Chapter IV: , VII (96)

"Why was the Kulturkampf undertaken? This is a question often
asked, and answered in different ways. That Ultramontanism is
a danger to the Empire is the usual explanation; but proof is
not producible. … Ultramontanism, as it is understood in
France and Belgium, has never taken root in Germany. It was
represented by the Jesuits, and when they were got rid of,
Catholicism remained as a religion, but not as a political
factor. … The real purpose of the Kulturkampf has been, I
conceive, centralisation. It has not been waged against the
Roman Church only, for the same process has been followed with
the Protestant Churches. It was intolerable in a strong
centralising Government to have a Calvinist and a Lutheran
Church side by side, and both to call themselves Protestant.
It interfered with systematic and neat account-keeping of
public expenditure for religious purposes. Consequently, in
1839, the King of Prussia suppressed Calvinism and
Lutheranism, and established a new Evangelical Church on their
ruins, with constitution and liturgy chiefly of his own
drawing up. The Protestant churches of Baden, Nassau, Hesse,
and the Bavarian Palatinate have also been fused and organised
on the Prussian pattern. In Schleswig-Holstein and in Hanover
existed pure Lutherans, but they, for uniformity's sake, have
been also recently unified and melted into the Landeskirche of
Prussia. A military government cannot tolerate any sort of
double allegiance in its subjects. Education and religion,
medicine and jurisprudence, telegraphs and post-office, must
be under the jurisdiction of the State. … From the point of
view of a military despotism, the May laws are reasonable and
necessary. As Germany is a great camp, the clergy, Protestant
and Catholic, must be military chaplains amenable to the
general in command. … I have no doubt whatever that this is
the real explanation of the Kulturkampf, and that all other
explanations are excuses and inventions. … The Chancellor,
when he began the crusade, had probably no idea of the
opposition he would meet with, and when the opposition
manifested itself, it irritated him, and made him more dogged
in pursuing his scheme."

_S. Baring-Gould,
Germany, Present and Past,
chapter 13 (volume 2)._

"The passive resistance of the clergy and laity, standing on
their own ground, and acting together in complete agreement,
succeeded in the end. The laity had recognised their own
priests, even when suspended by government, and had resolutely
refused to receive others; and both priests and laity insisted
upon the Church regulating its own theological education.
Prussia and Baden became weary of the contest. In 1880 and
1881 the 'May Laws' were suspended, and, after negotiation
with Leo XIII., they were to a large extent repealed. By this
change, completed In April, 1887, the obligations of civil
marriage and the vesting of Catholic property in the hands of
lay trustees were retained, but the legislative interference
with the administration of the Church, including the education
required for the priesthood, was wholly abandoned. The
Prussian Government had entirely miscalculated its power with
the Church."

_S. Baring-Gould,
The Church in Germany,
chapter 21._

By the Bill passed in 1887, "all religious congregations which
existed before the passing of the law of May 31, 1875, were to
be allowed to re-establish themselves, provided their objects
were purely religious, charitable, or contemplative. … The
Society of Jesus, which is a teaching order, was not included
in this permission. But Prince Bismarck's determination never
to readmit the Jesuits is well known. … The Bill left very
few vestiges of the May laws remaining."

_Annual Register, 1887,
part 1, page 245._

ALSO IN:
_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
chapters 12-13 (volume 2)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1878-1879.
Prince Bismarck's economic revolution.
Adoption of the Protective policy.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (GERMANY): A. D. 1853-1892.

GERMANY: A. D. 1878-1893.
The Socialist Parties.

See SOCIALIST PARTIES IN GERMANY.

GERMANY: A. D. 1882.
The Triple Alliance.

See TRIPLE ALLIANCE.

GERMANY: A. D. 1884-1889.
Colonization in Africa.
Territorial seizures.
The Berlin Conference.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.

GERMANY: A. D. 1888.
Death of the Emperor William I.
Accession and death of Frederick III.
Accession of William II.

The Emperor William died on the 9th of March, 1888. He was
succeeded by his son, proclaimed under the title of Frederick
III. The new Emperor was then at San Remo, undergoing
treatment for a mortal malady of the throat. He returned at
once to Berlin, where an unfavorable turn of the disease soon
appeared. "Consequently an Imperial decree, dated the 21st of
March, was addressed to the Crown Prince and published,
expressing the wish of the Emperor that the Prince should make
himself conversant with the affairs of State by immediate
participation therein. His Imperial Highness was accordingly
entrusted with the preparation and discharge of such State
business as the Emperor should assign to him, and he was
empowered in the performance of this duty to affix all
necessary signatures, as the representative of the Emperor,
without obtaining an especial authorisation on each occasion.
… The insidious malady from which the Emperor suffered
exhibited many fluctuations," but the end came on the 15th of
June, his reign having lasted only three months. He was
succeeded by his eldest son, who became Emperor William II.

_Eminent Persons:
Biographies reprinted from The Times,
volume 4, pages 112-115._

ALSO IN:
_R. Rodd,
Frederick, Crown Prince and Emperor._

_G. Freytag,
The Crown Prince._

GERMANY: A. D. 1888.
The end of the Free Cities.

"The last two cities to uphold the name and traditions of the
Hanseatic League, Hamburg and Bremen, have been incorporated
into the German Zoll Verein, thus finally surrendering their
old historical privileges as free ports. Lübeck took this step
some twenty-two years ago [1866], Hamburg and Bremen not till
October, 1888—so long had they resisted Prince Bismarck's
more or less gentle suasions to enter his Protection League.
… They, and Hamburg in particular, held out nobly, jealous,
and rightly jealous, of the curtailment of those privileges
which distinguished them from the other cities of the German
Empire. It was after the foundation of this empire that the
claim of the two cities to remain free ports was conceded and
ratified in the Imperial Constitution of April, 1871, though
the privilege, in the case of Hamburg, was restricted to the
city and port, and withdrawn from the rest of the State, which
extends to the mouth of the Elbe and embraces about 160 square
miles, while the free-port territory was reduced to 28 square
miles.
{1547}
This was the first serious interference with the city's
liberty, and others followed, perhaps rather of a petty,
annoying, than of a seriously aggressive, character, but
enough to show the direction in which the wind was blowing. It
was in 1880 that the proposal to include Hamburg in the
Customs Union was first politically discussed. … In May,
1881, … was drafted a proposal to the effect that the whole
of the city and port of Hamburg should be included in the Zoll
Verein." After long and earnest discussion the proposition was
adopted by the Senate and the House of Burgesses. "The details
for carrying into effect this conclusion have occupied seven
years, and the event was finally celebrated with great pomp,
the Emperor William II. coming in person to enhance the
solemnity of the sacrifice brought by the burghers of the erst
free city for the common weal of the German Fatherland. …
The last and only privilege the three once powerful Hanseatic
cities retain is that of being entitled, like the greatest
States in the empire, to send their own representatives to the
Bundesrath and to the Reichstag."

_H. Zimmern,
The Hansa Towns, period 3,
chapter 8, note._

GERMANY: A. D. 1888-1889.
Prussian Free School laws.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
PRUSSIA: 1885-1889.

GERMANY: A. D. 1889-1890.
Rupture between Emperor William II. and Chancellor Bismarck.
Retirement of the great Chancellor.

Soon after the accession of William II., signs of discord
between the young Emperor and the veteran statesman,
Chancellor Bismarck, began to appear. "In March, 1889, the
Minister of Finance had drawn up a Bill for the reform of the
income tax, which had been sanctioned by the Emperor; suddenly
Prince Bismarck interfered, declaring that it was against the
agrarian interest, and the Landtag, summoned expressly to vote
that Bill, was dismissed 're inacta.' Count Waldersee, the
Chief of the General Staff, an eminent and independent man,
and standing high in favour, had for years been a thorn in the
Chancellor's side, who looked upon him as a possible rival; he
had tried to overthrow him under Frederic III., but had not
succeeded, Moltke protesting that the general was
indispensable to the army. When Waldersee, in the summer of
1889, accompanied the Emperor to Norway, a letter appeared in
the Hamburger Nachrichten, to the effect that in a Memoir he
had directed his sovereign's attention to the threatening
character of the Russian armaments, and had advised, in
contradiction to the Chancellor's policy, the forcing of war
upon Russia. The Count from Trondhjem addressed a telegraphic
denial to the paper, stating that he had never presented such
a Memoir; but the Nachrichten registered this declaration in a
garbled form and in small type, and the Norddeutsche Zeitung,
which at the same time had published an article, to the effect
that according to General von Clausewitz, war is only the
continuation of a certain policy, and that therefore the Chief
of the General Staff must needs be under the order of the
Foreign Minister, took no notice of the Count's protest. …
In the winter session of the Reichstag the Government
presented a Bill tending to make the law against
Social-Democracy a permanent one, but even the pliant National
Liberals objected to the clause that the police should be
entitled to expel Social-Democrats from the large towns. They
would have been ready to grant that permission for two years,
but the Government did not accept this, and the Bill fell to
the ground. The reason, which at that time was not generally
understood, was, that there existed already a hitch between
the policy of the Chancellor and that of the Emperor, who had
arrived at the conviction that the law against Social
Democrats was not only barren, but had increased their power.
This difference was accentuated by the Imperial decree of
February 4 in favour of the protection of children's and
women's labour, which the Chancellor had steadily resisted,
and by the invitation of an international conference for that
end. Prince Bismarck resigned the Ministry of Commerce, and
was replaced by Herr von Berlepsch, who was to preside at the
conference. The elections for the Reichstag were now at hand,
a new surprise was expected for maintaining the majority
obtained by the cry of 1887; but it did not come, and the
result was a crushing defeat of the Chancellor. Perhaps even
then the Emperor had discerned that he could not go on with
Bismarck, and that it would be difficult to get rid of him, if
he obtained another majority for five years. At least it seems
certain that William II. already in the beginning of February
had asked General von Caprivi whether he would be ready to
take the Chancellor's place. Affairs were now rapidly pushing
to a crisis. Bismarck asked the Emperor that, in virtue of a
Cabinet order of 1852, his colleagues should be bound to
submit beforehand to him any proposals of political importance
before bringing it to the cognizance of the Sovereign. The
Emperor refused, and insisted upon that order being cancelled.
The last drop which made the cup overflow was an interview of the
Chancellor with Windthorst. The Emperor, calling upon Bismarck
the next morning, asked to hear what had passed in that
conversation; the Chancellor declined to give any account of
it, as he could not submit his intercourse with deputies to
any control, and added that he was ready to resign."

_The Change of Government in Germany
(Fortnightly Review, August, 1890),
pages 301-304._

"Early on the 17th of March the Emperor sent word that he was
waiting for Bismarck's resignation. The Prince refused to
resign, on grounds of conscience and of self-respect. … The
Emperor must dismiss him. A second messenger came, in the
course of the day, with a direct order from the Emperor that
the Prince should send in his resignation within a given
number of hours. At the same time Bismarck was informed that
the Emperor intended to make him Duke of Lauenburg. The Prince
responded that he might have had that title before if he had
wished it. He was then assured (referring to the grounds on
which he had previously declined the title) that the Emperor
would pledge himself to secure such a legislative grant as
would suffice for the proper maintenance of the ducal dignity.
Bismarck declined this also, declaring that he could not be
expected to close such a career as his had been 'by running
after a gratuity such as is given to a faithful letter-carrier
at New Year's.' His resignation, of course, he would send in
as soon as possible, but he owed it to himself and to history
to draw up a proper memorial. This he took two days to write.
… He has since repeatedly demanded the publication of this
memorial, but without success. … On March 20, the Emperor,
in a most graciously worded letter (which was immediately
published), accepted Bismarck's 'resignation.' … The
immediate nomination of his successor [General von Caprivi]
forced Bismarck to quit the Chancellor's official residence in
such haste that … 'Bismarck himself compared his exit to the
expulsion of a German family from Paris in 1870.'"

_Nation, March 22, 1894 (reviewing 'Das Deutsche
Reich zur Zeit Bismarcks,' von Dr. Hans Blum)._

{1548}

GERMANY: A. D. 1890.
Settlement of African claims with England.
Acquisition of Heligoland.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.

GERMANY: A. D. 1894.
Reconciliation of Bismarck with the Emperor.

In January, 1894, the complete rupture of friendly relations
between Prince Bismarck and the Emperor, and the Emperor's
government, which had existed since the dismissal of the
former, was terminated by a dramatic reconciliation. The
Emperor made a peace-offering, upon the occasion of the
Prince's recovery from an illness, by sending his
congratulations, with a gift of wine. Prince Bismarck
responded amiably, and was then invited to Berlin, to be
entertained as a guest in the royal palace. The invitation was
accepted, the visit promptly made on the 26th of January, and
an enthusiastic reception was accorded to the venerable
ex-chancellor at the capital, by court and populace alike.

----------GERMANY: End----------

GERMINAL, The month.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (OCTOBER).

GERONA, Siege of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1809. (FEBRUARY-JUNE).

GERONTES.
Spartan senators, or members of the Gerusia.

See SPARTA: THE CONSTITUTION, &c.

GERONTOCRACY.

See HAYTI: A.D. 1804-1880.

GEROUSIA.

See GERUSIA.

GERRY, Elbridge, and the framing of the Federal Constitution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787.

GERRYMANDERING.

"In the composition of the House of Representatives [of the
Congress of the United States] the state legislatures play a
very important part. For the purposes of the election a state
is divided into districts corresponding to the number of
representatives the state is entitled to send to Congress.
These electoral districts are marked out by the legislature,
and the division is apt to be made by the preponderating party
with an unfairness that is at once shameful and ridiculous.
The aim, of course, is so to lay out the districts 'as to
secure in the greatest possible number of them a majority for
the party which conducts the operation. This is done sometimes
by throwing the greatest possible number of hostile voters
into a district which is anyhow certain to be hostile,
sometimes by adding to a district where parties are equally
divided some place in which the majority of friendly voters is
sufficient to turn the scale. There is a district in
Mississippi (the so-called Shoe-String District) 250 miles
long by 30 broad, and another in Pennsylvania resembling a
dumb-bell. … In Missouri a district has been contrived
longer, if measured along its windings, than the state itself,
into which as large a number as possible of the negro voters
have been thrown.' This trick is called gerrymandering, from
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, who was vice-president of
the United States from 1813 to 1817. It seems to have been
first devised in 1788 by the enemies of the Federal
Constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent the election of
James Madison to the first Congress, and fortunately it was
unsuccessful. It was introduced some years afterward into
Massachusetts. In 1812, while Gerry was governor of that
state, the Republican legislature redistributed the districts
in such wise that the shapes of the towns forming a single
district in Essex county gave to the district a somewhat
dragon-like contour. This was indicated upon a map of
Massachusetts which Benjamin Russell, an ardent Federalist and
editor of the 'Centinel,' hung up over the desk in his office.
The celebrated painter, Gilbert Stuart, coming into the office
one day and observing the uncouth figure, added with his
pencil a head, wings and claws, and exclaimed, 'That will do
for a salamander!' 'Better say a Gerrymander!' growled the
editor; and the outlandish name, thus duly coined, soon came
into general currency."

_J. Fiske,
Civil Government in the U. S.,
pages 216-218._

ALSO IN:
_J. Bryce,
The American Commonwealth,
volume 1, page 121._

_J. W. Dean,
The Gerrymander (New England History
and Genealogical Register, October, 1892)._

GERSCHHEIM, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.

GERTRUYDENBERG: Prince Maurice's siege and capture of.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1588-1593.

GERTRUYDENBERG: Conferences at.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1710.

GERUSIA, OR GEROUSIA, The.

"There is the strongest reason to believe that among the
Dorians, as in all the heroic states, there was, from time
immemorial, a council of elders. Not only is it utterly
incredible that the Spartan council (called the gerusia, or
senate) was first instituted by Lycurgus, it is not even clear
that he introduced any important alteration in its
constitution or functions. It was composed of thirty members,
corresponding to the number of the 'obes,' a division as
ancient as that of the tribes, which alone would suffice to
refute the legend that the first council was formed of the
thirty who aided Lycurgus in his enterprise, even without the
conclusive fact that two of the 'obes' were represented by the
kings. … So far as we know, the twenty-eight colleagues of
the kings were always elected by the people, without regard to
any qualification besides age and personal merit. The mode of
election breathes a spirit of primitive simplicity: the
candidates, who were required to have reached the age of
sixty, presented themselves in succession to the assembly, and
were received with applause proportioned to the esteem in
which they were held by their fellow-citizens. These
manifestations of popular feeling were noted by persons
appointed for the purpose, who were shut up in an adjacent
room, where they could hear the shouts, but could not see the
competitors. He who in their judgment had been greeted with
the loudest plaudits, won the prize—the highest dignity in
the commonwealth next to the throne. The senators held their
office for life."

_C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 8 (volume 1)._

{1549}

ALSO IN:
_G. F. Schöman,
Antiquity of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 1._

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

GES TRIBES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES:
TUPI.
GUARANI.
TUPUYAS.

GESITHS. GESITHCUND.

See COMITATUS;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 958.

GESORIACUM.

The principal Roman port and naval station on the Gallic side
of the English Channel—afterwards called Bononia-modern
Boulogne. "Gesoriacum was the terminus of the great highway,
or military marching road, which had been constructed by
Agrippa across Gaul."

_H. M. Scarth,
Roman Britain,
chapter 4._

GETA, Roman Emperor, A. D. 211-212.

GETÆ, The.

See DACIA; THRACIANS; SARMATIA;
and GOTHS, ORIGIN OF.

GETTYSBURG, Battle of.

See UNITED UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (JUNE-JULY: PENNSYLVANIA).

GETULIANS, The.

See LIBYANS.

GEWISSAS, The.

This was the earlier name of the West Saxons.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 477-527.

GHAZNEVIDES, OR GAZNEVIDES.

See TURKS: A. D. 999-1183.

GHENT: A. D. 1337.
Revolt under Jacques Van Arteveld.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1335-1337.

GHENT: A. D. 1345.
The end of Jacques Van Arteveld.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1345.

GHENT: A. D. 1379-1381.
The revolt of the White-Hoods.
The captaincy of Philip Van Arteveld.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1379-1381.

GHENT: A. D. 1382-1384.
Resistance to the Duke of Burgundy.

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1382.

GHENT: A. D. 1451-1453.
Revolt against the taxes of Philip of Burgundy.

In 1450, Philip, Duke of Burgundy, having exhausted his usual
revenues, rich as they were, by the unbounded extravagance of
his court, laid a heavy tax on salt in Flanders. The sturdy
men of Ghent were little disposed to submit to an imposition
so hateful as the French "gabelle"; still less when, the next
year, a new duty on grain was demanded from them. They rose in
revolt, put on their white hoods, and prepared for war. It was
an unfortunate contest for them. They were defeated in nearly
every engagement; each encounter was a massacre, with no
quarter given on either side; the surrounding country was laid
waste and depopulated. A final battle, fought at Gavre, or
Gaveren, July 22, 1453, went against them so murderously that
they submitted and went on their knees to the duke—not
metaphorically, but actually. "The citizens were deprived of
the banners of their guilds; and the duke was henceforward to
have an equal voice with them in the appointment of their
magistrates, whose judicial authority was considerably
abridged; the inhabitants likewise bound themselves to
liquidate the expenses of the war, and to pay the gabelle for
the future." The Hollanders and Zealanders lent their
assistance to the duke against Ghent, and were rewarded by
some important concessions.

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

"The city lost her jurisdiction, her dominion over the
surrounding country. She had no longer any subjects, was
reduced to a commune, and a commune, too, in ward two gates,
walled up forever, were to remind her of this grave change of
state. The sovereign banner of Ghent, and the trades' banners,
were handed over to Toison d'Or, who unceremoniously thrust
them into a sack and carried them off."

_J. Michelet,
History of France,
book 12, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

GHENT: A. D. 1482-1488.
In trouble with the Austrian ducal guardian.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1482-1493.

GHENT: A. D. 1539-1540.
The last peal of the great bell Roland.

Once more, in 1539, Ghent became the scene of a memorable
rising of the people against the oppressive exactions of their
foreign masters. "The origin of the present dispute between
the Ghenters and the court was the subsidy of 1,200,000
guilders, demanded by the governess [sister of the emperor
Charles V.] in 1536, which … it was found impossible to levy
by a general tax throughout the provinces. It was therefore
divided in proportional shares to each; that of Flanders being
fixed at 400,000 guilders, or one-third of the whole. … The
citizens of Ghent … persisted in refusing the demand,
offering, instead, to serve the emperor as of old time, with
their own troops assembled under the great standard of the
town. … The other cities of Flanders showed themselves
unwilling to espouse the cause of the Ghenters, who, finding
they had no hope of support from them, or of redress from the
emperor, took up arms, possessed themselves of the forts in
the vicinity of Ghent, and despatched an embassy to Paris to
offer the sovereignty of their city to the king." The French
king, Francis I., not only gave them no encouragement, but
permitted the emperor, then in Spain, to pass through France,
in order to reach the scene of disturbance more promptly. In
the winter of 1540, the latter presented himself before Ghent,
at the head of a German army, and the unhappy city could do
nothing but yield itself to him.

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 5 (volume 1)._

At the time of this unsuccessful revolt and the submission of
the city to Charles V., "Ghent was, in all respects, one of
the most important cities in Europe. Erasmus, who, as a
Hollander and a courtier, was not likely to be partial to the
turbulent Flemings, asserted that there was no town in all
Christendom to be compared to it for size, power, political
constitution, or the culture of its inhabitants. It was, said
one of its inhabitants at the epoch of the insurrection,
rather a country than a city. … Its streets and squares were
spacious and elegant, its churches and other public buildings
numerous and splendid. The sumptuous church of Saint John or
Saint Bavon, where Charles V. had been baptized, the ancient
castle whither Baldwin Bras de Fer had brought the daughter of
Charles the Bald [see FLANDERS: A. D. 863], the city hall with
its graceful Moorish front, the well-known belfry, where for
three centuries had perched the dragon sent by the Emperor
Baldwin of Flanders from Constantinople, and where swung the
famous Roland, whose iron tongue had called the citizens,
generation after generation, to arms, whether to win battles
over foreign kings at the head of their chivalry, or to plunge
their swords in each others' breasts, were all conspicuous in
the city and celebrated in the land. Especially the great bell
was the object of the burghers' affection, and, generally, of
the sovereign's hatred; while to all it seemed, as it were, a
living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and
passions which it had so long directed and inflamed. …
Charles allowed a month of awful suspense to intervene between
his arrival and his vengeance.
{1550}
Despair and hope alternated during the interval. On the 17th
of March, the spell was broken by the execution of 19 persons,
who were beheaded as ringleaders. On the 29th of April, he
pronounced sentence upon the city. … It annulled all the
charters, privileges, and laws of Ghent. It confiscated all
its public property, rents, revenues, houses, artillery,
munitions of war, and in general everything which the
corporation, or the traders, each and all, possessed in
common. In particular, the great bell Roland was condemned and
sentenced to immediate removal. It was decreed that the
400,000 florins, which had caused the revolt, should forthwith
be paid, together with an additional fine by Ghent of 150,000,
besides 6,000 a year, forever after."

_J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
introduction, section 11._

GHENT: A. D. 1576.
The Spanish Fury.
The treaty of the "Pacification of Ghent."

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1575-1577.

GHENT: A. D. 1584.
Disgraceful surrender to the Spaniards.
Decline of the city.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585.

GHENT: A. D. 1678.
Siege and capture by the French.

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

GHENT: A. D. 1678.
Restored to Spain.

See NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.

GHENT: A. D. 1706.
Occupied by Marlborough.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1706-1707.

GHENT: A. D. 1708-1709.
Taken by the French and retaken by the Allies.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1708-1709.

GHENT: A. D. 1745-1748.
Surrendered to the French, and restored to Austria.

See NETHERLANDS (AUSTRIAN PROVINCES): A. D.1745;
and AIX-LA-CHAPELLE: A. D. 1748.

GHENT: A. D. 1814.
Negotiation of the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and
the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A.D. 1814 (DECEMBER).

----------GHENT: End----------

GHERIAH, Battle of (1763).

See INDIA: A. D. 1757-1772.

GHIBELINS.

See GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES.

GHILDE.

See GUILDS.

GHORKAS, OR GOORKAS, English war with the.

See INDIA: A. D. 1805-1816.

GIAN GALEAZZO,
Lord of Milan, A. D. 1378-1396;
Duke, 1396-1402.
Gian Galeazzo II., Duke of Milan, 1476-1494.

GIBBORIM, The.

King David's chosen band of six hundred, his heroes, his
"mighty men," his standing army.

_H. Ewald,
History of Israel,
book 3._

GIBEON, Battle of.

See BETH-HORON, BATTLES OF.

GIBEONITES, The.

The Gibeonites were a "remnant of the Amorites, and the
children of Israel had sworn unto them" (ii Samuel xxi., 2).
Saul violated the pledged faith of his nation to these people
and "sought to slay them." After Saul's death there came a
famine which was attributed to his crime against the
Gibeonites; whereupon David sought to make atonement to them.
They would accept nothing but the execution of vengeance upon
seven of Saul's family, and David gave up to them two sons of
Saul's concubine, Rizpah, and five sons of Michel, the
daughter of Saul, whom they hanged.

_H. Ewald,
History of Israel,
book 3._

GIBRALTAR, Origin of the name.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

GIBRALTAR: A. D. 1309-1460.
Taken by the Christians, recovered by the Moors, and finally
wrested from them, after several sieges.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460.

GIBRALTAR: A. D. 1704.
Capture by the English.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1703-1704.

GIBRALTAR: A. D. 1713.
Ceded by Spain to England.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

GIBRALTAR: A. D. 1727.
Abortive siege by the Spaniards.
The lines of San Roque.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1726-1731.

GIBRALTAR: A. D. 1780-1782.
Unsuccessful siege by the Spaniards and French.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1780-1782.

----------GIBRALTAR: End----------

GILBERT, Sir Humphrey:
Expedition to Newfoundland.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1583.

GILBOA, Battles of.

See MEGIDDO.

GILDO, Revolt of.

See ROME: A. D. 396-398.

GILDS.

See GUILDS.

GILEAD.

See JEWS: ISRAEL UNDER THE JUDGES.

GILLMORE, General Q. A.
Siege and reduction of Fort Pulaski.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: GEORGIA-FLORIDA).

The siege of Charleston.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (JULY: S. CAROLINA),
and (AUGUST-DECEMBER: SOUTH CAROLINA).

GIOVANNA.

See JOANNA.

GIOVANNI MARIA, Duke of Milan, A. D. 1402-1412.

GIPSIES.

See GYPSIES.

GIRONDINS. GIRONDISTS, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (OCTOBER); 1791-1792;
1792 (JUNE-AUGUST), (AUGUST), (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER);
1793 (MARCH-JUNE), (JUNE), (JULY-DECEMBER),
(SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER); 1793-1794 (OCTOBER-APRIL).

GIRTON COLLEGE.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS, &c.: 1865-1883.

GITANOS.

See GYPSIES.

GIURGEVO, Battle of (1595).

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES,
14TH-18TH CENTURIES (ROUMANIA, ETC.).

GLADIATORS, Revolt of the.

See SPARTACUS.

GLADSTONE MINISTRIES.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1868-1870; 1873-1880 to 1885;
1885-1886; and 1892-1893.

GLATZ, Capture of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1760.

GLENCO, Massacre of.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1692.

GLENDALE, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JUNE-JULY: VIRGINIA).

GLENDOWER'S REBELLION.

See WALES: A. D. 1402-1413.

GLENMALURE, Battle of (1580).

See IRELAND: A. D. 1559-1603.

GLEVUM.

Glevum was a large colonial city of the Romans in Britain,
represented by the modern city of Gloucester. It "was a town
of great importance, as standing not only on the Severn, near
the place where it opened out into the Bristol Channel, but
also as being close to the great Roman iron district of the
Forest of Dean."

_T. Wright,
Celt, Roman and Saxon,
chapter 5._

{1551}

GLOGAU, The storming of (1642).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.

GLOSSATORS, The.

See BOLOGNA: 11TH CENTURY.—SCHOOL OF LAW.

GLOUCESTER, Origin of.

See GLEVUM.

GLOUCESTER: A. D. 1643.
Siege of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

GLYCERIUS, Roman Emperor (Western), A. D. 473-474.

GNOSTICS-GNOSTICISM.

"In a word … Gnosticism was a philosophy of religion; but in
what sense was it this? The name of Gnosticism—Gnosis—does
not belong exclusively to the group of phenomena with whose
historical explanation we are here concerned. Gnosis is a
general idea; it is only as defined in one particular manner
that it signifies Christian Gnosticism in a special sense:
Gnosis is higher Knowledge, Knowledge that has a clear
perception of the foundations on which it rests, and the
manner in which its structure has been built up; a Knowledge
that is completely that which, as Knowledge, it is called to
be. In this sense it forms the natural antithesis to Pistis,
Faith [whence Pistics, believing Christians]: if it is desired
to denote Knowledge in its specific difference from faith, no
word will mark the distinction more significantly than Gnosis.
But we find that, even in this general sense, the Knowledge
termed Gnosis is a religious Knowledge rather than any other;
for it is not speculative Knowledge in general, but only such
as is concerned with religion. … In its form and contents
Christian Gnosticism is the expansion and development of
Alexandrian religious philosophy; which was itself an offshoot
of Greek philosophy. … The fundamental character of
Gnosticism in all its forms is dualistic. It is its
sharply-defined, all-pervading dualism that, more than
anything else, marks it directly for an offspring of paganism.
… In Gnosticism the two principles, spirit and matter, form
the great and general antithesis, within the bounds of which
the systems move with all that they contain. … A further
leading Gnostic conception is the Demiurgus. The two highest
principles being spirit and matter, and the true conception of
a creation of the world being thus excluded, it follows in the
Gnostic systems, and is a characteristic feature of them, that
they separate the creator of the world from the supreme God,
and give him a position subordinate to the latter. He is
therefore rather the artificer than the creator of the world.
… The oldest Gnostic sects are without doubt those whose
name is not derived from a special founder, but only stand for
the general notion of Gnosticism. Such a name is that of the
Ophites or Naassenes. The Gnostics are called Ophites,
brethren of the Serpent, not after the serpent with which the
fathers compared Gnosticism, meaning to indicate the dangerous
poison of its doctrine, and to suggest that it was the hydra,
which as soon as it lost one head at once put forth another;
but because the serpent was the accepted symbol of their lofty
Knowledge. … The first priests and supporters of the dogma
were, according to the author of the Philosophoumena, the
so-caned Naassenes—a name derived from the Hebrew name of
the serpent. They afterwards called themselves Gnostics,
because they asserted that they alone knew the things that are
deepest. From this root the one heresy divided into various
branches; for though these heretics all taught a like
doctrine, their dogmas were various."

_F. C. Baur,
The Church History of the First Three Centuries,
volume 1, pages 187-202._

"Bigotry has destroyed their [the Gnostics'] writings so
thoroughly, that we know little of them except from hostile
sources. They called themselves Christians, but cared little
for the authority of bishops or apostles, and borrowed freely
from cabalists, Parsees, astrologers, and Greek philosophers,
in building up their fantastic systems. … Much as we may
fear that the Gnostic literature was more remarkable for
boldness in speculation than for, clearness of reasoning or
respect for facts, it is a great pity that it should have been
almost entirely destroyed by ecclesiastical bigotry."

_F. M. Holland,
The Rise of Intellectual Liberty,
chapter 3, section 6._

ALSO IN:
_J. L. von Mosheim,
Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity,
century 1,
sections 60-70, century 2, sections 41-65._

_C. W. King,
The Gnostics and their Remains._

_A. Neander,
General History of the Christian Religion and Church,
volume 2._

See, also, DOCETISM.

GOA, Acquisition by the Portuguese (1510).

See INDIA: A. D. 1498-1580.

GODERICH MINISTRY, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1827-1828.

GODFREY DE BOUILLON:
His crusade and his kingdom of Jerusalem.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099;
and JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099, and 1099-1144.

GODOLO, Battle of (1849).

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1848-1849.

GODOLPHIN AND THE ENGLISH TREASURY.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1710-1712.

GODWINE, Earl: Ascendancy in England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1042-1066.

GOIDEL, The.

See CELTS, THE.

GOITO, Battles of(1848).

See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.

GOLD DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA.

See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1839-1855.

GOLD DISCOVERY IN CALIFORNIA.

See CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1848-1849.

GOLDEN BIBLE, The.

See MORMONISM: A. D. 1805-1830.

GOLDEN BOOK OF VENICE.

See VENICE: A. D. 1032-1319.

GOLDEN BOUGH, The.

See ARICIAN GROVE.

GOLDEN BULL, Byzantine.

A document to which the emperor attached his golden seal was
called by the Byzantines, for that reason, a chrysobulum or
golden bull. The term was adopted in the Western or Holy Roman
Empire.

_G. Finlay,
History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires,
page 190._

GOLDEN BULL OF CHARLES IV., The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1347-1493;
and 13TH CENTURY.

GOLDEN BULL OF HUNGARY.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1114-1301.

GOLDEN CHERSONESE.

See CHRYSE.

{1552}

GOLDEN CIRCLE, Knights of the.

David Christy published his 'Cotton is King' in the year
[1856] in which Buchanan was elected [President of the United
States], and the Knights of the Golden Circle appear to have
organized about the same time. The Golden Circle had its
centre at Havana, Cuba, and with a radius of sixteen degrees
(about 1,200 miles) its circumference took in Baltimore, St.
Louis, about half of Mexico, all of Central America, and the
best portions of the coast along the Caribbean Sea. The
project was, to establish an empire with this circle for its
territory, and by controlling four great staples—rice,
tobacco, sugar, and cotton—practically govern the
commercial world. Just how great a part this secret
organization played in the scheme of secession, nobody that
was not in its counsels can say; but it is certain that it
boasted, probably with truth, a membership of many
thousands."

_Rossiter Johnson,
Short History of the War of Secession,
page 24._

During the American Civil War, the Order of the Knights of
the Golden Circle was extended (1862-1864) through the
Northern States, as a secret treasonable organization, in aid
of the Southern Rebellion.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (OCTOBER).

GOLDEN FLEECE, Knights of the Order of the.

"It was on the occasion of his marriage [A. D. 1430] that
Philip [Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders,
etc.], desirous of instituting a national order of knighthood,
chose for its insignia a 'golden fleece,' with the motto,
'Pretium non vile laborum,'—not to be condemned is the reward
of labour. … For the first time labour was given heraldic
honours. The pride of the country had become laden with
industrial recollections, its hope full of industrial
triumphs; if feudalism would keep its hold, it must adopt or
affect the national feeling. No longer despised was the
recompense of toil; upon the honour of knighthood it should so
be sworn; nay knighthood would henceforth wear appended to its
collar of gold no other emblem than its earliest and most
valued object—a golden fleece."

_W. T. McCullagh,
Industrial History of Free Nations,
volume 2, chapter 10._

"This order of fraternity, of equality between nobles, in
which the duke was admonished, 'chaptered,' just the same as
any other, this council, to which he pretended to communicate
his affairs, was at bottom a tribunal where the haughtiest
found the duke their judge; he could honour or dishonour them
by a sentence of the order. Their scutcheon answered for them;
hung up in St. Jean's, Ghent, it could either be erased or
blackened. … The great easily consoled themselves for
degradation at Paris by lawyers, when they were glorified by
the duke of Burgundy in a court of chivalry in which kings
took their seat."

_J. Michelet,
History of France,
book 12, chapter 4._

"The number of the members was originally fixed at 31,
including the sovereign, as the head and chief of the
institution. They were to be: 'Gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
sans reproche.' In 1516, Pope Leo X. consented to increase the
number to 52, including the head. After the accession of
Charles V., in 1556, the Austro-Spanish, or, rather, the
Spanish-Dutch line of the house of Austria, remained in
possession of the Order. In 1700, the Emperor Charles VI. and
King Philip of Spain both laid claim to it. … It now passes
by the respective names of the Spanish or Austrian. 'Order of
the Golden Fleece,' according to the country where it is
issued."

_Sir B. Burke,
Book of Orders of Knighthood,
page 6._

ALSO IN:
_J. F. Kirk,
History of Charles the Bold,
book 1, chapter 2._

GOLDEN GATE, The.

"The Bay of San Francisco is separated by [from] the sea by
low mountain ranges. Looking from the peaks of the Sierra
Nevada, the coast mountains present an apparently continuous
line, with only a single gap, resembling a mountain pass. This
is the entrance to the great bay. … On the south, the
bordering mountains come down in a narrow ridge of broken
hills, terminating in a precipitous point, against which the
sea breaks heavily. On the northern side, the mountain
presents a bold promontory, rising in a few miles to a height
of two or three thousand feet. Between these points is the
strait—about one mile broad in the narrowest part, and five
miles long from the sea to the bay. To this Gate I gave the
name of Chrysopylæ, or Golden Gate; for the same reasons that
the harbor of Byzantium (Constantinople afterwards), was
called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn. Passing through this gate,
the bay opens to the right and left, extending in each
direction about 35 miles, making a total length of more than
70, and a coast of about 275 miles."

_J. C. Fremont,
Memoirs of my life,
volume 1, page 512._

GOLDEN HORDE, The.

See MONGOLS: A. D. 1238-1391.

GOLDEN HORN, The.

See BYZANTIUM.

GOLDEN HORSESHOE, Knights of the.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1710-1716.

GOLDEN HOUSE, The.

The imperial palace at Rome, as restored by Nero after the
great fire, was called the Golden House. It was destroyed by
Vespasian.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapters 53 and 90._

GOLDEN, OR BORROMEAN, LEAGUE, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1579-1630.

GOLDEN SPUR, Order of the.

An order of knighthood instituted in 1550 by Pope Paul III.

GOLDSBORO, General Sherman's march to.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865
(FEBRUARY-MARCH: THE CAROLINAS),
and (FEBRUARY-MARCH: N. CAROLINA).

GOLIAD, Massacre at (1836).

See TEXAS: A. D. 1824-1836.

GOLOWSTSCHIN, Battle of (1708).

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1707-1718.

GOLYMIN, Battle of (1806).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1806-1807.

GOMER, OR OMER, The.

See EPHAH.

GOMERISTS. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1603-1619.

GOMPHI.

Gomphi, a city on the border of Thessaly, shut its gates
against Cæsar, shortly before the battle of Pharsalia. He
halted one day in his march, stormed the town and gave it up
to his soldiers to be sacked.

_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 5, chapter 15._

GONDS, The.

See INDIA: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

GONFALONIERE.

See CARROCCIO.

GONZAGA, The House of.

"The house of Gonzaga held sovereign power at Mantua, first as
captains, then as marquesses, then as dukes, for nearly 400
years" (1328-1708).

_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
volume 1, page 243._

GOOD ESTATE OF RIENZI, The.

See ROME: A. D. 1347-1354.

GOOD HOPE, Cape of:
The Discovery and the Name.

See PORTUGAL: A. D.1463-1498.

GOOD HOPE, Cape of:
The Colonization.

See SOUTH AFRICA.

{1553}

GOORKAS, OR GURKHAS, OR GHORKAS, The.

See INDIA: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS;
and A. D. 1805-1816.

GOOROO, OR GURU.

See SIKHS.

GORDIAN I. and II., Roman Emperors, A. D. 238.
Gordian III., Roman Emperor, A. D. 238-244.

GORDIAN KNOT, Cutting the.

"It was about February or March 333 B. C., when Alexander
reached Gordium; where he appears to have halted for some
time, giving to the troops which had been with him in Pisidia
a repose doubtless needful. While at Gordium, he performed the
memorable exploit familiarly known as the cutting of the
Gordian knot. There was preserved in the citadel an ancient
waggon of rude structure, said by the legend to have once
belonged to the peasant Gordius and his son Midas—the
primitive rustic kings of Phrygia, designated as such by the
Gods and chosen by the people. The cord (composed of fibres
from the bark of the cornel tree), attaching the yoke of this
waggon to the pole, was so twisted and entangled as to form a
knot of singular complexity, which no one had ever been able
to untie. An oracle had pronounced, that to the person who
should untie it the empire of Asia was destined. …
Alexander, on inspecting the knot, was as much perplexed as
others had been before him, until at length, in a fit of
impatience, he drew his sword and severed the cord in two. By
everyone this was accepted as a solution of the problem."

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 93._

GORDON, General Charles George,
In China.

See CHINA: A. D.1850-1864.

In the Soudan.

See EGYPT: A. D. 1870-1883, and 1884-1885.

GORDON RIOTS, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1778-1780.

GORDYENE, OR CORDYENE, OR CORDUENE.

The tribes of the Carduchi which anciently occupied the region
of northern Mesopotamia, east of the Tigris, have given their
name permanently to the country, but in variously modified
forms. In the Greek and Roman period it was known as Gordyene,
Cordyene, Corduene; at the present day it is Kurdistan. Under
the Parthian domination in Asia, Gordyene was a tributary
kingdom. In the early part of the last century B. C. it was
conquered by Tigranes, king of Armenia, who chose a site
within it for building his vast new capital, Tigranocerta, to
populate which twelve Greek cities were stripped of
inhabitants. It was included among the conquests of Trajan for
the Romans, but relinquished by Hadrian.

_G. Rawlinson,
Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy,
chapter 10, and after._

See, also, CARDUCHI, THE.

GORGES, Sir Ferdinando, and the colonization of Maine.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631, and 1635;
also MAINE: A. D. 1639.

GORM, King of Denmark, A. D. 883-941.

GOROSZLO, Battle of (1601).

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14TH-18TH CENTURIES
(ROUMANIA, &c.).

GORTYN.

See CRETE.

GOSHEN, Land of.

See JEWS: THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS.

GOSNOLD'S VOYAGE TO NEW ENGLAND.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1602-1605.

GOSPORT NAVY YARD, Abandonment and destruction of the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL).

GOTHA, Origin of the Dukedom of.

See SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553.

GOTHI MINORES, The.

See GOTHS: A. D. 341-381.

GOTHIA, in central Europe.

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 376.

GOTHIA, in Gaul.

Septimania, the strip of land along the Mediterranean between
the Pyrenees and the Rhone, was the last possession of the
Goths in Gaul, and the name Gothia became for a time attached
to it.

_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
chapter 5, section 5._

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 419-451.

GOTHINI, The.

The Gotini or Gothini were a people of ancient Germany who
"are probably to be placed in Silesia, about Breslau." "The
Gotini and Osi [who held a part of modern Gallicia, under the
Carpathian mountains] are proved by their respective Gallic
and Pannonian tongues, as well as by the fact of their
enduring tribute, not to be Germans. … The Gotini, to
complete their degradation, actually work iron mines."

_Tacitus,
Minor Works,
translated by Church and Brodribb:
The Germany, with geographical notes._

GOTHLAND IN SWEDEN.

See GOTHS: ORIGIN OF THE.

GOTHONES, The.

A tribe in ancient Germany, mentioned by Tacitus. They
"probably dwelt on either side of the Vistula, the Baltic
being their northern boundary. Consequently, their settlements
would coincide with portions of Pomerania and Prussia. Dr.
Latham thinks they were identical with the Æstii."

_Church and Brodribb,
Geographical Notes to the Germany of Tacitus._

See GOTHS, ORIGIN OF THE.

GOTHS, Origin of the.

"The Scandinavian origin of the Goths has given rise to much
discussion, and has been denied by several eminent modern
scholars. The only reasons in favor of their Scandinavian
origin are the testimony of Jornandes and the existence of the
name of Gothland in Sweden; but the testimony of Jornandes
contains at the best only the tradition of the people
respecting their origin, which is never of much value; and the
mere fact of the existence of the name of Gothland in Sweden
is not sufficient to prove that this country was the original
abode of the people. When the Romans first saw the Goths, in
the reign of Caracalla, they dwelt in the land of the Getæ [on
the northern side of the lower Danube]. Hence Jornandes,
Procopius, and many other writers, both ancient and modern,
supposed the Goths to be the same as the Getæ of the earlier
historians. But the latter writers always regarded the Getæ as
Thracians; and if their opinion was correct, they could have
had no connection with the Goths. Still, it is a startling
fact that a nation called Gothi should have emigrated from
Germany, and settled accidentally in the country of a people
with a name so like their own as that of Getæ. This may have
happened by accident, but certainly all the probabilities are
against it. Two hypotheses have been brought forward in modern
times to meet this difficulty. One is that of Grimm, in his
History of the German Language, who supposes that there was no
migration of the Goths at all, that they were on the Lower
Danube from the beginning, and that they were known to the
earlier Greek and Latin writers as Getæ: but the great
objection to this opinion is the general belief of the earlier
writers that the Getæ were Thracians, and the latter were
certainly not Germans.
{1554}
The other is that of Latham, who supposes, with much
ingenuity, that the name of Get, or Goth, was the general name
given by the Slavonic nations to the Lithuanians. According to
this theory, the Goth-ones, or Guth-ones, at the mouth of the
Vistula, mentioned by Tacitus and Ptolemy, are Lithuanians,
and the Get-æ, on the Danube, belong to the same nation.
Latham also believes that the Goths of a later period were
Germans who migrated to the Danube, but that they did not bear
the name of Goths till they settled in the country of the
Getæ.

See _Latham,
The Germania of Tacitus,
Epil., p. xxxviii., seq._"

_W. Smith,
Note to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 10._

"The first clear utterance of tradition among the Goths points
to Sweden as their home. It is true that this theory of the
Swedish origin of the Goths has of late been strenuously
combatted, but until it is actually disproved (if that be
possible) it seems better to accept it as a 'working
hypothesis,' and, at the very least, a legend which influenced
the thoughts and feelings of the nation itself. Condensing the
narrative of Jornandes … we get some such results as these:
'The island of Scanzia [peninsula of Norway and Sweden] lies
in the Northern Ocean, opposite the mouths of the Vistula, in
shape like a cedar-leaf. In this island, a warehouse of
nations ("officina gentium"), dwelt the Goths, with many other
tribes,' whose uncouth names are for the most part forgotten,
though the Swedes, the Fins, the Heruli, are familiar to us.
'From this island the Goths, under their king Berig, set forth
in search of new homes. They had but three ships, and as one
of these during their passage always lagged behind, they
called her "Gepanta," "the torpid one," and her crew, who ever
after showed themselves more sluggish and clumsy than their
companions when they became a nation, bore a name derived from
this circumstance, Gepidae, the Loiterers'." Settling, first,
near the mouth of the Vistula, these Gothic wanderers
increased in numbers until they were forced once more to
migrate southward and eastward, seeking a larger and more
satisfactory home. In time, they reached the shores of the
Euxine. "The date of this migration of the Goths is uncertain;
but, as far as we can judge from the indications afforded by
contemporary Roman events, it was somewhere between 100 and
200 A. D. At any rate, by the middle of the third century, we
find them firmly planted in the South of Russia. They are now
divided into three nations, the Ostrogoths on the East, the
Visigoths on the West, the lazy Gepidae a little to the
rear—that is, to the North of both. … It is important for
us to remember that these men are Teutons of the Teutons. …
Moreover, the evidence of language shows that among the
Teutonic races they belonged to the Low German family of
peoples: more nearly allied, that is to say, to the Dutch, the
Frieslanders, and to our own Saxon forefathers, all of whom
dwelt by the flat shores of the German Ocean or the Baltic
Sea, than to the Suabians and other High German tribes who
dwelt among the hills."

_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
introduction, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 8, chapter 6._

_T. Smith,
Arminius,
part 2, chapter 2._

See, also, VANDALS.

GOTHS:
Acquisition of Bosphorus.