Chapter XIV: Part 14

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

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

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

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

CORTES, a Spanish term literally signifying the "courts," and applied to the states, or assembly of the states, of the kingdom. (See SPAIN and PORTUGAL.)

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

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

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

CORTONA, a town and episcopal see of Italy, in the province of Arezzo, 18 m. S. by E. from the town of Arezzo by rail. The ancient and modern names are identical. Pop. (1901) of town, 3579; commune, 29,296. The highest point of Cortona, a medieval castle (Fortezza), is situated 2130 ft. above sea-level on a hill commanding a splendid view, and is approached by a winding road. It is surrounded by its ancient Etruscan walls, which for the greater part of the circuit are fairly well preserved. They are constructed of parallelepipedal blocks of limestone, finely jointed (though the jointing has often been spoilt by weathering), and arranged in regular courses which vary in size in different parts of the enceinte. Near the N.W. angle some of the blocks are 7 to 8-1/2 ft. long and 2-1/2 ft. high, while on the W. side they are a good deal smaller--sometimes only 1 ft. high (see F. Noack in _Romische Mitteilungen_, 1897, 184). Within the town are two subterranean vaulted buildings in good masonry, of uncertain nature, some other remains under modern buildings, and a concrete ruin known as the "Bagni di Bacco." The museum of the Accademia Etrusca, a learned body founded by Ridolfino Venuti in 1726, is situated in the Palazzo Pretorio; it contains some Etruscan objects, among which may be specially noted a magnificent bronze lamp with 16 lights, of remarkably fine workmanship, found in 1740, at the foot of the hill, two votive hands and a few other bronzes, and a little gold jewellery. The library has a good MS. of Dante. The cathedral, originally a Tuscan Romanesque building of the 11th-12th centuries, is now a fine Renaissance basilica restored in the 18th century, containing some paintings by Luca Signorelli, a native of the place. Opposite is the baptistery, with three fine pictures by Fra Angelico. S. Margherita, just below the Fortezza, is an ugly modern building occupying the site of a Gothic church of 1294, and containing a fine original rose window and reliefs from the tomb of the saint by Angelo e Francesco di maestro Pietro d'Assisi. Other works by Signorelli are to be seen elsewhere in the town, especially in S. Domenico; Pietro Berettini (Pietro da Cortona, 1596-1669) is hardly represented here at all. Below the town is the massive tomb chamber (originally subterranean, but now lacking the mound of the earth which covered it) known as the Grotta di Pitagora (grotto of Pythagoras). To the E. is the church of S. Maria del Calcinaio, a fine early Renaissance building by Francesco di Giorgio Martini of Siena, with fine stained glass windows.

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

See G. Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ (London, 1883), ii.
394 seq.; A. Della Cella, _Cortona Antica_ (Cortona, 1900).
(T. AS.)

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

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

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

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

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

See Joseph Hyde Pratt, "Corundum and its Occurrence and Distribution
in the United States," _Bulletin U.S. Geol. Surv._, No. 269 (1906); T.
H. Holland, _Economic Geology of India_ (2nd ed.), Part i. (1898).
(F. W. R.*)

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

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

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

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

Under the Frankish kings, who in their administration followed the Roman tradition, this system was preserved. Thus for the repair of roads, or other public works, within their jurisdiction the counts were empowered to requisition the labour of the inhabitants of the _pagus_, while the _missi_ and other public functionaries on their travels were entitled to demand from the population _en route_ entertainment and the means of transport for themselves and their belongings. It was, however, the economic revolution which between the 6th and 10th centuries converted the Gallo-Roman estates into the feudal model, and the political conditions under which the officials of the Frankish empire developed into hereditary feudal nobles, that evolved the system of the corvee as it existed throughout the middle ages and, in some countries, survived far into the 19th century. The Roman estate had been cultivated by free farmers, by _coloni_, and by slave labour. Under Frankish rule the farmers became _coloni_ or _hospites_, the slaves, serfs. The estate was now habitually divided into the lord's domain (_terra indominicata_, _dominicum_) and a series of allotments (_mansi_), parcels of land distributed by lot to the cultivators of the domain, who held them, partly by payment of rent in money or kind, partly by personal service and labour on the domain, these obligations both as to their nature and amount being very rigorously defined and permanently fixed in the case of each _mansus_ and passing with the land to each new tenant. They varied, of course, very greatly according to the size of the holding and the needs of the particular estate, but they possessed certain common characteristics which are everywhere found. Luchaire (_Manuel_, p. 346) divides all corvees into two broad categories, (1) corvees properly so called, (2) military services. The second of these, so far as the obligation to serve in the host (_Hostis et equitatus_) is concerned, was common to all classes of feudal society; though the obligation of villeins to keep watch and ward (_gueta_, _warda_) and to labour at the building or strengthening of fortifications (_muragium_, _munitio castri_) are special corvees. We are, however, mainly concerned with the first category, which may again be subdivided into two main groups, (1) personal service of men and women (_manoperae_, _manuum operae_, Fr. _manoeuvres_, manual labour), (2) carriage (_carroperae_, _carragia_, _carrata_, &c., Fr. _charrois_), i.e. service rendered by means of carts, barrows or draught animals. These again were divided into fixed services (_operae rigae_) and exceptional services, demanded when the others proved insufficient. To these latter was given in the 8th century the name of _operae corrogatae_ (i.e. requisitioned works, from _rogare_, to request). From this term (corrupted into _corvatae_, _curvadae_, _corveiae_, &c.) is derived the word corvee, which was gradually applied as a general term for all the various services.

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

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

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

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

See Du Cange, _Glossarium inf. et med. Lat. s.v._ "Corvatae"; A
Luchaire, _Manuel des institutions francaises_ (Paris, 1892), pp.
346-349; _La Grande Encyclopedie, s.v._, with bibliography. For
further works see the bibliography to the article SERFDOM.

CORVEY, a place in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the Weser, a mile north of the town of Hoxter, with which it communicates by an avenue of lime trees. During the middle ages it was famous for its great Benedictine abbey, which was founded and endowed by the emperor Louis the Pious about 820, and received its name from having been first occupied by a body of monks coming from Corbie in Picardy. The bones of St Vitus, the patron saint of Saxony, were removed thither according to legend in 836, but apart from this attraction, Corvey became the centre of Christianity in Saxony and a nursery of classical studies. The abbot was a prince of the Empire, and Corvey was made a bishopric in 1783. In 1803 the abbey was secularized, in 1815 its lands were given to Prussia, and in 1822 they were bestowed on Victor Amadeus, landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, by whom they were bequeathed, in 1834, to Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, duke of Ratibor. The abbey, which is now used as a residence, possesses a magnificent library of 150,000 volumes especially rich in old illustrated works, though the ancient collection due to the literary enthusiasm of the Benedictines is no longer extant. Here in 1517 the manuscript of the five first books of the _Annals_ of Tacitus was discovered. Here Widukind wrote his _Res gestae Saxonicae_. Here, also, the librarian and poet Hoffmann von Fallersleben lived and worked. The _Annales Corbejenses 648-1148_ of the monks can be read in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_, Band iii. The _Chronicon Corbejense_, published by A. C. Wedekind in 1823, has been declared by S. Hirsch and Waitz (_Kritische Prufung_, Berlin, 1839) to be a forgery.

See P. Wigand, _Geschichte der Abtei Korvey_ (Hoxter, 1819); and M.
Meyer, _Zur altern Geschichte Corveys und Hoxters_ (Paderborn, 1893).

CORVINUS, JANOS [JOHN] (1473-1504), illegitimate son of Matthias Hunyadi, king of Hungary, and one Barbara, supposed to be the daughter of a burgess of Breslau. He took his name from the raven (_corvus_) in his father's escutcheon. Matthias originally intended him for the Church, but on losing all hope of offspring from his consort Queen Beatrice, determined, towards the end of his life, to make the youth his successor on the throne. He loaded him with honours and riches, till he was by far the wealthiest magnate in the land. He publicly declared him his successor, created him a prince with vast apanages in Silesia, made the commandants of all the fortresses in the kingdom take an oath of allegiance to him, and tried to arrange a marriage for him with Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan, a project which was frustrated by the intrigues of Queen Beatrice. Matthias also intended to make the recognition of Janos as prince royal of Hungary by the emperor Frederick a condition precedent of relinquishing all or part of the conquered hereditary domains of the house of Habsburg; but his sudden death left the matter still pending, and the young prince suddenly found himself alone in the midst of enemies. The inexperienced and irresolute youth speedily became the victim of the most shameful chicanery. He was first induced formally to resign his claims to the throne, on the understanding that he was to be compensated with the crown of Bosnia. He was then persuaded to retire southwards with the royal treasures which Matthias had confided to him, whereupon an army immediately started in pursuit, scattered his forces, and robbed him of everything. Meanwhile the diet had elected Vladislav of Bohemia king (July 15, 1490), to whom Janos hastened to do homage, in order to save something from the wreck of his fortunes. He was also recognized as prince of Slavonia and duke of Troppau, but compelled to relinquish both titles five years later. On the invasion of Hungary by Maximilian, he shewed his loyalty to the crown by relinquishing into the hands of Vladislav the three important fortresses of Pressburg, Komarom and Tata, which had been entrusted to him by his father. But now, encouraged by his complacency, the chief dignitaries, headed by the palatine Stephen Zapolya, laid claim to nearly all his remaining estates and involved him in a whole series of costly processes. This they could do with perfect impunity, as they had poisoned the mind of the indolent and suspicious king against their victim. In 1496 Corvinus married Beatrice, the daughter of Bernard Frangepan. His prospects now improved, and in 1498 he was created perpetual ban of Croatia and Slavonia. From 1499 to 1502 he successfully defended Bosnia against the Turks, and in the following year aspired to the dignity of palatine, but was defeated by a combination of Queen Beatrice and his other enemies. He died on the 12th of October 1504, leaving one son, Prince Christopher, who died on the 17th of March 1505.

See Gyula Schonherr, _Janos Corvinus Hunyadi_ (Hung.) (Budapest,
1894). (R. N. B.)

CORVUS, MARCUS VALERIUS (c. 370-270 B.C.), Roman general of the early republican period. According to the legend a raven settled on his helmet during his combat with a gigantic Gaul, and distracted the enemy's attention by flying in his face. He was twice dictator and six times consul, and occupied the curule chair twenty-one times. In his various campaigns he defeated successively the Gauls, the Volscians, the Samnites, the Etruscans and the Marsians. His most important victory (343) was over the Samnites at Mount Gaurus.

See Livy vii. 26-42, x. 2-11.

CORWEN ("the white choir"), a market town of Merionethshire, Wales, on branches of the London & North Western and the Great Western railways; 10 m. from Llangollen, through the Glyn Dyfrdwy (Dee Vale). Pop. (1901) 2680. Telford's road, raised on the lower Berwyn range side and overlooking the Dee, opens up the picturesqueness of Corwen, historically interesting from the reminiscences of Wales's last struggle for independence under Owen Glendower. In the old parish church was traditionally Owen's pew; his knife, fork and dagger, are at the neighbouring Rug (Rhug); his palace, 3 m. distant at Sychnant (dry stream). Here is the church dedicated to St Julian, archbishop of St David's (d. 1009), with "the college," an almshouse endowed by William Eyton of Plas Warren, Shropshire. The old British fort, Caer Drewyn, one of a chain of forts from Dyserth to Canwyd, is the supposed scene of Glendower's retreat under Henry IV., and here Owen Cwynedd is said to have prepared to repulse Henry II. To the N.E. are the Clwyd hills; to the S. the Berwyn range, to the S.W. Arran Mawddy and Cadair (Cader) Idris; to the W. the two Arenigs; to the N.W. Snowdon. Corwen is a favourite station for artists and anglers. Besides the Dee, there are several streamlets, such as the Trystion, which forms the Rhaiadr Cynwyd (waterfall), the Ceudiog, and the Alwen.

CORWIN, THOMAS (1794-1865), American statesman and orator, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 29th of July 1794. In 1798 his father, Matthias Corwin (1761-1829), removed to what later became Lebanon, Ohio, where the son worked on a farm, read much, and in 1817 was admitted to the bar. As an advocate he was at once successful, but after 1831 he devoted his attention chiefly to politics, identifying himself first with the Whig and after 1858 with the Republican party. He was a member of the lower house of the Ohio legislature in 1821, 1822 and 1829, and of the national House of Representatives from 1831 to 1840; was governor of Ohio in 1840-1842; served in the United States Senate from 1845 to 1850; was secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of President Fillmore in 1850-1853; was again a member of the national House of Representatives from 1859 to 1861; and from 1861 to 1864 was minister of the United States to Mexico--a position of peculiar difficulty at that time. As a legislator he spoke seldom, but always with great ability, his most famous speech being that of the 11th of February 1847 opposing the Mexican War. In 1860 he was chairman of the House "Committee of Thirty-three," consisting of one member from each state, and appointed to consider the condition of the nation and, if possible, to devise some scheme for reconciling the North and the South. He is remembered chiefly as an orator. Many anecdotes have been told to illustrate his kindliness, his inimitable humour, and his remarkable eloquence. He died at Washington, D.C., on the 18th of December 1865.

See the _Life and Speeches of Thomas Corwin_ (Cincinnati, 1896),
edited by Josiah Morrow; and an excellent character sketch, _Thomas
Corwin_ (Cincinnati, 1881), by A. P. Russell.

CORY, WILLIAM JOHNSON (1823-1892), English schoolmaster and author, son of Charles Johnson of Torrington, Devonshire, was born on the 9th of January 1823. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he gained the chancellor's medal for an English poem on Plato in 1843, and the Craven Scholarship in 1844. In 1845, after graduating at the university, he was made an assistant master at Eton, where he remained for some twenty-six years. He has been called "the most brilliant Eton tutor of his day." He had a great influence on his pupils, and he defended the Etonian system against the criticism of Matthew James Higgins. In 1872, having inherited an estate at Halsdon and assumed the name of Cory, he left Eton. He married late in life, and after four years spent in Madeira he settled in 1882 at Hampstead. He died on the 11th of June 1892. He proved his genuine lyrical power in _Ionica_ (1858), which was republished with some additional poems in 1891. He also produced _Lucretilis_ (1871), a work on the writing of Latin verses; _Iophon_ (1873), on Greek Iambics; and _Guide to Modern History from 1815 to 1835_ (1882). Extracts from the _Letters and Journals of William Cory_, which contains much paradoxical and suggestive criticism, were edited by F.W. Cornish and published by private subscription in 1897.

His elder brother, Charles Wellington Johnson Furse (1821-1900), who, on the death of his father in 1854, took the name of Furse, was canon and archdeacon of Westminster from 1894 till his death. The artist Charles Wellington Furse, A.R.A. (1868-1904), was a son of Archdeacon Furse.

CORYATE, THOMAS (1577?-1617), English traveller and writer, was born at Odcombe, Somersetshire, where his father, the Rev. George Coryate, prebendary of York Cathedral, was rector. Educated at Westminster school and at Oxford, he became a kind of court fool, eventually entering the household of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. In 1611 he published a curious account of a prolonged walking tour undertaken in 1608, under the title of _Coryate's Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c_. At the command of Prince Henry, verses in mock praise of the author, and intended originally to persuade some bookseller to undertake the publication of the _Crudities_, were added to the volume. These commendatory verses, written in a number of languages, and some in a mixture of languages, by Ben Jonson, Donne, Chapman, Drayton and others, were afterwards published (1611) by themselves as the _Odcombian Banquet_. The book contains a clear and interesting account of Coryate's travels, and, being the first of its kind, was extremely popular. It is now very rare, and the copy in the Chetham library is said to be the only perfect one. In the same year was published a second volume of a similar kind, _Coryats Crambe, or his Coleworte twice Sodden_. In 1612 he set out on another journey, which also was mostly performed on foot. He visited Greece, the Holy Land, Persia and India; from Agra and Ajmere he sent home an account of his adventures. Some of his letters were published in 1616 under the title of _Letters from Asmere, the Court of the Great Mogul, to several Persons of Quality in England_, and some fragments of his writings were included in _Purchas his Pilgrimes_ in 1625. Coryate was a curious and observant traveller; he gives accounts of inscriptions he had copied, of the antiquities of the towns he passed through, and of manners and customs, from the Italian pronunciation of Latin to the new-fangled use of forks. He acquired a knowledge of Turkish, Persian and Hindustani in the course of his travels, and on being presented by the English ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, to the Great Mogul, he delivered a speech in Persian. His journeys were performed at small expense, for he says that he spent only three pounds between Aleppo and Agra, and often lived "competently" for a penny a day. Coryate died at Surat in 1617.

_Coryate's Crudities_, with his letters from India, was reprinted from
the edition of 1611 in 1776, and at the Glasgow University Press (2
vols., 1905). The _Odcombian Banquet_ was ridiculed by John Taylor,
the Water Poet, in his _Laugh and be Fat, or a Commentary on the
Odcombian Banket_ (1613) and two other satires.

CORYBANTES (Gr. [Greek: Korybantes]), in Greek mythology, half divine, half demonic beings, bearing the same relation to the Asiatic Great Mother of the Gods that the Curetes bear to Rhea. From their first appearance in literature, they are already often identified or confused with them, and are distinguished only by their Asiatic origin and by the more pronouncedly orgiastic nature of their rites. Various accounts of their origin are given: they were earth-born, sons of Cronus, sons of Zeus and Calliope, sons of Rhea, of Ops, of the Great Mother and a mystic father, of Apollo and Thalia, of Athena and Helios. Their names and number were as indistinct even to the ancients as those of the Curetes and Idaean Dactyli. Like the Curetes, Dactyli, Telchines and Cabeiri (q.v.), however, they represent primitive gods of procreative significance, who survived in the historic period as subordinate deities associated with a form of the Great Mother goddess, their relation to the Great Mother of the Gods, Cybele, being comparable with that of Attis (q.v.). They may have been represented or impersonated by priests in her rites as Attis was, but they were also, like him, not actual priests in the first instance, but objects of worship in which a frenzied dance, with accompaniment of flute music, the beating of tambourines, the clashing of cymbals and castanets, wild cries and self-infliction of wounds--the whole culminating in a state of ecstasy and exhaustion--were the most prominent features. The dance of the Corybantic priests, like that of the priests who represented the Curetes, may have originated in a primitive faith in the power of noise to avert evil. Its psychic effect, both upon the dancer and upon the mystic about whom he danced during the initiation of the Cybele-Attis mysteries, made it a widely known and popular feature of the cult.

In art the Corybantes appear, usually not more than two or three in number, fully armed and executing their orgiastic dance in the presence of the Great Mother, her lions and Attis. They sometimes appear with the child Dionysus, between whose cult and that of the Mother there was a close affinity. (G. SN.)

CORYDON, a town and the county-seat of Harrison county, Indiana, U.S.A., on Indian Creek, about 21 m. W. by S. of Louisville, Kentucky. Pop. (1900) 1610; (1910) 1703. Corydon is served by the Louisville, New Albany & Corydon railway, which connects at Corydon Junction, 8 m. N., with the Southern railway. There are sulphur springs here, and the town is a summer and health resort. Wyandotte Cave is several miles W. of Corydon. Corydon is in an agricultural region, and there are valuable quarries in the neighbourhood; among the town's manufactures are waggons, and building and lithographic stone. Corydon was settled about 1805, and was the capital of Indiana Territory from 1813 to 1816, and of the state until 1824. The convention which framed the first state constitution met here in June 1816. The original state house, an unpretentious two-storey stone building, is still standing. Corydon was captured by the Confederates during Gen. Morgan's raid on the 9th of July 1863.

CORYPHAEUS (from Gr. [Greek: koruphe], the top of the head), in Attic drama, the leader of the chorus. Hence the term (sometimes in an Anglicized form "coryphe") is used for the chief or leader of any company or movement. In 1856 in the university of Oxford there was founded the office of Coryphaeus or Praecentor, whose duty it was to lead the musical performances directed by the Choragus (q.v.). The office ceased to exist in 1899.

COS, or STANKO (Ital. _Stanchio_, Turk. _Istan-keui_, by corruption from [Greek: Eis tan Ko]), an island in that part of the Turkish archipelago which was anciently known as the Myrtoan Sea, not far from the south-western corner of Asia Minor, at the mouth of the Gulf of Halicarnassus, or Bay of Budrum. Its total length is about 25 m. and its circumference about 74. Its population is estimated at about 10,000, of whom nearly all are Greeks.