Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

CHORALE (from the Lat. _choralis_, sc. _cantus_; the final _e_ is added to show the Ger. pronunciation _chor[=a]l_), a term in music used by English writers to indicate the hymn-tunes composed or adopted for use in church by the German reformers. German writers, however, apply the terms "_Choral_" and "_Chorale-gesang_," as Luther himself would apply them, to any solemn melody used in the church. It is thus the equivalent of _canto fermo_; and the German rhymed versions of the biblical and other ancient canticles, such as the Magnificat and the Te Deum, are set to curious corruptions of the corresponding Gregorian tunes, which adaptations the composers of classical German music called chorales with no more scruple than they applied the name to tunes of secular origin, German or foreign. The peculiarity of German chorale-music, however, is that its use, and consequently much of its invention, not only arose in connexion with the Reformation, by which the liturgy of the church became "understanded of the people," but also that it belongs to a musical epoch in which symmetry of melody and rhythm was beginning to assume artistic importance. The growing sense of form shown by some of Luther's own tunes (e.g. _Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her_) soon advanced, especially in the tunes of Crüger, beyond any that was shown by folk-music; and it provided an invaluable bulwark against the chaos that was threatening to swamp music on all sides at the beginning of the 17th century. By Bach's time all the polyphonic instrumental and vocal art-forms of the 18th century were mature; and though he loved to derive the design as well as the details of a large movement from the shape of the chorale tune on which it was based, he became quite independent of any aid from symmetry in the tune as raw material. The chorus of his cantata _Jesus nun sei gepreiset_ is one of the most perfectly designed and quite the longest of movements ever based upon a chorale-tune treated phrase by phrase. Yet the tune is one of the most intractable in the world, though its most unpromising portion is the basis of the most impressive feature in Bach's design (the slow middle section in triple time).

The national character of the German chorale, and the recent great development of interest in folk-music, together with the unique importance of Bach's work, have combined to tempt writers on music to over-estimate the distinctness of the art-forms based upon the German chorale. There is really nothing in these art-forms which is not continuous with the universal practice of writing counterpoint on a _canto fermo_. And it should never be forgotten that, however fascinating may be the study of the relation between artistic forms and the spirit of the age, no art can successfully express more of the spirit of the age than its own technical resources will admit. Choral music in all ages has tended to consist largely of counterpoint on a _canto fermo_ (see CONTRAPUNTAL FORMS). Where there are not many canto fermos in constant use in the church, composers will be driven to use them rather unsystematically as special effects, and to rely for the most part on other artistic devices, though any use of melodies in long notes against quicker counterpoint will be aesthetically indistinguishable from counterpoint on a _canto fermo_. Thus Handel in his Italian and English works wrote no entire chorale movements, yet what is the passage in the "Hallelujah" chorus from "the kingdom of this world" to the end but a treatment of the second part of the chorale _Wachet auf_? How shall we describe the treatment of the words "And their cry came up unto the Lord" in the first chorus of _Israel in Egypt_, except as the treatment of a phrase of chorale or _canto fermo_? Again, to return to the 16th century, what are the hymns of Palestrina but figured chorales? In what way, except in the lack of symmetry in the Gregorian phrasing, do they differ from the contemporary setting by Orlando di Lasso, also a Roman Catholic, of the German chorale _Vater unser im Himmelreich_? In modern times the use of German chorales, as in Mendelssohn's oratorios and organ-sonatas, has had rather the aspect of a revival than of a development; though the technique and spirit of Brahms's posthumous organ chorale-preludes is thoroughly modern and vital.

One of the most important, and practically the earliest collection of
"Chorales" is that made by Luther and Johann Walther (1496-1570), the
_Enchiridion_, published in 1524. Next in importance we may place the
Genevan Psalter (1st ed., Strassburg, 1542, final edition 1562), which
is now conclusively proved to be the work of Bourgeois. From this
Sternhold and Hopkins borrowed extensively (1562). The psalter of C.
Goudimel (Paris, 1565) is another among many prominent collections
showing the steps towards congregational singing, i.e. the restriction
to "note-against-note" counterpoint (sc. plain harmony), and, in
twelve cases, the assigning of the melody to the treble instead of to
the tenor. The first hymn-book in which this latter step was acted on
throughout is Osiander's _Geistliche Lieder ... also gesetzt, dass ein
christliche Gemein durchaus mitsingen kann_ (1586). But many of the
finest and most famous tunes are of much later origin than any such
collections. Several (e.g. _Ich freue mich in dir_) cannot be traced
before Bach, and were very probably composed by him. (D. F. T.)

CHORIAMBIC VERSE, or CHORIAMBICS, the name given to Greek or Latin lyrical poetry in which the sound of the choriambus predominates. The choriambus is a verse-foot consisting of a trochee united with and preceding an iambus, [-uu-]. The choriambi are never used alone, but are usually preceded by a spondee and followed by an iambus. The line so formed is called an asclepiad, traditionally because it was invented by the Aeolian poet Asclepiades of Samos. Choriambic verse was first used by the poets of the Greek islands, and Sappho, in particular, produced magnificent effects with it. The measure, as used by the early Greeks, is essentially lyrical and impassioned. Mingled with other metres, it was constantly serviceable in choral writing, to which it was believed to give a stormy and mysterious character. The Greater Asclepiad was a term used for a line in which the wild music was prolonged by the introduction of a supplementary choriambus. This was much employed by Sappho and by Alcaeus, as well as in Alexandrian times by Callimachus and Theocritus. Among the Latins, Horace, in imitation of Alcaeus, made constant use of choriambic verse. Metrical experts distinguish six varieties of it in his Odes. This is an example of his greater asclepiad (_Od._ i. 11):--

-u u- -u u- - uu -
Tu ne | quaesieris | scire nefas | quem mihi, quem | tibi
Finem | Di dederint | Leuconoë; | nee Babylon|ïos
Tentar|is numeros. | Ut melius | quicquid erit, | pati!
Seu plu|res hiemes, | seu tribuit | Jupiter ul|timam,
Quae nunc | oppositis | debilitat | pumicibus | mare
Tyrrhe|num.

In later times of Rome, both Seneca and Prudentius wrote choriambic verse with a fair amount of success. Swinburne even introduced it into English poetry:--

Love, what | ailed them to leave | life that was made | lovely, we
thought | with love?
What sweet | vision of sleep | lured thee away | down from the light
| above?

Such lines as these make a brave attempt to resuscitate the measured sound of the greater asclepiad. (E. G.)

CHORICIUS, of Gaza, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the time of Anastasius I. (A.D. 491-518). He was the pupil of Procopius of Gaza, who must be distinguished from Procopius of Caesarea, the historian. A number of his declamations and descriptive treatises have been preserved. The declamations, which are in many cases accompanied by explanatory commentaries, chiefly consist of panegyrics, funeral orations and the stock themes of the rhetorical schools. The [Greek: Epithalamioi] or wedding speeches, wishing prosperity to the bride and bridegroom, strike out a new line. Choricius was also the author of so-called [Greek: Ekphraseis], descriptions of works of art after the manner of Philostratus. The moral maxims, which were a constant feature of his writings, were largely drawn upon by Macarius Chrysocephalas, metropolitan of Philadelphia (middle of the 14th century), in his _Rodonia_ (rose-garden), a voluminous collection of ethical sayings. The style of Choricius is praised by Photius as pure and elegant, but he is censured for lack of naturalness. A special feature of his style is the persistent avoidance of hiatus, peculiar to what is called the school of Gaza.

Editions by J.F. Boissonade (1846, supplemented by C. Graux in _Revue
de philologie_, 1877) and R. Förster (1882-1894); see also C. Kirsten,
"Quaestiones Choricianae" in _Breslauer philologische Abhandlungen_,
vii. (1894), and article by W. Schmid in Pauly-Wissowa's
_Realencyclopädie_, iii. 2 (1899). On the Gaza school see K. Seitz,
_Die Schule von Gaza_ (Heidelberg, 1892).

CHORIN, AARON (1766-1844), Hungarian rabbi and pioneer of religious reform. He favoured the use of the organ and of prayers in the vernacular, and was instrumental in founding schools on modern lines. Chorin was thus regarded as a leader of the newer Judaism. He also interested himself in public affairs; and his son Francis was a Hungarian deputy.

See L. Löw, _Gesammelte Schriften_, ii. 251.

CHORIZONTES ("separators"), the name given to the Alexandrian critics who denied the single authorship of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, and held that the latter poem was the work of a later poet. The most important of them were the grammarians Xeno and Hellanicus; Aristarchus was their chief opponent (see HOMER).

CHORLEY, HENRY FOTHERGILL (1808-1872), English musical critic, one of an old Lancashire family, began in a merchant's office, but soon took to musical journalism. He began to write for the _Athenaeum_ in 1830, and remained its musical critic for more than a generation; and he also became musical critic for _The Times_. In these positions he had much influence; he had strong views, and was a persistent opponent of innovation. In addition to musical criticism, he wrote voluminously on literature and art, besides novels, dramas and verse, and various librettos; and he published several books, including _Modern German Music_ (1854), _Handel Studies_ (1859), and _Thirty Years' Musical Recollections_ (1862). He died in London on the 16th of February 1872.

See his _Autobiography, Memoir and Letters_, edited by H.G. Hewlett
(1873).

CHORLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Chorley parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, on the river Yarrow, 202 m. N.W. by W. from London and 22 m. N.W. from Manchester, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North-Western railways and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Pop. (1891) 23,087; (1901) 26,852. The church of St Lawrence is of Perpendicular and earlier date, largely restored; it contains fine woodwork and some interesting monuments. Cotton spinning and the manufacture of cotton and muslin are extensively carried on, and there are also iron and brass foundries and boiler factories. Railway-wagon building is an important industry. The district contains a number of coal-mines and stone-quarries. Close to the town is the beautiful Elizabethan mansion of Astley Hall, which is said to have sheltered Oliver Cromwell after the battle of Preston (1648). The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area, 3614 acres.

CHORLU, TCHORLAU or SCHORLAU, a town of European Turkey, in the vilayet of Adrianople; on the left bank of the Chorlu, a small left-hand tributary of the Ergene, 20 m. N.E. of Rodosto. Pop. (1905) about 12,000, of whom one-half are Greeks, one-third Turks, and the remainder Armenians and Jews. Chorlu has a station on the Constantinople-Adrianople branch of the Oriental railways. It manufactures woollen cloth (_shayak_) and native carpets, and exports cereals, oil-cloth, carpets, cattle, poultry, fresh meat, game, fruits, wine, alcohol, hides and bones.

CHOROGRAPHY. (1) (From the Gr. [Greek: chôra], a tract of country, and [Greek: graphein], to write), a description or delineation on a map of a district or tract of country; it is to be distinguished from "geography" and "topography," which treat of the earth as a whole and of particular places respectively. The word is common in old geographical treatises, but is now superseded by the wider use of "topography." (2) (From the Gr. [Greek: choros], dance), the art of dancing, or a system of notation to indicate the steps and movements in dancing.

CHÓRUM, the chief town of a sanjak of the Angora vilayet in Asia Minor, altitude 2300 ft., situated on the edge of a wide plain, almost equidistant from Amasia and Yuzgat. Pop. about 12,500, including a few Christians. Its importance is largely due to its situation on the great trade-route from Kaisaríeh (Caesarea) by Yuzgat and Marzivan to Samsun on the Black Sea. It corresponds to the ancient _Euchaita_, which lay 15 m. E. Euchaiti was attacked by the Huns A.D. 508, and became a bishopric at an early period and a centre of religious enthusiasm, as containing the tomb of the revered St Theodore, who slew a dragon in the vicinity and became one of the great warrior saints of the Greek Church. Something of the old enthusiasm seems to have passed to the inhabitants of Chórum, whom most travellers have found bigoted and fanatical Mahommedans (see J.G.C. Anderson, _Studia Pontica_, pp. 6 ff.).

CHORUS (Gr. [Greek: choros]) properly a dance, and especially the sacred dance, accompanied by song, of ancient Greece at the festivals of the gods. The word [Greek: choros] seems originally to have referred to a dance in an enclosure, and is therefore usually connected with the root appearing in Gr. [Greek: chortos], hedge, enclosure, Lat. _hortus_, garden, and in the Eng. "yard," "garden" and "garth." Of choral dances in ancient Greece other than those in honour of Dionysus we know of the Dance of the Crane at Delos, celebrating the escape of Theseus from the labyrinth, one telling of the struggle of Apollo and the Python at Delphi, and one in Crete recounting the saving of the new-born Zeus by the Curetes. In the chorus sung in honour of Dionysus the ancient Greek drama had its birth. From that of the winter festival, consisting of the [Greek kômos] or band of revellers, chanting the "phallic songs," with ribald dialogue between the leader and his band, sprang "comedy," while from the dithyrambic chorus of the spring festival came "tragedy." For the history of the chorus in Greek drama, with the gradual subordination of the lyrical to the dramatic side in tragedy and its total disappearance in the middle and new comedy, see DRAMA: _Greek Drama_.

The chorus as a factor in drama survived only in the various imitations or revivals of the ancient Greek theatre in other languages. A chorus is found in Milton's _Samson Agonistes_. The Elizabethan dramatists applied the name to a single character employed for the recitation of prologues or epilogues. Apart from the uses of the term in drama, the word "chorus" has been employed chiefly in music. It is used of any organized body of singers, in opera, oratorio, cantata, &c., and, in the form "choir," of the trained body of singers of the musical portions of a religious service in a cathedral or church. As applied to musical compositions, a "chorus" is a composition written in parts, each to be sung by groups of voices in a large body of singers, and differs from "glee" (q.v.), where each part is for a single voice. The word is also used of that part of a song repeated at the close of each verse, in which the audience or a body of singers may join with the soloist.

In the early middle ages the name _chorus_ was given to a primitive bagpipe without a drone. The instrument is best known by the Latin description contained in the apocryphal letter of St Jerome, _ad Dardanum_: "Chorus quoque simplex, pellis cum duabus cicutis aereis, et per primam inspiratur per secundam vocem emittit." Several illuminated MSS.[1] from the 9th to the 11th century give fanciful drawings, accompanied by descriptions in barbarous Latin, evidently meant to illustrate those described in the letter to Dardanus. The original MS., probably an illustrated transcript of this letter, which served as a copy for the others, was apparently produced at a time when the Roman bagpipe (_tibia utricularia_) had fallen into disuse in common with other musical instruments, and was unknown except to the few. The Latin description given above is correct and quite unmistakable to any one who knows the primitive form of bagpipe; the illustrations must therefore represent the effort of an artist to depict an unknown instrument from a description. Virdung, Luscinius and Praetorius seem to have had access to a MS. of the Dardanus letter now lost, and to have reproduced the drawings without understanding them. In a MS. of the 14th century at the British Museum,[2] containing a chronicle of the world's history to the death of King Edward I., the chorus is mentioned and described in similar words to those quoted above; in the margin is an elementary sketch of a primitive bagpipe with blowpipe and chaunter with three holes, but no drone. Bagpipes with drones abound on sculptured monuments and in miniatures of that century. Gerbert gives illustrations of the fanciful chorus from the Dardanus letter and of two other instruments of later date; one of these represents a musician playing the _Platerspiel_, the other the bagpipe known as _chevrette_, in which the whole skin of the animal (a kid or pig), with head and feet, has been used for the bag. Edward Buhle,[3] in his admirable work on the musical instruments in the illuminated MSS. of the middle ages, points out that Gerbert,[4] who gives the dates of his two MSS. as "6th and 9th centuries," has a singular method of reckoning the date of a MS.; he refers to the age of a MS. at the time of writing (18th century), not to the date at which it was produced. The MS. containing the two figures of musicians mentioned above, instead of being ascribed to the 6th century, was six centuries old when Gerbert wrote in 1774, and dates therefore from the 12th century. It is interesting to note that Giraldus Cambrensis[5] mentions the chorus as one of the three instruments of Wales and Scotland, ascribing superior musical skill to the latter. Historians record that King James I. of Scotland was renowned for his skill as a performer on various musical instruments, one of which was the chorus.[6] This bears out the traditional belief that the bagpipe had been a Scottish attribute from the earliest times. The word "chorus" occurs once or twice in French medieval poems with other instruments, but without indication as to the kind of instrument thus designated. The word was probably the French equivalent for the _Platerspiel_.

See also G. Kastner, _Danses des morts_ (pp. 200 to 202, pl. xv., No.
103); and Dom Pedro Cerone, _El Melopeo y maestro_ (Naples, 1613), p.
248. (K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The MSS. are a psalterium, 9th century, Bibl. publique, Angers,
fol. 13a; Boulogne _Psalterium glossatum_ c. A.D. 1000, MS. No. 20,
Bibl. publique. For reproduction of musical instruments see _Annales
archéologiques_, tome iv. (1846), p. 38; Cotton MS., Tiberius C.
vi., 10th to 11th century, fol. 16b, British Museum, illustrated in
Strutt's _Horda Angel-cynnan_, vol. ii. pls. xx. and xxi.; MS.
psalter of St Emmeran, now in Munich Staatsbibliothek, clm. 14523,
fol. 51b, 10th century, illustrated by Gerbert, _De Cantu et Mus.
Sacra_, tome ii. pi. xxiii.; Paris, Bibl. Nat. Fonds Latin, 7211,
1Oth century, fol. 150 and 151a.

[2] Cotton MS., Nero D. ii. f. 15a, _Chronicon ab orbe condito ad
obitum Regis Edwardi I., 1307_.

[3] _Die musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniaturen des frühen
Mittelalters_, part i. "Die Blasinstrumente" (Leipzig, 1903), p. 7,
note 1.

[4] Op. cit. (1774), tome ii. pl. xxv. No. 13, pp. 130, 151, 152,
and pl. xxxi. No. 12.

[5] _Topographia Hiberniae_, cap. xi.

[6] _Scotichronicon_ (Fordun and Bower), xvi. 28; and Dalyell,
_Musical Memoirs of Scotland_, p. 47, pls. x. and xi.

CHOSE (Fr. for "thing"), a term used in English law in different senses. _Chose local_ is a thing annexed to a place, as a mill. A _chose transitory_ is that which is movable, and can be carried from place to place. But the use of the word "chose" in these senses is practically obsolete, and it is now used only in the phrases _chose in action_ and _chose in possession_. A "chose in action," sometimes called a chose in suspense, in its more limited meaning, denotes the right of enforcing by legal proceedings the payment of a debt, or the obtaining money by way of damages for breach of contract, or as a recompense for a wrong. Less accurately, the money itself which could be recovered is frequently termed a chose in action, as is also sometimes the document evidencing a title to a chose in action, such as a bond or a policy of insurance, though strictly it is only the right to recover the money which can be so termed. Choses in action were, before the Judicature Acts, either _legal_ or _equitable_. Where the chose could be recovered only by an action at law, as a debt (whether arising from contract or tort), it was termed a legal chose in action; where the chose was recoverable only by a suit in equity, as a legacy or money held upon a trust, it was termed an equitable chose in action. Before the Judicature Act, a legal chose in action was not assignable, i.e. the assignee could not sue at law in his own name. To this rule there were two exceptions:--(1) the crown has always been able to assign choses in action that are certain, such as an ascertained debt, but not those that are uncertain; (2) assignments valid by operation of law, e.g. on marriage, death or bankruptcy. On the other hand, however, by the law merchant, which is part of the law of England, and which disregards the rules of common law, bills of exchange were freely assignable. The consequence was that, with these and certain statutory exceptions (e.g. actions on policies of insurance), an action on an assigned chose in action must have been brought at law in the name of the assignor, though the sum recovered belonged in equity to the assignee. All choses in action being in equity assignable, except those which are altogether incapable of being assigned, in equity the assignee might have sued in his own name, making the assignor a party as co-plaintiff or as defendant. The Judicature Acts made the distinction between legal and equitable choses in action of no importance. The Judicature Act of 1873, s. 25 (6), enacted that the legal right to a debt or other legal chose in action could be passed by absolute assignment in writing under the hand of the assignor.

"Chose in possession" is opposed to chose in action, and denotes not only the right to enjoy or possess a thing, but also the actual or constructive enjoyment of it. The possession may be absolute or qualified. It is absolute when the person is fully and completely the proprietor or owner of the thing; it is qualified when he "has not an exclusive right, or not a permanent right, but a right which may sometimes subsist and at other times not subsist," as in the case of animals _ferae naturae_. A chose in possession is freely transferable by delivery. Previously to the Married Women's Property Act 1882, a wife's choses in possession vested in her husband immediately on her marriage, while her choses in action did not belong to the husband until he had reduced them into possession, but this difference is now practically obsolete.

CHOSROES, in Middle and Modern Persian _Khosrau_ ("with a good name"), a very common Persian name, borne by a famous king of the Iranian legend (Kai Khosrau); by a Parthian king, commonly called by the Greeks Osroes (q.v.); and by the following two Sassanid kings.

1. CHOSROES I., "the Blessed" (_Anushirvan_), 531-579, the favourite son and successor of Kavadh I., and the most famous of the Sassanid kings. At the beginning of his reign he concluded an "eternal" peace with the emperor Justinian, who wanted to have his hands free for the conquest of Africa and Sicily. But his successes against the Vandals and Goths caused Chosroes to begin the war again in 540. He invaded Syria and carried the inhabitants of Antioch to his residence, where he built for them a new city near Ctesiphon under the name of Khosrau-Antioch or Chosro-Antioch. During the next years he fought successfully in Lazica or Lazistan (the ancient Colchis, q.v.), on the Black Sea, and in Mesopotamia. The Romans, though led by Belisarius, could do little against him. In 545 an armistice was concluded, but in Lazica the war went on till 556. At last, in 562, a peace was concluded for 50 years, in which the Persians left Lazistan to the Romans, and promised not to persecute the Christians, if they did not attempt to make proselytes among the Zarathustrians; on the other hand, the Romans had again to pay subsidies to Persia. Meanwhile in the east the Hephthalites had been attacked by the Turks, who now appear for the first time in history. Chosroes united with them and conquered Bactria, while he left the country north of the Oxus to the Turks. Many other rebellious tribes were subjected. About 570 the dynasts of Yemen, who had been subdued by the Ethiopians of Axum, applied to Chosroes for help. He sent a fleet with a small army under Vahriz, who expelled the Ethiopians. From that time till the conquests of Mahomet, Yemen was dependent on Persia, and a Persian governor resided here. In 571 a new war with Rome broke out about Armenia, in which Chosroes conquered the fortress Dara on the Euphrates, invaded Syria and Cappadocia, and returned with large booty. During the negotiations with the emperor Tiberius Chosroes died in 579, and was succeeded by his son Hormizd IV.

Although Chosroes had in the last years of his father extirpated the heretical and communistic Persian sect of the Mazdakites (see KAVADH) and was a sincere adherent of Zoroastrian orthodoxy, he was not fanatical or prone to persecution. He tolerated every Christian confession. When one of his sons had rebelled about 550 and was taken prisoner, he did not execute him; nor did he punish the Christians who had supported him. He introduced a rational system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions, which his father had begun, and tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. In Babylonia he built or restored the canals. His army was in discipline decidedly superior to the Romans, and apparently was well paid. He was also interested in literature and philosophical discussions. Under his reign chess was introduced from India, and the famous book of Kalilah and Dimnah was translated. He thus became renowned as a wise prince. When Justinian in 529 closed the university of Athens, the last seat of paganism in the Roman empire, the last seven teachers of Neoplatonism emigrated to Persia. But they soon found out that neither Chosroes nor his state corresponded to the Platonic ideal, and Chosroes, in his treaty with Justinian, stipulated that they should return unmolested.

2. CHOSROES II., "the Victorious" (_Parvez_), son of Hormizd IV., grandson of Chosroes I., 590-628. He was raised to the throne by the magnates who had rebelled against Hormizd IV. in 590, and soon after his father was blinded and killed. But at the same time the general Bahram Chobin had proclaimed himself king, and Chosroes II. was not able to maintain himself. The war with the Romans, which had begun in 571, had not yet come to an end. Chosroes fled to Syria, and persuaded the emperor Maurice (q.v.) to send help. Many leading men and part of the troops acknowledged Chosroes, and in 591 he was brought back to Ctesiphon. Bahram Chobin was beaten and fled to the Turks, among whom he was murdered. Peace with Rome was then concluded. Maurice made no use of his advantage; he merely restored the former frontier and abolished the subsidies which had formerly been paid to the Persians. Chosroes II. was much inferior to his grandfather. He was haughty and cruel, rapacious and given to luxury; he was neither a general nor an administrator. At the beginning of his reign he favoured the Christians; but when in 602 Maurice had been murdered by Phocas, he began war with Rome to avenge his death. His armies plundered Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced to Chalcedon. In 613 and 614 Damascus and Jerusalem were taken by the general Shahrbaraz, and the Holy Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon after, even Egypt was conquered. The Romans could offer but little resistance, as they were torn by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slavs. At last, in 622, the emperor Heraclius (who had succeeded Phocas in 610) was able to take the field. In 624 he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Gandzak (Gazaca); in 626 he fought in Lazistan (Colchis), while Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon, and tried in vain, united with the Avars, to conquer Constantinople. In 627 Heraclius defeated the Persian army at Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Chosroes fled from his favourite residence, Dastagerd (near Bagdad), without offering resistance, and as his despotism and indolence had roused opposition everywhere, his eldest son, Kavadh II., whom he had imprisoned, was set free by some of the leading men and proclaimed king. Four days afterwards, Chosroes was murdered in his palace (February 628). Meanwhile, Heraclius returned in triumph to Constantinople, in 629 the Cross was given back to him and Egypt evacuated, while the Persian empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years ago, sank into hopeless anarchy.

See PERSIA: _Ancient History_. For the Roman wars see authorities
quoted under MAURICE and HERACLIUS. (ED. M.)

CHOTA (or CHUTIA) NAGPUR, a division of British India in Bengal, consisting of five British districts and two feudatory states. It is a hilly, forest-clad plateau, inhabited mostly by aboriginal races, between the basins of the Sone, the Ganges and the Mahanadi. The five British districts are Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum and Singhbhum. The total area of the British districts is 27,101 sq. m. The population in 1901 was 4,900,429. The tributary states are noticed separately below. The Chota Nagpur plateau is an offshoot of the great Vindhyan range, and its mean elevation is upwards of 2000 ft. above the sea-level. In the W. it rises to 3600 ft., and to the E. and S. its lower steppe, from 800 to 1000 ft. in elevation, comprises a great portion of the Manbhum and Singhbhum districts. The whole is about 14,000 sq. m. in extent, and forms the source of the Barakhar, Damodar, Kasai, Subanrekha, Baitarani, Brahmani, Ib and other rivers. _Sal_ forests abound. The principal jungle products are timber, various kinds of medicinal fruits and herbs, lac, tussur silk and _mahuá_ flowers, which are used as food by the wild tribes and also distilled into a strong country liquor. Coal exists in large quantities, and is worked in the Jherria, Hazaribagh, Giridih and Gobindpur districts. The chief workings are at Jherria, which were started in 1893, and have developed into one of the largest coal-fields in India. Formerly gold was washed from the sands in the bed of the Subanrekha river, but the operations are now almost wholly abandoned. Iron-ores abound, together with good building stone. The indigenous inhabitants consist of non-Aryan tribes who were driven from the plains by the Hindus and took refuge in the mountain fastnesses of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The principal of them are Kols, Santals, Oraons, Dhangars, Mundas and Bhumij. These tribes were formerly turbulent, and a source of trouble to the Mahommedan governors of Bengal and Behar; but the introduction of British rule has secured peace and security, and the aboriginal races of Chota Nagpur are now peaceful and orderly subjects. The principal agricultural products are rice, Indian corn, pulses, oil-seeds and potatoes. A small quantity of tea is grown in Hazaribagh and Ranchi districts. Lac and tussur silk-cloth are largely manufactured. The climate of Chota Nagpur is dry and healthy. The Jherria extension branch of the East India railway runs to Katrasgarh, while the Bengal-Nagpur railway also serves the division.

The CHOTA NAGPUR STATES were formerly nine in number. But the five states of Chang Bhakar, Korca, Sirguja, Udaipur and Jashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces in October 1905, and the two Uriya-speaking states of Gangpur and Bonai were attached to the Orissa Tributary States. There now remain, therefore, only the two states of Kharsawan and Saraikela. At the decline of the Mahratta power in the early part of the 19th century, the Chota Nagpur states came under British protection. Before the rise of the British power in India their chiefs exercised almost absolute sovereignty in their respective territories.

See F.B. Bradley-Birt, _Chota Nagpore_ (1903).

CHOUANS (a Bas-Breton word signifying screech-owls), the name applied to smugglers and dealers in contraband salt, who rose in insurrection in the west of France at the time of the Revolution and joined the royalists of La Vendée. It has been suggested that the name arose from the cry they used when approaching their nocturnal rendezvous; but it is more probable that it was derived from a nickname applied to their leader Jean Cottereau (1767-1794). Originally a contraband manufacturer of salt, Cottereau along with his brothers had several times been condemned and served sentence; but the Revolution, by destroying the inland customs, ruined his trade. On the 15th of August 1792, he led a band of peasants to prevent the departure of the volunteers of St Ouen, near Laval, and retired to the wood of Misdon, where they lived in huts and subterranean chambers. The Chouans then waged a guerrilla warfare against the republicans and, sustained by the royalists and from abroad, carried on their assassinations and brigandage with success. From Lower Maine the insurrection soon spread to Brittany, and throughout the west of France. In 1793 Cottereau came to Laval with some 500 men; the band grew rapidly and swelled into a considerable army, which assumed the name of La Petite Vendee. But after the decisive defeats at Le Mans and Savenay, Cottereau retired again to his old haunts in the wood of Misdon, and resumed his old course of guerrilla warfare. Misfortunes here increased upon him, until he fell into an ambuscade and was mortally wounded. He died among his followers in February 1794. Cottereau's brothers also perished in the war, with the exception of Rene, who lived until 1846. Royalist authors have made of Cottereau a hero and martyr, titles to which his claim is not established. After the death of Cottereau, the chief leaders of the Chouans were Georges Cadoudal (q.v.) and a man who went by the name of Jambe d'Argent. For several months the Chouans continued their petty warfare, which was disgraced by many acts of ferocity and rapine; in August 1795 they dispersed; but they were guilty of several conspiracies up to 1815. (See also VENDÉE.)

See the articles in _La Révolution française_, vol. 29, _La
Chouannerie dans la Manche_; vol. 32, _La Chouannerie dans l'Eure_;
vol. 40, _La Chouannerie dans le Morbihan (1793-1794)_; Sarot, _Les
Tribunaux répressifs ordinaires de la Manche en matière politique
pendant la première Révolution_ (Paris, 1881), 4 vols.; Th. de
Closmadeux, _Quiberon (1795), Émigrés et Chouans, commissions
militaires, interrogations et jugements_ (Paris, 1898), the only
authority on the celebrated affair of Quiberon; E. Daudet, _La
Police et les Chouans dans le Consulat et I'Empire, 1800-1815_
(Paris, 1895). Also the works of Ch. L. Chessin mentioned under
VENDÉE.

CHRESMOGRAPHION (from Gr. [Greek: chrêsmos], oracle, and [Greek: graphein], to write), an architectural term sometimes given to the chamber between the pronaes and the cella in Greek temples where oracles were delivered.

CHRESTIEN, FLORENT (1541-1596), French satirist and Latin poet, the son of Guillaume Chrestien, an eminent French physician and writer on physiology, was born at Orleans on the 26th of January 1541. A pupil of Henri Estienne, the Hellenist, at an early age he was appointed tutor to Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., who made him his librarian. Brought up as a Calvinist, he became a convert to Catholicism. He was the author of many good translations from the Greek into Latin verse,--amongst others, of versions of the _Hero and Leander_ attributed to Musaeus, and of many epigrams from the Anthology. In his translations into French, among which are remarked those of Buchanan's _Jephthé_ (1567), and of Oppian _De Venatione_ (1575)> he is not so happy, being rather to be praised for fidelity to his original than for excellence of style. His principal claim to a place among memorable satirists is as one of the authors of the _Satyre Ménippée_, the famous pasquinade in the interest of his old pupil, Henry IV., in which the harangue put into the mouth of cardinal de Pelvé is usually attributed to him. He died on the 3rd of October 1596 at Vendôme.

CHRÉTIEN, or CRESTIEN, DE TROYES, a native of Champagne, and the most famous of French medieval poets. Unfortunately we have few exact details as to his life, and opinion differs as to the precise dates to be assigned to his poems. We know that he wrote the _Chevalier de la Charrette_ at the command of Marie, countess of Champagne (the daughter of Louis VII. and Eleanor, who married the count of Champagne in 1164), and _Le Conte del Graal_ or _Perceval_ for Philip, count of Flanders, who died of the plague before Acre in 1191. This prince was guardian to the young king, Philip Augustus, and held the regency from 1180 to 1182. As Chrétien refers to the story of the Grail as the best tale told _au cort roial_, it seems very probable that it was composed during the period of the count's regency. It was left unfinished, and added to at divers times by at least three writers, Wauchier de Denain, Gerbert de Montreuil and Manessier. The second of these states definitely that Chrétien died before he could finish his poem. Probably the period of his literary activity lies between the dates 1150 and 1182, when his patron, Count Philip, fell into disgrace at court. The extant poems of Chrtien de Troyes, in their chronological order are, _Érec et Énide, Cligés, Le Chevalier de la Charrette_ (or _Lancelot_), _Le Chevalier au Lion_ (or _Yvain_), and _Le Conte del Graal_ (_Perceval_), all dealing with Arthurian legend. Besides these he states in the opening lines of _Cligés_ that he had composed a _Tristan_ (of which so far no trace has been found), and had made certain translations from Ovid's _Ars Amatoria_ and _Metamorphoses_. A portion of the last has been found by Gaston Paris included in the translation of Ovid made by Chrétien Legouais. There exists also a poem, _Guillaume d' Angleterre_, purporting to be by Chrétien, but the authorship is a matter of debate. Professor Foerster claims it as genuine, and includes it in his edition of the poems, but Gaston Paris never accepted it.

Chrétien's poems enjoyed widespread favour, and of the three most popular (_Érec_, _Yvain_ and _Perceval_) there exist old Norse translations, while the two first were admirably rendered into German by Hartmann von Aue. There is an English translation of the Yvain, _Ywain and Gawain_, and there are Welsh versions of all three stories, though their exact relation to the French has not been determined. Chrétien's style is easy and graceful, such as might be expected from a court poet; he is analytical, but not dramatic; in depth of thought and power of characterization he is decidedly inferior to Wolfram von Eschenbach, and as a poet he is probably to be ranked below Thomas, the author of the _Tristan_, and the translator of Thomas, Gottfried von Strassburg. Much that has been claimed as characteristic of his work has been shown by M. Willmotte to be merely reproductions of literary conceits employed by his predecessors; in the words of a recent writer, M. Bédier, "Chrétien semble moins avoir été un créateur épique qu'un habile arrangeur." The special interest of his pcems lies in the problems surrounding their origin. So far as the MSS. are concerned they are the earliest Arthurian romances we possess. Did Chrétien invent the _genre_, or did he simply turn to account the work of earlier, and less favoured, poets? Round this point the battle still rages hotly, and though the extensive claims made by the enthusiastic editor of his works are gradually yielding to the force of critical investigation, it cannot be said that the question is in any way settled (see ARTHURIAN LEGEND).

Chrétien's poems, except the _Perceval_, have been critically edited
by Professor Foerster (4 vols.). There is no easily available edition
of the _Perceval_, which was printed from the Mons MS. by M. Potvin (6
vols., 1866-1871), but is difficult to procure. For _Ywain and Gawain_
see the edition by Schleich (1887). The German versions are in
_Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters_, 1888 (_Iwein_), 1893 (_Erec_);
the Welsh, in Lady Charlotte Guest's translation of the _Mabinogion_
(Nutt, 1902); Scandinavian translations, ed. E. Kölbing (1872). For
general criticism see Willmotte, _L'Évolution du roman français aux
environs de 1150_ (1903); also _Legend of Sir Lancelot_ and _Legend of
Sir Percival_ (Grimm Library); and M. Borodine, _La Femme et l'amour
au XIIe siècle, d'après les poèmes de Chrétien de Troyes_ (1909).

CHRISM (through Lat. _chrisma_, from Gr. [Greek: chrisma], an anointing substance, [Greek: chrieiu], to anoint; through a Romanic form _cresma_ comes the Fr. _crême_, and Eng. "cream"), a mixture of olive oil and balm, used for anointing in the Roman Catholic church in baptism, confirmation and ordination, and in the consecrating and blessing of altars, chalices, baptismal water, &c. The consecration of the "chrism" is performed by a bishop, and since the 5th century has taken place on Maundy Thursday. In the Orthodox Church the chrism contains, besides olive oil, many precious spices and perfumes, and is known as "muron" or "myron." The word is sometimes used loosely for the unmixed olive oil used in the sacrament of extreme unction. The "Chrisom" or "chrysom," a variant of "chrism," lengthened through pronunciation, is a white cloth with which the head of a newly baptized child was covered to prevent the holy oil from being rubbed off. If the baby died within a month of its baptism, it was shrouded in its chrisom; otherwise the cloth or its value was given to the church as an offering by the mother at her churching. Children dying within the month were called "chrisom-children" or "chrisoms," and up to 1726 such entries occur in bills of mortality. The word was also used generally for a very young and innocent child, thus Shakespeare, _Henry V._, ii. 3, says of Falstaff: "A' made a finer end and went away an it had been any Chrisom Child."

CHRIST (Gr. [Greek: Christos], Anointed), the official title given in the New Testament to Jesus of Nazareth, equivalent to the Hebrew _Messiah_. See JESUS CHRIST; MESSIAH; CHRISTIANITY.

CHRIST, WILHELM VON (1831-1906), German classical scholar, was born in Geisenheim in Hesse-Nassau on the 2nd of August 1831. From 1854 till 1860 he taught in the Maximiliansgymnasium at Munich, and in 1861 was appointed professor of classical philology in the university. His most important works are his _Geschichte der griechischen Literatur_ (5th ed., 1908 f.), a history of Greek literature down to the time of Justinian, one of the best works on the subject; _Metrik der Griechen und Römer_ (1879); editions of Pindar (1887); of the _Poëtica_ (1878) and _Metaphysica_ (1895) of Aristotle; _Iliad_ (1884). His contributions to the _Sitzungsberichte_ and _Abhandlungen_ of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences are particularly valuable.

See O. Crusius, _Gedächtnisrede_ (Munich, 1907).

CHRISTADELPHIANS ([Greek: Christou adelphoi], "brothers of Christ"), sometimes also called Thomasites, a community founded in 1848 by John Thomas (1805-1871), who, after studying medicine in London, migrated to Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A. There he at first joined the "Campbellites," but afterwards struck out independently, preaching largely upon the application of Hebrew prophecy and of the Book of Revelation to current and future events. Both in America and in Great Britain he gathered a number of adherents, and formed a community which has extended to several English-speaking countries. It consists of exclusive "ecclesias," with neither ministry nor organization. The members meet on Sundays to "break bread" and discuss the Bible. Their theology is strongly millenarian, centering in the hope of a world-wide theocracy with its seat at Jerusalem. Holding a doctrine of "conditional immortality," they believe that they alone have the true exegesis of Scripture, and that the "faith of Christendom" is "compounded of the fables predicted by Paul." No statistics of the community are published. It probably numbers from two to three thousand members. A monthly magazine, _The Christadelphian_, is published in Birmingham.

See R. Roberts, _Dr Thomas, his Life and Work_ (1884).

CHRISTCHURCH, a municipal and parliamentary borough of Hampshire, England, at the confluence of the rivers Avon and Stour, 1½ m. from the sea, and 104 m. S.W. by W. from London by the London & South Western railway. Pop. (1901) 4204. It is famous for its magnificent priory church of the Holy Trinity. The church is cruciform, lacking a central tower, but having a Perpendicular tower at the west end. The nave and transepts are principally Norman, and very fine; the choir is Perpendicular. Early English additions appear in the nave, clerestory and elsewhere, and the rood-screen is of ornate Decorated workmanship. Other noteworthy features are the Norman turret at the north-east angle of the north transept, covered with arcading and other ornament, the beautiful reredos, similar to that in Winchester cathedral, and several interesting monuments, among which is one to the poet Shelley. Only fragments remain of the old castle, but an interesting ruin adjoins it known as the Norman House, apparently dating from the later part of the 12th century. Hosiery, and chains for clocks and watches are manufactured, and the salmon fishery is valuable. There is a small harbour, but it is dry at low water. The parliamentary borough, returning one member, includes the town of Bournemouth. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 832 acres.

Christchurch is mentioned in Saxon documents under the name of Tweotneam or Tweonaeteam, which long survived in the form Christchurch Twineham. In 901 it was seized by Aethelwald, but was recaptured by Edward the Elder. In the Domesday Survey, under the name of Thuinam, it appears as a royal manor, comprising a mill and part of the king's forest; its value since the time of Edward the Confessor had decreased by almost one-half. Henry I. granted Christchurch to Richard de Redvers, who erected the castle. The first charter was granted by Baldwin earl of Exeter in the 12th century; it exempted the burgesses from certain tolls and customs, including the tolls on salt within the borough, and the custody of thieves. The 2nd Earl Baldwin granted to the burgesses the tolls of the fair at St Faith and common of pasture in certain meads. The above charters were confirmed by Edward II., Henry VII. and Elizabeth. The Holy Trinity fair is mentioned in 1226. Christchurch was governed by a bailiff in the 13th century, and was not incorporated till 1670, when the government was vested in a mayor and 24 capital burgesses, but this charter was shortly abandoned. The borough was summoned to send representatives to parliament in 1307 and 1308, but no returns are registered until 1572, from which date it was represented by two members until the Reform Act of 1832 reduced the number to one. The secular canons of the church of Holy Trinity held valuable possessions in Hampshire at the time of Edward the Confessor, including a portion of Christchurch, and in 1150 the establishment was constituted a priory of regular canons of St Augustine. Baldwin de Redvers confirmed the canons in their right to the first salmon caught every year and the tolls of Trinity fair. The priory, which attained to such fame that its name of Christchurch finally replaced the older name of Twineham, was dissolved in 1539.

See _Victoria County History--Hampshire_; Benjamin Ferrey,
_Antiquities of the Priory of Christchurch_, 2nd edition, revised by
J. Britton (London, 1841).

CHRISTCHURCH, a city near the east coast of South Island, New Zealand, to the north of Banks Peninsula, in Selwyn county, the capital of the provincial district of Canterbury and the seat of a bishop. Pop. (1906) 49,928; including suburbs, 67,878. It stands upon the great Canterbury plain, which here is a dead level, though the monotony of the site has been much relieved by extensive plantations of English and Australian trees. A background is supplied by the distant mountains to the west, and by the nearer hills to the south. The small river Avon winds through the city, pleasantly bordered by terraces and gardens. The wide streets cross one another for the most part at right angles. The predominance of stone and brick as building materials, the dominating cathedral spire, and the well-planted parks, avenues and private gardens, recall the aspect of an English residential town. Christchurch is mainly dependent on the rich agricultural district which surrounds it, the plain being mainly devoted to cereals and grazing. Wool is extensively worked, and meat is frozen for export. Railways connect with Culverden to the north and with Dunedin and the south coast, with many branches through the agricultural districts; also with Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, 8 m. S.E. There are tramways in the city, and to New Brighton, a seaside suburb, and other residential quarters. The principal public buildings are the government buildings and the museum, with its fine collection of remains of the extinct bird, moa. The cathedral is the best in New Zealand, built from designs of Sir G. Gilbert Scott in Early English style, with a tower and spire 240 ft. high. Among educational foundations are Canterbury College (for classics, science, engineering, &c), Christ's College (mainly theological) and grammar school, and a school of art. There is a Roman Catholic pro-cathedral attached to a convent of the Sacred Heart. A large extent of open ground, to the west of the town, finely planted, and traversed by the river, comprises Hagley Park, recreation grounds, the Government Domain and the grounds of the Acclimatization Society, with fish-ponds and a small zoological garden. The foundation of Christchurch is connected with the so-called "Canterbury Pilgrims," who settled in this district in 1850. Lyttelton was the original settlement, but Christchurch came into existence in 1851, and is thus the latest of the settlements of the colony. It became a municipality in 1862. In 1903 several populous suburban boroughs were amalgamated with the city.

CHRISTIAN II. (1481-1559), king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, son of John (Hans) and Christina of Saxony, was born at Nyborg castle in 1481, and succeeded his father as king of Denmark and Norway in 1513. As viceroy of Norway (1506-1512) he had already displayed a singular capacity for ruling under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Patriotism, insight, courage, statesmanship, energy,--these great qualities were indisputably his; but unfortunately they were vitiated by obstinacy, suspicion and a sulky craftiness, beneath which simmered a very volcano of revengeful cruelty. Another peculiarity, more fatal to him in that aristocratic age than any other, was his fondness for the common people, which was increased by his passion for a pretty Dutch girl, named Dyveke, who became his mistress in 1507 or 1509.