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.
"The little kingdom of Bosphorus; whose capital was situated
on the straits through which the Mæotis communicates itself to
the Euxine, was composed of degenerate Greeks and
half-civilized barbarians. It subsisted as an independent
state from the time of the Peloponnesian war, was at last
swallowed up by the ambition of Mithridates, and, with the
rest of his dominions, sunk under the weight of the Roman
arms. From the reign of Augustus the kings of Bosphorus were
the humble but not useless allies of the empire. By presents,
by arms, and by a slight fortification drawn across the
isthmus, they effectually guarded, against the roving
plunderers of Sarmatia, the access of a country which, from
its peculiar situation and convenient harbours, commanded the
Euxine Sea and Asia Minor. As long as the sceptre was
possessed by a lineal succession of kings, they acquitted
themselves of their important charge with vigilance and
success. Domestic factions, and the fears or private interest
of obscure usurpers who seized on the vacant throne, admitted
the Goths [already, in the third century, in possession of the
neighboring region about the mouth of the Dneiper] into the
heart of Bosphorus. With the acquisition of a superfluous
waste of fertile soil, the conquerors obtained the command of
a naval force sufficient to transport their armies to the
coast of Asia."
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 10.
GOTHS: A. D. 244-251.
First invasions of the Roman Empire.
As early as the reign of Alexander Severus (A. D. 222-235) the
Goths, then inhabiting the Ukraine, had troubled Dacia with
incursions; but it was not until the time of the Emperor
Philip, called the Arabian (244-249), that they invaded the
Empire in force, passing through Dacia and crossing the Danube
into Mœsia (Bulgaria). They had been bribed by a subsidy to
refrain from pillaging Roman territory, but complained that
their "stipendia" had not been paid. They made their way
without opposition to the city of Marcianopolis, which Trajan
had founded in honor of his sister, and which was the capital
of one of the two provinces into which Mœsia had been divided.
The inhabitants ransomed themselves by the payment of a large
sum of money, and the barbarians retired. But their expedition
had been successful enough to tempt a speedy repetition of it,
and the year 250 found them, again, in Mœsia, ravaging the
country with little hindrance. The following year they crossed
the Hæmus or Balkan mountains and laid siege to the important
city of Philippopolis--capital of Thrace, founded by Philip of
Macedon. Now, however, a capable and vigorous emperor, Decius,
was briefly wearing the Roman purple. He met the Goths and
fought them so valiantly that 30,000 are said to have been
slain; yet the victory remained with the barbarians, and
Philippopolis was not saved. They took it by storm, put
100,000 of its inhabitants to the sword and left nothing in
the ruins of the city worth carrying away. Meantime the
enterprising Roman emperor had reanimated and recruited his
troops and had secured positions which cut off the retreat of
the Gothic host. The peril of the barbarians seemed so great,
in fact, that they offered to surrender their whole booty and
their captives, if they might, on so doing, march out of the
country undisturbed. Decius sternly rejected the proposition,
and so provoked his dangerous enemies to a despair which was
fatal to him. In a terrible battle that was fought before the
close of the year 251, at a place in Mœsia called Forum
Trebonii, the Roman emperor perished, with the greater part of
his army. The successor of Decius, Gallus, made haste to
arrange a payment of annual peace-money to the Goths, which
persuaded them to retire across the Danube.
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 10.
ALSO IN:
T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
introduction, chapter 8 (volume 1).
{1555}
GOTHS: A. D. 258-267.
Naval expeditions in the East.
Having acquired command of a port and a navy by their conquest
of or alliance with the little kingdom of Bosporus in the
Chersonesus Taurica (modern Crimea), the Goths launched forth
boldly upon a series of naval marauding expeditions, which
spread terror and destruction along the coasts of the Euxine,
the Ægean and the straits between. The first city to suffer
was Pityus, on the Euxine, which they totally destroyed, A. D.
258. The next was Trebizond, which fell a victim to the
negligence with which its strong walls were guarded. The Goths
loaded their ships with the enormous booty that they took from
Trebizond, and left it almost a ruined city of the dead.
Another expedition reached Bithynia, where the rich and
splendid cities of Chalcedon, Nicea, Nicomedia, Prusa, Apamæa,
nd others were pillaged and more or less wantonly destroyed. "In
the year 267, another fleet, consisting of 500 vessels, manned
chiefly by the Goths and Heruls [or Heruli], passed the
Bosphorus and the Hellespont. They seized Byzantium and
Chrysopolis, and advanced, plundering the islands and coasts
of the Ægean Sea, and laying waste many of the principal
cities of the Peloponnesus. Cyzicus, Lemnos, Skyros, Corinth,
Sparta, and Argos are named as having suffered by their
ravages. From the time of Sylla's conquest of Athens, a period
of nearly 350 years had elapsed, during which Attica had
escaped the evils of war; yet when the Athenians were called
upon to defend their homes against the Goths, they displayed a
spirit worthy of their ancient fame. An officer, named
Cleodamus, had been sent by the government from Byzantium to
Athens, in order to repair the fortifications, but a division
of these Goths landed at the Piræus and succeeded in carrying
Athens by storm, before any means were taken for its defence.
Dexippus, an Athenian of rank in the Roman service, soon
contrived to reassemble the garrison of the Acropolis; and by
joining to it such of the citizens as possessed some knowledge
of military discipline, or some spirit for warlike enterprise,
he formed a little army of 2,000 men. Choosing a strong
position in the Olive Grove, he circumscribed the movements of
the Goths, and so harassed them by a close blockade that they
were soon compelled to abandon Athens. Cleodamus, who was not
at Athens when it was surprised, had in the meantime assembled
a fleet and gained a naval victory over a division of the
barbarian fleet, These reverses were a prelude to the ruin of
the Goths. A Roman fleet entered the Archipelago, and a Roman
army, under the emperor Gaillenus, marched into Illyricum; the
separate divisions of the Gothic expedition were everywhere
overtaken by these forces, and destroyed in detail. During
this invasion of the empire, one of the divisions of the
Gothic army crossed the Hellespont into Asia, and succeeded in
plundering the cities of the Troad, and in destroying the
celebrated temple of Diana of Ephesus. ... The celebrity of
Athens, and the presence of the historian Dexippus, have given
to this incursion of the barbarians a prominent place in
history; but many expeditions are casually mentioned which
must have inflicted greater losses on the Greeks, and spread
devastation more widely over the country."
G. Finlay,
Greece Under the Romans,
chapter 1, section 14.
ALSO IN:
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 10.
GOTHS: A. D. 268-270.
Defeat by Claudius.
"Claudius II. and his successor Aurelian, notwithstanding the
shortness of their reigns, effectually dissipated the
mosquito-swarms of barbarian invaders and provincial usurpers
who were ruining the unhappy dominions of Gallienus. The two
campaigns (of 268 and 269) in which the Emperor Claudius
vanquished the barbarians are related with great brevity, and
in such a shape that it is not easy to harmonise even the
scanty details which are preserved for us. It seems clear,
however, that the Goths (both Ostrogoths and Visigoths), with
all their kindred tribes, poured themselves upon Thrace and
Macedonia in vaster numbers than ever. The previous movements
of these nations had been probably but robber-inroads: this
was a national immigration. ... A few years earlier, so vast
an irruption must inevitably have ruined the Roman Empire. But
now, under Claudius, the army, once more subjected to strict
discipline, had regained, or was rapidly regaining, its tone,
and the Gothic multitudes, vainly precipitating themselves
against it, by the very vastness of their unwieldy masses,
hastened their own destruction. A great battle was fought at
Naissus (Nisch, in Servia), a battle which was not a complete
victory, which according to one authority was even a defeat
for the Romans, but since the barbarians as an immediate
consequence of it lost 50,000 men, their doubtful victory may
fairly be counted as a defeat. In the next campaign they were
shut up in the intricate passes of the Balkans by the Roman
cavalry. Under the pressure of famine they killed and ate the
cattle that drew their waggons, so parting with their last
chance of return to their northern homes. ... At length the
remnants of the huge host seem to have disbanded, some to have
entered the service of their conqueror as 'foederati,' and
many to have remained as hired labourers to plough the fields
which they had once hoped to conquer. ... The vast number of
unburied corpses bred a pestilence, to which the Emperor fell
a victim. His successor Aurelian, the conqueror of Zenobia ...
made peace wisely as well as war bravely, and, prudently
determining on the final abandonment of the Roman province of
Dacia, he conceded to the Goths the undisturbed possession of
that region [A. D. 270], on condition of their not crossing
the Danube to molest Moesia. Translating these terms into the
language of modern geography, we may say, roughly, that the
repose of Servia and Bulgaria was guaranteed by the final
separation from the Roman Empire of Hungary, Transylvania,
Moldavia, and Wallachia, which became from this time forward
the acknowledged home of the Gothic nation. ... For about a
century (from 270 to 365) the Goths appear to have been with
little exception at peace with Rome."
T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
introduction, chapter 3.
{1556}
GOTHS: A. D. 341-381.
Conversion to Christianity.
The introduction of Christianity among the Goths seems to have
begun while they were yet on the northern side of the Danube
and the Black Sea. It first resulted, no doubt, from the
influence of many Christian captives who were swept from their
homes in Mœsia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and carried away to
spend their lives in slavery among the barbarians. To these
were probably added a considerable number of Christian
refugees from Roman persecution, before the period of
Constantine. But it was not until the time of Ulfilas, the
great apostle and bishop of the Goths (supposed to have held
the office of bishop among them from about A. D. 341 to 381),
that the development and organization of Christianity in the
Gothic nation assumed importance. Ulfilas is represented to
have been a descendant of one of the Christian captives
alluded to above. Either as an ambassador or as a hostage, he
seems to have passed some years in his early manhood at
Constantinople. There he acquired a familiar knowledge of the
Greek and Latin languages, and became fitted for his great
work--the reducing of the Gothic language to a written form,
with an alphabet partly invented, partly adapted from the
Greek, and the translation of the Bible into that tongue. The
early labors of Ulfilas among his countrymen beyond the Danube