Chapter VII: Part 7

Capo d'Istria's rule in Greece had to contend against immense difficulties--the utter poverty of the treasury, the barbarism of the people but recently emancipated, the continued presence of Ibrahim Pasha, with an unbroken army, in the south of the Morea. His strength lay in his experience of affairs and in the support of Russia; but he was by inheritance an aristocrat and by training an official, lacking in broad human sympathy, and therefore little fitted to deal with the wild and democratic elements of the society it was his task to control. The Greeks could understand the international status given to them by his presidency, and for a while the enthusiasm evoked by his arrival made him master of the situation. He thoroughly represented Greek sentiment, too, in his refusal to accept the narrow limits which the powers, in successive protocols, sought to impose on the new state (see GREECE). But the Russian administrative system by which he sought to restrain the native turbulence was bound in the end to be fatal to him. The wild chiefs of the revolution won over at first by their inclusion in his government, were offended by his European airs and Russian uniform, and alienated by his preference for the educated Greeks of the Phanar and of Corfu, his promotion of his brothers Viaro and Agostino to high commands causing special offence. Dissatisfaction ended in open rebellion; the islands revolted; Capo d'Istria called in the aid of the Russian admiral; and Miaoulis, the hero of the Greek war at sea, blew up the warships under his command to prevent their falling into the hands of the government. On land, so far as the president was concerned, the climax was reached with the attempt to coerce the Mavromichales of the Maina, the bravest and most turbulent of the mountain clans, whose chief Petros Mavromichales, commonly known as Petrobey, had played a leading part in the War of Independence. The result was an insurrection in the Maina (Easter, 1830), and the imprisonment of those of the Mavromichales, including Petrobey, who happened to be in the power of the government. At the news of their chieftain's imprisonment the Mainots, who had for a while been pacified, once more flew to arms and threatened to march on Nauplia; but negotiations were opened, and on the advice of the Russian minister Petrobey consented to make his submission to the president. Unhappily, when he was brought under guard to the appointed interview, Capo d'Istria, in a moment of irritation and weariness, refused to see him. Maddened with rage at this insult from a man who had not struck a blow for Greece, the proud old chief, on his way back to prison, called out to two of his kinsmen, his son George and his brother Constantino, "You see how I fare," and passed on. According to the code of the Maina this was a command to take revenge. Next day, the 9th of October 1831, the two placed themselves at the door of the church where Capo d'Istria was accustomed to worship. As he passed in Constantine shot him down, and as he fell George thrust a dagger into his heart.

AUTHORITIES.--Carl W.P. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's _Graf Johann
Kapodistrias_ (Berlin, 1864) is based on all the sources, printed and
unprinted, available at the time of publication, and contains an
excellent guide to these. This may be supplemented by the historical
sections of F. de Marten's _Recueil des traites condus par la Russie,
&c._ (1874, &c.). A sketch of Capo d'Istria's activity as president
will be found in W. Alison Phillips's _The War of Greek Independence_
(London, 1897). Many of Capo d'Istria's despatches, &c., are published
in the collections of diplomatic correspondence mentioned in the
bibliography of the article EUROPE: _History_. Under the Russian title
"Zapiska grapha Joanna Capodistrias" is published in the series of the
Imperial Russian Historical Society, vol. iii. p. 163 (St Petersburg,
1868)the _Apercu de ma carriere publique_, written by Capo d'Istria for
presentation to the emperor Alexander, and dated at Geneva 12/24
December 1826. Of unpublished materials may be mentioned the letters
of Capo d'Istria to Sir Richard Church, vol. xvi. of the Church Papers
in the British Museum (_Add. MSS._ 36453-36571). See further
bibliography to chapter vi. of vol. x. of the _Cambridge Modern
History_ (1907). (W. A. P.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] After his election to the Greek presidency in 1827, Capo
d'Istria, whose baptismal names were Giovanni Antonio, signed himself
Joannes Capodistrias, the form by which he is very commonly known.

[2] The letter was written by Michael Stourdza and _copied_ by Louis.

CAPODISTRIA, a town and seaport of Austria, in Istria, 15 m. S.W. of Trieste by rail. Pop. (1900) 10,711, mostly Italians. It is situated on a small island, which occupies the end of a large bay in the Gulf of Trieste, and which is connected with the mainland by a causeway half a mile in length. Capodistria is an old town with small streets, and has preserved remarkably well its Italian, almost its Venetian character. The most noteworthy buildings are the cathedral, the town-hall and the _Loggia_ or the old law-court, all situated in the principal square. In addition to the extraction of salt from the sea in the extensive salt works near the town, fishing and shipbuilding are the other principal occupations of the population. Trade is chiefly in sea-salt, wine and oil. Capodistria is usually identified with the town of Aegida, mentioned by Pliny, which appears by an inscription to have afterwards received (in the 6th century) the name of Justinopolis from Justin II. When at the beginning of the 13th century Istria fell into the hands of the patriarchs of Aquileia, they made this town the capital of the whole province. Thence it acquired its actual name, which means the capital of Istria. It was captured by the Venetians in 1279, and passed into Austrian possession in 1797.

CAPONIER (from the Fr. _caponniere_, properly a capon-cote or house), in fortification, a work constructed in the ditch of a fort. Its fire (musketry, machine-guns, case shot, &c.) sweeps the bottom of the ditch and prevents an enemy from establishing himself in it. The term is used in a military sense as early as in the late 17th century. In various bastioned systems of fortification a caponier served merely as a covered means of access to outworks, the bastion trace providing for the defence of the ditch by fire from the main parapet.

CAPPADOCIA, in ancient geography, an extensive inland district of Asia Minor. In the time of Herodotus the Cappadocians occupied the whole region from Mount Taurus to the Euxine. That author tells us that the name of the Cappadocians (Katpatouka) was applied to them by the Persians, while they were termed by the Greeks "Syrians," or "White Syrians" (_Leucosyri_). Under the later kings of the Persian empire the were divided into two satrapies or governments, the one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by Greek geographers, while the other was called Cappadocia [Greek: kata Poutou], or simply Pontus (q.v.). This division had already come about before the time of Xenophon. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be separate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be considered in the present article.

Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded S. by the chain of Mount Taurus, E. by the Euphrates, N. by Pontus, and W. vaguely by the great central salt "Desert" (_Axylon_). But it is impossible to define its limits with accuracy. Strabo, the only ancient author who gives any circumstantial account of the country, greatly exaggerated its dimensions; it was in reality about 250 m. in length by less than 150 in breadth. With the exception of a narrow strip of the district called Melitene, on the east, which forms part of the valley of the Euphrates, the whole of this region is a high upland tract, attaining to more than 3000 ft., and constituting the most elevated portion of the great tableland of Asia Minor (q.v.). The western parts of the province, where it adjoins Lycaonia, extending thence to the foot of Mount Taurus, are open treeless plains, affording pasture in modern as in ancient times to numerous flocks of sheep, but almost wholly desolate. But out of the midst of this great upland level rise detached groups or masses of mountains, mostly of volcanic origin, of which the loftiest are Mount Argaeus (still called by the Turks Erjish Dagh), (13,100 ft.), and Hassan Dagh to the south-west (8000 ft.).

The eastern portion of the province is of a more varied and broken character, being traversed by the mountain system called by the Greeks Anti-Taurus. Between these mountains and the southern chain of Taurus, properly so called, lies the region called in ancient times Cataonia, occupying an upland plain surrounded by mountains. This district in the time of Strabo formed a portion of Cappadocia and was completely assimilated; but earlier writers and the Persian military system regarded the Cataonians as a distinct people.

Cappadocia contained the sources of the Sarus and Pyramus rivers with their higher affluents, and also the middle course of the Halys (see ASIA MINOR), and the whole course of the tributary of Euphrates now called Tokhma Su. But as no one of these rivers was navigable or served to fertilize the lands along its torrential course, none has much importance in the history of the province.

The kingdom of Cappadocia, which was still in existence in the time of Strabo, as a nominally independent state, was divided, according to that geographer, into ten districts. Of these _Cataonia_ has been described; the adjoining district of _Melitene_, which did not originally form part of Cappadocia at all, but was annexed to it by Ariarathes I., was a fertile tract adjoining the Euphrates; its chief town retains the name of Malatia. _Cilicia_ was the name given to the district in which Caesarea, the capital of the whole country was situated, and in which rose the conspicuous Mount Argaeus. _Tyanitis_, the region of which Tyana was the capital, was a level tract in the extreme south, extending to the foot of Mount Taurus. _Garsauritis_ appears to have comprised the western or south-western districts adjoining Lycaonia; its chief town was Archelais. _Laviansene_ or _Laviniane_ was the country south and south-east of Sivas, through which ran the road from Sebastea to Caesarea: _Sargarausene_ lay south of the above, and included Uzun Yaila and the upper basin of the Tokhma Su; _Saravene_ lay west of Laviansene and included the modern district of Ak Dagh; _Chamanene_ lay west again of the above along the middle course of the Halys: _Morimene_ was the north-western district extending along the edge of the central desert as far south as Melegob.

The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Mazaca, the capital of the kingdom under its native monarchs (see CAESAREA-MAZACA); and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus, the site of which is marked by a great mound at a place called Kiz (or Ekuz) Hissar, about 12 m. south-west of Nigdeh. Archelais, founded by Archelaus, the last king of the country, subsequently became a Roman colony, and a place of some importance. It is now Akserai.

Several localities in the Cappadocian country were the sites of famous temples. Among these the most celebrated were those of Comana (q.v.) and Venasa in Morimene, where a male god was served by over 3000 _hieroduli_. The local sanctity of Venasa has been perpetuated by the Moslem veneration for Haji Bektash, the founder of the order of dervishes to which the Janissaries used in great part to belong. Cappadocia was remarkable for the number of its slaves, which constituted the principal wealth of its monarchs. Large numbers were sent to Rome but did not enjoy a good reputation. The Cappadocian peasants are still in the habit of taking service in the West of the peninsula and only returning to their homes after long absences; their labour is now much valued by employers, as they are a strong sober folk. The province was celebrated for its horses, as well as for its vast flocks of sheep; but from its elevation above the sea, and the coldness of its climate, it could never have been rich and fertile.

_History_.--Nothing is known of the history of Cappadocia before it became subject to the Persian empire, except that the country was the home of a great "Hittite" power centred at Boghaz-Keui (see PTERIA), which has left monuments at many places, e.g. Nevsheher, Fraktin, Gorun, Malatia, various points about Albistan and Derendeh, Bulgur Maden, Andaval and Tyana. Possibly the princes of the last named city were independent. With the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians after their defeat by Croesus, Cappadocia was left in the power of a sort of feudal aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile condition, which later made them apt for foreign slavery. It was included in the third Persian satrapy in the division established by Darius, but long continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributary to the Great King. Thoroughly subdued at last by the satrap Datames, Cappadocia recovered independence under a single ruler, Ariarathes (hence called Ariarathes I.), who was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, and maintained himself on the throne of Cappadocia after the fall of the Persian monarchy.

The province was not visited by Alexander, who contented himself with the tributary acknowledgment of his sovereignty made by Ariarathes before the conqueror's departure from Asia Minor; and the continuity of the native dynasty was only interrupted for a short time after Alexander's death, when the kingdom fell, in the general partition of the empire, to Eumenes. His claims were made good in 322 by the regent Perdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions following Eumenes's death, the son of Ariarathes recovered his inheritance and left it to a line of successors, who mostly bore the name of the founder of the dynasty, Under the fourth of the name Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon. The kings henceforward threw in their lot with the Republic as against the Seleucids, to whom they had been from time to time tributary. Ariarathes V. marched with the Roman proconsul Crassus against Aristonicus, a claimant to the throne of Pergammum, and their forces were annihilated (130 B.C.). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by the rising power of Pontus and the intrigues and wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty. The Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithradates, elected a native lord, Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 B.C.); but it was not till Rome had disposed at once of the Pontic and Armenian kings that his rule was established (63 B.C.). In the civil wars Cappadocia was now for Pompey, now for Caesar, now for Antony, now against him. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end and a certain Archelaus reigned in its stead, by favour first of Antony, then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence till A.D. 17, when the emperor Tiberius, on Archelaus's death in disgrace, reduced Cappadocia at last to a province. Vespasian in A.D. 70 joined Armenia Minor to it and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of the Eastern Empire till late in the 11th century, though often ravaged both by Persians and Arabs. But before it passed into Seljuk hands (1074), and from them ultimately to the Osmanlis, it had already become largely Armenian in religion and speech; and thus we find the southern part referred to as "Hermeniorum terra" by crusading chroniclers. At this day the north-east and east parts of the province are largely inhabited by Armenians. The native kings had done much to Hellenize Cappadocia, which had previously received a strong Iranian colour; but it was left to Christianity to complete their work. Though pre-Hellenic usages long survived in the local cults and habits, a part of the people has remained more or less Hellenic to this day, in spite of its envelopment by Moslem conquerors and converts. The tradition of its early church, illuminated by the names of the two Gregories and Basil of Caesarea, has been perpetuated by the survival of a native Orthodox element throughout the west and north-west of the province; and in the remoter valleys Greek speech has never wholly died out. Its use has once more become general under Greek propagandist influence, and the Cappadocian "Greeks" are now a flourishing community.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--W. Wright, _Empire of the Hittites_ (1884); G. Perrot
and C. Chipiez, _Hist. de l'art dans l'antiquite_, vol. iv. (1886);
A.H. Sayce, _Hittites_ (1892) (see also PTERIA); J.G. Droysen, _Gesch.
des Hellenismus_ (3rd ed., 1878); A. Holm, _Gesch. Griech._ (Eng.
trans., 1886); Th. Reinach, _Mithridate Eupator_ (1890); E.R. Bevan,
_House of Seleucus_ (1902); Th. Mommsen, _Provinces of the Roman
Empire_ (Eng. trans., 1886); J. Marquardt, _Rom. Staatsverwaltung_, i.
(1874); W.M. Ramsey, _Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor_ (1890); C. Ritter,
_Erdkunde_, xviii. xix. (1858-1859); D.G. Hogarth and J.A.R. Munro,
_Mod. and Anc. Roads in E. Asia Minor_ (R.G.S. Supp. Papers, iii.
1893); G. Perrot, _Souvenirs d'un voyage dans l'A. Mineure_ (1864);
H.J. v. Lennep, _Travels in Asia Minor_ (1870); E. Chantre, _Mission
en Cappadocie_ (1898); H.F. Tozer, _Turkish Armenia_ (1881); H.C.
Barkley, _Ride Through A.M. and Armenia_ (1891); Lord Warkworth,
_Notes of a Diary in As. Turkey_ (1898); M. Sykes, _Dar ul-Islam_
(1904). (E. H. B.; D. G. H.)

CAPPEL, a French family which produced some distinguished jurists and theologians in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1491, Guillaume Cappel, as rector of the university of Paris, protested against a tithe which Innocent VIII. claimed from that body. His nephew, Jacques Cappel (d. 1541), the real founder of the family, was himself advocate-general at the parlement of Paris, and in a celebrated address delivered before the court in 1537, against the emperor Charles V., claimed for Francis I. the counties of Artois, Flanders and Charolais. He left nine children, of whom three became Protestants. The eldest, Jacques (1529-1586), sieur du Tilloy, wrote several treatises on jurisprudence. Louis (1534-1586), sieur de Moriambert, the fifth son, was a most ardent Protestant. In 1570 he presented a confession of faith to Charles IX. in the name of his co-religionists. He disputed at Sedan before the duc de Bouillon with the Jesuit, Jean Maldouat (1534-1583), and wrote in defence of Protestantism. The seventh son, Ange (1537-1623), seigneur du Luat, was secretary to Henry IV., and enjoyed the esteem of Sully. Among those who remained Catholic should be mentioned Guillaume, the translator of Machiavelli. The eldest son Jacques also left two sons, famous in the history of Protestantism:--Jacques (1570-1624), pastor of the church founded by himself on his fief of le Tilloy and afterwards at Sedan, where he became professor of Hebrew, distinguished as historian, philologist and exegetical scholar; and Louis (see below).

On the protest of Guillaume Cappel, see Du Bellay, _Historia
Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. v. On the family, see the sketch by
another Jacques Cappel, "De Capellorum gente," in the _Commentarii et
notae criticae in Vetus Testamentum_ of Louis Cappel, his father
(Amsterdam, 1689). Consult Eugene and Emile Haag, _La France
protestante_, vol. iii. (new edition, 1881).

CAPPEL, LOUIS (1585-1658), French Protestant divine and scholar, a Huguenot whose descent is traced above, was born at St Elier, near Sedan, in 1585. He studied theology at Sedan and Saumur; and Arabic at Oxford, where he spent two years. At the age of twenty-eight he accepted the chair of Hebrew at Saumur, and twenty years afterwards was appointed professor of theology. Amongst his fellow lecturers were Moses Amyraut and Josue de la Place. As a Hebrew scholar he made a special study of the history of the Hebrew text, which led him to the conclusion that the vowel points and accents are not an original part of the Hebrew language, but were inserted by the Massorete Jews of Tiberias, not earlier than the 5th century A.D., and that the primitive Hebrew characters are those now known as the Samaritan, while the square characters are Aramaic and were substituted for the more ancient at the time of the captivity. These conclusions were hotly contested by Johannes Buxtorf, being in conflict with the views of his father, Johannes Buxtorf senior, notwithstanding the fact that Elias Levita had already disputed the antiquity of the vowel points and that neither Jerome nor the Talmud shows any acquaintance with them. His second important work, _Critica Sacra_, was distasteful from a theological point of view. He had completed it in 1634; but owing to the fierce opposition with which he had to contend, he was only able to print it at Paris in 1650, by aid of a son, who had turned Catholic. The various readings in the Old Testament text and the differences between the ancient versions and the Massoretic text convinced him that the idea of the integrity of the Hebrew text, as commonly held by Protestants, was untenable. This amounted to an attack on the verbal inspiration of Scripture. Bitter, however, as was the opposition to his views, it was not long before his results were accepted by scholars.

Cappel was also the author of _Annotationes et Commentarii in Vetus
Testamentum_, _Chronologia Sacra_, and other biblical works, as well
as of several other treatises on Hebrew, among which are the _Arcanum
Punctuationis revelatum_ (1624) and the _Diatriba de veris et antiquis
Ebraeorum literis_ (1645). His _Commentarius de Capellorum gente_,
giving an account of the family to which he belonged, was published by
his nephew James Cappel (1639-1722), who, at the age of eighteen,
became professor of Hebrew at Saumur, but, on the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, fled to England, where he died in 1722. See
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_.

CAPPELLO, BIANCA (1548-1587), grand duchess of Tuscany, was the daughter of Bartolommeo Cappello, a member of one of the richest and noblest Venetian families, and was famed for her great beauty. At the age of fifteen she fell in love with Pietro Bonaventuri, a young Florentine clerk in the firm of Salviati, and on the 28th of November 1563 escaped with him to Florence, where they were married and she had a daughter named Pellegrina. The Venetian government made every effort to have Bianca arrested and brought back, but the grand duke Cosimo de' Medici intervened in her favour and she was left unmolested. However she did not get on well with her husband's family, who were very poor and made her do menial work, until at last her beauty attracted Francesco, the grand duke's son, a vicious and unprincipled rake. Although already married to the virtuous and charming Archduchess Giovanna of Austria, he seduced the fair Venetian and loaded her with jewels, money and other presents. Bianca's accommodating husband was given court employment, and consoled himself with other ladies; in 1572 he was murdered in the streets of Florence in consequence of some amorous intrigue, though possibly Bianca and Francesco were privy to the deed. On the death of Cosimo in 1574 Francesco succeeded to the grand duchy; he now installed Bianca in a fine palace close to his own and outraged his wife by flaunting his mistress before her. As Giovanna had borne Francesco no sons, Bianca was very anxious to present him with an heir, for otherwise her position would remain very insecure. But although she resorted to all sorts of expedients, even to that of trying to pass off a changeling as the grand duke's child, she was not successful. In 1578 Giovanna died; a few days later Francesco secretly married Bianca, and on the 10th of June, 1579, the marriage was publicly announced. The Venetian government now put aside its resentment and was officially represented at the magnificent wedding festivities, for it saw in Bianca Cappello an instrument for cementing good relations with Tuscany. But the long expected heir failed to come, and Bianca realized that if her husband were to die before her she was lost, for his family, especially his brother Cardinal Ferdinand, hated her bitterly, as an adventuress and interloper. In October 1587 both the grand duke and his wife died of colic within a couple of days of each other. At the time poison was suspected, but documentary evidence has proved the suspicion to be unfounded.

See S. Romanin, _Lezioni di storia Veneta_, vol. ii. (Florence, 1875);
G.E. Saltini, _Tragedie Medicee domestiche_ (Florence, 1898).
(L. V.*)

CAPPERONNIER, CLAUDE (1671-1744), French classical scholar, the son of a tanner, was born at Montdidier on the 1st of May 1671. He studied at Amiens and Paris, and took orders in the Church of Rome, but devoted himself almost entirely to classical studies. He declined a professorship in the university of Bale, and was afterwards appointed (1722) to the Greek chair in the College de France. He published an edition of Quintilian (1725) and left behind him at his death an edition of the ancient Latin Rhetoricians, which was published in 1756. He furnished much material for Robert Estienne's _Thesaurus Linguae Latinae_. His nephew, Jean Capperonnier (1716-1775), his successor in the chair of Greek at the College de France, was also a distinguished scholar, and published valuable editions of classical authors--Caesar, Anacreon, Plautus, Sophocles.

CAPPONI, GINO, MARQUIS (1792-1876), Italian statesman and historian, was born on the 13th of September 1792. The Capponi family is one of the most illustrious Florentine houses, and is mentioned as early as 1250; it acquired great wealth as a mercantile and banking firm, and many of its members distinguished themselves in the service of the republic and the Medicis (see CAPPONI, PIERO), and later in that of the house of Lorraine. Gino was the son of the Marquis Pier Roberto Capponi, a nobleman greatly attached to the reigning grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III. When that prince was deposed by the French in 1799 the Capponi family followed him into exile at Vienna, where they remained until he exchanged his rights to the grand duchy for a German principality (1803). The Capponi then returned to Florence, and in 1811 Gino married the marchesina Giulia Riccardi. Although the family were very anti-French Gino was chosen with other notables to pay homage to Napoleon in Paris in 1813. On the fall of Napoleon Ferdinand returned to Tuscany (September 1814), but the restoration proved less reactionary there than in any other part of Italy. Young Capponi was well received at court, but not being satisfied with the life of a mere man of fashion, he devoted himself to serious study and foreign travel. After sundry journeys in Italy he again visited Paris in 1818, and then went to England. He became deeply interested in English institutions, and carefully studied the constitution, the electoral system, university life, industrial organization, &c. At Edinburgh he met Francis Jeffrey, the editor of the _Edinburgh Review_, and conceived a desire to found a similar review in Italy. Besides knowing Jeffrey he made the acquaintance of many prominent statesmen and men of letters, including Lord John Russell, the duke of Bedford, Dugald Stewart, Ugo Foscolo, &c. This visit had a great effect in forming his character, and while it made him an ardent Anglophil, he realized more and more the distressing conditions of his own country. He returned to Italy in 1820, and on reaching Florence he set to work to found a review on the lines of the _Edinburgh_, which should attract the best literary talent. This he achieved with the help of the Swiss G.P. Vieusseux, and the result was the _Antologia_. He contributed largely to its columns, as well as to those of the _Archivio Storico_, another of Vieusseux's ventures. Capponi began to take a more active interest in politics, and entered into communication with the Liberals of all parts of Italy. He had discussed the possibility of liberating Italy with Prince Charles Albert of Savoy-Carignano, to whom he had introduced the Milanese revolutionist Count Confalonieri (q.v.). But the collapse of the rising of 1821 and the imprisonment of Confalonieri made Capponi despair of achieving anything by revolution, and he devoted himself to the economic development of Tuscany and to study. At his beautiful villa of Varramista he collected materials for a history of the Church; his work was interrupted by family troubles and by increasing blindness, but although by 1844 he had completely lost his sight he continued to work by means of amanuenses. In 1847 he again plunged into politics and discussed plans for an Italian alliance against Austria. When the grand duke Leopold II. decided in 1848 to grant his people a constitution, Capponi was made a member of the commission to draw it up, and he eventually became prime minister. During his short tenure of office he conducted foreign affairs with great skill, and made every effort to save the Italian situation after the defeat of Charles Albert on the Mincio. In October 1848 he resigned; soon afterwards the grand duke fled, anarchy followed, and then in 1849 he returned, but with an escort of Austrian soldiery. The blind statesman thanked God that he could not see the hated white uniforms in Florence. He returned to his studies and commenced his great _Storia della Repubblica di Firenze_; but he followed political affairs with great interest, and helped to convince Lord John Russell, who stayed with him in 1859, of the hopelessness of the grand duke's position. On Leopold's second flight (27th of April 1859) a Tuscan assembly was summoned, and Capponi elected member of it. He voted for the grand duke's deposition and for the union of Tuscany with Piedmont. King Victor Emmanuel made him senator in 1860. His last years were devoted almost exclusively to his Florentine history, which was published in 1875 and achieved an immediate success. This was Capponi's swan song, for on the 3rd of February 1876 he died at the age of eighty-four.

Capponi was one of the best specimens of the Tuscan landlord class. "He represents," wrote his biographer Tabarrini, "one of the most striking personalities of a generation, now wholly passed away, which did not resign itself to the beatitudes of 1815, but wished to raise Italy from the humble state to which the European peace of that year had condemned her; and he succeeded by first raising the character of the Italians in the opinion of foreigners, so as to deserve their esteem and respect." He knew nearly all the most interesting people in Italy, besides many distinguished foreigners: Giuseppe Giusti, the poet, A. Manzoni, the novelist, Niccolo Tommaseo, Richard Cobden, A. von Reumont, the historian, were among those whom he entertained at his palace or his villas, and many were the struggling students and revolutionists to whom he gave assistance. As a historian his reputation rests on his _Storia della Repubblica di Firenze_ (Florence, 1875); it was the first comprehensive Italian book on the subject based on documents and written in a modern critical spirit, and if the chapters on the early history of the city are now obsolete in view of recent discoveries, yet, as a whole, it remains a standard work. Besides his history a large number of essays and pamphlets have been published in his _Scritti Inediti_.

See M. Tabarrini, _Gino Capponi_ (Florence, 1879); and A. von Reumont,
_Gino Capponi_ (Gotha, 1880). (L. V.*)

CAPPONI, PIERO (1447-1496), Florentine statesman and warrior. He was at first intended for a business career, but Lorenzo de' Medici, appreciating his ability, sent him as ambassador to various courts, where he acquitted himself with distinction. On the death of Lorenzo (1492), who was succeeded by his son, the weak and incapable Piero, Capponi became one of the leaders of the anti-Medicean faction which two years later expelled him from Florence. Capponi was then made chief of the republic and conducted public affairs with great skill, notably in the difficult negotiations with Charles VIII. of France, who had invaded Italy in 1494 and in whose camp the exiled Medici had taken refuge. In November Charles, on his way to Naples, entered Florence with his army, and immediately began to behave as though he were the conqueror of the city, because he had entered it lance in rest. The signory was anxious to be on good terms with him, but when he spoke in favour of the Medici their temper changed at once, and the citizens were ordered to arm and be prepared for all emergencies. Tumults broke out between French soldiers and Florentine citizens, barricades were erected and stones began to fly from the windows. This alarmed Charles, who lowered his tone and said nothing more about conquered cities or the Medici. The Florentines were willing to pay him a large sum of money, but in settling the amount further disagreements arose. Charles, who was full of the Medici's promises, made exorbitant demands, and finally presented an ultimatum to the signory, who rejected it. "Then we shall sound our trumpets," said the king, to which Capponi replied "And we shall toll our bells," and tore up the ultimatum in the king's face. Charles, who did not relish the idea of house-to-house fighting, was forced to moderate his claims, and concluded a more equitable treaty with the republic. On the 28th of November he departed, and Capponi was appointed to reform the government of Florence. But being more at home in the camp than in the council chamber, he was glad of the opportunity of leading the armies of the republic against the Pisan rebels. He proved a most capable general, but while besieging the castle of Soiana, he was killed on the 25th of September 1496. His death was greatly regretted, for the Florentines recognized in him their ablest statesman and warrior.

See under SAVONAROLA, FLORENCE, MEDICI, CHARLES VIII. The "Vita di
Piero di Gino Capponi," by V. Acciaiuoli (published in the _Archivio
Storico Italiano_, series 1, vol. iv. part 2^a, 1853), is the chief
contemporary authority; see also P. Villari, _Savonarola_, vol. i.
(Florence, 1887), and Gino Capponi, _Storia delta Repubblica di
Firenze_, vol. ii. (Florence, 1875). (L. V.*)

CAPRAIA (anc. _Capraria_, from Lat. _capra_, wild-goat), an island of Italy, off the N.W. coast (the highest point 1466 ft. above sea-level), belonging to the province of Genoa, 42 m. S.S.E. of Leghorn by sea. Pop. (1901) 547. It is of volcanic origin, and is partly occupied by a penal agricultural colony. It produces wine, and is a centre of the anchovy fishery. It became Genoese in 1527 and was strongly fortified. In 1796 it was occupied for a short time by Nelson. About 20 m. to the north is the island of Gorgona (highest point 836 ft.), also famous for its anchovies.

CAPRERA, an island off the N.E. coast of Sardinia, about 1 m. in length. It is connected by a bridge with La Maddalena. Its chief interest lies in its connexion with Garibaldi, who first established himself there in 1854, and died there on the 2nd of June 1882. His tomb is visited on this anniversary by Italians from all parts. Roman remains, including a bust of Maximian, have been found upon the island.

CAPRI (anc. _Capreae_), an island on the S. side of the Bay of Naples, of which it commands a fine view; it forms part of the province of Naples, and is distant about 20 m. S. of the town of Naples. Pop. (1901) of the commune of Capri, 3890, of Anacapri, 2316. It divides the exits from the bay into two, the Bocca Grande, about 16 m. wide, between Capri and Ischia, and the Bocca Piccola, 3 m. wide between Capri and the extreme south-west point of the peninsula of Sorrento. It is 4 m. in length and the greatest width is 1-1/2 m., the total area being 5-1/2 sq. m. The highest point is the Monte Solaro (1920 ft.) on the west, while at the east end the cliffs rise to a height of 900 ft. sheer from the sea. The only safe landing-place is on the north side. There are two small towns, Capri (450 ft.) and Anacapri (980 ft.), which until the construction of a carriage road in 1874 were connected only by a flight of 784 steps (the substructures of which at least are ancient). The island lacks water, and is dusty during drought, but is fertile, producing fruit, wine and olive oil; the indigenous flora comprises 800 species. The fishing industry also is important. But the prosperity of the island depends mainly upon foreign visitors (some 30,000 annually), who are attracted by the remarkable beauty of the scenery (that of the coast being especially fine), the views of the sea and of the Bay of Naples, and the purity of the air. The famous Blue Grotto, the most celebrated of the many caves in the rocky shores of the island, was known in Roman times, but lost until 1826, when it was rediscovered. Another beautiful grotto has green instead of blue refractions; the effect in both cases is due to the light entering by a small entrance.

The high land in the west of the island and the somewhat less elevated region in the east are formed of Upper Tithonian and Lower Cretaceous limestones, the latter containing Rudistes. The intervening depression, which seems to be bounded on the west by a fault, is filled to a large extent by sandstones and marls of Eocene age. A superficial layer of recent volcanic tuffs occurs in several parts of the island. The Blue Grotto is in the Tithonian limestones; it shows indications of recent changes of level.

The earliest mythical inhabitants (though some have localized the Sirens here) are the Teleboi from Acarnania under their king Telon. Neolithic remains were found in 1882 in the Grotta delle Felci, a cave on the south coast. In historical times we find the island occupied by Greeks. It subsequently fell into the hands of Neapolis, and remained so until the time of Augustus, who took it in exchange for Aenaria (Ischia) and often resided there. Tiberius, who spent the last ten years of his life at Capri, built no fewer than twelve villas there; to these the great majority of the numerous and considerable ancient remains on the island belong. All these villas can be identified with more or less certainty, the best preserved being those on the east extremity, consisting of a large number of vaulted substructures and the foundations perhaps of a _pharos_ (lighthouse). One was known as Villa Jovis, and the other eleven were probably named after other deities. The existence of numerous ancient cisterns shows that in Roman as in modern times rain-water was largely used for lack of springs. After Tiberius's death the island seems to have been little visited by the emperors, and we hear of it only as a place of banishment for the wife and sister of Commodus. The island, having been at first the property of Neapolis, and later of the emperors, never had upon it any community with civic rights. Even in imperial times Greek was largely spoken there, for about as many Greek as Latin inscriptions have been found. The medieval town was on the north side at the chief landing-place (Marina Grande), and to it belonged the church of S. Costanzo, an early Christian building. It was abandoned in the 15th century on account of the inroads of pirates, and the inhabitants took refuge higher up at the two towns of Capri and Anacapri.

In 1806 the island was taken by the English fleet under Sir Sidney Smith, and strongly fortified, but in 1808 it was retaken by the French under Lamarque. In 1813 it was restored to Ferdinand I. of the Two Sicilies.

See J. Beloch, _Campanien_ (Breslau, 1890), 278 seq.; G. Feola,
_Rapporto sullo stato dei ruderi Augusto-Tiberiani_--MS. inedito,
publicato dal Dott. Ignazio Cerio (Naples, 1894); F. Furchheim,
_Bibliografia dell' Isola di Capri e della provincia Sorrentina_
(Naples, 1899); C. Weichhardt, _Das Schloss des Tiberius und andere
Romerbauten auf Capri_ (Leipzig, 1900). (T. As.)

CAPRICCIO, or CAPRICE (Ital. for a sudden motion or fancy), a musical term for a lively composition of an original and fantastic nature, not following a set musical form, although the first known, written for the harpsichord, partook of the nature of a fugue. The word is also used for pieces of a fanciful type, in the nature of transcriptions and variations.

CAPRICORNUS ("THE GOAT"), in astronomy, the tenth sign of the zodiac (q.v.), represented by the symbol [symbol] intended to denote the crooked horns of this animal. The word is derived from Lat. _caper_, a goat, and _cornu_, a horn. It is also a constellation of the southern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.); Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe catalogued 28 stars, Hevelius gave 29. It was represented by the ancients as a creature having the forepart a goat, and the hindpart a fish, or sometimes simply as a goat. An interesting member of this constellation is [alpha]-_Capricorni_, a pair of stars of 3rd and 4th magnitudes, each of which has a companion of the 9th magnitude.

CAPRIFOLIACEAE, a natural order of plants belonging to the sympetalous or higher division of Dicotyledons, that namely which is characterized by having the petals of the flower united. The plants are mainly shrubs and trees; British representatives are _Sambucus_ (elder), _Viburnum_ (guelder-rose and wayfaring tree), _Lonicera_ (honeysuckle) (see fig.); _Adoxa_ (moschatel), a small herb with a creeping stem and small yellowish-green flowers, is occasionally found on damp hedge-banks; _Linnaea_, a slender creeping evergreen with a thread-like stem and pink bell-shaped flower, a northern plant, occurs in fir-forests and plantations in the north of England and Scotland. The leaves are opposite, simple as in honeysuckle, or compound as in elder; they have usually no stipules. The flowers are regular as in _Viburnum_ and _Sambucus_, more rarely two-lipped as in _Lonicera_; the sepals and petals are usually five in number and placed above the ovary, the five stamens are attached to the corolla-tube, there are three to five carpels, and the fruit is a berry as in honeysuckle or snowberry (_Symphoricarpus_), or a stone fruit, with several, usually three, stones, as in _Sambucus_.

In _Sambucus_ and _Viburnum_ the small white flowers are massed in heads; honey is secreted at the base of the styles and, the tube of the flower being very short, is exposed to the visits of flies and insects with short probosces. The flowers of _Lonicera_, which have a long tube, open in the evening, when they are sweet-scented and are visited by hawk-moths. The order contains about 250 species, chiefly natives of the north temperate zone and the mountains of the tropics. Several genera afford ornamental plants; such are _Lonicera_, erect shrubs or twiners with long-tubed white, yellow or red flowers; _Symphoricarpus_, a North American shrub, with small whitish pendulous flowers and white berries; _Diervilla_ (also known as _Weigelia_), and _Viburnum_, including _V. Opulus_, guelder rose, in the cultivated forms of which the corolla has become enlarged at the expense of the essential organs and the flowers are neuter.

CAPRIVI DE CAPRERA DE MONTECUCCOLI, GEORG LEO VON, COUNT (1831-1899), German soldier and statesman, was born on the 24th of February 1831 at Charlottenburg. The family springs from Carniola, and the name was originally written Kopriva; in the 18th century one branch settled in Wernigerode, and several members entered the Prussian service; the father of the chancellor held a high judicial post, and was made a life member of the Prussian House of Lords. Caprivi was educated in Berlin, and entered the army in 1849; he took part in the campaign of 1866, being attached to the staff of the ist army. In 1870 he served as chief of the staff to the 10th army corps, which formed part of the 2nd army, and took part in the battles before Metz as well as in those round Orleans, in which he highly distinguished himself. One of the most delicate strategical problems of the whole war was the question of whether to change the direction of the 10th corps on the morning of the 16th of August before Vionville, and in this, as well as in the actual manoeuvres of the corps on that day, Caprivi, as representative of, and counsellor to, his chief, General v. Voigts-Rhetz, took a leading part. At the battle of Beaune-la-Rolande, the turning-point of the Orleans campaign, the 10th corps bore the brunt of the fighting. After the peace he held several important military offices, and in 1883 was made chief of the admiralty, in which post he had to command the fleet and to organize and represent the department in the Reichstag. He resigned in 1888, when the command was separated from the representation in parliament, and was appointed commander of the 10th army corps. Bismarck had already referred to him as a possible successor to himself, for Caprivi had shown great administrative ability, and was unconnected with any political party; and in March 1890 he was appointed chancellor, Prussian minister president and foreign minister. He was quite unknown to the public, and the choice caused some surprise, but it was fully justified. The chief events of his administration, which lasted for four years, are narrated elsewhere, in the article on Germany. He showed great ability in quickly mastering the business, with which he was hitherto quite unacquainted, as he himself acknowledged; his speeches in the Reichstag were admirably clear, dignified and to the point. His first achievement was the conclusion in July 1890 of a general agreement with Great Britain regarding the spheres of influence of the two countries in Africa. Bismarck had supported the colonial parties in Germany in pretensions to which it was impossible for Great Britain to give her consent, and the relations between the two powers were in consequence somewhat strained. Caprivi adopted a conciliatory attitude, and succeeded in negotiating terms with Lord Salisbury which gave to Germany all she could reasonably expect. But the abandonment of an aggressive policy in East Africa and in Nigeria, and in the withdrawal of German claims to Zanzibar (in exchange for Heligoland) aroused the hostility of the colonial parties, who bitterly attacked the new chancellor. Caprivi had, however, by making the frontiers of the Congo Free State and German East Africa meet, "cut" the Cape to Cairo connexion of the British, an achievement which caused much dismay in British colonial circles, regular treaties having been obtained from native chiefs over large areas which the chancellor secured for Germany. In Nigeria also Caprivi by the 1890 agreement, and by another concluded in 1893, made an excellent bargain for his country, while in South-West Africa he obtained a long but narrow extension eastward to the Zambezi of the German protectorate (this strip of territory being known as "Caprivi's Finger"). In his African policy the chancellor proved far-sighted, and gained for the new protectorates a period for internal development and consolidation. The Anglo-German agreement of 1890 was followed by commercial treaties with Austria, Rumania, &c.; by concluding them he earned the express commendation of the emperor and the title of count, but he was from this time relentlessly attacked by the Agrarians, who made it a ground for their distrust that he was not himself a landed proprietor; and from this time he had to depend much on the support of the Liberals and other parties who had been formerly in opposition. The reorganization of the army caused a parliamentary crisis, but he carried it through successfully, only, however, to earn the enmity of the more old-fashioned soldiers, who would not forgive him for shortening the period of service. His position was seriously compromised by the failure in 1892 to carry an education bill which he had defended by saying that the question at issue was Christianity or Atheism, and he resigned the presidency of the Prussian ministry, which was then given to Count Eulenburg. In 1894, a difference arose between Eulenburg and Caprivi concerning the bill for an amendment of the criminal code (the _Umsturz Vorlage_), and in October the emperor dismissed both. Caprivi's fall was probably the work of the Agrarians, but it was also due to the fact that, while he showed very high ability in conducting the business of the country, he made no attempt to secure his personal position by forming a party either in parliament or at court. He interpreted his position rather as a soldier; he did his duty, but did not think of defending himself. He suffered much from the attacks made on him by the followers of Bismarck, and he was closely associated with the social ostracism of that statesman; we do not know, however, in regard either to this or to the other events of his administration, to what extent Caprivi was really the author of the policy he carried out, and to what extent he was obeying the orders of the emperor. With a loyalty which cannot be too highly praised, he always refused, even after his abrupt dismissal, to justify himself, and he could not be persuaded even to write memoirs for later publication. The last years of his life were spent in absolute retirement, for he could not return even to the military duties which he had left with great reluctance at the orders of the emperor. He died unmarried on the 6th of February 1899, at the age of sixty-eight.

See R. Arndt, _Die Reden des Grafen v. Caprivi_ (Berlin, 1894), with a
biography. (J. W. He.)

CAPRONNIER, JEAN BAPTISTE (1814-1891), Belgian stained-glass painter, was born in Brussels in 1814, and died there in 1891. He had much to do with the modern revival of glass-painting, and first made his reputation by his study of the old methods of workmanship, and his clever restorations of old examples, and copies made for the Brussels archaeological museum. He carried out windows for various churches in Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam and elsewhere, and his work was commissioned also for France, Italy and England. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 he won the only medal given for glass-painting.

CAPSICUM, a genus of plants, the fruits of which are used as peppers (see CAYENNE PEPPER for botany, &c.). As used in medicine, the ripe fruit of the _capsicum mimum_ (or _frutescans_), containing the active principle capsaicin (capsacutin), first isolated by Thresh in 1876, has remarkable physiological properties. Applied locally to the skin or mucous membrane, it causes redness and later vesication. Internally in small doses it stimulates gastric secretions and causes dilatation of the vessels; but if used internally in excess for a long period it will cause subacute gastritis. In single doses in excess it causes renal irritation and inflammation and strangury. The administration of capsicum is valuable in atony of the stomach due to chronic alcoholism, its hot stimulating effect not only increasing the appetite but to a certain degree satisfying the craving for alcohol. It is also useful in the flatulency of the aged, where it prevents the development of gas, and has a marked effect on anorexia. It has been used in functional torpidity of the kidney. Externally capsicum plaster placed over the affected muscles is useful in rheumatism and lumbago. Capsicum wool, known as calorific wool, made by dissolving the oleoresin of capsicum in ether and pouring it on to absorbent cotton-wool, is useful in rheumatic affections.

CAPSTAN (also spelt in other forms, or as "capstock" and "cable stock," connected with the O. Fr. _capestan_ or _cabestan_, from Lat. _capistrum_, a halter, _capere_, to take hold of; the conjecture that it came from the Span. _cabra_, goat, and _estanto_, standing, is untenable), an appliance used on board ship and on dock walls, for heaving-in or veering cables and hawsers, whether of iron, steel or hemp. It differs from a windlass, which is used for the same purposes, in having the axis on which the rope is wound vertical instead of horizontal. The word seems to have come into English (14th century) from French or Spanish shipmen at the time of the Crusades. The earlier forms were of a comparatively simple character, made of wood with an iron spindle and worked by manual labour with wooden capstan bars. As heavier cables were supplied to ships, difficulty was found, when riding at anchor, in holding, checking and veering cable. A cable-holder (W.H. Harfield's) was tested in H.M.S. "Newcastle" (wooden frigate) in 1870 and proved effective; its first development in 1876 was the application in the form of a windlass secured to the deck, driven by a messenger chain from the capstan, fitted in H.M.S. "Inflexible" (fig. 1).