Chapter XVIII: Front Matter (18)

"The last decade of the 12th century saw the establishment of
two small Christian kingdoms in the Levant, which long
outlived all other relics of the Crusades except the military
orders; and which, with very little help from the West,
sustained a hazardous existence in complete contrast with
almost everything around them. The kingdoms of Cyprus and
Armenia have a history very closely intertwined, but their
origin and most of their circumstances were very different. By
Armenia as a kingdom is meant little more than the ancient
Cilicia, the land between Taurus and the sea, from the
frontier of the principality of Antioch, eastward, to
Kelenderis or Palæopolis, a little beyond Seleucia; this
territory, which was computed to contain 16 days' journey in
length, measured from four miles of Antioch, by two in
breadth, was separated from the Greater Armenia, which before
the period on which we are now employed had fallen under the
sway of the Seljuks, by the ridges of Taurus.
{135}
The population was composed largely of the sweepings of Asia
Minor, Christian tribes which had taken refuge in the
mountains. Their religion was partly Greek, partly Armenian.
... Their rulers were princes descended from the house of the
Bagratidæ, who had governed the Greater Armenia as kings from
the year 885 to the reign of Constantine of Monomachus, and
had then merged their hazardous independence in the mass of
the Greek Empire. After the seizure of Asia Minor by the
Seljuks, the few of the Bagratidæ who had retained possession
of the mountain fastnesses of Cilicia or the strongholds of
Mesopotamia, acted as independent lords, showing little
respect for Byzantium save where there was something to be
gained. ... Rupin of the Mountain was prince [of Cilicia] at
the time of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin; he died in
1189, and his successor, Leo, or Livon, after having
successfully courted the favour of pope and emperor, was
recognised as king of Armenia by the emperor Henry VI., and
was crowned by Conrad of Wittelsbach, Archbishop of Mainz, in
1198." The dynasty ended with Leo IV., whose "whole reign was
a continued struggle against the Moslems," and who was
assassinated about 1342. "The five remaining kings of Armenia
sprang from a branch of the Cypriot house of Lusignan [see
CYPRUS: A. D. 1192-1489] and were little more than Latin
exiles in the midst of several strange populations all alike
hostile."

_William Stubbs, Lectures on the Study of Mediæval and Modern
History, lecture 8._

ARMENIA: A. D. 1623-1635.
Subjugated by Persia and regained by the Turks,

See TURKS: A. D. 1623-1640.

----------ARMENIA: End----------

ARMENIAN CHURCH, The.

The church of the Armenians is "the oldest of all national
churches. They were converted by St. Gregory, called 'The
Illuminator,' who was a relative of Dertad or Tiridates, their
prince, and had been forced to leave the country at the same
time with him, and settled at Cæsareia in Cappadocia, where he
was initiated into the Christian faith. When they returned,
both prince and people embraced the Gospel through the
preaching of Gregory, A. D. 276, and thus presented the first
instance of an entire nation becoming Christian. ... By an
accident they were unrepresented at [the Council of] Chalcedon
[A. D. 451], and, owing to the poverty of their language in
words serviceable for the purposes of theology, they had at
that time but one word for Nature and Person, in consequence
of which they misunderstood the decision of that council [that
Christ possessed two natures, divine and human, in one Person]
with sufficient clearness. ... It was not until eighty-four
years had elapsed that they finally adopted Eutychianism [the
doctrine that the divinity is the sole nature in Christ], and
an anathema was pronounced on the Chalcedonian decrees (536)."

_H. F. Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire, chapter 5._

"The religion of Armenia could not derive much glory from the
learning or the power of its inhabitants. The royalty expired
with the origin of their schism; and their Christian kings,
who arose and fell in the 13th century on the confines of
Cilicia, were the clients of the Latins and the vassals of the
Turkish sultan of Iconium, The helpless nation has seldom been
permitted to enjoy the tranquility of servitude. From the
earliest period to the present hour, Armenia has been the
theatre of perpetual war; the lands between Tauris and Erivan
were dispeopled by the cruel policy of the Sophis; and myriads
of Christian families were transplanted, to perish or to
propagate in the distant provinces of Persia. Under the rod of
oppression, the zeal of the Armenians is fervent and intrepid;
they have often preferred the crown of martyrdom to the white
turban of Mahomet; they devoutly hate the error and idolatry
of the Greeks."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 47.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

ARMINIANISM.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1603-1619.

ARMINIUS, The Deliverance of Germany by.

See GERMANY: B. C. 8--A. D. 11.

ARMORIAL BEARINGS, Origin of.

"As to armorial bearings, there is no doubt that emblems
somewhat similar have been immemorially used both in war and
peace. The shields of ancient warriors, and devices upon coins
or seals, bear no distant resemblance to modern blazonry. But
the general introduction of such bearings, as hereditary
distinctions, has been sometimes attributed to tournaments,
wherein the champions were distinguished by fanciful devices;
sometimes to the crusades, where a multitude of all nations
and languages stood in need of some visible token to denote
the banners of their respective chiefs. In fact, the peculiar
symbols of heraldry point to both these sources and have been
borrowed in part from each. Hereditary arms were perhaps
scarcely used by private families before the beginning of the
thirteenth century. From that time, however, they became very
general."

_H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 2, part 2._

ARMORICA.

The peninsular projection of the coast of Gaul between the
mouths of the Seine and the Loire, embracing modern Brittany,
and a great part of Normandy, was known to the Romans as
Armorica. The most important of the Armorican tribes in
Cæsar's time was that of the Veneti. "In the fourth and fifth
centuries, the northern coast from the Loire to the frontier
of the Netherlands was called 'Tractus Aremoricus,' or
Aremorica, which in Celtic signifies 'maritime country.' The
commotions of the third century, which continued to increase
during the fourth and fifth, repeatedly drove the Romans from
that country. French antiquaries imagine that it was a
regularly constituted Gallic republic, of which Chlovis had
the protectorate, but this is wrong."

_B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and
Geography, volume 2, page 318._

ALSO IN:
_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography,
volume 2, page 235._

See, also, VENETI OF WESTERN GAUL, and IBERIANS, THE WESTERN.

ARMSTRONG, General John, and the Newburgh Addresses.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1782-1783.

ARMSTRONG, General John: Secretary of War.
Plan of descent on Montreal.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1813 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).

ARMY, The Legal Creation of the British.

See MUTINY ACTS.

ARMY PURCHASE, Abolition of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1871.

ARNÆANS, The.

See GREECE: THE MIGRATIONS.

{136}

ARNAULD, Jacqueline Marie, and the Monastery of Port Royal.

See PORT ROYAL and the JANSENISTS: A. D. 1602-1660.

ARNAUTS, The.

See ALBANIANS, MEDIÆVAL.

ARNAY-LE-DUC, Battle of (1570).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1563-1570.

ARNOLD, Benedict, and the American Revolution.

See CANADA: A. D. 1775-1776;
and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY);
1777 (JULY-OCTOBER); 1780 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER);
1780-1781; 1781 (JANUARY-MAY); 1781 (MAY-OCTOBER).

ARNOLD OF BRESCIA, The Republic of.

See ROME: A. D. 1145-1155.

ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED, at the Battle of Sempach.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1386-1388.

ARNULF,
King of the East Franks (Germany), A. D. 888-899;
King of Italy and Emperor, A. D. 894-899.

AROGI, Battle of (1868).

See ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1854-1889.

ARPAD, Dynasty of.

See HUNGARIANS: RAVAGES IN EUROPE;
and HUNGARY: A. D. 972-1114; 1114-1301.

ARPAD, Siege of.

Conducted by the Assyrian Conqueror Tiglath-Pileser, beginning
B. C. 742 and lasting two years. The fall of the city brought
with it the submission of all northern Syria.

_A. H. Sayce, Assyria, chapter 2._

ARQUES, Battles at (1589).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1589-1590.

ARRABIATI, The.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1490-1498.

ARRAPACHITIS.

See JEWS: THE EARLY HEBREW HISTORY.

ARRAPAHOES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

ARRAS: Origin.

See BELGÆ.

ARRAS: A.. D. 1583.
Submission to Spain.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585.

ARRAS: A. D. 1654.
Unsuccessful Siege by the Spaniards under Condé.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1656.

----------ARRAS: End----------

ARRAS, Treaties of (1415 and 1435).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1380-1415, and 1431-1453.

ARRETIUM, Battle of (B. C. 285).

See ROME: B. C. 295-191.

ARROW HEADED WRITING.

See CUNEIFORM WRITING.

ARSACIDÆ, The.

The dynasty of Parthian kings were so called, from the founder
of the line, Arsaces, who led the revolt of Parthia from the
rule of the Syrian Seleucidæ and raised himself to the throne.
According to some ancient writers Arsaces was a Bactrian;
according to others a Scythian.

_G. Rawlinson, Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 3._

ARSEN.

In one of the earlier raids of the Seljukian Turks into
Armenia, in the eleventh century the city of Arsen was
destroyed. "It had long been the great city of Eastern Asia
Minor, the centre of Asiatic trade, the depot for merchandise
transmitted overland from Persia and India to the Eastern
Empire and Europe generally. It was full of warehouses
belonging to Armenians and Syrians and is said to have
contained 800 churches and 300,000 people. Having failed to
capture the city, Togrul's general succeeded in burning it.
The destruction of so much wealth struck a fatal blow at
Armenian commerce."

_E. Pears, The Fall of Constantinople, chapter 2._

ARSENE, Lake.

An ancient name of the Lake of Van, which is also called
Thopitis by Strabo.

_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography,
chapter 22. section 1._

ARTABA, The.

See EPHAH.

ARTAXATA.

The ancient capital of Armenia, said to have been built under
the superintendence of Hannibal, while a refugee in Armenia.
At a later time it was called Neronia, in honor of the Roman
Emperor Nero.

ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS, King of Persia, B. C. 465-425. ARTAXERXES MNEMON, King of Persia, B. C. 405-359. ARTAXERXES OCHUS, King of Persia, B. C. 359-338. ARTAXERXES, or ARDSHIR, Founder of the Sassanian monarchy.

See PERSIA: B. C. 150-A. D. 226.

ARTEMISIUM, Sea fights at.

See GREECE: B. C. 480.

ARTEMITA.

See DASTAGERD.

ARTEVELD, Jacques and Philip Van:
Their rise and fall in Ghent.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1335-1337, to 1382.

ARTHUR, King, and the Knights of the Round Table.

"On the difficult question, whether there was a historical
Arthur or not, ... a word or two must now be devoted; ... and
here one has to notice in the first place that Welsh
literature never calls Arthur a gwledig or prince but emperor,
and it may be inferred that his historical position, in case
he had such a position, was that of one filling, after the
departure of the Romans, the office which under them was that
of the Comes Britanniæ or Count of Britain. The officer so
called had a roving commission to defend the Province wherever
his presence might be called for. The other military captains
here were the Dux Britanniarum, who had charge of the forces
in the north and especially on the Wall, and the Comes
Littoris Saxonici [Count of the Saxon Shore], who was
entrusted with the defence of the south-eastern coast of the
island. The successors of both these captains seem to have
been called in Welsh gwledigs or princes. So Arthur's
suggested position as Comes Britanniæ would be in a sense
superior to theirs, which harmonizes with his being called
emperor and not gwledig. The Welsh have borrowed the Latin
title of imperator, 'emperor,' and made it into 'amherawdyr,'
later 'amherawdwr,' so it is not impossible, that when the
Roman imperator ceased to have anything more to say to this
country, the title was given to the highest officer in the
island, namely the Comes Britanniæ, and that in the words 'Yr
Amherawdyr Arthur,' 'the Emperor Arthur,' we have a remnant of
our insular history. If this view be correct, it might be
regarded as something more than an accident that Arthur's
position relatively to that of the other Brythonic princes of
his time is exactly given by Nennius, or whoever it was that
wrote the _Historia Brittonum_ ascribed to him: there
Arthur is represented fighting in company with the kings of
the Brythons in defence of their common country, he being
their leader in war. If, as has sometimes been argued, the
uncle of Maglocunus or Maelgwn, whom the latter is accused by
Gilda of having slain and superseded, was no other than
Arthur, it would supply one reason why that writer called
Maelgwn 'insularis draco,' 'the dragon or war-captain of the
island,' and why the latter and his successors after him were
called by the Welsh not gwledigs but kings, though their great
ancestor Cuneda was only a gwledig.
{137}
On the other hand the way in which Gildas alludes to the uncle
of Maelgwn without even giving his name, would seem to suggest
that in his estimation at least he was no more illustrious
than his predecessors in the position which he held, whatever
that may have been. How then did Arthur become famous above
them, and how came he to be the subject of so much story and
romance? The answer, in short, which one has to give to this
hard question must be to the effect, that besides a historic
Arthur there was a Brythonic divinity named Arthur, after whom
the man may have been called, or with whose name his, in case
it was of a different origin, may have become identical in
sound owing to an accident of speech; for both explanations
are possible, as we shall attempt to show later. Leaving aside
for a while the man Arthur, and assuming the existence of a
god of that name, let us see what could be made of him.
Mythologically speaking he would probably have to be regarded
as a Culture Hero; for, a model king and the institutor of the
Knighthood of the Round Table, he is represented as the leader
of expeditions to the isles of Hades, and as one who stood in
somewhat the same kind of relation to Gwalchmei as Gwydion did
to ILeu. It is needless here to dwell on the character usually
given to Arthur as a ruler: he with his knights around him may
be compared to Conehobar, in the midst of the Champions of
Emain Macha, or Woden among the Anses at Valhalla, while
Arthur's Knights are called those of the Round Table, around
which they are described sitting; and it would be interesting
to understand the signification of the term Round Table. On
the whole it is the table, probably, and not its roundness
that is the fact to which to call attention, as it possibly
means that Arthur's court was the first early court where
those present sat at a table at all in Britain. No such thing
as a common table figures at Conchobar's court or any other
described in the old legends of Ireland, and the same applies,
we believe, to those of the old Norsemen. The attribution to
Arthur of the first use of a common table would fit in well
with the character of a Culture Hero which we have ventured to
ascribe to him, and it derives countenance from the pretended
history of the Round Table; for the Arthurian legend traces it
back to Arthur's father, Uthr Bendragon, in whom we have under
one of his many names the king of Hades, the realm whence all
culture was fabled to have been derived. In a wider sense the
Round Table possibly signified plenty or abundance, and might
be compared with the table of the Ethiopians, at which Zeus
and the other gods of Greek mythology used to feast from time
to time."

_J. Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend, chapter 1._

See, also CUMBRIA.

ARTHUR, Chester A.
Election to Vice-Presidency.
Succession to the Presidency.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1880 and 1881.

ARTI OF FLORENCE.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1250-1293.

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (American).

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1781, and 1783-1787.

ARTICLES OF HENRY, The.

See POLAND: A. D. 1573.

ARTOIS, The House of.

See BOURBON, THE HOUSE OF.

ARTOIS: A. D. 1529.
Pretensions of the King of France to Suzerainty resigned.

See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.

ARTYNI.

See DEMIURGI.

ARVADITES, The.

The Canaanite inhabitants of the island of Aradus, or Arvad,
and who also held territory on the main land.

_F. Lenormant, Manual of Ancient History,
book 6, chapter 1._

ARVERNI, The.

See ÆDUI;
also, GAULS, and ALLOBROGES.

ARX, The.

See CAPITOLINE HILL;
also GENS, ROMAN.

ARXAMUS, Battle of.

One of the defeats sustained by the Romans in their wars with
the Persians. Battle fought A. D. 603.

_G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 24._

ARYANS.--ARYAS.

"This family (which is sometimes called Japhetic, or
descendants of Japhet) includes the Hindus and Persians among
Asiatic nations, and almost all the peoples of Europe. It may
seem strange that we English should be related not only to the
Germans and Dutch and Scandinavians, but to the Russians,
French, Spanish, Romans and Greeks as well; stranger still
that we can claim kinship with such distant peoples as the
Persians and Hindus. ... What seems actually to have been the
case is this: In distant ages, somewhere about the rivers Oxus
and Jaxartes, and on the north of that mountainous range
called the Hindoo-Koosh, dwelt the ancestors of all the
nations we have enumerated, forming at this time a single and
united people, simple and primitive in their way of life, but
yet having enough of a common national life to preserve a
common language. They called themselves Aryas or Aryans, a
word which, in its very earliest sense, seems to have meant
those who move upwards, or straight; and hence, probably, came
to stand for the noble race as compared with other races on
whom, of course, they would look down. ... As their numbers
increased, the space wherein they dwelt became too small for
them who had out of one formed many different peoples. Then
began a series of migrations, in which the collection of
tribes who spoke one language and formed one people started
off to seek their fortune in new lands. ... First among them,
in all probability, started the Kelts or Celts, who,
travelling perhaps to the South of the Caspian and the North
of the Black Sea, found their way to Europe and spread far on
to the extreme West. ... Another of the great families who
left the Aryan home was the Pelasgic or the Græco-Italic.
These, journeying along first Southwards and then to the West,
passed through Asia Minor, on to the countries of Greece and
Italy, and in time separated into those two great peoples, the
Greeks (or Hellenes, as they came to call themselves), and the
Romans. ... Next we come to two other great families of
nations who seem to have taken the same route at first, and
perhaps began their travels together as the Greeks and Romans
did. These are the Teutons and the Slaves. ... The word Slave
comes from Slowan, which in old Slavonian meant to speak, and
was given by the Slavonians to themselves as the people who
could speak in opposition to other nations whom, as they were
not able to understand them, they were pleased to consider as
dumb. The Greek word barbaroi (whence our barbarians) arose in
obedience to a like prejudice, only from an imitation of
babbling such as is made by saying 'bar-bar-bar.'"

_C. F. Keary, Dawn of History, chapter 4._

{138}

The above passage sets forth the older theory of an Aryan
family of nations as well as of languages in its unqualified
form. Its later modifications are indicated in the following:
"The discovery of Sanscrit and the further discovery to which
it led, that the languages now variously known as Aryan,
Aryanic, Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, Indo-Celtic and
Japhetic are closely akin to one another, spread a spell over
the world of thought which cannot be said to have yet wholly
passed away. It was hastily argued from the kinship of their
languages to the kinship of the nations that spoke them. ...
The question then arises as to the home of the 'holethnos,' or
parent tribe, before its dispersion and during the proethnic
period, at a time when as yet there was neither Greek nor
Hindoo, neither Celt nor Teuton, but only an undifferentiated
Aryan. Of course, the answer at first was--where could it have
been but in the East. And at length the glottologist found it
necessary to shift the cradle of the Aryan race to the
neighbourhood of the Oxus and the Jaxartes, so as to place it
somewhere between the Caspian Sea and the Himalayas. Then
Doctor Latham boldly raised his voice against the Asiatic
theory altogether, and stated that he regarded the attempt to
deduce the Aryans from Asia as resembling an attempt to derive
the reptiles of this country from those of Ireland. Afterwards
Benfey argued, from the presence in the vocabulary common to
the Aryan languages of words for bear and wolf, for birch and
beech, and the absence of certain others, such as those for
lion, tiger and palm, that the original home of the Aryans
must have been within the temperate zone in Europe. ... As
might be expected in the case of such a difficult question,
those who are inclined to believe in the European origin of
the Aryans are by no means agreed among themselves as to the
spot to be fixed upon. Latham placed it east, or south-east of
Lithuania, in Podolia, or Volhynia; Benfey had in view a
district above the Black Sea and not far from the Caspian;
Peschel fixed on the slopes of the Caucasus; Cuno on the great
plain of Central Europe; Fligier on the southern part of
Russia; Pösche on the tract between the Niemen and the
Dnieper; L. Geiger on central and western Germany; and Penka
on Scandinavia."

_J. Rhys, Race Theories
(in New Princeton Review, January, 1888)._

"Aryan, in scientific language, is utterly inapplicable to
race. It means language, and nothing but language; and, if we
speak of Aryan race at all, we should know that it means no
more than X + Aryan speech. ... I have declared again and
again that if I say Aryas, I mean neither blood nor bones, nor
hair nor skull; I mean simply those who speak an Aryan
language. The same applies to Hindus, Greeks, Romans, Germans,
Celts and Slaves. ... In that sense, and in that sense only,
do I say that even the blackest Hindus represent an earlier
stage of Aryan speech and thought than the fairest
Scandinavians. ... If an answer must be given as to the place
where our Aryan ancestors dwelt before their separation,
whether in large swarms of millions, or in a few scattered
tents and huts, I should still say, as I said forty years ago,
'Somewhere in Asia,' and no more."

_F. Max Müller, Biog. of Words and Home of the Aryas,
chapter 6._

The theories which dispute the Asiatic origin of the Aryans
are strongly presented by Canon Taylor in _The Origin of the
Aryans_, by G. H. Rendall, in _The Cradle of the
Aryans_, and by Dr. O. Schrader in _Prehistoric
Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples._

See, also, INDIA: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS,
and THE IMMIGRATION AND CONQUESTS OF THE ARYAS.

AS.--LIBRA.--DENARIUS.--SESTERTIUS.

"The term _As_ [among the Romans] and the words which
denote its divisions, were not confined to weight alone, but
were applied to measures of length and capacity also, and in
general to any object which could be regarded as consisting of
twelve equal parts. Thus they were commonly used to denote
shares into which an inheritance was divided." As a unit of
weight the _As_, or Libra, "occupied the same position in
the Roman system as the pound does in our own. According to
the most accurate researches, the _As_ was equal to about
11.8 oz. avoirdupois, or .7375 of an avoirdupois pound." It
"was divided into 12 equal parts called unciæ, and the unciæ
was divided into 24 equal parts called scrupula." "The
_As_, regarded as a coin [of copper] originally weighed,
as the name implies, one pound, and the smaller copper coins
those fractions of the pound denoted by their names. By
degrees; however, the weight of the _As_, regarded as a
coin, was greatly diminished. We are told that, about the
commencement of the first Punic war, it had fallen from 12
ounces to 2 ounces; in the early part of the second Punic war
(B. C. 217), it was reduced to one ounce; and not long
afterwards, by a Lex Papiria, it was fixed at half-an-ounce,
which remained the standard ever after." The silver coins of
Rome were the Denarius, equivalent (after 217 B. C.) to 16
Asses; the Quinarius and the Sestertius, which became,
respectively, one half and one fourth of the Denarius in
value. The Sestertius, at the close of the Republic, is.
estimated to have been equivalent in value to two pence
sterling of English money. The coinage was debased under the
Empire. The principal gold coin of the Empire was the Denarius
Aureus, which passed for 25 silver Denarii.

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 13._

ASCALON, Battle of (A. D. 1099).

See JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099-1144.

ASCANIENS, The.

See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 928-1142.

ASCULUM, Battle of (B. C. 279).

See ROME: B. C. 282-275.

ASCULUM, Massacre at.

See ROME: B. C. 90-88.

ASHANTEE WAR, The (1874).

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1873-1880

ASHBURTON TREATY, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1842.

ASHDOD.

See PHILISTINES.

ASHRAF, Shah of Persia, A. D. 1725-1730.

ASHTI, Battle of (1818).

See INDIA: A. D. 1816-1819.

{139}

ASIA: The Name.

"There are grounds for believing Europe and Asia to have
originally signified 'the west' and 'the east' respectively.
Both are Semitic terms, and probably passed to the Greeks from
the Phœnicians. ... The Greeks first applied the title [Asia]
to that portion of the eastern continent which lay nearest to
them, and with which they became first acquainted--the coast
of Asia Minor opposite the Cyclades; whence they extended it
as their knowledge grew. Still it had always a special
application to the country about Ephesus."

_G. Rawlinson, Notes to Herodotus, volume 3, page 33._

ASIA:
The Roman Province (so called).

"As originally constituted, it corresponded to the dominions
of the kings of Pergamus ... left by the will of Attalus III.
to the Roman people (B. C. 133). ... It included the whole of
Mysia and Lydia, with Æolis, Ionia and Caria, except a small
part which was subject to Rhodes, and the greater part, if not
the whole, of Phrygia. A portion of the last region, however,
was detached from it."

_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography,
chapter 20, section 1._

ASIA: Central.
Mongol Conquest.

See MONGOLS.

ASIA:
Turkish Conquest.

See TURKS.

ASIA:
Russian Conquests.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1859-1876, and 1869-1881.

ASIA MINOR:

"The name of Asia Minor, so familiar to the student of ancient
geography, was not in use either among Greek or Roman writers
until a very late period. Orosius, who wrote in the fifth
century after the Christian era, is the first extant writer
who employs the term in its modern sense."

_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography.,
chapter 7, section 2._

The name Anatolia, which is of Greek origin, synonymous with
"The Levant," signifying "The Sunrise," came into use among
the Byzantines, about the 10th century, and was adopted by
their successors, the Turks.

ASIA MINOR:
Earlier Kingdoms and People.

See
PHRYGIANS and MYSIANS.
LYDIANS.
CARIANS.
LYCIANS.
BITHYNIANS.
PONTUS (CAPPADOCIA).
PAPHLAGONIANS.
TROJA.

ASIA MINOR:
The Greek Colonies.

"The tumult which had been caused by the irruption of the
Thesprotians into Thessaly and the displacement of the
population of Greece [see GREECE: THE MIGRATION, &c.] did not
subside within the limits of the peninsula. From the north and
the south those inhabitants who were unable to maintain their
ground against the incursions of the Thessalians, Arnaeans, or
Dorians, and preferred exile to submission, sought new homes
in the islands of the Aegean and on the western coast of Asia
Minor. The migrations continued for several generations. When
at length they came to an end, and the Anatolian coast from
Mount Ida to the Triopian headland, with the adjacent islands,
was in the possession of the Greeks, three great divisions or
tribes were distinguished in the new settlements: Dorians,
Ionians, and Aeolians. In spite of the presence of some alien
elements, the Dorians and Ionians of Asia Minor were the same
tribes as the Dorians and Ionians of Greece. The Aeolians, on
the other hand, were a composite tribe, as their name implies.
... Of these three divisions the Aeolians lay farthest to the
north. The precise limits of their territory were differently
fixed by different authorities. ... The Aeolic cities fell
into two groups: a northern, of which Lesbos was the centre,
and a southern, composed of the cities in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Hermus, and founded from Cyme.--The
northern group included the islands of Tenedos and Lesbos. In
the latter there were originally six cities: Methymna,
Mytilene, Pyrrha, Eresus, Arisba, and Antissa, but Arisba was
subsequently conquered and enslaved by Mytilene. ... The
second great stream of migration proceeded from Athens [after
the death of Codrus--see ATHENS: FROM THE DORIAN MIGRATION TO
B. C. 683--according to Greek tradition, the younger sons of
Codrus leading these Ionian colonists across the Aegean, first
to the Carian city of Miletus--see MILETUS,--which they
captured, and then to the conquest of Ephesus and the island
of Samos]. ... The colonies spread until a dodecapolis was
established, similar to the union which the Ionians had
founded in their old settlements on the northern shore of
Peloponnesus. In some cities the Ionian population formed a
minority. ... The colonisation of Ionia was undoubtedly, in
the main, an achievement of emigrants from Attica, but it was
not accomplished by a single family, or in the space of one
life-time. ... The two most famous of the Ionian cities were
Miletus and Ephesus. The first was a Carian city previously
known as Anactoria. ... Ephesus was originally in the hands of
the Leleges and the Lydians, who were driven out by the
Ionians under Androclus. The ancient sanctuary of the tutelary
goddess of the place was transformed by the Greeks into a
temple of Artemis, who was here worshipped as the goddess of
birth and productivity in accordance with Oriental rather than
Hellenic ideas." The remaining Ionic cities and islands were
Myus (named from the mosquitoes which infested it, and which
finally drove the colony to abandon it), Priene, Erythrae,
Clazomenæ, Teos, Phocaea, Colophon, Lebedus, Samos and Chios.
"Chios was first inhabited by Cretans ... and subsequently by
Carians. ... Of the manner in which Chios became connected
with the Ionians the Chians could give no clear account. ...
The southern part of the Anatolian coast, and the
southern-most islands in the Aegean were colonised by the
Dorians, who wrested them from the Phoenician or Carian
occupants. Of the islands, Crete is the most important. ...
Crete was one of the oldest centres of civilisation in the
Aegean [see CRETE]. ... The Dorian colony in Rhodes, like that
in Crete, was ascribed to the band which left Argos under the
command of Althaemenes. ... Other islands colonised by the
Dorians were Thera, ... Melos, ... Carpathus, Calydnae,
Nisyrus, and Cos. ... From the islands, the Dorians spread to
the mainland. The peninsula of Cnidus was perhaps the first
settlement. ... Halicarnassus was founded from Troezen, and
the Ionian element must have been considerable. ... Of the
Dorian cities, six united in the common worship of Apollo on
the headland of Triopium. These were Lindus, Ialysus, and
Camirus in Rhodes, Cos, and, on the mainland, Halicarnassus
and Cnidus. . . . The territory which the Aeolians acquired is
described by Herodotus as more fertile than that occupied by
the Ionians, but of a less excellent climate. It was inhabited
by a number of tribes, among which the Troes or Teucri were
the chief. ... In Homer the inhabitants of the city of the
Troad are Dardani or Troes, and the name Teucri does not
occur. In historical times the Gergithes, who dwelt in the
town of the same name ... near Lampsacus, and also formed the
subject population of Miletus, were the only remnants of this
once famous nation.
{140}
But their former greatness was attested by the Homeric poems,
and the occurrence of the name Gergithians at various places
in the Troad [see TROJA]. To this tribe belonged the Troy of
the Grecian epic, the site of which, so far as it represents
any historical city, is fixed at Hissarlik. In the Iliad the
Trojan empire extends from the Aesepus to the Caicus; it was
divided--or, at least, later historians speak of it as
divided--into principalities which recognised Priam as their
chief. But the Homeric descriptions of the city and its
eminence are not to be taken as historically true. Whatever
the power and civilisation of the ancient stronghold exhumed
by Dr. Schliemann may have been, it was necessary for the epic
poet to represent Priam and his nation as a dangerous rival in
wealth and arms to the great kings of Mycenae and Sparta. ...
The traditional dates fix these colonies [of the Greeks in
Asia Minor] in the generations which followed the Trojan war.
... We may suppose that the colonisation of the Aegean and of
Asia Minor by the Greeks was coincident with the expulsion of
the Phoenicians. The greatest extension of the Phoenician
power in the Aegean seems to fall in the 15th century B. C.
From the 13th it was gradually on the decline, and the Greeks
were enabled to secure the trade for themselves. ... By 1100
B. C. Asia Minor may have been in the hands of the Greeks,
though the Phoenicians still maintained themselves in Rhodes
and Cyprus. But all attempts at chronology are illusory."

_E. Abbott, History of Greece, chapter 4 (volume 1)_.

ALSO IN:
_E. Curtius, History of Greece,
book 2, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapters 13-15._

_J. A. Cramer, Geography and History Description of Asia
Minor, section 6 (volume 1)._

See, also, MILETUS, PHOCÆANS.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 724-539.
Prosperity of the Greek Colonies.
Their Submission to Crœsus, King of Lydia, and their conquest
and annexation to the Persian Empire.

"The Grecian colonies on the coast of Asia early rose to
wealth by means of trade and manufactures. Though we have not
the means of tracing their commerce, we know that it was
considerable, with the mother country, with Italy, and at
length Spain, with Phœnicia and the interior of Asia, whence
the productions of India passed to Greece. The Milesians, who
had fine woolen manufactures, extended their commerce to the
Euxine, on all sides of which they founded factories, and
exchanged their manufactures and other goods with the
Scythians and the neighbouring peoples, for slaves, wool, raw
hides, bees-wax, flax, hemp, pitch, etc. There is even reason
to suppose that, by means of caravans, their traders bartered
their wares not far from the confines of China [see MILETUS].
... But while they were advancing in wealth and prosperity, a
powerful monarchy formed itself in Lydia, of which the capital
was Sardes, a city at the foot of Mount Tmolus." Gyges, the
first of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings (see LYDIANS),
whose reign is supposed to have begun about B. C. 724, "turned
his arms against the Ionian cities on the coast. During a
century and a half the efforts of the Lydian monarchs to
reduce these states were unavailing. At length (Ol. 55) [B. C.
568] the celebrated Crœsus mounted the throne of Lydia, and he
made all Asia this side of the River Halys (Lycia and Cilicia
excepted) acknowledge his dominion. The Aeolian, Ionian and
Dorian cities of the coast all paid him tribute; but,
according to the usual rule of eastern conquerors, he meddled
not with their political institutions, and they might deem
themselves fortunate in being insured against war by the
payment of an annual sum of money. Crœsus, moreover,
cultivated the friendship of the European Greeks." But Crœsus
was overthrown, B. C. 554, by the conquering Cyrus and his
kingdom of Lydia was swallowed up in the great Persian empire
then taking form [see PERSIA: B. C. 549-521]. Cyrus, during
his war with Crœsus, had tried to entice the Ionians away from
the latter and win them to an alliance with himself. But they
incurred his resentment by refusing. "They and the Æolians now
sent ambassadors, praying to be received to submission on the
same terms as those on which they had obeyed the Lydian
monarch; but the Milesians alone found favour: the rest had to
prepare for war. They repaired the walls of their towns, and
sent to Sparta for aid. Aid, however, was refused; but Cyrus,
being called away by the war with Babylon, neglected them for
the present. Three years afterwards (Ol. 59, 2), Harpagus, who
had saved Cyrus in his infancy from his grandfather, Astyages,
came as governor of Lydia. He instantly prepared to reduce the
cities of the coast. Town after town submitted. The Teians
abandoned theirs, and retired to Abdera in Thrace; the
Phocæans, getting on shipboard, and vowing never to return,
sailed for Corsica, and being there harassed by the
Carthagenians and Tyrrhenians, they went to Rhegion in Italy,
and at length founded Massalia (Marseilles) on the coast of
Gaul. The Grecian colonies thus became a part of the Persian
empire."

_T. Keightley, History of Greece, part 1, chapter 9._

ALSO IN:
_Herodotus, History, translated and edited by G. Rawlinson,
book 1, and appendix_

_M. Duncker, History of Antiquity,
book 8, chapter 6-7 (volume 6)._

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 501-493.
The Ionian revolt and its suppression.

See PERSIA: B. C. 521-493.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 479.
Athens assumes the protection of Ionia.

See ATHENS: B. C.479-478.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 477.
Formation of Confederacy of Delos.

See GREECE: B. C. 478-477.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 413.
Tribute again demanded from the Greeks by the Persian King.
Conspiracy against Athens.

See GREECE: B. C. 413.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 413-412.
Revolt of the Greek cities from Athens.
Intrigues of Alcibiades.

See GREECE: B. C. 413-412.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 412.
Re-submission to Persia.

See PERSIA: B. C. 486-405.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 401-400.
Expedition of Cyrus the Younger, and Retreat of the Ten
Thousand.

See PERSIA: B. C.401-400.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 399-387.
Spartan war with Persia in behalf of the Greek cities.
Their abandonment by the Peace of Antalcidas.

See GREECE: B. C. 399-387.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 334.
Conquest by Alexander the Great.

See MACEDONIA: B. C. 334-330.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 301.
Mostly annexed to the Thracian Kingdom of Lysimachus.

See MACEDONIA, &c.: B. C. 310-301.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 281-224.
Battle-ground of the warring monarchies of Syria and Egypt.
Changes of masters.

See SELEUCIDÆ.

{141}

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 191.
First Entrance of the Romans.
Their defeat of Antiochus the Great.
Their expansion of the kingdom of Pergamum and the Republic of
Rhodes.

See SELEUCIDÆ B. C. 224-187.

ASIA MINOR: B. C. 120-65.
Mithridates and his kingdom.
Massacre of Italians.
Futile revolt from Rome.
Complete Roman Conquest.

See MITHRIDATIC WARS;
also ROME: B. C.78-68. and 69-63.

ASIA MINOR: A. D. 292.
Diocletian's seat of Empire established at Nicomedia.

See ROME: A. D. 284-305.

ASIA MINOR: A. D. 602-628.
Persian invasions.
Deliverance by Heraclius.

See ROME: A. D. 565-628.

ASIA MINOR: A. D. 1063-1092.
Conquest and ruin by the Seljuk Turks.

See TURKS (SELJUKS): A. D. 1063-1073; and 1073-1092.

ASIA MINOR: A. D. 1097-1149.
Wars of the Crusaders.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099; and 1147-1149.

ASIA MINOR: A. D. 1204-1261.
The Empire of Nicæa and the Empire of Trebizond.

See GREEK EMPIRE OF NICÆA.

----------ASIA MINOR: End----------

ASIENTO, OR ASSIENTO, The.

See
SLAVERY: A. D. 1698-1776;
UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714;
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, THE CONGRESS OF; ENGLAND: A. D. 1739-1741;
and GEORGIA: A. D. 1738-1743.

ASKELON.

See PHILISTINES.

ASKLEPIADS.

"Throughout all the historical ages [of Greece] the
descendants of Asklêpius [or Esculapius] were numerous and
widely diffused. The many families or gentes called
Asklêpiads, who devoted themselves to the study and practice
of medicine, and who principally dwelt near the temples of
Asklêpius, whither sick and suffering men came to obtain
relief--all recognized the god, not merely as the object of
their common worship, but also as their actual progenitor."

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 1, chapter 9._

ASMONEANS, The.

See JEWS: B. C. 166-40.

ASOPIA.

See SICYON.

ASOV.

See AZOF.

ASPADAN.

The ancient name of which that of Ispahan is a corrupted form.

_G. Rawlinson. Five Great Monarchies: Media, chapter 1._

ASPERN--ESSLINGEN (OR THE MARCHFELD), Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JANUARY-JUNE).

ASPIS, The.

See PHALANX.

ASPROMONTE, Defeat of Garibaldi at (1862).

See ITALY: A. D. 1862-1866.

ASSAM, English Acquisition of.

See INDIA: A. D. 1823-1833.

ASSANDUN, Battle of.

The sixth and last battle, A. D. 1016, between Edmund
Ironsides, the English King, and his Danish rival, Cnut, or
Canute, for the Crown of England. The English were terribly
defeated and the flower of their nobility perished on the
field. The result was a division of the kingdom; but Edmund
soon died, or was killed. Ashington, in Essex, was the
battle-ground.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 979-1016.

ASSASSINATIONS, Notable.
Abbas, Pasha of Egypt.
See EGYPT: A. D. 1840-1869.

Alexander II. of Russia.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1879-1881.

Beatoun, Cardinal.
See SCOTLAND: A, D. 1546.

Becket, Thomas.
See ENGLAND: A. D.1162-1170,

Buckingham.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1628.

Cæsar.
See ROME; B. C. 44.

Capo d'Istrea, Count, President of Greece.
See GREECE: A. D. 1830-1862.

Cavendish, Lord Frederick, and Burke, Mr.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1882.

Concini.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1610-1619.

Danilo, Prince of Montenegro (1860).
See MONTENEGRO.

Darnley.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568.

Francis of Guise.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563.

Garfield, President.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1881.

Gustavus III. of Sweden.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1720-1792.

Henry of Guise.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1584-1589.

Henry III. of France.
See FRANCE; A. D. 1584-1589.

Henry IV. of France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1599-1600.

Hipparchus.
See ATHENS: B. C, 560-510.

John, Duke of Burgundy.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1415-1419.

Kleber, General.
See FRANCE; A. D. 1800 (JANUARY-JUNE).

Kotzebue.
See GERMANY; A. D. 1817-1820.

Lincoln, President.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (APRIL 14TH).

Marat.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY).

Mayo, Lord.
See INDIA; A. D. 1862-1876.

Murray, The Regent.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568.

Omar, Caliph.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST, &c.: A. D. 661.

Paul, Czar of Russia.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1801.

Perceval, Spencer.
See ENGLAND; A. D. 1806-1812.

Peter III.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1761-1762.

Philip of Macedon.
See GREECE: B. C. 357-336.

Prim, General (1870).
See SPAIN. A. D. 1866-1843.

Rizzio.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568.

Rossi, Count.
See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.

Wallenstein (1634).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1632-1634.

William the Silent.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1581-1584.

Witt, John and Cornelius de.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1672-1674.

ASSASSINS, The.

"I must here speak with the brevity which my limits prescribe
of that wonderful brotherhood of the Assassins, which during
the 12th and 13th centuries spread such terror through all
Asia, Mussulman and Christian. Their deeds should be studied
in Von Hammer's history of their order, of which however
there is an excellent analysis in Taylor's _History of
Mohammedanism._ The word Assassin, it must be remembered,
in its ordinary signification, is derived from this order, and
not the reverse. The Assassins were not so called because they
were murderers, but murderers are called assassins because the
Assassins were murderers. The origin of the word Assassin has
been much disputed by oriental scholars; but its application
is sufficiently written upon the Asiatic history of the 12th
century. The Assassins were not, strictly speaking, a dynasty,
but rather an order, like the Templars; only the office of
Grand-Master, like the Caliphate, became hereditary. They were
originally a branch of the Egyptian Ishmaelites [see MAHOMETAN
CONQUEST: A. D. 908-1171] and at first professed the
principles of that sect. But there can be no doubt that their
inner doctrine became at last a mere negation of all religion
and all morality. 'To believe nothing and to dare everything'
was the summary of their teaching. Their exoteric principle,
addressed to the non-initiated members of the order, was
simple blind obedience to the will of their superiors. If the
Assassin was ordered to take off a Caliph or a Sultan by the
dagger or the bowl, the deed was done; if he was ordered to
throw himself from the ramparts, the deed was done likewise.
... Their founder was Hassan Sabah, who, in 1090, shortly
before the death of Malek Shah, seized the castle of
Alamout--the Vulture's nest--in northern Persia, whence they
extended their possessions over a whole chain of mountain
fortresses in that country and in Syria. The Grand-Master was
the Sheikh-al-Jebal, the famous Old Man of the Mountain, at
whose name Europe and Asia shuddered."

_E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the, Saracens,
lecture 4._

{142}

"In the Fatimide Khalif of Egypt, they [the Assassins, or
Ismailiens of Syria and Persia] beheld an incarnate deity. To
kill his enemies, in whatever way they best could, was an
action, the merit of which could not be disputed, and the
reward for which was certain." Hasan Sabah, the founder of the
Order, died at Alamout A. D. 1124. "From the day he entered
Alamut until that of his death--a period of thirty-five
years--he never emerged, but upon two occasions, from the
seclusion of his house. Pitiless and inscrutable as Destiny,
he watched the troubled world of Oriental politics, himself
invisible, and whenever he perceived a formidable foe, caused
a dagger to be driven into his heart." It was not until more
than a century after the death of its founder that the fearful
organization of the Assassins was extinguished (A. D. 1257) by
the same flood of Mongol invasion which swept Bagdad and the
Caliphate out of existence.

_R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Khalifs of Bagdad,
part 3, chapter 3._

_W. C. Taylor, History of Mohammedanism and its Sects,
chapter 9._

The Assassins were rooted out from all their strongholds in
Kuhistan and the neighboring region, and were practically
exterminated, in 1257, by the Mongols under Khulagu, or
Houlagou, brother of Mongu Khan, the great sovereign of the
Mongol Empire, then reigning. Alamut, the Vulture's Nest, was
demolished.

_H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, part 1, page 193;
and part 3, pages 91-108_.

See BAGDAD; A. D. 1258.

ASSAYE, Battle of (1803).

See INDIA; A. D. 1798-1803.

ASSEMBLY OF THE NOTABLES IN FRANCE (1787).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1774-1788.

ASSENISIPIA, The proposed State of.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1784.

ASSIDEANS, The.

See CHASIDM, THE.

ASSIENTO, The.

See ASIENTO.

ASSIGNATS.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1789-1791; 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL);
1795 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

ASSINARUS, Athenian defeat and surrender at the.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 415-413.

ASSINIBOIA.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA.

ASSINIBOINS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.

ASSIZE, The Bloody.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1685 (SEPTEMBER).

ASSIZE OF BREAD AND ALE.

The Assize of Bread and Ale was an English ordinance or
enactment, dating back to the time of Henry III. in the 13th
century, which fixed the price of those commodities by a scale
regulated according to the market prices of wheat, barley and
oats. "The Assize of bread was re-enacted so lately as the
beginning of the last century and was only abolished in London
and its neighbourhood about thirty years ago"--that is, early
in the present century.

_G. L. Craik, History of British Commerce,
volume 1, page 137._

ASSIZE OF CLARENDON, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1162-1170.

ASSIZE OF JERUSALEM, The.

"No sooner had Godfrey of Bouillon [elected King of Jerusalem,
after the taking of the Holy City by the Crusaders, A. D.
1099] accepted the office of supreme magistrate than he
solicited the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims
who were the best skilled in the statutes and customs of
Europe. From these materials, with the counsel and approbation
of the Patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey
composed the Assise of Jerusalem, a precious monument of
feudal jurisprudence. The new code, attested by the seals of
the King, the Patriarch, and the Viscount of Jerusalem, was
deposited in the holy sepulchre, enriched with the
improvements of succeeding times, and respectfully consulted
as often as any doubtful question arose in the tribunals of
Palestine. With the kingdom and city all was lost; the
fragments of the written law were preserved by jealous
tradition and variable practice till the middle of the
thirteenth century. The code was restored by the pen of John
d'Ibelin, Count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories;
and the final revision was accomplished in the year thirteen
hundred and sixty-nine, for the use of the Latin kingdom of
Cyprus."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 58.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

ASSIZES.

"The formal edicts known under the name of Assizes, the
Assizes of Clarendon and Northampton, the Assize of Arms, the
Assize of the Forest, and the Assizes of Measures, are the
only relics of the legislative work of the period [reign of
Henry II. in England]. These edicts are chiefly composed of
new regulations for the enforcement of royal justice, ... In
this respect they strongly resemble the capitularies of the
Frank Kings, or, to go farther back, the edicts of the Roman
prætors. ... The term Assize, which comes into use in this
meaning about the middle of the twelfth century, both on the
continent and in England, appears to be the proper Norman name
for such edicts. ... In the 'Assize of Jerusalem' it simply
means a law; and the same in Henry's legislation. Secondarily,
it means a form of trial established by the particular law, as
the Great Assize, the Assize of Mort d' Ancester; and thirdly
the court held to hold such trials, in which sense it is
commonly used at the present day."

_William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 13._

ASSUR.

See ASSYRIA.

ASSYRIA.