to him.' … In the fall of the same year Smith had yet a more
miraculous and astonishing vision than any preceding one. He
now arrogated to himself, by authority of 'the spirit of
revelation,' and in accordance with the previous 'promises'
made to him, a far higher sphere in the scale of human
existence, assuming to possess the gift and power of 'prophet,
seer, and revelator.' On this assumption he announced to his
family friends and the bigoted persons who had adhered to his
supernaturalism, that he was 'commanded,' upon a secretly
fixed day and hour, to go alone to a certain spot revealed to
him by the angel, and there take out of the earth a metallic
book of great antiquity in its origin, and of immortal
importance in its consequences to the world, which was a
record, in mystic letters or characters, of the long-lost
tribes of Israel, … who had primarily inhabited this
continent, and which no human being besides himself could see
and live; and the power to translate which to the nations of
the earth was also given to him only, as the chosen servant of
God. … Accordingly, when the appointed hour came, the
prophet, assuming his practised air of mystery, took in hand
his money-digging spade and a large napkin, and went off in
silence and alone in the solitude of the forest, and after an
absence of some three hours returned, apparently with his
sacred charge concealed within the folds of the napkin. …
With the book was also found, or so pretended, a huge pair of
spectacles in a perfect state of preservation, or the Urim and
Thummim, as afterward interpreted, whereby the mystic record
was to be translated and the wonderful dealings of God
revealed to man, by the superhuman power of Joseph Smith. …
The sacred treasure was not seen by mortal eyes, save those of
the one anointed, until after the lapse of a year or longer
time, when it was found expedient to have a new revelation, as
Smith's bare word had utterly failed to gain a convert beyond
his original circle of believers. By this amended revelation,
the veritable existence of the book was certified to by eleven
witnesses of Smith's selection. It was then heralded as the
Golden Bible, or Book of Mormon, and as the beginning of a new
gospel dispensation. … The spot from which the book is
alleged to have been taken is the yet partially visible pit
where the money speculators had previously dug for another
kind of treasure, which is upon the summit of what has ever
since been known as 'Mormon Hill,' now owned by Mr. Anson
Robinson, in the town of Manchester, New York. This book …
was finally described by Smith and his echoes as consisting of
metallic leaves or plates resembling gold, bound together in a
volume by three rings running through one edge of them, the
leaves opening like an ordinary paper book. … Translations
and interpretations were now entered upon by the prophet," and
in 1830 the "Book of Mormon" was printed and published at
Palmyra, New York, a well-to-do farmer, Martin Harris, paying
the expense. "In claiming for the statements herein set forth
the character of fairness and authenticity, it is perhaps
appropriate to add … that the locality of the malversations
resulting in the Mormon scheme is the author's birthplace;
that he was well acquainted with 'Joe Smith,' the first Mormon
prophet, and with his father and all the Smith family, since
their removal to Palmyra from Vermont … ; that he was
equally acquainted with Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery, and
with most of the earlier followers of Smith, either as
money-diggers or Mormons; that he established at Palmyra, in
1823, and was for many years editor and proprietor of the
'Wayne Sentinel,' and was editorially connected with that
paper at the printing by its press of the original edition of
the 'Book of Mormon' in 1830; that in the progress of the work
he performed much of the reading of the proof-sheets,
comparing the same with the manuscript copies, and in the
meantime had frequent and familiar interviews with the pioneer
Mormons."
P. Tucker,
Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism,
chapters 1-5, and preface.
It is believed by many that the groundwork of the Book of
Mormon was supplied by an ingenious romance, written about
1814 by the Rev. Solomon Spalding, a Presbyterian minister of
some learning and literary ability, then living at New Salem
(now Conneaut), Ohio. This romance, which was entitled "The
Manuscript Found," purported to narrate the history of a
migration of the lost ten tribes of Israel to America. It was
never published; but members of Mr. Spalding's family, and
other persons, who read it or heard it read, in manuscript,
claimed confidently, after the appearance of the Book of
Mormon that the main body of the narrative and the notable
names introduced in it were identical with those of the
latter. Some circumstances, moreover, seemed to indicate a
probability that Mr. Spalding's manuscript, being left during
several weeks with a publisher named Patterson, at Pittsburgh,
came there into the hands of one Sidney Rigdon, a young printer,
who appeared subsequently as one of the leading missionaries
of Mormonism, and who is believed to have visited Joseph
Smith, at Palmyra, before the Book of Mormon came to light.
{2232}
On the other hand, Mormon believers have, latterly, made much
of the fact that a manuscript romance without title, by
Solomon Spalding, was found, not many years since, in the
Sandwich Islands, by President Fairchild of Oberlin College,
Ohio, and proved to bear no resemblance to the Book of Mormon.
Spalding is said, however, to have written several romances,
and, if so, nothing is proved by this discovery.
T. Gregg,
The Prophet of Palmyra,
chapters 1-11 and 41-45.
ALSO IN:
E. E. Dickinson,
New Light on Mormonism.
J. M. Kennedy,
Early Days of Mormonism,
chapters 1-2.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1830-1846.
The First Hegira to Kirtland, Ohio, the Second to Missouri,
the Third to Nauvoo, Illinois.
The Danites.
The building of the city and its Temple.
Hostility of the Gentiles.
The slaying of the Prophet.
"Immediately after the publication of the Book the Church was
duly organized at Manchester. On April 6, 1830, six members
were ordained elders—Joseph Smith, Sr., Joseph Smith, Jr.,
Hyrum Smith, Samuel Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Knight.
The first conference was held at Fayette, Seneca county, in
June. A special 'revelation' at this time made Smith's wife
'the Elect Lady and Daughter of God,' with the high-sounding
title of 'Electa Cyria.' In later years this lady became
disgusted with her husband's religion. … Another revelation
was to the effect that Palmyra was not the gathering-place of
the Saints, after all, but that they should proceed to
Kirtland, in Ohio. Consequently, the early part of 1831 saw
them colonized in that place, the move being known as 'The
First Hegira.' Still another revelation (on the 6th of June)
stated that some point in Missouri was the reliable spot.
Smith immediately selected a tract in Jackson county, near
Independence. By 1833 the few Mormons who had moved thither
were so persecuted that they went into Clay county, and
thence, in 1838, into Caldwell county, naming their settlement
'Far West.' The main body of the Mormons, however, remained
in Kirtland from 1831 till they were forced to join their
Western brethren in 1838. Brigham Young, another native of
Vermont, joined at Kirtland in 1832, and was ordained an
elder. The conference of elders on May 3, 1833, repudiated the
name of Mormons and adopted that of 'Latter-Day Saints.' The
first presidency consisted of Smith, Rigdon, and Frederick G.
Williams. In May, 1835, the Twelve Apostles—among them
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde—left on a
mission for proselytes. … The Mormons were driven from
Missouri by Governor Boggs's 'Extraordinary Order,' which
caused them to gain sympathy as having been persecuted in a
slave State. They moved to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1840,
and built up Nauvoo [on the Mississippi River, 14 miles above
Keokuk] by a charter with most unusual privileges."
F. G. Mather,
The Early Days of Mormonism
(Lippincott's Magazine, August 1880).
In the midst of the troubles of Smith and his followers in
Missouri, and before their removal to Nauvoo, there arose
among them "the mysterious and much dreaded band that finally
took the name of Danites, or sons of Dan, concerning which so
much has been said while so little is known, some of the
Mormons even denying its existence. But of this there is no
question. Says Burton: 'The Danite band, a name of fear in the
Mississippi Valley, is said by anti-Mormons to consist of men
between the ages of 17 and 49. They were originally termed
Daughters of Gideon, Destroying Angels—the gentiles say
devils—and, finally, Sons of Dan, or Danites, from one of
whom was prophesied he should be a serpent in the path. They
were organized about 1837 under D. W. Patten, popularly called
Captain Fearnot, for the purpose of dealing as avengers of
blood with gentiles; in fact they formed a kind of death
society, desperadoes, thugs, hashshashiyun—in plain English,
assassins in the name of the Lord. The Mormons declare
categorically the whole and every particular to be the
calumnious invention of the impostor and arch apostate, Mr.
John C. Bennett. John Hyde, a seceder, states that the Danite
band, or the United Brothers of Gideon, was organized on the
4th of July, 1838, and was placed under the command of the
apostle David Patten, who for the purpose assumed the name of
Captain Fearnot. It is the opinion of some that the Danite
band, or Destroying Angels as again they are called, was
organized at the recommendation of the governor of Missouri as
a means of self-defence against persecutions in that State."
H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 21, pages 124-126.
"The Mormons first attracted national notice about the time
they quitted Missouri to escape persecution and took refuge in
Illinois. In that free State a tract of land was granted them
and a charter too carelessly liberal in terms. The whole body,
already numbering about 15,000, gathered into a new city of
their own, which their prophet, in obedience to a revelation,
named Nauvoo; here a body of militia was formed under the name
of the Nauvoo legion; and Joe Smith, as mayor, military
commander, and supreme head of the Church, exerted an
authority almost despotic. The wilderness blossomed and
rejoiced, and on a lofty height of this holy city was begun a
grotesque temple, built of limestone, with huge monolithic
pillars which displayed carvings of moons and suns. … Nauvoo
was well laid out, with wide streets which sloped towards
well-cultivated farms; all was thrift and sobriety, no
spirituous liquors were drunk, and the colonists here, as in
their former settlements, furnished the pattern of insect
industry. The wonderful proselyting work of this new sect
abroad had already begun, and recruits came over from the
overplus toilers in the British factory towns. … But there
was something in the methods of this sect, not to speak of the
jealousy they excited by their prosperity, which bred them
trouble here as everywhere else where they came in contact
with American commonplace life. It was whispered that the
hierarchy of impostors grew rich upon the toils of their
simple followers. Polygamy had not yet received the sanction
of a divine revelation; and yet the first step towards it was
practised in the theory of 'sealing wives' spiritually, which
Smith had begun in some mysterious way that it baffled the
gentile to discover. Sheriffs, too, were forbidden to serve
civil process in Nauvoo without the written permission of its
mayor.
{2233}
All these strange scandals of heathenish pranks, and more,
besides, stirred up the neighboring gentiles, plain Illinois
backwoodsmen; and the more so that, besides his 3,000 militia,
the Mormon prophet controlled 6,000 votes, which, in the close
Presidential canvass of 1844, might have been enough to decide
the election. Joe Smith, indeed, whose Church nominated him
for President, showed a fatal but thoroughly American
disposition at this time to carry his power into politics.
This king of plain speech, who dressed as a journeyman
carpenter, suppressed a newspaper which was set up by seceding
Mormons. When complaint was made he resisted Illinois process
and proclaimed martial law; the citizens of the surrounding
towns armed for a fight. Joe Smith was arrested and thrown
into jail at Carthage with his brother Hiram. The rumor
spreading that the governor was disposed to release these
prisoners, a disorderly band gathered at the jail and shot
them [June 27, 1844]. Thus perished Smith, the Mormon founder.
His death at first created terror and confusion among his
followers, but Brigham Young, his successor, proved a man of
great force and sagacity. The exasperated gentiles clamored
loudly to expel these religious fanatics from Illinois as they
had been expelled from Missouri; and finally, to prevent a
civil war, the governor of the State took forcible possession
of the holy city, with its unfinished temple, while the Mormon
charter of Nauvoo was repealed by the legislature. The Mormons
now determined [1846] upon the course which was most suited to
their growth, and left American pioneer society to found their
New Jerusalem on more enduring foundations west of the Rocky
Mountains."
J. Schouler,
History of the United States,
volume 4, pages 547-549.
ALSO IN:
T. Ford,
History of Illinois,
chapters 8 and 10-11.
A. Davidson and B. Stuvé,
History of Illinois,
chapter 41.
J. Remy and J. Brenchley,
Journey to Great Salt Lake City,
book 2, chapters 2-3 (volume 1).
R. F. Burton,
The City of the Saints,
page 359.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1846-1848.
The gentile attack on Nauvoo.
Exodus of "the Saints" into the wilderness of the West.
Their settlement on the Great Salt Lake.
"During the winter of 1845-46 the Mormons made the most
prodigious preparations for removal. All the houses in Nauvoo,
and even the temple, were converted into work-shops; and
before spring more than 12,000 wagons were in readiness. The
people from all parts of the country flocked to Nauvoo to
purchase houses and farms, which were sold extremely low,
lower than the prices at a sheriff's sale, for money, wagons,
horses, oxen, cattle, and other articles of personal property
which might be needed by the Mormons in their exodus into the
wilderness. By the middle of May it was estimated that 16,000
Mormons had crossed the Mississippi and taken up their line of
march with their personal property, their wives and little
ones, westward across the continent to Oregon or California;
leaving behind them in Nauvoo a small remnant of 1,000 souls,
being those who were unable to sell their property, or who
having no property to sell were unable to get away. The twelve
apostles went first with about 2,000 of their followers.
Indictments had been found against nine of them in the circuit
court of the United States for the district of Illinois at its
December term, 1845, for counterfeiting the current coin of
the United States. The United States Marshal had applied to me
[the writer being at that time Governor of Illinois] for a
militia force to arrest them; but in pursuance of the amnesty
agreed on for old offences, believing that the arrest of the
accused would prevent the removal of the Mormons, and that if
arrested there was not the least chance that any of them would
ever be convicted, I declined the application unless regularly
called upon by the President of the United States according to
law. … It was notorious that none of them could be
convicted; for they always commanded evidence and witnesses
enough to make a conviction impossible."
T. Ford,
History of Illinois,
chapter 13.
"The Saints who had as yet been unable to leave Nauvoo
continued to labour assiduously at the completion of the
temple, so as to accomplish one of the most solemn prophecies
of their well-beloved martyr. The sacred edifice was
ultimately entirely finished, at the end of April, 1846, after
having cost the Saints more than a million dollars. It was
consecrated with great pomp on the 1st and 2nd of May, 1846.
… The day after the consecration of the temple had been
celebrated, the Mormons withdrew from the building all the
sacred articles which adorned it, and satisfied with having
done their duty in accomplishing, though to no purpose
otherwise, a Divine command, they crossed the Mississippi to
rejoin those who had gone before them. Nauvoo was abandoned.
There remained within its deserted walls but some hundred
families, whom the want of means and the inability to sell
their effects had not allowed as yet to start upon the road to
emigration. The presence of those who were thus detained,
together with the bruit caused by the ceremony of dedication,
raised the murmurs of the gentiles, and seemed to keep alive
their animosity and alarm. Their eager desire to be entirely
rid of the Mormons made them extremely sensitive to every idle
story respecting the projects of the latter to return. They
imagined that the Saints had only left in detachments to seek
recruits among the red-skins, meaning to come back with
sufficient force once more to take possession of their
property in Illinois. These apprehensions rose to such a pitch
that the anti-Mormons plunged into fresh acts of illegality
and barbarism. … On the 10th of September, 1846, an army of
1,000 men, possessing six pieces of artillery, started to
begin the attack under the direction of a person named Carlin,
and of the Reverend Mr. Brockman. Nauvoo had only 300 men to
oppose to this force, and but five small cannon, made from the
iron of an old steamboat. The fire opened on the afternoon of
the 10th, and continued on the 11th, 12th and 13th of
September." Every attack of the besiegers was repulsed, until
they consented to terms under which the remnant of the Mormons
was to evacuate the town at the end of five days. "The Mormons
had only three men killed and a few wounded during the whole
affair; the loss of their enemies is unknown, but it would
seem that it was heavy. It was agreed that a committee of five
persons should remain at Nauvoo to attend to the interests of
the exiles, and on the 17th of September, while the enemy, to
the number of 1,625, entered the city to plunder, the remnant
of the Mormons crossed the Mississippi to follow 'the track of
Israel towards the west.' …
{2234}
About the end of June, 1846, the first column of the emigrants
arrived on the banks of the Missouri, a little above the point
of confluence of this immense river with the Platte, in the
country of the Pottawatamies, where it stopped to await the
detachments in its rear. This spot, now known by the name of
Council Bluffs, was christened Kanesville by the Mormons. …
At this place, in the course of July, the federal government
made an appeal to the patriotism of the Mormons, and asked
them to furnish a contingent of 500 men for the Mexican war.
Did the government wish to favour the Saints by affording them
an opportunity of making money by taking service, or did it
merely wish to test their fidelity? This we cannot decide. …
The Saints generally regarded this levy as a species of
persecution; however … they furnished a battalion of 520
men, and received $20,000 for equipment from the war
department." The head quarters of the emigration remained at
Kanesville through the winter of 1846-47, waiting for the
brethren who had been left behind. There were several
encampments, however, some of them about 200 miles in advance.
The shelters contrived were of every kind—huts, tents, and
caves dug in the earth. The suffering was considerable and
many deaths occurred. The Indians of the region were
Pottawatamies and Omahas, both hostile to the United States
and therefore friendly to the Mormons, whom they looked upon
as persecuted foes of the American nation. "On the 14th of
April [1847], Brigham Young and eight apostles, at the head of
143 picked men and 70 carts laden with grain and agricultural
implements, started in search of Eden in the far-west. … The
23rd of July, 1847, Orson Pratt, escorted by a small advanced
guard, was the first to reach the Great Salt Lake. He was
joined the following day by Brigham Young and the main body of
the pioneers. That day, the 24th of July, was destined to be
afterwards celebrated by the Mormons as the anniversary of
their deliverance. … Brigham Young declared, by divine
inspiration, that they were to establish themselves upon the
borders of the Salt Lake, in this region, which was nobody's
property, and wherein consequently his people could follow
their religion without drawing upon themselves the hatred of
any neighbours. He spent several weeks in ascertaining the
nature of the country, and then fixed upon a site for the holy
city. … When he had thus laid the foundations of his future
empire, he set off on his return to Council Bluffs, leaving on
the borders of the Salt Lake the greater portion of the
companions who had followed him in his distant search. During
the summer, a convoy of 566 waggons, laden with large
quantities of grain, left Kanesville and followed upon the
tracks of the pioneers. … On their arrival at the spot
indicated by the president of the Church, they set to work
without a moment's repose. Land was tilled, trees and hedges
planted, and grain sown before the coming frost." The main
body of the emigrants, led by Brigham Young, moved from the
banks of the Missouri about the 1st of May, 1848, and arrived
at the Salt Lake the following autumn.
J. Remy and J. Brenchley,
Journey to Great-Salt-Lake City,
book 2, chapter 4 (volume 1).
"On the afternoon of the 22d [August, 1847] a conference was
held, at which it was resolved that the place should be called
the City of the Great Salt Lake. The term 'Great' was retained
for several years, until changed by legislative enactment. It
was so named in contradistinction to Little Salt Lake, a term
applied to a body of water some 200 miles to the south."
H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 21, chapter 10.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1850.
Organization of the Territory of Utah.
See UTAH: A. D. 1849-1850.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1857-1859.
The rebellion in Utah.
See UTAH: A. D. 1857-1859.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1894.
Admission of Utah to the Union as a State.
See UTAH: A. D. 1894.
----------MORMONISM: End----------
MOROCCO.
See MAROCCO.
MORONA, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
MORRILL TARIFF, The.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION: A. D. 1861-1864 (UNITED STATES).
MORRIS, Gouverneur,
The framing of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787.
The origin of the Erie Canal.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1817-1825.
MORRIS, Robert, and the finances of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1784.
MORRIS-DANCE, The.
"Both English and foreign glossaries, observes Mr. Douce,
uniformly ascribe the origin of this dance to the Moors,
although the genuine Moorish or Morisco dance was, no doubt,
very different from the European morris. … It has been
supposed that the morris-dance was first brought into England
in the reign of Edward III., and when John of Gaunt returned
from Spain: but it is much more probable that we had it from
our Gallic neighbours, or the Flemings."
H. Smith,
Festivals, Games, etc.,
chapter 18.
MORRIS ISLAND, Military operations on.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (JULY: SOUTH CAROLINA).
MORRIS'S PURCHASE.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1786-1799.
MORRISTOWN, N. J.:
Washington in winter quarters (1777-1778).
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776-1777; and 1777 (JANUARY-DECEMBER).
MORTARA, Battle of (1849).
See ITALY; A. D. 1848-1849.
MORTEMER, Battle of.
The French army invading Normandy, A. D. 1054, was surprised
by the Normans, in the town of Mortemer and utterly routed.
The town was destroyed and never rebuilt.
E. A. Freeman,
Norman Conquest,
chapter 12, section 2 (volume 3).
MORTIMER'S CROSS, Battle of (1461).
One of the battles in the "Wars of the Roses," fought Feb. 2,
1461, on a small plain called Kingsland Field, near Mortimer's
Cross, in Herefordshire, England. The Yorkists, commanded by
young Edward, Earl of March (soon afterwards King Edward IV.)
were greatly superior in numbers to the Lancastrians, under
the Earl of Pembroke, and won a complete victory.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.
MORTMAIN, The Statute of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1279.
MORTON, Thomas, at Merrymount.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1622-1628.
MORTUATH, The.
See TUATH, THE.
MOSA, The.
The ancient name of the river Meuse.
{2235}
----------MOSCOW: Start--------
MOSCOW: A. D. 1147.
Origin of the city.
"The name of Moscow appears for the first time in the
chronicles at the date of 1147. It is there said that the
Grand Prince George Dolgorouki, having arrived on the domain
of a boyard named Stephen Koutchko, caused him to be put to
death on some pretext, and that, struck by the position of one
of the villages situated on a height washed by the Moskowa,
the very spot whereon the Kremlin now stands, he built the
city of Moscow. … During the century following its
foundation, Moscow remained an obscure and insignificant
village of Souzdal. The chroniclers do not allude to it except
to mention that it was burned by the Tartars (1237), or that a
brother of Alexander Nevski, Michael of Moscow, was killed
there in a battle with the Lithuanians. The real founder of
the principality of the name was Daniel, a son of Alexander
Nevski, who had received this small town and a few villages as
his appanage. … He was followed, in due course, by his
brothers George and Ivan."
A. Rambaud,
History of Russia,
volume 1, chapter 12.
MOSCOW: A. D. 1362-1480.
Rise of the duchy which grew to be the Russian Empire.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1237-1480.
MOSCOW: A. D. 1571.
Stormed and sacked by the Crim Tartars.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1569-1571.
MOSCOW: A. D. 1812.
Napoleon in possession.
The burning of the city.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (SEPTEMBER);
and (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
----------MOSCOW: End--------
MOSKOWA,
BORODINO, Battle of the.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).
MOSLEM.
See ISLAM;
also MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE.
MOSQUITO INDIANS AND MOSQUITO COAST.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSQUITO,
or MOSQUITO INDIANS;
also NICARAGUA: A. D. 1850;
and CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1821-1871.
MOTASSEM, Al, Caliph, A. D. 833-841.
MOTAWAKKEL, Al, Caliph, A. D. 847-861.
MOTYE, Siege of.
See SYRACUSE: B. C. 397-396.
MOUGOULACHAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.
MOULEY-ISMAEL, Battle of (1835).
See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1830-1846.
MOULTRIE, Colonel, and the defense of Charleston.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JUNE).
MOUND-BUILDERS OF AMERICA, The.
See AMERICA, PREHISTORIC.
MOUNT BADON, Battle of.
This battle was fought A. D. 520 and resulted in a crushing
defeat of the West Saxons by the Britons, arresting the
advance of the latter in their conquest of southwestern
England for a generation. It figures in some legends among the
victories of King Arthur.
J. R. Green,
The Making of England,
chapter 3.
MOUNT CALAMATIUS, Battle of.
See SPARTACUS, RISING OF.
MOUNT ETNA, Battle of (1849).
See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.
MOUNT GAURUS, Battle of.
See ROME: B. C. 343-290.
MOUNT TABOR, Battle of (1799).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-AUGUST).
MOUNT VESUVIUS, Battle of (B. C. 338).
See ROME: B. C. 339-338.
MOUNTAIN, The Party of the.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (OCTOBER);
1792 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER);
and after, to 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE, The (1857).
See UTAH: A. D. 1857-1859.
MOURU.
See MARGIANA.
MOXO, The Great.
See EL DORADO.
MOXOS,
MOJOS, The.
See BOLIVIA: ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS;
also, AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
MOYTURA, Battle of.
Celebrated in the legendary history of Ireland and represented
as a fatal defeat of the ancient people in that country called
the Firbolgs by the new-coming Tuatha-de-Danaan. "Under the
name of the 'Battle of the Field of the Tower' [it], was long
a favourite theme of Irish song."
T. Moore,
History of Ireland,
chapter 5 (volume 1).
MOZARABES,
MOSTARABES.
The Christian people who remained in Africa and southern Spain
after the Moslem conquest, tolerated in the practice of their
religion, "were called Mostarabes or Mozarabes; they adopted
the Arabic language and customs. … The word is from the
Arabic 'musta'rab,' which means one 'who tries to imitate or
become an Arab in his manners and language.'"
H. Coppée,
History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors,
book 4, chapter 3 (volume 1), with foot-note.
ALSO IN:
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 51.
MOZART HALL.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1863-1871.
MUFTI.
See SUBLIME PORTE.
MUGELLO, Battle of (A. D. 542).
See ROME: A. D. 535-553.
MUGGLETONIANS.
See RANTERS.
MUGHAL OR MOGUL EMPIRE.
See INDIA: A. D. 1399-1605.
MUGWUMPS.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1884.
MUHAJIRIN, The.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632.
MUHLBERG, Battle of (1547).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552.
MÜHLDORF, OR MAHLDORF, Battle of (1322).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1314-1347.
MULATTO.
See MESTIZO.
MULE, Crompton's, The invention of.
See COTTON MANUFACTURE.
MÜLHAUSEN, Battle of (1674).
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678.
MULLAGHMAST, The Massacre of.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1559-1603.
MULLIGAN, Colonel James A.:
Defense of Lexington, Missouri.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JULY-SEPTEMBER: MISSOURI).
MULTAN, OR MOOLTAN:
Siege and capture by the English (1848-1849).
See INDIA: A. D. 1845-1849.
MUNDA, Battle of.
See ROME: B. C. 45.
MUNDRUCU, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: TUPI.
MUNERA GLADIATORIA.
See LUDI.
----------MUNICH: Start--------
MUNICH: 13th Century.
First rise to importance.
See BAVARIA: A. D. 1180-1356.
MUNICH: A. D. 1632.
Surrender to Gustavus Adolphus.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.
MUNICH: A. D. 1743.
Bombardment and capture by the Austrians.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743.
----------MUNICH: End--------
MUNICIPAL CONSTITUTIONS AND FORMS.
See COMMUNE; BOROUGH; and GUILD.
{2236}
MUNICIPAL CURIA OF THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE.
See CURIA, MUNICIPAL.
MUNICIPIUM.
"The term Municipium appears to have been applied originally
to those conquered Italian towns which Rome included in her
dominion without conferring on the people the Roman suffrage
and the capacity of attaining the honours of the Roman state.
… If the inhabitants of such Municipia had everything Roman
except the right to vote and to be eligible to the Roman
magistracies, they had Commercium and Connubium. By virtue of
the first, such persons could acquire property within the
limits of the Roman state, and could dispose of it by sale,
gift, and testament. By virtue of the second, they could
contract a legal marriage with the daughter of a Roman
citizen."
G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 2, chapter 14.
MUNSEES, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: DELAWARES,
and ALGONQUIAN FAMILY;
also, MANHATTAN ISLAND.
----------MÜNSTER: Start--------
MÜNSTER: A. D. 1532-1536.
The reign of the Anabaptists.
See ANABAPTISTS OF MÜNSTER.
MÜNSTER: A. D. 1644-1648.
Negotiation of the Peace of Westphalia.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648;
and NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1646-1648.
----------MÜNSTER: End--------
MUNYCHIA.
See PIRÆUS.
MUNYCHIA, Battle of (B. C. 403).
See ATHENS: B. C. 404-403.
MURA, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.
MURAD V., Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1876 (MAY-AUGUST).
MURAT, King of Naples, The career of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (JUNE-FEBRUARY),
1806 (JANUARY-OCTOBER);
GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER), to 1807 (FEBRUARY-JUNE);
SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (MAY-SEPTEMBER);
ITALY: A. D. 1808-1809;
RUSSIA: A. D. 1812;
GERMANY: A. D. 1812-1813, 1813 (AUGUST), to (OCTOBER);
ITALY: A. D. 1814, and 1815.
MURCI.
A name given to degenerate Romans, in the later days of the
Empire, who escaped military service by cutting off the
fingers of their right hands.
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 17.
MURET, Battle of (A. D. 1213).
See ALBIGENSES: A. D. 1210-1213;
and SPAIN: A. D. 1035-1258.
MURFREESBOROUGH,
STONE RIVER, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862-1863 (DECEMBER-JANUARY: TENNESSEE).
MURRAY, The Regent, Assassination of.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568.
MURRHINE VASES.
"The highest prices were paid for the so-called Murrhine vases
(vasa Murrhina) brought to Rome from the East. Pompey, after
his victory over Mithridates, was the first to bring one of
them to Rome, which he placed in the temple of the Capitoline
Jupiter. Augustus, as is well known, kept a Murrhine goblet
from Cleopatra's treasure for himself, while all her gold
plate was melted. The Consularis T. Petronius, who owned one
of the largest collections of rare vases, bought a basin from
Murrha for 300,000 sestertii; before his death he destroyed
this matchless piece of his collection, so as to prevent Nero
from laying hold of it. Nero himself paid for a handled
drinking-goblet from Murrha a million sestertii. Crystal vases
also fetched enormous prices. There is some doubt about the
material of these Murrhine vases, which is the more difficult
to solve, as the only vase in existence which perhaps may lay
claim to that name is too thin and fragile to allow of closer
investigation. It was found in the Tyrol in 1837.
See
Neue Zeitschrift des Ferdinandeums,
volume v. 1839.
Pliny describes the colour of the Murrhine vases as a mixture
of white and purple; according to some ancient writers, they
even improved the taste of the wine drunk out of them."
E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 91.
"I believe it is now understood that the murrha of the Romans
was not porcelain, as had been supposed from the line,
'Murrheaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis' (Propert. iv. 5.
26.), but an imitation in coloured glass of a transparent
stone."
C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 39, foot-note.
MURSA, Battle of (A. D. 351).
See ROME: A. D. 337-361.
MUSCADINS.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).
MUSCULUS, The.
A huge movable covered way which the Romans employed in siege
operations. Its construction, of heavy timbers, with a
roof-covering of bricks, clay and hides, is described in
Cæsar's account of the siege of Massilia.
Cæsar,
The Civil War,
book 2, chapter 10.
MUSEUM, British.
See LIBRARIES, MODERN: ENGLAND.
MUSEUM OF ALEXANDRIA, The.
See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 282-246.
MUSKHOGEES, OR MASKOKALGIS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.
MUSSULMANS.
See ISLAM.
MUSTAPHA I., Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1617-1618; and 1622-1623.
Mustapha II., Turkish Sultan, 1695-1703.
Mustapha III., Turkish Sultan, 1757-1774.
Mustapha IV., Turkish Sultan, 1807-1808.
MUTA, Battle of.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632.
MUTHUL, Battle of the.
See NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104.
MUTINA, Battle of (B. C. 72).
See SPARTACUS, RISING OF.
MUTINA, Battle of (B. C. 43).
See ROME: B. C. 44-42.
MUTINA AND PARMA.
On the final conquest of Cisalpine Gaul by the Romans, about
220 B. C. the Senate planted the colonies of Mutina (Modena)
and Parma on the line of the Æmilian Road and assigned the
territory of the Apuans to the new colony of Luca (Lucca).
H. G. Liddell,
History of Rome,
book 5, chapter 41 (volume 2).
MUTINY ACTS, The English.
In 1689 the Parliament (called a Convention at first) which
settled the English crown upon William of Orange and Mary,
"passed the first Act for governing the army as a separate and
distinct body under its own peculiar laws, called 'The Mutiny
Act.' … The origin of the first Mutiny Act was this. France
had declared war against Holland, who applied under the treaty
of Nimeguen to England for troops. Some English regiments
refused to go, and it was felt that the common law could not
be employed to meet the exigency. The mutineers were for the
time by military force compelled to submit, happily without
bloodshed; but the necessity for soldiers to be governed by
their own code and regulations became manifest. Thereupon the
aid of Parliament was invoked, but cautiously.
{2237}
The first Mutiny Act was very short in enactments and to
continue only six months. It recited that standing armies and
courts martial were unknown to English law, and enacted that
no soldier should on pain of death desert his colours, or
mutiny. At the expiration of the six months another similar
Act was passed, also only for six months: and so on until the
present practice was established of regulating and governing
the army, now a national institution, by an annual Mutiny Act,
which is requisite for the legal existence of a recognised
force, whereby frequent meeting of Parliament is indirectly
secured, if only to preserve the army in existence."
W. H. Torriano,
William the Third,
chapter 7.
"These are the two effectual securities against military
power: that no pay can be issued to the troops without a
previous authorisation by the commons in a committee of
supply, and by both houses in an act of appropriation; and
that no officer or soldier can be punished for disobedience,
nor any court-martial held, without the annual re-enactment of
the mutiny bill."
H. Hallam,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 15 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
Lord Macaulay,
History of England,
chapter 11 (volume 3).
MUTINY OF THE ENGLISH FLEET.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1797.
MUTINY OF THE PHILADELPHIA LINE.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1781 (JANUARY).
MUTINY OF THE SEPOYS.
See INDIA: A. D. 1857, to 1857-1858 (JULY-JUNE).
MUYSCAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHIBCHAS.
MYCALE, Battle of.
See GREECE: B. C. 479.
MYCENÆ.
See GREECE: MYCENÆ: AND ITS KINGS;
also ARGOS; HERACLEIDÆ; and HOMER.
MYCIANS, The.
A race, so-called by the Greeks, who lived anciently on the
coast of the Indian Ocean, east of modern Kerman. They were
known to the Persians as Maka.
G. Rawlinson,
Five Great Monarchies: Persia,
chapter 1.
MYLÆ, Naval battle at (B. C. 260).
See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.
MYONNESUS, Battle of (B. C. 190).
See SELEUCIDÆ: B. C. 224-187.
MYRMIDONS, The.
"Æakus was the son of Zeus, born of Ægina, daughter of Asopus,
whom the god had carried off and brought into the island to
which he gave her name. … Æakus was alone in Ægina: to
relieve him from this solitude, Zeus changed all the ants in
the island into men, and thus provided him with a numerous
population, who, from their origin, were called Myrmidons."
G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 1, chapter 10.
According to the legends, Peleus, Telamon and Phocus were the
sons of Æakus; Peleus migrated, with the Myrmidons, or some
part of them, to Thessaly, and from there the latter
accompanied his son Achilles to Troy.
MYSIANS, The.
See PHRYGIANS.—MYSIANS.
MYSORE, The founding of the kingdom of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1767-1769.
MYSORE WARS, with Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib.
See INDIA: A. D. 1767-1769; 1780-1783; 1785-1793;
and 1798-1805.
MYSTERIES, Ancient Religious.
See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES.
MYSTICISM.
QUIETISM.
"The peculiar form of devotional religion known under these
names was not, as most readers are aware, the offspring of the
17th century. It rests, in fact, on a substratum of truth
which is coeval with man's being, and expresses one of the
elementary principles of our moral constitution. … The
system of the Mystics arose from the instinctive yearning of
man's soul for communion with the Infinite and the Eternal.
Holy Scripture abounds with such aspirations—the Old
Testament as well as the New; but that which under the Law was
'a shadow of good things to come,' has been transformed by
Christianity into a living and abiding reality. The Gospel
responds to these longings for intercommunion between earth
and heaven by that fundamental article of our faith, the
perpetual presence and operation of God the Holy Ghost in the
Church, the collective 'body of Christ,' and in the individual
souls of the regenerate. But a sublime mystery like this is
not incapable of misinterpretation. … The Church has ever
found it a difficult matter to distinguish and adjudicate
between what may be called legitimate or orthodox Mysticism
and those corrupt, degrading, or grotesque versions of it
which have exposed religion to reproach and contempt. Some
Mystics have been canonized as saints; others, no less
deservedly, have been consigned to obloquy as pestilential
heretics. It was in the East—proverbially the fatherland of
idealism and romance—that the earliest phase of error in this
department of theology was more or less strongly developed. We
find that in the 4th century the Church was troubled by a sect
called Massalians or Euchites, who placed the whole of
religion in the habit of mental prayer; alleging as their
authority the Scripture precept 'That men ought always to
pray, and not to faint.' They were for the most part monks of
Mesopotamia and Syria; there were many of them at Antioch when
St. Epiphanius wrote his Treatise against heresies, A. D. 376.
They held that every man is from his birth possessed by an
evil spirit or familiar demon, who can only be cast out by the
practice of continual prayer. They disparaged the Sacraments,
regarding them as things indifferent: they rejected manual
labor; and, although professing to be perpetually engaged in
prayer, they slept, we are told, the greater part of the day,
and pretended that in that state they received revelations
from above. … The Massalians did not openly separate from
the Church; they were condemned, however, by two Councils—one
at Antioch in 391, the other at Constantinople in 426.
Delusions of the same kind were reproduced from time to time
in the Oriental Church; and, as is commonly the case, the
originators of error were followed by a race of disciples who
advanced considerably beyond them. The Hesychasts, or
Quietists of Mount Athos in the 14th century, seem to have
been fanatics of an extreme type. They imagined that, by a
process of profound contemplation, they could discern
internally the light of the Divine Presence—the 'glory of
God'—the very same which was disclosed to the Apostles on the
Mount of Transfiguration. Hence they were also called
Thaborites.
{2238}
The soul to which this privilege was vouchsafed had no need to
practise any of the external acts or rites of religion. …
The theory of abstract contemplation, with the extraordinary
fruits supposed to be derived from it, travelled in due course
into the West, and there gave birth to the far-famed school of
the Mystics, of which there were various ramifications. The
earliest exponent of the system in France was John Scotus
Erigena, the contemporary and friend of Charles the Bald. …
Erigena incurred the censures of the Holy See; but the results
of his teaching were permanent. … The Mystics, or
Theosophists as some style them, attained a position of high
renown and influence at Paris towards the close of the 12th
century. Here two of the ablest expositors of the learning of
the middle age, Hugh and Richard of St. Victor, initiated
crowds of ardent disciples into the mysteries of the 'via
interna,' and of 'pure love'—that marvellous quality by which
the soul, sublimated and etherialized, ascends into the very
presence-chamber of the King of kings. … The path thus
traced was trodden by many who were to take rank eventually as
the most perfect masters of spiritual science; among them are
the venerated names of Thomas à Kempis, St. Bonaventure, John
Tauler of Strasburg, Gerson, and St. Vincent Ferrier. … But,
on the other hand, it is not less true that emotional religion
has been found to degenerate, in modern as well as in ancient
times, into manifold forms of moral aberration. … To exalt
above measure the dignity and privileges of the spiritual
element in man carries with it the danger of disparaging the
material part of our nature; and this results in the
preposterous notion that, provided the soul be absorbed in the
contemplation of things Divine, the actions of the body are
unimportant and indifferent. How often the Church has combated
and denounced this most insidious heresy is well known to all
who have a moderate acquaintance with its history. Under the
various appellations of Beghards, Fratricelli, Cathari,
Spirituals, Albigenses, Illuminati, Guerinets, and Quietists,
the self-same delusion has been sedulously propagated in
different parts of Christendom, and with the same ultimate
consequences. A revival of the last-named sect, the Quietists,
took place in Spain about the year 1675, when Michel de
Molinos, a priest of the diocese of Saragossa, published his
treatise called 'The Spiritual Guide,' or, in the Latin
translation, 'Manuductio spiritualis.' His leading principle,
like that of his multifarious predecessors, was that of
habitual abstraction of the mind from sensible objects, with a
view to gain, by passive contemplation, not only a profound
realisation of God's presence, but so perfect a communion with
Him as to end in absorption into His essence. … Persons of
the highest distinction—Cardinals, Inquisitors, nay, even
Pope Innocent himself—were suspected of sharing these
dangerous opinions. Molinos was arrested and imprisoned, and
in due time the Inquisition condemned sixty-eight propositions
from his works; a sentence which was confirmed by a Papal bull
in August, 1687. Having undergone public penance, he was
admitted to absolution; after which, in 'merciful'
consideration of his submission and repentance, he was
consigned for the rest of his days to the dungeons of the Holy