Chapter III: Part 3

CORDOBA, a large central province of the Argentine Republic, bounded N. by Santiago del Estero, E. by Santa Fe, S. by Buenos Aires and La Pampa, W. by San Luis and Rioja, and N.W. by Catamarca. Pop. (1895) 351,223; (1904, estimate) 465,464; area, 62,160 sq. m. The greater part of the province belongs to the pampas, though less fertile and grassy than the plains farther E. and S. It likewise includes large saline and swampy areas. The N.W. part of the province is traversed by an isolated mountain system made up of the Cordoba, Pocho and Ischilin sierras, which extend for a distance of some 200 m. in a N. and S. direction. These ranges intercept the moist winds from the Atlantic, and receive on their eastern slopes an abundant rainfall, which gives them a strikingly verdant appearance in comparison with the surrounding plains. West and N.W. of the sierras are extensive saline basins called Las Salinas Grandes, which extend into the neighbouring provinces and are absolutely barren. In the N.E. the land is low and swampy; here are the large saline lagoons of Mar Chiquita and Los Porongos. The principal rivers, which have their sources in the sierras and flow eastward, are the Primero and Segundo, which flow north-easterly into the lacustrine basin of Mar Chiquita; the Tercero and Quarto, which unite near the Santa Fe frontier to form the Carcarana, a tributary of the Parana; and the Quinto, which flows south-easterly into the swamps of the Laguna Amarga in the S. part of the province. Countless small streams also descend the eastern slopes of the sierras and are lost in the great plains. The eastern districts are moderately fertile, and are chiefly devoted to cattle-breeding, though cereals are also produced. In the valleys and well-watered foothills of the sierras, however, cereals, alfalfa and fruit are the principal products. The rainfall is limited throughout the province, and irrigation is employed in but few localities. The mineral resources include gold, silver, copper, lead and iron, but mining is carried on only to a very limited extent. Salt and marble are also produced. Cordoba is traversed by several railway lines--those running westward from Buenos Aires and Rosario to Mendoza and the Chilean frontier, those connecting the city of Cordoba with the same cities, and with Tucuman on the N. and Catamarca and Rioja on the N.W. The chief towns are Cordoba, the capital, Rio Quarto, Villa Maria, an important railway centre 82 m. S.E. of Cordoba, and Cruz del Eje on the W. slopes of the sierras, 110 m. N.W. of Cordoba.

CORDOBA, a city in the central part of the Argentine Republic, capital of the above province, on the Rio Primero, 435 m. by rail N.W. of Buenos Aires by way of Rosario, 246 m. from the latter. Pop. (1895) 42,783--the suburbs having 11,679 more--(1905, estimate) 60,000. The city is connected by railway with Buenos Aires and Rosario, and with the capitals of all the surrounding provinces. Cordoba stands on a high eastward-sloping plain called the "Altos," 1240 ft. above sea-level, and is built in a broad river bottom washed out by periodical inundations and the action of the rains on the alluvial banks. The inundations have been brought under control by the construction of barriers and dams, but the banks are constantly broken down. The city is regularly laid out, and contains many fine edifices and dwellings. Several suburban settlements surround the city, the more important of which are served by the urban tramway lines. The streets are lighted by gas and electricity, and an excellent telephone service is maintained. The noteworthy public buildings include the cathedral, a handsome edifice curiously oriental in appearance, a massive old Jesuit church with a ceiling of richly carved and gilded cedar, the old university, founded in 1613, which still occupies the halls built by the Jesuits around a large quadrangle, the fine old _cabildo_, or government house, of Moorish appearance, and the national observatory on the _barranca_ overlooking the city. There are, also, two national normal schools, a national college, an episcopal seminary, an endowed Carmelite orphanage, a national meteorological station, a national academy of sciences, and a good public library. Among the attractive features of the city is an alameda of about six acres, within which is a square artificial lake of 4 acres, surrounded by shrubbery and shaded walks; the alameda dates from the time when the Jesuits ruled the city, and to them also are due the tiled baths, supplied with running water. A short avenue connects the alameda with the principal _plaza_, a pretty garden and promenade. The water supply of Cordoba is derived from the Rio Primero, 12 m. above the city, where an immense dam (Dique San Roque), one of the largest of its kind in South America, has been built across the river valley. This dam also serves to irrigate the valley below, and to furnish power for the electric plant which provides Cordoba with light and electric power. In and about the city there are several industrial establishments which have sprung into existence since the opening of the first railway in 1870. The surrounding country is irrigated and well cultivated, and produces an abundance of fruit and vegetables.

The city was founded in 1573 by Luis Geronimo de Cabrera and was for a long time distinguished for its learning and piety. It was the headquarters of the Jesuits in this part of South America for two centuries, and for a time the capital of the Spanish _intendencia_ of Tucuman. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 proved to be a serious blow to the academic reputation of the city, from which it did not recover until 1870, when President Sarmiento engaged some eminent scientific men from Europe to teach modern science in the university.

CORDOBA, a town of the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 55 m. W.S.W. of the port of Vera Cruz, in a highly fertile valley, near the volcano of Orizaba, and 2880 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1895) 7974. The surrounding district produces sugar, tobacco and coffee, Cordoba being one of the principal coffee-producing centres of Mexico. It also manufactures cotton and woollen fabrics. The town is regularly laid out and built of stone, and contains several handsome edifices, chief of which is the old cathedral. Cordoba was a town of considerable importance in colonial times, but fell into decay after the revolution. The railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico, which passes through it, and the development of coffee production, have helped the city to recover a part of its lost trade.

CORDON (a French derivative of _corde_, cord), a word used in many applications of its meaning of "line" or "cord," and particularly of a cord of gold or silver lace worn in military and other uniforms. The word is especially used of the sash or ribbon worn by members of an order of knighthood, crossing from one shoulder to the opposite hip. The _cordon bleu_, the sky-blue ribbon of the knight's grand cross of the order of the Holy Spirit, the highest order of the Bourbon kings of France, was, like the "blue ribbon" of the English Garter, taken as a type of the highest reward or prize to which any one can attain (see also COOKERY). In heraldry, "cordons" are the ornamental cords which, with the hats to which they are attached, ensign the shields of arms of certain ecclesiastical dignitaries; they are interlaced to form a mesh or network and terminate in rows of tassels. A cardinal's cordon is _gules_ with five rows of fifteen tassels, an archbishop's _vert_ with four rows of ten, and a bishop's also _vert_, with three rows of six. In architecture a "cordon" is a projecting band of stone along the outside of a building, a string-course. The word is frequently used in a transferred sense of a line of posts or stations to guard an enclosed area from unauthorized passage, e.g. a military or police cordon, and especially a sanitary cordon, a line of posts to prevent communication from or with an area infected with disease.

CORDOVA (Span. _Cordoba_), an inland province of southern Spain, bounded on the N.E. by Ciudad Real, E. by Jaen, S.E. by Granada, S. by Malaga, S.W. and W. by Seville, and N.W. by Badajoz. Pop. (1900) 455,859; area, 5299 sq. m. The river Guadalquivir divides the province into two very dissimilar portions. On the right bank is the mountainous region of the Sierra Morena, less peopled and fertile than the left bank, with its great plains (_La Campina_) and slightly undulating country towards the south and south-east, where the surface again becomes mountainous with the outlying ridges of the Sierra Nevada. The Guadalquivir, flowing from E.N.E. to W.S.W., waters the richest districts of Cordova, and has many tributaries, notably the Bembezar, Guadiato and Guadamellato, on the right, and the Genil and Guadajoz on the left. The northern districts (_Los Pedroches_) are drained by several small tributaries of the Guadiana. The climate is much varied. Snow is to be found for months on the highest peaks of the mountains; mild temperature in the plains, except in the few torrid summer months, when rain seldom falls. The peasantry are chiefly occupied in various branches of husbandry; sheep-farming and the culture of the olive employ large numbers. The agricultural wealth of Cordova is, however, not fully exploited, owing to the conservatism and backward education of the peasantry. There are no great manufacturing towns, but mining is an industry of some importance. In 1903 coal was obtained in considerable quantities in the Belmez district; argentiferous lead and zinc near Pozoblanco and elsewhere; iron ore at Luque, near Baena. A small amount of bismuth is also obtained. Mining is facilitated by a fairly complete and well-kept system of communication by road and railway. The main line Madrid-Linares-Seville follows the Guadalquivir valley throughout the province, passing through the capital, Cordova. Here it meets the line from Almorchon, on the north, to Malaga, on the south, which has three important branches--Belmez-Fuente del Arco, Cordova-Utrera, and Puente Genil-Jaen. After the capital, the principal towns are Aguilar de la Frontera (13,236), Baena (14,539), Cabra (13,127), Fuente Ovejuna (11,777), Lucena (21,179), Montilla (13,603), Montoro (14,581), Pozoblanco (12,792), Priego de Cordoba (16,904) and Puente Genil (12,956). These are described under separate headings. Other towns of less importance are Adamuz (6974), Belalcazar (7682), Belmez (8978), Bujalance (10,756), Castro del Rio (11,821), Hinojosa del Duque (10,673), Palma del Rio (7914), Rute (10,740) and Villafranca de Cordoba (9771).

CORDOVA (Span. _Cordoba_; Lat. _Corduba_), the capital of the Spanish province of Cordova, on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Cordova, and the right bank of the river Guadalquivir. Pop. (1900) 58,275. At Cordova the Madrid-Seville railway meets the branch line from Almorchon to Malaga. The city is an episcopal see. Few fragments remain of its Moorish walls, which were erected on Roman foundations and enclosed a very wide area, now largely occupied by garden-ground cleared from the ruins of ancient buildings. On the outskirts are many modern factories in striking contrast with the surrounding orange, lemon and olive plantations, and with the pastures which belong to the celebrated Cordovan school of bull-fighting. Nearer the centre the streets are for the most part narrow and crooked. Almost every building, however, is profusely covered with whitewash, and thus there is little difference on the surface between the oldest and the most modern houses. The southern suburb communicates with the town by means of a bridge of sixteen arches across the river, exhibiting the usual combination of Roman and Moorish masonry and dominated at the one end by an elevated statue of the patron saint, St Raphael, whose effigy is to be seen in various other quarters of the city. The most important of the public buildings are the cathedral, the old monastic establishments, the churches, the bishop's palace, the city hall, the hospitals and the schools and colleges, including the academy for girls founded in 1590 by Bishop Pacheco of Cordova, which is empowered to grant degrees. The Alcazar, or royal palace, stands on the south-west amid the gardens laid out by its builder, the caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III. (912-961). Its older parts are in ruins, and even the so-called New Alcazar, erected by Alphonso XI. of Castile in 1328, and long used as the offices of the Holy Inquisition, has only one wing in good repair, which serves as a prison.

But the glory of Cordova, surpassing all its other Moorish or Christian buildings, is the _mezquita_, or mosque, now a cathedral, but originally founded on the site of a Roman temple and a Visigothic church by Abd-ar-Rahman I. (756-788), who wished to confirm the power of his caliphate by making its capital a great religious centre. Immigration from all the lands of Islam soon rendered a larger mosque necessary, owing to the greatly increased multitude of worshippers, and, by orders of Abd-ar-Rahman II. (822-852) and Al-Hakim II. (961-976), the original size was doubled. After various minor additions, Al-Mansur, the vizier of the caliph Hisham II. (976-1009), again enlarged the _Zeca_, or House of Purification, as the mosque was named, to twice its former size, rendering it the largest sacred building of Islam, after the Kaaba at Mecca. The ground plan of the completed mosque forms a rectangle, measuring 570 ft. in length and 425 in breadth, or little less than St Peter's in Rome. About one-third of this area is occupied by the courtyard, and the cloisters which surround it on the north, west and east. The exterior, with the straight lines of its square buttress towers, has a heavy and somewhat ungainly appearance; but the interior is one of the most beautiful specimens of Moorish architecture. Passing through a grand courtyard about 500 ft. in length, shady with palm and cypress and orange trees and watered by five fountains, the visitor enters on the south a magnificent and bewildering labyrinth of pillars in which porphyry, jasper and many-coloured marbles are boldly combined. Part came from the spoils of Nimes or Narbonne, part from Seville or Tarragona, some from the older ruins of Carthage, and others as a present to Abd-ar-Rahman I. from the East Roman emperor Leo IV., who sent also from Constantinople his own skilled workmen, with 16 tons of tesserae for the mosaics. Originally of different heights, the pillars have been adjusted to their present standard of 12 ft. either by being sunk into the soil or by the addition of Corinthian capitals. Twelve hundred was the number of the columns in the original building, but many have been destroyed. The pillars divide the area of the building from north to south, longitudinally into nineteen and transversely into twenty-nine aisles--each row supporting a tier of open Moorish arches of the same height (12 ft.) with a third and similar tier superimposed upon the second. The full height of the ceiling is thus about 35 ft. The Moorish character of the building was unfortunately impaired in the 16th century by the formation in the interior of a _crucero_, or high altar and cruciform choir, by the addition of numerous chapels along the sides of the vast quadrangle, and by the erection of a belfry 300 ft. high in room of the old minaret. The _crucero_ in itself is no disgrace to the architect Hernan Ruiz, but every lover of art must sympathize with the rebuke administered by the emperor Charles V. (1500-1558) to the cathedral authorities: "You have built here what could have been built as well anywhere else; and you have destroyed what was unique in the world." Magnificent, indeed, as the cathedral still is, it is almost impossible to realize what the mosque must have been when the worshippers thronged through its nineteen gateways of bronze, and its 4700 lamps, fed with perfumed oil, illuminated its brilliant aisles. Of the exquisite elaboration bestowed on the more sacred portions abundant proof is afforded by the third _Mihrab_, or prayer-recess, a small 10th-century chapel, heptagonal in shape, roofed with a single shell-like block of snow-white marble, and inlaid with Byzantine mosaics of glass and gold.

Cordova was celebrated in the time of the Moors for its silversmiths, who are said to have come originally from Damascus; and it exported a peculiar kind of leather which took its name from the city, whence is derived the word _cordwainer_. Fine silver filigree ornaments are still produced; and Moorish work in leather is often skilfully imitated, although this handicraft almost disappeared in the 15th century. The chief modern industries of Cordova are distillation of spirits and the manufacture of woollen, linen and silken goods.

Corduba, probably of Carthaginian origin, was occupied by the Romans under Marcus Marcellus in 152 B.C.. and shortly afterwards became the first Roman _colonia_ in Spain. From the large number of men of noble rank among the colonists, the city obtained the title of _Patricia_; and to this day the Cordovese pride themselves on the purity and antiquity of their descent. In the 1st century B.C. Cordova aided the sons of Pompey against Caesar; but after the battle of Munda, in 45 B.C., it fell into the hands of Caesar, who avenged the obstinacy of its resistance by massacring 20,000 of the inhabitants. Under Augustus, if not before, it became a municipality, and was the capital of the thoroughly Romanized province of Baetica. In the lifetime of Strabo, however (c. 63 B.C.-A.D. 21), it still ranked as the largest city of Spain. Its prosperity was due partly to its position on the Baetis, and on the Via Augusta, the great commercial road from northern Spain built by Augustus, and partly to its proximity to mines and rich grazing and grain-producing districts. Hosius, its bishop, presided over the first council of Nicaea in 345; and its importance was maintained by the Visigothic kings, whose rule lasted from the 5th to the beginning of the 8th century. Under the Moors, Cordova was at first an appanage of the caliphate of Damascus; but after 756 Abd-ar-Rahman I. made it the capital of Moorish Spain, and the centre of an independent caliphate (see ABD-AR-RAHMAN). It reached its zenith of prosperity in the middle of the 10th century, under Abd-ar-Rahman III. At his death, it is recorded by native chroniclers, probably with Arabic exaggeration, that Cordova contained within its walls 200,000 houses, 600 mosques, 900 baths, a university, and numerous public libraries; whilst on the bank of the Guadalquivir, under the power of its monarch, there were eight cities, 300 towns and 12,000 populous villages. A period of decadence began in 1016, owing to the claims of the rival dynasties which aimed at succeeding to the line of Abd-ar-Rahman; the caliphate never won back its position, and in 1236 Cordova was easily captured by Ferdinand III. of Castile. The substitution of Spanish for Moorish supremacy rather accelerated than arrested the decline of art, industry and population; and in the 19th century Cordova never recovered from the disaster of 1808, when it was stormed and sacked by the French. Few cities of Spain, however, can boast of so long a list of illustrious natives in the Moorish and Roman periods, and even, to a less extent, in modern times. It was the birthplace of the rhetorician Marcus Annaeus Seneca, and his more famous son Lucius (c. 3 B.C.-A.D. 65); of the poet Lucan (A.D. 39-65); of the philosophers Averroes (1126-1198) and Maimonides (1135-1204); of the Spanish men of letters Juan de Mena (c. 1411-1456), Lorenzo de Sepulveda (d. 1574) and Luis de Gongora y Argote (1561-1627); and the painters Pablo de Cespedes (1538-1608) and Juan de Valdes Leal (1630-1691). The celebrated captain Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba (q.v.), the conqueror of Naples (1495-1498), was born in the neighbouring town of Montilla.

See _Estudio descriptivo de los monumentos arabes de Granada y
Cordoba_, by R. Contreras (Madrid, 1885); _Cordoba_, a large
illustrated volume of the series _Espana_, by P. de Madrazo
(Barcelona, 1884); _Inscripciones arabes de Cordoba_, by R. Amador de
los Rios y Villalta (Madrid, 1886).

CORDUROY, a cotton cloth of the fustian kind, made like a ribbed velvet. It is generally a coarse heavy material and is used largely for workmen's clothes, but some finer kinds are used for ladies' dresses, &c. According to the _New English Dictionary_ the word is understood to be of English invention, "either originally intended, or soon after assumed, to represent a supposed French _corde du roi_." It is said that a coarse woollen fabric called _duroy_, made in Somerset during the 18th century, has no apparent connexion with it. From the ribbed appearance of the cloth the name _corduroy_ is applied, particularly in America, to a rough road of logs laid transversely side by side, usually across swampy ground.

CORDUS, AULUS CREMUTIUS, Roman historian of the later Augustan age. He was the author of a history (perhaps called _Annales_) of the events of the civil wars and the reign of Augustus, embracing the period from at least 43-18 B.C. In A.D. 25 he was brought to trial for having eulogized Brutus and spoken of Cassius as the last of the Romans. His real offence was a witticism at the expense of Sejanus, who put up two of his creatures to accuse him in the senate. Seeing that nothing could save him, Cordus starved himself to death. A decree of the senate ordered that his works should be confiscated and burned by the aediles. Some copies, however, were saved by the efforts of Cordus's daughter Marcia, and after the death of Tiberius the work was published at the express wish of Caligula. It is impossible to form an opinion of it from the scanty fragments (H. Peter, _Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta_, 1883). According to ancient authorities, the writer was very outspoken in his denunciations, and his relatives considered it necessary to strike out the most offensive passages of the work before it was widely circulated (Quintilian, _Instit._ x. 1, 104). Two passages in Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ x. 74 [37], xvi. 108 [45]) seem to refer to a work of a different nature from the history--perhaps a treatise on _Admiranda_ or remarkable things.

See Tacitus, _Annals_, iv. 34, 35; Suetonius, _Tiberius_, 61,
_Caligula_, 16; Seneca, _Suasoriae_, vii., esp. the _Consolatio_ to
Cordus's daughter Marcia; Dio Cassius lvii. 24. There are monographs
by J. Held (1841) and C. Rathlef (1860). Also H. Peter, _Die
geschichtliche Literatur uber die romische Kaiserzeit_ (1897);
Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist. of Roman Lit._, Eng. trans., 277, 1.

CORELLI, ARCANGELO (1653-1713), Italian violin-player and composer, was born on the 12th or 13th of February 1653, at Fusignano near Imola, and died in 1713. Of his life little is known. His master on the violin was Bassani. Matteo Simonelli, the well-known singer of the pope's chapel, taught him composition. His first decided success was gained in Paris at the age of nineteen. To this he owed his European reputation. From Paris Corelli went to Germany. In 1681 he was in the service of the electoral prince of Bavaria; between 1680 and 1685 he spent a considerable time in the house of his friend Farinelli. In 1685 he was certainly in Rome, where he led the festival performances of music for Queen Christine of Sweden and was also a favourite of Cardinal Ottoboni. From 1689 to 1690 he was in Modena, the duke of which city made him handsome presents. In 1708 he went once more to Rome, living in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. His visit to Naples, at the invitation of the king, took place in the same year. The style of execution introduced by Corelli and preserved by his pupils, such as Geminiani, Locatelli, and many others, has been of vital importance for the development of violin-playing, but he employed only a limited portion of his instrument's compass, as may be seen by his writings, wherein the parts for the violin never proceed above D on the first string, the highest note in the third position; it is even said that he refused to play, as impossible, a passage which extended to A in altissimo in the overture to Handel's _Trionfo del Tempo_, and took serious offence when the composer played the note in evidence of its practicability. His compositions for the instrument mark an epoch in the history of chamber music; for his influence was not confined to his own country. Even Sebastian Bach submitted to it. Musical society in Rome owed much to Corelli. He was received in the highest circles of the aristocracy, and arranged and for a long time presided at the celebrated Monday concerts in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. Corelli died possessed of a sum of 120,000 marks and a valuable collection of pictures, the only luxury in which he had indulged. He left both to his benefactor and friend, who, however, generously made over the money to Corelli's relations. Corelli's compositions are distinguished by a beautiful flow of melody and by a masterly treatment of the accompanying parts, which he is justly said to have liberated from the strict rules of counterpoint. Six collections of concerti, sonatas and minor pieces for violin, with accompaniment of other instruments, besides several concerted pieces for strings, are authentically ascribed to this composer. The most important of these is the XII. _Suonati a violino e violone o cimbalo_ (Rome, 1700).

CORELLI, MARIE (1864- ), English novelist, was the daughter of an Italian father and a Scottish mother, but in infancy was adopted by Charles Mackay (q.v.), the song-writer and journalist, whose son Eric, at his death, became her guardian. She was sent to be educated in a French convent with the object of training her for the musical profession, and while still a girl composed various pieces of music. But her journalistic connexion proved a stronger stimulus to expression, and editors who were friends of her adopted father printed some of her early poetry. Then she produced what was at least a clever, if not a remarkably well written, romantic story, on the theme of a self-revelation connecting the Christian Deity with a world force in the form of electricity, which was published in 1886 under the title of _A Romance of Two Worlds_. It had an immediate and large sale, which resulted, naturally, in her devoting her inventive faculty to satisfy the public demand for similar work. Thus she wrote in succession a series of melodramatic romantic novels, original in some aspects of their treatment, daring in others, but all combining a readable plot with enough _au fond_ of what the majority demanded in ethical and religious correctness to suit a widespread contemporary taste; these were _Vendetta_ (1886), _Thelma_ (1887), _Ardath_ (1889), _The Soul of Lilith_ (1892), _Barabbas_ (1893), _The Sorrows of Satan_ (1895),--the very titles were catching,--_The Mighty Atom_ (1896),--which appealed to all who knew enough of modern science to wish to think it wicked,--and others, down to _The Master Christian_ (1900), again satisfying the socio-ethico-religious demand, and _Temporal Power_ (1902), with its contemporary suggestion from the accession of Edward VII. Miss Corelli had the advantage of writing quite sincerely and with conviction, amid what superior critics sneered at as bad style and sensationalism, on themes which conventional readers nevertheless enjoyed, and round plots which were dramatic and vigorous. Her popular success was great and advertised itself. It was helped by a well-spread belief that Queen Victoria preferred her novels to any other. Reviewers wrote sarcastically, and justly, of her obvious literary lapses and failings; she retorted by pitying the poor reviewers and letting it be understood that no books of hers were sent to the Press for criticism. When she went to live at Stratford-on-Avon, her personality, and her importance in the literary world, became further allied with the historic associations of the place; and in the public life of women writers her utterances had the _reclame_ which is emphasized by journalistic publicity. Such success is not to be gauged by purely literary standards; the popularity of Miss Corelli's novels is a phenomenon not so much of literature as of literary energy--entirely creditable to the journalistic resource of the writer, and characteristic of contemporary pleasure in readable fiction.

CORENZIO, BELISARIO (c. 1558-1643), Italian painter, a Greek by birth, studied at Venice under Tintoretto, and then settled at Naples, where he became famous for unscrupulous conduct as a man and rapid execution as an artist. Though careless in composition and a mannerist in style, he possessed an acknowledged fertility of invention and readiness of hand; and these qualities, allied to a certain breadth of conception, seem in the eyes of his contemporaries to have atoned for many defects. When Guido Reni came in 1621 to Naples to paint in the chapel of St Januarius, Corenzio suborned an assassin to take his life. The hired bravo killed Guido's assistant, and effectually frightened Reni, who prudently withdrew to Rome. Corenzio, however, only suffered temporary imprisonment, and lived long enough to supplant Ribera in the good graces of Don Pedro di Toledo, viceroy of Naples, who made him his court painter. Corenzio vainly endeavoured to fill Guido's place in the chapel of St Januarius. His work was adjudged to have been under the mark, and yet the numerous frescoes which he left in Neapolitan churches and palaces, and the large wall paintings which still cover the cupola of the church of Monte Casino are evidence of uncommon facility, and show that Corenzio was not greatly inferior to the _fa prestos_ of his time. His florid style, indeed, seems well in keeping with the overladen architecture and full-blown decorative ornament peculiar to the Jesuit builders of the 17th century. Corenzio died, it is said, at the age of eighty-five by a fall from a scaffolding.

CO-RESPONDENT, in law, generally, a person made respondent to, or called upon to answer, along with another or others, a petition or other proceeding. More particularly, since the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, the term is applied to the person charged by a husband, when presenting a petition praying for the dissolution of his marriage on the ground of adultery, with misconduct with his wife, and made, jointly with her, a respondent to the suit. (See also DIVORCE.)

CORFE CASTLE, a town in the eastern parliamentary division of Dorsetshire, England, in the district called the Isle of Purbeck, 129-1/2 m. S.W. by W. from London by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1440. The castle, through which the town is famous, guarded a gap in the line of considerable hills which rise in the centre of Purbeck. It is strongly placed on an eminence falling almost sheer on three sides. Its ruins are extensive, and date for the most part from the Norman period to the reign of Edward I. There is, however, a trace of early masonry which may have belonged to the Saxon house where, in 978, King Edward the Martyr was murdered. Corfe Castle was held for the empress Maud against King Stephen in 1139, was frequently the residence of King John, and was a stronghold of the barons against Henry III. Edward II. was imprisoned here for a short period. The castle withstood a protracted siege by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and fell to them by treachery in 1646, after which it was dismantled and wrecked. The church in the town, almost wholly rebuilt, is dedicated to St Edward the Martyr. The quarrying of Purbeck stone and the raising of potters' clay are the chief industries.

Probably Corfe Castle (_Corfes geat_, _Corf geat_, _Corve_, _Corph_) was an early Anglo-Saxon settlement. According to William of Malmesbury the church was founded by St Aldhelm in the 7th century. In 1086 the abbey of Shaftesbury held the manor, which afterwards passed to the Norman kings, who raised the castle. Its date is disputed, but the town dependent on it seems to have grown up during the 13th century, being first mentioned in 1290, when an inquisition states that the mayor has pesage of wool and cheese. The rights of the burgesses seem to have been undefined, for frequent commissions attest to encroachments on the rights of warren, forest and wreckage belonging to the royal manor. In 1380-1381 at an inquisition into the liberties of Corfe Castle, the jurors declared that from time immemorial the constable and his steward had held all pleas and amerciaments except those of the mayor's court of Pie Powder, but that the town had judgment by fire, water and combat. The tenants, or "barons," elected themselves a mayor and coroners, but the constable received the assize of ale. Elizabeth in 1577 gave exclusive admiralty jurisdiction within the island of Purbeck to Sir Christopher Hatton, and granted the mayor and "barons" of Corfe the rights they enjoyed by prescription and charter and that of not being placed on juries or assizes in matters beyond the island. Charles II. incorporated Corfe Castle in 1663, the mayor being elected at a court leet from three nominees of the lord of the manor. Corfe Castle first returned two representatives to parliament in 1572, but was disfranchised in 1832. A market for each Saturday was granted to Corfe in 1214, and in 1248 the town obtained a fair and a market on each Thursday, while Elizabeth granted fairs on the feasts of St Philip and St James and of St Luke; both of these still survive. As early as the 14th century the quarrying and export of marble gave employment to the men of Corfe, and during the 18th century the knitting of stockings was a flourishing industry.

See T. Bond, _History and Description of Corfe Castle_ (London and
Bournemouth, 1883).

CORFINIUM, in ancient Italy, the chief city of the Paeligni, 7 m. N. of Sulmona in the valley of the Aternus. The site of the original town is occupied by the village of Pentima. It probably became subject to Rome in the 4th century B.C., though it does not appear in Roman history before the Social War (90 B.C.), in which it was at first adopted by the allies as the capital and seat of government of their newly founded state under the name Italia (this form, not Italica, is vouched for by the coins). It appears also as a fortress of importance in the Civil War, though it only resisted Caesar's attack for a week (49 B.C.). Whether the Via Valeria ran as far as Corfinium before the time of Claudius is uncertain: he, however, certainly extended it to the Adriatic, and at the same time constructed a cross road, the Via Claudia Nova, which diverged from the Via Claudia Valeria at a point 6 m. farther north, and led past Peltuinum and Aveia to Foruli on the Via Salaria. Another road ran S.S.E. past Sulmo to Aesernia. It was thus an important road centre, and must have been, in the imperial period, a town of some size, as may be gathered from the inscriptions that have been discovered there, and from the extent rather than the importance of the buildings visible on the site (among them may be noted the remains of two aqueducts), which has, however, never been systematically excavated. Short accounts of discoveries will be found in _Notizie degli Scavi_, _passim_, and a museum, consisting chiefly of the contents of tombs, has been formed at Pentima. In one corner of a large enclosed space (possibly a _palaestra_) was constructed the church of S. Pelino. The present building dates from the 13th century, though its origin may be traced to the end of the 5th when it was the cathedral of the see of Valva, which appears to have been the name of Corfinium at the close of the Roman period. (T. AS.)

CORFU (anc. and mod. Gr. [Greek: Kerkyra] or [Greek: Korkyra], Lat. _Corcyra_), an island of Greece, in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Albania or Epirus, from which it is separated by a strait varying in breadth from less than 2 to about 15 m. The name Corfu is an Italian corruption of the Byzantine [Greek: Korypho], which is derived from the Greek [Greek: Koryphai] (crests). In shape it is not unlike the sickle (_drepan[=e]_), to which it was compared by the ancients,--the hollow side, with the town and harbour of Corfu in the centre, being turned towards the Albanian coast. Its extreme length is about 40 m. and its greatest breadth about 20. The area is estimated at 227 sq. m., and the population in 1907 was 99,571, of whom 28,254 were in the town and suburbs of Corfu. Two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating and the southern low-lying. The most important of the two ranges is that of San Salvador, probably the ancient Istone, which stretches east and west from Cape St Angelo to Cape St Stefano, and attains its greatest elevation of 3300 ft. in the summit from which it takes its name. The second culminates in the mountain of Santi Deca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation [Greek: hoi Hagioi Deka], or the Ten Saints. The whole island, composed as it is of various limestone formations, presents great diversity of surface, and the prospects from the more elevated spots are magnificent.

Corfu is generally considered the most beautiful of all the Greek isles, but the prevalence of the olive gives some monotony to its colouring. It is worthy of remark that Homer names, as adorning the garden of Alcinous, seven plants only--wild olive, oil olive, pear, pomegranate, apple, fig and vine. Of these the apple and the pear are now very inferior in Corfu; the others thrive well and are accompanied by all the fruit trees known in southern Europe, with addition of the Japanese medlar (or loquat), and, in some spots, of the banana. When undisturbed by cultivation, the myrtle, arbutus, bay and ilex form a rich brushwood and the minor _flora_ of the island is extensive.

The common form of laud tenure is the _colonia perpetua_, by which the landlord grants a lease to the tenant and his heirs for ever, in return for a rent, payable in kind, and fixed at a certain proportion of the produce. Of old, a tenant thus obtaining half the produce to himself was held to be co-owner of the soil to the extent of one-fourth; and if he had three-fourths of the crop, his ownership came to one-half. Such a tenant could not be expelled except for non-payment, bad culture or the transfer of his lease without the landlord's consent. Attempts have been made to prohibit so embarrassing a system; but as it is preferred by the agriculturists, the existing laws permit it. The portion of the olive crop due to the landlord, whether by _colonia_ or ordinary lease, is paid, not according to the actual harvest, but in keeping with the estimates of valuators mutually appointed, who, just before the fruit is ripe, calculate how much each tree will probably yield. The large old fiefs (_baronie_) in Corfu, as in the other islands, have left their traces in the form of quit-rents (known in Scotland by the name of feu-duties), generally equal to one-tenth of the produce. But they have been much subdivided, and the vassals may by law redeem them. Single olive trees of first quality yield sometimes as much as 2 gallons of oil, and this with little trouble or expense beyond the collecting and pressing of the fallen fruit. The trees grow unrestrained, and some are not less than three hundred years old. The vineyards are laboured by the broad heart-shaped hoe. The vintage begins on the festival of Santa Croce, or the 26th of September (O.S.). None of the Corfu wines is much exported. The capital is the only city or town of much extent in the island; but there are a number of villages, such as Benizze, Gasturi, Ipso, Glypho, with populations varying from 300 to 1000. Near Gasturi stands the Achilleion, the palace built for the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and purchased in 1907 by the German emperor, William II.

The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the citadel is cut from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom. Having grown up within fortifications, where every foot of ground was precious, it is mostly, in spite of recent improvements, a labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets, accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground, few of them fit for wheel carriages. There is, however, a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel, and a promenade by the seashore towards Castrades. The palace, built by Sir Thomas Maitland (?1759-1824; lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands, 1815), is a large structure of white Maltese stone. In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few, and are giving place to structures in the modern and more convenient French style. Of the thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave ([Greek: he Panagia Speliotissa]); St Spiridion's, with the tomb of the patron saint of the island; and the suburban church of St Jason and St Sosipater, reputed the oldest in the island. The city is the seat of a Greek and a Roman Catholic archbishop; and it possesses a gymnasium, a theatre, an agricultural and industrial society, and a library and museum preserved in the buildings formerly devoted to the university, which was founded by Frederick North, 5th earl of Guilford (1766-1827, himself the first chancellor in 1824,) in 1823, but disestablished on the cessation of the English protectorate. There are three suburbs of some importance--Castrades, Manduchio and San Rocco. The old fortifications of the town, being so extensive as to require a force of from 10,000 to 20,000 troops to man them, were in great part thrown down by the English, and a simpler plan adopted, limiting the defences to the island of Vido and the old citadel; these are now dismantled.

_History._--According to the local tradition Corcyra was the Homeric island of Scheria, and its earliest inhabitants the Phaeacians. At a date no doubt previous to the foundation of Syracuse it was peopled by settlers from Corinth, but it appears to have previously received a stream of emigrants from Eretria. The splendid commercial position of Corcyra on the highway between Greece and the West favoured its rapid growth, and, influenced perhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city. This opposition came to a head in the early part of the 7th century, when their fleets fought the first naval battle recorded in Greek history (about 664 B.C.). These hostilities ended in the conquest of Corcyra by the Corinthian tyrant Periander (c. 600), who induced his new subjects to join in the colonization of Apollonia and Anactorium. The island soon regained its independence and henceforth devoted itself to a purely mercantile policy. During the Persian invasion of 480 it manned the second largest Greek fleet (60 ships), but took no active part in the war. In 435 it was again involved in a quarrel with Corinth and sought assistance from Athens. This new alliance was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War (q.v.), in which Corcyra was of considerable use to the Athenians as a naval station, but did not render much assistance with its fleet. The island was nearly lost to Athens by two attempts of the oligarchic faction to effect a revolution; on each occasion the popular party ultimately won the day and took a most bloody revenge on its opponents (427 and 425). During the Sicilian campaigns of Athens Corcyra served as a base for supplies; after a third abortive rising of the oligarchs in 410 it practically withdrew from the war. In 375 it again joined the Athenian alliance; two years later it was besieged by a Lacedaemonian armament, but in spite of the devastation of its flourishing countryside held out successfully until relief was at hand. In the Hellenistic period Corcyra was exposed to attack from several sides; after a vain siege by Cassander it was occupied in turn by Agathocles and Pyrrhus. It subsequently fell into the hands of Illyrian corsairs, until in 229 it was delivered by the Romans, who retained it as a naval station and gave it the rank of a free state. In 31 B.C. it served Octavian (Augustus) as a base against Antony.

Eclipsed by the foundation of Nicopolis, Corcyra for a long time passed out of notice. With the rise of the Norman kingdom in Sicily and the Italian naval powers, it again became a frequent object of attack. In 1081-1085 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in 1147-1154 by Roger II. of Sicily. During the break-up of the Later Roman Empire it was occupied by Genoese privateers (1197-1207) who in turn were expelled by the Venetians. In 1214-1259 it passed to the Greek despots of Epirus, and in 1267 became a possession of the Neapolitan house of Anjou. Under the latter's weak rule the island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers; hence in 1386 it placed itself under the protection of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal sovereignty over it. Corcyra remained in Venetian hands till 1797, though several times assailed by Turkish armaments and subjected to two notable sieges in 1536 and 1716-1718, in which the great natural strength of the city again asserted itself. The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat enervating policy towards the natives, who began to merge their nationality in that of the Latins and adopted for the island the new name of Corfu. The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice. The island served as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of the first academy of modern Greece, but no serious impulse to Greek thought came from this quarter.

By the treaty of Campo Formio Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years, until they were expelled by a Russo-Turkish armament (1799). For a short time it became the capital of a self-governing federation of the Hephtanesos ("Seven Islands"); in 1807 its faction-ridden government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was vainly besieged by a British fleet. When, by the treaty of Paris of November 5, 1815, the Ionian Islands were placed under the protectorate of Great Britain, Corfu became the seat of the British high commissioner. The British commissioners, who were practically autocrats in spite of the retention of the native senate and assembly, introduced a strict method of government which brought about a decided improvement in the material prosperity of the island, but by its very strictness displeased the natives. In 1864 it was, with the other Ionian Islands, ceded to the kingdom of Greece, in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. The island has again become an important point of call and has a considerable trade in olive oil; under a more careful system of tillage the value of its agricultural products might be largely increased.

Corfu contains very few and unimportant remains of antiquity. The site of the ancient city of Corcyra ([Greek: Kerkyra]) is well ascertained, about 1-1/2 m. to the south-east of Corfu, upon the narrow piece of ground between the sea-lake of Calichiopulo and the Bay of Castrades, in each of which it had a port. The circular tomb of Menecrates, with its well-known inscription, is on the Bay of Castrades. Under the hill of Ascension are the remains of a temple, popularly called of Neptune, a very simple Doric structure, which still in its mutilated state presents some peculiarities of architecture. Of Cassiope, the only other city of ancient importance, the name is still preserved by the village of Cassopo, and there are some rude remains of building on the site; but the temple of Zeus Cassius for which it was celebrated has totally disappeared. Throughout the island there are numerous monasteries and other buildings of Venetian erection, of which the best known are Paleocastrizza, San Salvador and Pelleka.

AUTHORITIES.--Strabo vi. p. 269; vii. p. 329; Herodotus viii. 168;
Thucydides i.-iii.; Xenophon, _Hellenica_, vi. 2; Polybius ii. 9-11;
Plutarch, _Quaestiones Graecae_, ch. xi.; H. Jervis, _The Ionian
Islands during the Present Century_ (London, 1863); D. F. Ansted, _The
Ionian Islands in the Year 1863_ (London, 1863); Riemann, _Recherches
archeologiques sur les Iles ioniennes_ (Paris, 1879-1880); J. Partsch,
_Die Insel Korfu_ (Gotha, 1887); B. Schmidt, _Korkyraische Studien_
(Leipzig, 1890); B. V. Head, _Historia Numorum_ (Oxford, 1887), pp.
275-277; H. Lutz in _Philologus_, 56 (1897), pp. 71-77; also art.
NUMISMATICS: Greek, S "Epirus." (E. GR.; M. O. B. C.)

CORI (anc. _Cora_), a town and episcopal see of the province of Rome, Italy, 36 m. S.E. by rail from the town of Rome, on the lower slopes of the Volscian mountains, 1300 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 6463. It occupies the site of the ancient Volscian town of Cora, the foundation of which is by classical authors variously ascribed to Trojan settlers, to the Volscians (with a later admixture of Latins), and to the Latins themselves. The last is more probable (though in that case it was the only town of the Prisci Latini in the Volscian hills), as it appears among the members of the Latin league. Coins of Cora exist, belonging at latest to 350-250 B.C. It was devastated by the partisans of Marius during the struggle between him and Sulla. Before the end of the Republic it had become a _municipium_. It lay just above the older road from Velitrae to Terracina, which followed the foot of the Volscian hills, but was 6 m. from the Via Appia, and it is therefore little mentioned by classical writers. It is comparatively often spoken of in the 4th century, but from that time to the 13th we hear hardly anything of it, as though it had almost ceased to exist. The remains of the city walls are considerable: three different _enceintes_, one within the other, enclose the upper and lower town and the acropolis. They are built in Cyclopean work, and different parts vary considerably in the roughness or fineness of the jointing and hewing of the blocks; but explorations at Norba (q.v.) have proved that inferences as to their relative antiquity based upon such considerations are not to be trusted. There is a fine single-arched bridge, now called the Ponte della Catena, just outside the town on the way to Norba, to which an excessively early date is often assigned.

At the summit of the town is a beautiful little Doric tetrastyle temple, belonging probably to the 1st century B.C., built of limestone with an inscription recording its erection by the _duumviri_. It is not known to what deity it was dedicated; and there is no foundation for the assertion that the porphyry statue of Minerva (or Roma) now in front of the Palazzo del Senatore, at Rome, was found here in the 16th century. Lower down are two columns of a Corinthian temple dedicated to Castor and Pollux, as the inscription records. The church of Santa Oliva stands upon the site of a Roman building. The cloister, constructed in 1466-1480, is in two storeys; the capitals of the columns are finely sculptured by a Lombard artist (G. Giovannoni in _L'Arte_, 1906, p. 108). There are remains of several other ancient buildings in the modern town, especially of a series of large cisterns probably belonging to the imperial period. Some interesting frescoes of the Roman school of the 15th century are to be found in the chapel of the Annunziata outside the town (F. Hermanin in _L'Arte_, 1906, p. 45).

See G. B. Piranesi, _Antichita di Cora_ (Rome, n.d., c. 1770); A.
Nibby, _Analisi della Carta dei Dintorni di Roma_ (Rome, 1848), i. 487
seq. (T. AS.)

CORIANDER, the fruit, improperly called seed, of an umbelliferous plant (_Coriandrum sativum_), a native of the south of Europe and Asia Minor, but cultivated in the south of England, where it is also found as an escape, growing apparently wild. The name is derived from the Gr. [Greek: koris] (a bug), and was given on account of its foetid, bug-like smell. The plant produces a slender, erect, hollow stem rising 1 to 2 ft. in height, with bipinnate leaves and small flowers in pink or whitish umbels. The fruit is globular and externally smooth, having five indistinct ridges, and the mericarps, or half-fruits, do not readily separate from each other. It is used in medicine as an aromatic and carminative, the active principle being a volatile oil, obtained by distillation, which is isomeric with Borneo camphor, and may be given in doses of 1/2 to 3 minims. On account of its pleasant and pungent flavour it is a favourite ingredient in hot curries and sauces. The fruit is also used in confectionery, and as a flavouring ingredient in various liqueurs. The essential oil on which its aroma depends is obtained from it by distillation. The tender leaves and shoots of the young plant are used in soups and salads.