the January session, only three were convicted, and they were
reprieved; whereat Chief Justice Stoughton rose in anger, and
said, 'The Lord be merciful to this country!' In the spring,
Governor Phips, being about to leave the country, pardoned all
who were condemned, and the jails were delivered. The
excitement subsided as rapidly as it had arisen, but the evil
work was done."
C. W. Elliott,
The New England History,
volume 2, chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
S. P. Fowler, editor,
Salem Witchcraft (including Calef's
"More Wonders of the Invisible World," etc.).
C. S. Osgood and H. M. Batchelder,
Historical Sketch of Salem,
chapter 2.
J. S. Barry,
History of Massachusetts,
volume 2, chapter 2.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692-1693.
The Salem Witchcraft madness: its ending, and the reaction.
"On the second Wednesday in October, 1692, about a fortnight
after the last hanging of eight at Salem, the representatives
of the colony assembled; and the people of Andover, their
minister joining with them, appeared with their remonstrance
against the doings of the witch tribunals. Of the discussions
that ensued no record is preserved; we know only the issue.
The general court ordered by bill a convocation of ministers,
that the people might be led in the right way as to the
witchcraft. … They abrogated the special court, established
a tribunal by statute, and delayed its opening till January of
the following year. This interval gave the public mind
security and freedom; and though Phips still conferred the
place of chief judge on Stoughton, yet jurors acted
independently. When, in January, 1693, the court met at Salem,
six women of Andover, renouncing their confessions, treated
the witchcraft but as something so called, the bewildered but
as 'seemingly afflicted.' A memorial of like tenor came from
the inhabitants of Andover. Of the presentments, the grand
jury dismissed more than half; and of the twenty-six against
whom bills were found through the testimony on which others
had been condemned, verdicts of acquittal followed. … The
people of Salem village drove Parris from the place; Noyes
regained favor only by a full confession and consecrating the
remainder of his life to deeds of mercy. Sewall, one of the
judges, by rising in his pew in the Old South meeting-house on
a fast-day and reading to the whole congregation a paper in
which he bewailed his great offence, recovered public esteem.
Stoughton never repented. The diary of Cotton Mather proves
that he, who had sought the foundation of faith in tales of
wonders, himself 'had temptations to atheism, and to the
abandonment of all religion as a mere delusion.'"
G. Bancroft,
History of the United States
(Author's last revision),
part 3, chapter 3 (volume 2).
"It was long before the public mind recovered from its
paralysis. No one knew what ought to be said or done, the
tragedy had been so awful. The parties who had acted in it
were so numerous, and of such standing, including almost all
the most eminent and honored leaders of the community from the
bench, the bar, the magistracy, the pulpit, the medical
faculty, and in fact all classes and descriptions of persons;
the mysteries connected with the accusers and confessors; the
universal prevalence of the legal, theological, and
philosophical theories that had led to the proceedings; the
utter impossibility of realizing or measuring the extent of
the calamity; and the general shame and horror associated with
the subject in all minds; prevented any open movement. … Dr.
Bentley describes the condition of the community in some brief
and pregnant sentences … : 'As soon as the judges ceased to
condemn, the people ceased to accuse. … Terror at the
violence and guilt of the proceedings succeeded instantly to
the conviction of blind zeal; and what every man had
encouraged all professed to abhor. Few dared to blame other
men, because few were innocent. The guilt and the shame became
the portion of the country, while Salem had the infamy of
being the place of the transactions.'"
C. W. Upham,
Salem Witchcraft,
volume 2, supplement.
"The probability seems to be that those who began in harmless
deceit found themselves at length involved so deeply, that
dread of shame and punishment drove them to an extremity where
their only choice was between sacrificing themselves, or
others to save themselves. It is not unlikely that some of the
younger girls were so far carried along by imitation or
imaginative sympathy as in some degree to 'credit their own
lie.' … Parish and boundary feuds had set enmity between
neighbors, and the girls, called on to say who troubled them,
cried out upon those whom they had been wont to hear called by
hard names at home. They probably had no notion what a
frightful ending their comedy was to have; but at any rate
they were powerless, for the reins had passed out of their
hands into the sterner grasp of minister and magistrate. …
In one respect, to which Mr. Upham first gives the importance
it deserves, the Salem trials were distinguished from all
others. Though some of the accused had been terrified into
confession, yet not one persevered in it, but all died
protesting their innocence, and with unshaken constancy,
though an acknowledgment of guilt would have saved the lives
of all. This martyr proof of the efficacy of Puritanism in the
character and conscience may be allowed to outweigh a great
many sneers at Puritan fanaticism."
J. R. Lowell,
Witchcraft
(Among My Books, series 1).
ALSO IN:
G. M. Beard,
Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft Excitement.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1703-1711.
Queen Anne's War.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1702-1710;
and CANADA: A. D. 1711-1713.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1704.
The first Newspaper.
See PRINTING, &c.: A. D. 1704-1729.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1722-1725.
Renewed War with the northeastern Indians.
See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1713-1730.
{2116}
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1744-1748.
King George's War.
The taking of Louisbourg and its restoration to France.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1744; 1745; and 1745-1748.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1754.
The Colonial Congress at Albany and Franklin's plan of Union.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1754.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1755.
Expedition against Fort Beau Séjour in Nova Scotia.
See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1749-1755.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1755-1760.
The French and Indian War, and conquest of Canada.
See CANADA: A. D. 1750-1753, to 1760;
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1749-1755, 1755;
OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1748-1754, 1754, 1755;
CAPE BRETON ISLAND: A. D. 1758-1760.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1761.
Harsh enforcement of revenue laws.
The Writs of Assistance and Otis's speech.
"It was in 1761, immediately after the overthrow of the French
in Canada, that attempts were made to enforce the revenue laws
more strictly than heretofore; and trouble was at once
threatened. Charles Paxton, the principal officer of the
custom-house in Boston, applied to the Superior Court to grant
him the authority to use 'writs of assistance' in searching
for smuggled goods. A writ of assistance was a general
search-warrant, empowering the officer armed with it to enter,
by force if necessary, any dwelling-house or warehouse where
contraband goods were supposed to be stored or hidden. A
special search-warrant was one in which the name of the
suspected person, and the house which it was proposed to
search, were accurately specified, and the goods which it was
intended to seize were as far as possible described. In the
use of such special warrants there was not much danger of
gross injustice or oppression. … But the general
search-warrant, or 'writ of assistance,' as it was called
because men try to cover up the ugliness of hateful things by
giving them innocent names, was quite a different affair. It
was a blank form upon which the custom-house officer might
fill in the names of persons and descriptions of houses and
goods to suit himself. … The writ of assistance was
therefore an abominable instrument of tyranny. Such writs had
been allowed by a statute of the evil reign of Charles II.; a
statute of William III. had clothed custom-house officers in
the colonies with like powers to those which they possessed in
England; and neither of these statutes had been repealed.
There can therefore be little doubt that the issue of such
search-warrants was strictly legal, unless the authority of
Parliament to make laws for the colonies was to be denied.
James Otis then held the crown office of advocate-general,
with an ample salary and prospects of high favour from
government. When the revenue officers called upon him, in view
of his position, to defend their cause, he resigned his office
and at once undertook to act as counsel for the merchants of
Boston in their protest against the issue of the writs. A
large fee was offered him, but he refused it. 'In such a
cause,' said he, 'I despise all fees.' The case was tried in
the council-chamber at the east end of the old town-hall, or
what is now known as the 'Old State-House,' in Boston.
Chief-justice Hutchinson presided, and Jeremiah Gridley, one
of the greatest lawyers of that day, argued the case for the
writs in a very powerful speech. The reply of Otis, which took
five hours in the delivery, was one of the greatest speeches
of modern times. It went beyond the particular legal question
at issue, and took up the whole question of the constitutional
relations between the colonies and the mother-country. At the
bottom of this, as of all the disputes that led to the
Revolution, lay the ultimate question whether Americans were
bound to yield obedience to laws which they had no share in
making. This question, and the spirit that answered it flatly
and doggedly in the negative, were heard like an undertone
pervading all the arguments in Otis's wonderful speech, and it
was because of this that the young lawyer John Adams, who was
present, afterward declared that on that day 'the child
Independence was born.' Chief-justice Hutchinson … reserved
his decision until advice could be had from the law-officers
of the crown in London; and when next term he was instructed
by them to grant the writs, this result added fresh impetus to
the spirit that Otis's eloquence had aroused. The custom-house
officers, armed with their writs, began breaking into
warehouses and seizing goods which were said to have been
smuggled. In this rough way they confiscated private property
to the value of many thousands of pounds; but sometimes the
owners of warehouses armed themselves and barricaded their
doors and windows, and thus the officers were often
successfully defied, for the sheriff was far from prompt in
coming to aid them."
J. Fiske,
The War of Independence,
chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
W. Tudor,
Life of James Otis,
chapters 5-7.
F. Bowen,
Life of James Otis
(Library of American Biographies,
series 2, volume 2), chapter 2-3.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1761-1766.
The question of taxation by Parliament.
The Sugar Act.
The Stamp Act and its repeal.
The Declaratory Act.
The Stamp Act Congress.
Non-importation agreements.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1760-1775, to 1766.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1768.
The Circular Letter to other colonies.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1767-1768.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1768-1770.
The quartering of troops in Boston.
The "Massacre."
Removal of the troops.
See BOSTON: A. D. 1768; and 1770.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1769.
The Boston patriots threatened.
Virginia roused to their support.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1769.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1770-1773.
Repeal of the Townshend duties except on Tea.
Committees of Correspondence instituted.
The coming of the Tea Ships.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1770; and 1772-1773.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1773.
Destruction of Tea at Boston.
See BOSTON: A. D. 1773.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1774.
The Boston Port Bill and the Massachusetts Act.
Free government destroyed and commerce interdicted.
The First Continental Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1774 (MARCH-APRIL);
and BOSTON: A. D. 1774.
{2117}
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1774.
Organization of an independent Provisional Government.
The Committee of Safety.
Minute-men.
"Governor Gage issued writs, dated September 1, convening the
General Court at Salem on the 5th of October, but dissolved it
by a proclamation dated September 28, 1774. The members elected
to it, pursuant to the course agreed upon, resolved themselves
into a Provincial Congress. This body, on the 26th of October,
adopted a plan for organizing the militia, maintaining it, and
calling it out when circumstances should render it necessary.
It provided that one quarter of the number enrolled should be
held in readiness to muster at the shortest notice, who were
called by the popular name of minute-men. An executive
authority—the Committee of Safety—was created, clothed with
large discretionary powers; and another called the Committee
of Supplies."
R. Frothingham,
History of the Siege of Boston,
page 41.
Under the Provincial Congress and the energetic Committee of
Safety (which consisted at the beginning of Hancock, Warren
and Church, of Boston, Richard Devens of Charlestown, Benj.
White of Brookline, Joseph Palmer of Braintree, Abraham Watson
of Cambridge, Azor Orne of Marblehead, and Norton Quincy, who
declined) a complete and effective administration of
government, entirely independent of royal authority, was
brought into operation. Subsequently, John Pigeon of Newton,
William Heath of Roxbury, and Jabez Fisher of Wrentham, were
added to the committee.
R. Frothingham,
Life and Times of Joseph Warren,
page 389.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (APRIL).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1775.
The beginning of the War of the American Revolution.
Lexington.
Concord.
The country in arms and Boston under siege.
Ticonderoga.
Bunker Hill
The Second Continental Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1775-1776.
Washington in command at Cambridge.
British evacuation of Boston.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775-1776.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1776 (April-May).
Independence assumed and urged upon the General Congress.
"Massachusetts had for nearly a year acted independently of
the officers of the crown. … The General Court, at their
session in April [1776], passed a resolve to alter the style
of writs and other legal processes—substituting 'the people
and government of Massachusetts' for George III.; and, in
dating official papers, the particular year of the king was
omitted, and only the year of our Lord was mentioned. Early in
May, likewise, an order was passed and published, by which the
people of the several towns in the province were advised to
give instructions to their respective representatives, to be
chosen for the following political year, on the subject of
independence. It is not contended that this was the first
instance in which such a proposition was publicly made; for
North Carolina had, two weeks before, authorized her delegates
to join with the other colonies in declaring independence; and
Rhode Island and Connecticut had indicated their inclination
by dispensing with the oath of allegiance to the king, though
a month elapsed before the Connecticut Assembly instructed
their delegates to vote for independence. The returns from the
towns of Massachusetts were highly encouraging, and in nearly
every instance the instructions to their representatives were
favorable to an explicit declaration of independence."
J. S. Barry,
History of Massachusetts,
volume 3, chapter 3.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1776 (July).
The Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JULY).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1776-1777.
The struggle for New York and the Hudson.
The campaigns in New Jersey and on the Delaware.
Burgoyne's invasion and surrender.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (AUGUST),
to 1777 (JULY-OCTOBER).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1777-1783.
The Articles of Confederation.
Alliance with France.
Treason of Arnold.
The war in the south.
Surrender of Cornwallis.
Peace.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1781, to 1783.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1779.
Framing and adoption of a State Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776-1779.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1781.
Emancipation of Slaves.
See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1638-1781.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1785.
Western territorial claims
and their cession to the United States.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1786.
Settlement of land claims with New York.
The cession of western New York.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1786-1799.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1786-1787.
The Shays Rebellion.
"The Shays Rebellion, which takes its name from the leader of
the insurgents, Daniel Shays, lately a captain in the
Continental army, had its taproot in the growing spirit of
lawlessness. But special causes of discontent were traceable
to an unequal distribution of wealth and excessive land
taxation in Massachusetts, the sole seat of the outbreak.
Governor Bowdoin and his party strove vigorously to reduce the
State debt and keep up the public credit at a period of great
public depression. But this strained severely the farmers and
citizens of moderate means in the inland towns. Private
creditors pressed their debtors, while the State pressed all.
Attachments were put upon the poor man's cattle and teams, and
his little homestead was sacrificed under the sheriff's
hammer. It was no sign of prosperity that the dockets of the
county courts were crowded, and that lawyers and court
officers put in the sickle. There was common complaint of the
high salaries of public officials and the wasteful cost
attending litigation. One might suppose that a legislature
annually chosen would soon remedy this state of things. But
the inhabitants of the western counties took the short cut of
resisting civil process and openly defying the laws. And
herein their error lay. Shays rallied so large a force of
malcontents about Worcester in the fall of 1786 that the
sheriff and his deputies were powerless against them, and no
court could be held. … This first success of the
Massachusetts insurgents alarmed the friends of order
throughout the Union. … Congress, by this time an adept in
stealthy and diplomatic methods, offered secret aid to the
authorities of Massachusetts upon the pretext of dispatching
troops against the Indians. But the tender was not accepted;
for in James Bowdoin the State had an executive equal to the
emergency. Availing himself of a temporary loan from patriotic
citizens, he raised and equipped a militia force, large enough
to overawe the rebels, which, under General Lincoln's command,
was promptly marched against them. Shays appears to have had
more of the demagogue than warrior about him, and his
followers fled as the troops advanced [being finally surprised
and routed at Petersham, February 4, 1787]. By midwinter civil
order was restored; but the legislature made some concessions
not less just than prudent. The vanquished rebels were treated
with marked clemency. But Governor Bowdoin's energy lost him a
re-election the following spring, and one of the manliest
pioneers of Continental reform was remitted to private life
for the rest of his days. To him succeeded the veteran
Hancock, whose light shone through a horn-lantern of vanity
and love of popular applause."
J. Schouler,
History of the United States,
volume 1, chapter 1, section 1.
ALSO IN:
J. B. McMaster,
History of the People of the United States,
volume 1, chapter 3.
J. G. Holland,
History of West Massachusetts,
volume 1, chapters 16-18.
M. A. Green,
Springfield, 1636-1886,
chapter 14.
J. E. A. Smith,
History of Pittsfield, 1734-1800,
chapters 21-22.
{2118}
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1788.
Ratification of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787-1789.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1812-1814.
Opposition of Federalists to the war with England.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1814.
The Hartford Convention.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (DECEMBER).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1818-1821.
The founding of Amherst College.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1818-1821.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1820.
The district of Maine erected into a distinct State.
See MAINE: A. D. 1820.
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1861 (April).
Prompt response to President Lincoln's call for troops.
Attack on the Sixth Regiment in Baltimore.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1861 (April-May).
The Eighth Regiment making its way to Washington.
Butler and Baltimore.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (APRIL-MAY: MARYLAND).
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1889.
The founding of Clark University.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1887-1889.
----------MASSACHUSETTS: End----------
MASSACRES.
Of Glenco.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1692.
MASSACRES:
Of the Mamelukes (1811).
See EGYPT: A. D. 1803-1811.
MASSACRES:
Of the Mountain Meadows (1857).
See UTAH: A. D. 1857-1859.
MASSACRES:
Of St. Bartholomew's Day.
MASSACRES:
See FRANCE: A. D. 1572.
MASSACRES:
Of St. Brice's Day (1002).
See ENGLAND: A. D. 979-1016.
MASSACRES:
Of September, 1792, in the Paris prisons.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
MASSACRES:
Of the Shiites.
See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.
MASSACRES:
The Sicilian Vespers (1282).
See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1282-1300.
MASSAGETÆ, The.
See SCYTHIANS.
MASSALIANS, The.
See MYSTICISM.
MASSALIOTS.
The people of Massilia—ancient Marseilles.
MASSENA, Marshal, Campaigns of.
See FRANCE:
A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL);
1798-1799 (AUGUST-APRIL);
1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER) and (AUGUST-DECEMBER);
1800-1801 (MAY-FEBRUARY);
1805 (MARCH-DECEMBER);
1805-1806 (DECEMBER-SEPTEMBER);
and SPAIN: A. D. 1810-1812.
MASSILIA.
The ancient name of Marseilles.
See PHOCÆANS.
MASSIMILIANO, Duke of Milan, A. D. 1512-1515.
MASSORETES.
See MASORETES.
MASULIPATAM, English capture of (1759).
See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.
MATAGUAYAS, The.
See BOLIVIA: ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
MATELOTAGE.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1639-1700.
MATHER, Cotton, and the Witchcraft excitement.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692.
MATHER, Increase, and the new Massachusetts Charter.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1689-1692.
MATILDA, Donation of the Countess.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1077-1102.
MATRONA, The.
The ancient name of the river Marne.
MATRONALIA, The.
An ancient Roman festival, celebrated on the Calends of March,
in memory of the intervention of the Sabine matrons, to make
peace between their Sabine kinsmen and their Roman husbands.
H. G. Liddell,
History of Rome,
book 1, chapter 1 (volume 1).
See ROME: THE RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN.
MATTHIAS,
Germanic Emperor, A. D. 1612-1619.
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, 1457-1490.
MATTIACI, The.
The Mattiaci were an ancient German tribe friendly to Rome.
They inhabited a region in Nassau, about Wiesbaden.
Church and Brodribb,
Geographical Notes to The Germany of Tacitus.
See, also, MOGONTIACUM.
MAUREGATO, King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, A. D. 783-788.
----------MAURETANIA: Start--------
MAURETANIA.
MAURETANIANS.
MOORS.
See NUMIDIANS.
MAURETANIA:
Under the Romans.
See AFRICA: THE ROMAN PROVINCE.
MAURETANIA: A. D. 374-398.-Revolts of Firmus and Gildo.
See ROME: A. D. 396-398.
MAURETANIA:
Conquest by the Vandals. See VANDALS: A. D. 429-439.
MAURETANIA:
Mahometan Conquest.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709.
MAURETANIA:
Mediæval and Modern History.
See MAROCCO;
also, BARBARY STATES.
----------MAURETANIA: End--------
MAURICE,
Roman Emperor (Eastern), A. D. 582-602.
Maurice, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau,
Stadtholder of the United Provinces (Netherlands), 1587-1625.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585, to 1621-1633.
Maurice of Saxony, The dishonorable exploits of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552.
MAURIENNE, Counts of.
The earliest title of the princes of the House of Savoy.
See SAVOY: 11-15TH CENTURIES.
MAURITANIANS.
See MAURETANIA.
MAURITIUS, or the Isle of France, English acquisition of the (1810).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (APRIL-JUNE);
also, INDIA: A. D. 1805-1816.
MAURITIUS RIVER.
The name given by the Dutch to the Hudson River.
MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS.
See CARIANS.
MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN.
See CASTLE ST. ANGELO.
MAVROVALLACHIA.
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 12TH CENTURY.
MAXEN, Capitulation of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1759 (JULY-NOVEMBER).
MAXIMA CÆSARIENSIS.
See BRITAIN: A. D. 323-337.
MAXIMIAN, Roman Emperor, A. D. 286-305.
{2119}
MAXIMILIAN, Emperor of Mexico.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1861-1867.
Maximilian I., Archduke of Austria, King of the Romans,
A. D. 1486-1493;
Germanic Emperor, 1493-1519.
Maximilian II., Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary
and Bohemia, and Germanic Emperor, 1564-1576.
MAXIMIN, Roman Emperor, A. D. 235-238.
MAXIMUS, Revolt of.
See BRITAIN: A. D. 383-388.
MAXYANS, The.
See LIBYANS.
MAY, Cape
MEY, Cape:
The Name.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1610-1614.
MAY LAWS, The German.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1873-1887.
MAY LAWS, The Russian, of 1882.
See JEWS: 19TH CENTURY.
MAYAS, The, and their early civilization.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS.
MAYENCE.
See MENTZ.
MAYFLOWER, The Voyage of the.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1620.
MAYNOOTH, Siege of.
The castle of Maynooth, held by the Irish in the rebellion of
1535, was besieged by the English, stormed and taken, March 23
of that year, and twenty-six of its defenders hanged. The
rebellion soon collapsed.
J. A. Fronde,
History of England,
chapter 8.
MAYNOOTH GRANT, The.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1844.
MAYO, Lord, The Indian administration and the assassination of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1862-1876.
MAYOR OF THE PALACE.
"The Mayor of the Palace is met with in all the Frankish
kingdoms. … The mayors were at first merely the first
superintendents, the first administrators of the interior of
the palace of the king; the chiefs whom he put at the head of
his companions, of his leudes, still united around him. It was
their duty to maintain order among the king's men, to
administer justice, to look to all the affairs, to all the
wants, of that great domestic society. They were the men of
the king with the leudes; this was their first character,
their first state. Now for the second. After having exercised
the power of the king over his leudes, his mayors of the
palace usurped it to their own profit. The leudes, by grants
of public charges and fiefs, were not long before they became
great proprietors. This new situation was superior to that of
companions of the king; they detached themselves from him, and
united in order to defend their common interests. According as
their fortune dictated, the mayors of the palace sometimes
resisted them, more often united with them, and, at first
servants of the king, they at last became the chiefs of an
aristocracy, against whom royalty could do nothing. These are
the two principal phases of this institution: it gained more
extension and fixedness in Austrasia, in the family of the
Pepins, who possessed it almost a century and a half, than
anywhere else."
F. Guizot,
History of Civilization,
volume 2 (France, volume 1), lecture 19.
ALSO IN:
W. C. Perry,
The Franks,
chapter 5.
See, also,
FRANKS: A. D. 511-752.
MAYORUNA,
BARBUDO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
MAYPO, Battle of (1818).
See CHILE: A. D. 1810-1818.
MAZACA.
"Mazaca [the capital city of ancient Cappadocia] was situated
at the base of the great volcanic mountain Argaeus (Argish),
about 13,000 feet high. … The Roman emperor Tiberius changed
the name of Mazaca to Caesareia, and it is now Kaisariyeh on
the Kara Su, a small stream which flows into the Halys (Kizil
Ermak)."
G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 5, chapter 22.
MAZARIN, Ministry of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1642-1643, to 1659-1661.
MAZARINE BIBLE, The.
See PRINTING: A. D. 1430-1456.
MAZARQUIVER, Siege of (1563).
See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1563-1565.
MAZES.
See LABYRINTHS.
MAZOR.
See EGYPT: ITS NAMES.
MAZZINI, Joseph, and the revolutionary movements in Italy.
See ITALY: A. D. 1831-1848.
MEADE, General George G.:
Command of the Army of the Potomac.
Battle of Gettysburg, and after.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (JUNE-JULY: PENNSYLVANIA);
and (JULY-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA).
MEAL-TUB PLOT, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1679 (JUNE).
MEANEE, Battle of (1843).
See SCINDE.
MEAUX, Siege of.
The city of Meaux, on the Marne, in France, was vigorously
besieged for seven months by Henry V. of England, but
surrendered on the 10th of May, 1422.
Monstrelet,
Chronicles,
book 1, chapters 249-259.
----------MECCA: Start--------
MECCA:
Rise of Mahometanism.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: 609-632.
MECCA: A. D. 692.
Siege by the Omeyyads.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-750.
MECCA: A. D. 929.
Stormed and Pillaged by the Carmathians.
See CARMATHIANS.
----------MECCA: End--------
MECHANICSVILLE, Engagements at.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (MAY: VIRGINIA) THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN;
and (JUNE-JULY: VIRGINIA).
----------MECHLIN: Start--------
MECHLIN: A. D. 1572.
Pillage and massacre by Alva's troops.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1572-1573.
MECHLIN: A. D. 1585.
Surrender to the Spaniards.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585.
----------MECHLIN: End--------
MECKLENBURG: The Duchy bestowed on Wallenstein (1628).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1627-1629.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION, The.
See NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1775 (MAY).
MEDAIN.
Medain, "the twin city," combined in one, under this Arabic
name, the two contiguous Persian capitals, Seleucia and
Ctesiphon. The name Medain signifies "cities," and "it is said
to have comprised a cluster of seven towns, but it is
ordinarily taken to designate the twin cities of Seleucia and
Ctesiphon."
Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapters 10 and 17.
{2120}
----------MEDIA: Start--------
MEDIA AND THE MEDES.
The country of the Medes, in its original extent, coincided
very nearly with the northwestern part of modern Persia,
between Farsistan and the Elburz mountains. "The boundaries of
Media are given somewhat differently by different writers, and
no doubt they actually varied at different periods; but the
variations were not great, and the natural limits, on three
sides at any rate, may be laid down with tolerable precision.
Towards the north the boundary was at first the mountain chain
closing in on that side the Urumiyeh basin, after which it seems
to have been held that the true limit was the Araxes, to its
entrance on the low country, and then the mountain chain west
and south of the Caspian. Westward, the line of demarcation
may be best regarded as, towards the south, running along the
centre of the Zagros region; and, above this, as formed by
that continuation of the Zagros chain which separates the
Urumiyeh from the Van basin. Eastward, the boundary was marked
by the spur from the Elburz, across which lay the pass known
as the Pylæ Caspiæ, and below this by the great salt desert,
whose western limit is nearly in the same longitude. Towards
the south there was no marked line or natural boundary. … We
may place the southern limit with much probability about the
line of the thirty-second parallel, which is nearly the
present boundary between Irak and Fars."
G. Rawlinson,
Five great Monarchies: Media,
chapter 1.
"The nation of the Medes belongs to the group of the Arian
tribes, which occupied the table-land of Iran. This has been
already proved by the statement of Herodotus that in ancient
times the Medians were called Areans by all men, by the
religion of the Medes, and by all the Median words and names
that have come down to us. According to Herodotus the nation
consisted of six tribes: the Arizanti, Busae, Struchates,
Budii, Paraetaceni, and Magi. … The Magians we have already
found to be a hereditary order of Priests."
M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 8, chapter 1.
The Medes, who seem to have been long without any centralizing
authority among them, became, at last, united under a monarchy
which grew in power, until, in the later part of the seventh
century B. C., it combined with Babylonia against the decaying
Assyrian kingdom. Nineveh was destroyed by the confederates,
and the dominions of Assyria were divided between them. The
Median empire which then rose, by the side of the Babylonian,
endured little more than half a century. It was the first of
the conquests of Cyrus (see PERSIA: B. C. 549-521), or Kyros,
the founder of the Persian empire (B. C. 549).
A. H. Sayce,
Ancient Empires of the East,
appendix 5.
ALSO IN:
F. Lenormant and E. Chevallier,
Manual of the Ancient History of the East,
book 5, chapters 1-4.
MEDIA:
The ancient religion.
See ZOROASTRIANS.
----------MEDIA: End----------
MEDIA ATROPATENE.
See ATROPATENE.
MEDIÆVAL, Belonging to the.
See MIDDLE AGES.
----------MEDICAL SCIENCE: Start--------
MEDICAL SCIENCE:
Chronology of Development.
Renouard, in his "History of Medicine," arranges the
chronology of the development of medical knowledge in three
grand divisions or Ages, subdivided into eight periods. "The
First Age commences with the infancy of society, as far back
as historic tradition carries us, and terminates toward the
end of the second century of the Christian era, at the death
of Galen, during the reign of Septimus Severus. This lapse of
time constitutes, in Medicine, the Foundation Age. The germ of
the Healing Art, concealed, at first, in the instincts of men,
is gradually developed; the basis of the science is laid, and
great principles are discussed. … The Second Age, which may
be called the Age of Transition, offers very little material
to the history of Medicine. We see no longer the conflicts and
discussions between partisans of different doctrines; the
medical sects are confounded. The art remains stationary, or
imperceptibly retrogrades. I can not better depict this epoch
than by comparing it to the life of an insect in the nympha
state; though no exterior change appears, an admirable
metamorphosis is going on, imperceptibly, within. The eye of
man only perceives the wonder after it has been finished. Thus
from the 15th century, which is the beginning of the third and
last Age of Medicine, or the Age of Renovation, Europe offers
us a spectacle of which the most glorious eras of the
republics of Greece and Rome only can give us an idea. It
would seem as if a new life was infused into the veins of the
inhabitants of this part of the world; the sciences, fine
arts, industry, religion, social institutions, all are
changed. A multitude of schools are open for teaching
Medicine. Establishments which had no models among the
ancients, are created for the purpose of extending to the
poorer classes the benefits of the Healing Art. The ingenious
activity of modern Christians explores and is sufficient for
everything. These three grand chronological divisions do not
suffice to classify, in our minds, the principal phases of the
history of Medicine; consequently, I have subdivided each age
into a smaller number of sections, easy to be retained, and
which I have named Periods. The first Age embraces four
periods, the second and third ages, each, two. … The first
period, which we name Primitive Period, or that of instinct,
ends with the ruin of Troy, about twelve centuries before the
Christian era. The second, called the Mystic or Sacred Period,
extends from the dissolution of the 'Pythagorean Society' to
about the year 500 A. C. The third period, which ends at the
foundation of the Alexandrian Library, A. C., 320, we name the
Philosophic Period. The fourth, which we designate the
Anatomic, extends to the end of the first age, i. e., to the
year 200 of the Christian era. The fifth is called the Greek
Period; it ends at the destruction of the Alexandrian Library,
A. D. 640. The sixth receives the surname of Arabic, and
closes with the 14th century. The seventh period, which begins
the third age, comprises the 15th and 16th centuries; it is
distinguished as the Erudite. Finally, the eighth, or last
period, embraces the 17th and 18th centuries [beyond which the
writer did not carry his history]. I call it the Reform
Period."
P. V. Renouard,
History of Medicine,
introduction.
MEDICAL SCIENCE:
Egyptian.
"Medicine is practised among them [the Egyptians] on a plan of
separation; each physician treats a single disorder, and no
more: thus the country swarms with medical practitioners, some
undertaking to cure diseases of the eye, others of the head,
others again of the teeth, others of the intestines, and some
those which are not local."
Herodotus,
History,
translated by Rawlinson,
book 2, chapter 84.
{2121}
"Not only was the study of medicine of very early date in
Egypt, but medical men there were in such repute that they
were sent for at various times from other countries. Their
knowledge of medicine is celebrated by Homer (Od. iv. 229),
who describes Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, as giving
medicinal plants 'to Helen, in Egypt, a country producing an
infinite number of drugs … where each physician possesses
knowledge above all other men.' 'O virgin daughter of Egypt,'
says Jeremiah (lxvi. 11), 'in vain shalt thou use many
medicines.' Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for medical
men (Her. iii. 1, 132): and Pliny (xix. 5) says post mortem
examinations were made in order to discover the nature of
maladies. Doctors received their salaries from the treasury;
but they were obliged to conform in the treatment of a patient
to the rules laid down in their books, his death being a
capital crime, if he was found to have been treated in any
other way. But deviations from, and approved additions to, the
sacred prescriptions were occasionally made; and the
prohibition was only to prevent the experiments of young
practitioners, whom Pliny considers the only persons
privileged to kill a man with impunity. Aristotle indeed says
'the Egyptian physicians were allowed after the third day to
alter the treatment prescribed by authority, and even before,
taking upon themselves the responsibility' (Polit. iii. 11).
Experience gradually taught them many new remedies; and that
they had adopted a method (of no very old standing in modern
practice) of stopping teeth with gold is proved by some
mummies found at Thebes. Besides the protection of society
from the pretensions of quacks, the Egyptians provided that
doctors should not demand fees on a foreign journey or on
military service, when patients were treated free of expense
(Diod. i. 82); and we may conclude that they were obliged to
treat the poor gratis, on consideration of the allowance paid
them as a body by government. … Poor and superstitious
people sometimes had recourse to dreams, to wizards, to
donations to sacred animals, and to exvotos to the gods. …
Charms were also written for the credulous, some of which have
been found on small pieces of papyrus, which were rolled up
and worn as by the modern Egyptians. Accoucheurs were women;
which we learn from Exodus i. 15, and from the sculptures, as
in modern Egypt. … The Egyptian doctors were of the
sacerdotal order, like the embalmers, who are called (in
Genesis l. 2) 'Physicians,' and were' commanded by Joseph to
embalm his father.' They were of the class called Pastophori,
who, according to Clemens (Strom. lib. 6), being physicians,
were expected to know about all things relating to the body,
and diseases, and remedies, contained in the six last sacred
books of Hermes. Manetho tells us that Athothes, the second
king of Egypt, who was a physician, wrote the anatomical
books; and his name, translated Hermogenes, may have been the
origin of the tradition that ascribed them to Hermes, the
Egyptian Thoth. Or the fable may mean that they were the
result of intellect personified by Thoth, or Hermes."
Herodotus,
History,
translated by Rawlinson,
Note.
"The ancient Egyptians, though medical science was zealously
studied by them, also thought that the efficacy of the
treatment was enhanced by magic formulæ. In the Ebers Papyrus,
an important and very ancient manual of Egyptian medicine, the
prescriptions for various medicaments are accompanied by the
forms of exorcism to be used at the same time, and yet many
portions of this work give evidence of the advanced knowledge
of its authors."
G. Ebers,
Egypt,
volume 2, pages 61-62.
"Works on medicine abounded in Egypt from the remotest times,
and the great medical library of Memphis, which was of
immemorial antiquity, was yet in existence in the second
century before our era, when Galen visited the Valley of the
Nile. … Ateta, third king of the First Dynasty, is the
reputed author of a treatise on anatomy. He also covered
himself with glory by the invention of an infallible
hair-wash, which, like a dutiful son, he is said to have
prepared especially for the benefit of his mother. No less
than five medical papyri have come down to our time, the
finest being the celebrated Ebers papyrus, bought at Thebes by
Dr. Ebers in 1874. This papyrus contains one hundred and ten
pages, each page consisting of about twenty-two lines of bold
hieratic writing. It may be described as an Encyclopædia of
Medicine as known and practised by the Egyptians of the
Eighteenth Dynasty; and it contains prescriptions for all
kinds of diseases—some borrowed from Syrian medical lore, and
some of such great antiquity that they are ascribed to the
mythologic ages, when the gods yet reigned personally upon
earth. Among others, we are given the recipe for an
application whereby Osiris cured Ra of the headache. The
Egyptians attached great importance to these ancient medical
works, which were regarded as final. The physician who
faithfully followed their rules of treatment might kill or
cure with impunity; but if he ventured to treat the patient
according to his own notions, and if that patient died, he
paid for the experiment with his life. Seeing, however, what
the canonical remedies were, the marvel is that anybody ever
recovered from anything. Raw meat; horrible mixtures of nitre,
beer, milk, and blood, boiled up and swallowed hot; the bile
of certain fishes; and the bones, fat, and skins of all kinds
of unsavory creatures, such as vultures, bats, lizards and
crocodiles, were among their choicest remedies."
A. B. Edwards,
Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers,
chapter 6.
"In Egypt … man does not die, but some one or something
assassinates him. The murderer often belongs to our world, and
can be easily pointed out. … Often, though, it belongs to
the invisible world, and only reveals itself by the malignity
of its attacks: it is a god, a spirit, the soul of a dead man,
that has cunningly entered a living person, or that throws
itself upon him with irresistible violence. … Whoever treats
a sick person has therefore two equally important duties to
perform. He must first discover the nature of the spirit in
possession, and, if necessary, its name, and then attack it,
drive it out, or even destroy it. He can only succeed by
powerful magic, so he must be an expert in reciting
incantations, and skilful in making amulets. He must then use
medicine to contend with the disorders which the presence of
the strange being has produced in the body; this is done by a
finely graduated régime and various remedies. The cure-workers
are therefore divided into several categories.
{2122}
Some incline towards sorcery, and have faith in formulas and
talismen only; they think they have done enough if they have
driven out the spirit. Others extol the use of drugs; they
study the qualities of plants and minerals, describe the
diseases to which each of the substances provided by nature is
suitable, and settle the exact time when they must be procured
and applied: certain herbs have no power unless they are
gathered during the night at the full moon, others are
efficacious in summer only, another acts equally well in
winter or summer. The best doctors carefully avoid binding
themselves exclusively to either method."