Chapter IV: , VII (22)

"The House of Commons which had been elected in November and
December, 1885, was the first House of Commons which
represented the whole body of the householders and lodgers of
the United Kingdom. The result of the appeal to new
constituencies and an enlarged electorate had taken all
parties by surprise. The Tories found themselves, by the help
of their Irish allies, successful in the towns beyond all
their hopes; the Liberals, disappointed in the boroughs, had
found compensation in unexpected successes in the counties;
and the Irish Nationalists had almost swept the board. … The
English representation—exclusive of one Irish Nationalist for
Liverpool—gave a liberal majority of 28 in the English
constituencies; which Wales and Scotland swelled to 106. The
Irish representation had undergone a still more remarkable
change. Of 103 members for the sister island, 85 were Home
Rulers and only 18 were Tories. … The new House of Commons
was exactly divided between the Liberals on one side and the
Tories with their Irish allies on the other. Of its 670
members just one-half, or 335, were Liberals, 249 were Tories,
and 86 were Irish Nationalists [or Home Rulers]. … It was
soon clear enough that the alliance between the Tory Ministers
and the Irish Nationalists was at an end." On the 25th of
January 1886, the Government was defeated on an amendment to
the address, and on the 28th it resigned. Mr. Gladstone was
invited to form a Ministry and did so with Lord Herschell for
Lord Chancellor, Sir William Harcourt for Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr. Childers for Home Secretary, Lord Granville for
Secretary for the Colonies, Mr. John Morley for Chief
Secretary for Ireland, and Mr. Chamberlain for President of
the Local Government Board. On the 29th of March "Mr.
Gladstone announced in the House of Commons that on the 8th of
April he would ask for leave to bring in a bill 'to amend the
provision for the future government of Ireland'; and that on
the 15th he would ask leave to bring in a measure 'to make
amended provision for the sale and purchase of land in
Ireland.'" The same day Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Trevelyan
(Secretary for Ireland) resigned their seats in the Cabinet,
and it was generally understood that differences of opinion on
the Irish bills had arisen. On the 8th of April the House of
Commons was densely crowded when Mr. Gladstone introduced his
measure for giving Home Rule to Ireland. In a speech which
lasted three hours and a half he set forth the details of his
plan and the reasons on which they were based. The essential
conditions observed in the framing of the measure, as he
defined them, were these: "The unity of the Empire must not be
placed in jeopardy; the minority must be protected; the
political equality of the three countries must be maintained,
and there must be an equitable distribution of Imperial
burdens. He then discussed some proposals which had been made
for the special treatment of Ulster—its exclusion from the
bill, its separate autonomy or the reservation of certain
matters, such as education, for Provincial Councils; all of
which he rejected. The establishment of an Irish legislature
involved the removal of Irish peers from the House of Lords
and the Irish representatives from the House of Commons. But
if Ireland was not represented at Westminster, how was it to
be taxed? The English people would never force on Ireland
taxation without representation. The taxing power would be in
the hands of the Irish legislature, but Customs and Excise
duties connected with Customs would be solely in the control
of the Imperial Parliament, Ireland's share in these being
reserved for Ireland's use. Ireland must have security against
her Magna Charta being tampered with; the provision of the Act
would therefore only be capable of modification with the
concurrence of the Irish legislature, or after the recall of
the Irish members to the two Houses of Parliament. The Irish
legislature would have all the powers which were not specially
reserved from it in the Act. It was to consist of two orders,
though not two Houses. It would be subject to all the
prerogatives of the Crown; it would have nothing to do with
Army or Navy, or with Foreign or Colonial relations; nor could
it modify the Act on which its own authority was based.
Contracts, charters, questions of education, religious
endowments and establishments, would be beyond its authority.
Trade and navigation, coinage, currency, weights and measures,
copyright, census, quarantine laws, and some other matters,
were not to be within the powers of the Irish Parliament. The
composition of the legislature was to be first, the 103
members now representing Ireland with 101, elected by the same
constituencies, with the exception of the University, with
power to the Irish legislature to give two members to the
Royal University if it chose; then the present Irish members
of the House of Lords, with 75 elected by the Irish people
under a property qualification. The Viceroyalty was to be
left, but the Viceroy was not to quit office with an outgoing
government, and no religious disability was to affect his
appointment. He would have a Privy Council, and the executive
would remain as at present, but might be changed by the action
of the legislative body. The present judges would preserve their
lien on the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, and the Queen
would be empowered to antedate their pensions if it was seen
to be desirable. Future judges, with the exception of two in
the Court of Exchequer, would be appointed by the Irish
government, and, like English judges, would hold their office
during good behaviour. The Constabulary would remain under its
present administration, Great Britain paying all charges over
a million. Eventually, however, the whole police of Ireland
would be under the Irish government. The civil servants would
have two years' grace, with a choice of retirement on pension
before passing under the Irish executive. Of the financial
arrangements Mr. Gladstone spoke in careful and minute detail.
He fixed the proportion of Imperial charges Ireland should pay at
one-fifteenth, or in other words she would pay one part and
Great Britain fourteen parts. More than a million of duty is
paid on spirits in Ireland which come to Great Britain, and
this would be practically a contribution towards the Irish
revenue. So with Irish porter and with the tobacco
manufactured in Ireland and sold here. Altogether the British
taxpayers would contribute in this way £1,400,000 a year to
the Irish Exchequer; reducing the actual payment of Ireland
itself for Imperial affairs to one-twenty-sixth." On the 16th
of April Mr. Gladstone introduced his Irish Land Bill,
connecting it with the Home Rule Bill as forming part of one
great measure for the pacification of Ireland. In the meantime
the opposition to his policy within the ranks of the Liberal
party had been rapidly taking form. It Mr. Trevelyan, Sir
Henry James, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Goschen, and Mr. Courtney.
It soon received the support of Mr. John Bright. The debate in
the House, which lasted until the 3rd of June, was passionate
and bitter.
{980}
It ended in the defeat of the Government by a majority of 30
against the bill. The division was the largest which had ever
been taken in the House of Commons, 657 members being present.
The majority was made up of 249 Conservatives and 94 Liberals.
The minority consisted of 228 Liberals and 85 Nationalists.
Mr. Gladstone appealed to the country by a dissolution of
Parliament. The elections were adverse to him, resulting in
the return to Parliament of members representing the several
parties and sections of parties as follows:

Home Rule Liberals, or Gladstonians, 194,
Irish Nationalists 85
total 279;
seceding Liberals 75,
Conservatives 316
total 391.

Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues resigned and a new Ministry
was formed under Lord Salisbury. The Liberals, in alliance
with the Conservatives and giving their support to Lord
Salisbury's Government, became organized as a distinct party
under the leadership of Lord Hartington, and took the name of
Liberal Unionists.

_P. W. Clayden,
England under the Coalition,
chapters 1-6._

ALSO IN:
_H. D. Traill,
The Marquis of Salisbury,
chapter 12._

Annual Register, 1885, 1886.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1885-1888.
Termination of the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of
Washington.
Renewed controversies with the United States.
The rejected Treaty.

See FISHERIES, NORTH AMERICAN: A. D. 1877-1888.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1886.
Defeat of Mr. Parnell's Tenants' Relief Bill.
The plan of campaign in Ireland.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1886.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1886-1893.
The Bering Sea Controversy and Arbitration.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1886-1893.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1890.
Settlement of African questions with Germany.
Cession of Heligoland.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1889.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1891.
The Free Education Bill.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
ENGLAND: A. D. 1891.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1892-1893.
The fourth Gladstone Ministry.
Passage of the Irish Home Rule Bill by the House of Commons.
Its defeat by the Lords.

On the 28th of June, 1892, Parliament was dissolved, having
been in existence since 1886, and a new Parliament was
summoned to meet on the 4th of August. Great excitement
prevailed in the ensuing elections, which turned almost
entirely on the question of Home Rule for Ireland. The Liberal
or Gladstonian party, favoring Home Rule, won a majority of 42
in the House of Commons; but in the representation of England
alone there was a majority of 70 returned against it. In
Ireland, the representation returned was 103 for Home Rule,
and 23 against; in Scotland, 51 for and 21 against; in Wales,
28 for and 2 against. Conservatives and Liberal Unionists
(opposing Home Rule) lost little ground in the boroughs, as
compared with the previous Parliament, but largely in the
counties. As the result of the election, Lord Salisbury and
his Ministry resigned August 12, and Mr. Gladstone was
summoned to form a Government. In the new Cabinet, which was
announced four days later, Earl Rosebery became Foreign
Secretary; Baron Herschell, Lord Chancellor; Sir William
Vernon Harcourt, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Mr. Herbert H.
Asquith, Home Secretary; and Mr. John Morley, Chief Secretary
for Ireland. Although the new Parliament assembled in August,
1892, it was not until the 13th of February following that Mr.
Gladstone introduced his bill to establish Home Rule in
Ireland. The bill was under debate in the House of Commons
until the night of September 1, 1893, when it passed that body
by a vote of 301 to 267. "The bill provides for a Legislature
for Ireland, consisting of the Queen and of two Houses—the
Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. This
Legislature, with certain restrictions, is authorized to make
laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland in
respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some
part thereof. The bill says that the powers of the Irish
Legislature shall not extend to the making of any law
respecting the establishment or endowment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or imposing any
disability or conferring any privilege on account of religious
belief, or whereby any person may be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law, or whereby
private property may be taken without just compensation.
According to the bill the executive power in Ireland shall
continue vested in her Majesty the Queen, and the Lord
Lieutenant, on behalf of her Majesty, shall exercise any
prerogatives or other executive power of the Queen the
exercise of which may be delegated to him by her Majesty, and
shall in the Queen's name summon, prorogue, and dissolve the
Legislature. An Executive Committee of the Privy Council of
Ireland is provided for, which 'shall aid and advise in the
government of Ireland.' The Lord Lieutenant, with the advice
and consent of the Executive Council, is authorized to give or
withhold the assent of her Majesty to bills passed by the houses
of the Legislature. The Legislative Council by the terms of
the bill shall consist of forty-eight Councilors. Every man
shall be entitled to vote for a Councilor who owns or occupies
any land or tenement of a ratable value of £20. The term of
office of the Councilors is to be for eight years, which is
not to be affected by dissolution, but one-half of the
Councilors shall retire in every fourth year and their seats
be filled by a new election. The Legislative Assembly is to
consist of 103 members returned by the Parliamentary
constituencies existing at present in Ireland. This Assembly,
unless sooner dissolved, may exist for five years. The bill
also provides for 80 Irish members in the House of Commons. In
regard to finance, the bill provides that for the purposes of
this act the public revenue shall be divided into general
revenue and special revenue, and general revenue shall consist
of the gross revenue collected in Ireland from taxes; the portion
due to Ireland of the hereditary revenues of the crown which
are managed by the Commissioners of Woods, an annual sum for
the customs and excise duties collected in Great Britain on
articles consumed in Ireland, provided that an annual sum of
the customs and excise duties collected in Ireland on articles
consumed in Great Britain shall be deducted from the revenue
collected in Ireland and treated as revenue collected in Great
Britain; these annual sums to be determined by a committee
appointed jointly by the Irish Government and the Imperial
Treasury. It is also provided that one-third of the general
revenue of Ireland and also that portion of any imperial
miscellaneous revenue to which Ireland may claim to be
entitled shall be paid into the Treasury of the United Kingdom
as the contribution of Ireland to imperial liabilities and
expenditures; this plan to continue for a term of six years,
at the end of which time a new scheme of tax division shall be
devised.
{981}
The Legislature, in order to meet expenses of the public
service, is authorized to impose taxes other than those now
existing in Ireland. Ireland should also have charged up
against her and be compelled to pay out of her own Treasury
all salaries and pensions of Judges and liabilities of all
kinds which Great Britain has assumed for her benefit. The
bill further provides that appeal from courts in Ireland to
the House of Lords shall cease and that all persons having the
right of appeal shall have a like right to appeal to the Queen in
council. The term of office of the Lord Lieutenant is fixed at
six years. Ultimately the Royal Irish Constabulary shall cease
to exist and no force other than the ordinary civil police
shall be permitted to be formed. The Irish Legislature shall
be summoned to meet on the first Tuesday in September, 1894,
and the first election for members shall be held at such time
before that day as may be fixed by her Majesty in council." In
the House of Lords, the bill was defeated on the 8th of
September—the second reading postponed to a day six months
from that date—by the overwhelming vote of 419 to 41.

----------ENGLAND: End----------

ENGLE. ENGLISH.

See ANGLES AND JUTES;
also, ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.

ENGLISH PALE, The.

See PALE, THE ENGLISH.

ENGLISH SWEAT, The.

See SWEATING SICKNESS.

ENGLISHRY.

To check the assassination of his tyrannical Norman followers
by the exasperated English, William the Conqueror ordained
that the whole Hundred within which one was slain should pay a
heavy penalty. "In connexion with this enactment there grew up
the famous law of 'Englishry,' by which every murdered man was
presumed to be a Norman, unless proofs of 'Englishry' were
made by the four nearest relatives of the deceased.
'Presentments of Englishry,' as they were technically termed,
are recorded in the reign of Richard I., but not later."

_T. P. Taswell-Langmead,
English Constitutional History.
page 68._

ENNISKILLEN, The defence of.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1688-1689.

ENÔMOTY, The.

In the Spartan military organization the enômoty "was a small
company of men, the number of whom was variable, being given
differently at 25, 32, or 36 men,—drilled and practised
together in military evolutions, and bound to each other by a
common oath. Each Enômoty had a separate captain or
enomotarch, the strongest and ablest soldier of the company."

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 8._

ENRIQUE.

See HENRY.

ENSISHEIM, Battle of (1674).

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678.

EORL AND CEORL.

"The modern English forms of these words have completely lost
their ancient meaning. The word 'Earl,' after several
fluctuations, has settled down as the title of one rank in the
Peerage; the word 'Churl' has come to be a word of moral
reprobation, irrespective of the rank of the person who is
guilty of the offence. But in the primary meaning of the
words, 'Eorl' and 'Ceorl'—words whose happy jingle causes
them to be constantly opposed to each other—form an
exhaustive division of the free members of the state. The
distinction in modern language is most nearly expressed br the
words 'Gentle' and 'Simple.' The 'Ceorl' is the simple
freeman, the mere unit in the army or in the assembly, whom no
distinction of birth or office marks out from his fellows."

_E. A. Freeman,
History of the Norman Conquest of England,
chapter 3, section 2._

See, also, ETHEL;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 958.

EORMEN STREET.

See ERMYN STREET.

EPAMINONDAS, and the greatness of Thebes.

See GREECE: B. C. 379-371, and 371-362;
also THEBES: B. C. 378.

EPEIROS.

See Epmus.

EPHAH, The.

"The ephah, or bath, was the unit of measures of capacity for
both liquids and grain [among the ancient Jews]. The ephah is
considered by Queipo to have been the measure of water
contained in the ancient Egyptian cubic foot, and thus
equivalent to 29.376 litres, or 6.468 imperial gallons, and to
have been nearly identical with the ancient Egyptian artaba
and the Greek metretes. For liquids, the ephah was divided
into six hin, and the twelfth part of the hin was the log. As
a grain measure, the ephah was divided into ten omers, or
gomers. The omer measure of manna gathered by the Israelites
in the desert as a day's food for each adult person was thus
equal to 2.6 imperial quarts. The largest measure of capacity
both for liquids and dry commodities was the cor of twelve
ephahs."

_H. W. Chisholm,
On the Science of Weighing and Measuring,
chapter 2._

EPHES-DAMMIM, Battle of.

The battle which followed David's encounter with Goliath, the
gigantic Philistine.

_1 Samuel, xvii._

EPHESIA, The.

See IONIC (PAN-IONIC) AMPHIKTYONY.

EPHESUS.
The Ephesian Temple.

"The ancient city of Ephesus was situated on the river
Cayster, which falls into the Bay of Scala Nova, on the
western coast of Asia Minor. Of the origin and foundation of
Ephesus we have no historical record. Stories were told which
ascribed the settlement of the place to Androklos, the son of
the Athenian king, Codrus. … With other Ionian cities of
Asia Minor, Ephesus fell into the hands of Crœsus, the last of
the kings of Lydia, and, on the overthrow of Crœsus by Cyrus,
it passed under the heavier yoke of the Persian despot.
Although from that time, during a period of at least five
centuries, to the conquest by the Romans, the city underwent
great changes of fortune, it never lost its grandeur and
importance. The Temple of Artemis (Diana), whose splendour has
almost become proverbial, tended chiefly to make Ephesus the most
attractive and notable of all the cities of Asia Minor. Its
magnificent harbour was filled with Greek and Phenician
merchantmen, and multitudes flocked from all parts to profit
by its commerce and to worship at the shrine of its tutelary
goddess. The City Port was fully four miles from the sea,
which has not, as has been supposed, receded far. … During
the generations which immediately followed the conquest of
Lydia and the rest of Asia Minor by the Persian kings, the
arts of Greece attained their highest perfection, and it was
within this short period of little more than two centuries
that the great Temple of Artemis was three times built upon
the same site, and, as recent researches have found, each time
on the same grand scale."

_J. T. Wood,
Discoveries at Ephesus,
chapter 1._

{982}

The excavations which were carried on at Ephesus by Mr. Wood,
for the British Museum, during eleven years, from 1863 until
1874, resulted in the uncovering of a large part of the site
of the great Temple and the determining of its architectural
features, besides bringing to light many inscriptions and much
valuable sculpture. The account given in the work named above
is exceedingly interesting.

EPHESUS: Ionian conquest and occupation.

See ASIA MINOR: THE GREEK COLONIES.

EPHESUS: Ancient Commerce.

"The spot on the Asiatic coast which corresponded most nearly
with Corinth on the European, was Ephesus, a city which, in
the time of Herodotus, had been the starting point of caravans
for Upper Asia, but which, under the change of dynasties and
ruin of empires, had dwindled into a mere provincial town. The
mild sway of Augustus restored it to wealth and eminence, and
as the official capital of the province of Asia, it was
reputed to be the metropolis of no less than 500 cities."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 40._

EPHESUS: A. D. 267.
Destruction by the Goths of the Temple of Diana.

See GOTHS: A. D. 258-267.

EPHESUS: A. D. 431 and 449.
The General Council and the "Robber Synod."

See NESTORIAN AND MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSY.

----------EPHESUS: End----------

EPHETÆ, The.

A board of fifty-one judges instituted by the legislation of
Draco, at Athens, for the trial of crimes of bloodshed upon
the Areopagus.

_G. Schömann,
Antiquities of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 3._

EPHORS.

"Magistrates, called by the name of Ephors, existed in many
Dorian as well as in other States [of ancient Greece],
although our knowledge with regard to them extends no further
than to the fact of their existence; while the name, which
signifies quite generally 'overseers,' affords room for no
conclusion as to their political position or importance. In
Sparta, however, the Board of Five Ephors became, in the
course of time, a magistracy of such dignity and influence
that no other can be found in any free State with which it can
be compared. Concerning its first institution nothing certain
can be ascertained. … The following appears to be a probable
account:—The Ephors were originally magistrates appointed by
the kings, partly to render them special assistance in the
judicial decision of private disputes,—a function which they
continued to exercise in later times,—partly to undertake,
as lieutenants of the kings, other of their functions, during
their absence in military service, or through some other
cause. … When the monarchy and the Gerousia wished to
re-establish their ancient influence in opposition to the
popular assembly, they were obliged to agree to a concession
which should give some security to the people that this power
should not be abused to their detriment. This concession
consisted in the fact that the Ephors were independently
authorized to exercise control over the kings themselves. …
The Ephors were enabled to interfere in every department of
the administration, and to remove or punish whatever they
found to be contrary to the laws or adverse to the public
interest."

_G. F. Schömann,
Antiquities of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 1, section 8._

See, also, SPARTA: THE CONSTITUTION, &c.

EPHTHALITES, The.

See HUNS, THE WHITE.

EPIDAMNUS.

See GREECE: B. C. 435-432;
and KORKYRA.

EPIDII, The.

See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.

EPIGAMIA.

The right of marriage in ancient Athens.

G. F. Schömann, Antiquities of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 3.

EPIGONI, The.

See BŒOTIA.

EPIPOLÆ.

One of the parts or divisions of the ancient city of Syracuse,
Sicily.

EPIROT LEAGUE, The.

"The temporary greatness of the Molossian kingdom [of Epeiros,
or Epirus] under Alexander and Pyrrhus is matter of general
history. Our immediate business is with the republican
government which succeeded on the bloody extinction of royalty
and the royal line [which occurred B. C. 239]. Epeiros now
became a republic; of the details of its constitution we know
nothing, but its form can hardly fail to have been federal.
The Epeirots formed one political body; Polybios always speaks
of them, like the Achaians and Akarnanians, as one people
acting with one will. Decrees are passed, ambassadors are sent
and received, in the name of the whole Epeirot people, and
Epeiros had, like Akarnania, a federal coinage bearing the
common name of the whole nation."

_E. A. Freeman,
History of Federal Government,
book 4, section 1._

EPIRUS. THE EPIROTS.

"Passing over the borders of Akarnania [in ancient western
Greece] we find small nations or tribes not considered as
Greeks, but known, from the fourth century B. C. downwards,
under the common name of Epirots. This word signifies,
properly, inhabitants of a continent, as opposed to those of
an island or a peninsula. It came only gradually to be applied
by the Greeks as their comprehensive denomination to designate
all those diverse tribes, between the Ambrakian Gulf on the
south and west, Pindus on the east, and the Illyrians and
Macedonians to the north and north-east. Of these Epirots the
principal were—the Chaonians, Thesprotians, Kassopians, and
Molossians, who occupied the country inland as well as
maritime along the Ionian Sea, from the Akrokeraunian
mountains to the borders of Ambrakia in the interior of the
Ambrakian Gulf. … Among these various tribes it is difficult
to discriminate the semi-Hellenic from the non-Hellenic; for
Herodotus considers both Molossians and Thesprotians as
Hellenic,—and the oracle of Dôdôna, as well as the
Nekyomanteion (or holy cavern for evoking the dead) of
Acheron, were both in the territory of the Thesprotians, and
both (in the time of the historian) Hellenic. Thucydides, on
the other hand, treats both Molossians and Thesprotians as
barbaric. … Epirus is essentially a pastoral country: its
cattle as well as its shepherds and shepherds' dogs were
celebrated throughout all antiquity; and its population then,
as now, found divided village residence the most suitable to
their means and occupations. … Both the Chaonians and
Thesprotians appear, in the time of Thucydides, as having no
kings: there was a privileged kingly race, but the presiding
chief was changed from year to year. The Molossians, however,
had a line of kings, succeeding from father to son, which
professed to trace its descent through fifteen generations
downward from Achilles and Neoptolemus to Tharypas about the
year 400 B. C."

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 24._

{983}

The Molossian kings subsequently extended their sovereignty
over the whole country and styled themselves kings of Epirus.
Pyrrhus, whose war with Rome (see ROME: B. C. 282-275) is one
of the well known episodes of history, was the most ambitious
and energetic of the dynasty (see MACEDONIA: B. C. 297-280);
Hannibal reckoned him among the greatest of soldiers. In the
next century Epirus fell under the dominion of Rome.
Subsequently it formed part of the Byzantine empire; then
became a separate principality, ruled by a branch of the
imperial Comnenian family; was conquered by the Turks in 1466
and is now represented by the southern half of the province of
Turkey, called Albania.

See, also, ŒNOTRIANS.

EPIRUS: A. D. 1204-1350.
The Greek Despotat.

From the ruins of the Byzantine empire, overthrown by the
Crusaders and the Venetians in 1204, "that portion …
situated to the west of the range of Pindus was saved from
feudal domination by Michael, a natural son of Constantine
Angelos, the uncle of the Emperors Isaac II. and Alexius III.
After the conquest of Constantinople, he escaped into Epirus,
where his marriage with a lady of the country gave him some
influence; and assuming the direction of the administration of
the whole country from Dyrrachium to Naupactus, he collected a
considerable military force, and established the seat of his
authority generally at Ioannina or Arta. … History has
unfortunately preserved very little information concerning the
organisation and social condition of the different classes and
races which inhabited the dominions of the princes of Epirus.
Almost the only facts that have been preserved relate to the
wars and alliances of the despots and their families with the
Byzantine emperors and the Latin princes. … They all assumed
the name of Angelos Komnenos Dukas; and the title of despot,
by which they are generally distinguished, was a Byzantine
honorary distinction, never borne by the earlier members of
the family until it had been conferred on them by the Greek
emperor. Michael I, the founder of the despotat, distinguished
himself by his talents as a soldier and a negotiator. He
extended his authority over all Epirus, Acarnania and Etolia,
and a part of Macedonia and Thessaly. Though virtually
independent, he acknowledged Theodore I. (Laskaris), [at
Nicæa] as the lawful emperor of the East." The able and
unscrupulous brother of Michael, Theodore, who became his
successor in 1214, extinguished by conquest the Lombard
kingdom of Saloniki, in Macedonia (A. D. 1222), and assumed
the title of emperor, in rivalry with the Greek emperor at
Nicæa, establishing his capital at Thessalonica. The empire of
Thessalonica was short lived. Its capital was taken by the
emperor of Nicæa, in 1234, and Michael's son John, then
reigning, was forced to resign the imperial title. The
despotat of Epirus survived for another century, much torn and
distracted by wars and domestic conflicts. In 1350 its
remaining territory was occupied by the king of Servia, and
finally it was swallowed up in the conquests of the Turks.

_G. Finlay,
History of Greece from its Conquest by the Crusader,
chapter 6._

ALSO IN:
_Sir J. E. Tennent,
History of Modern Greece,
chapter 3._

EPIRUS: Modern History.

See ALBANIANS.

EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH.

See CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

EPISTATES.

The presiding officer of the ancient Athenian council and
popular assembly.

EPONYM. EPONYMUS.

The name-giver,—the name-giving hero of primitive myths, in
which tribes and races of people set before themselves, partly
by tradition, partly by imagination, an heroic personage who
is supposed to be their common progenitor and the source of
their name.

EPONYM CANON OF ASSYRIA.

See ASSYRIA, EPONYM CANON OF.

EPPING FOREST.

Once so extensive that it covered the whole county of Essex,
England, and was called the Forest of Essex. Subsequently,
when diminished in size, it was called Waltham Forest. Still
later, when further retrenched, it took the name of Epping,
from a town that is embraced in it. It is still quite large,
and within recent years it has been formally declared by the
Queen "a people's park."

_J. C. Brown,
Forests of England._

EPULONES, The.

"The epulones [at Rome] formed a college for the
administration of the sacred festivals."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 31._

EQUADOR.

See ECUADOR.

EQUAL RIGHTS PARTY.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1835-1837.

EQUESTRIAN ORDER, Roman.

"The selection of the burgess cavalry was vested in the
censors. It was, no doubt, the duty of these to make the
selection on purely military grounds, and at their musters to
insist that all horsemen incapacitated by age or otherwise, or
at all unserviceable, should surrender their public horse; but
it was not easy to hinder them from looking to noble birth
more than to capacity, and from allowing men of standing, who
were once admitted, senators particularly, to retain their
horse beyond the proper time. Accordingly it became the
practical rule for the senators to vote in the eighteen
equestrian centuries, and the other places in these were
assigned chiefly to the younger men of the nobility. The
military system, of course, suffered from this, not so much
through the unfitness for effective service of no small part
of the legionary cavalry, as through the destruction of
military equality to which the change gave rise; the noble
youth more and more withdrew from serving in the infantry, and
the legionary cavalry became a close aristocratic corps."

_T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 3, chapter 11._

"The eighteen centuries, therefore, in course of time … lost
their original military character and remained only as a
voting body. It was by the transformation thus effected in the
character of the eighteen centuries of knights, whilst the
cavalry service passed over to the richer citizens not
included in the senatorial families, that a new class of Roman
citizens began gradually to be formed, distinct from the
nobility proper and from the mass of the people, and
designated as the equestrian order."

_W. Ihne,
History of Rome,
book 7, chapter. 1._

The equestrian order became a legally constituted class under
the judicial law of Caius Gracchus, B. C. 123, which fixed its
membership by a census, and transferred to it the judicial
functions previously exercised by the senators only. It formed
a kind of monetary aristocracy, as a counterweight to the
nobility.

_W. Ihne,
History of Rome,
book 7, chapter 6._

{984}

ERA, Christian.

"Unfortunately for ancient Chronology, there was no one fixed
or universally established Era. Different countries reckoned
by different eras, whose number is embarrassing, and their
commencements not always easily to be adjusted or reconciled
to each other; and it was not until A. D. 532 that the
Christian Era was invented by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian by
birth, and a Roman Abbot, who flourished in the reign of
Justinian. … Dionysius began his era with the year of our
Lord's incarnation and nativity, in U. C. 753, of the
Varronian Computation, or the 45th of the Julian Era. And at
an earlier period, Panodorus, an Egyptian monk, who flourished
under the Emperor Arcadius, A. D. 395, had dated the
incarnation in the same year. But by some mistake, or
misconception of his meaning, Bede, who lived in the next
century after Dionysius, adopted his year of the Nativity, U.
C. 753, yet began the Vulgar Era, which he first introduced,
the year after, and made it commence January 1, U. C. 754, which
was an alteration for the worse, as making the Christian Era
recede a year further from the true year of the Nativity. The
Vulgar Era began to prevail in the West about the time of
Charles Martel and Pope Gregory II. A. D. 730. … But it was
not established till the time of Pope Eugenius IV. A. D. 1431,
who ordered this era to be used in the public Registers. …
Dionysius was led to date the year of the Nativity, U. C. 753,
from the Evangelist Luke's account that John the Baptist began
his ministry 'in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Cæsar'; and that Jesus, at his baptism, 'was beginning to be
about 30 years of age.' Luke iii. 1-23. … But this date of
the Nativity is at variance with Matthew's account, that
Christ was born before Herod's death; which followed shortly
after his massacre of the infants at Bethlehem. … Christ's
birth, therefore, could not have been earlier than U. C. 748,
nor later than U. C. 749. And if we assume the latter year, as
most conformable to the whole tenor of Sacred History, with
Chrysostom, Petavius, Prideaux, Playfair, &c., this would give
Christ's age at his baptism, about 34 years; contrary to
Luke's account."

_W. Hales,
New Analysis of Chronology,
volume 1, book l._

In a subsequent table, Mr. Hales gives the results of the
computations made by different chronologists, ancient and
modern, to fix the true year of the Nativity, as accommodated
to what is called "the vulgar," or popularly accepted,
Christian Era. The range is through no less than ten years,
from B. C. 7 to A. D. 3. His own conclusion, supported by
Prideaux and Playfair, is in favor of the year B. C. 5.
Somewhat more commonly at the present time, it is put at B. C.
4.

See, also, JEWS: B. C. 8-A. D. 1.

ERA, French Revolutionary.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER),
and 1793 (OCTOBER).

ERA, Gregorian.

See CALENDAR, GREGORIAN.

ERA, Jalalæan.

See TURKS (THE SELJUK): A. D. 1073-1092.

ERA, Julian.

See CALENDAR, JULIAN.

ERA, Mahometan, or Era of the Hegira.

"The epoch of the Era of the Hegira is, according to the civil
calculation, Friday, the 16th of July, A. D. 622, the day of
the flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, which is the date
of the Mahometans; but astronomers and some historians assign
it to the preceding day, viz., Thursday, the 15th of July; an
important fact to be borne in mind when perusing Arabian
writers. The years of the Hegira are lunar years, and contain
twelve months, each commencing with the new moon; a practice
which necessarily leads to great confusion and uncertainty,
inasmuch as every year must begin considerably earlier in the
season than the preceding. In chronology and history, however,
and in dating their public instruments, the Turks use months
which contain alternately thirty and twenty-nine days,
excepting the last month, which, in intercalary years,
contains thirty days. … The years of the Hegira are divided
into cycles of thirty years, nineteen of which are termed
common years, of 354 days each; and the eleven others
intercalary, or abundant, from their consisting of one day
more: these are the 2d, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th,
21st, 24th, 26th and 29th. To ascertain whether any given year
be intercalary or not divide it by 30; and if either of the
above numbers remain, the year is one of 355 days."

_Sir H. Nicolas,
Chronology of History._

See, also, MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632.

ERA, Spanish.

"The Spanish era dates from 38 B. C. (A. U. 716) and is
supposed to mark some important epoch in the organization of
the province by the Romans. It may coincide with the campaign
of Calvinus, which is only known to us from a notice in the
Fasti Triumphales. … The Spanish era was preserved in Aragon
till 1358, in Castile till 1383, and in Portugal till 1415."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 34, note._

ERA OF DIOCLETIAN, or Era of Martyrs.

See ROME: A. D. 192-284.

ERA OF GOOD FEELING.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1821-1824.

ERA OF THE FOUNDATION OF ROME.

See ROME: B. C. 753.

ERA OF THE OLYMPIADS.

See OLYMPIADS, ERA OF THE.

ERANI.

Associations existing in ancient Athens which resembled the
mutual benefit or friendly-aid societies of modern times.

_G. F. Schömann,
Antiquity of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 3._

ERASTIANISM.

A doctrine which "received its name from Thomas Erastus, a
German physician of the 16th century, contemporary with
Luther. The work in which he delivered his theory and
reasonings on the subject is entitled 'De Excommunicatione
Ecclesiastica.' … The Erastians … held that religion is an
affair between man and his creator, in which no other man or
society of men was entitled to interpose. … Proceeding on
this ground, they maintained that every man calling himself a
Christian has a right to make resort to any Christian place of
worship, and partake in all its ordinances. Simple as this
idea is, it strikes at the root of all priestcraft."

_W. Godwin,
History of the Commonwealth,
volume 1, chapter 13._

ERCTÉ, Mount, Hamilcar on.

See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.

See, also, ERYX.

ERDINI, The.

See IRELAND, TRIBES OF EARLY CELTIC INHABITANTS.

EREMITES OF ST. FRANCIS.

See MINIMS.

ERETRIA.

See CHALCIS AND ERETRIA.

ERFURT, IMPERIAL CONFERENCE AND TREATY OF.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1808 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

{985}

ERECTHEION AT ATHENS, The.

"At a very early period there was, opposite the long northern
side of the Parthenon, a temple which, according to Herodot,
was dedicated jointly to Athene Polias and the Attic hero,
Erectheus. … This temple was destroyed by fire while the
Persians held the city. Not unlikely the rebuilding of the
Erectheion was begun by Perikles together with that of the
other destroyed temples of the Akropolis; but as it was not
finished by him, it is generally not mentioned amongst his
works. … This temple was renowned amongst the ancients as
one of the most beautiful and perfect in existence, and seems
to have remained almost intact down to the time of the Turks.
The siege of Athens by the Venetians in 1687 seems to have
been fatal to the Erectheion, as it was to the Parthenon."

_E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks,
section 14._

See, also, ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.

ERIC,
King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, A. D. 1412-1439.
Eric Blodaexe, King of Norway, A. D. 934-940.
Eric I., King of Denmark, A. D: 850-854.
Eric I. (called Saint), King of Sweden, A. D. 1155-1161.
Eric II., King of Denmark, A. D. 854-883.
Eric II., King of·Norway, A. D. 1280-1299.
Eric II. (Knutsson), King of Sweden, A. D. 1210-1216.
Eric III., King of Denmark, A. D. 1095-1103.
Eric III. (called The Stammerer), King of Sweden, A. D. 1222-1250.
Eric IV., King of Denmark, A. D. 1134-1137.
Eric V., King of Denmark, A. D. 1137-1147.
Eric VI., King of Denmark, A. D. 1241-1250.
Eric VII., King of Denmark, A. D. 1259-1286.
Eric VIII., King of Denmark, A. D. 1286-1319.
Eric XIV., King of Sweden, A. D. 1560-1568.

ERICSSON, John
Invention and construction of the Monitor.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH).

ERIE, The City of: A. D. 1735.
Site occupied by the French.

See CANADA: A. D. 1700-1735.

ERIE, Fort: A. D. 1764-1791.
Origin.

Four years after the British conquest of Canada, in 1764,
Colonel John Bradstreet built a blockhouse and stockade near
the site of the later Fort Erie, which was not constructed
until 1791. When war with the United States broke out, in
1812, the British considered the new fort untenable, or
unnecessary, and evacuated and partly destroyed it, in May,
1813.

_C. K. Remington,
Old Fort Erie._

ERIE, Fort: A. D. 1814.
The siege and the destruction.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

ERIE, Fort: A. D. 1866.
The Fenian invasion.

See CANADA: A. D. 1866-1871.

----------ERIE: End----------

ERIE, Lake:
The Indian name.

See NIAGARA: THE NAME, &c.

ERIE, Lake: A. D. 1679.
Navigated by La Salle.

See CANADA: A. D. 1669-1687.

ERIE, Lake: A. D. 1813.
Perry's naval victory.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813.

----------ERIE, Lake: End----------

ERIE CANAL, Construction of the.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1817-1825.

ERIES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: HURONS, &c.,
and IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY: THEIR CONQUESTS.

ERIN.

See IRELAND.

ERMANRIC, OR HERMANRIC, The empire of.

See GOTHS (OSTROGOTHS): A. D. 350-375; and 376.

ERMYN STREET.

A corruption of Eormen street, the Saxon name of one of the
great Roman roads in Britain, which ran from London to
Lincoln. Some writers trace it northwards through York to the
Scottish border and southward to Pevensey.

See ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN.

ERNESTINE LINE OF SAXONY.

See SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553.

ERPEDITANI, The.

See IRELAND, TRIBES OF EARLY CELTIC INHABITANTS.

ERTANG, The.
The sacred book of the Manicheans.

See MANICHEANS.

ERYTHRÆ.-ERYTHRÆAN SIBYL.

Erythræ was an ancient Ionian city on the Lydian coast of Asia
Minor, opposite the island of Chios or Scio. It was chiefly
famous as the home or seat of one of the most venerated of the
sibyls—prophetic women—of antiquity. The collection of
Sibylline oracles which was sacredly preserved at Rome appears
to have been largely derived from Erythræ. The Cumæan Sibyl is
sometimes identified with her Erythræan sister, who is said to
have passed into Europe.

See, also, SIBYLS.

ERYTHRÆAN SEA, The.

The Erythræan Sea, in the widest sense of the term, as used by
the ancients, comprised "the Arabian Gulf (or what we now call
the Red Sea), the coasts of Africa outside the straits of Bab
el Mandeb as far as they had then been explored, as well as
those of Arabia and India down to the extremity of the Malabar
coast." The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea is a geographical
treatise of great importance which we owe to some unknown
Greek writer supposed to be nearly contemporary with Pliny. It
is "a kind of manual for the instruction of navigators and
traders in the Erythræan Sea."

_E. H. Bunbury,
History of Ancient Geography,
chapter 25._

"The Erythrêam Sea is an appellation … in all appearance
deduced [by the ancients] from their entrance into it by the
straits of the Red Sea, styled Erythra by the Greeks, and not
excluding the gulph of Persia, to which the fabulous history
of a king Erythras is more peculiarly appropriate."

_W. Vincent,
Periplus of the Erythrêan Sea,
book 1, prelim. disquis._

ERYX. ERCTE.

A town originally Phoœnician or Carthaginian on the
northwestern coast of Sicily. It stood on the slope of a
mountain which was crowned with an ancient temple of
Aphrodite, and which gave the name Erycina to the goddess when
her worship was introduced at Rome.

See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.

ERZEROUM: A. D. 1878.
Taken by the Russians.

See TURKS: A. D. 1877-1878.

ESCOCÉS, The party of the.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1822-1828.

ESCOMBOLI.

See STAMBOUL.

ESCORIAL, The.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1559-1563.

ESCUYER. ESQUIRE.

See CHIVALRY.

ESDRAELON, Valley of.

See MEGIDDO.

ESKIMO, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ESKIMAUAN FAMILY.

ESNE.

See THEOW.

ESPARTERO, Regency of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1833-1846.

ESPINOSA, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

{986}

ESQUILINE, The.

See SEVEN HILLS OF ROME.

ESQUIRE. ESCUYER. SQUIRE.

See CHIVALRY.

ESQUIROS, Battle of (1521).

See NAVARRE: A. D. 1442-1521.

ESSELENIAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ESSELENIAN FAMILY.

ESSENES, The.

See Supplement in volume 5.

ESSEX.

Originally the kingdom formed by that body of the Saxon
conquerors of Britain, in the fifth and sixth centuries, who
acquired, from their geographical position in the island, the
name of the East Saxons. It covered the present county of
Essex and also included London and Middlesex.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 477-527.

ESSEX JUNTO, The.

In the Massachusetts election of 1781, "the representatives of
the State in Congress, and some of the more moderate leaders
at home, opposed Governor Hancock, the popular candidate, and
supported James Bowdoin, who was thought to represent the more
conservative elements. … It was at this time that Hancock is
said to have bestowed on his opponents the title of the 'Essex
Junto,' and this is the first appearance of the name in
American politics. … The 'Junto' was generally supposed to
be composed of such men as Theophilus Parsons, George Cabot,
Fisher Ames, Stephen Higginson, the Lowells, Timothy
Pickering, &c., and took its name from the county to which
most of its reputed members originally belonged. … The
reputed members of the 'Junto' held political power in
Massachusetts [as leaders of the Federalist party] for more
than a quarter of a century." According to Chief Justice
Parsons, as quoted by Colonel Pickering in his Diary, the term
'Essex Junto' was applied by one of the Massachusetts royal
governors, before the Revolution, to certain gentlemen of
Essex county who opposed his measures. Hancock, therefore,
only revived the title and gave it currency, with a new
application.

_H. C. Lodge,
Life and Letters of George Cabot,
pages 17-22._

ESSLINGEN, OR ASPERN, Battle of.

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

ESSUVII, The.

A Gallic tribe established anciently in the modern French
department of the Orne.

_Napoleon III.,
History of Cæsar,
book 3, chapter 2, note._

ESTATES, Assembly of.

"An assembly of estates is an organised collection, made by
representation or otherwise, of the several orders, states or
conditions of men, who are recognised as possessing political
power. A national council of clergy and barons is not an
assembly of estates, because it does not include the body of
the people, the plebs, the simple freemen or commons."

_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 15, section 185._

See, also, ESTATES, THE THREE.

ESTATES, The Three.

"The arrangement of the political factors in three estates is
common, with some minor variations, to all the European
constitutions, and depends on a principle of almost universal
acceptance. This classification differs from the system of
caste and from all divisions based on differences of blood or
religion, historical or prehistorical. … In Christendom it
has always taken the form of a distinction between clergy and
laity, the latter being subdivided according to national
custom into noble and non-noble, patrician and plebeian,
warriors and traders, landowners and craftsmen. … The
Aragonese cortes contained four brazos or arms, the clergy,
the great barons or ricos hombres, the minor barons, knights
or infanzones, and the towns. The Germanic diet comprised
three colleges, the electors, the princes and the cities, the
two former being arranged in distinct benches, lay and
clerical. … The Castilian cortes arranged the clergy, the
ricos hombres and the communidades, in three estates. The
Swedish diet was composed of clergy, barons, burghers and
peasants. … In France, both in the States General and in the
provincial estates, the division is into gentz de l'eglise,
nobles, and gentz des bonnes villes. In England, after a
transitional stage, in which the clergy, the greater and
smaller barons, and the cities and boroughs, seemed likely to
adopt the system used in Aragon and Scotland, and another in
which the county and borough communities continued to assert
an essential difference, the three estates of clergy, lords
and commons, finally emerge as the political constituents of
the nation, or, in their parliamentary form, as the lords
spiritual and temporal and the commons. This familiar formula
in either shape bears the impress of history. The term commons
is not in itself an appropriate expression for the third
estate; it does not signify primarily the simple freemen, the
plebs, but the plebs organised and combined in corporate
communities, in a particular way for particular purposes. The
commons are the communitates or universitates, the organised
bodies of freemen of the shires and towns. … The third
estate in England differs from the same estate in the
continental constitutions, by including the landowners under
baronial rank. In most of those systems it contains the
representatives of the towns or chartered communities only."

_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 15, sections 185, 193._

"The words 'gens de tiers et commun état' are found in many
acts [France] of the 15th century. The expressions 'tiers
état,' 'commun état,' and 'le commun' are used indifferently,
… This name of 'Tiers État, when used in its ordinary sense,
properly comprises only the population of the privileged
cities; but in effect it extends much beyond this; it includes
not only the cities, but the villages and hamlets—not only
the free commonalty, but all those for whom civil liberty is a
privilege still to come."

_A. Thierry,
Formation and Progress of the Tiers État in France,
volume 1, pages 61 and 60._

ESTATES, or "States," of the Netherland Provinces.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585.

ESTATES GENERAL.

See STATES GENERAL.

ESTE, The House of.

"Descended from one of the northern families which settled in
Italy during the darkest period of the middle ages, the Este
traced their lineal descent up to the times of Charlemagne.
They had taken advantage of the frequent dissensions between
the popes and the German emperors of the houses of Saxony and
Swabia, and acquired wide dominions in Lunigiana, and the
March of Treviso, where the castle of Este, their family
residence, was situated. Towards the middle of the 11th
century, that family had been connected by marriages with the
Guelphs of Bavaria, and one of the name of Este was eventually
to become the common source from which sprung the illustrious
houses of Brunswick and Hanover. The Este had warmly espoused
the Guelph party [see GUELFS], during the wars of the Lombard
League. …
{987}
Towards the year 1200, Azzo V., Marquis of Este, married
Marchesella degli Adelardi, daughter of one of the most
conspicuous Guelphs at Ferrara, where the influence of the
House of Este was thus first established."

_L. Mariotti (A. Gallenga),
Italy,
volume 2, pages 62-63._

The Marquesses of Este became, "after some of the usual
fluctuations, permanent lords of the cities of Ferrara [1264]
and Modena [1288]. About the same time they lost their
original holding of Este, which passed to Padua, and with
Padua to Venice. Thus the nominal marquess of Este and real
lord of Ferrara was not uncommonly spoken of as Marquess of
Ferrara. In the 15th century these princes rose to ducal rank;
but by that time the new doctrine of the temporal dominion of
the Popes had made great advances. Modena, no man doubted, was
a city of the Empire; but Ferrara was now held to be under the
supremacy of the Pope. The Marquess Borso had thus to seek his
elevation to ducal rank from two separate lords. He was
created Duke of Modena [1453] and Reggio by the Emperor, and
afterwards Duke of Ferrara [1471] by the Pope. This difference
of holding … led to the destruction of the power of the
house of Este. In the times in which we are now concerned,
their dominions lay in two masses. To the west lay the duchy
of Modena and Reggio; apart from it to the east lay the duchy
of Ferrara. Not long after its creation, this last duchy was
cut short by the surrender of the border-district of Rovigo to
Venice. … Modena and Ferrara remained united, till Ferrara
was annexed [1598] as an escheated fief to the dominions of
its spiritual overlord. But the house of Este still reigned
over Modena with Reggio and Mirandola, while its dominions
were extended to the sea by the addition of Massa and other
small possessions between Lucca and Genoa. The duchy in the
end passed by female succession to the House of Austria
[1771-1803]."

_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
chapter 8, sections 3-4._