerities should not interfere with prayer or work; that work should form an integral part of the monastic life, not merely as an occupation, but for its own sake and in order to do good to others; and therefore that monasteries should be near towns. All this was a new departure in monachism. The life St Basil established was strictly cenobitical, with common prayer seven times a day, common work, common meals. It was, in spite of the new ideas, an austere life, of the kind called contemplative, given up to prayer, the reading of the Scriptures and heavy field-work. The so-called Rules (the Longer and the Shorter) are catechisms of the spiritual life rather than a body of regulations for the corporate working of a community, such as is now understood by a monastic rule. Apparently no vows were taken, but obedience, personal poverty, chastity, self-denial, and the other monastic virtues were strongly enforced, and a monk was not free to abandon the monastic life. A novitiate had to be passed, and young boys were to be educated in the monastery, but were not expected to become monks.

St Basil's influence, and the greater suitability of his institute to European ideas, ensured the propagation of Basilian monachism; and Sozomen says that in Cappadocia and the neighbouring provinces there were no hermits but only cenobites. However, the eastern hankering after the eremitical life long survived, and it was only by dint of legislation, both ecclesiastical (council of Chalcedon) and civil (Justinian Code), that the Basilian cenobitic form of monasticism came to prevail throughout the Greek-speaking lands, though the eremitical forms have always maintained themselves.

Greek monachism underwent no development or change for four centuries, except the vicissitudes inevitable in all things human, which in monasticism assume the form of alternations of relaxation and revival. The second half of the 8th century seems to have been a time of very general decadence; but about the year 800 Theodore, destined to be the only other creative name in Greek monachism, became abbot of the monastery of the Studium in Constantinople. He set himself to reform his monastery and restore St Basil's spirit in its primitive vigour. But to effect this, and to give permanence to the reformation, he saw that there was need of a more practical code of laws to regulate the details of the daily life, as a supplement to St Basil's Rules. He therefore drew up constitutions, afterwards codified (see Migne, _Patrol. Graec._ xcix., 1704-1757), which became the norm of the life at the Studium monastery, and gradually spread thence to the monasteries of the rest of the Greek empire. Thus to this day the Rules of Basil and the Constitutions of Theodore the Studite, along with the canons of the Councils, constitute the chief part of Greek and Russian monastic law.

The spirit of Greek monachism, as regenerated by Theodore, may best be gathered from his _Letters, Discourses and Testament_.[1] Under the abbot were several officials to superintend the various departments; the liturgical services in the church took up a considerable portion of the day, but Theodore seems to have made no attempt to revive the early practice of the Studium in this matter (see ACOEMETI); the rest of the time was divided between reading and work; the latter included the chief handicrafts, for the monks, only ten in number, when Theodore became abbot, increased under his rule to over a thousand. One kind of work practised with great zeal and success by the Studite monks, was the copying of manuscripts, so that to them and to the schools that went forth from them we owe a great number of existing Greek MSS. and the preservation of many works of classical and ecclesiastical antiquity. In addition to this, literary and theological studies were pursued, and the mysticism of pseudo-Dionysius was cultivated. The life, though simple and self-denying and hard, was not of extreme austerity. There was a division of the monks into two classes, similar to the division in vogue in later time in the West into choir-monks and lay-brothers. The life of the choir-monks was predominantly contemplative, [v.03 p.0470] being taken up with the church services and private prayer and study; the lay-brothers carried on the various trades and external works. There is little or no evidence of works of charity outside the monastery being undertaken by Studite monks. Strict personal poverty was enforced, and all were encouraged to approach confession and communion frequently. Vows had been imposed on monks by the council of Chalcedon (451). The picture of Studite life is the picture of normal Greek and Slavonic monachism to this day.

During the middle ages the centre of Greek monachism shifted from Constantinople to Mount Athos. The first monastery to be founded here was that of St Athanasius (_c._ 960), and in the course of the next three or four centuries monasteries in great numbers--Greek, Slavonic and one Latin--were established on Mount Athos, some twenty of which still survive.

Basilian monachism spread from Greece to Italy and Russia. Rufinus had translated St Basil's Rules into Latin (_c._ 400) and they became the rule of life in certain Italian monasteries. They were known to St Benedict, who refers his monks to "the Rule of our holy Father Basil,"--indeed St Benedict owed more of the ground-ideas of his Rule to St Basil than to any other monastic legislator. In the 6th and 7th centuries there appear to have been Greek monasteries in Rome and south Italy and especially in Sicily. But during the course of the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries crowds of fugitives poured into southern Italy from Greece and Sicily, under stress of the Saracenic, Arab and other invasions; and from the middle of the 9th century Basilian monasteries, peopled by Greek-speaking monks, were established in great numbers in Calabria and spread northwards as far as Rome. Some of them existed on into the 18th century, but the only survivor now is the monastery founded by St Nilus (_c._ 1000) at Grottaferrata in the Alban Hills. Professor Kirsopp Lake has (1903) written four valuable articles (_Journal of Theological Studies_, iv., v.) on "The Greek monasteries of South Italy"; he deals in detail with their scriptoria and the dispersal of their libraries, a matter of much interest, in that some of the chief collections of Greek MSS. in western Europe--as the Bessarion at Venice and a great number at the Vatican--come from the spoils of these Italian Basilian houses.

Of much greater importance was the importation of Basilian monachism into Russia, for it thereby became the norm of monachism for all the Slavonic lands. Greek monks played a considerable part in the evangelization of the Slavs, and the first Russian monastery was founded at Kiev (_c._ 1050) by a monk from Mount Athos. The monastic institute had a great development in Russia, and at the present day there are in the Russian empire some 400 monasteries of men and 100 of women, many of which support hospitals, almshouses and schools. In the other Slavonic lands there are a considerable number of monasteries, as also in Greece itself, while in the Turkish dominions there are no fewer than 100 Greek monasteries. The monasteries are of three kinds: _cenobia_ proper, wherein full monastic common life, with personal poverty, is observed; others called _idiorrhythmic_, wherein the monks are allowed the use of their private means and lead a generally mitigated and free kind of monastic life; and the _lauras_, wherein the life is semi-eremitical. Greek and Slavonic monks wear a black habit. The visits of Western scholars in modern times to Greek monasteries in search of MSS.--notably to St Catherine's on Mount Sinai, and to Mount Athos--has directed much attention to contemporary Greek monachism, and the accounts of these expeditions commonly contain descriptions, more or less sympathetic and intelligent, of the present-day life of Greek monks. The first such account was Robert Curzon's in parts iii. (1834) and iv. (1837) of the _Monasteries of the Levant_; the most recent in English is Athelstan Riley's _Athos_ (1887). The life is mainly given up to devotional contemplative exercises; the church services are of extreme length; intellectual study is little cultivated; manual labour has almost disappeared; there are many hermits on Athos (_q.v._).

The ecclesiastical importance of the monks in the various branches of the Orthodox Church lies in this, that as bishops must be celibate, whereas the parochial clergy must be married, the bishops are all recruited from the monks. But besides this they have been a strong spiritual and religious influence, as is recognized even by those who have scant sympathy with monastic ideals (see Harnack, _What is Christianity?_ Lect. xiii., end).

Outside the Orthodox Church are some small congregations of Uniat Basilians. Besides Grottaferrata, there are Catholic Basilian monasteries in Poland, Hungary, Galicia, Rumania; and among the Melchites or Uniat Syrians.

There have been Basilian nuns from the beginning, St Macrina, St Basil's sister, having established a nunnery which was under his direction. The nuns are devoted to a purely contemplative life, and in Russia, where there are about a hundred nunneries, they are not allowed to take final vows until the age of sixty. They are very numerous throughout the East.

AUTHORITIES.--In addition to the authorities for different portions of the subject-matter named in the course of this article, may be mentioned, on St Basil and his Rules, Montalembert, _Monks of the West_, second part of bk. ii., and the chapter on St Basil in James O. Hannay's _Spirit and Origin of Christian Monasticism_ (1903). On the history and spirit of Basilian Monachism, Helyot, _Hist. des Ordres Religieux_, i. (1714); Heimbucher, _Orden und Kongregationen_ (1907), i., s. 11; Abbe Marin, _Les Moines de Constantinople_ (1897); Karl Holl, _Enthusiasmus und Bussgewalt beim griechischen Moenchtum_ (1898); Otto Zoeckler, _Askese und Moenchtum_, pp. 285-309 (1897). For general information see Wetzer und Welte, _Kirchenlexicon_ (ed. ii.), art. "Basilianer," and Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopaedie_ (ed. iii.), in articles "Moenchtum," "Orientalische Kirche," and "Athosberg," where copious references will be found.

(E. C. B.)

[1] Specimen passages, and also a general picture of the life, will be found in Miss Alice Gardner's _Theodore of Studium_, ch. v.