History for ready reference, Volume 3, Greece to Nibelungen (part 7 of 10)

History for ready reference, Volume 3, Greece to Nibelungen (part 7 of 10)

Whilst Demetrius was thus employed, Cassander had made great progress in reducing Greece. He had taken Corinth, and was besieging Athens, when Demetrius entered the Euripus. Cassander immediately raised the siege, and was subsequently defeated in an action near Thermopylae. When Demetrius entered Athens he was received as before with the most extravagant flatteries. He remained two or three years in Greece, during which his superiority over Cassander was decided, though no great battle was fought. In the spring of 301 B. C. he was recalled by his father Antigonus, who stood in need of his assistance against Lysimachus and Seleucus. In the course of the same year the struggle between Antigonus and his rivals was brought to a close by the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus was killed, and his army completely defeated. Antigonus had attained the age of 81 at the time of his death. Demetrius retreated with the remnant of the army to Ephesus, whence he sailed to Cyprus, and afterwards proposed to go to Athens; but the Athenians, alienated by his ill-fortune at Ipsus, refused to receive him."

W. Smith, History of Greece, chapter 45.

"After the battle [of Ipsus] it remained for the conquerors to divide the spoil. The dominions of Antigonus were actually in the hands of Seleucus and Lysimachus, and they alone had achieved the victory. It does not appear that they consulted either of their allies on the partition, though it seems that they obtained the assent of Cassander. They agreed to share all that Antigonus had possessed between themselves. It is not clear on what principle the line of demarcation was drawn, nor is it possible to trace it. But the greater part of Asia Minor was given to Lysimachus. The portion of Seleucus included not only the whole country between the coast of Syria and the Euphrates, but also, it seems, a part of Phrygia and of Cappadocia. Cilicia was assigned to Cassander's brother Pleistarchus. With regard to Syria however a difficulty remained. The greater part of it had … been conquered by Ptolemy: Tyre and Sidon alone were still occupied by the garrisons of Antigonus. Ptolemy had at least as good a right as his ally to all that he possessed. … Seleucus however began to take possession of it, and when Ptolemy pressed his claims returned an answer, mild in sound, but threatening in its import … : and it appears that Ptolemy was induced to withdraw his opposition. There were however also some native princes [Ardoates in Armenia, and Mithridates, son of Ariobarzanes, in Pontus—see MITHRIDATIC WARS] who had taken advantage of the contests between the Macedonian chiefs to establish their authority over extensive territories in the west of Asia. … So far as regards Asia, the battle of Ipsus must be considered as a disastrous event. Not because it transferred the power of Antigonus into different hands, nor because it would have been more desirable that he should have triumphed over Seleucus. But the new distribution of territory led to calamitous consequences, which might perhaps otherwise have been averted. If the empire of Seleucus had remained confined between the Indus and the Euphrates, it might have subsisted much longer, at least, as a barrier against the inroads of the barbarians, who at last obliterated all the traces of European civilisation left there by Alexander and his successors. But shortly after his victory, Seleucus founded his new capital on the Orontes, called, after his father, Antiochia, peopling it with the inhabitants of Antigonia. It became the residence of his dynasty, and grew, while their vast empire dwindled into the Syrian monarchy. For the prospects of Greece, on the other hand, the fall of Antigonus must clearly be accounted an advantage, so far as the effect was to dismember his territory, and to distribute it so that the most powerful of his successors was at the greatest distance. It was a gain that Macedonia was left an independent kingdom, within its ancient limits, and bounded on the north by a state of superior strength. It does not appear that any compact was made between Cassander and his allies as to the possession of Greece. It was probably understood that he should keep whatever he might acquire there."

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 59 (volume 7).

ALSO IN: B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient History, lectures 86-87 (volume 3).

MACEDONIA: B. C. 297-280. Death of Casander. Intrigues of Ptolemy Keraunos. Overthrow and death of Lysimachus. Abdication and death of Ptolemy. Murder of Seleucus. Seizure of the Macedonian crown by Keraunos.

"Casander died of disease (a rare end among this seed of dragon's teeth) in 297 B. C., and so the Greeks were left to assert their liberty, and Demetrius to machinate and effect his establishment on the throne of Macedonia, as well as to keep the world in fear and suspense by his naval forces, and his preparations to reconquer his father's position. Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy were watching one another, and alternating in alliance and in war. All these princes, as well as Demetrius and Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, were connected in marriage; they all married as many wives as they pleased, apparently without remonstrance from their previous consorts. So the whole complex of the warring kings were in close family relations. … Pyrrhus was now a very rising and ambitions prince; if not in alliance with Demetrius, he was striving to extend his kingdom of Epirus into Macedonia, and would doubtless have succeeded, but for the superior power of Lysimachus. This Thracian monarch, in spite of serious reverses against the barbarians of the North, who took both him and his son prisoners, and released them very chivalrously, about this time possessed a solid and secure kingdom, and moreover an able and righteous son, Agathocles, so that his dynasty might have been established, but for the poisonous influence of Arsinoe, the daughter of Ptolemy, whom he, an old man, had married in token of an alliance after the battle of Ipsus. … The family quarrel which upset the world arose in this wise. To seal the alliance after Ipsus, old king Ptolemy sent his daughter Arsinoe to marry his rival and friend Lysimachus, who, on his side, had sent his daughter, another Arsinoe, in marriage to the younger Ptolemy (Philadelphus). This was the second son of the great Ptolemy, who had chosen him for the throne in preference to his eldest son, Keraunos, a man of violent and reckless character, who accordingly left the country, and went to seek his fortune at foreign courts. Meanwhile the old Ptolemy, for safety's sake, installed his second son as king of Egypt during his own life, and abdicated at the age of 83 [B. C. 283], full of honours, nor did he leave the court, where he appeared as a subject before his son as king. Keraunos naturally visited, in the first instance, the Thracian court, where he not only had a half sister (Arsinoe) queen, but where his full sister, Lysandra, was married to the crown prince, the gallant and popular Agathocles; but Keraunos and the queen conspired against this prince; they persuaded old Lysimachus that he was a traitor, and so Keraunos was directed to put him to death. {2064} This crime caused unusual excitement and odium all through the country, and the relations and party of the murdered prince called on Seleucus to avenge him. He did so, and advanced with an army against Lysimachus, whom he defeated and slew in a great battle, somewhere not far from the field of Ipsus. It was called the plain of Coron (B. C. 281). Thus died the last but one of Alexander's Companions, at the age of 80, he, too, in battle. Ptolemy was already laid in his peaceful grave (B. C. 283). There remained the last and greatest, the king of Asia, Seleucus. He, however, gave up all his Asiatic possessions from the Hellespont to the Indus to his son Antiochus, and meant to spend his last years in the home of his fathers, Macedonia; but as he was entering that kingdom he was murdered by Keraunos, whom he brought with him in his train. This bloodthirsty adventurer was thus left with an army which had no leader, in a kingdom which had no king; for Demetrius' son, Antigonus, the strongest claimant, had not yet made good his position. All the other kings, whose heads were full with their newly acquired sovereignties, viz., Antiochus in Asia and Ptolemy II. in Egypt, joined with Keraunos in buying off the dangerous Pyrrhus [king of Epirus—see ROME: B. C. 282-275], by bribes of men, money, and elephants, to make his expedition to Italy, and leave them to settle their affairs. The Greek cities, as usual, when there was a change of sovereign in Macedonia, rose and asserted what they were pleased to call their liberty, so preventing Antigonus from recovering his father's dominions. Meanwhile Keraunos established himself in Macedonia; he even, like our Richard, induced the queen, his step-sister, his old accomplice against Agathocles, to marry him! but it was only to murder her children by Lysimachus, the only dangerous claimants to the Thracian provinces. The wretched queen fled to Samothrace, and thence to Egypt, where she ended her guilty and chequered career as queen of her full brother Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus), and was deified during her life! Such then was the state of Alexander's Empire in 280 B. C. All the first Diadochi were dead, and so were even the sons of two of them, Demetrius and Agathocles. The son of the former was a claimant for the throne of Macedonia, which he acquired after long and doubtful struggles. Antiochus, who had long been regent of the Eastern provinces beyond Mesopotamia, had come suddenly, by his father's murder, into possession of so vast a kingdom, that he could not control the coast of Asia Minor, where sundry free cities and dynasts sought to establish themselves. Ptolemy II. was already king of Egypt, including the suzerainty of Cyrene, and had claims on Palestine and Syria. Ptolemy Keraunos, the double-dyed villain and murderer, was in possession of the throne of Macedonia, but at war with the claimant Antigonus. Pyrrhus of Epirus was gone to conquer a new kingdom in the West. Such was the state of things when a terrible new scourge [the invasion of the Gauls] broke over the world."

J. P. Mahaffy, The Story of Alexander's Empire, chapter 7.

ALSO IN: C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 60 (volume 8).

MACEDONIA: B. C. 280-279. Invasion by the Gauls. Death of Ptolemy Keraunos.

See GAULS: B. C. 280-279.

MACEDONIA: B. C. 277-244. Strife for the throne. Failures of Pyrrhus. Success of Antigonus Gonatus. His subjugation of Athens and Corinth.

"On the retirement of the Gauls, Antipater, the nephew of Cassander, came forward for the second time, and was accepted as king by a portion, at any rate, of the Macedonians. But a new pretender soon appeared upon the scene. Antigonus Gonatus, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had maintained himself since that monarch's captivity as an independent prince in Central or Southern Hellas, claimed the throne once filled by his father, and, having taken into his service a body of Gallic mercenaries, defeated Antipater and made himself master of Macedonia. His pretensions being disputed by Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleucus, who had succeeded to the throne of Syria, he engaged in war with that prince, crossing into Asia and uniting his forces with those of Nicomedes, the Bithynian king, whom Antiochus was endeavouring to conquer. To this combination Antiochus was forced to yield: relinquishing his claims, he gave his sister, Phila, in marriage to Antigonus, and recognised him as king of Macedonia. Antigonus upon this fully established his power, repulsing a fresh attack of the Gauls. … But he was not long left in repose. In B. C. 274, Pyrrhus finally quitted Italy, having failed in all his schemes, but having made himself a great reputation. Landing in Epirus with a scanty force, he found the condition of Macedonia and of Greece favourable to his ambition. Antigonus had no hold on the affections of his subjects, whose recollections of his father, Demetrius, were unpleasing. The Greek cities were, some of them, under tyrants, others occupied against their will by Macedonian garrisons. Above all, Greece and Macedonia were full of military adventurers, ready to flock to any standard which offered them a fair prospect of plunder. Pyrrhus, therefore, having taken a body of Celts into his pay, declared war against Antigonus, B. C. 273, and suddenly invaded Macedonia. Antigonus gave him battle, but was worsted, owing to the disaffection of his soldiers, and being twice defeated became a fugitive and a wanderer. The victories of Pyrrhus, and his son Ptolemy, placed the Macedonian crown upon the brow of the former, who might not improbably have become the founder of a great power, if he could have turned his attention to consolidation, instead of looking out for fresh conquests. But the arts and employments of peace had no charm for the Epirotic knight-errant. Hardly was he settled in his seat when, upon the invitation of Cleonymus of Sparta, he led an expedition into the Peloponnese, and attempted the conquest of that rough and difficult region. Repulsed from Sparta, which he had hoped to surprise, he sought to cover his disappointment by the capture of Argos; but here he was still more unsuccessful. Antigonus, now once more at the head of an army, watched the city, prepared to dispute its occupation, while the lately threatened Spartans hung upon the invader's rear. {2065} In a desperate attempt to seize the place by night, the adventurous Epirote was first wounded by a soldier and then slain by the blow of a tile, thrown from a housetop by an Argive woman, B. C. 271. On the death of Pyrrhus the Macedonian throne was recovered by Antigonus, who commenced his second reign by establishing his influence over most of the Peloponnese, after which he was engaged in a long war with the Athenians (B. C. 268 to 263), who were supported by Sparta and by Egypt [see ATHENS: B. C. 288-263]. These allies rendered, however, but little help; and Athens must have soon succumbed, had not Antigonus been called away to Macedonia by the invasion of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus. This enterprising prince carried, at first, all before him, and was even acknowledged as Macedonian king; but ere long Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, having defeated Alexander near Derdia, re-established his father's dominion over Macedon, and, invading Epirus, succeeded in driving the Epirotic monarch out of his paternal kingdom. The Epirots soon restored him; but from this time he remained at peace with Antigonus, who was able once more to devote his undivided attention to the subjugation of the Greeks. In B. C. 263 he took Athens, and rendered himself complete master of Attica; and, in B. C. 244, … he contrived by a treacherous stratagem to obtain possession of Corinth. But at this point his successes ceased. A power had been quietly growing up in a corner of the Peloponnese [the Achaian League—see GREECE: B. C. 280-146] which was to become a counterpoise to Macedonia, and to give to the closing scenes of Grecian history an interest little inferior to that which had belonged to its earlier pages."

G. Rawlinson, Manual of Ancient History, pages 261-263.

ALSO IN: B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient History, lectures 100-102.

MACEDONIA: B. C. 214-168. The Roman conquest. Extinction of the kingdom.

See GREECE: B. C. 214-146.

MACEDONIA: B. C. 205-197. Last relations with the Seleucid empire.

See SELEUCIDÆ: B. C. 224-187.

Slavonic occupation.

See SLAVONIC PEOPLES: 6-7TH CENTURIES.

----------MACEDONIA: End----------

MACEDON IAN DYNASTY, The.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 820-1057.

MACEDONIAN PHALANX.

See PHALANX, MACEDONIAN.

MACEDONIAN WARS, The.

See GREECE: B. C. 214-146.

MACERATA, Battle of (1815).

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1815.

McHENRY, Fort, The bombardment of, by the British.

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

MACHICUIS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.

MACHINE, Political.

See STALWARTS.

MACK, Capitulation of, at Ulm.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1805 (MARCH-DECEMBER).

MACKENZIE, William Lyon, and the Canadian Rebellion.

See CANADA: A. D.1837; and 1837-1838.

----------MACKINAW: Start--------

MACKINAW (MICHILLIMACKINAC): Discovery and first Jesuit Mission.

See CANADA: A. D. 1634-1673.

MACKINAW: Rendezvous of the Coureurs de Bois.

See COUREURS DE BOIS.

MACKINAW: A. D. 1763. Captured by the Indians.

See PONTIAC'S WAR.

----------MACKINAW: End--------

McKINLEY TARIFF ACT, The.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1890.

McLEOD CASE, The.

See CANADA: A. D. 1840-1841.

MacMAHON, Marshal, President of the French Republic, A. D. 1873-1879.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1871-1876; and 1875-1889.

MACON, Fort, Capture of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-APRIL: NORTH CAROLINA).

McPHERSON, General: Death in the Atlanta campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY: GEORGIA); and (MAY-SEPTEMBER: GEORGIA).

MACRINUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 217-218.

MACUSHI, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CARIBS AND THEIR KINDRED.

MADAGASCAR: A. D. 1882-1883. French claims and demands enforced by war.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1875-1889.

MADEIRA ISLAND, Discovery of.

In the year 1419, Joham Gonçalvez Zarco and Tristam Vaz, "seeing from Porto Santo something that seemed like a cloud, but yet different (the origin of so much discovery, noting the difference in the likeness), built two boats, and, making for this cloud, soon found themselves alongside a beautiful island, abounding in many things, but most of all in trees, on which account they gave it the name of Madeira (wood)."

A. Helps, Spanish Conquest, book 1, chapter 1.

MADISON, James, and the framing and adoption of the Federal Constitution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787; 1787-1789.

Presidential election and administration.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1808 to 1817.

MADRAS: A. D. 1640. The founding of the city.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702.

MADRAS: A. D. 1746-1748. Taken by the French. Restored to England.

See INDIA: A. D. 1743-1752.

MADRAS: A. D. 1758-1759. Unsuccessful siege by the French.

See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.

----------MADRID: Start--------

MADRID: A. D. 1560. Made the capital of Spain by Philip II.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1559-1563.

MADRID: A. D. 1706-1710. Taken and retaken by the French and Austrian claimants of the crown.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1706; and 1707-1710.

MADRID: A. D. 1808. Occupied by the French. Popular insurrection.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1807-1808.

MADRID: A. D. 1808. Arrival of Joseph Bonaparte, as king, and his speedy flight.

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

MADRID: A. D. 1808 (December). Recovery by the French. Return of King Joseph Bonaparte.

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

MADRID: A. D. 1812. Evacuation by the French. Occupation of the city by Wellington and his army.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-AUGUST).

MADRID: A. D. 1823. Again occupied by the French.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1814-1827.

{2066}

MADRID, The Treaty of (1526).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1525-1526.

----------MADRID: End--------

MÆATÆ, The.

A common or national name given by the Romans to the tribes in Scotland which dwelt between the Forth and the Clyde, next to "the wall."

MÆOTIS PALUS, PALUS MÆOTIS.

The ancient Greek name of the body of water now called the Sea of Azov.

----------MAESTRICHT: Start--------

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1576. The Spanish Fury.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1575-1577.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1579. Spanish siege, capture and massacre.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1577-1581.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1632. Siege and capture by the Dutch.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1621-1633.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1673. Siege and capture by Vauban and Louis XIV.

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1676. Unsuccessfully besieged by William of Orange.

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

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1678. Restored to Holland.

See NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1748. Taken by the French and restored to Holland.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1746-1747; and AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, CONGRESS AND TREATY.

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1793. Unsuccessful siege by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (FEBRUARY-APRIL).

MAESTRICHT: A. D. 1795. Ceded to France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1794-1795 (OCTOBER-MAY).

----------MAESTRICHT: End--------

MAFRIAN.

See JACOBITE CHURCH.

MAGADHA, The kingdom of.

See INDIA: B. C. 327-312; and 312—.

MAGDALA, Capture of (1868).

See ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1854-1889.

MAGDEBURG: A. D. 1631. Siege, storming, and horrible sack and massacre by the troops of Tilly.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1630-1631.

MAGELLAN, Voyage of.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1524.

MAGENTA, Battle of (1859).

See ITALY: A. D. 1856-1859.

MAGESÆTAS, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.

MAGIANS. MAGI.

The priesthood of the ancient Iranian religion—the religion of the Avesta and of Zarathrustra, or Zoroaster—as it existed among the Medes and Persians. In Eastern Iran the priests were called Athravas. In Western Iran "they are not called Athravas, but Magush. This name is first found in the inscription which Darius caused to be cut on the rock-wall of Behistun; afterwards it was consistently used by Western writers, from Herodotus to Agathias, for the priests of Iran."

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 7, chapter 8 (volume 5).

"The priests of the Zoroastrians, from a time not long subsequent to Darius Hystaspis, were the Magi. This tribe, or caste, originally perhaps external to Zoroastrianism, had come to be recognised as a true priestly order; and was entrusted by the Sassanian princes with the whole control and direction of the religion of the state. Its chief was a personage holding a rank but very little inferior to the king. He bore the title of 'Tenpet,' 'Head of the Religion,' or 'Movpetan Movpet,' 'Head of the Chief Magi.'"

G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 28.

"To the whole ancient world Zoroaster's lore was best known by the name of the doctrine of the Magi, which denomination was commonly applied to the priests of India, Persia, and Babylonia. The earliest mention of them is made by the prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), who enumerated among the retinue of King Nebuchadnezzar at his entry into Jerusalem, the 'Chief of the Magi' ('rab mag' in Hebrew), from which statement we may distinctly gather that the Magi exercised a great influence at the court of Babylonia 600 years B. C. They were, however, foreigners, and are not to be confounded with the indigenous priests. … The name Magi occurs even in the New Testament. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew (ii. 1), the Magi (Greek 'magoi,' translated in the English Bible by 'wise men') came from the East to Jerusalem, to worship the new-born child Jesus at Bethlehem. That these Magi were priests of the Zoroastrian religion, we know from Greek writers."

_M. Haug, Essays on the Religion of the Parsis, 1._

See, also, ZOROASTRIANS.

MAGNA CARTA.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1215.

MAGNA GRÆCIA.

"It was during the height of their prosperity, seemingly, in the sixth century B. C., that the Italic Greeks [in southern Italy] either acquired for, or bestowed upon, their territory the appellation of Magna Græcia, which at that time it well deserved; for not only were Sybaris and Kroton then the greatest Grecian cities situated near together, but the whole peninsula of Calabria may be considered as attached to the Grecian cities on the coast. The native Œnotrians and Sikels occupying the interior had become hellenised, or semi-hellenised, with a mixture of Greeks among them—common subjects of these great cities."

G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 22.

On the Samnite conquest of Magna Græcia

See SAMNITES.

MAGNANO, Battle of (1799).

See FRANCE: A. D, 1798-1799 (AUGUST-APRIL).

MAGNATÆ, The.

See IRELAND, TRIBES OF EARLY CELTIC INHABITANTS.

MAGNESIA.

The eastern coast of Thessaly was anciently so called. The Magnetes who occupied it were among the people who became subject to the Thessalians or Thesprotians, when the latter came over from Epirus and occupied the valley of the Peneus.

G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 3.

Two towns named Magnesia in Asia Minor were believed to be colonies from the Magnetes of Thessaly. One was on the south side of the Meander; the other, more northerly, near the river Harmus.

G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 13.

MAGNESIA, Battle of (B. C. 190).

See SELEUCIDÆ: B. C. 224-187.

MAGNUS I., King of Denmark, A. D. 1042-1047.

Magnus I. (called The Good), King of Norway, 1035-1047.

Magnus I., King of Sweden, 1275-1290.

Magnus II., King of Norway, 1066-1069.

Magnus II., King of Sweden, 1319-1350, and 1359-1363; and VII. of Norway, 1319-1343.

Magnus III., King of Norway, 1093-1103.

Magnus IV., King of Norway, 1130-1134.

Magnus V., King of Norway, 1162-1186.

Magnus VI., King of Norway, 1263-1280.

{2067}

MAGYARS, The.

See HUNGARIANS.

MAHARAJA.

See RAJA.

MAHDI, Al, Caliph, A. D. 775-785.

MAHDI, The.

"The religion of Islam acknowledges the mission of Jesus, but not His divinity. Since the Creation, it teaches, five prophets had appeared before the birth of Mahomet—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus—each being greater than his predecessor, and each bringing a fuller and higher revelation than the last. Jesus ranks above all the prophets of the old dispensation, but below those of the new, inaugurated by Mahomet. In the final struggle He will be but the servant and auxiliary of a more august personage—the Mahdi. The literal meaning of the word Mahdi is not, as the newspapers generally assert, 'He who leads,' a meaning more in consonance with European ideas, but 'He who is led.' … If he leads his fellow-men it is because he alone is the 'well-guided one,' led by God—the Mahdi. The word Mahdi is only an epithet which may be applied to any prophet, or even to any ordinary person; but used as a proper name it indicates him who is 'well-guided' beyond all others, the Mahdi 'par excellence,' who is to end the drama of the world, and of whom Jesus shall only be the vicar. … The Koran does not speak of the Mahdi, but it seems certain that Mahomet must have announced him. … The idea of the Mahdi once formed, it circulated throughout the Mussulman world: we will follow it rapidly in its course among the Persians, the Turks, the Egyptians, and the Arabs of the Soudan; but without for an instant pretending to pass in review all the Mahdis who have appeared upon the prophetic stage; for their name is Legion."

_J. Darmesteter, The Mahdi, Past and Present, chapters 1-2. _

See, also, ISLAM; ALMOHADES; and EGYPT: A. D. 1870-1883, and 1884-1885.

MAHDIYA: Taken by the Moorish Corsair, Dragut, and retaken by the Spaniards (1550).

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1543-1560.

MAHMOUD I., Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1730-1754.

Mahmoud II., Turkish Sultan, 1808-1839.

Mahmoud, the Afghan, Shah of Persia, 1722-1725.

Mahmoud, the Gaznevide, The Empire of.

See TURKS: A. D. 999-1183.

----------MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: Start--------

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632. The Mission of the Prophet.

Mahomet (the usage of Christendom has fixed this form of the name Mohammad) was born at Mecca, on or about the 20th day of August, A. D. 570. He sprang from "the noblest race in Mecca and in Arabia [the tribe of Koreish and the family of Hashem]. To his family belonged the hereditary guardianship of the Kaaba and a high place among the aristocracy of his native city. Personally poor, he was raised to a position of importance by his marriage with the rich widow Khadijah, whose mercantile affairs he had previously conducted. In his fortieth year he began to announce himself as an Apostle of God, sent to root out idolatry, and to restore the true faith of the preceding Prophets, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Slowly and gradually he makes converts in his native city; his good wife Khadijah, his faithful servant Zeyd, are the first to recognize his mission; his young cousin, the noble Ali, the brave and generous and injured model of Arabian chivalry, declares himself his convert and Vizier; the prudent, moderate and bountiful Abu-Bekr acknowledges the pretensions of the daring innovator. Through mockery and persecution the Prophet keeps unflinchingly in his path; no threats, no injuries, hinder him from still preaching to his people the unity and the righteousness of God, and exhorting to a far purer and better morality than had ever been set before them. He claims no temporal power, no spiritual domination; he asks but for simple toleration, for free permission to win men by persuasion into the way of truth. … As yet at least his hands were not stained with blood, nor his inner life with lust."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 2.

After ten years of preaching at Mecca, and of a private circulation and repetition of the successive Suras or chapters of the Koran, as the prophet delivered them, Mahomet had gained but a small following, while the opposition to his doctrines and pretensions had gained strength. But in A. D. 620 (he being then fifty years of age) he gained the ear of a company of pilgrims from Medina and won them to his faith. Returning home, they spread the gospel of Islam among their neighbors, and the disciples at Medina were soon strong enough in numbers to offer protection to their prophet and to his persecuted followers in Mecca. As the result of two pledges, famous in Mahometan history, which were given by the men of Medina to Mahomet, in secret meetings at the hill of Acaba, a general emigration of the adherents of the new faith from Mecca to Medina took place in the spring of the year 622. Mahomet and his closest friend, Abu Bakr, having remained with their families until the last, escaped the rage of the Koreish, or Coreish, only by a secret flight and a concealment for three days in a cave on Mount Thaur, near Mecca. Their departure from the cave of Thaur, according to the most accepted reckoning, was on the 20th of June, A. D. 622. This is the date of the Hegira, or flight, or emigration of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina. The Mahometan Era of the Hegira, "though referring 'par excellence' to the flight of the Prophet, … is also applicable to all his followers who emigrated to Medina prior to the capture of Mecca; and they are hence called Muhâjirîn, i. e., the Emigrants, or Refugees. We have seen that they commenced to emigrate from the beginning of Moharram (the first month of the Hegira era) two months before." The title of the Muhâjirîn, or Refugees, soon became an illustrious one, as did that of the Ansar, or Allies, of Medina, who received and protected them. At Medina Mahomet found himself strongly sustained. Before the year of his flight ended, he opened hostilities against the city which had rejected him, by attacking its Syrian caravans. The attacks were followed up and the traffic of Mecca greatly interfered with, until January, 624, when the famous battle of Bedr, or Badr, was fought, and the first great victory of the sword of Islam achieved. {2068} The 300 warriors of Bedr formed "the peerage of Islam." From this time the ascendancy of Mahomet was rapidly gained, and assumed a political as well as a religious character. His authority was established at Medina and his influence spread among the neighboring tribes. Nor was his cause more than temporarily depressed by a sharp defeat which he sustained, January, 625, in battle with the Koreish at Ohod. Two years later Medina was attacked and besieged by a great force of the Koreish and other tribes of Arabs and Jews, against the latter of whom Mahomet, after vainly courting their adhesion and recognition, had turned with relentless hostility. The siege failed and the retreat of the enemy was hastened by a timely storm. In the next year Mahomet extorted from the Koreish a treaty, known as the Truce of Hodeibia, which suspended hostilities for ten years and permitted the prophet and his followers to visit Mecca for three days in the following year. The pilgrimage to Mecca was made in the holy month, February, 629, and in 630 Mahomet found adherents enough within the city and outside of it to deliver the coveted shrine and capital of Arabia into his hands. Alleging a breach of the treaty of peace, he marched against the city with an army of 10,000 men, and it was surrendered to him by his obstinate opponent, Abu Sofiân, who acknowledged, at last, the divine commission of Mahomet and became a disciple. The idols in the Kaaba were thrown down and the ancient temple dedicated to the worship of the one God. The conquest of Mecca was followed within no long time by the submission of the whole Arabic peninsula. The most obstinate in resisting were the great Bedouin tribe of the Hawazin, in the hill country, southeast of Mecca, with their kindred, the Bani Thackif. These were crushed in the important battle of Honein, and their strong city of Tayif was afterwards taken. Before Mahomet died, on the 8th June, A. D. 632, he was the prince as well as the prophet of Arabia, and his armies, passing the Syrian borders, had already encountered the Romans, though not gloriously, in a battle fought at Muta, not far from the Dead Sea.

_Sir W. Muir, Life of Mahomet._

ALSO IN: E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 50.

J. W. H. Stobart, Islam and its Founder, chapters 3-9.

W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, chapters 6-39.

R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, part 1, chapters 1-3.

See, also, ISLAM, and ERA, MAHOMETAN.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639. Abu Bekr. Omar. The founding of the Caliphate. Conquest of Syria.

The death of Mahomet left Islam without a head. The Prophet had neither named a successor (Khalif or Caliph), nor had he instituted a mode in which the choice of one should be made. His nephew and son-in-law—"the Bayard of Islam," the lion-hearted Ali—seemed the natural heir of that strangely born sovereignty of the Arab world. But its elders and chiefs were averse to Ali, and the assembly which they convened preferred, instead, the Prophet's faithful friend, the venerable Abu Bekr. This first of the caliphs reigned modestly but two years, and on his death, July, A. D. 634, the stern soldier Omar was raised to the more than royal place. By this time the armies of the crescent were already far advanced beyond the frontiers of Arabia in their fierce career of conquest. No sooner had Abu Bekr, in 632, set his heel on some rebellious movements, which threatened his authority, than he made haste to open fields in which the military spirit and ambitions of his unquiet people might find full exercise. With bold impartiality he challenged, at once, and alike, the two dominant powers of the eastern world, sending armies to invade the soil of Persia, on one hand, and the Syrian provinces of the Roman empire, on the other. The invincible Khaled, or Caled, led the former, at first, but was soon transferred to the more critical field, which the latter proved to be. "One of the fifteen provinces of Syria, the cultivated lands to the eastward of the Jordan, had been decorated by Roman vanity with the name of 'Arabia'; and the first arms of the Saracens were justified by the semblance of a national right." The strong city of Bosra was taken, partly through the treachery of its commander, Romanus, who renounced Christianity and embraced the faith of Islam. From Bosra the Moslems advanced on Damascus, but suspended the siege of the city until they had encountered the army which the Emperor Heraclius sent to its relief. This they did on the field of Aiznadin, in the south of Palestine, July 30, A. D. 634, when 50,000 of the Roman-Greeks and Syrians are said to have perished, while but 470 Arabs fell. Damascus was immediately invested and taken after a protracted siege, which Voltaire has likened to the siege of Troy, on account of the many combats and stratagems—the many incidents of tragedy and romance—which poets and historians have handed down, in some connection with its progress or its end. The ferocity of Khaled was only half restrained by his milder colleague in command, Abu Obeidah, and the wretched inhabitants of Damascus suffered terribly at his hands. The city, itself, was spared and highly favored, becoming the Syrian capital of the Arabs. Heliopolis (Baalbec) was besieged and taken in January, A. D. 636; Emessa surrendered soon after. In November, 636, a great and decisive battle was fought with the forces of Heraclius at Yermuk, or Yermouk, on the borders of Palestine and Arabia. The Christians fought obstinately and well, but they were overwhelmed with fearful slaughter. "After the battle of Yermuk the Roman army no longer appeared in the field; and the Saracens might securely choose, among the fortified towns of Syria, the first object of their attack. They consulted the caliph whether they should march to Cæsarea or Jerusalem; and the advice of Ali determined the immediate siege of the latter. … After Mecca and Medina, it was revered and visited by the devout Moslems as the temple of the Holy Land, which had been sanctified by the revelation of Moses, of Jesus, and of Mahomet himself." The defense of Jerusalem, notwithstanding its great strength, was maintained with less stubbornness than that of Damascus had been. After a siege of four months, in the winter of A. D. 637, the Christian patriarch or bishop of Jerusalem, who seems to have been first in authority, proposed to give up the Holy City, if Omar, the caliph, would come in person from Medina to settle and sign the terms of surrender. Omar deemed the prize worthy of this concession and made the long journey, travelling as simply as the humblest pilgrim and entering Jerusalem on foot. {2069} After this, little remained to make the conquest of all Syria complete. Aleppo was taken, but not easily, after a siege, and Antioch, the splendid seat of eastern luxury and wealth, was abandoned by the emperor and submitted, paying a great ransom for its escape from spoliation and the sword. The year 639 saw Syria at the feet of the Arabs whom it had despised six years before, and the armies of the caliph were ready to advance to new fields, east, northwards, and west.

E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, Mahomet and His Successors, volume 2, chapters 3-23.

_S. Ockley, History of the Saracens: Abubeker._

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapters 2, 11, 19-21.

See, also, JERUSALEM: A. D. 637; and TYRE: A. D. 638.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-651. Conquest of Persia.

During the invasion of Syria, Abu Bekr, the first of the Caliphs, sent an expedition towards the Euphrates, under command of the redoubtable Khaled (633). The first object of its attack was Hira, a city on the western branch of the Euphrates, not far from modern Kufa. Hira was the seat of a small kingdom of Christian Arabs tributary to Persia and under Persian protection and control. Its domain embraced the northern part of that fertile tract between the desert and the Euphrates which the Arab writers call Sawad; the southern part being a Persian province of which the capital, Obolla, was the great emporium of the Indian trade. Hira and Obolla were speedily taken and this whole region subdued. But, Khaled being then transferred to the army in Syria, the Persians regained courage, while the energy of the Moslems was relaxed. In an encounter called the Battle of the Bridge, A. D. 635, the latter experienced a disastrous check; but the next year found them more victorious than ever. The great battle of Cadesia (Kadisiyeh) ended all hope in Persia of doing more than defend the Euphrates as a western frontier. Within two years even that hope disappeared. The new Arab general, Sa'ad Ibn Abi Wakas, having spent the interval in strengthening his forces, and in founding the city of Busrah, or Bassora, below the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, as well as that of Kufa, which became the Moslem capital, advanced into Mesopotamia, A. D. 637, crossing the river without opposition. The Persian capital, Ctesiphon, was abandoned to him so precipitately that most of its vast treasures fell into his hands. It was not until six months later that the Persians and Arabs met in battle, at Jalula, and the encounter was fatal to the former, 100,000 having perished on the field. "By the close of the year A. D. 637 the banner of the Prophet waved over the whole tract west of Zagros, from Nineveh almost to Susa." Then a brief pause ensued. In 641 the Persian king Isdigerd—last of the Sassanian house—made a great, heroic effort to recover his lost dominions and save what remained. He staked all and lost, in the final battle of Nehavend, which the Arabs called "Fattah-hul-Futtuh," or "Victory of Victories." "The defeat of Nehavend terminated the Sassanian power. Isdigerd indeed, escaping from Rei, and flying continually from place to place, prolonged an inglorious existence for the space of ten more years—from A. D. 641 to A. D. 651; but he had no longer a kingdom. Persia fell to pieces on the occasion of 'the victory of victories,' and made no other united effort against the Arabs. Province after province was occupied by the fierce invaders; and, at length, in A. D. 651, their arms penetrated to Merv, where the last scion of the house of Babek had for some years found a refuge. … The order of conquest seems to have been the following: Media, Northern Persia, Rhagiana, Azerbijan, Gurgan, Tantrist, and Khorassan in A. D. 642; Southern Persia, Kerman, Seistan, Mekran, and Kurdistan in A. D. 643; Merv, Balkh, Herat, and Kharezm in A. D. 650 or 652."

G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 26, and foot-notes.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapters 25-34.

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapters 10-18, 25-26.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646. Conquest of Egypt.

"It was in the nineteenth or twentieth year of the Hegira [A. D. 640 or 641] that Amru, having obtained the hesitating consent of the Caliph, set out from Palestine for Egypt. His army, though joined on its march by bands of Bedouins lured by the hope of plunder, did not at the first exceed 4,000 men. Soon after he had left, Omar, concerned at the smallness of his force, would have recalled him; but finding that he had already gone too far to be stopped, he sent heavy reinforcements, under Zobeir, one of the chief Companions, after him. The army of Amru was thus swelled to an imposing array of from 12,000 to 16,000 men, some of them warriors of renown. Amru entered Egypt by Arish, and overcoming the garrison at Faroma [ancient Pelusium], turned to the left and so passed onward through the desert, reaching thus the easternmost of the seven estuaries of the Nile. Along this branch of the river he marched by Bubastis towards Upper Egypt,"—and, so, to Heliopolis, near to the great ancient city of Misr, or Memphis. Here, and throughout their conquest of Egypt, the Moslem invaders appear to have found some goodwill towards them prevailing among the Christians of the Jacobite sect, who had never become reconciled to the Orthodox Greeks. Heliopolis and Memphis were surrendered to their arms after some hard fighting and a siege of no long duration. "Amru lost no time in marching upon Alexandria so as to reach it before the Greek troops, hastily called in from the outlying garrisons, could rally there for its defence. On the way he put to flight several columns which sought to hinder his advance; and at last presented himself before the walls of the great city, which, offering (as it still does) on the land side a narrow and well-fortified front, was capable of an obstinate resistance. Towards the sea also it was open to succour at the pleasure of the Byzantine Court. But during the siege Heraclius died, and the opportunity of relief was supinely allowed to slip away." In the end Alexandria capitulated and was protected from plunder (see LIBRARIES, ANCIENT: ALEXANDRIA), paying tribute to the conquerors. "Amru, it is said, wished to fix his seat of government at Alexandria, but Omar would not allow him to remain so far away from his camp, with so many branches of the Nile between. So he returned to Upper Egypt. A body of the Arabs crossed the Nile and settled in Ghizeh, on the western bank—a movement which Omar permitted only on condition that a strong fortress was constructed there to prevent the possibility of their being surprised and cut off. {2070} The headquarters of the army were pitched near Memphis. Around them grew up a military station, called from its origin Fostat, or 'the Encampment.' It expanded rapidly into the capital of Egypt, the modern Cairo. … This name 'Cahira,' or City of the Victory, is of later date [see below: A. D. 908-1171]. … Zobeir urged Amru to enforce the right of conquest, and divide the land among his followers. But Amru refused; and the Caliph, as might have been expected, confirmed the judgment. 'Leave the land of Egypt,' was his wise reply, 'in the people's hands to nurse and fructify.' As elsewhere, Omar would not allow the Arabs to become proprietors of a single acre. Even Amru was refused ground whereupon to build a mansion for himself. … So the land of Egypt, left in the hands of its ancestral occupants, became a rich granary for the Hejaz, even as in bygone times it had been the granary of Italy and the Byzantine empire. … Amru, with the restless spirit of his faith, soon pushed his conquests westward beyond the limits of Egypt, established himself in Barca, and reached even to Tripoli. … Early in the Caliphate of Othman [A. D. 646] a desperate attempt was made to regain possession of Alexandria. The Moslems, busy with their conquests elsewhere, had left the city insufficiently protected. The Greek inhabitants conspired with the Court; and a fleet of 300 ships was sent under command of Manuel, who drove out the garrison and took possession of the city. Amru hastened to its rescue. A great battle was fought outside the walls: the Greeks were defeated, and the unhappy town was subjected to the miseries of a second and a longer siege. It was at last taken by storm and given up to plunder. … The city, though still maintaining its commercial import, fell now from its high estate. The pomp and circumstance of the Moslem Court were transferred to Fostat, and Alexandria ceased to be the capital of Egypt."

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 24, with foot-note.

ALSO IN: E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51.

W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapters 24 and 35.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 644. Assassination of Caliph Omar.

The death of Omar, the second of the Caliphs, was a violent one. "It occurred in November, A. D. 644. One day a slave who worked for his master at the carpenter's bench came to see the Commander of the Faithful, and complained to him of being overworked, and badly treated by the citizen that owned him. Omar listened attentively, but arriving at the conclusion that the charges were false, sternly dismissed the carpenter to his bench. The man retired, vowing to be revenged. The following day was Friday, 'the day of the Assembly.' Omar, as usual, went to lead the prayers of the assembly in the great mosque. He opened his mouth to speak. He had just said 'Allah,' when the keen dagger of the offended slave was thrust into his back, and the Commander of the Faithful fell on the sacred floor, fatally wounded. The people, in a perfect frenzy of horror and rage, fell upon the assassin, but with superhuman strength he threw them off, and rushing about in the madness of despair he killed some and wounded others, and finally turning the point of his dagger to his own breast, fell dead. Omar lingered several days in great agony, but he was brave to the end. His dying words were, 'Give to my successor this parting bequest, that he be kind to the men of this city, Medina, which gave a home to us, and to the Faith. Tell him to make much of their virtues, and to pass lightly over their faults. Bid him also treat well the Arab tribes, for verily they are the backbone of Islam. Moreover, let him faithfully fulfil the covenants made with the Christians and the Jews! O Allah! I have finished my course! To him that cometh after me, I leave the kingdom firmly established and at peace!' Thus perished one of the greatest Princes the Mohammedans were ever to know. Omar was truly a great and good man, of whom any country and any creed might be proud."

J. J. Pool, Studies in Mohammedanism, pages 58-59.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709. Conquest of northern Africa.

"While Egypt was won almost without a blow, Latin Africa [northern Africa beyond Egypt] took sixty years to conquer. It was first invaded under Othman in 647, but Carthage was not subdued till 698, nor was the province fully reduced for eleven years longer. And why? Doubtless because Africa contained two classes of inhabitants, not over-friendly to each other, but both of whom had something to lose by a Saracenic conquest. The citizens of Carthage were Roman in every sense, their language was Latin, their faith was orthodox; they had no wrongs beyond those which always afflict provincials under a despotism; wrongs not likely to be alleviated by exchanging a Christian despot at Constantinople for an infidel one at Medina or Damascus. Beyond them, in the inland provinces, were the native Moors, barbarians, and many of them pagans; they had fought for their rude liberty against the Cæsars, and they had no intention of surrendering it to the Caliphs. Romans and Moors alike long preferred the chances of the sword to either Koran or tribute; but their ultimate fate was different. Latin civilization and Latin Christianity gradually disappeared by the decay and extermination of their votaries. The Moors, a people not unlike the Arabs in their unconverted state, were at last content to embrace their religion, and to share their destinies and their triumphs. Arabs and Moors intermingled went on to further conquests; and the name of the barbarian converts was more familiarly used in Western Europe to denote the united nation than the terrible name of the original compatriots of the Prophet."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 3.

"In their climate and government, their diet and habitation, the wandering Moors resembled the Bedoweens of the desert. With the religion they were proud to adopt the language, name, and origin of Arabs; the blood of the strangers and natives was insensibly mingled; and from the Euphrates to the Atlantic the same nation might seem to be diffused over the sandy plains of Asia and Africa. Yet I will not deny that 50,000 tents of pure Arabians might be transported over the Nile and scattered through the Libyan desert; and I am not ignorant that five of the Moorish tribes still retain their barbarous idiom, with the appellation and character of 'white' Africans."

E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51.

"By 647 the Barbary coast was overrun up to the gates of Roman Carthage; but the wild Berber population was more difficult to subdue than the luxurious subjects of the Sasanids of Persia or the Greeks of Syria and Egypt. Kayrawan was founded as the African capital in 670; Carthage fell in 693, and the Arabs pushed their arms as far as the Atlantic. From Tangier they crossed into Spain in 710."

S. Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties, page 5.

ALSO IN: W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapters 35, 44, 54-55.

R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, part 1, chapters 1-3.

See, also, CARTHAGE: A. D. 698; and MOROCCO.

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MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 661. Accession of the Omeyyads.

Abu Bekr, the immediate successor of Mahomet, reigned but two years, dying August, A. D. 634. By his nomination, Omar was raised to the Caliphate and ruled Islam until 644, when he was murdered by a Persian slave. His successor was Othman, who had been the secretary of the Prophet. The Caliphate of Othman was troubled by many plots and increasing disaffection, which ended in his assassination, A. D. 656. It was not until then that Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, was permitted to take the Prophet's seat. But the dissensions in the Moslem world had grown more bitter as the fields of ambitious rivalry were widened, and the factions opposed to Ali were implacable, "Now begins the tragic tale of the wrongs and martyrdoms of the immediate family of the Prophet. The province of Syria was now ruled by the crafty Moawiyah, whose father was Abu-Sofian, so long the bitterest enemy of Mahomet, and at last a tardy and unwilling proselyte. … Such was the parentage of the man who was to deprive the descendants of the Apostle of their heritage. Moawiyah gave himself out as the avenger of Othman; Ali was represented as his murderer, although his sons, the grandsons of the Prophet, had fought, and one of them received a wound, in the defence of that Caliph. … Ayesha, too, the Mother of the Faithful, Telha and Zobeir, the Prophet's old companions, revolted on their own account, and the whole of the brief reign of Ali was one constant succession of civil war." Syria adhered to Moawiyah. Ayesha, Zobeir and Telha gained possession of Bussorah and made that city their headquarters of rebellion. They were defeated there by Ali in a great battle, A. D. 656, called the Battle of the Camel, because the litter which bore Ayesha on the back of a camel became the center of the fight. But he gained little from the success; nor more from a long, indecisive battle fought with Moawiyah at Siffin, in July, A. D. 657. Amru, the conqueror of Egypt, had now joined Moawiyah, and his influence enlisted that great province in the revolt. At last, in 661, the civil war was ended by the assassination of Ali. His eldest son, Hassan, who seems to have been a spiritless youth, bargained away his claims to Moawiyah, and the latter became undisputed Caliph, founding a dynasty called that of the Ommiades, or Omeyyads (from Ommiah, or Omeyya, the great grandfather of Moawiyah), which occupied the throne for almost a century—not at Medina, but at Damascus, to which city the Caliphate was now transferred. "In thus converting the Caliphate into an hereditary monarchy he utterly changed its character. It soon assumed the character of a common oriental empire. … The Ommiads were masters of slaves instead of leaders of freemen; the public will was no longer consulted, and the public good as little; the Commander of the Faithful sank into an earthly despot, ruling by force, like any Assyrian conqueror of old. The early Caliphs dwelt in the sacred city of Medina, and directed the counsels of the Empire from beside the tomb of the Prophet. Moawiyah transferred his throne to the conquered splendours of Damascus; and Mecca and Medina became tributary cities to the ruler of Syria. At one time a rival Caliph, Abdallah, established himself in Arabia; twice were the holy cities taken by storm, and the Kaaba itself was battered down by the engines of the invaders. … Such a revolution however did not effect itself without considerable opposition. The partizans of the house of Ali continued to form a formidable sect. In their ideas the Vicarship of the Prophet was not to be, like an earthly kingdom, the mere prize of craft or of valour. It was the inalienable heritage of the sacred descendants of the Prophet himself. … This was the origin of the Shiah sect, the assertors of the rights of Ali and his house."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 3.

ALSO IN: Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapters 31-46.

R. D. Osborn, Islam Under the Arabs, part 3.

S. Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties, pages 9-11.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 680. The Tragedy at Kerbela.

When Ali, or Aly, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, had been slain, A. D. 661, and the Caliphate had been seized by Moawiyah, the first of the Ommiades, "the followers of 'Aly proclaimed his elder son, Hasan, Khalif; but this poor-spirited youth was contented to sell his pretensions to the throne. … On his death, his brother Hoseyn became the lawful Khalif in the eyes of the partisans of the House of 'Aly, who ignored the general admission of the authority of the 'Ommiades.' … For a time Hoseyn remained quietly at Medina, leading a life of devotion, and declining to push his claims. But at length an opportunity for striking a blow at the rival House presented itself, and Hoseyn did not hesitate to avail himself of it. He was invited to join an insurrection which had broken out at Kufa [A. D. 680], the most mutinous and fickle of all the cities of the empire; and he set out with his family and friends, to the number of 100 souls, and an escort of 500 horsemen, to join the insurgents. As he drew nigh to Kufa, he discovered that the rising had been suppressed by the 'Ommiade' governor of the city, and that the country round him was hostile instead of loyal to him. And now there came out from Kufa an army of 4,000 horse, who surrounded the little body of travellers [on the plain of Kerbela], and cut them off alike from the city and the river. … A series of single combats, in which Hoseyn and his followers displayed heroic courage, ended in the death of the Imam and the men who were with him, and the enslaving of the women and children."

S. Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque, chapter 7.

"The scene [of the massacre of Hosein and his band] … is still fresh as yesterday in the mind of every Believer, and is commemorated with wild grief and frenzy as often as the fatal day, the Tenth of the first month of the year [tenth of Moharram—October 10], comes round. … The tragedy of Kerbala decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mahometan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared. … The tragedy is yearly represented on the stage as a religious ceremony"—in the "Passion Play" of the Moharram Festival.

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 49, with foot-note.

See, also, ISLAM.

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MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 668-675. First repulse from Constantinople.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 668-675.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 710. Subjugation of the Turks.

"After the fall of the Persian kingdom, the river Oxus divided the territories of the Saracens and of the Turks: This narrow boundary was soon overleaped by the spirit of the Arabs; the governors of Chorassan extended their successive inroads; and one of their triumphs was adorned with the buskin of a Turkish queen, which she dropped in her precipitate flight beyond the hills of Bochara. But the final conquest of Transoxana, as well as of Spain, was reserved for the glorious reign of the inactive Walid; and the name of Catibah, the camel-driver, declares the origin and merit of his successful lieutenant. While one of his colleagues displayed the first Mahometan banner on the banks of the Indus, the spacious regions between the Oxus, the Jaxartes, and the Caspian sea were reduced by the arms of Catibah to the obedience of the prophet and of the caliph. A tribute of two millions of pieces of gold was imposed on the infidels; their idols were burned or broken; the Mussulman chief pronounced a sermon in the new mosch [mosque] of Carizme; after several battles the Turkish hordes were driven back to the desert; and the emperors of China solicited the friendship of the victorious Arabs. To their industry the prosperity of the province, the Sogdiana of the ancients, may in a great measure be ascribed; but the advantages of the soil and climate had been understood and cultivated since the reign of the Macedonian kings. Before the invasion of the Saracens, Carizme, Bochara, and Samarcand were rich and populous under the yoke of the shepherds of the North."

E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51.

ALSO IN: E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 3.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 711-713. Conquest of Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

------------------------------------ [Page 2073 and 2074 are placed here to avoid interrupting the next article, "The repulse from Gaul.".]

SEVENTH CENTURY.

CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS.

A.D. 602. Revolt in Constantinople; fall and death of Maurice; accession of Phocas.

604. Death of Pope Gregory the Great. Death of St. Augustine of Canterbury. [Uncertain date.]

608. Invasion of Asia Minor by Chosroes II., king of Persia.

610. Death of the Eastern Emperor Phocas; accession of Heraclius. Venetia ravaged by the Avars.

614. Invasion of Syria by Chosroes II.; capture of Damascus.

615. Capture of Jerusalem by Chosroes; removal of the supposed True Cross.

616. First expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Advance of the Persians to the Bosphorus.

622. The flight of Mahomet from Mecca (the Hegira). Romans under Heraclius victorious over the Persians.

626. Siege of Constantinople by Persians and Avars.

627. Victory of Heraclius over Chosroes of Persia, at Nineveh. Conversion of Northumbria to Christianity.

628. Recovery of Jerusalem and of the supposed True Cross, from the Persians, by Heraclius.

630. Submission of Mecca to the Prophet.

632. Death of Mahomet; Abu Bekr chosen caliph.

634. Death of Abu Bekr; Omar chosen caliph. Battle of Hieromax or Yermuk; Battle of the Bridge. [Uncertain date.] Defeat of Heraclius. Compilation and arrangement of the Koran. [Uncertain date.]

635. Siege and capture of Damascus by the Mahometans; invasion of Persia; victory at Kadisiyeh. [Uncertain date.] Defeat of the Welsh by the English in the battle of the Heavenfield.

636. Mahometan subjugation of Syria; retreat of the Romans.

637. Siege and conquest of Jerusalem by the Moslems; their victories in Persia.

639. Publication of the Ecthesis of Heraclius.

640. Capture of Cæsarea by the Moslems; invasion of Egypt by Amru.

641. Death of the Eastern Emperor Heraclius; three rival emperors; accession of Constans II. Victory at Nehavend and final conquest of Persia by the Mahometans; end of the Sassanian kingdom; capture of Alexandria, [Uncertain date.] founding of Cairo.

643. Publication of the Lombard Code of Laws.

644. Assassination of Omar; Othman chosen caliph.

646. Alexandria recovered by the Greeks and lost again.

648. Publication by Constans II. of the edict called "The Type."

649. Mahometan invasion of Cyprus.

650. Conquest of Merv, Balkh, and Herat by the Moslems. [Uncertain date.]

652. Conversion of the East Saxons in England.

653. Seizure and banishment of Pope Martin I. by the Emperor Constans II.

656. Murder of Caliph Othman; Ali chosen caliph; rebellion of Moawiyah; civil war; Battle of the Camel.

657. Ali's transfer of the seat of government to Kufa.

658. Syria abandoned to Moawiyah; Egypt in revolt.

661. Assassination of Ali; Moawiyah, first of the Omeyyads, made caliph; Damascus his capital.

663. Visit of the Emperor Constans to Rome.

668. Assassination of Constans at Syracuse; [Uncertain date.] accession of Constantine IV. to the throne of the Eastern Empire. Beginning of the siege of Constantinople by the Saracens.

670. The founding of Kairwan, or Kayrawan. [Uncertain date.]

673. First Council of the Anglo-Saxon Church, at Hereford. Birth of the Venerable Bede [Uncertain date.] (died 735).

677. The raising of the siege of Constantinople; treaty of peace. [Uncertain date.]

680. Sixth General Council of the Church, at Constantinople; condemnation of the Monothelite heresy. Massacre at Kerbela of Hoseyn, son of Ali, and his followers.

685. Death of the Eastern Emperor, Constantine IV., and accession of Justinian II. The Angles of Northumbria, under King Ecgfrith, defeated by the Picts at Nectansmere.

687. Battle of Testri; victory of Pippin of Heristal over the Neustrians.

695. Fall and banishment of Justinian II.

696. Founding of the bishopric of Salzburg.

697. Election of the first Doge of Venice.

698. Conquest and destruction of Carthage by the Moslems. [Uncertain date]

EIGHTH CENTURY.

CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS.

A.D. 704. Recovery of the throne by the Eastern Emperor Justinian II.

705. Accession of the Caliph Welid.

709. Accession of Roderick to the Gothic throne in Spain.

711. Invasion of Spain by the Arab-Moors. Moslem conquest of Transoxiana and Sardinia. Final fall and death of the Eastern Emperor Justinian II.

712. Surrender of Toledo to the Moslem invaders of Spain.

717. Elevation of Leo the Isaurian to the throne of the Eastern Empire. Second siege of Constantinople by the Moslems. Great defeat of the Moslems at the Cave of Covadonga in Spain.

718. Victory of Charles Martel at Soissons; his authority acknowledged in both Frankish kingdoms.

719. Mahometan conquest and occupation of Narbonne.

721. Siege of Toulouse; defeat of the Moslems.

725. Mahometan conquests in Septimania.

726. Iconoclastic edicts of Leo the Isaurian; tumult and insurrection in Constantinople.

731. Death of Pope Gregory II.; election of Gregory III.; last confirmation of a Papal election by the Eastern Emperor.

732. Great defeat of the Moslems by the Franks under Charles Martel at Poitiers, or Tours. Council held at Rome by Pope Gregory III.; edict against the Iconoclasts.

733. Practical termination of Byzantine imperial authority.

735. Birth of Alcuin (died 804).

740. Death of Leo the Isaurian, Emperor in the East; accession of Constantine V.

741. Death of Charles Martel. Death of Pope Gregory III.; election of Zacharias.

742. Birth of Charlemagne (died 814).

744. Defeat of the Saxons by Carloman; their forced baptism. Death of Liutprand, king of the Lombards.

747. The Plague in Constantinople. Pippin the Short made Mayor in both kingdoms of the Franks.

750. Fall of the Omeyyad dynasty of caliphs and rise of the Abbassides.

751. Extinction of the Exarchate of Ravenna by the Lombards.

752. End of the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings; assumption of the crown by Pippin the Short. Death of Pope Zacharias; election of Stephen II.

754. First invasion of Italy by Pippin the Short. Rome assailed by the Lombards.

755. Subjugation of the Lombards by Pippin; his donation of temporalities to the Pope. Martyrdom of Saint Boniface in Germany.

756. Founding of the caliphate of Cordova by Abderrahman.

757. Death of Pope Stephen II.; election of Paul I.

758. Accession of Offa, king of Mercia.

759. Loss of Narbonne, the last foothold of the Mahometans north of the Pyrenees.

763. Founding of the capital of the Eastern Caliphs at Bagdad. [Uncertain date.]

767. Death of Pope Paul I.; usurpation of the anti-pope, Constantine.

768. Conquest of Aquitaine by Pippin the Short. Death of Pippin; accession of Charlemagne and Carloman. Deposition of the anti-pope Constantine; election of Pope Stephen III.

771. Death of Carloman, leaving Charlemagne sole king of the Franks.

772. Charlemagne's first wars with the Saxons. Death of Pope Stephen III.; election of Hadrian I.

774. Charlemagne's acquisition of the Lombard kingdom; his enlargement of the donation of temporalities to the Pope. Forgery of the "Donation of Constantine." [Uncertain date.]

775. Death of the Eastern Emperor Constantine V.; accession of Leo IV.

778. Charlemagne's invasion of Spain; the "dolorous rout" of Roncesvalles.

780. Death of the Eastern Emperor Leo IV.; accession of Constantine VI.; regency of Irene.

781. Italy and Aquitaine formed into separate kingdoms by Charlemagne.

785. Great struggle of the Saxons against Charlemagne; submission of Wittikind.

786. Accession of Haroun al Raschid in the eastern caliphate.

787. Seventh General Council of the Church (Second Council of Nicæa). First incursions of the Danes in England.

788. Subjugation of the Bavarians by Charlemagne. Death of Abderrahman.

790. Composition of the Caroline books. [Uncertain date.]

791. Charlemagne's first campaign against the Avars.

794. Accession of Cenwulf, king of Mercia.

795. Death of Pope Hadrian I.; election of Leo III.

797. Deposition and blinding of the Eastern Emperor Constantine VI., by his mother Irene.

800. Imperial coronation of Charlemagne; revival of the Empire. Accession of Ecgberht, king of Wessex, the first king of all the English.

-------------------------------------

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-732. The repulse from Gaul.

"The deeds of Musa [in Africa and Spain] had been performed 'in the evening of his life,' but, to borrow the words of Gibbon, 'his breast was still fired with the ardor of youth, and the possession of Spain was considered as only the first step to the monarchy of Europe. With a powerful armament by sea and land, he was preparing to pass the Pyrenees, to extinguish in Gaul the declining kingdoms of the Franks and Lombards, and to preach the unity of God on the altar of the Vatican. Thence, subduing the barbarians of Germany, he proposed to follow the course of the Danube from its source to the Euxine Sea, to overthrow the Greek or Roman empire of Constantinople, and, returning from Europe to Asia, to unite his new acquisitions with Antioch and the provinces of Syria.' This vast enterprise … was freely revolved by the successors of Musa. In pursuance of it, El Haur, the new lieutenant of the califs, assailed the fugitive Goths in their retreats in Septimania (715-718). El Zamah, who succeeded him, crossed the mountains, and, seizing Narbonne, expelled the inhabitants and settled there a colony of Saracens (719). The following year they passed the Rhone, in order to extend their dominion over Provence, but, repelled by the dukes and the militia of the country, turned their forces toward Toulouse (721). Eudo, Duke of Aquitain, bravely defending his capital, brought on a decisive combat. … El Zamah fell. The carnage among his retreating men then became so great that the Arabs named the passage from Toulouse to Carcassone the Road of Martyrs (Balat al Chouda). Supporting their terrible reverses with the characteristic resignation of their race and faith, the Arabs were still able to retain a hold of Narbonne and of other fortresses of the south, and, after a respite of four years, spent in recruiting their troops from Spain and Africa, to resume their projects of invasion and pillage in Gaul (725). Under the Wali Anbessa, they ascended the Rhone as far as the city of Lyons, devastating the towns and the fields. … When, … at the close of his expeditions, Anbessa perished by the hands of the Infidels, all the fanaticism of the Mussulman heart was aroused into an eager desire for revenge. His successor, Abd-el-Rahman, a tried and experienced general, energetic and heroic as he was just and prudent, … entered into elaborate preparations for the final conquest of Gaul. For two years the ports of Syria, Egypt, and Africa swarmed with departing soldiery, and Spain resounded with the calls and cries to arms (727-729)." The storm broke first on Aquitaine, and its valiant Duke Eudes, or Eudo, rashly meeting the enemy in the open field, in front of Bordeaux, suffered an irretrievable defeat (May, 731). Bordeaux was stormed and sacked, and all Aquitaine was given up to the ravages of the unsparing Moslem host. Eudes fled, a helpless fugitive, to his enemies the Franks, and besought the aid of the great palace-mayor, Karl Martel, practical sovereign of the Frankish kingdoms, and father of the Pippin who would soon become king in name as well as in fact. But, not for Aquitaine, only, but for all Gaul, all Germany,—all Christendom in Europe,—Karl and his Franks were called on to rally and do battle against the sons of the desert, whose fateful march of conquest seemed never to end. "'During all the rest of the summer, the Roman clarions and the German horns sounded and groaned through all the cities of Neustria and Austrasia, through the rustic palaces of the Frankish leudes, and in the woody gaus of western Germany.' … Meanwhile, Abel-el-Rahman, laden with plunder and satiated with blood, had bent his steps toward the southwest, where he concentrated his troops on the banks of the Charente. Enriched and victorious as he was, there was still an object in Gaul which provoked alike the cupidity and the zeal of his followers. This was the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours, the shrine of the Gallic Christians, where the richest treasures of the Church were collected, and in which the profoundest veneration of its members centred. He yearned for the pillage and the overthrow of this illustrious sanctuary, and, taking the road from Poitiers, he encountered the giants of the North in the same valley of the Vienne and Clain where, nearly three hundred years before, the Franks and the Wisigoths had disputed the supremacy of Gaul. There, on those autumn fields, the Koran and the Bible—Islamism and Christianity—Asia and Europe—stood face to face, ready to grapple in a deadly and decisive conflict. … {2075} Trivial skirmishes from time to time kept alive the ardor of both hosts, till at length, at dawn on Saturday, the 11th of October [A. D. 732], the signal for a general onset was given. With one loud shout of Allah-Akbar (God is great), the Arab horsemen charged like a tempest upon their foe, but the deep columns of the Franks did not bend before the blast. 'Like a wall of iron,' says the chronicler, 'like a rampart of ice, the men of the North stood unmoved by the frightful shock.' All day long the charges were renewed." Still the stout Franks held their ground, and still the indomitable warriors of Islam pressed upon them, until late in the afternoon, when the latter were thrown into confusion by an attack on their rear. Then Karl and his men charged on them and their lines were broken—their rout was bloody and complete. When night put an end to the slaughter, the Franks slept upon their arms, expecting that the dreaded Saracens would rally and resume the fight. But they vanished in the darkness. Their leader, the brave Abd-el-Rahman had fallen in the wild melée and no courage was left in their hearts. Abandoning everything but their horses and their arms, they fled to Narbonne. "Europe was rescued, Christianity triumphant, Karl the hero forever of Christian civilization."

P. Godwin, History of France: Ancient Gaul, chapter 14.

The booty found by the Franks in the Moslem camp "was enormous; hard-money, ingots of the precious metals, melted from jewels and shrines; precious vases, rich stuffs, subsistence stores, flocks and herds gathered and parked in the camp. Most of this booty had been taken by the Moslemah from the Aquitanians, who now had the sorrow of seeing it greedily divided among the Franks."

H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the! Arab-Moors, book 6, chapter 1 (volume 2).

ALSO IN: E. S. Creasy, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, chapter 7.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-750. Omeyyads and Abbassides. The dividing of the Caliphate.

The tragic death of Hosein and his companions at Kerbela kindled a passion which time would not extinguish in the hearts of one great party among the Moslems. The first ambitious leader to take advantage of the excitement of it, as a means of overthrowing the Omeyyads, was Abdallah ibn Zobeir, who, posing first as the "Protector of the Holy House" of Ali, soon proclaimed himself Caliph and maintained for thirteen years a rival court at Mecca. In the war which raged during a great part of those years, Medina was taken by storm and given over to pillage, while the holy city of Mecca withstood a siege of forty days, during which the sacred Caaba was destroyed. Zobeir fell, at last, in a final battle fought under the walls of Mecca. Meantime, several changes in the caliphate at Damascus had taken place and the throne was soon afterwards [A. D. 705] occupied by the Caliph Welid, whose reign proved more glorious than that of any other prince of his house. "Elements of disorder still remained, but under the wise and firm sceptre of Welid they were held in check. The arts of peace prevailed; schools were founded, learning cultivated, and poets royally rewarded; public works of every useful kind were promoted, and even hospitals established for the aged, lame, and blind. Such, indeed, at this era, was the glory of the court of Damascus that Weild, of all the Caliphs both before and after, gives the precedence to Welid. It is the fashion for the Arabian historians to abuse the Omeyyads as a dissolute, intemperate, and godless race; but we must not forget that these all wrote more or less under Abbasside inspiration. … After Welid, the Omeyyad dynasty lasted six-and-thirty years. But it began to rest on a precarious basis. For now the agents of the house of Hashim, descendants of the Prophet and of his uncle Abbas, commenced to ply secretly, but with vigour and persistency, their task of canvass and intrigue in distant cities, and especially in the provinces of the East. For a long time, the endeavour of these agitators was directed to the advocacy of the Shiya right; that is to say, it was based upon the Divine claim of Aly, and his descendants in the Prophet's line, to the Imamate or leadership over the empire of Islam. … The discomfiture of the Shiyas paved the way for the designing advocates of the other Hashimite branch, namely, that of the house of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet. These had all along been plotting in the background, and watching their opportunity. They now vaunted the claims of this line, and were barefaced enough to urge that, being descended from the uncle of Mahomet through male representatives, they took precedence over the direct descendants of the Prophet himself, because these came through Fatima in the female line. About the year 130 of the Hegira, Abul Abbas, of Abasside descent, was put forward in Persia, as the candidate of this party, and his claim was supported by the famous general Abu Muslim. Successful in the East, Abu Muslim turned his arms to the West. A great battle, one of those which decide the fate of empires, was fought on the banks of the Zab [A. D. 750]; and, through the defection of certain Kharejite and Yemen levies, was lost by the Omeyyad army. Merwan II., the last of his dynasty, was driven to Egypt, and there killed in the church of Bussir, whither he had fled for refuge. At the close of the year 132 [August 5, A. D. 750], the black flag, emblem of the Abbassides, floated over the battlements of Damascus. The Omeyyad dynasty, after ruling the vast Moslem empire for a century, now disappeared in cruelty and bloodshed. … So perished the royal house of the Omeyyads. But one escaped. He fled to Spain, which had never favoured the overweening pretensions of the Prophet's family, whether in the line of Aly or Abbas. Accepted by the Arab tribes, whose influence in the West was paramount, Abd al Rahman now laid the foundation of a new Dynasty and perpetuated the Omeyyad name at the magnificent court of Cordova. … Thus, with the rise of the Abbassides, the unity of the Caliphate came to an end. Never after, either in theory or in fact, was there a successor to the Prophet, acknowledged as such over all Islam. Other provinces followed in the wake of Spain. The Aghlabite dynasty in the east of Africa, and, west of it, the Edrisites in Fez, both of Alyite descent; Egypt and Sicily under independent rulers; the Tahirite kings in Persia, their native soil; these and others, breaking away from the central government, established kingdoms of their own. The name of Caliph, however it might survive in the Abbasside lineage, or be assumed by less legitimate pretenders, had now altogether lost its virtue and significance."

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 50.

ALSO IN: S. Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties, pages 12-14.

R. D. Osborn, Islam Under the Arabs, part 3.

{2076}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 717-718. Second repulse from Constantinople.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 717-718.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 752-759. Final expulsion from southern Gaul.

During the year of his coronation (A. D. 752) Pippin, or Pepin the Short—the first of the Carolingians to assume the Frankish crown—having taken measures to reduce Aquitaine to obedience, was diverted, on his march towards that country, into Septimania. The discord prevailing among the Moslems, who had occupied this region of Gaul for more than thirty years, "opened the prospect of an easy conquest. With little fighting, and through the treachery of a Goth named Ansemond, who commanded at Beziers, Agde, Maguelonne, and Nismes, under an Arabian wali, he was enabled to seize those strong-holds, and to leave a part of his troops to besiege Narbonne, as the first step toward future success." Then Pippin was called away by war with the Saxons and in Brittany, and was occupied with other cares and conflicts, until A. D. 759, when he took up and finished the task of expelling the Saracens from Gaul. "His troops left in occupation of Septimania (752) had steadily prosecuted the siege of Narbonne. … Not till after a blockade of seven years was the city surrendered, and then through the treason of the Christians and Goths who were inside the walls, and made secret terms with the beleaguers. They rose upon the Arabs, cut them in pieces, and opened the gates to the Franks. A reduction of Elne, Caucoliberis, and Carcassone followed hard upon that of Narbonne. … In a little while the entire Arab population was driven out of Septimania, after an occupation of forty years; and a large and important province (equivalent nearly to the whole of Languedoc), held during the time of the Merovingians by the Wisigoths, was secured to the possession of the Franks. The Arabs, however, though expelled, left many traces of their long residence on the manners and customs of Southern Gaul."

P. Godwin, History of France: Ancient Gaul, chapter 15.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 756-1031. The Omeyyad caliphs of Cordova.

When the struggle of the house of Abbas with the house of Omeyya, for the throne of the caliphate at Damascus, was ended by the overthrow of the Omeyyads (A. D. 750), the wretched members of the fallen family were hunted down with unsparing ferocity. "A single youth of the doomed race escaped from destruction. After a long series of romantic adventures, he found his way into Spain [A. D. 756]; he there found partizans, by whose aid he was enabled to establish himself as sovereign of the country, and to resist all the attempts of the Abbassides to regain, or rather to obtain, possession of the distant province. From this Abderrahman [or Abdalrahman] the Ommiad proceeded the line of Emirs and Caliphs of Cordova, who reigned in splendour in the West for three centuries after their house had been exterminated in their original possessions. … When the Ommiad Abdalrahman escaped into Spain … the peninsula was in a very disordered state. The authority of the Caliphs of the East was nearly nominal, and governors rose and fell with very little reference to their distant sovereign. … The elevation of Abdalrahman may have been the result, not so much of any blind preference of Ommiads to Abbassides, as of a conviction that nature designed the Iberian peninsula to form an independent state. But at that early period of Mahometan history an independent Mahometan state could hardly be founded, except under the guise of a rival Caliphate. … And undoubtedly nothing is more certain than that the Ommiads of Cordova were in every sense a rival dynasty to the Abbassides of Bagdad. The race of Moawiyah seem to have decidedly improved by their migration westward. The Caliphs of Spain must be allowed one of the highest places among Mahometan dynasties. In the duration of their house and in the abundance of able princes which it produced, they yield only to the Ottoman Sultans, while they rise incomparably above them in every estimable quality. … The most splendid period of the Saracen empire in Spain was during the tenth century. The great Caliph Abdalrahman Annasir Ledinallah raised the magnificence of the Cordovan monarchy to its highest pitch. … The last thirty years of the Ommiad dynasty are a mere wearisome series of usurpations and civil wars. In 1031 the line became extinct, and the Ommiad empire was cut up into numerous petty states. From this moment the Christians advance, no more to retreat, and the cause of Islam is only sustained by repeated African immigrations."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lectures 4-5.

ALSO IN: H. Coppée, Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, book 6, chapter 5; book 7, chapters 1-4; book 8, chapter 1.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 763. The Caliphate transferred to Bagdad.

"The city of Damascus, full as it was of memorials of the pride and greatness of the Ommiade dynasty, was naturally distasteful to the Abbassides. The Caliph Mansur had commenced the building of a new capital in the neighbourhood of Kufa, to be called after the founder of his family, Hashimiyeh. The Kufans, however, were devoted partisans of the descendants of Ali. … The growing jealousy and distrust between the two houses made it inadvisable for the Beni Abbas to plant the seat of their empire in immediate propinquity to the head-quarters of the Ali faction, and Mansur therefore selected another site [about A. D. 763]. This was Bagdad, on the western bank of the Tigris [fifteen miles above Medain, which was the ancient Seleucia and Ctesiphon]. It was well suited by nature for a great capital. The Tigris brought commerce from Diyar Bekr on the north, and through the Persian Gulf from India and China on the east; while the Euphrates, which here approaches the Tigris at the nearest point, and is reached by a good road, communicated directly with Syria and the west. The name Bagdad is a very ancient one, signifying 'given or founded by the deity,' and testifies to the importance of the site. The new city rapidly increased in extent and magnificence, the founder and his next two successors expending fabulous sums upon its embellishment, and the ancient palaces of the Sassanian kings, as well as the other principal cities of Asia, were robbed of their works of art for its adornment."

E. H. Palmer, Haroun Alraschid, Caliph of Bagdad, chapter 2.

"Baghdad, answering to its proud name of 'Dar al Salam,' 'The City of Peace,' became for a time the capital of the world, the centre of luxury, the emporium of commerce, and the scat of learning."

Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 50.

{2077}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 815-945. Decline and temporal fall of the Caliphate at Bagdad.

"It was not until nearly the close of the first century after the Hejira that the banners of Islam were carried into the regions beyond the Oxus, and only after a great deal of hard fighting that the oases of Bokhara and Samarkand were annexed to the dominions of the khalif. In these struggles, a large number of Turks—men, women, and children—fell into the power of the Moslems, and were scattered over Asia as slaves. … The khalif Mamoun [son of Haroun Alraschid—A. D. 815-834] was the first sovereign who conceived the idea of basing the royal power on a foundation of regularly drilled Turkish soldiers."

R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Khalifs of Bagdad, part 3, chapter 1.

"The Caliphs from this time leaned for support on great bands of foreign mercenaries, chiefly Turks, and their captains became the real lords of the empire as soon as they realised their own strength. How thoroughly the Abbásid caliphate had been undermined was shown all at once in a shocking manner, when the Caliph Mutawakkil was murdered by his own servants at the command of his son, and the parricide Muntasir set upon the throne in his stead (December 861). The power of the Caliphs was now at an end; they became the mere playthings of their own savage warriors. The remoter, sometimes even the nearer, provinces were practically independent. The princes formally recognised the Caliph as their sovereign, stamped his name upon their coins, and gave it precedence in public prayer, but these were honours without any solid value. Some Caliphs, indeed, recovered a measure of real power, but only as rulers of a much diminished State. Theoretically the fiction of an undivided empire of Islam was maintained, but it had long ceased to be a reality. The names of Caliph, Commander of the Faithful, Imám, continued still to inspire some reverence; the theological doctors of law insisted that the Caliph, in spiritual things at least, must everywhere bear rule, and control all judicial posts; but even theoretically his position was far behind that of a pope, and in practice was not for a moment to be compared to it. The Caliph never was the head of a true hierarchy; Islam in fact knows no priesthood on which such a system could have rested. In the tenth century the Buids, three brothers who had left the hardly converted Gilán (the mountainous district at the southwest angle of the Caspian Sea) as poor adventurers, succeeded in conquering for themselves the sovereign command over wide domains, and over Bagdad itself [establishing what is known as the dynasty of the Buids or Bouides, or Bowides, or Dilemites]. They even proposed to themselves to displace the Abbásids and set descendants of Ali upon the throne, and abandoned the idea only because they feared that a Caliph of the house of Ali might exercise too great an authority over their Shíite soldiers, and so become independent; while, on the other hand, they could make use of these troops for any violence they chose against the Abbásid puppet who sat in Mansúr's seat."

T. Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, chapter 3.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 827-878. Conquest of Sicily.

See SICILY: A. D. 827-878.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 840-890. The Saracens in southern Italy.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 800-1016.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 908-1171. The Fatimite caliphs.

"Egypt, during the ninth and tenth centuries, was the theatre of several revolutions. Two dynasties of Turkish slaves, the Tolunides and the Ilkshidites, established themselves in that country, which was only reunited to the Caliphate of Bagdad for a brief period between their usurpations. But early in the ninth century a singular power had been growing up on its western border. … A schism arose among the followers of Ali [the shiahs, who recognized no succession to the Prophet, or Imamate—leadership in Islam—except in the line of descent from Ali, nephew of Mahomet and husband of Mahomet's daughter, Fatima], regarding the legitimate succession to the sixth Imam, Jaffer. His eldest son, Ismail or Ishmael, dying before him, Jaffer appointed another son, Moussa or Moses, his heir. But a large body of the sect denied that Jaffer had the right to make a new nomination; they affirmed the Imamate to be strictly hereditary, and formed a new party of Ishmaelians, who seem to have made something very like a deity of their hero. A chief of this sect, Mahomet, surnamed Al Mehdi, or the Leader, a title given by the Shiahs to their Imams, revolted in Africa in 908. He professed himself, though his claims were bitterly derided by his enemies, to be a descendant of Ishmael, and consequently to be the legitimate Imam. Armed with this claim, it was of course his business to acquire, if he could, the temporal power of a Caliph; and as he soon obtained the sovereignty of a considerable portion of Africa, a rival Caliphate was consequently established in that country. This dynasty assumed the name of Fatimites, in honour of their famous ancestress Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. The fourth in succession, Muezzeddin by name, obtained possession of Egypt about 967. … The Ilkshidites and their nominal sovereigns, the Abbassides, lost Egypt with great rapidity. Al Muezzeddin transferred his residence thither, and founded [at Fostat—see above, A. D. 640-646] the city of Cairo, which he made his capital. Egypt thus, from a tributary province, became again, as in the days of its Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the scat of a powerful kingdom. The claims of the Egyptian Caliphs were diligently preached throughout all Islam, and their temporal power was rapidly extended into the adjoining provinces of Syria and Arabia. Palestine became again … the battle-field for the lords of Egypt and of the East. Jerusalem, the holy city of so many creeds, was conquered and reconquered. … The Egyptian Caliphate … played an important part in the history of the Crusades. At last, in 1171, it was abolished by the famous Saladin. He himself became the founder of a new dynasty; but the formal aspect of the change was that Egypt, so long schismatic, was again restored to the obedience of Bagdad. Saladin was lord of Egypt, but the titles of the Abbasside Caliph, the true Commander of the Faithful, appeared again on the coin and in the public prayers, instead of that of his Fatimite rival."

E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 4.

ALSO IN: S. Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties, pages 70-73.

W. C. Taylor, History of Mohammedanism and its Sects, chapters 8 and 10.

See, also, JERUSALEM: A. D. 1149-1187.

{2078}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 962-1187. The Ghaznavide empire.

See INDIA: A. D. 977-1290; and TURKS: A. D. 999-1183.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 964-976. Losses in Syria and Cilicia.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 963-1025; also, ANTIOCH, A. D. 969.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1004-1160. The Seljuk Conquests.

See TURKS: A. D. 1004-1063 to 1092-1160.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1017. Expulsion from Sardinia by the Pisans and Genoese.

See PISA: ORIGIN OF THE CITY.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1031-1086. Fragmentary kingdoms in Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1031-1086.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1060-1090. The loss of Sicily.

See ITALY: A. D. 1000-1090.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1086-1147. The empire of the Almoravides.

See ALMORAVIDES.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1146-1232. The empire of the Almohades.

See ALMOHADES; and SPAIN: A. D. 1146-1232.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1240-1453. Conquests of the Ottoman Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1240-1326; 1326-1359; 1360-1389; 1389-1403; 1402-1451; and 1451-1481.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1258. Extinction of the Caliphate of Bagdad by the Mongols.

See BAGDAD: A. D. 1258.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1273-1492. Decay and fall of the last Moorish kingdom in Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460; and 1476-1492.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 1519-1605. The Mogul conquest of India.

See INDIA: A. D. 1399-1605.

----------MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: End----------

MAHOMETAN ERA.

See ERA, MAHOMETAN.

----------MAHRATTAS: Start--------

MAHRATTAS: 17th Century. Origin and growth of power.

See INDIA: A. D. 1662-1748.

MAHRATTAS: A. D. 1759-1761. Disastrous conflict with the Afghans. Great defeat at Panniput.

See INDIA: A. D. 1747-1761.

MAHRATTAS: A. D. 1781-1819. Wars with the English.

See INDIA: A. D. 1780-1783; 1798-1805; and 1816-1819.

----------MAHRATTAS: End--------

MAID OF NORWAY.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1290-1305.

MAID OF ORLEANS, The Mission of the.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1429-1431.

MAIDA, Battle of (1806).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1805-1806 (DECEMBER-SEPTEMBER).

MAILLOTINS, Insurrection of the,

See PARIS: A. D. 1381.

----------MAINE: Start--------

MAINE: The Name.

"Sullivan in 'History of Maine,' and others, say that the territory was called the Province of Maine, in compliment to Queen Henrietta, who had that province in France for dowry. But Folsom, 'Discourse on Maine' (Maine Historical Collection, volume ii., page 38), says that that province in France did not belong to Henrietta. Maine, like all the rest of the coast, was known as the 'Maine,' the mainland, and it is not unlikely that the word so much used by the early fishers on the coast, may thus have been permanently given to this part of it."

W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay, History of the United States, volume 1, page 337; foot-note.

MAINE: Aboriginal inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ABNAKIS, and ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

MAINE: Embraced in the Norumbega of the old geographers.

See NORUMBEGA; also, CANADA: THE NAMES.

MAINE: A. D. 1607-1608. The Popham colony on the Kennebec. Fruitless undertaking of the Plymouth Company.

The company chartered in England by King James, in 1606, for the colonization of the indefinite region called Virginia, was divided into two branches. To one, commonly spoken of as the London Company, but sometimes as the Virginia Company, was assigned a domain in the south, from 34° to 41° North Latitude. To the other, less familiarly known as the Plymouth Company, or the North Virginia Company, was granted a range of territory from 38° to 45° North Latitude.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1606-1607.

The first named company founded a state; the Plymouth branch was less fortunate. "Of the Plymouth Company, George Popham, brother of the Chief Justice, and Raleigh Gilbert, son of the earlier navigator and nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, were original associates. A vessel despatched from Bristol by Sir John Popham made a further survey of the coast of New England, and returned with accounts which infused vigorous life into the undertaking; and it was now prosecuted with eagerness and liberality. But in little more than a year 'all its former hopes were frozen to death.' Three ships sailed from Plymouth with 100 settlers, amply furnished, and taking two of Gorges's Indians [kidnapped on the voyage of Captain Weymouth in 1605] as interpreters and guides. After a prosperous voyage they reached the mouth of the river called Sagadahoc, or Kennebec, in Maine, and on a projecting point proceeded to organize their community. After prayers and a sermon, they listened to a reading of the patent and of the ordinances under which it had been decreed by the authorities at home that they should live. George Popham had been constituted their President, Raleigh Gilbert was Admiral. … The adventurers dug wells, and built huts. More than half of the number became discouraged, and returned with the ships to England. Forty-five remained through the winter, which proved to be very long and severe. … When the President sickened and died, and, presently after, a vessel despatched to them with supplies brought intelligence of the death of Sir John Popham, and of Sir John Gilbert,—the latter event calling for the presence of the Admiral, Gilbert's brother and heir, in England,—they were ready to avail themselves of the excuses thus afforded for retreating from the distasteful enterprise. All yielded to their homesickness, and embarked on board of the returning ship, taking with them a small vessel which they had built, and some furs and other products of the country. Statesmen, merchants, and soldiers had not learned the conditions of a settlement in New England. 'The country was branded by the return of the plantation as being over cold, and in respect of that not habitable by Englishmen.' Still the son of the Chief Justice, 'Sir Francis Popham, could not so give it over, but continued to send thither several years after, in hope of better fortunes, but found it fruitless, and was necessitated at last to sit down with the loss he had already undergone.' Sir Francis Popham's enterprises were merely commercial. Gorges alone [Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who had been among the most active of the original promotors of the Company], 'not doubting but God would effect that which man despaired of,' persevered in cherishing the project of a colony."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 2.

ALSO IN: W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay, Popular History of the United States, chapter 12, volume 1.

R. K. Sewall, Ancient Dominions of Maine, chapter 3.

{2079}

MAINE: A. D. 1623-1631. Gorges' and Mason's grant and the division of it. First colonies planted.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631.

MAINE: A. D. 1629-1631. The Ligonia, or Plow Patent, and other grants.

"The coast from the Piscataqua to the Kennebec was covered by six … patents, issued in the course of three years by the Council for New England, with the consent, doubtless, of Gorges, who was anxious to interest as many persons as possible in the projects of colonization to which he was himself so much devoted. Several of these grants were for small tracts; the most important embraced an extent of 40 miles square, bordering on Casco Bay, and named Ligonia. The establishments hitherto attempted on the eastern coast had been principally for fishing and fur-trading; this was to be an agricultural colony, and became familiarly known as the 'Plow patent.' A company was formed, and some settlers sent out; but they did not like the situation, and removed to Massachusetts. Another of these grants was the Pemaquid patent, a narrow tract on both sides of Pemaquid Point, where already were some settlers. Pemaquid remained an independent community for the next forty years."

R. Hildreth, History of the United States, chapter 7 (volume 1).

The Plow Patent "first came into notoriety in a territorial dispute in 1643. The main facts of the case are told shortly but clearly by Winthrop. According to him, in July, 1631, ten husbandmen came from England, in a ship named the Plough, with a patent for land at Sagadahock. But as the place did not please them they settled in Massachusetts, and were seemingly dispersed in the religious troubles of 1636. … At a later day the rights of the patentees were bought up, and were made a ground for ousting Gorges from a part of his territory."

J. A. Doyle, The English in America: The Puritan Colonies, volume 1, chapter 7.

ALSO IN: _J. W. Thornton, Pemaquid Papers; and Ancient Pemaquid, (Maine Historical Society Collection, volume 5)._

MAINE: A. D. 1639. A Palatine principality. The royal charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges.

"In April 1639 a charter was granted by the King constituting Gorges Lord Proprietor of Maine. The territory was bounded by the Sagadahock or Kennebec on the north and the Piscataqua on the south, and was to extend 120 miles inland. The political privileges of the Proprietor were to be identical with those enjoyed by the Bishop of Durham as Count Palatine. He was to legislate in conjunction with the freeholders of the province, and with the usual reservation in favour of the laws of England. His political rights were to be subject to the control of the Commissioners for Plantations, but his territorial rights were to be independent and complete in themselves. He was also to enjoy a monopoly of the trade of the colony. The only other points specially worth notice were a declaration that the religion of the colony was to be that of the Church of England, a reservation on behalf of all English subjects of the right of fishing with its necessary incidents, and the grant to the Proprietor of authority to create manors and manorial courts. There is something painful in the spectacle of the once vigorous and enterprising soldier amusing his old age by playing at kingship. In no little German court of the last century could the forms of government and the realities of life have been more at variance. To conduct the business of two fishing villages Gorges called into existence a staff of officials which might have sufficed for the affairs of the Byzantine Empire. He even outdid the absurdities which the Proprietors of Carolina perpetrated thirty years later. They at least saw that their elaborate machinery of caciques and landgraves was unfit for practical purposes, and they waived it in favour of a simple system which had sprung up in obedience to natural wants. But Gorges tells complacently and with a deliberate care, which contrasts with his usually hurried and slovenly style, how he parcelled out his territory and nominated his officials. … The task of putting this cumbrous machinery into motion was entrusted by the Proprietor to his son, Thomas Gorges, as Deputy-Governor."

J. A. Doyle, The English in America: The Puritan Colonies, volume 1, chapter 7.

"The Province was divided into two counties, of one of which Agamenticus, or York, was the principal settlement; of the other, Saco. … The greatness of York made it arrogant; and it sent a deputation of aldermen and burgesses to the General Court at Saco, to save its metropolitan rights by a solemn protest. The Proprietary was its friend, and before long exalted it still more by a city charter, authorizing it and its suburbs, constituting a territory of 21 square miles, to be governed, under the name of 'Gorgeana,' by a Mayor, twelve Aldermen, a Common Council of 24 members, and a Recorder, all to be annually chosen by the citizens. Probably as many as two thirds of the adult males were in places of authority. The forms of proceeding in the Recorder's Court were to be copied from those of the British chancery. This grave foolery was acted more than ten years."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 13.

ALSO IN: _Sir F. Gorges, Brief Narration (Maine Historical Society Collection, volume 2)._

MAINE: A. D. 1643-1677. Territorial jurisdiction in dispute. The claims of Massachusetts made good.

"In 1643, the troubles in England between the King and Commons grew violent, and in that year Alexander Rigby bought the old grant called Lygonia or 'Plow Patent,' and appointed George Cleaves his deputy-president. Governor Thomas Gorges about that time returned to England, and left Vines in his place. Between Cleaves and Vines there was of course a conflict of jurisdiction, and Cleaves appealed for aid to Massachusetts; and both parties agreed to leave their claims (1645) to the decision of the Massachusetts Magistrates, who decided—that they could not decide the matter. But the next year the Commissioners for American plantations in England decided in favor of Rigby; and Vines left the country. In 1647, at last, at the age of 74, Sir Ferdinando Gorges died, and with him died all his plans for kingdoms and power in Maine. In 1651, Massachusetts, finding that her patent, which included lands lying three miles north of the head waters of the Merrimack, took in all the lower part of Maine, began to extend her jurisdiction, and as most of the settlers favored her authority, it was pretty well established till the time of the Restoration (1660). {2080} Upon the Restoration of Charles II., the heir of Gorges claimed his rights to Maine. His agent in the province was Edward Godfrey. Those claims were confirmed by the Committee of Parliament, and in 1664 he obtained an order from the King to the Governor of Massachusetts to restore him his province. In 1664 the King's Commissioners came over, and proceeded through the Colonies, and among the rest to Maine; where they appointed various officers without the concurrence of Massachusetts; so that for some years Maine was distracted with parties, and was in confusion. In 1668, Massachusetts sent four Commissioners to York, who resumed and re-established the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, with which the majority of the people were best pleased; and in 1669 the Deputies from Maine again took their seats in the Massachusetts Court. Her jurisdiction was, however, disputed by the heirs of Mason and Gorges, and it was not finally set at rest till the year 1677, by the purchase of their claims from them, by Massachusetts, for £1,250."

C. W. Elliott, The New England History, volume 1, chapter 26.

ALSO IN: R. K. Sewall, Ancient Dominions of Maine, chapters 3-4.

W. D. Williamson, History of Maine, volume 1, chapters 6-21.

MAINE: A. D. 1664. The Pemaquid patent purchased and granted to the Duke of York.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1664.

MAINE: A. D. 1675. Outbreak of the Tarentines.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1675 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

MAINE: A. D. 1689-1697. King William's War. Indian cruelties.

See CANADA: A. D. 1689-1690; and 1692-1697.

MAINE: A. D. 1722-1725. Renewed Indian war.

See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1713-1730.

MAINE: A. D. 1744-1748. King George's War.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1744; 1745; and 1745-1748.

MAINE: A. D. 1814. Occupied in large part and held by the English.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1813-1814.

MAINE: A. D. 1820. Separation from Massachusetts. Recognition as a distinct commonwealth and admission into the Union.

"Petitions for the separation of the District of Maine were first preferred to the legislature of Massachusetts in 1816, and a convention was appointed to be holden at Brunswick. This convention voted in favor of the step, but the separation was not effected until 1820, at which time Maine was erected into a distinct and independent commonwealth, and was admitted into the American Union."

G. L. Austin, History of Massachusetts, page 408.

"In the division of the property all the real estate in Massachusetts was to be forever hers; all that in Maine to be equally divided between the two, share and share alike. … The admission of Maine and Missouri into the Union were both under discussion in Congress at the same time. The advocates of the latter, wishing to carry it through the Legislature, without any restrictive clause against slavery, put both into a bill together,—determined each should share the same fate. … Several days the subject was debated, and sent from one branch to the other in Congress, till the 1st of March, when, to our joy, they were divorced; and on the 3d of the month [March, 1820] an act was passed by which Maine was declared to be, from and after the 15th of that month, one of the United States."

W. D. Williamson, History of Maine, volume 2, chapter 27.

See, also, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1818-1821.

MAINE: A. D. 1842. Settlement of the northern boundary disputes, by the Ashburton Treaty.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1842.

----------MAINE: End----------

MAIWAND, English disaster at (1880).

See AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1869-1881.

MAJESTAS, The Law of.

"The law of Majestas or Treason … under the [Roman] empire … was the legal protection thrown round the person of the chief of the state: any attempt against the dignity or safety of the community became an attack on its glorified representative. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that the first legal enactment which received this title, half a century before the foundation of the empire, was actually devised for the protection, not of the state itself, but of a personage dear to the state, namely, the tribune of the people. Treason to the State indeed had long before been known, and defined as Perduellio, the levying of war against the commonwealth. … But the crime of majesty was first specified by the demagogue Apuleius, in an enactment of the year 654 [B. C. 100], for the purpose of guarding or exalting the dignity of the champion of the plebs. … The law of Apuleius was followed by that of another tribune, Varius, conceived in a similar spirit. … [After the constitution of Sulla] the distinction between Majestas and Perduellio henceforth vanishes: the crime of Treason is specifically extended from acts of violence to measures calculated to bring the State into contempt."

C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 44.

MAJORCA: Conquest by King James of Aragon.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1212-1238.

MAJORIAN, Roman Emperor (Western), A. D. 457-461.

MAJUBA HILL, Battle of (1881).

See SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1806-1881.

----------MALAGA: Start--------

MALAGA: A. D. 1036-1055. The seat of a Moorish kingdom.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1031-1086.

MALAGA: A. D. 1487. Siege and capture from the Moors by the Christians.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1492.

----------MALAGA: End--------

MALAKHOFF, The storming of the (1855).

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854-1856.

MALAMOCCO. The second capital of the Venetians.

See VENICE: A. D. 697-810; and 452.

MALATESTA FAMILY, The.

"No one with any tincture of literary knowledge is ignorant of the fame at least of the great Malatesta family—the house of the Wrongheads, as they were rightly called by some prevision of their future part in Lombard history. … The story of Francesca da Polenta, who was wedded to the hunchback Giovanni Malatesta and murdered by him with her lover Paolo, is known not merely to students of Dante, but to readers of Byron and Leigh Hunt, to admirers of Flaxman, Ary Scheffer, Doré—to all, in fact, who have of art and letters any love. The history of these Malatesti, from their first establishment under Otho III. [A. D. 996-1002] as lieutenants for the Empire in the Marches of Ancona, down to their final subjugation by the Papacy in the age of the Renaissance, is made up of all the vicissitudes which could befall a mediæval Italian despotism. {2081} Acquiring an unlawful right over the towns of Rimini, Cesena, Sogliano, Ghiacciuolo, they ruled their petty principalities like tyrants by the help of the Guelf and Ghibelline factions, inclining to the one or the other as it suited their humour or their interest, wrangling among themselves, transmitting the succession of their dynasty through bastards and by deeds of force, quarrelling with their neighbours the Counts of Urbino, alternately defying and submitting to the Papal legates in Romagna, serving as condottieri in the wars of the Visconti and the state of Venice, and by their restlessness and genius for military intrigues contributing in no slight measure to the general disturbance of Italy. The Malatesti were a race of strongly marked character: more, perhaps, than any other house of Italian tyrants, they combined for generations those qualities of the fox and the lion, which Machiavelli thought indispensable to a successful despot. … So far as Rimini is concerned, the house of Malatesta culminated in Sigismondo Pandolfo, son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti's general, the perfidious Pandolfo. … Having begun by defying the Holy See, he was impeached at Rome for heresy, parricide, incest, adultery, rape, and sacrilege, burned in effigy by Pope Pius II., and finally restored to the bosom of the Church, after suffering the despoliation of almost all his territories, in 1463. The occasion on which this fierce and turbulent despiser of laws human and divine was forced to kneel as a penitent before the Papal legate in the gorgeous temple dedicated to his own pride, in order that the ban of excommunication might be removed from Rimini, was one of those petty triumphs, interesting chiefly for their picturesqueness, by which the Popes confirmed their questionable rights over the cities of Romagna. Sigismondo, shorn of his sovereignty, took the command of the Venetian troops against the Turks in the Morea, and returned in 1465, crowned with laurels, to die at Rimini."

J. A. Symonds, Sketches in Italy and Greece, pages 217-220.

ALSO IN: A. M. F. Robinson, The End of the Middle Ages, pages 274-299.

MALAYAN RACE, The.

Many ethnologists set up as a distinct stock "the '.Malayan' or 'Brown' race, and claim for it an importance not less than any of the darker varieties of the species. It bears, however, the marks of an origin too recent, and presents Asian analogies too clearly, for it to be regarded otherwise than as a branch of the Asian race, descended like it from some ancestral tribe in that great continent. Its dispersion has been extraordinary. Its members are found almost continuously on the land areas from Madagascar to Easter Island, a distance nearly two-thirds of the circumference of the globe; everywhere they speak dialects with such affinities that we must assume for all one parent stem, and their separation must have taken place not so very long ago to have permitted such a monoglottic trait as this. The stock is divided at present into two groups, the western or Malayan peoples, and the eastern or Polynesian peoples. There has been some discussion about the original identity of these, but we may consider it now proved by both physical, linguistic and traditional evidence. The original home of the parent stem has also excited some controversy, but this too may be taken as settled. There is no reasonable doubt but that the Malays came from the southeastern regions of Asia, from the peninsula of Farther India, and thence spread south, east and west over the whole of the island world. Their first occupation of Sumatra and Java has been estimated to have occurred not later than 1000 B. C., and probably was a thousand years earlier, or about the time that the Aryans entered Northern India. The relationship of the Malayic with the other Asian stocks has not yet been made out. Physically they stand near to the Sinitic peoples of small stature and roundish heads of southeastern Asia. The oldest form of their language, however, was not monosyllabic and tonic, but was disyllabic. … The purest type of the true Malays is seen in Malacca, Sumatra and Java. … It has changed slightly by foreign intermixture among the Battaks of Sumatra, the Dayaks of Borneo, the Alfures and the Bugis. But the supposition that these are so remote that they cannot properly be classed with the Malays is an exaggeration of some recent ethnographers, and is not approved by the best authorities. … In character the Malays are energetic, quick of perception, genial in demeanor, but unscrupulous, cruel and revengeful. Veracity is unknown, and the love of gain is far stronger than any other passion or affection. This thirst for gold made the Malay the daring navigator he early became. As merchant, pirate or explorer, and generally as all three in one, he pushed his crafts far and wide over the tropical seas through 12,000 miles of extent. On the extreme west he reached and colonized Madagascar. The Hovas there, undoubtedly of Malay blood, number about 800,000 in a population of five and a half millions, the remainder being Negroids of various degrees of fusion. In spite of this disproportion, the Hovas are the recognized masters of the island. … The Malays probably established various colonies in southern India. The natives at Travancore and the Sinhalese of Ceylon bear a strongly Malayan aspect. … Some ethnographers would make the Polynesians and Micronesians a different race from the Malays; but the farthest that one can go in this direction is to admit that they reveal some strain of another blood. This is evident in their physical appearance. … All the Polynesian languages have some affinities to the Malayan, and the Polynesian traditions unanimously refer to the west for the home of their ancestors. We are able, indeed, by carefully analyzing these traditions, to trace with considerable accuracy both the route they followed to the Oceanic isles, and the respective dates when they settled them. Thus, the first station of their ancestors ou leaving the western group, was the small island of Buru or Boru, between Celebes and New Guinea. Here they encountered the Papuas, some of whom still dwell in the interior, while the coast people are fair. Leaving Boru, they passed to the north of New Guinea, colonizing the Caroline and Solomon islands, but the vanguard pressing forward to take possession of Savai in the Samoan group and Tonga to its south. These two islands formed a second center of distribution over the western Pacific. The Maoris of New Zealand moved from Tonga—'holy Tonga' as they call it in their songs—about 600 years ago. The Society islanders migrated from Savai, and they in turn sent forth the population of the Marquesas, the Sandwich islands and Easter island. The separation of the Polynesians from the western Malays must have taken place about the beginning of our era."

D. G. Brinton, Races and Peoples, lecture 8, section. 2.

ALSO IN: A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, chapter 40.

R. Brown, The Races of Mankind, volume 2, chapter 7.

{2082}

MALCOLM III., King of Scotland, A. D. 1057-1093.

Malcolm IV., King of Scotland, 1153-1165.

MALDON, Battle of.

Fought, A. D. 991, by the English against an invading army of Norwegians, who proved the victors. The battle, with the heroic death of the English leader, Brihtnoth, became the subject of a famous early-English poem, which is translated in Freeman's "Old English History for Children." The field of battle was on the Blackwater in Essex.

MALEK SHAH, Seljuk Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1073-1092.

MALIANS, The.

One of the early peoples of Greece, who dwelt on the Malian Gulf, in the lower valley of the Sperchæus. They were a warlike people, neighbors and close allies of the Dorians, before the migration of the latter to the Peloponnesus.

C. O. Müller, History and Antiquity of the Doric Race, volume 1, book 1, chapter 2.

MALIGNANTS.

"About this time [A. D. 1643] the word 'malignant' was first born (as to the common use) in England; the deduction thereof being disputable, whether from 'malus ignis,' bad fire, or 'malum lignum,' bad fuel; but this is sure, betwixt both, the name made a combustion all over England. It was fixed as a note of disgrace on those of the king's party."

T. Fuller, Church History of Britain, book 11, section 4 (volume 3).

MALINES: Taken by Marlborough and the Allies (1706).

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1706-1707.

MALLUM. MALL. MALLBERG.

"The Franks … constituted one great army, the main body of which was encamped round the abode of their Kyning or commander, and the rest of which was broken up into various detachments. … Every such detachment became ere long a sedentary tribe, and the chief of each was accustomed, as occasion required, to convene the mallum (that is, an assembly of the free inhabitants) of his district, to deliberate with him on all the affairs of his immediate locality. The Kyning also occasionally convened an assembly of the whole of the Frankish chiefs, to deliberate with him at the Champs de Mars on the affairs of the whole confederacy. But neither the mallum nor the Champs de Mars was a legislative convention. Each of them was a council of war or an assembly of warriors."

Sir J. Stephen, Lectures on the History of France, lecture 8.

"The Court was mostly held in a field or on a hill, called 'mallstatt,' or 'mallberg,' that is, the place or hill where the 'mall' or Court assembled, and the judge set up his shield of office, without which he might not hold Court."

J. I. Mombert, History of Charles the Great, book 1, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: W. C. Perry, The Franks, chapter 10.

See, also. PARLIAMENT OF PARIS.

MALMÖ, Armistice of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1848 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).

MALO-JOROSLAVETZ, Battle of.

See RUSSIA: A. D.1812 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

MALPLAQUET, Battle of (1709).

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1708-1709.

----------MALTA: Start--------

MALTA: A. D. 1530-1565. Ceded by the emperor, Charles V., to the Knights of St. John. Their defense of the island against the Turks in the great siege.

See HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN: A. D. 1530-1565.

MALTA: A. D. 1551. Unsuccessful attack by the Turks.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1543-1560.

MALTA: A. D. 1798. Seizure and occupation by Bonaparte.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798 (MAY-AUGUST).

MALTA: A. D. 1800-1802. Surrender to an English fleet. Agreement of restoration to the Knights of St. John.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1802.

MALTA: A. D. 1814. Ceded to England.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (APRIL-JUNE).

----------MALTA: End--------

MALTA, Knights of.

During their occupation of the island, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem were commonly called Knights of Malta, as they had previously been called Knights of Rhodes:

See HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN.

MALVASIA, Battle of (1263).

See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.

MALVERN CHASE.

An ancient royal forest in Worcestershire, England, between Malvern Hills and the River Severn. Few remains of it exist.

_J. C. Brown, Forests of England._

MALVERN HILL, Battle of.

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

MAMACONAS.

See YANACONAS.

MAMELUKE, OR SLAVE, DYNASTY OF INDIA.

See INDIA: A. D. 977-1290.

MAMELUKES OF BRAZIL.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1531-1641.

MAMELUKES OF EGYPT; their rise; their sovereignty; their destruction.

See EGYPT: A. D. 1250-1517; and 1803-1811.

MAMELUKES OF GENEVA, The.

See GENEVA: A. D. 1504-1535.

MAMERTINE PRISON, The.

"Near the Basilica Porcia, and at the foot of the Capitoline Hill [in ancient Rome], was the ancient carcer or prison. The original erection of it has been attributed to Ancus Martius, as we learn from Livy, who says 'he made a prison in the middle of the city, overlooking the Forum.' The name by which it is known—Mamertinus—may have been derived from its being built by Ancus Martius. Mamers was the Sabine name of the god Mars, and consequently from the name Mamertius, the Sabine way of spelling Martius, may have been derived Mamertinus. In this prison there are two chambers, one above the other, built of hewn stone. The upper is square, while the lower is semicircular. The style of masonry points to an early date, when the Etruscan style of masonry prevailed in Rome. … To these chambers there was no entrance except by a small aperture in the upper roof, and a similar hole in the upper floor led to the cell below. From a passage in Livy it would appear that Tullianum was the name given to the lower cell of the carcer. … Varro expressly tells us that the lower part of the prison which was underground was called Tullianum because it was added by Servius Tullius."

H. M. Westropp, Early and Imperial Rome, page 93.

{2083}

"The oldest portion of the horror-striking Mamertine Prisons … is the most ancient among all Roman buildings still extant as originally constructed."

C. I. Hemans, Historic and Monumental Rome, chapter 4.

"Here, Jugurtha, king of Mauritania, was starved to death by Marius. Here Julius Cæsar, during his triumph for the conquest of Gaul, caused his gallant enemy Vercingetorix to be put to death. … The spot is more interesting to the Christian world as the prison of SS. Peter and Paul."

_A. J. C. Hare, Walks in Rome, chapter 3. _

MAMERTINES OF MESSENE, The.

See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.

MAMUN, AL, Caliph, A. D. 813-833.

MAN, Kingdom of.

See MANX KINGDOM, THE.

MANAOS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

----------MANASSAS: Start--------

MANASSAS: A. D. 1861 (July). First battle (Bull Run).

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

MANASSAS: A. D. 1862 (March). Confederate evacuation.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861-1862 (DECEMBER-MARCH: VIRGINIA).

MANASSAS: A. D. 1862 (August). Stonewall Jackson's Raid. The Second Battle.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (AUGUST: VIRGINIA); and (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER: VIRGINIA).

----------MANASSAS: End--------

----------MANCHESTER: Start--------

MANCHESTER: Origin.

See MANCUNIUM.

MANCHESTER: A. D. 1817-1819. The march of the Blanketeers, and the "Massacre of Peterloo."

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1816-1820.

MANCHESTER: A. D. 1838-1839. Beginning of the Anti-Corn-Law agitation.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (ENGLAND): A. D. 1836-1839.

MANCHESTER: A. D. 1861-1865. The Cotton Famine.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1861-1865.

MANCHESTER: A. D. 1894. Opening of the Ship Canal.

A ship canal, connecting Manchester with Liverpool, and making the former practically a seaport, was opened on the 1st day of January, 1894. The building of the canal was begun in 1887.

----------MANCHESTER: End--------

MANCHU TARTAR DYNASTY OF CHINA, The.

See CHINA: A.D. 1294-1882.

MANCUNIUM.

A Roman town in Britain which occupied the site of the modern city of Manchester.

T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5.

MANDANS, MANDANES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.

MANDATA, Roman Imperial.

See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.

MANDUBII, The.

A tribe in ancient Gaul, which occupied part of the modern French department of the Côte-d'Or and whose chief town was Alesia, the scene of Cæsar's famous siege.

Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, footnote (volume 2).

MANETHO, List of.

"Of all the Greek writers who have treated of the history of the Pharaohs, there is only one whose testimony has, since the deciphering of the hieroglyphics, preserved any great value—a value which increases the more it is compared with the original monuments; we speak of Manetho. Once he was treated with contempt; his veracity was disputed, the long series of dynasties he unfolds to our view was regarded as fabulous. Now, all that remains of his work is the first of an authorities for the reconstruction of the ancient history of Egypt. Manetho, a priest of the town of Sebennytus, in the Delta, wrote in Greek, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, a history of Egypt, founded on the official archives preserved in the temples. Like many other books of antiquity, this history has been lost; we possess now a few fragments only, with the list of all the kings placed by Manetho at the end of his work—a list happily preserved in the writings of some chronologers of the Christian epoch. This list divides into dynasties, or royal families, all the kings who reigned successively in Egypt down to the time of Alexander."

F. Lenormant, Manual of Ancient History of the East, book 3, chapter 1, section 2 (volume 1).

See, also, EGYPT: ITS HISTORICAL ANTIQUITY.

----------MANHATTAN ISLAND: Start--------

MANHATTAN ISLAND: Its aboriginal People and name.

"The earliest notice we have of the island which is now adorned by a beautiful and opulent city is to be found in Hudson's journal. 'Mana-hata' is therein mentioned, in reference to the hostile people whom he encountered on his return from his exploring of the river, and who resided on this island. De Laet … calls those wicked people Manatthans, and names the river Manhattes. … Hartger calls the Indians and the island Mahattan. … In some of the early transactions of the colony, it is spelled Monhattoes, Munhatos, and Manhattoes. Professor Ebeling says, that at the mouth of the river lived the Manhattans or Manathanes (or as the Englishmen commonly called it, Manhados), who kept up violent animosities with their neighbours, and were at first most hostile towards the Dutch, but suffered themselves to be persuaded afterwards to sell them the island, or at least that part of it where New York now stands. Manhattan is now the name, and it was, when correctly adopted, so given by the Dutch, and by them it not only distinguished the Indians, the island and the river, but it was a general name of their plantations. … Mr. Heckewelder observes that hitherto an his labours had been fruitless in inquiring about a nation or tribe of Indians called the 'Manhattos' or 'Manathones'; Indians both of the Mahicanni and Delaware nations assured him that they never had heard of any Indian tribe by that name. He says he is convinced that it was the Delawares or Munseys (which last was a branch of the Delawares) who inhabited that part of the country where New York now is. York Island is called by the Delawares to this day [1824] Manahattani or Manahachtanink. The Delaware word for 'Island' is 'Manátey'; the Monsey word for the same is 'Manáchtey' … Dr. Barton also has given as his belief that the Manhattæ were a branch of the Munsis."

J. V. N. Yates and J. W. Moulton, History of the State of New York, volume 1, pages 223-224.

ALSO IN: Memorial History of the City of New York, volume 1, chapter 2.

See, also, AMERICAN ABORIGINES: DELAWARES, and ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

MANHATTAN ISLAND: A. D. 1613. First settlements. Argall's visit.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1610-1614.

----------MANHATTAN ISLAND: End--------

{2084}

MANICHEANS, The.

"A certain Mani (or Manes, as the ecclesiastical writers call him), born in Persia about A. D. 240, grew to manhood under Sapor, exposed to … various religious influences. … With a mind free from prejudice and open to conviction, he studied the various systems of belief which he found established in Western Asia—the Cabalism of the Babylonian Jews, the Dualism of the Magi, the mysterious doctrines of the Christians, and even the Buddhism of India. At first he inclined to Christianity, and is said to have been admitted to priest's orders and to have ministered to a congregation; but after a time he thought that he saw his way to the formation of a new creed, which should combine all that was best in the religious systems which he was acquainted with, and omit what was superfluous or objectionable. He adopted the Dualism of the Zoroastrians, the metempsychosis of India, the angelism and demonism of the Talmud and Trinitarianism of the Gospel of Christ. Christ himself he identified with Mithra, and gave Him his dwelling in the sun. He assumed to be the Paraclete promised by Christ, who should guide men into all truth, and claimed that his 'Ertang,' a sacred book illustrated by pictures of his own painting, should supersede the New Testament. Such pretensions were not likely to be tolerated by the Christian community; and Manes had not put them forward very long when he was expelled from the church and forced to carry his teaching elsewhere. Under these circumstances he is said to have addressed himself to Sapor [the Persian king], who was at first inclined to show him some favour; but when he found out what the doctrines of the new teacher actually were, his feelings underwent a change, and Manes, proscribed, or at any rate threatened with penalties, had to retire into a foreign country. … Though the morality of the Manichees was pure, and though their religion is regarded by some as a sort of Christianity, there were but few points in which it was an improvement on Zoroastrianism."

G. Rawlinson, The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 4.

First in Persia and, afterwards, throughout Christendom, the Manicheans were subjected to a merciless persecution; but they spread their doctrines, notwithstanding, in the west and in the east, and it was not until several centuries had passed that the heresy became extinct.

J. L. Mosheim, Christianity during the first 325 years, Third Century, lectures 39-55.

See, also, PAULICIANS.

MANIFESTATION, The Aragonese process of.

See CORTES. THE EARLY SPANISH.

MANILIAN LAW, The.

See ROME: B. C. 69-63.

MANIMI, The.

See LYGIANS.

MANIN, Daniel, and the struggle for Venetian independence.

See ITALY: A. D.1848-1849.

MANIOTO, MAYNO, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.

MANIPULI.

See LEGION, ROMAN.

MANITOBA.

See CANADA: A. D. 1869-1873.

MANNAHOACS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: POWHATAN CONFEDERACY.

----------MANNHEIM: Start--------

MANNHEIM: A. D. 1622. Capture by Tilly.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623.

MANNHEIM: A. D. 1689. Destroyed by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690.

MANNHEIM: A. D. 1799. Capture by the Austrians.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).

----------MANNHEIM: End--------

MANOA, The fabled city of.

See EL DORADO.

MANORS.

"The name manor is of Norman origin, but the estate to which it was given existed, in its essential character, long before the Conquest; it received a new name as the shire also did, but neither the one nor the other was created by this change. The local jurisdictions of the thegns who had grants of sac and soc, or who exercised judicial functions amongst their free neighbours, were identical with the manorial jurisdictions of the new owners. … The manor itself was, as Ordericus tells us, nothing more nor less than the ancient township, now held by a lord who possessed certain judicial rights varying according to the terms of the grant by which he was infeoffed. Every manor had a court baron, the ancient gemot of the township, in which by-laws were made and other local business transacted, and a court customary in which the business of the villenage was despatched. Those manors whose lords had under the Anglo-Saxon laws possessed sac and soc, or who since the Conquest had had grants in which those terms were used, had also a court-leet, or criminal jurisdiction, cut out as it were from the criminal jurisdiction of the hundred, and excusing the suitors who attended it from going to the court-leet of the hundred."

W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 9, section 98, and chapter 11, section 129 (volume 1).

"From the Conquest to the 14th century we find the same agricultural conditions prevailing over the greater part of England. Small gatherings of houses and cots appear as oases in the moorland and forest, more or less frequent according to the early or late settlement of the district, and its freedom from, or exposure to, the ravages of war and the punishment of rebellion. These oases, townships or vills if of some extent, hamlets if of but a few houses, gather round one or more mansions of superior size and importance, the Manor houses, or abodes of the Lords of the respective Manors. Round each township stretch the great ploughed fields, usually three in number, open and uninclosed. Each field is divided into a series of parallel strips a furlong in length, a rod wide, four of which would make an acre, the strips being separated by ridges of turf called balks, while along the head of each series of strips runs a broad band of turf known as a headland, on which the plough is turned, when it does not by custom turn on some fellow-tenant's land, and which serves as a road to the various strips in the fields. These strips are allotted in rotation to a certain number of the dwellers in the township, a very common holding being that known as a virgate or yardland, consisting of about 30 acres. … Mr. Seebohm's exhaustive researches have conclusively connected this system of open fields and rotation of strips with the system of common ploughing, each holder of land providing so many oxen for the common plough, two being the contribution of the holder of a virgate, and eight the normal number drawing the plough, though this would vary with the character of the soil. … At the date of Domesday (1086), the holders of land in the common fields comprise the Lord; the free tenants, socmanni or liberi homines, when there are any; the villani or Saxon geburs, the holders of virgates or half virgates; and the bordarii or cotarii, holders of small plots of 5 acres or so, who have fewer rights and fewer duties. Besides ploughing the common-fields, the villani as part of their tenure have to supply the labour necessary to cultivate the arable land that the Lord of the Manor keeps in his own hands as his domain, dominicum, or demesne."

T. E. Scrutton, Commons and Common Fields, chapter 1.

{2085}

Relative to the origin of the manor and the development of the community from which it rose there are divergent views much discussed at the present day. "The interpretation, current fifteen years ago, was the natural outcome of the Mark theory and was somewhat as follows: The community was a voluntary association, a simple unit within which there were households or families of various degrees of wealth, rank and authority, but in point of status each was the equal of the other. Each was subject only to the customs and usages of the community and to the court of the Mark. The Mark was therefore a judicial and political as well as an agricultural unit, though cultivation of the soil was the primary bond of union. All offices were filled by election, but the incumbent in due time sank back into the general body of 'markgenossen.' He who was afterwards to be the lord of the manor was originally only the first Marksman,' who attained to this preeminence in part by the prestige of election to a position of headship, in part by usurpation, and in part by the prerogatives which protection and assistance to weaker Marksmen brought. Thus the first Marksman became the lord and held the others in a kind of subjection to himself, and received from them, though free, dues and services which grew increasingly more severe. The main difficulty here seems to be in the premise, and it is the evident artificiality of the voluntary association of freemen which has led to such adverse criticism upon the whole theory. … While the free village community was under fire at home as well as abroad, Mr. Seebohm presented a new view of an exactly opposite character, with the formula of the community in villeinage under a lord. Although this view has for the moment divided thinkers on the subject, it has proved no more satisfactory than the other; for while it does explain the origin of the lord of the manor, it leaves wholly untouched the body of free Saxons whom Earle calls the rank and file of the invading army. Other theories have sought to supply the omissions in this vague non-documentary field, all erected with learning and skill, but unfortunately not in harmony with one another. Coote and Finlason have given to the manor an unqualified Roman origin. Lewis holds to a solid British foundation, the Teutonists would make it wholly Saxon, while Gomme is inclined to see an Aryo-British community under Saxon overlordship. Thus there is a wide range from which to select; all cannot be true; no one is an explanation of all conditions, yet most of them have considerable sound evidence to support them. It is this lack of harmony which drives the student to discover some theory which shall be in touch with known tribal conditions and a natural consequence of their development, and which at the same time shall be sufficiently elastic to conform to the facts which confront us in the early historical period. An attempt has been made [in the work here quoted from] to lay down two premises, the first of which is the composite character of the tribal and village community, and the second the diverse ethnological conditions of Britain after the Conquest, conditions which would allow for different results. … Kemble in his chapter on Personal Rank has a remark which is ill in keeping with his peaceful Mark theory. He says: 'There can be no doubt that some kind of military organization preceded the peaceful settlement, and in many respects determined its mode and character.' To this statement Earle has added another equally pregnant: 'Of all principles of military regiment there is none so necessary or so elementary as this, that all men must be under a captain, and such a captain as is able to command prompt and willing obedience. Upon this military principle I conceive the English settlements were originally founded, that each several settlement was under a military leader, and that this military leader was the ancestor of the lord of the manor.' Professor Earle then continues in the endeavor to apply the suggestion contained in the above quotation. He shows that the 'hundreds' represent the first permanent encampment of the invading host, and that the military occupation preceded the civil organization, the latter falling into the mould which the former had prepared. According to this the manorial organization was based upon a composite military foundation, the rank and file composing the one element, the village community; the captain or military leader composing the other, settled with suitable provision by the side of his company; the lord by the side of free owners. In this attempt to give the manor a composite origin, as the only rational means whereby the chief difficulty can be removed, and in the attempt to carry the seignorial element to the very beginning we believe him to be wholly right. But an objection must be raised to the way in which Professor Earle makes up his composite element. It is too artificial, too exclusively military; the occupiers of the village are the members of the 'company,' the occupier of the adjacent seat is the 'captain,' afterwards to become the lord. … We feel certain that the local community, the village, was simply the kindred, the sub-clan group, which had become a local habitation, yet when we attempt to test its presence in Anglo-Saxon Britain we meet with many difficulties."

C. McL. Andrews, The Old English Manor, pages 7-51.

ALSO IN: F. Seebohm, English Village Communities, chapter 2, section 12.

Sir H. Maine, Village Communities, lecture 5.

MANSFIELD, OR SABINE CROSS ROADS, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MARCH-MAY: LOUISIANA).

MANSOURAH, Battle of (1250).

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1248-1254.

MANSUR, Al, Caliph, A. D. 754-775.

----------MANTINEA: Start--------

MANTINEA.

"Mantinea was the single city of Arcadia which had dared to pursue an independent line of policy [see SPARTA: B. C. 743-510]. Not until the Persian Wars the community coalesced out of five villages into one fortified city; this being done at the instigation of Argos, which already at this early date entertained thoughts of forming for itself a confederation in its vicinity: Mantinea had endeavored to increase its city and territory by conquest, and after the Peace of Nicias had openly opposed Sparta."

E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 5, chapter 5 (volume 4).

MANTINEA: B. C. 418. Battle.

See GREECE: B. C. 421-418.

{2086}

MANTINEA: B. C. 385. Destruction by the Spartans.

See GREECE: B. C. 385.

MANTINEA: B. C. 371-362. Restoration of the city. Arcadian union and disunion. The great battle. Victory and death of Epaminondas.

See GREECE: B. C. 371; and 371-362.

MANTINEA: B. C. 222. Change of name.

In the war between Cleomenes of Sparta and the Achæan League, the city of Mantinea was, first, surprised by Aratus, the chief of the League, B. C. 226, and occupied by an Achæan garrison; then recaptured by Cleomenes, and his partisans, B. C. 224, and finally, B. C. 222, stormed by Antigonus, king of Macedonia, acting in the name of the League, and given up to pillage. Its citizens were sold into slavery. "The dispeopled city was placed by the conqueror at the disposal of Argos, which decreed that a colony should be sent to take possession of it under the auspices of Aratus. The occasion enabled him to pay another courtly compliment to the king of Macedonia. On his proposal, the name of the 'lovely Mantinea'—as it was described in the Homeric catalogue—was exchanged for that of Antigonea, a symbol of its ruin and of the humiliation of Greece."

C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 62 (volume 8).

MANTINEA: B. C. 207. Defeat of the Lacedæmonians.

In the wars of the Achæan League, the Lacedæmonians were defeated under the walls of Mantinea with great slaughter, by the forces of the League, ably marshalled by Philopœmen, and the Lacedaemonian king Machanidas was slain. "It was the third great battle fought on the same, or nearly the same, ground. Here, in the interval between the two parts of the Peloponnesian War, had Agis restored the glory of Sparta after her humiliation at Sphakteria; here Epameinôndas had fallen in the moment of victory; here now [B. C. 207] was to be fought the last great battle of independent Greece."

E. A. Freeman, History of Federal Government, chapter 8, section 2.

----------MANTINEA: End----------

MANTUA: 11-12th Centuries. Rise and acquisition of republican independence.

See ITALY: A. D. 1056-1152.

MANTUA: A. D. 1077-1115. In the dominions of the Countess Matilda.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1077-1102.

MANTUA: A. D. 1328-1708. The house of Gonzaga.

See GONZAGA.

MANTUA: A. D. 1627-1631. War of France, Spain and the Empire over the disputed succession to the duchy. Siege and capture of the city by the Imperialists. Rights of the Duke de Nevers established.

See ITALY: A. D. 1627-1631.

MANTUA: A. D. 1635. Alliance with France against Spain.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

MANTUA: A. D. 1796-1797. Siege and reduction by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1796 (APRIL-OCTOBER); and 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL).

MANTUA: A. D. 1797. Ceded by Austria to the Cisalpine Republic.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (MAY-OCTOBER).

MANTUA: A. D. 1799. Siege and capture by Suwarrow.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER).

MANTUA: A. D. 1814. Restoration to Austria.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (APRIL-JUNE).

MANTUA: A. D. 1866.

The Austrians retained Mantua until their final withdrawal from the peninsula, in 1866, when it was absorbed in the new kingdom of Italy.

MANU, Laws of.

"The Indians [of Hindostan] possess a series of books of law, which, like that called after Manu, bear the name of a saint or seer of antiquity, or of a god. One is named after Gautama, another after Vasishtha, a third after Apastamba, a fourth after Yajnavalkya; others after Bandhayana and Vishnu. According to the tradition of the Indians the law of Manu is the oldest and most honourable. … The conclusion is … inevitable that the decisive precepts which we find in the collection must have been put together and written down about the year 600 [B. C.]."

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 5, chapter 6.

"The name, 'Laws of Manu,' somewhat resembles a 'pious fraud'; for the 'Laws' are merely the laws or customs of a school or association of Hindus, called the Manavas, who lived in the country rendered holy by the divine river Saraswati. In this district the Hindus first felt themselves a settled people, and in this neighbourhood they established colleges and hermitages, or 'asramas,' from some of which we may suppose Brahmanas, Upanishads, and other religious compositions may have issued; and under such influences we may imagine the Code of Manu to have been composed."

Mrs. Manning, Ancient and Mediæval India, volume 1, page 276.

MANUAL TRAINING.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS, &C.: A. D. 1865-1886.

MANUEL I. (Comnenus), Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 1143-1181.

Manuel II. (Palæologus), Greek Emperor of Constantinople, 1391-1425.

MANX KINGDOM, The.

The Isle of Man in the Irish Sea gets its English name, Man, by an abbreviation of the native name, Mannin, the origin of which is unknown. The language, called Manx (now little used), and the inhabitants, called Manxmen, are both of Gaelic, or Irish derivation. From the sixth to the tenth century the island was successively ruled by the Scots (Irish), the Welsh and the Norwegians, finally becoming a separate petty kingdom, with Norwegian claims upon it. In the thirteenth century the little kingdom was annexed to Scotland. Subsequently, after various vicissitudes, it passed under English control and was granted by Henry IV. to Sir John Stanley. The Stanleys, after some generations, found a dignity which they esteemed higher, in the earldom of Derby, and relinquished the title of King of Man. This was done by the second Earl of Derby, 1505. In 1765 the sovereignty and revenues of the island were purchased by the British government; but its independent form of government has undergone little change. It enjoys "home rule" to perfection. It has its own legislature, called the Court of Tynwald, consisting of a council, or upper chamber, and a representative body called the House of Keys. Acts of the imperial parliament do not apply to the Isle of Man unless it is specifically named in them. It has its own courts, with judges called deemsters (who are the successors of the ancient Druidical priests), and its own governor, appointed by the crown. The divisions of the island, corresponding to English counties, are called sheadings.

_S. Walpole, The Land of Home Rule._

ALSO IN: _H. I. Jenkinson, Guide to Isle of Man._

Hall Caine, The Little Manx Nation. Our Own Country, volume 5.

See MONAPIA: and NORMANS: 8TH-9TH CENTURIES.

{2087}

MANZIKERT, Battle of (1071).

See TURKS: A. D. 1063-1073.

MAONITES, The.

"We must … regard them as a remnant of the Amorites, which, in later times, … spread to the west of Petra."

H. Ewald, History of Israel, introduction, section 4.

MAORIS. MAORI WAR.

See NEW ZEALAND: THE ABORIGINES: A. D. 1853-1883; also, MALAYAN RACE.

MAPOCHINS, The.

See CHILE: A. D. 1450-1724.

MAQUAHUITL, The.

This was a weapon in use among the Mexicans when the Spaniards found them. It "was a stout stick, three feet and a half long, and about four inches broad, armed on each side with a sort of razors of the stone itztli (obsidian), extraordinarily sharp, fixed and firmly fastened to the stick with gum lack. … The first stroke only was to be feared, for the razors became soon blunt."

F. S. Clavigero, History of Mexico, book 7.

ALSO IN: Sir A. Helps, The Spanish Conquest of America, book 10 (volume 2).

MARACANDA.

The chief city of the ancient Sogdiani, in Central Asia—now Samarcand.

MARAGHA.

See PERSIA: A. D. 1258-1393.

MARAIS, OR PLAIN, The Party of the.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

MARANHA, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

MARANGA, Battle of.

One of the battles fought by the Romans with the Persians during the retreat from Julian's fatal expedition beyond the Tigris, A. D. 363. The Persians were repulsed.

G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 10.

MARAPHIANS, The.

One of the tribes of the ancient Persians.

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 8, chapter 3.

MARAT AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1790, to 1793 (MARCH-JUNE).

Assassination by Charlotte Corday.

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

MARATA.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PUEBLOS.

MARATHAS.

See MAHRATTAS.

MARATHON, Battle of.

See GREECE: B. C. 490.

MARAVEDIS.

See SPANISH COINS.

MARBURG CONFERENCE, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1528-1531.

MARCEL, Etienne, and the States General of France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1356-1358.

MARCELLUS II., Pope, A. D. 1555, April to May.

MARCH. MARK.

The frontier or boundary of a territory; a border. Hence came the title of Marquis, which was originally that of an officer charged with the guarding of some March or border district of a kingdom. In Great Britain this title ranks second in the five orders of nobility, only the title of Duke being superior to it. The old English kingdom of Mercia was formed by the Angles who were first called the "Men of the March," having settled on the Welsh border, and that was the origin of its name. The kingdom of Prussia grew out of the "Mark of Brandenburg," which was originally a military border district formed on the skirts of the German empire to resist the Wends. Various other European states had the same origin.

See, also, MARGRAVE.

MARCH CLUB.

See CLUBS: THE OCTOBER AND THE MARCH.

MARCHFELD OR MARSCHFELD, Battle of the (1278).

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1246-1282.

(1809) (also called the battle of Aspern-Esslingen, or of Aspern).

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

MARCIAN, Roman Emperor (Eastern), A. D. 450-457.

MARCIANAPOLIS.

See GOTHS: A. D. 244-251.

----------MARCOMANNI AND QUADI: Start--------

MARCOMANNI AND QUADI, The.

"The Marcomanni [an ancient German people who dwelt, first, on the Rhine, but afterwards occupied southern Bohemia] stand first in strength and renown, and their very territory, from which the Boii were driven in a former age, was won by valour. Nor are the Narisci [settled in the region of modern Ratisbon] and Quadi [who probably occupied Moravia] inferior to them. This I may call the frontier of Germany, so far as it is completed by the Danube. The Marcomanni and Quadi have, up to our time, been ruled by kings of their own nation, descended from the noble stock of Maroboduus and Tudrus. They now submit even to foreigners; but the strength and power of the monarch depend on Roman influence."

Tacitus, Germany, translated by Church and Brodribb, chapter 42.

"The Marcomanni cannot be demonstrated as a distinct people before Marbod. It is very possible that the word up to that point indicates nothing but what it etymologically signifies—the land or frontier guard."

T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 5, chapter 7, foot-note.

See, also, AGRI DECUMATES.

MARCOMANNI AND QUADI: War with Tiberius.

See GERMANY: B. C. 8-A. D. 11.

MARCOMANNI AND QUADI: Wars with Marcus Aurelius.

See SARMATIAN AND MARCOMANNIAN WARS OF MARCUS AURELIUS.

----------MARCOMANNI AND QUADI: End--------

MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 161-180.

MARDIA, Battle of (A. D. 313).

See ROME: A. D. 305-323.

MARDIANS, The.

One of the tribes of the ancient Persians; also called Amardians.

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 8, chapter 3.

See, also, TAPURIANS.

----------MARDYCK: Start--------

MARDYCK: A. D. 1645-1646. Thrice taken and retaken by French and Spaniards.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1645-1646.

MARDYCK: A. D. 1657. Siege and capture by the French. Delivery to the English.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1655-1658.

----------MARDYCK: End--------

MARENGO, Battle of (1800).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (MAY-FEBRUARY).

MARFEE, Battle of (1641).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1641-1642.

MARGARET, Queen of the North: Denmark and Norway, A. D. 1387-1412; Sweden, 1388-1412.

Margaret (called The Maid of Norway), Queen of Scotland, 1286-1290.

Margaret of Anjou, and the Wars of the Roses.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.

Margaret of Navarre, or Marguerite d'Angouléme, and the Reformation in France.

See PAPACY: A.D. 1521-1535; and NAVARRE: A.D. 1528-1563.

Margaret of Parma and her Regency in the Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555-1559, and after.

{2088}

MARGHUSH.

See MARGIANA.

MARGIANA.

The ancient name of the valley of the Murghab or Moorghab (called the Margos). It is represented at the present day by the oasis now called Merv; was the Bactrian Mourn and the Marghush of the old Persians. It was inhabited by the Margiani.

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 7, chapter 1.

MARGRAVE. MARQUIS.

"This of Markgrafs (Grafs of the Marches, 'marked' Places, or Boundaries) was a natural invention in that state of circumstances [the circumstances of the Germany of the 10th century, under Henry the Fowler]. It did not quite originate with Henry; but was much perfected by him, he first recognising how essential it was. On all frontiers he had his 'Graf' (Count, 'Reeve,' 'G'reeve,' whom some think to be only 'Grau,' Gray, or 'Senior,' the hardiest, wisest steel-gray man he could discover) stationed on the Marck, strenuously doing watch and ward there: the post of difficulty, of peril, and naturally of honour too, nothing of a sinecure by any means. Which post, like every other, always had a tendency to become hereditary, if the kindred did not fail in fit men. And hence have come the innumerable Margraves, Marquises, and such like, of modern times; titles now become chimerical, and more or less mendacious, as most of our titles are."

T. Carlyle, Frederick the Great, book 2, chapter 1.

"The title derived from the old imperial office of markgrave [margrave], 'comes marchensis,' or count of the marches, had belonged to several foreigners who were brought into relation with England in the twelfth century; the duke of Brabant was marquess of Antwerp, and the count of Maurienne marquess of Italy; but in France the title was not commonly used until the seventeenth century, and it is possible that it came to England direct from Germany. … The fact that, within a century of its introduction into England, it was used in so unmeaning a designation as the marquess of Montague, shows that it had lost all traces of its original application."

W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 20, section 751.

See MARCH; also, GRAF.

MARGUS, Treaty of.

A treaty which Attila the Hun extorted from the Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius, A. D. 434,—called by Sismondi "the most shameful treaty that ever monarch signed." It gave up to the savage king every fugitive from his vengeance or his jealousy whom he demanded, and even the Roman captives who had escaped from his bonds. It promised, moreover, an annual tribute to him of 700 pounds of gold.

J. C. L. de Sismondi, Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 7 (volume 1).

MARHATTAS.

See MAHRATTAS.

MARIA, Queen of Hungary, A. D. 1399-1437.

Maria, Queen of Sicily, 1377-1402.

Maria I., Queen of Portugal, 1777-1807.

Maria II., Queen of Portugal, 1826-1853.

Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, 1745-1780.

MARIA THERESA, The military order of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (APRIL-JUNE).

MARIANA.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631.

MARIANDYNIANS, The.

See BITHYNIANS.

MARIANS, The.

See ROME: B. C. 88-78.

MARICOPAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PUEBLOS.

MARIE ANTOINETTE, Imprisonment, trial and execution of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST); and 1793 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon's marriage to.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1810-1812.

Marie de Medicis, The regency and the intrigues of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1610-1619, to 1630-1632.

Marie.

See, also, MARY.

MARIETTA, OHIO: The Settlement and Naming of the town.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1786-1788.

MARIGNANO, OR MELIGNANO, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1515.

MARINUS, Pope.

See MARTIN.

MARIOLATRY, Rise of.

See NESTORIAN AND MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSY.

MARION, Francis, and the partisan warfare in the Carolinas.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780 (AUGUST-DECEMBER), and 1780-1781.

MARIPOSAN F AMIL Y, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MARIPOSAN FAMILY.

MARITIME PROVINCES.

The British American provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, are commonly referred to as the Maritime Provinces.

MARIUS AND SULLA, The civil war of.

See ROME: B. C. 88-78.

MARIZZA, Battle of the (1363).

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1360-1389.

MARJ DABIK, Battle of (1516).

See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.

MARK.

A border.

See MARCH, MARK.

MARK, The.

"The theory of the Mark, or as it is more generally called in its later form, the free village community, has been an accepted hypothesis for the historical and economic world for more than half a century. Elaborated and expanded by the writings of Kemble in England and v. Maurer in Germany, taken up by later English writers and given wide currency through the works of Sir Henry Maine, Green, and Freeman, it has been accepted and extended by scores of historical writers on this side of the Atlantic as well as the other until it has become a commonplace in literature. Firm as has been its hold and important as has been its work, it is almost universally conceded that further modification or entire rejection must be the next step to be taken in the presence of the more thorough and scholarly research which is becoming prominent, and before all questions can be answered which this study brings to light. A change has taken place in the thought upon this subject; a reaction against the idealism of the political thinkers of half a century ago. The history of the hypothesis forms an interesting chapter in the relation between modern thought and the interpretation of past history, and shows that in the formation of an opinion both writer and reader are unconsciously dependent upon the spirit of the age in which they live. The free village community, as it is commonly understood, standing at the dawn of English and German history is discoverable in no historical documents, and for that reason it has been accepted by prudent scholars with caution. {2089} But the causes which have made it a widely acceptable hypothesis and have served to entrench it firmly in the mind of scholar and reader alike, have easily supplied what was wanting in the way of exact material, and have led to conclusions which are now recognized as often too hazy, historically inaccurate, though agreeable to the thought tendencies of the age. … The Mark as defined by Kemble, who felt in this interpretation the influence of the German writers, … was a district large or small with a well-defined boundary, containing certain proportions of heath, forest, fen and pasture. Upon this tract of land were communities of families or households, originally bound by kindred or tribal ties, but who had early lost this blood relationship and were composed of freemen, voluntarily associated for mutual support and tillage of the soil, with commonable rights in the land within the Mark. The Marks were entirely independent, having nothing to do with each other, self-supporting and isolated, until by continual expansion they either federated or coalesced into larger communities. Such communities varying in size covered England, internally differing only in minor details, in all other respects similar. This view of the Mark had been taken already more or less independently by v. Maurer in Germany, and five years after the appearance of Kemble's work, there was published the first of the series of volumes which have rendered Maurer's name famous as the establisher of the theory. As his method was more exact, his results were built upon a more stable foundation than were those of Kemble, but in general the two writers did not greatly differ."

C. McL. Andrews, The Old English Manor, pages 1-6.

ALSO IN: J. M. Kemble, The Saxons in England, book 1, chapter 2.

E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, chapter 3, section 2.

W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 3, section 24 (volume 1).

See, also, MANOR.

MARKLAND.

See AMERICA: 10TH-11TH CENTURIES.

MARKS, Spanish.

See SPANISH COINS.

MARLBOROUGH, John Churchill, Duke of; and the fall of the English Whigs.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1710-1712.

Campaigns.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704, to 17101712; and GERMANY: A. D. 1704.

----------MAROCCO: Start--------

MAROCCO: Ancient.

See MAURETANIA.

MAROCCO: The Arab conquest, and since.

The tide of Mahometan conquest, sweeping across North Africa (see MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709), burst upon Marocco in 698. "Eleven years were required to overcome the stubborn resistance of the Berbers, who, however, when once conquered, submitted with a good grace and embraced the new creed with a facility entirely in accordance with the adaptive nature they still exhibit. Mingled bands of Moors and Arabs passed over into Spain, under Tarik and Moossa, and by the defeat of Roderic at the battle of Guadalete, in 711, the foundation of their Spanish empire was laid [see SPAIN: A. D. 711-713], on which was afterwards raised the magnificent fabric of the Western Khalifate. This is not the place to dwell on the glories of their dominion. … Suffice it to say, that a reflection of this glory extended to Marocco, where the libraries and universities of Fez and Marocco City told of the learning introduced by wise men, Moorish and Christian alike, who pursued their studies without fear of interruption on the score of religious belief. The Moors in the days of their greatness, be it observed, were far more liberal-minded than the Spanish Catholics afterwards showed themselves, and allowed Christians to practise their own religion in their own places of worship—in striking contrast to the fanaticism of their descendants in Marocco at the present day. … The intervals of repose under the rule of powerful and enlightened monarchs, during which the above-mentioned institutions flourished, were nevertheless comparatively rare, and the general history of Marocco during the Moorish dominion in Spain seems to have been one monotonous record of strife between contending tribes and dynasties. Early in the tenth century, the Berbers got the mastery of the Arabs, who never afterwards appear in the history of the country except under the general name of Moors. Various principalities were formed [11-13th centuries—see ALMORAVIDES and ALMOHADES], of which the chief were Fez, Marocco, and Tafilet, though now and again, and especially under the Marin dynasty, in the 13th century, the two former were consolidated into one kingdom. In the 15th century the successes of the Spaniards caused the centre of Moorish power to shift from Spain to Marocco. In the declining days of the Hispano-Moorish empire, and after its final extinction, the Spaniards and Portuguese revenged themselves on their conquerors by attacking the coast-towns of Marocco, many of which they captured. It is not improbable that they would eventually have possessed themselves of the entire country, but for the disastrous defeat of King Sebastian in 1578, at the battle of the Three Kings, on the banks of the Wad El Ma Hassen, near Alcazar [see PORTUGAL: A. D. 1579-1580]. This was the turning-point in Moorish history, and an African Creasy would have to rank the conflict at Alcazar among the decisive battles of the continent. With the rout and slaughter of the Portuguese fled the last chance of civilizing the country, which from that period gradually relapsed into a state of isolated barbarism. … For 250 years the throne has been in the hands of members of the Shereefian family of Fileli, who have remained practically undisputed masters of the whole of the empire. All this time, as in the earlier classical ages, Marocco has been practically shut out from the world. … The chief events of importance in Moorish affairs in the present century were the defeat of the Moors by the French at the battle of Isly [see BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1830-1846], near the Algerian frontier, in 1844, and the subsequent bombardment of Mogador and the coast-towns, and the Spanish war which terminated in 1860 with the peace of Tetuan. These reverses taught the Moors the power of European states, and brought about a great improvement in the position of Christians in the country. The Government of Marocco is in effect a kind of' graduated despotism, where every official, while possessing complete authority over those beneath him, must render absolute submission to his superiors. The supreme power is vested in the Sultan, the head of the State in all things spiritual and temporal. … Of the ultimate dissolution of the Moorish dominion there can be little doubt. … European States have long had their eyes upon it, but the same mutual distrust and jealousy which preserves the decaying fabric of the Turkish Empire has hitherto done the like for Marocco, whose Sultan serves the same purpose on the Straits of Gibraltar as the Turkish Sultan does on the Bosphorus."

H. E. M. Stutfield, El Maghreb, chapter 16.

See, also, BARBARY STATES.

----------MAROCCO: End--------

{2090}

MARONITES, The.

See MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY.

MAROONS.

See JAMAICA: A. D. 1655-1796.

MARQUETTE'S EXPLORATIONS.

See CANADA: A. D. 1634-1673.

MARQUIS.

See MARGRAVE.

MARRANA, The.

An ancient ditch running from Alba to Rome,—being part of a channel by which the Vale of Grotta was drained.

B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and Geography., volume 2, page 50.

MARRANOS.

See INQUISITION: A. D. 1203-1525.

MARRIAGE, Republican.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793-1794 (OCTOBER-APRIL).

MARRUCINIANS, The.

See SABINES.

MARS' HILL.

See AREOPAGUS.

MARSAGLIA, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1693 (OCTOBER).

MARSCHFELD.

See MARCHFELD.

MARSEILLAISE, The. Origin of the Song. Its introduction into Paris.

In preparation for the insurrection of August 10, 1792, which overthrew the French monarchy, and made the Revolution begun in 1789 complete, the Jacobins had summoned armed bands of their supporters from an parts of France, ostensibly as volunteers to join the army on the frontier, but actually and immediately as a reinforcement for the attack which they had planned to make on the king at the Tuileries.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (JUNE-AUGUST).

Among the "fédérés" who came was a battalion of 500 from Marseilles, which arrived at the capital on the 30th of July. "This battalion has been described by every historian as a collection of the vagabonds who are always to be found in a great seaport town, and particularly in one like Marseilles, where food was cheap and lodging unnecessary. But their character has lately been vindicated, and it has been shown that these Marseillais were picked men from the national guards of Marseilles, like the other fédérés, and contained the most hardy as well as the most revolutionary men of the city. …. They left Marseilles 513 strong, with two guns, on July 2, and had been marching slowly across France, singing the immortal war song to which they gave their name. … The 'Marseillaise' had in itself no very radical history. On April 24, 1792, just after the declaration of war, the mayor of Strasbourg, Dietrich, who was himself no advanced republican, but a constitutionalist, remarked at a great banquet that it was very sad that all the national war songs of France could not be sung by her present defenders, because they all treated of loyalty to the king and not to the nation as well. One of the guests was a young captain of engineers, Rouget de Lisle, who had in 1791 composed a successful 'Hymne à la Liberté,' and Dietrich appealed to him to compose something suitable. The young man was struck by the notion, and during the night he was suddenly inspired with both words and air, and on the following day he sang over to Dietrich's guests the famous song which was to be the war-song of the French Republic. Madame Dietrich arranged the air for the orchestra; Rouget de Lisle dedicated it to Marshal Lückner, as the 'Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin,' and it at once became popular in Strasbourg. Neither Dietrich nor Rouget were advanced republicans. The watchword of the famous song was not 'Sauvons la République,' but' Sauvons la Patrie.' The air was a taking one. From Strasbourg it quickly spread over the south of France, and particularly attracted the patriots of Marseilles. … There are many legends on the origin of the 'Marseillaise'; the account here followed is that given by Amedée Rouget de Lisle, the author's nephew, in his 'La verité sur la paternité de la Marseillaise,' Paris, 1865, which is confirmed by a letter of Madame Dietrich's, written at the time, and first published in 'Souvenirs d' Alsace—Rouget de Lisle à Strasbourg et a Huningue,' by Adolphe Morpain."

H. M. Stephens, History of the French Revolution, volume 2, page 114-115.

A quite different but less trustworthy version of the story may be found in

A. de Lamartine History of the Girondists, book 16, section 26-30 (volume 1).

----------MARSEILLES: Start--------

MARSEILLES: The founding of.

See ASIA MINOR: B. C. 724-539, and PHOCÆANS.

MARSEILLES: B. C. 49. Conquest by Cæsar.

See ROME: B. C. 49.

MARSEILLES: 10th Century. In the kingdom of Aries.

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 843-933.

MARSEILLES: 11th Century. The Viscounts of.

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1032.

MARSEILLES: 12th Century. Prosperity and freedom.

See PROVENCE: A. D. 1179-1207.

MARSEILLES: A. D. 1524. Unsuccessful siege by the Spaniards and the Constable Bourbon.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1523-1525.

MARSEILLES: A. D. 1792. The Marseillais sent to Paris, and their war-song.

See MARSEILLAISE.

MARSEILLES: A. D. 1793. Revolt against the Revolutionary Government at Paris. Fearful vengeance of the Terrorists.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JUNE), (JULY-DECEMBER); and 1793-1794 (OCTOBER-APRIL).

MARSEILLES: A. D. 1795. Reaction against the Reign of Terror. The White Terror.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).

----------MARSEILLES: End--------

MARSHAL, The.

See CONSTABLE.

MARSHALL, John, and the Federal Constitution of the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787-1789; and SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

MARSI, The.

See SAXONS; also, FRANKS.

MARSIAN WAR, The.

See ROME: B. C. 90-88.

MARSIANS, The.

See SABINES; also, ITALY: ANCIENT.

MARSIGNI, The.

The Marsigni were an ancient German tribe who inhabited "what is now Galatz, Jagerndorf and part of Silesia."

_Tacitus, Germany; Oxford translation, foot-note. _

MARSTON MOOR, Battle of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (JANUARY-JULY).

MARTHA'S VINEYARD: Named by Gosnold.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1602-1605.

MARTIN, King of Aragon, A. D. 1395-1410;

King of Sicily, A. D. 1409-1410.

Martin I., Pope, 649-655.

Martin I., King of Sicily, 1402-1409.

Martin II. (or Marinus I.), Pope, 882-884.

Martin II., King of Sicily, 1409-1410.

Martin III. (or Marinus II.), Pope, 942-946.

Martin IV., Pope, 1281-1285.

Martin V., Pope, 1417-1431 (elected by the Council of Constance).

{2091}

MARTLING MEN.

In February, 1806, when DeWitt Clinton and his political followers were organizing opposition to Governor Lewis, and were forming an alliance to that end with the political friends of Aaron Burr, a meeting of Republicans (afterwards called Democrats) was held at "Martling's Long Room," in New York City. Hence Mr. Clinton's Democratic opponents, "for a long time afterwards, were known in other parts of the state by the name of Martling Men."

J. D. Hammond, History of Political Parties in the State of New York, volume 1, page 230.

MARY (called Mary Tudor), Queen of England, A. D. 1553-1558.

Mary of Burgundy, The Austrian marriage of.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1477.

Mary II., Queen of England (with King William III., her consort), 1689-1694.

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, 1542-1567.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1544-1548, to 1561-1568; and ENGLAND: A. D. 1585-1587.

Mary.

See, also, MARIE.

----------MARYLAND: Start--------

MARYLAND: A. D. 1632. The charter granted to Lord Baltimore. An American palatinate.

"Among those who had become interested in the London or Virginia, Company, under its second charter, in 1609, was Sir George Calvert, afterwards the founder of Maryland. … Upon the dissolution of the Virginia Company … he was named by the king one of the royal commissioners to whom the government of that colony was confided. Hitherto he had been a Protestant, but in 1624, having become unsettled in his religious convictions, he renounced the church of England, in which he had been bred, and embraced the faith of the Catholic church. Moved by conscientious scruples, he determined no longer to hold the office of secretary of state [conferred on him in 1619], which would make him, in a manner, the instrument of persecution against those whose faith he had adopted, and tendered his resignation to the king. … The king, … while he accepted his resignation, continued him as a member of his privy council for life, and soon after created him Lord Baltimore, of Baltimore, in Ireland. The spirit of intolerance at that time pervaded England. … The laws against the Catholics in England were particularly severe and cruel, and rendered it impossible for any man to practice his religion in quiet and safety. Sir George Calvert felt this; and although he was assured of protection from the gratitude and affection of the king, he determined to seek another land and to found a new state, where conscience should be free and every man might worship God according to his own heart, in peace and perfect security. … At first he fixed his eyes on New-found-land, in the settlement of which he had been interested before his conversion. … Having purchased a ship, he sailed with his family to that island, in which, a few years before, he had obtained a grant of a province under the name of Avalon. Here he only resided two years [see NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1610-1655], when he found the climate and soil unsuited for the establishment of a flourishing community, and determined to seek a more genial country in the south. Accordingly, in 1628, he sailed to Virginia, with the intention of settling in the limits of that colony, or more probably to explore the uninhabited country on its borders, in order to secure a grant of it from the king. Upon his arrival within the jurisdiction of the colony, the authorities tendered him the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, to which, as then framed, no Catholic could subscribe. Lord Baltimore refused to take them, but prepared a form of an oath of allegiance which he and all his followers were willing to accept. His proposal was rejected, and being compelled to leave their waters, he explored the Chesapeake above the settlements. He was pleased with the beautiful and well wooded country, which surrounded the noble inlets and indentations of the great bay, and determined there to found his principality. … He returned to England to obtain a grant from Charles I, who had succeeded his father, James I, upon the throne. Remembering his services to his father, and perhaps moved by the intercessions of Henrietta Maria, his Catholic queen, who desired to secure an asylum abroad for the persecuted members of her church in England, Charles directed the patent to be issued. It was prepared by Lord Baltimore himself; but before it was finally executed that truly great and good, man died, and the patent was delivered to his son Cecilius, who succeeded as well to his noble designs as to his titles and estates. The charter was issued on the 20th of June, 1632, and the new province, in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, was named 'Terra Mariæ'—Maryland."

J. McSherry, History of Maryland, introduction.

"The boundaries of Maryland, unlike those of the other colonies, were precisely defined. Its limits were: on the north, the fortieth parallel of north latitude; on the west and southwest, a line running south from this parallel to the farthest source of the Potomac, and thence by the farther or western bank of that river to Chesapeake Bay; on the south by a line running across the bay and peninsula to the Atlantic; and on the east by the ocean and the Delaware Bay and River. It included, therefore, all the present State of Delaware, a large tract of land now forming part of Pennsylvania, and another now occupied and claimed by West Virginia. The charter of Maryland contained the most ample rights and privileges ever conferred by a sovereign of England. It erected Maryland into a palatinate, equivalent to a principality, reserving only the feudal supremacy of the crown. The Proprietary was made absolute lord of the land and water within his boundaries, could erect towns, cities, and ports, make war or peace, call the whole fighting population to arms, and declare martial law, levy tolls and duties, establish courts of justice, appoint judges, magistrates, and other civil officers, execute the laws, and pardon offenders. He could erect manors with courts-baron and courts-leet, and confer titles and dignities, so that they differed from those of England. He could make laws with the assent of the freemen of the province, and, in cases of emergency, ordinances not impairing life, limb, or property, without their assent. He could found churches and chapels, have them consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England, and appoint the incumbents. All this territory, with these royal rights, 'jura regalia,' was to be held of the crown in free socage, by the delivery of two Indian arrows yearly at the palace of Windsor, and the fifth of all gold or silver mined. The colonists and their descendants were to remain English subjects. … {2092} The King furthermore bound himself and his successors to lay no taxes, customs, subsidies, or contributions whatever upon the people of the province. … This charter, by which Maryland was virtually an independent and self-governed community, placed the destinies of the colonists in their own hands. … Though often attacked, and at times held in abeyance, the charter was never revoked."

W. H. Browne, Maryland, chapter 2.

The intention to create a palatine principality in Maryland is distinctly expressed in the fourth section of the charter, which grants to Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assigns, "as ample rights, jurisdictions, privileges, prerogatives, royalties, liberties, immunities, and royal rights … as any bishop of Durham, within the bishoprick or county palatine of Durham, in our kingdom of England, ever heretofore hath had, held, used, or enjoyed, or of right could, or ought to have, held, use, or enjoy."

_J. L. Bozman, History of Maryland, volume 2, page. 11. _

ALSO IN: H. W. Preston, Documents Illustrative of American History, page 62.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1633-1637. The planting of the colony at St. Mary's.

"Cecil, Lord Baltimore, after receiving his charter for Maryland, in June, 1632, prepared to carry out his father's plans. Terms of settlement were issued to attract colonists, and a body of emigrants was soon collected to begin the foundation of the new province. The leading gentlemen who were induced to take part in the project were Catholics; those whom they took out to till the soil, or ply various trades, were not all or, indeed, mainly Catholics, but they could not have been very strongly Protestant to embark in a venture so absolutely under Catholic control. At Avalon Sir George Calvert, anxious for the religious life of his colonists, had taken over both Catholic and Protestant clergymen, and was ill repaid for his liberal conduct. To avoid a similar ground of reproach, Baron Cecil left each part of his colonists free to take their own clergymen. It is a significant fact that the Protestant portion were so indifferent that they neither took over any minister of religion, nor for several years after Maryland settlements began made any attempt to procure one. On behalf of the Catholic settlers, Lord Baltimore applied to Father Richard Blount, at that time provincial of the Jesuits in England, and wrote to the General of the Society, at Rome, to excite their zeal in behalf of the English Catholics who were about to proceed to Maryland. He could offer the clergy no support. … The Jesuits did not shrink from a mission field where they were to look for no support from the proprietary or their flock, and were to live amid dangers. It was decided that two Fathers were to go as gentlemen adventurers, taking artisans with them, and acquiring lands like others, from which they were to draw their support. … The Maryland pilgrims under Leonard Calvert, brother of the lord proprietary, consisted of his brother George, some 20 other gentlemen, and 200 laboring men well provided. To convey these to the land of Mary, Lord Baltimore had his own pinnace, the Dove, of 50 tons, commanded by Robert Winter, and the Ark, a chartered vessel of 350 tons burthen, Richard Lowe being captain. Leonard Calvert was appointed governor, Jerome Hawley and Thomas Cornwaleys being joined in the commission." After many malicious hindrances and delays, the two vessels sailed from Cowes, November 22, 1633, and made their voyage in safety, though encountering heavy storms. They came to anchor in Chesapeake Bay, near one of the Heron Islands, which they named St. Clement; and on that island they raised a cross and celebrated mass. "Catholicity thus planted her cross and her altar in the heart of the English colonies in America, March 25, 1634. The land was consecrated, and then preparations were made to select a spot for the settlement. Leaving Father White at St. Clement's, the governor, with Father Altham, ran up the river in a pinnace, and at Potomac on the southern shore met Archihau, regent of the powerful tribe that held sway over that part of the land." Having won the goodwill of the savages, "Leonard Calvert sailed back to Saint Clement's. Then the pilgrims entered the Saint Mary's, a bold, broad stream, emptying into the Potomac about 12 miles from its mouth. For the first settlement of the new province, Leonard Calvert, who had landed, selected a spot a short distance above, about a mile from the eastern shore of the river. Here stood an Indian town, whose inhabitants, harassed by the Susquehannas, had already begun to emigrate to the westward. To observe strict justice with the Indian tribes, Calvert purchased from the werowance, or king, Yaocomoco, 30 miles of territory. The Indians gradually gave up some of their houses to the colonists, agreeing to leave the rest also after they had gathered in their harvest. … The new settlement began with Catholic and Protestant dwelling together in harmony, neither attempting to interfere with the religious rights of the other, 'and religious liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's' [Bancroft, i, 247]. … The settlers were soon at work. Houses for their use were erected, crops were planted, activity and industry prevailed. St. Mary's chapel was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God, and near it a fort stood, ready to protect the settlers. It was required by the fact that Clayborne [a trading adventurer and a member of the Virginia Council], the fanatical enemy of Lord Baltimore and his Catholic projects, who had already settled on Kent Island, was exciting the Indians against the colonists of Maryland. The little community gave the priests a field too limited for their zeal. … The Indian tribes were to be reached. … Another priest, with a lay brother, came to share their labors before the close of the year 1635; and the next year four priests were reported as the number assigned to the Maryland mission. Of their early labors no record is preserved. … Sickness prevailed in the colony, and the missionaries did not escape. Within two months after his arrival Father Knolles, a talented young priest of much hope, sank a victim to the climate, and Brother Gervase, one of the original band of settlers, also died. … Lord Baltimore's scheme embraced not only religious but legislative freedom, and his charter provided for a colonial assembly. … In less than three years an assembly of the freemen of the little colony was convened and opened its sessions on the 25-26th of January, 1637. All who had taken up lands were summoned to attend in person." Some of the resulting legislation was disapproved by the missionaries, and "the variance of opinion was most unfortunate in its results to the colony, as impairing the harmony which had hitherto prevailed."

J. G. Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days, chapter 2.

ALSO IN: J. L. Bozman, History of Maryland, chapter 1

W. H. Browne, George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, chapters 3-4.

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MARYLAND: A. D. 1634. Embraced in the palatine grant of New Albion.

See NEW ALBION.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1635-1638. The troubles with Clayborne.

William Clayborne "was the person most aggrieved by the Maryland charter. Under a general license from Charles I. to trade, he had established a lucrative post on Kent Island. The King, as he had unquestioned right to do under the theory of English law, granted to Lord Baltimore a certain tract of wild land, including Kent Island. Clayborne had no legal right there except as the subject of Baltimore; but, since his real injuries coincided with the fancied ones of the Virginians generally, his claim assumed importance. … There was … so strong a feeling in favor of Clayborne in Virginia that he was soon able to send an armed pinnace up the Chesapeake to defend his invaded rights at Kent Island, but the expedition was unfortunate. Governor Calvert, after a sharp encounter, captured Clayborne's pinnace, and proclaimed its owner a rebel. Calvert then demanded that the author of this trouble should be given up by Virginia; but Harvey [the governor], who had been in difficulties himself on account of his lukewarmness toward Clayborne, refused to comply. Clayborne, however, solved the problem in his own way, by going at once to England to attack his enemies in their stronghold. … On his arrival in England he … presented a petition to the King, and by adroitly working on the cupidity of Charles, not only came near recovering Kent Island, but almost obtained a large grant besides. After involving Lord Baltimore in a good deal of litigation, Clayborne was obliged, by an adverse decision of the Lords Commissioners of Plantations, to abandon all hopes in England, and therefore withdrew to Virginia to wait for better times."

H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies in America, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: J. L. Bozman, History of Maryland, volume 2, chapter 1.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1643-1649. Colonial disturbances from the English Civil War. Lord Baltimore and the Puritans.

The struggle of parties incident to the overthrow of the monarchy and the civil war, in England, was attended in Maryland "with a degree of violence disproportionate to its substantial results. It is difficult to fasten the blame of the first attack definitely on either party. In 1643 or 1644 the King gave letters of marque to Leonard Calvert commissioning him to seize upon all ships belonging to the Parliament. It would seem, however, as if the other side had begun to be active, since only three months later we find the Governor issuing a proclamation for the arrest of Richard Ingle, a sea-captain, apparently a Puritan and an ally of Clayborne. … Ingle … landed at St. Mary's [1645], while Clayborne at the same time made a fresh attempt upon Kent Island. Later events showed that under a resolute leader the Maryland Royalists were capable of a determined resistance, but now either no such leader was forthcoming, or the party was taken by surprise. Cornwallis, who seems to have been the most energetic man in the colony, was absent in England, and Leonard Calvert fled into Virginia, apparently without an effort to maintain his authority. Ingle and his followers landed and seized upon St. Mary's, took possession of the government, and plundered Cornwallis's house and goods to the value of £300. Their success was short-lived. Calvert returned, rallied his party, and ejected Clayborne and Ingle. The Parliament made no attempt to back the proceedings of its supporters, and the matter dwindled into a petty dispute between Ingle and Cornwallis, in which the latter obtained at least some redress for his losses. The Isle of Kent held out somewhat longer, but in the course of the next year it was brought back to its allegiance. This event was followed in less than a twelvemonth by the death of the Governor [June 9, 1647]. Baltimore now began to see that in the existing position of parties he must choose between his fidelity to a fallen cause and his position as the Proprietor of Maryland. As early as 1642 we find him warning the Roman Catholic priests in his colony that they must expect no privileges beyond those which they would enjoy in England. He now showed his anxiety to propitiate the rising powers by his choice of a successor to his brother. The new Governor, William Stone, was a Protestant. The Council was also reconstituted and only two Papists appeared among its members. … Furthermore he [Lord Baltimore] exacted from Stone an oath that he would not molest any persons on the ground of their religion, provided they accepted the fundamental dogmas of Christianity. The Roman Catholics were singled out as the special objects of this protection, though we may reasonably suppose that it was also intended to check religious dissensions. So far Baltimore only acted like a prudent, unenthusiastic man, who was willing to make the best of a defeat and save what he could out of it by a seemingly free sacrifice of what was already lost. … The internal condition of the colony had now been substantially changed since the failure of Ingle and Clayborne. The Puritan party there had received an important addition. … A number of Nonconformists had made an attempt to establish themselves on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. … The toleration which was denied them by the rigid and narrow-minded Anglicanism of Virginia was conceded by the liberality or the indifference of Baltimore. The precise date and manner of their immigration cannot be discovered, but we know that by 1650 their settlement was important enough to be made into a separate county under the name of Ann Arundel, and by 1653 they formed two distinct communities, numbering between them close upon 140 householders. All that was required of them was an oath of fidelity to the Proprietor, and it seems doubtful whether even that was exacted at the outset. They seem, in the unsettled and anarchical condition of the colony, to have been allowed to form a separate and well-nigh independent body, holding political views openly at variance with those of the Proprietor. To what extent the settlers on the Isle of Kent were avowedly hostile to Baltimore's government is doubtful. But it is clear that discontent was rife among them, and that in conjunction with the new-comers they made up a formidable body, prepared to oppose the Proprietor and support the Parliament. Symptoms of internal disaffection were seen in the proceedings of the Assembly of 1649."

J. A. Doyle, The English in America: Virginia, Maryland, &c., chapter 10.

ALSO IN: _G. P. Fisher, The Colonial Era, chapter 5._

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MARYLAND: A. D. 1649. The Act of Toleration.

Religious liberty was a vital part of the earliest common-law of the province. At the date of the charter, Toleration existed in the heart of the proprietary. And it appeared in the earliest administration of the affairs of the province. But an oath was soon prepared by him, including a pledge from the governor and the privy counsellors, 'directly or indirectly' to 'trouble, molest, or discountenance' no 'person whatever,' in the province, 'professing to believe in Jesus Christ.' Its date is still an open question—some writers supposing it was imposed in 1637; and others, in 1648. I am inclined to think the oath of the latter was but 'an augmented edition' of the one in the former year. The grant of the charter marks the era of a special Toleration. But the earliest practice of the government presents the first, the official oath the second, the action of the Assembly in 1649 the third, and to advocates of a republican government the most important phasis, in the history of the general Toleration. … To the legislators of 1649 was it given … to take their own rank among the foremost spirits of the age. Near the close of the session, … by a solemn act [the 'Act Concerning Religion'], they endorsed that policy which ever since has shed the brightest lustre upon the legislative annals of the province. … The design was five-fold:—to guard by an express penalty 'the most sacred things of God'; to inculcate the principle of religious decency and order; to establish, upon a firmer basis, the harmony already existing between the colonists; to secure, in the fullest sense, freedom as well as protection to all believers in Christianity; and to protect quiet disbelievers against every sort of reproach or ignominy."

G. L. Davis, The Daystar of American Freedom, chapters 4-7.

"In the wording of this act we see evident marks of a compromise between the differing sentiments in the Assembly. … It was as good a compromise as could be made at the time, and an immense advance upon the principles and practice of the age. In reality, it simply formulated in a statute what had been Baltimore's policy from the first. … From the foundation of the colony no man was molested under Baltimore's rule on account of religion. Whenever the Proprietary's power was overthrown, religious persecution began, and was checked so soon as he was reinstated."

W. H. Browne, Maryland, chapter 4.

ALSO IN: W. H. Browne, George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, chapter 8.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1650-1675. In Puritan times, and after.

"To whatever causes … toleration was due, it worked well in populating Maryland. There was an influx of immigration, composed in part of the Puritans driven from Virginia by Berkeley. These people, although refusing the oath of fidelity, settled at Providence, near the site of Annapolis. Not merely the Protestant but the Puritan interest was now predominant in Maryland, and in the next Assembly the Puritan faction had control. They elected one of their leaders Speaker, and expelled a Catholic who refused to take an oath requiring secrecy on the part of the Burgesses. … Yet they passed stringent laws against Clayborne, and an act reciting their affection for Lord Baltimore, who had so vivid an idea of their power that he deemed it best to assent to sumptuary laws of a typically Puritan character. The Assembly appears to have acknowledged the supremacy of Parliament, while their proprietary went so far in the same direction that his loyalty was doubted, and Charles II. afterward appointed Sir William Davenant in his place to govern Maryland. This discreet conduct on the part of Lord Baltimore served, however, as a protection neither to the colonists nor to the proprietary rights. To the next Assembly, the Puritans of Providence refused to send delegates, evidently expecting a dissolution of the proprietary government, and the consequent supremacy of their faction. Nor were they deceived. Such had been the prudence of the Assembly and of Lord Baltimore that Maryland was not expressly named in the Parliamentary commission for the 'reducement' of the colonies; but, unfortunately, Clayborne was the ruling spirit among the Parliamentary commissioners, and he was not the man to let any informality of wording in a document stand between him and his revenge. … Clayborne and Richard Bennet, one of the Providence settlers, and also a commissioner, soon gave their undivided attention to Maryland." Stone was displaced from the Governorship, but reinstated after a year, taking sides for a time with the Puritan party. "He endeavored to trim at a time when trimming was impossible. … Stone's second change, however, was a decided one. Although he proclaimed Cromwell as Lord-Protector, he carried on the government exclusively in Baltimore's interest, ejected the Puritans, recalled the Catholic Councillors, and issued a proclamation against the inhabitants of Providence as factious and seditious. A flagrant attempt to convert a young girl to Catholicism added fuel to the flames. Moderation was at an end. Clayborne and Bennet, backed by Virginia, returned and called an Assembly, from which Catholics were to be excluded. In Maryland, as in England, the extreme wing of the Puritan party was now in the ascendant, and exercised its power oppressively and relentlessly. Stone took arms and marched against the Puritans. A battle was fought at Providence, in which the Puritans, who, whatever their other failings, were always ready in a fray, were completely victorious. A few executions and some sequestrations followed, and severe laws against the Catholics were passed. The policy of the Puritans was not toleration, and they certainly never believed in it. Nevertheless, Lord Baltimore kept his patent, and the Puritans did not receive in England the warm sympathy they had expected." In the end (1657) there was a compromise. The proprietary government was re-established, and Fendall, whom Baltimore had appointed Governor in place of Stone, was recognized. "The results of all this turbulence were the right to carry arms, the practical assertion of the right to make laws and lay taxes, relief from the oath of fealty with the obnoxious clauses, and the breakdown of the Catholic interest in Maryland politics. Toleration was wisely restored. The solid advantages were gained by the Puritan minority at the expense of the lord proprietary. {2095} In the interregnum which ensued on the abdication of Richard Cromwell, the Assembly met and claimed supreme authority in the province, and denied their responsibility to anyone but the sovereign in England. Fendall, a weak man of the agitator species, acceded to the claims of the Assembly; but Baltimore removed Fendall, and kept the power which the Assembly had attempted to take away. … Maryland did not suffer by the Restoration, as was the case with her sister colonies, but gained many solid advantages. The factious strife of years was at last allayed, and order, peace, and stability of government supervened. Philip Calvert, an illegitimate son of the first proprietary, was governor for nearly two years, and was then succeeded [1661] by his nephew, Charles, the oldest son of Lord Baltimore, whose administration lasted for fourteen. It would have been difficult to find at that time better governors than these Calverts proved themselves. Moderate and just, they administered the affairs of Maryland sensibly and well. Population increased, and the immigration of Quakers and foreigners, and of the oppressed of all nations, was greatly stimulated by a renewal of the old policy of religious toleration. The prosperity of the colony was marked."

H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: J. Grahame, History of the United States (Colonial), book 3 (volume 1).

_D. R. Randall, A Puritan Colony in Maryland. (Johns Hopkins University Studies, 4th series, no. 6)._

W. H. Browne, George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, chapters 8-9.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1664-1682. Claims to Delaware disputed by the Duke of York. Grant of Delaware by the Duke to William Penn.

See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1682.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1681-1685. The Boundary dispute with William Penn, in its first stages.

See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1685.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1688-1757. Lord Baltimore deprived of the government. Change of faith and restoration of his son. Intolerance revived.

Lord Baltimore, "though guilty of no maladministration in his government, though a zealous Roman catholic, and firmly attached to the cause of King James II., could not prevent his charter from being questioned in that arbitrary reign, and a suit from being commenced to deprive him of the property and jurisdiction of a province granted by the royal favour, and peopled at such a vast expense of his own. But it was the error of that weak and unfortunate reign, neither to know its friends, nor its enemies; but by a blind precipitate conduct to hurry on everything of whatever consequence with almost equal heat, and to imagine that the sound of the royal authority was sufficient to justify every sort of conduct to every sort of people. But these injuries could not shake the honour and constancy of Lord Baltimore, nor tempt him to desert the cause of his master. Upon the revolution [1688] he had no reason to expect any favour; yet he met with more than king James had intended him; he was deprived indeed of all his jurisdiction [1691], but he was left the profits of his province, which were by no means inconsiderable; and when his descendents had conformed to the church of England, they were restored [1741] to all their rights as fully as the legislature has thought fit that any proprietor should enjoy them. When upon the revolution power changed hands in that province, the new men made but an indifferent requital for the liberties and indulgences they had enjoyed under the old administration. They not only deprived the Roman Catholics of all share in the government, but of all the rights of freemen; they have even adopted the whole body of the penal laws of England against them; they are at this day [1757] meditating new laws in the same spirit, and they would undoubtedly go to the greatest lengths in this respect, if the moderation and good sense of the government in England did not set some bounds to their bigotry."

E. Burke, Account of the European Settlements in America, part 7, chapter 18 (volume 2).

"We may now place side by side the three tolerations of Maryland. The toleration of the Proprietaries lasted fifty years, and under it all believers in Christ were equal before the law, and all support to churches or ministers was voluntary; the Puritan toleration lasted six years, and included all but Papists, Prelatists, and those who held objectionable doctrines; the Anglican toleration lasted eighty years, and had glebes and churches for the Establishment, connivance for Dissenters, the penal laws for Catholics."

W. H. Browne, Maryland, chapter 11.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1690. The first Colonial Congress. King William's War.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1690; and CANADA: A. D. 1689-1690.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1729-1730. The founding of Baltimore.

"Maryland had never taken kindly to towns, and though in Queen Anne's reign, in conformity with the royal wish, a number were founded, the reluctant Assembly 'erecting' them by batches—42 at once in 1706—scarcely any passed beyond the embryonic stage. … St. Mary's and Annapolis, the one waning as the other waxed, remained the only real towns of the colony for the first 90 years of its existence; Joppa, on the Gunpowder, was the next, and had a fair share of prosperity for 50 years and more, until her young and more vigorous rival, Baltimore, drew off her trade, and she gradually dwindled, peaked, and pined away to a solitary house and a grass-grown grave-yard, wherein slumber the mortal remains of her ancient citizens. Baltimore on the Patapsco was not the first to bear that appellation. At least two Baltimores had a name, if not a local habitation, and perished, if they can be said ever to have rightly existed, before their younger sister saw the light. … In 1729, the planters near the Patapsco, feeling the need of a convenient port, made application to the Assembly, and an act was passed authorising the purchase of the necessary land, whereupon 60 acres bounding on the northwest branch of the river, at the part of the harbor now called the Basin, were bought of Daniel and Charles Carroll at 40 shillings the acre. The streets and lots were laid off in the following January, and purchasers invited. The waterfronts were immediately taken up."

W. H. Browne, Maryland, chapter 12.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1754. The Colonial Congress at Albany, and Franklin's Plan of Union.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1754.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1755-1760. The French and Indian War.

See CANADA: A. D. 1750-1753, to 1760; OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1748-1754, 1754, 1755; NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1749-1755, 1755; and CAPE BRETON ISLAND: A. D. 1758-1760.

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MARYLAND: A. D. 1760-1767. Settlement of the boundary dispute with Pennsylvania. Mason and Dixon's line.

See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1760-1767.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1760-1775. Opening events of the Revolution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1760-1775, to 1775; and BOSTON: A. D. 1768, to 1773.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1776. The end of proprietary and royal government. Formation and adoption of a state constitution.

"In Maryland the party in favor of independence encountered peculiar obstacles. Under the proprietary rule the colony enjoyed a large measure of happiness and prosperity. The Governor, Robert Eden, was greatly respected, and to the last was treated with forbearance. … The political power was vested in a Convention which created the Council of Safety and provided for the common defence. This was, however, so much under the control of the proprietary party and timid Whigs that, on the 21st of May [1776], it renewed its former instructions against independence. … The popular leaders determined 'to take the sense of the people.' Charles Carroll of Carrolton, and Samuel Chase, who had just returned from Canada, entered with zeal into the movement on the side of independence and revolution. Meetings were called in the counties. … Anne Arundel County declared that the province, except in questions of domestic policy, was bound by the decisions of Congress. … Charles County followed, pronouncing for independence, confederation, and a new government. … Frederick County (June 17) unanimously resolved: 'That what may be recommended by a majority of the Congress equally delegated by the people of the United Colonies, we will, at the hazard of our lives and fortunes, support and maintain.' … This was immediately printed. 'Read the papers,' Samuel Chase wrote on the 21st to John Adams, 'and be assured Frederick speaks the sense of many counties.' Two days afterward the British man-of-war, Fowey, with a flag of truce at her top-gallant mast, anchored before Annapolis; the next day, Governor Eden was on board; and so closed the series of royal governors on Maryland soil."

R. Frothingham, The Rise of the Republic, pp. 525-527.

"Elections were held throughout the state on the 1st day of August, 1776, for delegates to a new convention to form a constitution and state government. … On the 14th of August this new body assembled. … On the 3d of November the bill of rights was adopted. On the 8th of the same month the constitution of the State was finally agreed to, and elections ordered to carry it into effect."

J. McSherry, History of Maryland, chapter 10.

See, also, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A.D. 1776-1779.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1776-1783. The War of Independence, to the Peace with Great Britain.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776, to 1783.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1776-1808. Anti-Slavery opinion and the causes of its disappearance.

See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1776-1808.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1777-1781. Resistance to the western territorial claims of states chartered to the Pacific Ocean. Influence upon land-cessions to the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1787-1788. Adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787; and 1787-1789.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1813. The coast of Chesapeake Bay harried by the British.

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

MARYLAND: A. D. 1861 (April). Reply of Governor Hicks to President Lincoln's call for troops.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL) PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S CALL TO ARMS.

MARYLAND: A. D. 1861 (April). Secession activity. Baltimore mastered by the rebel mob. Attack on the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment.

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

MARYLAND: A. D. 1861 (April-May). Attempted "neutrality" and the end of it. General Butler at Annapolis and Baltimore.

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

MARYLAND: A. D. 1862 (September). Lee's first invasion and his cool reception. The battles of South Mountain and Antietam.

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

MARYLAND: A. D. 1863. Lee's second invasion. Gettysburg.

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

MARYLAND: A. D. 1864. Early's invasion.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (JULY: VIRGINIA—MARYLAND).

MARYLAND: A. D. 1867. The founding of Johns Hopkins University.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1867.

----------MARYLAND: End----------

MARZOCCO.

"'Marzocco' was the name given to the Florentine Lion, a stone figure of which was set up in all subject places and the name shouted as a battle-cry by their armies. It is said to be derived from the Hebrew, 'Mare' (form, or appearance, or aspect) and 'Sciahhal,' 'a great Lion.'"

H. E. Napier, Florentine History, volume 4, page 103, foot-note.

MASANIELLO'S REVOLT.

See ITALY: A. D. 1646-1654.

MASKOKI FAMILY OF INDIANS.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.

MASKOUTENS, MASCONTENS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SACS, &c.

MASNADA,

See CATTANI.

MASON, John, and his grant in New Hampshire.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631.

MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1760-1767.

MASON AND SLIDELL, The seizure of.

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

MASORETES, MASSORETES MASORETIC.

When the Hebrew language had ceased to be a living language "the so-called Masoretes, or Jewish scribes, in the sixth century after the Christian era, invented a system of symbols which should represent the pronunciation of the Hebrew of the Old Testament as read, or rather chanted, at the time in the great synagogue of Tiberias in Palestine. It is in accordance with this Masoretic mode of pronunciation that Hebrew is now taught."

A. H. Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, chapter 3.

"Massora denotes, in general, tradition … ; but more especially it denotes the tradition concerning the text of the Bible. Hence those who made this special tradition their object of study were called Massoretes. … As there was an eastern and western, or Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, so likewise there developed itself a twofold Massora,—a Babylonian, or eastern, and a Palestinian, or western: the more important is the former. At Tiberias the study of the Massora had been in a flourishing condition for a long time. Here lived the famous Massorete, Aaron ben-Moses ben-Asher, commonly called Ben-Asher, in the beginning of the tenth century, who finally fixed the so-called Massoretic text."

Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.

{2097}

MASPIANS, The.

One of the tribes of the ancient Persians.

M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 8, chapter 3.

MASSACHUSETTS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

----------MASSACHUSETTS: Start--------

MASSACHUSETTS: The Name.

"The name Massachusetts, so far as I have observed, is first mentioned by Captain Smith in his 'Description of New England,' 1616. He spells the word variously, but he appears to use the term Massachuset and Massachewset to denote the country, while he adds a final's' when he is speaking of the inhabitants. He speaks of Massachusets Mount and Massachusets River, using the word also in its possessive form; while in another place he calls the former 'the high mountain of Massachusit.' To this mountain, on his map, he gives the English name of 'Chevyot Hills.' Hutchinson (i. 460) supposes the Blue Hills of Milton to be intended. He says that a small hill near Squantum, the former seat of a great Indian sachem, was called Massachusetts Hill, or Mount Massachusetts, down to his time. Cotton, in his Indian vocabulary, says the word means 'a hill in the form of an arrow's head.' See, also, Neal's 'New England,' ii. 215, 216. In the Massachusetts charter the name is spelled in three or four different ways, to make sure of a description of the territory."

C. Deane, New England (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 3, page 342, footnote).

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1602. The Bay visited by Gosnold.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1602-1605.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1605. The Bay visited by Champlain.

See CANADA: A. D. 1603-1605.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1620. The Pilgrim Fathers. Whence and why they came to New England.

See INDEPENDENTS OR SEPARATISTS.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1620. The voyage of the Mayflower. The landing of the Pilgrims. The founding of Plymouth colony.

The congregation of John Robinson, at Leyden, having, after long efforts, procured from the London Company for Virginia a patent or grant of land which proved useless to them, and having closed a hard bargain with certain merchants of London who supplied to some limited extent the means necessary for their emigration and settlement (see INDEPENDENTS, OR SEPARATISTS: A. D. 1617-1620), were prepared, in the summer of 1620, to send forth the first pilgrims from their community, across the ocean, seeking freedom in the worship of God. "The means at command provided only for sending a portion of the company; and 'those that stayed, being the greater number, required the pastor to stay with them,' while Elder Brewster accompanied, in the pastor's stead, the almost as numerous minority who were to constitute a church by themselves; and in every church, by Robinson's theories, the 'governing elder,' next in rank to the pastor and the teacher, must be 'apt to teach.' A small ship,—the 'Speedwell,'—of some 60 tons burden, was bought and fitted out in Holland, and early in July those who were ready for the formidable voyage, being 'the youngest and strongest part,' left Leyden for embarkation at Delft-Haven, nearly 20 miles to the southward,—sad at the parting, 'but,' says Bradford, 'they knew that they were pilgrims.' About the middle of the second week of the month the vessel sailed for Southampton, England. On the arrival there they found the 'Mayflower,' a ship of about 180 tons burden, which had been hired in London, awaiting them with their fellow passengers,—partly laborers employed by the merchants, partly Englishmen like-minded with themselves, who were disposed to join the colony. Mr. Weston, also, was there, to represent the merchants; but, when discussion arose about the terms of the contract, he went off in anger, leaving the contract unsigned, and the arrangements so incomplete that the Pilgrims were forced to dispose of sixty pounds' worth of their not abundant stock of provisions to meet absolutely necessary charges. The ships, with perhaps 120 passengers, put to sea about August 5/15, with hopes of the colony being well settled before winter; but the 'Speedwell' was soon pronounced too leaky to proceed without being overhauled, and so both ships put in at Dartmouth, after eight days' sail. Repairs were made, and before the end of another week they started again; but when about a hundred leagues beyond Land's End, Reynolds, the master of the' Speedwell,' declared her in imminent danger of sinking, so that both ships again put about. On reaching Plymouth Harbor it was decided to abandon the smaller vessel, and thus to send back those of the company whom such a succession of mishaps had disheartened. … It was not known till later that the alarm over the 'Speedwell's' condition was owing to deception practised by the master and crew. … At length, on Wednesday, September 6/16, the Mayflower left Plymouth, and nine weeks from the following day, on November 9/19, sighted the eastern coast of the flat, but at that time well-wooded shores of Cape Cod. She took from Plymouth 102 passengers, besides the master and crew; on the voyage one man-servant died and one child was born, making 102 (73 males and 29 females) who reached their destination. Of these, the colony proper consisted of 34 adult males, 18 of them accompanied by their wives and 14 by minor children (20 boys and 8 girls); besides these, there were 3 maid-servants and 19 men-servants, sailors, and craftsmen,—5 of them only half-grown boys,—who were hired for temporary service. Of the 34 men who were the nucleus of the colony, more than half are known to have come from Leyden; in fact, but 4 of the 34 are certainly known to be of the Southampton accessions. … And whither were they bound? As we have seen, a patent was secured in 1619 in Mr. Wincob's name; but 'God so disposed as he never went nor they ever made use of this patent,' says Bradford,—not however making it clear when the intention of colonizing under this instrument was abandoned. {2098} The 'merchant adventurers' while negotiating at Leyden seem to have taken out another patent from the Virginia Company, in February, 1620, in the names of John Peirce and of his associates; and this was more probably the authority under which the Mayflower voyage was undertaken. As the Pilgrims had known before leaving Holland of an intended grant of the northern parts of Virginia to a new company,—the Council for New England,—when they found themselves off Cape Cod, 'the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England, which belonged to another Government, with which the Virginia Company had nothing to do,' they changed the ship's course, with intent, says Bradford, 'to find some place about Hudson's River for their habitation,' and so fulfil the conditions of their patent; but difficulties of navigation and opposition from the master and crew caused the exiles, after half a day's voyage, to retrace their course and seek a resting-place on the nearest shore. … Their radical change of destination exposed the colonists to a new danger. As soon as it was known, some of the hired laborers threatened to break loose (upon landing) from their engagements, and to enjoy full license, as a result of the loss of the authority delegated in the Virginia Company's patent. The necessity of some mode of civil government had been enjoined on the Pilgrims in the farewell letter from their pastor, and was now availed of to restrain these insurgents and to unite visibly the well-affected. A compact, which has often been eulogized as the first written constitution in the world, was drawn up. … Of the 41 signers to this compact, 34 were the adults called above the nucleus of the colony, and seven were servants or hired workmen; the seven remaining adult males of the latter sort were perhaps too ill to sign with the rest (all of them soon died), or the list of signers may be imperfect. This needful preliminary step was taken on Saturday, November 11/21, by which time the Mayflower had rounded the Cape and found shelter in the quiet harbor on which now lies the village of Provincetown; and probably on the same day they 'chose, or rather confirmed,' as Bradford has it, … Mr. John Carver governor for the ensuing year. On the same day an armed delegation visited the neighboring shore, finding no inhabitants. There were no attractions, however, for a permanent settlement, nor even accommodations for a comfortable encampment while such a place was being sought." Some days were spent in exploring Cape Cod Bay, and the harbor since known as Plymouth Bay was chosen for the settlement of the colony. The exploring party landed, as is believed, at the famous Rock, on Monday December 11/21. "Through an unfortunate mistake, originating in the last century, the 22d has been commonly adopted as the true date. … Tradition divides the honor of being the first to step on Plymouth Rock between John Alden and Mary Chilton, but the date of their landing must have been subsequent to December 11 [N. S. 21]." It was not till the end of the week, December 16/26, that the Mayflower was anchored in the chosen haven. "The selection of a site and the preparation of materials, in uncertain weather, delayed till Monday, the 25th [January 4, N. S.] the beginning of 'the first house for common use, to receive them and their goods.' Before the new year, house-lots were assigned to families, and by the middle of January most of the company had left the ship for a home on land."

F. B. Dexter, The Pilgrim Church and Plymouth Colony (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 3, chapter 8, with foot-notes).

"Before the Pilgrims landed, they by a solemn instrument founded the Puritan republic. The tone of this instrument and the success of its authors may afford a lesson to revolutionists who sever the present from the past with the guillotine, fling the illustrious dead out of their tombs, and begin history again with the year one. These men had been wronged as much as the Jacobins. 'In the name of God. Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the grace of God of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation, and for the furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to exact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances and acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.' And then follows the roll of plebeian names, to which the Roll of Battle Abbey is a poor record of nobility. There are points in history at which the spirit which moves the whole shows itself more clearly through the outward frame. This is one of them. Here we are passing from the feudal age of privilege and force to the age of due submission and obedience, to just and equal offices and laws, for our better ordering and preservation. In this political covenant of the Pilgrim fathers lies the American Declaration of Independence. From the American Declaration of Independence was borrowed the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. France, rushing ill-prepared, though with overweening confidence, on the great problems of the eighteenth century, shattered not her own hopes alone, but nearly at the same moment the Puritan Republic, breaking the last slight link that bound it to feudal Europe, and placing modern society firmly and tranquilly on its new foundation. To the free States of America we owe our best assurance that the oldest, the most famous, the most cherished of human institutions are not the life, nor would their fall be the death, of social man; that all which comes of Charlemagne, and all which comes of Constantine, might go to the tombs of Charlemagne and Constantine, and yet social duty and affection, religion and worship, free obedience to good government, free reverence for just laws, continue as before. They who have achieved this have little need to talk of Bunker's Hill."

_Goldwin Smith, On the Foundation of the American Colonies (Lectures on the Study of History)._

ALSO IN: _W. Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts Historical Society Collection, 4th series, volume 3), book 1._

Mourt's Relation, or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth; edited by H. M. Dexter.

J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 3.

{2099}

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1621. The first year of the Plymouth Colony and its sufferings. The Pierce patent. The naming of Plymouth.

"The labor of providing habitations had scarcely begun, when sickness set in, the consequence of exposure and bad food. Within four months it carried off nearly half their number. Six died in December, eight in January, seventeen in February, and thirteen in March. At one time during the winter, only six or seven had strength enough left to nurse the dying and bury the dead. Destitute of every provision, which the weakness and the daintiness of the invalid require, the sick lay crowded in the unwholesome vessel, or in half-built cabins heaped around with snow-drifts. The rude sailors refused them even a share of those coarse sea-stores which would have given a little variety to their diet, till disease spread among the crew, and the kind ministrations of those whom they had neglected and affronted brought them to a better temper. The dead were interred in a bluff by the water-side, the marks of burial being carefully effaced, lest the natives should discover how the colony had been weakened. … Meantime, courage and fidelity never gave out. The well carried out the dead through the cold and snow, and then hastened back from the burial to wait on the sick; and as the sick began to recover, they took the places of those whose strength had been exhausted." In March, the first intercourse of the colonists with the few natives of the region was opened, through Samoset, a friendly Indian, who had learned from fishermen on the more eastern coast to speak a little English. Soon afterwards, they made a treaty of friendship and alliance with Massasoit, the chief of the nearest tribe, which treaty remained in force for 54 years. On the 5th of April the Mayflower set sail on her homeward voyage, "with scarcely more than half the crew which had navigated her to America, the rest having fallen victims to the epidemic of the winter. … She carried back not one of the emigrants, dispiriting as were the hardships which they had endured, and those they had still in prospect." Soon after the departure of the Mayflower, Carver, the Governor, died. "Bradford was chosen to the vacant office, with Isaac Allerton, at his request, for his Assistant. Forty-six of the colonists of the Mayflower were now dead,—28 out of the 48 adult men. Before the arrival of the second party of emigrants in the autumn, the dead reached the number of 51, and only an equal number survived the first miseries of the enterprise. … Before the winter set in, tidings from England had come, to relieve the long year's lonesomeness; and a welcome addition was made to the sadly diminished number. The Fortune, a vessel of 55 tons' burden, reached Plymouth after a passage of four months, with Cushman and some 30 other emigrants. The men who now arrived outnumbered those of their predecessors who were still living. … Some were old friends of the colonists, at Leyden. Others were persons who added to the moral as well as to the numerical strength of the settlement. But there were not wanting such as became subjects for anxiety and coercion." The Fortune also brought to the colonists a patent from the Council for New England, as it was commonly known—the corporation into which the old Plymouth Company, or North Virginia branch of the Virginia Company, had been transformed (see NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1620-1623). "Upon lands of this corporation Bradford and his companions had sat down without leave, and were of course liable to be summarily expelled. Informed of their position by the return of the Mayflower to England in the spring, their friends obtained from the Council a patent which was brought by the Fortune. It was taken out in the name of 'John Pierce, citizen and cloth-worker of London, and his associates,' with the understanding that it should be held in trust for the Adventurers, of whom Pierce was one. It allowed 100 acres of land to every colonist gone and to go to New England, at a yearly rent of two shillings an acre after seven years. It granted 1,500 acres for public uses, and liberty to 'hawk, fish, and fowl'; to 'truck, trade, and traffic with the savages'; to 'establish such laws and ordinances as are for their better government, and the same, by such officer or officers as they shall by most voices elect and choose, to put in execution'; and 'to encounter, expulse, repel, and resist by force of arms' all intruders. … The instrument was signed for the Council by the Duke of Hamilton, the Duke of Lenox, the Earl of Warwick, Lord Sheffield, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. … The precise time of the adoption of the name which the settlement has borne since its first year is not known. Plymouth is the name recorded on Smith's map as having been given to the spot by Prince Charles. It seems very likely that the emigrants had with them this map, which had been much circulated. … Morton (Memorial, 56) assigns as a reason for adopting it that 'Plymouth in Old England was the last town they left in their native country, and they received many kindnesses from some Christians there.' In Mourt, 'Plymouth' and 'the now well-defended town of New Plymouth' are used as equivalent. Later, the name Plymouth came to be appropriated to the town, and New Plymouth to the Colony."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 5, and foot-note.

ALSO IN: J. A. Goodwin, The Pilgrim Republic, chapters 9-16.

F. Baylies, Historical Memoir of the Colony of New Plymouth, volume 1, chapters 5-6.

_A. Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1622-1628. Weston at Wessagusset, Morton at Merrymount, and other settlements.

"During the years immediately following the voyage of the Mayflower, several attempts at settlement were made about the shores of Massachusetts bay. One of the merchant adventurers, Thomas Weston, took it into his head in 1622 to separate from his partners and send out a colony of seventy men on his own account. These men made a settlement at Wessagusset, some twenty-five miles north of Plymouth. They were a disorderly, thriftless rabble, picked up from the London streets, and soon got into trouble with the Indians; after a year they were glad to get back to England as best they could, and in this the Plymouth settlers willingly aided them. In June of that same year 1622 there arrived on the scene a picturesque but ill understood personage, Thomas Morton, 'of Clifford's Inn, Gent.,' as he tells on the title-page of his quaint and delightful book, the 'New English Canaan.' Bradford disparagingly says that he 'had been a kind of petiefogger of Furnifell's Inn'; but the churchman Samuel Maverick declares that he was a 'gentleman of good qualitie.' {2100} He was an agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and came with some thirty followers, to make the beginnings of a royalist and Episcopal settlement in the Massachusetts bay, He was naturally regarded with ill favour by the Pilgrims as well as by the later Puritan settlers, and their accounts of him will probably bear taking with a grain or two of salt. In 1625 there came one Captain Wollaston, with a gang of indented white servants, and established himself on the site of the present town of Quincy. Finding this system of industry ill suited to northern agriculture, he carried most of his men off to Virginia, where he sold them. Morton took possession of the site of the settlement, which he called Merrymount. There, according to Bradford, he set up a 'schoole of athisme,' and his men did quaff strong waters and comport themselves 'as if they had anew revived and celebrated the feasts of ye Roman Goddes Flora, or the beastly practices of ye madd Bachanalians.' Charges of atheism have been freely hurled about in all ages. In Morton's case the accusation seems to have been based upon the fact that he used the Book of Common Prayer. His men so far maintained the ancient customs of merry England as to plant a Maypole eighty feet high, about which they frolicked with the redskins, while furthermore they taught them the use of firearms and sold them muskets and rum. This was positively dangerous, and in the summer of 1628 the settlers at Merrymount were dispersed by Miles Standish. Morton was sent to England, but returned the next year, and presently again repaired to Merrymount. By this time other settlements were dotted about the coast. There were a few scattered cottages or cabins at Nantasket and at the mouth of the Piscataqua, while Samuel Maverick had fortified himself on Noddle's Island, and William Blackstone already lived upon the Shawmut peninsula, since called Boston. These two gentlemen were no friends to the Puritans; they were churchmen and representatives of Sir Ferdinando Gorges."

J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: _C. F. Adams, Jr., Old Planters about Boston Harbor (Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, June, 1878)._

_C. F. Adams, Jr., Introduction to Morton's New English Canaan (Prince Society, 1883)._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623. Grant to Robert Gorges on the Bay.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623-1629. Plymouth Colony. Land allotments. Buying freedom from the adventurers at London. The new patent.

"In 1623 the Ann and Little James, the former of 140 tons, and the latter of 44 tons, arrived with 60 persons to be added to the colony, and a number of others who had come at their own charge and on their own account. … The passengers in the Ann and Little James completed the list of those who are usually called the first-comers. The Ann returned to England in September, carrying Mr. Winslow to negotiate with the merchants, for needful supplies, and the Little James remained at Plymouth in the service of the company. … Up to that time the company had worked together on the company lands, and, each sharing in the fruits of another's labors, felt little of that personal responsibility which was necessary to secure the largest returns. … 'At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advise of the cheefest amongest them) gave way that they should set corne every man for his owne perticuler, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other things to goe on in the generall way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcell of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end. … This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious.' … Such is the language of Bradford concerning a measure which was adopted from motives of necessity, but which was, to a certain extent, an infringement of the provisions of the contract with the adventurers. Before the planting season of the next year a more emphatic violation of the contract was committed. 'They (the colony) begane now highly to prise corne as more pretious then silver, and those that had some to spare begane to trade one with another for smale things, by the quarte, potle, & peck &C.: for money they had none, and if any had, corne was prefered before it. That they might therfore encrease their tillage to better advantage, they made suite to the Governor to have some portion of land given them for continuance, and not by yearly lotte. … Which being well considered, their request was granted. And to every person was given only one acre of land, to them and theirs, as nere the towne as might be, and they had no more till the 7 years were expired.' This experience gradually led the colony in the right track, and the growing necessity for some other circulating medium than silver secured abundant harvests." Winslow returned from England in 1624, "bringing, besides a good supply, '3 heifers & a bull the first begining of any catle of that kind in the land.' At that time there were 180 persons in the colony, 'some cattle and goats, but many swine and poultry and thirty-two dwelling houses.' In the latter part of the year Winslow sailed again for England in the Little James and returned in 1625. The news he brought was discouraging to the colonists. The debt due to the adventurers was £1,400, and the creditors had lost confidence in their enterprise." On this intelligence, Capt. Standish was sent to England, followed next year by Mr. Allerton, "to make a composition with the adventurers," and obtain, if possible, a release from the seven years contract under which the colonists were bound. Allerton returned in 1627, having concluded an agreement with the adventurers at London for the purchase of all their rights and interests in the plantation, for the sum of £1,800. The agreement was approved by the colony, and Bradford, Standish, Allerton, Winslow, Brewster, Howland, Alden, and others, assumed the debt of £1,800, the trading privileges of the colony being assigned to them for their security. "In accordance with this agreement these gentlemen at once entered vigorously into the enterprise, and by the use of wampum, as a circulating medium, carried on so extensive a trade with the natives, in the purchase of furs and other articles for export to England as within the prescribed period [six years] to pay off the entire debt and leave the colony in the undisputed possession of their lands. No legal-tender scheme, in these later days, has been bolder in its conception, or more successful in its career, than that of the Pilgrim Fathers, which, with the shells of the shore, relieved their community from debt, and established on a permanent basis the wealth and prosperity of New England. … {2101} After the negotiations with the adventurers had been completed, the colonists were anxious to obtain another patent from the New England Company conferring larger powers and defining their territorial limits. After three visits to England, Allerton was sent a fourth time, in 1629, and secured a patent dated January 13, 1629 (old style), and signed by the Earl of Warwick on behalf of the Council of New England, enlarging the original grant, and establishing the boundaries of what has been since known as the Old Colony. It granted to William Bradford and his associates 'all that part of New England in America, the tract and tracts of land that lie within or between a certain rivolet or rundlett, then commonly caned Coahasset alias Conahasset, towards the north, and the river commonly called Naraganset river towards the south, and the great Western ocean towards the east," and between two lines described as extending, severally, from the mouth of the Naraganset and the mouth of the Coahasset, "up into the mainland westward," "to the utmost limits and bounds of a country or place in New England called Pokernacutt, alias Puckenakick, alias Sawaamset."

W. T. Davis, Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, chapter 2.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623-1629. The Dorchester Company and the royal Charter to the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay.

"While the people of Plymouth were struggling to establish their colony, some of the English Puritans, restless under the growing despotism of Charles, began to turn their eyes to New England. Under the lead of the Rev. John White, the Dorchester Company was formed for trading and fishing, and a station was established at Cape Ann [A. D. 1623]; but the enterprise did not prosper, the colonists were disorderly, and the Company made an arrangement for Roger Conant and others, driven from Plymouth by the rigid principles of the Separatists, to come to Cape Ann. Still matters did not improve and the Company was dissolved; but White held to his purpose, and Conant and a few others moved to Naumkeag, and determined to settle there. Conant induced his companions to persevere, and matters in England led to a fresh attempt; for discontent grew rapidly as Charles proceeded in his policy. A second Dorchester Company, not this time a small affair for fishing and trading, but one backed by men of wealth and influence, was formed, and a large grant of lands [from three miles north of the Merrimac to three miles south of the Charles, and to extend from the Atlantic to the Western Ocean] was made by the Council for New England to Sir Henry Roswell and five others [March, 1628]. One of the six patentees, John Endicott, went out during the following summer with a small company, assumed the government at Naumkeag, which was now called Salem, and sent out exploring parties. The company thus formed in England was merely a voluntary partnership, but it paved the way for another and much larger scheme. Disaffection had become wide-spread. The Puritans began to fear that religious and political liberty alike were not only in danger but were doomed to destruction, and a large portion of the party resolved to combine for the preservation of all that was dearest to them by removal to the New World. The Dorchester Company was enlarged, and a royal charter was obtained incorporating the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay," March 4, 1629.

H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies in America, chapter 18.

"This [the royal charter named above] is the instrument under which the Colony of Massachusetts continued to conduct its affairs for 55 years. The patentees named in it were Roswell and his five associates, with 20 other persons, of whom White was not one. It gave power forever to the freemen of the Company to elect annually, from their own number, a Governor, Deputy-Governor, and 18 Assistants, on the last Wednesday of Easter term, and to make laws and ordinances not repugnant to the laws of England, for their own benefit and the government of persons inhabiting their territory. Four meetings of the Company were to be held in a year, and others might be convened in a manner prescribed. Meetings of the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Assistants, were to be held once a month or oftener. The Governor, Deputy-Governor, and any two Assistants, were authorized, but not required, to administer to freemen the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. The Company might transport settlers not 'restrained by special name.' They had authority to admit new associates, and establish the terms of their admission, and elect and constitute such officers as they should see fit for the ordering and managing of their affairs. They were empowered to 'encounter, repulse, repel, and resist by force of arms … all such person and persons as should at any time thereafter attempt or enterprise the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance to the said plantation or inhabitants.' Nothing was said of religious liberty. The government may have relied upon its power to restrain it, and the emigrants on their distance and obscurity to protect it."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 8.

"In anticipation of a future want the grantees resisted the insertion of any condition which should fix the government of the Company in England. Winthrop explicitly states that the advisers of the Crown had originally imposed such a condition, but that the patentees succeeded, not without difficulty, in freeing themselves from it. That fact is a full answer to those who held that in transferring the government to America the patentees broke faith with the Crown."

J. A. Doyle, The English in America: The Puritan Colonies, volume 1, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: Records of the Government and Company of Massachusetts Bay; edited by N. B. Shurtleff, volume 1 (containing the Charter).

_S. F. Haven, Origin of the Company (Archœologia Americana, volume 3)._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1629-1630. The immigration of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, with their Royal Charter.

"Several persons, of considerable importance in the English nation, were now enlisted among the adventurers, who, for the unmolested enjoyment of their religion, were resolved to remove into Massachusetts. Foreseeing, however, and dreading the inconvenience of being governed by laws made for them without their own consent, they judged it more reasonable that the colony should be ruled by men residing in the plantation, than by those dwelling at a distance of three thousand miles, and over whom they should have no control. At a meeting of the company on the 28th of July [1629], Matthew Cradock, the governor, proposed that the charter should be transferred to those of the freemen who should become inhabitants of the colony, and the powers conferred by it be executed for the future in New England. {2102} An agreement was accordingly made at Cambridge, in England, on the 26th of August, between Sir Richard Saltonstall, Thomas Dudley, Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, and a few others, that, on those conditions, they would be ready the ensuing March, with their persons and families, to embark for New England, for the purpose of settling in the country. The governor and company, entirely disposed to promote the measure, called a general court [at which, after a serious debate, adjourned from one day to the next,] … it was decreed that the government and the patent of the plantation should be transferred from London to Massachusetts Bay. An order was drawn up for that purpose, in pursuance of which a court was holden on the 20th of October for a new election of officers, who would be willing to remove with their families; and 'the court having received extraordinary great commendation of Mr. John Winthrop, both for his integrity and sufficiency, as being one very well fitted for the place, with a full consent chose him governor for the year ensuing.' … Preparations were now made for the removal of a large number of colonists, and in the spring of 1630 a fleet of 14 sail was got ready. Mr. Winthrop having by the consent of all been chosen for their leader, immediately set about making preparations for his departure. He converted a fine estate of £600 or £700 per annum into money and in March embarked on board the Arbella, one of the principal ships. Before leaving Yarmouth, an address to their fathers and brethren remaining in England was drawn up, and subscribed on the 7th of April by Governor Winthrop and others, breathing an affectionate farewell to the Church of England and their native land. … In the same ship with Governor Winthrop came Thomas Dudley, who had been chosen deputy governor after the embarkation, and several other gentlemen of wealth and quality; the fleet containing about 840 passengers, of various occupations, some of whom were from the west of England, but most from the neighborhood of London. The fleet sailed early in April; and the Arbella arrived off Cape Ann on Friday, the 11th of June, and on the following day entered the harbor of Salem. A few days after their arrival, the governor, and several of the principal persons of the colony, made an excursion some 20 miles along the bay, for the purpose of selecting a convenient site for a town. They finally pitched down on the north side of Charles river (Charlestown), and took lodgings in the great house built there the preceding year; the rest of the company erected cottages, booths, and tents, for present accommodation, about the town hill. Their place of assembling for divine service was under a spreading tree. On the 8th of July, a day of thanksgiving was kept for the safe arrival of the fleet. On the 30th of the same month, after a day of solemn prayer and fasting, the foundation of a church was laid at Charlestown, afterwards the first church of Boston, and Governor Winthrop, Deputy Governor Dudley, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, entered into church covenant. The first court of assistants was held at Charlestown, on the 23d of August, and the first question proposed was a suitable provision for the support of the gospel. Towards the close of autumn, Governor Winthrop and most of the assistants removed to the peninsula of Shawmut (Boston), and lived there the first winter, intending in the spring to build a fortified town, but undetermined as to its situation. On the 6th of December they resolved to fortify the isthmus of that peninsula; but, changing their minds before the month expired, they agreed upon a place about three miles above Charlestown, which they called first Newtown, and afterwards Cambridge, where they engaged to build houses the ensuing spring. The rest of the winter they suffered much by the severity of the season, and were obliged to live upon acorns, groundnuts, and shell-fish. … They had appointed the 6th of February for a fast, in consequence of their alarm for the safety of a ship which had been sent to Ireland for provisions; but fortunately the vessel arrived on the 5th, and they ordered a public thanksgiving instead thereof."

J. B. Moore, Lives of the Governors of New Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay; part 2: Winthrop.

ALSO IN: R. C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, volume 1, chapters 15-19, and volume 2, chapters 1-4.

A. Young, Chronicles of the first Planters of Massachusetts Bay, chapters 14-19.

J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 7.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1630. The founding of Boston.

"The English people who came with Governor Winthrop first located upon the peninsula of Mishawum, which they called Charlestown. … They found here a single white man named Thomas Walford, living very peaceably and contentedly among the Indians. They also discovered that the peninsula of Shawmut had one solitary white inhabitant whose name was William Blackstone. They could see every day the smoke curling above this man's lonely cabin. He, too, was a Puritan clergyman, like many of those who had now come to make a home in the New World, free from the tyranny of the English bishops. Still another Englishman, Samuel Maverick by name, had built a house, and with the help of David Thompson, a fort which mounted four small cannon, truly called 'murtherers,' and was living very comfortably on the island that is now East Boston. And again, by looking across the bay, to the south, the smoke of an English cottage, on Thompson's Island, was probably seen stealing upward to the sky. So that we certainly know these people were the first settlers of Boston. But scarcity of water, and sickness, which soon broke out among them, made the settlers at Charlestown very discontented. They began to scatter. Indeed this peninsula was too small properly to accommodate all of them with their cattle. Therefore good William Blackstone, with true hospitality, came in their distress to tell them there was a fine spring of pure water at Shawmut, and to invite them there. Probably his account induced quite a number to remove at once; while others, wishing to make farms, looked out homes along the shores of the mainland, at Medford, Newtown (Cambridge), Watertown and Roxbury. A separate company of colonists also settled at Mattapan, or Dorchester. The dissatisfaction with Charlestown was so general that at last only a few of the original settlers remained there. … While those in chief authority were still undecided, Isaac Johnson, one of the most influential and honored men among the colonists, began, with others, in earnest, the settlement of Boston. He chose for himself the square of land now enclosed by Tremont, Court, Washington and School Streets. {2103} Unfortunately this gentleman, who was much beloved, died before the removal to Boston became general. … Although the chief men of the colony continued for some time yet to favor the plan of a fortified town farther inland, Boston had now become too firmly rooted, and the people too unwilling, to make a second change of location practicable, or even desirable. So this project was abandoned, though not before high words passed between Winthrop and Dudley about it. The governor then removed the frame of his new house from Cambridge, or Newtown, to Boston, setting it up on the land between Milk Street, Spring Lane, and Washington Street. One of the finest springs being upon his lot, the name Spring Lane is easily traced. The people first located themselves within the space now comprised between Milk, Bromfield, Tremont, and Hanover Streets, and the water, or, in general terms, upon the southeasterly slope of Beacon Hill. Pemberton Hill soon became a favorite locality. The North End, including that portion of the town north of Union Street, was soon built up by the new emigrants coming in, or by removals from the South End, as all the town south of this district was called. In time a third district on the north side of Beacon Hill grew up, and was called the West End. And in the old city these general divisions continue to-day. Shawmut, we remember, was the first name Boston had. Now the settlers at Charlestown, seeing always before them a high hill topped with three little peaks, had already, and very aptly too, we think, named Shawmut Trimountain [the origin of the name Tremont in Boston]. But when they began to remove there they called it Boston, after a place of that name in England, and because they had determined beforehand to give to their chief town this name. So says the second highest person among them, Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley. The settlers built their first church on the ground now covered by Brazer's Building, in State Street. … Directly in front of the meeting-house was the town market-place. Where Quincy Market is was the principal landing-place. The Common was set apart as a pasture-ground and training-field. … A beacon was set up on the summit of Trimountain and a fort upon the southernmost hill of the town. From this time these hills took the names of Windmill, Beacon, and Fort Hills."

S. A. Drake, Around the Hub, chapter 2.

"The order of the Court of Assistants,—Governor Winthrop presiding,—'That Trimontaine shall be called Boston,' was passed on the 7th of September, old style, or, as we now count it, the 17th of September, 1630. The name of Boston was specially dear to the Massachusetts colonists, from its association with the old St. Botolphs' town, or Boston, of Lincolnshire, England, from which the Lady Arbella Johnson and her husband had come, and where John Cotton was still preaching in its noble parish church. But the precise date of the removal of the Governor and Company to the peninsula is nowhere given."

R. C. Winthrop, Boston Founded (Memorial History of Boston; edited by J. Winsor, volume 1), pages 116-117.

ALSO IN: _C. F. Adams, Jr., Earliest Exploration and Settlement of Boston Harbor (Mem. History, pages 63-86)._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1631-1636. The Puritan Theocracy and its intolerance.

"The charter of the Massachusetts Company had prescribed no condition of investment with its franchise,—or with what under the circumstances which had arisen was the same thing, the prerogatives of citizenship in the plantation,—except the will and vote of those who were already freemen. At the first Cisatlantic General Court for election, 'to the end the body of the commons may be preserved of honest and good men,' it was 'ordered and agreed, that, for the time to come, no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." The men who laid this singular foundation for the commonwealth which they were instituting, had been accustomed to feel responsibility, and to act upon well-considered reasons. By charter from the English crown, the land was theirs as against all other civilized people, and they had a right to choose according to their own rules the associates who should help them to occupy and govern it. Exercising this right, they determined that magistracy and citizenship should belong only to Christian men, ascertained to be such by the best test which they knew how to apply. They established a kind of aristocracy hitherto unknown."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 9.

"The aim of Winthrop and his friends in coming to Massachusetts was the construction of a theocratic state which should be to Christians, under the New Testament dispensation, all that the theocracy of Moses and Joshua and Samuel had been to the Jews in Old Testament days. They should be to all intents and purposes freed from the jurisdiction of the Stuart king, and so far as possible the text of the Holy Scriptures should be their guide both in weighty matters of general legislation and in the shaping of the smallest details of daily life. In such a scheme there was no room for religious liberty as we understand it."

J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England, chapter 4.

"The projected religious commonwealth was to be founded and administered by the Bible, the whole Bible, not by the New Testament alone. … They revered and used and treated the Holy Book as one whole. A single sentence from any part of it was an oracle to them: it was as a slice or crumb from any part of a loaf of bread, all of the same consistency. God, as King, had been the Lawgiver of Israel: he should be their Lawgiver too. … The Church should fashion the State and be identical with it. Only experienced and covenanted Christian believers, pledged by their profession to accordance of opinion and purpose with the original proprietors and exiles, should be admitted as freemen, or full citizens of the commonwealth. They would restrain and limit their own liberty of conscience, as well as their own freedom of action, within Bible rules. In fact,—in spirit even more than in the letter,—they did adopt all of the Jewish code which was in any way practicable for them. The leading minister of the colony was formally appointed by the General Court to adapt the Jewish law to their case [1636]; and it was enacted that, till that work was really done, 'Moses, his Judicials,' should be in full force. Mr. Cotton in due time presented the results of his labor in a code of laws illustrated by Scripture texts. This code was not formally adopted by the Court; but the spirit of it, soon rewrought into another body, had full sway. … {2104} That frankly avowed and practically applied purpose of the Fathers, of establishing here a Bible Commonwealth, 'under a due form of government, both civil and ecclesiastical,' furnishes the key to, the explanation of, all dark things and all the bright things in their early history. The young people educated among us ought to read our history by that simple, plain interpretation. The consciences of our Fathers were not free in our sense of that word. They were held under rigid subjection to what they regarded as God's Holy Word, through and through in every sentence of it, just as the consciences of their Fathers were held, under the sway of the Pope and the Roman Church. The Bible was to them supreme. Their church was based on it, modelled by it, governed by it; and they intended their State should be also."

G. E. Ellis, Lowell Institute Lectures on the Early History of Massachusetts, pages 50-55.

"Though communicants were not necessarily voters, no one could be a voter who was not a communicant; therefore the town-meeting was nothing but the church meeting, possibly somewhat attenuated, and called by a different name. By this insidious statute the clergy seized the temporal power, which they held till the charter fell. The minister stood at the head of the congregation and moulded it to suit his purposes and to do his will. … Common men could not have kept this hold upon the inhabitants of New England, but the clergy were learned, resolute, and able, and their strong but narrow minds burned with fanaticism and love of power; with their beliefs and under their temptations persecution seemed to them not only their most potent weapon, but a duty they owed to Christ—and that duty they unflinchingly performed."

B. Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts, chapter 1.

ALSO IN: J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 10.

P. Oliver, The Puritan Commonwealth, chapter 2, part 1.

D. Campbell, The Puritan in Holland, England, and America, chapter 22 (volume 2).

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1633-1635. Hostilities between the Plymouth Colony and the French on the Maine coast.

See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1621-1668.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1634-1637. Threatening movements in England. The Charter demanded.

"That the government of Charles I. should view with a hostile eye the growth of a Puritan state in New England is not at all surprising. The only fit ground for wonder would seem to be that Charles should have been willing at the outset to grant a charter to the able and influential Puritans who organized the Company of Massachusetts Bay. Probably, however, the king thought at first it would relieve him at home if a few dozen of the Puritan leaders could be allowed to concentrate their minds upon a project of colonization in America. It might divert attention for a moment from his own despotic schemes. Very likely the scheme would prove a failure and the Massachusetts colony incur a fate like that of Roanoke Island; and at all events the wealth of the Puritans might better be sunk in a remote and perilous enterprise than employed at home in organizing resistance to the crown. Such, very likely, may have been the king's motive in granting the Massachusetts charter two days after turning his Parliament out of doors. But the events of the last half-dozen years had come to present the case in a new light. The young colony was not languishing. It was full of sturdy life; it had wrought mischief to the schemes of Gorges; and what was more, it had begun to take unheard-of liberties with things ecclesiastical and political. Its example was getting to be a dangerous one. It was evidently worth while to put a strong curb upon Massachusetts. Any promise made to his subjects Charles regarded as a promise made under duress which he was quite justified in breaking whenever it suited his purpose to do so. Enemies of Massachusetts were busy in England. Schismatics from Salem and revellers from Merrymount were ready with their tales of woe, and now Gorges and Mason were vigorously pressing their territorial claims."

J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England, chapter 3.

In April, 1634, "the superintendence of the colonies was … removed from the privy council to an arbitrary special commission, of which William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, and the archbishop of York, were the chief. These, with ten of the highest officers of State, were invested with full power to make laws and orders, … to appoint judges and magistrates and establish courts for civil and ecclesiastical affairs, … to revoke all charters and patents which had been surreptitiously obtained, or which conceded liberties prejudicial to the royal prerogative. Cradock, who had been governor of the corporation in England before the transfer of the charter of Massachusetts, was strictly charged to deliver it up; and he wrote to the governor and council to send it home. Upon receipt of his letter, they resolved 'not to return any answer or excuse at that time.' In September, a copy of the commission to Archbishop Laud and his associates was brought to Boston; and it was at the same time rumored that the colonists were to be compelled by force to accept a new governor, the discipline of the church of England, and the laws of the commissioners. The intelligence awakened 'the magistrates and deputies to discover their minds each to other, and to hasten their fortifications,' towards which, poor as was the colony, £600 were raised. In January, 1635, all the ministers assembled at Boston; and they unanimously declared against the reception of a general governor, saying: 'We ought to defend our lawful possessions, if we are able; if not, to avoid and protract.' In the month before this declaration, it is not strange that Laud and his associates should have esteemed the inhabitants of Massachusetts to be men of refractory humors. … Restraints were placed upon emigration; no one above the rank of a serving man might remove to the colony without the special leave of Laud and his associates. … Willingly as these acts were enforced by religious bigotry, they were promoted by another cause. A change had come over the character of the great Plymouth council for the colonization of New England," which now schemed and bargained with the English court to surrender its general charter, on the condition that the vast territory which it had already ceded to the Massachusetts Company and others should be reclaimed by the king and granted anew, in severalty, to its members (see NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1635). "At the Trinity term of the court of king's bench, a quo warranto was brought against the Company of the Massachusetts bay. At the ensuing Michaelmas, several of its members who resided in England made their appearance, and judgment was pronounced against them individually; the rest of the patentees stood outlawed, but no judgment was entered against them. {2105} The unexpected death of Mason, the proprietary of New Hampshire, in December, 1635, removed the chief instigator of these aggressions. In July, 1637, the king, professing 'to redress the mischiefs that had arisen out of the many different humours,' took the government of New England into his own hands, and appointed over it Sir Ferdinando Gorges as governor-general. … But the measure was feeble and ineffectual." Gorges "never left England, and was hardly heard of except by petitions to its government." Troubles had thickened about king Charles and his creature Laud until they no longer had time or disposition to bestow more of their thoughts on Massachusetts. A long-suffering nation was making ready to put an end to their malignant activities, and the Puritans of New England and Old England were alike delivered.

G. Bancroft, History of the United States (Author's last revision), part 1, chapter 17 (volume 1).

ALSO IN: T. Hutchinson, History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, volume 1, pages 51 and 86-89.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1635-1636. The founding of Boston Latin School and Harvard College.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1635; and 1636.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1635-1637. The migration to Connecticut.

See CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1634-1637.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1636. The banishment of Roger Williams.

"The intolerance of England had established the New England colonies. The time was at hand when those colonies should in their turn alienate from them their own children, and be the unwilling parents of a fresh state. In 1631, there arrived at Boston a young minister, Roger Williams, 'godly and zealous, having precious gifts.' … His theological doctrines seem to have been those generally received among the Puritans, but in questions of church discipline he went far beyond most of his sect. He was a rigid separatist, and carried the doctrine of toleration, or, as perhaps it might be more properly called, state indifference, to its fullest length. Accordingly it was impossible to employ him as a minister at Boston. He went to Salem, which was then without a preacher, and was appointed to the vacant office. But a message from Winthrop and the assistants compelled the church of Salem to retract its choice, and the young enthusiast withdrew to Plymouth," where he remained two years, until August, 1633, when he returned to Salem. "In 1634, he incurred the displeasure of some of his congregation by putting forward the doctrine that no tenure of land could be valid which had not the sanction of the natives. His doctrine was censured by the court at Boston, but on his satisfying the court of his 'loyalty,' the matter passed over. But before long he put forward doctrines, in the opinion of the government, yet more dangerous. He advocated complete separation from the Church of England, and denounced compulsory worship and a compulsory church establishment. Carrying the doctrine of individual liberty to its fullest extent, he asserted that the magistrate was only the agent of the people, and had no right to protect the people against itself; that his power extends only as far as such cases as disturb the public peace. … On the 8th of August, 1635, Williams was summoned before the general court; his opinions were denounced as 'erroneous and very dangerous,' and notice was given to the church at Salem that, unless it could explain the matter to the satisfaction of the court, Williams must be dismissed. In October, Williams was again brought before the court, and after a 'disputation' with Mr. Hooker, which failed to reduce him from any of his errors, he was sentenced to depart out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts in six weeks. The church of Salem acquiesced in the condemnation of their pastor. Their own experience might have taught the fathers of New England that the best way to strengthen heresy is to oppose it. The natural result followed; the people were 'much taken with the apprehension of Williams 'godliness,' and a large congregation, including 'many devout women,' gathered round him. Since they had failed to check the evil, the Massachusetts government resolved to exterminate it and to ship Williams for England. The crew of a pinnace was sent to arrest him, but, fortunately for the future of New England, he had escaped. … He had set out [January, 1636] for the territory of Narragansett, and there founded the village of Providence."

A. Doyle, The American Colonies, chapter 2.

"His [Roger Williams'] own statement is, it was 'only for the holy truth of Christ Jesus that he was denied the common air to breathe in, and a civil cohabitation upon the same common earth.' But the facts of the case seem to show that it was because his opinions differed from the opinions of those among whom he lived, and were considered by them as dangerous and seditious, tending to the utter destruction of their community, that he was a sacrifice to honest convictions of truth and duty. … The sentence of banishment, however, was not passed without reluctance. Governor Winthrop remained his friend to the day of his death, and even proposed, in view of his services in the Pequot war, that his sentence should be revoked. Governor Haynes, of Connecticut, who pronounced his sentence, afterwards regretted it. Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, who had no hand in his expulsion, 'put a piece of gold in the hands of his wife,' to relieve his necessities, and though Mr. Cotton hardly clears himself from the charge of having procured his sentence, there was no private feud between them. Cotton Mather concedes that 'many judicious persons judged him to have had the root of the matter in him.' Later writers declare him, 'from the whole course and tenor of his life and conduct, to have been one of the most disinterested men that ever lived, a most pious and heavenly-minded soul.' And the magnanimous exile himself says, 'I did ever from my soul honor and love them, even when their judgment led them to afflict me.'"

J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 9.

ALSO IN: J. D. Knowles, Memoir of Roger Williams, chapters 3-5.

E. B. Underhill, introduction to Williams' 'Bloudy Tenent of Persecution' (Hansard Knollys Society).

G. E. Ellis, The Puritan Age and Rule, chapter 8.

See, also, RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1636.

{2106}

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1636-1638. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian troubles.

"The agitation and strife connected with the Antinomian controversy, opened by Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, came dangerously near to bringing the fortunes of the young Massachusetts colony to a most disastrous ruin. … The peril overhung at a time when the proprietary colonists had the most reasonable and fearful forebodings of the loss of their charter by the interference of a Privy Council Commission. … Ominously enough, too, Mrs. Hutchinson arrived here, September 18, 1634, in the vessel which brought the copy of that commission. Winthrop describes her as a woman of a 'ready wit and bold spirit.' Strongly gifted herself, she had a gentle and weak husband, who was guided by her. She had at home enjoyed no ministrations so much as those of Cotton, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Wheelwright. She came here to put herself again under the preaching of the former. … She had been here for two years, known as a ready, kindly, and most serviceable woman, especially to her own sex in their straits and sicknesses. But she anticipated the introduction of 'the woman question' among the colonists in a more troublesome form than it has yet assumed for us. Joined by her brother-in-law, who was also admitted to the church, after those two quiet years she soon made her influence felt for trouble, as he did likewise. … The male members of the Boston Church had a weekly meeting, in which they discussed the ministrations of Cotton and Wilson. Mrs. Hutchinson organized and presided over one, held soon twice in a week, for her own sex, attended by nearly a hundred of the principal women on the peninsula and in the neighborhood. It was easy to foresee what would come of it, through one so able and earnest as herself, even if she had no novel or disjointed or disproportioned doctrine to inculcate; which, however, it proved that she had. Antinomian means a denying, or, at least, a weakening, of the obligation to observe the moral law, and to comply with the external duties; to do the works associated with the idea of internal, spiritual righteousness. It was a false or disproportioned construction of St. Paul's great doctrine of justification by faith, without the works of the law. … Mrs. Hutchinson, was understood to teach, that one who was graciously justified by a spiritual assurance, need not be greatly concerned for outward sanctification by works. She judged and approved, or censured and discredited, the preachers whom she heard, according as they favored or repudiated that view. Her admirers accepted her opinions. … Word soon went forth that Mrs. Hutchinson had pronounced in her meetings, that Mr. Cotton and her brother-in-law Wheelwright, alone of all the ministers in the colony, were under 'a covenant of grace,' the rest being 'legalists,' or under 'a covenant of works.' These reports, which soon became more than opinions, were blazing brands that it would be impossible to keep from reaching inflammable material. … As the contention extended it involved all the principal persons of the colony. Cotton and all but five members of the Boston Church—though one of these five was Winthrop, and another was Wilson—proved to be sympathizers with Mrs. Hutchinson; while the ministers and leading people outside in the other hamlets were strongly opposed to her. She had a partisan, moreover, of transcending influence in the young Governor, Sir Henry Vane," who had come over from England the year before, and who had been chosen at the next election for Governor, with Winthrop as deputy. "Though pure and devout, and ardent in zeal, he had not then the practical wisdom for which Milton afterwards praised him in his noble sonnet:—'Vane, young in years, but in sage counsels old.' … With his strong support, and that of two other prominent magistrates, and of so overwhelming a majority of the Boston Church, Mrs. Hutchinson naturally felt emboldened." But in the end her Church and party were overcome by the ministers and their supporters in the other parts of the colony; she was excommunicated and banished (November, 1637, and March, 1638), going forth to perish six years later at the hands of the Indians, while living on the shore of Long Island Sound, at a place now known as Pelham Neck, near New Rochelle. "As the summing up of the strife, 76 persons were disarmed; two were disfranchised and fined; 2 more were fined; 8 more were disfranchised; 3 were banished; and 11 who had asked permission to remove had leave, in the form of a limitation of time within which they must do it. The more estimable and considerable of them apologized and were received back."

G. E. Ellis, Lowell Institute Lectures on the Early History of Massachusetts, pages 95-100.

ALSO IN: B. Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts, chapter 2.

Ecclesiastical History of New England (Massachusetts Historical Society Collection, series 1, volume 9).

G. E. Ellis, Life of Anne Hutchinson (Library of American Biographies, new series, volume 6).

J. Anderson, Memorable Women of Puritan Times, volume 1, pages 185-220.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1637. The Pequot War.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1637.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1637. The first Synod of the Churches and its dealings with Heresy.

The election of Sir Harry Vane to be Governor of the colony, in place of John Winthrop, "took place in the open air upon what is now Cambridge Common on the 27th day of May [1637]. Four months later it was followed by the gathering of the first Synod of Massachusetts churches; which again, meeting here in Cambridge, doubtless held its sessions in the original meeting-house standing on what is now called Mount Auburn Street. The Synod sat through twenty-four days, during which it busied itself unearthing heterodox opinions and making the situation uncomfortable for those suspected of heresy, until it had spread upon its record no less than eighty-two such 'opinions, some blasphemous, others erroneous, and all unsafe,' besides 'nine unwholesome expressions,' all alleged to be rife in the infant community. Having performed this feat, it broke up amid general congratulations 'that matters had been carried on so peaceably, and concluded so comfortably in all love.' … As the twig is bent, the tree inclines. The Massachusetts twig was here and then bent; and, as it was bent, it during hard upon two centuries inclined. The question of Religious Toleration was, so far as Massachusetts could decide it, decided in 1637 in the negative. … The turning point in the history of early Massachusetts was the Cambridge Synod of September, 1637, … which succeeded in spreading on its record, as then prevailing in the infant settlement, eighty-two 'opinions, some blasphemous, others erroneous and all unsafe,' besides 'nine unwholesome expressions,' the whole mighty mass of which was then incontinently dismissed, in the language of one of the leading divines who figured in that Assembly, 'to the devil of hell, from whence they came.' {2107} The mere enumeration of this long list of heresies as then somewhere prevailing is strong evidence of intellectual activity in early Massachusetts,—an activity which found ready expression through such men as Roger Williams, John Cotton, John Wheelwright and Sir Henry Vane, to say nothing of Mrs. Hutchinson, while the receptive condition of the mental soil is likewise seen in the hold the new opinions took. It was plainly a period of intellectual quickening,—a dawn of promise. Of this there can no doubt exist. It was freely acknowledged at the time; it has been stated as one of the conditions of that period by all writers on it since. The body of those who listened to him stood by Roger Williams; and the magistrates drove him away for that reason. Anne Hutchinson so held the ear of the whole Boston community that she had 'some of all sorts and quality, in all places to defend and patronize' her opinions; 'some of the magistrates, some gentlemen, some scholars and men of learning, some Burgesses of our General Court, some of our captains and soldiers, some chief men in towns, and some men eminent for religion, parts and wit.' These words of a leader of the clerical faction,—one of those most active in the work of repression,—describe to the life an active-minded, intelligent community quick to receive and ready to assimilate that which is new. Then came the Synod. It was a premonition. It was as if the fresh new sap,—the young budding leaves,— the possible, incipient flowers, had felt the chill of an approaching glacier. And that was exactly what it was;—a theological glacier then slowly settled down upon Massachusetts,—a glacier lasting through a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years."

C. F. Adams, Massachusetts: Its Historians and its History, pages 10-59.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1638-1641. Introduction of Slavery.

See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1638-1781.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1639. The first printing press set up.

See PRINTING: A. D. 1535-1709.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1640-1644. The end of the Puritan exodus. Numerical growth and political development.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1640-1644.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1641. Jurisdiction extended over New Hampshire.

See NEW HAMPSHIRE: A. D. 1641-1679.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1642. The first Public School law.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1642-1732.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1643. The Confederation of the Colonies. The growth of Plymouth.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1643.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1643-1654. Interest in Acadia and temporary conquest of the Province.

See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1621-1668.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1646-1651. The Presbyterian Cabal and the Cambridge Platform.

"There had now come to be many persons in Massachusetts who disapproved of the provision which restricted the suffrage to members of the Independent or Congregational churches of New England, and in 1646 the views of these people were presented in a petition to the General Court. … The leading signers of this menacing petition were William Vassall, Samuel Maverick, and Dr. Robert Child. … Their request would seem at first sight reasonable enough. At a superficial glance it seems conceived in a modern spirit of liberalism. In reality it was nothing of the sort. In England it was just the critical moment of the struggle between Presbyterians and Independents which had come in to complicate the issues of the great civil war. Vassall, Child, and Maverick seem to have been the leading spirits in a cabal for the establishment of Presbyterianism in New England, and in their petition they simply took advantage of the discontent of the disfranchised citizens in Massachusetts in order to put in an entering wedge. This was thoroughly understood by the legislature of Massachusetts, and accordingly the petition was dismissed and the petitioners were roundly fined. Just as Child was about to start for England with his grievances, the magistrates overhauled his papers and discovered a petition to the parliamentary Board of Commissioners, suggesting that Presbyterianism should be established in New England, and that a viceroy or governor-general should be appointed to rule there. To the men of Massachusetts this last suggestion was a crowning horror. It seemed scarcely less than treason. The signers of this petition were the same who had signed the petition to the General Court. They were now fined still more heavily and imprisoned for six months. By and by they found their way, one after another, to London, while the colonists sent Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, as an advocate to thwart their schemes. … The cabal accomplished nothing because of the decisive defeat of Presbyterianism in England. 'Pride's Purge' settled all that. The petition of Vassall and his friends was the occasion for the meeting of a synod of churches at Cambridge, in order to complete the organization of Congregationalism. In 1648 the work of the synod was embodied in the famous Cambridge Platform, which adopted the Westminster Confession as its creed, carefully defined the powers of the clergy, and declared it to be the duty of magistrates to suppress heresy. In 1649 the General Court laid this platform before the congregations; in 1651 it was adopted; and this event may be regarded as completing the theocratic organization of the Puritan commonwealth in Massachusetts. It was immediately preceded and followed by the deaths of the two foremost men in that commonwealth. John Winthrop died in 1649 and John Cotton in 1652."

J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England, chapter 4.

ALSO IN: C. Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, book 5, part 2.

B. Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts, chapter 3.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1649-1651. Under Cromwell and the Commonwealth of England.

"Massachusetts had, from the outset, sympathized with Parliament in its contest with the king, and had blended her fortunes with the fortunes of the reformers. She had expressed her willingness to 'rise and fall with them,' and' sent over useful men, others going voluntarily, to their aid, who were of good use, and did acceptable service to the army.' Her loyalty, therefore, procured for her the protection of Parliament. Yet the execution of Charles, which royalists have ever regarded with the utmost abhorrence, was not openly approved here. 'I find,' says Hutchinson, 'scarce any marks of approbation of the tragical scene of which this year they received intelligence.' The few allusions we have discovered are none of them couched in terms of exultation. Virginia pursued a different course, and openly resisted Parliament, refused to submit to its decrees, and adhered to the cause of royalty. … Yet the legislation of the commonwealth was not wholly favorable even to Massachusetts. {2108} The proclamation relative to Virginia asserted, in general terms, the power of appointing governors and commissioners to be placed in all the English colonies, without exception; and by Mr. Winslow, their agent in England, they were informed that it was the pleasure of Parliament the patent of Massachusetts should be returned, and a new one taken out, under which courts were to be held and warrants issued. With this request the people were indisposed to comply; and, too wary to hazard the liberties so dearly purchased, a petition was drawn up, pleading the cause of the colony with great force, setting forth its allegiance, and expressing the hope that, under the new government, things might not go worse with them than under that of the king, and that their charter might not be recalled, as they desired no better. This remonstrance was successful; the measure was dropped, and the charter of Charles continued in force. Parliament was not 'foiled' by the colony. Its request was deemed reasonable; and there was no disposition to invade forcibly its liberties. We have evidence of this in the course of Cromwell. After his success in the 'Emerald Isle,' conceiving the project of introducing Puritanism into Ireland, an invitation was extended to the people of Massachusetts to remove thither and settle. But they were too strongly attached to the land of their adoption, and to its government, 'the happiest and wisest this day in the world,' readily to desert it. Hence the politic proposal of the lord protector was respectfully declined."

J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 12.

ALSO IN: J. A. Doyle, The English in America: Puritan Colonies, volume 1, chapter 9.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1651-1660. The absorption of Maine.

See MAINE: A. D. 1643-1677.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1656-1661. The persecution of the Quakers.

"In July, 1656, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin came to Boston from Barbadoes; and shortly after, nine others, men and women, arrived in the ship Speedwell from London. It was at once known, for they did not wish to conceal it, that they were 'Friends,' vulgarly called 'Quakers'; and the Magistrates at once took them in hand, determined that no people holding (as they considered them) such damnable opinions, should come into the Colony. A great crowd collected to hear them questioned, and Boston was stirred up by a few illiterate enthusiasts. They stood up before the Court with their hats on, apparently without fear, and had no hesitation in calling governor Endicott plain 'John.' … The replies which these men and women made were direct and bold, and were considered rude and contemptuous. … They … were committed to prison for their 'Rudeness and Insolence'; there being no law then under which they could be punished for being Quakers." Before the year closed, this defect of law was remedied by severe enactments, "laying a penalty of £100 for bringing any Quaker into the Colony: forty shillings for entertaining them for an hour; Quaker men who came against these prohibitions were, upon first conviction, to lose one ear, upon the second, the other ear; and women were to be whipped. Upon the third conviction, their tongues were to be bored with a hot iron. But these things seemed useless, for the Quakers, knowing their fate, swarmed into Massachusetts; and the Magistrates were fast getting more business than they could attend to. It was then determined to try greater severity, and in October, 1658, a law was passed in Massachusetts (resisted by the Deputies, urged by the Magistrates), punishing Quakers, who had been banished, with death." The first to challenge the dread penalty were a woman, Mary Dyer, and two men, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, who, after being banished (September, 1659), came defiantly back the next month. "Governor Endicott pronounced sentence of death against them. … On the 27th of October, in the afternoon, a guard of 200 men, attended with a drummer, conducted them to the gallows." Stevenson and Robinson were hanged; but Mary Dyer was reprieved. "Her mind was made up for death, and her reprieve brought her no joy. She was taken away by her son. … Mary Dyer was a 'comely and valiant woman,' and in the next Spring she returned. What now was to be done? The law said she must be hung, and Endicott again pronounced sentence, and she was led out to die a felon's death. Some scoffed and jeered her, but the most pitied; she died bravely, fearing nothing. … There seemed no end; for Quaker after Quaker came; they were tried, they were whipped, and the prison was full. … William Ledra [banished in 1657] came back (September, 1660), and was subject to death. They offered him his life, if he would go away and promise not to return; he said: 'I came here to bear my testimony, and to tell the truth of the Lord, in the ears of this people. I refuse to go.' So he was hanged in the succeeding March (14th). Wenlock Christopherson, or Christison, came, and was tried and condemned to die. … The death of Ledra, and the return of Wenlock Christison, brought confusion among the Magistrates, and some said 'Where will this end?' and declared it was time to stop. Governor Endicott found it difficult to get a Court to agree to sentence Christison to death; but he halted not, and pronounced the sentence. … But a few days afterward the jailor opened the prison doors, and Wenlock (with 27 others) was set at liberty, much to his and their surprise." The friends of the Quakers in England had prevailed upon King Charles II., then lately restored, "to order the persecutions to cease in New England (September 1661). Samuel Shattock, a banished Quaker, was sent from England by Charles, with a letter to Governor Endicott [the subject of Whittier's poem, 'The King's Missive'], commanding that no more Quakers should be hanged or imprisoned in New England, but should be sent to England for trial. This ended the persecutions; for, on the 9th of December, 1661, the Court ordered all Quakers to be set at liberty."

C. W. Elliott, The New England History, volume 1, chapter 36.

"Some of our writers, alike in prose and in poetry, have assumed, and have written on the assumption, that the deliverance of the Quakers was effected by the interposition in their behalf of King Charles II. … The royal letter … had … been substantially anticipated as to its principal demand by the action of the Court [in Massachusetts]. The general jail delivery of 31 Quakers, including the three under the death sentence who had voluntarily agreed to go off, was ordered by the Court in October, 1660. The King's letter was dated at Whitehall a year afterward. Let us claim whatever of relief we can find in reminding ourselves that it was the stern opposition and protest of the majority of the people of the Puritan Colony, and not the King's command, that had opened the gates of mercy."

G. E. Ellis, The Puritan Age and Rule, pp. 477-479.

{2109}

While the Quakers first arrested at Boston were lying in jail, "the Federal Commissioners, then in session at Plymouth, recommended that laws be forthwith enacted to keep these dreaded heretics out of the land. Next year they stooped so far as to seek the aid of Rhode Island, the colony which they had refused to admit into their confederacy. … Roger Williams was then president of Rhode Island, and in full accord with his noble spirit was the reply of the assembly. 'We have no law amongst us whereby to punish any for only declaring by words their minds and understandings concerning the things and ways of God as to salvation and our eternal condition.' As for these Quakers, we find that where they are 'most of all suffered to declare themselves freely and only opposed by arguments in discourse, there they least of all desire to come.' Any breach of the civil law shall be punished, but the 'freedom of different consciences shall be respected.' This reply enraged the confederated colonies, and Massachusetts, as the strongest and most overbearing, threatened to cut off the trade of Rhode Island, which forthwith appealed to Cromwell for protection. … In thus protecting the Quakers, Williams never for a moment concealed his antipathy to their doctrines. … The four confederated colonies all proceeded to pass laws banishing Quakers. … Those of Connecticut … were the mildest."

J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England, chapter 4.

ALSO IN: B. Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts, chapter 5.

_R. P. Hallowell, The Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1657-1662. The Halfway Covenant.

See BOSTON: A. D. 1657-1669.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1660-1665. Under the Restored Monarchy. The first collision with the crown.

"In May, 1660, Charles II. mounted the throne of his ancestors. … In December of this year, intelligence of the accession of a new king had reached Massachusetts; the General Court convened and prepared addresses to his majesty. … In the following May a reply, signed by Mr. Secretary Morrice, together with a mandate for the arrest of Goffe and Whalley, the regicides who had escaped to Massachusetts, was received in Boston. The king's response contained a general expression of good will, which, however, did not quiet the apprehensions of the colonists. The air was filled with rumors, and something seemed to forebode an early collision with the crown. At a special session of the court, held in June, 'a declaration of natural and chartered rights' was approved and published. In this document the people affirmed their right 'to choose their own governor, deputy governor, and representatives; to admit freemen on terms to be prescribed at their own pleasure; to set up all sorts of officers, superior and inferior, and point out their power and places; to exercise, by their annually elected magistrates and deputies, all power and authority, legislative, executive, and judicial; to defend themselves by force of arms against every aggression; and to reject, as an infringement of their rights, any parliamentary or royal imposition, prejudicial to the country, and contrary to any just act of colonial legislation.' More than a year elapsed from the restoration of Charles II. to his public recognition at Boston. … Even the drinking of his health was forbidden, and the event was celebrated only amid the coldest formalities. Meanwhile the colonists not only declared, but openly assumed, their rights; and in consequence complaints were almost daily instituted by those who were hostile to the government. Political opinion was diversified; and while 'a majority were for sustaining, with the charter, an independent government in undiminished force, a minority were willing to make some concessions.' In the midst of the discussions, John Norton, 'a friend to moderate counsels,' and Simon Bradstreet were induced to go to England as agents of the colony. Having been instructed to convince the king of the loyalty of the people of Massachusetts, and to 'engage to nothing prejudicial to their present standing according to their patent, and to endeavor the establishment of the rights and privileges then enjoyed,' the commissioners sailed from Boston on the 10th of February, 1662. In England they were courteously received by king Charles, and from him obtained, in a letter dated June 28, a confirmation of their charter, and an amnesty for all past offences. At the same time the king rebuked them for the irregularities which had been complained of in the government; directed 'a repeal of all laws derogatory to his authority; the taking of the oath of allegiance; the administration of justice in his name; a concession of the elective franchise to all freeholders of competent estate; and as 'the principle of the charter was the freedom of the liberty of conscience,' the allowance of that freedom to those who desired to use 'the booke of common prayer, and perform their devotion in the manner established in England.' These requisitions of the king proved anything but acceptable to the people of Massachusetts. With them the question of obedience became a question of freedom, and gave rise to the parties which continued to divide the colony until the establishment of actual independence. It was not thought best to comply immediately with his majesty's demands; on the other hand, no refusal to do so was promulgated." Presently a rumor reached America "that royal commissioners were to be appointed to regulate the affairs of New England. Precautionary measures were now taken. The patent and a duplicate of the same were delivered to a committee of four, with instructions to hold them in safe keeping. Captain Davenport, at Castle Fort, was ordered to give early announcement of the arrival of his Majesty's ships. Officers and soldiers were forbidden to land from ships, except in small parties. … On the 23d of July, 1664, 'about five or six of the clock at night,' the 'Guinea,' followed by three other ships of the line, arrived in Boston harbor. They were well manned and equipped for the reduction of the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and brought commissioners hostile to colonial freedom, and who were charged by the king to determine 'all complaints and appeals in all causes and matters, as well military as criminal and civil,' and to 'proceed in all things for the providing for and settling the peace and security of the country, according to their good and sound discretions.' Colonel Richard Nichols and Colonel George Cartwright were the chief members of the commission. {2110} At the earliest possible moment they produced their legal warrant, the king's letter of April 23, and requested the assistance of the colonies in the reduction of the Dutch. Shortly afterwards the fleet set out for New Netherlands. On the 3d of August the General Court convened, and the state of affairs was discussed." As the result of the discussion it was agreed that a force of 200 men should be raised to serve against the Dutch, and that the old law of citizenship should be so far modified as to provide "'that all English subjects, being freeholders, and of a competent estate, and certified by the ministers of the place to be orthodox in faith, and not vicious in their lives, should be made freemen, although not members of the church.' Before the session closed, Massachusetts published an order forbidding the making of complaints to the commissioners," and adopted a spirited address to the king. When, in February, 1665, three of the commissioners returned to Boston, they soon found that they were not to be permitted to take any proceedings which could call in question "the privilege of government within themselves" which the colony claimed. Attempting in May to hold a court for the hearing of charges against a Boston merchant, they were interrupted by a herald from the governor who sounded his trumpet and forbade, in the name of the king, any abetting of their proceedings. On this they wrathfully departed for the north, after sending reports of the contumacy of Massachusetts to the king. The latter now summoned governor Bellingham to England, but the summons was not obeyed. "'We have already furnished our views in writing [said the General Court], so that the ablest persons among us could not declare our case more fully.' … The defiance of Massachusetts was followed by no immediate danger. For a season the contest with the crown ceased. The king himself was too much engaged with his women to bestow his attention upon matters of state; and thus, while England was lamenting the want of a good government, the colonies, true to themselves, their country, and their God, flourished in purity and peace."

G. L. Austin, History of Massachusetts, chapter 4.

Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, volume 4, part 2.

See, also, NEW YORK: A. D. 1664.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1671-1686. The struggle for the charter and its overthrow.

"Although the colonists were alarmed at their own success, there was nothing to fear. At no time before or since could England have been so safely defied. … The discord between the crown and Parliament paralyzed the nation, and the wastefulness of Charles kept him always poor. By the treaty of Dover in 1670 he became a pensioner of Louis XIV. The Cabal followed, probably the worst ministry England ever saw; and in 1672, at Clifford's suggestion, the exchequer was closed and the debt repudiated to provide funds for the second Dutch war. In March fighting began, and the tremendous battles with De Ruyter kept the navy in the Channel. At length, in 1673, the Cabal fell, and Danby became prime minister. Although during these years of disaster and disgrace Massachusetts was not molested by Great Britain, they were not all years during which the theocracy could tranquilly enjoy its victory. … With the rise of Danby a more regular administration opened, and, as usual, the attention of the government was fixed upon Massachusetts by the clamors of those who demanded redress for injuries alleged to have been received at her hands. In 1674 the heirs of Mason and Gorges, in despair at the reoccupation of Maine, proposed to surrender their claim to the king, reserving one third of the product of the customs for themselves. The London merchants also had become restive under the systematic violation of the Navigation Acts. The breach in the revenue laws had, indeed, been long a subject of complaint, and the commissioners had received instructions relating thereto; but it was not till this year that these questions became serious. … New England was fast getting its share of the carrying trade. London merchants already began to feel the competition of its cheap and untaxed ships, and manufacturers to complain that they were undersold in the American market, by goods brought direct from the Continental ports. A petition, therefore, was presented to the king, to carry the law into effect. … The famous Edward Randolph now appears. The government was still too deeply embarrassed to act with energy. A temporizing policy was therefore adopted; and as the experiment of a commission had failed, Randolph was chosen as a messenger to carry the petitions and opinions to Massachusetts; together with a letter from the king, directing that agents should be sent in answer thereto. After delivering them, he was ordered to devote himself to preparing a report upon the country. He reached Boston June 10, 1676. Although it was a time of terrible suffering from the ravages of the Indian war, the temper of the magistrates was harsher than ever. The repulse of the commissioners had convinced them that Charles was not only lazy and ignorant, but too poor to use force; and they also believed him to be so embroiled with Parliament as to make his overthrow probable. Filled with such feelings, their reception of Randolph was almost brutal. John Leverett was governor, who seems to have taken pains to mark his contempt in every way in his power. Randolph was an able, but an unscrupulous man, and probably it would not have been difficult to have secured his good-will. Far however from bribing, or even flattering him, they so treated him as to make him the bitterest enemy the Puritan Commonwealth ever knew. … The legislature met in August, 1676, and a decision had to be made concerning agents. On the whole, the clergy concluded it would be wiser to obey the crown, 'provided they be, with utmost care & caution, qualified as to their instructions.' Accordingly, after a short adjournment, the General Court chose William Stoughton and Peter Bulkely; and having strictly limited their power to a settlement of the territorial controversy, they sent them on their mission. … The controversy concerning the boundary was referred to the two chief justices, who promptly decided against the Company; and the easy acquiescence of the General Court must raise a doubt as to their faith in the soundness of their claims. And now again the fatality which seemed to pursue the theocracy in all its dealings with England led it to give fresh provocation to the king by secretly buying the title of Gorges for 1,250 pounds. Charles had intended to settle Maine on the Duke of Monmouth. It was a worthless possession, whose revenue never paid for its defence; yet so stubborn was the colony that it made haste to anticipate the crown and thus became 'Lord Proprietary' of a burdensome province at the cost of a slight which was never forgiven. {2111} Almost immediately the Privy Council had begun to open other matters, such as coining and illicit trade; and the attorney-general drew up a list of statutes which, in his opinion, were contrary to the laws of England. … In the spring the law officers gave an opinion that the misdemeanors alleged against Massachusetts were sufficient to avoid her patent; and the Privy Council, in view of the encroachments and injuries which she had continually practised on her neighbors, and her contempt of his majesty's commands, advised that a 'quo warranto' should be brought against the charter. Randolph was appointed collector at Boston. Even Leverett now saw that some concessions must be made, and the General Court ordered the oath of allegiance to be taken; nothing but perversity seems to have caused the long delay. The royal arms were also carved in the courthouse; and this was all, for the clergy were determined upon those matters touching their authority. … Nearly half a century had elapsed since the emigration, and with the growth of wealth and population changes had come. In March, John Leverett, who had long been the head of the high-church party, died, and the election of Simon Bradstreet as his successor was a triumph for the opposition. Great as the clerical influence still was, it had lost much of its old despotic power, and the congregations were no longer united in support of the policy of their pastors. … Boston and the larger towns favored concession, while the country was the ministers' stronghold. The result of this divergence of opinion was that the moderate party, to which Bradstreet and Dudley belonged, predominated in the Board of Assistants, while the deputies remained immovable. The branches of the legislature thus became opposed; no course of action could be agreed on, and the theocracy drifted to its destruction. … Meanwhile Randolph had renewed his attack. He declared that in spite of promises and excuses the revenue laws were not enforced; that his men were beaten, and that he hourly expected to be thrown into prison; whereas in other colonies, he asserted, he was treated with great respect. There can be no doubt ingenuity was used to devise means of annoyance; and certainly the life he was made to lead was hard. In March he sailed for home, and while in London he made a series of reports to the government which seem to have produced the conviction that the moment for action had come. In December he returned, commissioned as deputy-surveyor and auditor-general for all New England, except New Hampshire. … Hitherto the clerical party had procrastinated, buoyed up by the hope that in the fierce struggle with the commons Charles might be overthrown; but this dream ended with the dissolution of the Oxford Parliament, and further inaction became impossible. Joseph Dudley and John Richards were chosen agents, and provided with instructions bearing the peculiar tinge of ecclesiastical statesmanship. … The agents were urged to do what was possible to avert, or at least delay, the stroke; but they were forbidden to consent to appeals, or to alterations in the qualifications required for the admission of freemen. They had previously been directed to pacify the king by a present of 2,000 pounds; and this ill-judged attempt at bribery had covered them with ridicule. Further negotiation would have been futile. Proceedings were begun at once, and Randolph was sent to Boston to serve the writ of 'quo warranto'; he was also charged with a royal declaration promising that, even then, were submission made, the charter should be restored with only such changes as the public welfare demanded. Dudley, who was a man of much political sagacity, had returned and strongly urged moderation. The magistrates were not without the instincts of statesmanship: they saw that a breach with England must destroy all safeguards of the common freedom, and they voted an address to the crown accepting the proffered terms. But the clergy strove against them: the privileges of their order were at stake; they felt that the loss of their importance would be 'destructive to the interest of religion and of Christ's kingdom in the colony,' and they roused their congregations to resist. The deputies did not represent the people, but the church. … The influence which had moulded their minds and guided their actions controlled them still, and they rejected the address. … All that could be resolved on was to retain Robert Humphrys of the Middle Temple to interpose such delays as the law permitted; but no attempt was made at defence upon the merits of their cause, probably because all knew well that no such defence was possible. Meanwhile, for technical reasons, the 'quo warranto' had been abandoned, and a writ of 'scire facias' had been issued out of chancery. On June 18, 1684, the lord keeper ordered the defendant to appear and plead on the first day of the next Michaelmas Term. The time allowed was too short for an answer from America, and judgment was entered by default. … So perished the Puritan Commonwealth. The child of the Reformation, its life sprang from the assertion of the freedom of the mind; but this great and noble principle is fatal to the temporal power of a priesthood, and during the supremacy of the clergy the government was doomed to be both persecuting and repressive. Under no circumstance could the theocracy have endured: it must have fallen by revolt from within if not by attack from without."

Brooks Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts, chapter 6.

"December 19, 1686, Sir Edmund Andros arrived at Nantasket, in the Kingfisher, a 50 gun ship, with commissions from King James for the government of New England."

T. Hutchinson, History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, volume 1, chapter 3.

ALSO IN: G. E. Ellis, Puritan Age and Rule in Massachusetts, chapter 13.

C. Deane, The Struggle to Maintain the Charter of Charles I. (Memorial History of Boston, volume 1, pages 329-382).

Records of the Governor and Company Massachusetts Bay, volume 5.

See, also, NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1686.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1674-1678. King Philip's War.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1674-1675; 1675; 1676-1678.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1679. The severance of New Hampshire.

See NEW HAMPSHIRE: A. D. 1641-1679.

{2112}

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1686-1689. The tyranny of Andros and its downfall.

"With the charter were swept away representative government, and every right and every political institution reared during half a century of conflict. The rule of Andros was on the model dear to the heart of his royal master—a harsh despotism, but neither strong nor wise; it was wretched misgovernment, and stupid, blundering oppression. And this arbitrary and miserable system Andros undertook to force upon a people of English race, who had been independent and self-governing for fifty years. He laid taxes at his own pleasure, and not even according to previous rates, as he had promised; he denied the Habeas Corpus to John Wise, the intrepid minister of Ipswich, arrested for preaching against taxation without representation, and he awakened a like resistance in all directions. He instituted fees, was believed to pack juries, and made Randolph licenser of the press. Worst of all, he struck at property, demanded the examination of the old titles, declared them worthless, extorted quit-rents for renewal, and issued writs of intrusion against those who resisted; while, not content with attacking political liberty and the rights of property, he excited religious animosity by forbidding civil marriages, seizing the old South church for the Episcopal service, and introducing swearing by the Book in courts of justice. He left nothing undone to enrage the people and prepare for revolution; and when he returned from unsuccessful Indian warfare in the east, the storm was ready to burst. News came of the landing of the Prince of Orange. Andros arrested the bearer of the tidings, and issued a proclamation against the Prince; but the act was vain. Without apparent concert or preparation Boston rose in arms, the signal-fire blazed on Beacon Hill, and the country people poured in, hot for revenge. Some of the old magistrates met at the town-house, and read a 'declaration of the gentlemen, merchants, and inhabitants,' setting forth the misdeeds of Andros, the illegality of the Dudley government by commission, and the wrongful suppression of the charter. Andros and Dudley were arrested and thrown into prison, together with the captain of the Rose frigate, which lay helpless beneath the guns of the fort, and a provisional government was established, with Bradstreet at its head. William and Mary were proclaimed, the revolution was complete, and Andros soon went back a prisoner to England."

H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies, chapter 18.

ALSO IN: J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, book 3, chapters 13-14 (volume 3).

The Andros Tracts; edited by w. H. Whitmore (Prince Society, 1868).

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1689-1692. The procuring of the new Charter. The Colonial Republic transformed into a Royal Province. The absorption of Plymouth.

A little more than a month from the overthrow of Andros a ship from England arrived at Boston, with news of the proclamation of William and Mary. This was joyful intelligence to the body of the people. The magistrates were at once relieved from their fears, for the revolution in the old world justified that in the new. Three days later the proclamation was published with unusual ceremony. … A week later the representatives of the several towns, upon a new choice, met at Boston, and proposals were made that charges should be forthwith drawn up against Andros, or that all the prisoners but Andros should be liberated on bail; but both propositions were rejected. The representatives likewise urged the unconditional resumption of the charter, declaring that they could not act in any thing until this was conceded. Many opposed the motion; but it was finally adopted; and it was resolved that all the laws in force May 12, 1686, should be continued until further orders. Yet the magistrates, conscious of the insecurity of the position they occupied, used prudently the powers intrusted to them." Meantime, Increase Mather, who had gone to England before the Revolution took place as agent for the colony, had procured an audience with the new king, William III., and received from him an assurance that he would remove Andros from the government of New England and call him to an account for his administration. "Anxious for the restoration of the old charter and its privileges, under which the colony had prospered so well, the agent applied himself diligently to that object, advising with the wisest statesmen for its accomplishment. It was the concurrent judgment of all that the best course would be to obtain first a reversion of the judgment against the charter by an act of Parliament, and then apply to the king for such additional privileges as were necessary. Accordingly, in the House of Commons, where the whole subject of seizing charters in the reign of Charles II. was up for discussion, the charters of New England were inserted with the rest; and, though enemies opposed the measure, it was voted that their abrogation was a grievance, and that they should be forthwith restored." But before the bill having this most satisfactory effect had been acted on in the House of Lords, the Convention Parliament was prorogued, then dissolved, and the next parliament proved to be less friendly. An order was obtained, however, from the king, continuing the government of the colony under the old charter until a new one was settled, and requiring Andros and his fellow prisoners to be sent to England for trial. On the trial, much court influence seemed to go in favor of Sir Edmund; the proceedings against him were summarily quashed, and he was discharged. Soon afterwards he was made governor of Virginia, while Dudley received appointment to the office of chief justice at New York. Contending against the intrigues of the Andros party, and many other adverse influences, the agents of Massachusetts were reluctantly forced at last to relinquish all hopes of the restoration of the old charter, and "application was made for a new grant, which should confirm the privileges of the old instrument, and such in addition as the experience of the people had taught them would be of benefit. … The king was prevailed upon to refer the affairs of New England to the two lords chief justices and the attorney and solicitor-general, all of whom were supposed to be friendly to the applicants. Mr. Mather was permitted to attend their meetings." Difficulties arose in connection with Plymouth Colony. It was the determination in England that Plymouth should no longer be separately chartered, but should be joined to Massachusetts or New York. In opposing the former more natural union, the Plymouth people very nearly brought about their annexation to New York; but Mather's influence averted that result. "The first draught of a charter was objected to by the agents, because of its limitation of the powers of the governor, who was to be appointed by the king. The second draught was also objected to; whereupon the agents were informed that they 'must not consider themselves as plenipotentiaries from a foreign state, and that if they were unwilling to submit to the pleasure of the king, his majesty would settle the country without them, and they might take what would follow.' {2113} Nothing remained, therefore, but to decide whether they would submit, or continue without a charter, and at the mercy of the king." The two colleagues who had been associated with Mather opposed submission, but the latter yielded, and the charter was signed. "By the terms of this new charter the territories of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Maine, with a tract farther east, were united into one jurisdiction, whose officers were to consist of a governor, a deputy governor, and a secretary, appointed by the king, and 28 councillors, chosen by the people. A General Court was to be holden annually, on the last Wednesday in May, and at such other times as the governor saw fit; and each town was authorized to choose two deputies to represent them in this court. The choice of these deputies was conceded to all freeholders having an estate of the value of forty pounds sterling, or land yielding an income of at least forty shillings per annum; and every deputy was to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the crown. All residents of the province and their children were entitled to the liberties of natural born subjects; and liberty of conscience was secured to all but Papists. … To the governor was given a negative upon all laws enacted by the General Court; without his consent in writing none were valid; and all receiving his sanction were to be transmitted to the king for approval, and if rejected at any time within three years were to be of no effect. The governor was empowered to establish courts, levy taxes, convene the militia, carry on war, exercise martial law, with the consent of the council, and erect and furnish an requisite forts. … Such was the province charter of 1692—a far different instrument from the colonial charter of 1629. It effected a thorough revolution in the country. The form of government, the powers of the people, and the entire foundation and objects of the body politic, were placed upon a new basis; and the dependence of the colonies upon the crown was secured. … It was on Saturday, the 14th of May, 1692, that Sir William Phips arrived at Boston as the first governor of the new province."

J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, volume 1, chapter 18.

ALSO IN: _W. H. Whitmore, The Inter-Charter Period (Memorial History of Boston, volume 2)._

G. P. Fisher, The Colonial Era, chapter 13.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1689-1697. King William's War. Temporary conquest of Acadia. Disastrous expedition against Quebec. Threatened attack by the French.

See CANADA: A. D. 1689-1690; and 1692-1697.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1690. The first Colonial Congress.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1690.

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692. The Salem Witchcraft madness: in its beginning.

"The people of Massachusetts in the 17th century, like all other Christian people at that time,—at least, with extremely rare individual exceptions,—believed in the reality of a hideous crime called 'witchcraft.' … In a few instances witches were believed to have appeared in the earlier years of New England. But the cases had been sporadic. … With three or four exceptions … no person appears to have been punished for witchcraft in Massachusetts, nor convicted of it, for more than sixty years after the settlement, though there had been three or four trials of other persons suspected of the crime. At the time when the question respecting the colonial charter was rapidly approaching an issue, and the public mind was in feverish agitation, the ministers sent out a paper of proposals for collecting facts concerning witchcrafts and other 'strange apparitions.' This brought out a work from President [Increase] Mather entitled 'Illustrious Providences,' in which that influential person related numerous stories of the performances of persons leagued with the Devil. The imagination of his restless young son [Cotton Mather] was stimulated, and circumstances fed the flame." A poor Irish washerwoman, in Boston, accused by some malicious children named Goodwin, who played antics which were supposed to signify that they had been bewitched, was tried, convicted and sent to the gallows (1688) as a witch. "Cotton Mather took the oldest 'afflicted' girl to his house, where she dexterously played upon his self-conceit to stimulate his credulity. She satisfied him that Satan regarded him as his most terrible enemy, and avoided him with especial awe. … Mather's account of these transactions ['Late Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions'], with a collection of other appropriate matter, was circulated not only in Massachusetts, but widely also in England, where it obtained the warm commendation of Richard Baxter; and it may be supposed to have had an important effect in producing the more disastrous delusion which followed three years after. … Mr. Samuel Parris was minister of a church in a part of Salem which was then called 'Salem Village,' and which now as a separate town bears the name of Danvers. He was a man of talents, and of repute for professional endowments, but avaricious, wrong-headed, and ill-tempered. Among his parishioners, at the time of his installation and afterwards, there had been angry disputes about the election of a minister, which had never been composed. Neighbors and relations were embittered against each other. Elizabeth Parris, the minister's daughter, was now nine years old. A niece of his, eleven years old, lived in his family. His neighbor, Thomas Putnam, the parish clerk, had a daughter named Ann, twelve years of age. These children, with a few other young women, of whom two were as old as twenty years or thereabouts, had become possessed with a wild curiosity about the sorceries of which they had been hearing and reading, and used to hold meetings for study, if it may be so called, and practice. They learned to go through motions similar to those which had lately made the Goodwin children so famous. They forced their limbs into grotesque postures, uttered unnatural outcries, were seized with cramps and spasms, became incapable of speech and of motion. By and by [March, 1692], they interrupted public worship. … The families were distressed. The neighbors were alarmed. The physicians were perplexed and baffled, and at length declared that nothing short of witchery was the trouble. The kinsfolk of the 'afflicted children' assembled for fasting and prayer. Then the neighboring ministers were sent for, and held at Mr. Parris's house a prayer-meeting which lasted through the day. The children performed in their presence, and the result was a confirmation by the ministers of the opinion of the doctors. Of course, the next inquiry was by whom the manifest witchcraft was exercised. {2114} It was presumed that the unhappy girls could give the answer. For a time they refused to do so. But at length, yielding to an importunity which it had become difficult to escape unless by an avowal of their fraud, they pronounced the names of Good, Osborn, and Tituba. Tituba—half Indian, half negro—was a servant of Mr. Parris, brought by him from Barbadoes, where he had formerly been a merchant. Sarah Good was an old woman, miserably poor. Sarah Osborn had been prosperous in early life. She had been married twice, and her second husband was still living, but separated from her. Her reputation was not good, and for some time she had been bedridden, and in a disturbed nervous state. … Tituba, whether in collusion with her young mistress, or, as was afterwards said, in consequence of having been scourged by Mr. Parris, confessed herself to be a witch, and charged Good and Osborn with being her accomplices. The evidence was then thought sufficient, and the three were committed to gaol for trial. Martha Corey and Rebecca Nourse were next cried out against. Both were church-members of excellent character, the latter, seventy years of age. They were examined by the same Magistrates, and sent to prison, and with them a child of Sarah Good, only four or five years old, also charged with diabolical practices."

J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, book 4, chapter 4 (volume 4).

ALSO IN: C. W. Upham, Salem Witchcraft, part 3 (volume 2).

_S. G. Drake, Annals of Witchcraft in New England._

MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692. The Salem Witchcraft madness: in its culmination.

"Now a new feature of this thing showed itself. The wife of Thomas Putnam joined the children, and 'makes most terrible shrieks' against Goody Nurse—that she was bewitching her, too. On the 3d of April, Minister Parris preached long and strong from the Text, 'Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' in which he bore down so hard upon the Witches accused that Sarah Cloyse, the sister of Nurse, would not sit still, but 'went out of meeting'; always a wicked thing to do, as they thought, but now a heinous one. At once the children cried out against her, and she was clapt into prison with the rest. Through the months of April and May, Justices Hawthorne and Curwin (or Corwin), with Marshal George Herrick, were busy getting the Witches into jail, and the good people were startled, astounded, and terror-struck, at the numbers who were seized. … Bridget Bishop, only, was then brought to trial, for the new Charter and new Governor (Phips), were expected daily. She was old, and had been accused of witchcraft twenty years before. … So, as there was no doubt about her, she was quickly condemned, and hung on the 10th day of this pleasant June, in the presence of a crowd of sad and frightened people. … The new Governor, Phips, one of Mather's Church, fell in with the prevailing fear, and a new bench of special Judges, composed of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, Major Saltonstall, Major Richards, Major Gidney, Mr. Wait Winthrop, Captain Sewall, and Mr. Sargent, were sworn in, and went to work. On the 30th of June, Sarah Good, Rebeka Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth How, and Sarah Wilder, were brought to trial; all were found guilty, and sentenced to death, except Nurse, who, being a Church member, was acquitted by the jury. At this, the 'afflicted' children fell into fits, and others made great outcries; and the popular dissatisfaction was so great, that the Court sent them back to the jury room, and they returned shortly, with a verdict of Guilty! The Rev. Mr. Noyes, of Salem, then excommunicated Nurse, delivered her to Satan, and they all were led out to die. Minister Noyes told Susannah Martin that she was a witch, and knew it, and she had better confess it; but she refused, and told him that 'he lied,' and that he knew it; and, 'that if he took away her life, God would give him blood to drink;' which curse is now traditionally believed, and that he was choked with blood. They were hanged, protesting their innocence; and there was none to pity them. On the 5th of August, a new batch was haled before the Court. Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor and his wife, John Willard, George Jacobs, and Martha Carrier. Burroughs was disliked by some of the Clergy, for he was tinctured with Roger Williams's Heresies of Religious Freedom; and he was particularly obnoxious to Mather, for he had spoken slightingly of witchcraft, and had even said there was no such thing as a witch. Willard had been a constable employed in seizing witches, but, becoming sick of the business, had refused to do it any more. The children at once cried out, that he, too, was a witch; he fled for his life, but was caught at Nashua, and brought back. Old Jacobs was accused by his own grand-daughter; and Carrier was convicted upon the testimony of her own children. They were all quickly convicted and sentenced. … All but Mrs. Proctor saw the last of earth on the 19th of August. They were hanged on Gallows Hill. Minister Burroughs made so moving a prayer, closing with the Lord's Prayer, which it was thought no witch could say, that there was fear lest the crowd should hinder the hanging. As soon as he was turned off, Mr. Mather, sitting on his horse, addressed the people, to prove to them that Burroughs was really no Minister, and to show how he must be guilty, notwithstanding his prayer, for the devil could change himself into an angel of light. … Giles Cory, an old man of 80, saw that the accused were prejudged, and refused to plead to the charge against him. What could be done with him? It was found that for this, by some sort of old law, he might be pressed to death. So on the 16th of September, just as the autumn tints were beginning to glorify the earth, he was laid on the ground, bound hand and foot, and stones were piled upon him, till the tongue was pressed out of his mouth; 'the Sheriff with his cane forced it in again when he was dying.' Such cruel things did fear—fear of the Devil—lead these people to do. He was the first and last who died in New England in this way. On the 22d of September, eight of the sentenced were carted up Gallows Hill and done to death. Amid a great concourse of men, women, and children, from the neighboring villages, and from Boston, the victims went crying and singing, dragged through the lines of terror-stricken or pitying people. Some would have rescued them, but they had no leaders, and knew not how to act; so that tragedy was consummated; and the Reverend Mr. Noyes, pointing at them, said, 'What a sad thing it is to see eight fire-brands of hell hanging there!' Sad indeed! {2115} Nineteen had now been hung. One pressed to death. Eight were condemned. A hundred and fifty were in prison; and two hundred more were accused by the 'afflicted.' Some fifty had acknowledged themselves witches, of whom not one was executed. … It was now October, and this mischief seemed to be spreading like fire among the dry grass of the Prairies; and a better quality of persons was beginning to be accused by the bewitched. … But these accusations made people consider, and many began to think that they had been going on too fast. 'The juries changed sooner than the judges, and they sooner than the Clergy.' 'At last,' says one of them, 'it was evidently seen that there must be a stop put, or the generation of the church of God would fall under that condemnation.' In other words, the better class of church members were in danger! At 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.

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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.

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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.

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----------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.

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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.

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"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."

G. Maspéro, Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, chapter 7.

"The employment of numerous drugs in Egypt has been mentioned by sacred and profane writers; and the medicinal properties of many herbs which grow in the deserts, particularly between the Nile and Red Sea, are still known to the Arabs, though their application has been but imperfectly recorded and preserved. … Homer, in the Odyssey, describes the many valuable medicines given by Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, to Helen, while in Egypt, 'a country whose fertile soil produces an infinity of drugs, some salutary and some pernicious, where each physician possesses knowledge above all other men'; and Pliny makes frequent mention of the productions of that country, and their use in medicine. He also notices the physicians of Egypt; and as if their number was indicative of the many maladies to which the inhabitants were subject, he observes that it was a country productive of numerous diseases. In this, however, he does not agree with Herodotus, who affirms that, 'after the Libyans, there are no people so healthy as the Egyptians, which may be attributed to the invariable nature of the seasons in their country.' In Pliny's time the introduction of luxurious habits and excess had probably wrought a change in the people; and to the same cause may be attributed the numerous complaints among the Romans, 'unknown to their fathers and ancestors.' The same author tells us that the Egyptians examined the bodies after death, to ascertain the nature of the diseases of which they had died; and we can readily believe that a people so far advanced in civilization and the principles of medicine as to assign each physician his peculiar branch, would have resorted to this effectual method of acquiring knowledge and experience for the benefit of the community. It is evident that the medical skill of the Egyptians was well known even in foreign and distant countries; and we learn from Herodotus, that Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for medical men. … The Egyptians, according to Pliny, claimed the honour of having invented the art of curing diseases."

Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, chapter 10 (volume 2).

"The Ptolemies, down to the very termination of their dominion over Egypt, appear to have encouraged the curative art, and for the purpose of restoring declining health, surrounded themselves with the most illustrious physicians of the age. … The science of medicine of the period was fully represented at the Museum by distinguished professors, who, according to Athenæus, restored the knowledge of this art to the towns and islands of the Grecian Archipelago. … About the period of the absorption of the Egyptian kingdom into the expanding dominion of the Romans, the schools of Alexandria still continued to be the centre of medical studies; and notwithstanding the apparent dissidence between the demands of a strict science and public affairs, its professors exhibited, equally with their brother philosophers, a taste for diplomacy. Dioscorides and Serapion, two physicians of Alexandria, were the envoys of the elder Ptolemy to Rome, and at a later date were bearers of dispatches from Cæsar to one of his officers in Egypt."

G. F. Fort, Medical Economy During the Middle Ages, chapter 3.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Babylonian.

The Babylonians "have no physicians, but when a man is ill, they lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had his disease themselves or have known anyone who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in their own case, or in the case known to them. And no one is allowed to pass the sick man in silence without asking him what his ailment is."

Herodotus, History, translated by G. Rawlinson, book 1, chapter 197 (volume 1).

"The incantations against diseases describe a great variety of cases. … But the most numerous are those which aim at the cure of the plague, fever, and 'disease of the head;' this latter, judging from the indications which are given of its symptoms and its effects, appears to have been a sort of erysipelas, or cutaneous disease. … These are the principal passages of a long incantation against 'the disease of the head:' the tablet on which we find it bears six other long formulæ against the same evil. 'The disease of the head exists on man. The disease of the head, the ulceration of the forehead exists on man. The disease of the head marks like a tiara, the disease of the head from sunrise to sunset. In the sea and the vast earth a very small tiara is become the tiara, the very large tiara, his tiara. The diseases of the head pierce like a bull, the diseases of the head shoot like the palpitation of the heart. … The diseases of the head, like doves to their dove-cotes, like grasshoppers into the sky, like birds into space may they fly away. May the invalid be replaced in the protecting hands of his god!' This specimen will give the reader an idea of the uniform composition of these incantations against diseases, which filled the second book of the work under consideration. They all follow the same plan throughout, beginning with the definition of the disease and its symptoms, which occupies the greater part of the formula; and ending with a desire for deliverance from it, and the order for it to depart. Sometimes, however, the incantation of the magician assumes a dramatic form at the end. … We must add … the use of certain enchanted drinks, which, doubtless, really contained medicinal drugs, as a cure for diseases, and also of magic knots, the efficacy of which was so firmly believed in, even up to the middle ages. Here is a remedy which one of the formulæ supposes to have been prescribed by Hea against a disease of the head: 'Knot on the right and arrange flat in regular bands, on the left a woman's diadem; divide it twice in seven little bands; … gird the head of the invalid with it; gird the forehead of the invalid with it; gird the seat of life with it; gird his hands and his feet: seat him on his bed; pour on him enchanted waters. Let the disease of his head be carried away into the heavens like a violent wind; … may the earth swallow it up like passing waters!' Still more powerful than the incantations were conjurations wrought by the power of numbers."

F. Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, chapters 1 and 3.

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MEDICAL SCIENCE: Finnish.

"The Finnish incantations for exorcising the demons of diseases were composed in exactly the same spirit, and founded upon the same data, as the Accadian incantations destined for the like purpose. They were formulæ belonging to the same family, and they often showed a remarkable similarity of language; the Egyptian incantations, on the contrary, having been composed by people with very different ideas about the supernatural world, assumed quite another form. This is an incantation from one of the songs of the Kalevala: 'O malady, disappear into the heavens; pain, rise up to the clouds; inflamed vapour, fly into the air, in order that the wind may take thee away, that the tempest may chase thee to distant regions, where neither sun nor moon give their light, where the warm wind does not inflame the flesh. O pain, mount upon the winged steed of stone, and fly to the mountains covered with iron. For he is too robust to be devoured by disease, to be consumed by pains. Go, O diseases, to where the virgin of pains has her hearth, where the daughter of Wäinämöinen cooks pains, go to the hill of pains. There are the white dogs, who formerly howled in torments, who groaned in their sufferings.'"

F. Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, chapter 17.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Hindu.

"There is reason to … conclude, from the imperfect opportunities of investigation we possess, that in medicine, as in astronomy and metaphysics, the Hindus once kept pace with the most enlightened nations of the world; and that they attained as thorough a proficiency in medicine and surgery as any people whose acquisitions are recorded, and as indeed was practicable, before anatomy was made known to us by the discoveries of modern enquirers. It might easily be supposed that their patient attention and natural shrewdness would render the Hindus excellent observers; whilst the extent and fertility of their native country would furnish them with many valuable drugs and medicaments. Their Nidana or Diagnosis, accordingly, appears to define and distinguish symptoms with great accuracy, and their Dravyabhidhana, or Materia Medica, is sufficiently voluminous. They have also paid great attention to regimen and diet, and have a number of works on the food and general treatment, suited to the complaint, or favourable to the operation of the medicine administered. This branch they entitle Pathyapathya. To these subjects are to be added the Chikitsa, or medical treatment of diseases—on which subject they have a variety of compositions, containing much absurdity, with much that is of value; and the Rasavidya, or Pharmacy, in which they are most deficient. All these works, however, are of little avail to the present generation, as they are very rarely studied, and still more rarely understood, by any of the practising empirics. The divisions of the science thus noticed, as existing in books, exclude two important branches, without which the whole system must be defective—Anatomy and Surgery. We can easily imagine, that these were not likely to have been much cultivated in Hindustan. … The Ayur Veda, as the medical writings of highest antiquity and authority are collectively called, is considered to be a portion of the fourth or Atharva Veda, and is consequently the work of Brahma—by him it was communicated to Daksha, the Prajapati, and by him the two Aswins, or sons of Surya, the Sun, were instructed in it, and they then became the medical attendants of the gods—a genealogy that cannot fail recalling to us the two sons of Esculapius, and their descent from Apollo. Now what were the duties of the Aswins, according to Hindu authorities?—the gods, enjoying eternal youth and health, stood in no need of physicians, and consequently they held no such sinecure station. The wars between the gods and demons, however, and the conflicts amongst the gods themselves, in which wounds might be suffered, although death might not be inflicted, required chirurgical aid—and it was this, accordingly, which the two Aswins rendered. … The meaning of these legendary absurdities is clear enough, and is conformable to the tenor of all history. Man, in the semi-barbarous state, if not more subject to external injuries than internal disease, was at least more likely to seek remedies for the former, which were obvious to his senses, than to imagine the means of relieving the latter, whose nature he could so little comprehend. Surgical, therefore, preceded medicinal skill; as Celsus has asserted, when commenting on Homer's account of Podalirius and Machaon, who were not consulted, he says, during the plague in the Grecian camp, although regularly employed to extract darts and heal wounds. … We may be satisfied that Surgery was once extensively cultivated, and highly esteemed by the Hindus. Its rational principles and scientific practice are, however, now, it may be admitted, wholly unknown to them. … It would be an enquiry of some interest to trace the period and causes of the disappearance of Surgery from amongst the Hindus: it is evidently of comparatively modern occurrence, as operative and instrumental practice forms so principal a part of those writings, which are undeniably most ancient; and which, being regarded as the composition of inspired writers, are held of the highest authority."

H. H. Wilson, Essays on Sanskrit Literature, pages 269-276, and 391.

"The number of medical works and authors is extraordinarily large. The former are either systems embracing the whole domain of the science, or highly special investigations of single topics, or, lastly, vast compilations prepared in modern times under the patronage of kings and princes. The sum of knowledge embodied in their contents appears really to be most respectable. Many of the statements on dietetics and on the origin and diagnosis of diseases bespeak a very keen observation. In surgery, too, the Indians seem to have attained a special proficiency, and in this department European surgeons might perhaps even at the present day still learn something from them, as indeed they have already borrowed from them the operation of rhinoplasty. The information, again, regarding the medicinal properties of minerals (especially precious stones and metals), of plants, and animal substances, and the chemical analysis and decomposition of these, covers certainly much that is valuable. Indeed, the branch of Materia Medica generally appears to be handled with great predilection, and this makes up to us in some measure at least for the absence of investigations in the field of natural science. On the diseases, &c., of horses and elephants also there exist very special monographs. {2124} For the rest, during the last few centuries medical science has suffered great detriment from the increasing prevalence of the notion, in itself a very ancient one, that diseases are but the result of transgressions and sins committed, and from the consequent very general substitution of fastings, alms, and gifts to the Brahmans, for real remedies. … The influence … of Hindu medicine upon the Arabs in the first centuries of the Hijra was one of the very highest significance; and the Khalifs of Bagdad caused a considerable number of works upon the subject to be translated. Now, as Arabian medicine constituted the chief authority and guiding principle of European physicians down to the seventeenth century, it directly follows—just as in the case of astronomy—that the Indians must have been held in high esteem by these latter; and indeed Charaka is repeatedly mentioned in the Latin translations of Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Rhazes (Al Rasi), and Serapion (Ibn Serabi)."

A. Weber, History of Indian Literature, pages 269-271.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Jewish.

"If we are to judge from the frequent mention of physicians (Exodus xv. 26; Isaiah iii. 7; Jeremiah viii. 22; Sirach x. 11, xxxviii. 1 ff.; Matthew ix. 12; Mark v. 26; Luke iv. 23, etc.), the Israelites must have given much attention to medicine from ancient times. The physicians must have understood how to heal wounds and external injuries with bandaging, mollifying with oil (Isaiah i. 6; Luke x. 34), balsam (Jeremiah xlvi. 11, li. 8), plasters (2 Kings xx. 7), and salves prepared from herbs (Sirach xxxviii. 8; Exodus xxi. 19; 2 Kings viii. 29; Ezekiel xxx. 21). The ordinances respecting leprosy also show that the lawgiver was well acquainted with the various kinds of skin eruptions (comp. section 114). And not only Moses, but other Israelites also may have acquired much practical knowledge of medicine in Egypt, where the healing art was cultivated from high antiquity. But as to how far the Israelitish physicians advanced in this art, we have not more exact information. From the few scattered hints in the Old and New Testaments, so much only is clear, that internal diseases were also treated (2 Chronicles xvi. 12; Luke viii. 43), and that the medicinal springs which Palestine possesses were much used by invalids. It by no means follows from the fact that the superintendence of lepers and the pronouncing of them clean are assigned by the law to the priests, that these occupied themselves chiefly with medicine. The task which the law laid on them has nothing to do with the healing of leprosy. Of the application of charms, there is not a single instance in Scripture."

C. F. Keil, Manual of Biblical Archæology, volume 2, pages 276-277.

The surgery of the Talmud includes a knowledge of dislocations of the thigh, contusions of the head, perforation of the lungs and other organs, injuries of the spinal cord and trachea, and fractures of the ribs. Polypus of the nose was considered to be a punishment for past sins. In sciatica the patient is advised to rub the hip sixty times with meat-broth. Bleeding was performed by mechanics or barbers. The pathology of the Talmud ascribes diseases to a constitutional vice, to evil influences acting on the body from without, or to the effect of magic. Jaundice is recognized as arising from retention of the bile, dropsy from suppression of the urine. The Talmudists divided dropsy into anasarca, ascites, and tympanites. Rupture and atrophy of the kidneys were held to be always fatal. Hydatids of the liver were more favourably considered. Suppuration of the spinal cord, induration of the lungs, etc., are incurable. Dr. Baas says that these are 'views which may have been based on the dissection of (dead) animals, and may be considered the germs of pathological anatomy.' Some critical symptoms are sweating, sneezing, defecation, and dreams, which promise a favourable termination of the disease. Natural remedies, both external and internal, were employed. Magic was also Talmudic. Dispensations were given by the Rabbis to permit sick persons to eat prohibited food. Onions were prescribed for worms; wine and pepper for stomach disorders; goat's milk for difficulty of breathing; emetics in nausea; a mixture of gum and alum for menorrhagia (not a bad prescription); a dog's liver was ordered for the bite of a mad dog. Many drugs, such a assafœtida, are evidently adopted from Greek medicine. The dissection of the bodies of animals provided the Talmudists with their anatomy. It is, however, recorded that Rabbi Ishmael, at the close of the first century, made a skeleton by boiling the body of a prostitute. We find that dissection in the interests of science was permitted by the Talmud. The Rabbis counted 252 bones in the human skeleton."

E. Berdoe, The Origin and Growth of the Healing Art, book 2, chapter 2.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Greek.

"It is well known that the oldest documents which we possess relative to the practice of Medicine, are the various treatises contained in the Collection which bears the name of Hippocrates. Their great excellence has been acknowledged in all ages, and it has always been a question which has naturally excited literary curiosity, by what steps the art had attained to such perfection at so early a period. … It is clearly established that, long before the birth of philosophy, medicine had been zealously and successfully cultivated by the Asclepiadæ, an order of priest-physicians that traced its origin to a mythical personage bearing the distinguished name of Æsculapius. Two of his sons, Podalirius and Machaon, figure in the Homeric poems, not however as priests, but as warriors possessed of surgical skill in the treatment of wounds, for which they are highly complimented by the poet. It was probably some generations after this time (if one may venture a conjecture on a matter partaking very much of the legendary character) that Æsculapius was deified, and that Temples of Health, called 'Asclepia,' presided over by the Asclepiadæ, were erected in various parts of Greece, as receptacles for the sick, to which invalids resorted in those days for the cure of diseases, under the same circumstances as they go to hospitals and spas at the present time. What remedial measures were adopted in these temples we have no means of ascertaining so fully as could be wished, but the following facts, collected from a variety of sources, may be pretty confidently relied upon for their accuracy. In the first place, then, it is well ascertained that a large proportion of these temples were built in the vicinity of thermæ, or medicinal springs, the virtues of which would no doubt contribute greatly to the cure of the sick. At his entrance into the temple, the devotee was subjected to purifications, and made to go through a regular course of bathing, accompanied with methodical frictions, resembling the oriental system now well known by the name of shampooing. {2125} Fomentations with decoctions of odoriferous herbs were also not forgotten. A total abstinence from food was at first prescribed, but afterwards the patient would no doubt be permitted to partake of the flesh of the animals which were brought to the temples as sacrifices. Every means that could be thought of was used for working upon the imagination of the sick, such as religious ceremonies of an imposing nature, accompanied by music, and whatever else could arouse their senses, conciliate their confidence, and, in certain cases, contribute to their amusement. … It is also well known that the Asclepiadæ noted down with great care the symptoms and issue of every case, and that, from such observations, they became in time great adepts in the art of prognosis. … The office of priesthood was hereditary in certain families, so that information thus acquired would be transmitted from father to son, and go on accumulating from one generation to another. Whether the Asclepiadæ availed themselves of the great opportunities which they must undoubtedly have had of cultivating human and comparative anatomy, has been much disputed in modern times. … It is worthy of remark, that Galen holds Hippocrates to have been a very successful cultivator of anatomy. … Of the 'Asclepia' we have mentioned above, it will naturally be supposed that some were in much higher repute than others, either from being possessed of peculiar advantages, or from the prevalence of fashion. In the beginning of the fifth century before the Christian era the temples of Rhodes, Cnidos, and Cos were held in especial favour, and on the extinction of the first of these, another rose up in Italy in its stead. But the temple of Cos was destined to throw the reputation of all the others into the background, by producing among the priests of Æsculapius the individual who, in all after ages, has been distinguished by the name of the Great Hippocrates. … That Hippocrates was lineally descended from Æsculapius was generally admitted by his countrymen, and a genealogical table, professing to give a list of the names of his forefathers, up to Æsculapius, has been transmitted to us from remote antiquity. … Of the circumstances connected with the life of Hippocrates little is known for certain. … Aulus Gellius, … in an elaborate disquisition on Greek and Roman chronology, states decidedly that Socrates was contemporary with Hippocrates, but younger than he. Now it is well ascertained that the death of Socrates took place about the year 400 A. C., and as he was then nearly seventy years old, his birth must be dated as happening about the year 470 A. C. … It will readily occur to the reader, then, that our author flourished at one of the most memorable epochs in the intellectual development of the human race. … From his forefathers he inherited a distinguished situation in one of the most eminent hospitals, or Temples of Health, then in existence, where he must have enjoyed free access to all the treasures of observations collected during many generations, and at the same time would have an opportunity of assisting his own father in the management of the sick. Thus from his youth he must have been familiar with the principles of medicine, both in the abstract and in the concrete. … Initiated in the theory and first principles of medicine, as now described, Hippocrates no doubt commenced the practice of his art in the Asclepion of Cos, as his forefathers had done before him. Why he afterwards left the place of his nativity, and visited distant regions of the earth, whither the duties of his profession and the calls of humanity invited him, cannot now be satisfactorily determined. … According to all the accounts which have come down to us of his life, he spent the latter part of it in Thessaly, and died at Larissa, when far advanced in years. … As a medical author the name of Hippocrates stands pre-eminently illustrious. … Looking upon the animal system as one whole, every part of which conspires and sympathises with all the other parts, he would appear to have regarded disease also as one, and to have referred all its modifications to peculiarities of situation. Whatever may now be thought of his general views on Pathology, all must admit that his mode of prosecuting the cultivation of medicine is in the true spirit of the Inductive Philosophy; all his descriptions of disease are evidently derived from patient observation of its phenomena, and all his rules of practice are clearly based on experience. Of the fallaciousness of experience by itself he was well aware, however. … Above all others Hippocrates was strictly the physician of experience and common sense. In short, the basis of his system was a rational experience, and not a blind empiricism, so that the Empirics in after ages had no good grounds for claiming him as belonging to their sect. What he appears to have studied with particular attention is the natural history of diseases, that is to say, their tendencies to a favorable or fatal issue. … One of the most distinguishing characteristics, then, of the Hippocratic system of medicine, is the importance attached in it to prognosis, under which was comprehended a complete acquaintance with the previous and present condition of the patient and the tendency of the disease. … In the practice of surgery he was a bold operator. He fearlessly, and as we would now think, in some cases unnecessarily, perforated the skull with the trepan and the trephine in injuries of the head. He opened the chest also in empyema and hydrothorax. His extensive practice, and no doubt his great familiarity with the accidents occurring at the public games of his country, must have furnished him with ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with dislocations and fractures of all kinds; and how well he had profited by the opportunities which he thus enjoyed, every page of his treatises 'On Fractures,' and 'On the Articulations,' abundantly testifies."

F. Adams, Preliminary Discourse (Genuine Works of Hippocrates), section 1.

"The school of the Asclepiadæ has been responsible for certain theories which have been more or less prominent during the earlier historical days. One of these which prevailed throughout the Hippocratic works is that of Coction and Crisis. By the former term is meant thickening or elaboration of humors in the body, which was supposed to be necessary for their elimination in some tangible form. Disease was regarded as an association of phenomena resulting from efforts made by the conservative principles of life to effect a coction, i. e., a combination, of the morbific matter in the economy, it being held that the latter could not be properly expelled until thus united and prepared so as to form excrementious material. {2126} This elaboration was supposed to be brought about by the vital principles which some called nature (Phusis), some spirit (Psyche), some breath (Pneuma), and some heat (Thermon). The gradual climax of morbid phenomena has, since the days of Hippocrates, been commonly known as Crisis. All this was regarded as the announcement of the completion of this union by coction. The day on which it was accomplished was termed 'critical,' as were also the signs which preceded or accompanied it, and for the crisis the physician anxiously watched. Coction having been effected and crisis occurring, it only remained to evacuate the morbific material, which nature sometimes spontaneously accomplished by the critical sweat, urination, or stools; or sometimes the physician had to come to her relief by the administration of diuretics, purgatives, et cetera. The term 'critical period' was given to the number of days necessary for coction, which in its perfection was supposed to be four, the so-called quaternary, while the septenary was also held in high consideration. … This doctrine of crisis in disease left an impress upon the medical mind not yet fully eliminated."

_Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.)._

"Making no pretension … to describe the regular medical practice among the Greeks, I shall here, nevertheless, introduce some few particulars more or less connected with it, which may be regarded as characteristic of the age and people. Great were the virtues which they ascribed to the herb alysson, (biscutella didyma,) which, being pounded and eaten with meat cured hydrophobia. Nay, more, being suspended in the house, it promoted the health of its inhabitants; it protected likewise both man and cattle from enchantment; and, bound in a piece of scarlet flannel round the necks of the latter, it preserved them from all diseases. Coriander-seed, eaten in too great quantity, produced, they thought, a derangement of the intellect. Ointment of saffron had an opposite effect, for the nostrils and heads of lunatics being rubbed therewith they were supposed to receive considerable relief. Melampos the goatherd was reported to have cured the daughters of Prætos of their madness by large doses of black hellebore, which thereafter received from him the name of Melampodion. Sea-onions suspended over the doors preserved from enchantment, as did likewise a branch of rhamnus over doors or windows. A decoction of rosemary and of the leaves and stems of the anemone was administered to nurses to promote the secretion of milk, and a like potion prepared from the leaves of the Cretan dittany was given to women in labour. This herb, in order to preserve its virtues unimpaired, and that it might be the more easily transported to all parts of the country, was preserved in a joint of a ferula or reed. A plaster of incense, Cimolian earth, and oil of roses, was applied to reduce the swelling of the breasts. A medicine prepared from mule's fern, was believed to produce sterility, as were likewise the waters of a certain fountain near Pyrrha, while to those about Thespiæ a contrary effect was attributed, as well as to the wine of Heraclea in Arcadia. The inhabitants of this primitive region drank milk as an aperient in the Spring, because of the medicinal herbs on which the cattle were then supposed to feed. Medicines of laxative properties were prepared from the juice of the wild cucumber, which were said to retain their virtues for two hundred years, though simples in general were thought to lose their medicinal qualities in less than four. The oriental gum called kankamon was administered in water or honeyed vinegar to fat persons to diminish their obesity, and also as a remedy for the toothache. For this latter purpose the gum of the Ethiopian olive was put into the hollow tooth, though more efficacy perhaps was attributed to the root of dittander which they suspended as a charm about the neck. A plaster of the root of the white thorn or iris roots prepared with flour of copper, honey, and great centaury, drew out thorns and arrow heads without pain. An unguent procured from fern was sold to rustics for curing the necks of their cattle galled by the yoke. A decoction of marsh-mallow leaves and wine or honeyed vinegar was administered to persons who had been stung by bees or wasps or other insects; bites and burns were healed by an external application of the leaf smeared with oil, and the powdered roots cast into water caused it to freeze if placed out during the night in the open air; an unguent was prepared with oil from reeds, green or dry, which protected those who anointed themselves with it from the stings of venomous reptiles. Cinnamon unguent, or terebinth and myrtle-berries, boiled in wine, were supposed to be a preservative against the bite of the tarantula or scorpion, as was the pistachio nut against that of serpents. Some persons ate a roasted scorpion to cure its own bite; a powder, moreover, was prepared from sea-crabs supposed to be fatal to this reptile. Vipers were made to contribute their part to the materia medica; for, being caught alive, they were enclosed with salt and dried figs in a vase which was then put into a furnace till its contents were reduced to charcoal, which they esteemed a valuable medicine. A. considerable quantity of viper's flesh was in the last century imported from Egypt into Venice, to be used in the composition of medicinal treacle. From the flowers of the sneezewort, a sort of snuff appears to have been manufactured, though probably used only in medicines. The ashes of old leather cured burns, galls, and blistered feet. The common remedy when persons had eaten poisonous mushrooms was a dose of nitre exhibited in vinegar and water; with water it was esteemed a cure for the sting of a burncow, and with benzoin it operated as an antidote against the poison of bulls' blood."

J. A. St. John, The Hellenes, book 6, chapter 6 (volume 3).

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MEDICAL SCIENCE: The Hippocratic Oath.

"Medical societies or schools seem to have been as ancient as Hippocrates. The Hippocratic oath, as it is called, has been preserved, and is one of the greatest curiosities we have received from antiquity:

'I swear by Apollo the physician, by Æsculapius, by Hygeia, by Panacea, and by all gods and goddesses, that I will fulfil religiously, according to the best of my power and judgment, the solemn vow which I now make.

I will honour as my father the master who taught me the art of medicine; his children I will consider as my brothers, and teach them my profession without fee or reward.

I will admit to my lectures and discourses my own sons, my master's sons, and those pupils who have taken the medical oath; but no one else.

I will prescribe such medicines as may be best suited to the cases of my patients, according to the best of my judgment; and no temptation shall ever induce me to administer poison.

I will religiously maintain the purity of my character and the honour of my art.

I will not perform the operation of lithotomy, but leave it to those to whose calling it belongs.

Into whatever house I enter, I will enter it with the sole view of relieving the sick, and conduct myself with propriety towards the women of the family.

If during my attendance I happen to hear of anything that should not be revealed, I will keep it a profound secret.

If I observe this oath, may I have success in this life, and may I obtain general esteem after it; if I break it, may the contrary be my lot.'"

_Ancient Physic and Physicians (Dublin University Magazine, April, 1856)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 1st Century. Greek physicians in Rome. Pliny's Picture.

Pliny's account of the Greek physicians in Rome in his time (first century) is not flattering to the profession. He says: "For the cure of King Antiochus—to give our first illustration of the profits realized by the medical art—Erasistratus received from his son, King Ptolemæus, the sum of one hundred talents. … I pass over in silence many physicians of the very highest celebrity, the Cassii, for instance, the Calpetani, the Arruntii, and the Rubrii, men who received fees yearly from the great, amounting to no less than 250,000 sesterces. As for Q. Stertinius, he thought that he conferred an obligation upon the emperors in being content with 500,000 sesterces per annum; and indeed he proved, by an enumeration of the several houses, that a city practice would bring him in a yearly income of not less than 600,000 sesterces. Fully equal to this was the sum lavished upon his brother by Claudius Cæsar; and the two brothers, although they had drawn largely upon their fortunes in beautifying the public buildings at Neapolis, left to their heirs no less than 30,000,000 of sesterces! such an estate as no physician but Arruntius had till then possessed. Next in succession arose Vettius Valens, rendered so notorious by his adulterous connection with Messalina, the wife of Claudius Cæsar, and equally celebrated as a professor of eloquence. When established in public favour, he became the founder of a new sect. It was in the same age, too, during the reign of the Emperor Nero, that the destinies of the medical art passed into the hands of Thessalus, a man who swept away all the precepts of his predecessors, and declaimed with a sort of frenzy against the physicians of every age; but with what discretion and in what spirit, we may abundantly conclude from a single trait presented by his character—upon his tomb, which is still to be seen on the Appian Way, he had his name inscribed as the 'Iatronices'—the 'Conqueror of the Physicians.' No stage-player, no driver of a three-horse chariot, had a greater throng attending him when he appeared in public: but he was at last eclipsed in credit by Crinas, a native of Massilia, who, to wear an appearance of greater discreetness and more devoutness, united in himself the pursuit of two sciences, and prescribed diets to his patients in accordance with the movements of the heavenly bodies, as indicated by the almanacks of the mathematicians, taking observations himself of the various times and seasons. It was but recently that he died, leaving 10,000,000 of sesterces, after having expended hardly a less sum upon building the walls of his native place and of other towns. It was while these men were ruling our destinies, that all at once, Charmis, a native also of Massilia, took the City by surprise. Not content with condemning the practice of preceding physicians, he proscribed the use of warm baths as well, and persuaded people, in the very depth of winter even, to immerse themselves in cold water. His patients he used to plunge into large vessels filled with cold water, and it was a common thing to see aged men of consular rank make it a matter of parade to freeze themselves; a method of treatment, in favour of which Annæus Seneca gives his personal testimony, in writings still extant. There can be no doubt whatever, that all these men, in the pursuit of celebrity by the introduction of some novelty or other, made purchase of it at the downright expense of human life. Hence those woeful discussions, those consultations at the bedside of the patient, where no one thinks fit to be of the same opinion as another, lest he may have the appearance of being subordinate to another; hence, too, that ominous inscription to be read upon a tomb, 'It was the multitude of physicians that killed me.' The medical art, so often modified and renewed as it has been, is still on the change from day to day, and still are we impelled onwards by the puffs which emanate from the ingenuity of the Greeks. … Cassius Hemina, one of our most ancient writers, says that the first physician that visited Rome was Archagathus, the son of Lysanias, who came over from Peloponnesus, in the year of the City 535, L. Æmilius and M. Livius being consuls. He states also, that the right of free citizenship was granted him, and that he had a shop provided for his practice at the public expense in the Acilian Cross-way; that from his practice he received the name of 'Vulnerarius'; that on his arrival he was greatly welcomed at first, but that soon afterwards, from the cruelty displayed by him in cutting and searing his patients, he acquired the new name of 'Carnifex,' and brought his art and physicians in general into considerable disrepute. That such was the fact, we may readily understand from the words of M. Cato, a man whose authority stands so high of itself, that but little weight is added to it by the triumph which he gained, and the Censorship which he held. I shall, therefore, give his own words in reference to this subject. 'Concerning those Greeks, son Marcus, I will speak to you more at length on the befitting occasion. I will show you the results of my own experience at Athens, and that, while it is a good plan to dip into their literature, it is not worth while to make a thorough acquaintance with it. They are a most iniquitous and intractable race, and you may take my word as the word of a prophet, when I tell you, that whenever that nation shall bestow its literature upon Rome it will mar everything; and that all the sooner, if it sends its physicians among us. They have conspired among themselves to murder all barbarians with their medicine; a profession which they exercise for lucre, in order that they may win our confidence, and dispatch us all the more easily. They are in the common habit, too, of calling us barbarians, and stigmatize us beyond all other nations, by giving us the abominable appellation of Opici. {2128} I forbid you to have anything to do with physicians.' Cato, who wrote to this effect, died in his eighty-fifth year, in the year of the City 605; so that no one is to suppose that he had not sufficient time to form his experience, either with reference to the duration of the republic, or the length of his own life. Well then—are we to conclude that he has stamped with condemnation a thing that in itself is most useful? Far from it, by Hercules! … Medicine is the only one of the arts of Greece, that, lucrative as it is, the Roman gravity has hitherto refused to cultivate. It is but very few of our fellow-citizens that have even attempted it."

Pliny, Natural History (Bohn's translation), book 29, chapters 3-8 (volume 5).

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 2d Century. Galen and the development of Anatomy and Pathology.

"In the earliest conceptions which men entertained of their power of moving their own members, they probably had no thought of any mechanism or organization by which this was effected. The foot and the hand, no less than the head, were seen to be endowed with life; and this pervading life seemed sufficiently to explain the power of motion in each part of the frame, without its being held necessary to seek out a special seat of the will, or instruments by which its impulses were made effective. But the slightest inspection of dissected animals showed that their limbs were formed of a curious and complex collection of cordage, and communications of various kinds, running along and connecting the bones of the skeleton. These cords and communications we now distinguish as muscles, nerves, veins, arteries, &c.; and among these, we assign to the muscles the office of moving the parts to which they are attached, as cords move the parts of a machine. Though this action of the muscles on the bones may now appear very obvious, it was, probably, not at first discerned. It is observed that Homer, who describes the wounds which are inflicted in his battles with so much apparent anatomical precision, nowhere employs the word muscle. And even Hippocrates of Cos, the most celebrated physician of antiquity, is held to have had no distinct conception of such an organ. … Nor do we find much more distinctness on this subject even in Aristotle, a generation or two later. … He is held to have really had the merit of discovering the nerves of sensation, which he calls the 'canals of the brain' … , but the analysis of the mechanism of motion is left by him almost untouched. … His immediate predecessors were far from remedying the deficiencies of his doctrines. Those who professed to study physiology and medicine were, for the most part, studious only to frame some general system of abstract principles, which might give an appearance of connexion and profundity to their tenets. In this manner the successors of Hippocrates became a medical school, of great note in its day, designated as the Dogmatic school; in opposition to which arose an Empiric sect, who professed to deduce their modes of cure, not from theoretical dogmas, but from experience. These rival parties prevailed principally in Asia Minor and Egypt, during the time of Alexander's successors,—a period rich in names, but poor in discoveries; and we find no clear evidence of any decided advance in anatomy. … The victories of Lucullus and Pompeius, in Greece and Asia, made the Romans acquainted with the Greek philosophy; and the consequence soon was, that shoals of philosophers, rhetoricians, poets, and physicians streamed from Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt, to Rome and Italy, to traffic their knowledge and their arts for Roman wealth. Among these was one person whose name makes a great figure in the history of medicine, Asclepiades of Prusa in Bithynia. This man appears to have been a quack, with the usual endowments of his class. … He would not, on such accounts, deserve a place in the history of science, but that he became the founder of a new school, the Methodic, which professed to hold itself separate both from the Dogmatics and the Empirics. I have noticed these schools of medicine, because, though I am not able to state distinctly their respective merits in the cultivation of anatomy, a great progress in that science was undoubtedly made during their domination, of which the praise must, I conceive, be in some way divided among them. The amount of this progress we are able to estimate, when we come to the works of Galen, who flourished under the Antonines, and died about A. D. 203. The following passage from his works will show that this progress in knowledge was not made without the usual condition of laborious and careful experiment, while it implies the curious fact of such experiment being conducted by means of family tradition and instruction, so as to give rise to a caste of dissectors. In the opening of his Second Book on Anatomical Manipulations, he speaks thus of his predecessors: 'I do not blame the ancients, who did not write books on anatomical manipulation; though I praise Marinus, who did. For it was superfluous for them to compose such records for themselves or others, while they were, from their childhood, exercised by their parents in dissecting, just as familiarly as in writing and reading; so that there was no more fear of their forgetting their anatomy, than of forgetting their alphabet. But when grown men, as well as children, were taught, this thorough discipline fell off; and, the art being carried out of the family of the Asclepiads, and declining by repeated transmission, books became necessary for the student.' That the general structure of the animal frame, as composed of bones and muscles, was known with great accuracy before the time of Galen, is manifest from the nature of the mistakes and deficiencies of his predecessors which he finds it necessary to notice. … Galen was from the first highly esteemed as an anatomist. He was originally of Pergamus; and after receiving the instructions of many medical and philosophical professors, and especially of those of Alexandria, which was then the metropolis of the learned and scientific world, he came to Rome, where his reputation was soon so great as to excite the envy and hatred of the Roman physicians. The emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus would have retained him near them; but he preferred pursuing his travels, directed principally by curiosity. When he died, he left behind him numerous works, an of them of great value for the light they throw on the history of anatomy and medicine; and these were for a long period the storehouse of all the most important anatomical knowledge which the world possessed. In the time of intellectual barrenness and servility, among the Arabians and the Europeans of the dark ages, the writings of Galen had almost unquestioned authority; and it was only by an uncommon effort of independent thinking that Abdollatif ventured to assert, that even Galen's assertions must give way to the evidence of the senses. In more modern times, when Vesalius, in the sixteenth century, accused Galen of mistakes, he drew upon himself the hostility of the whole body of physicians."

W. Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, book 17, chapter 1, section 1 (volume 2).

{2129}

"Galen strongly denied being attached to any of the sects of his day, and regarded as slaves those who took the title of Hippocratists, Praxagoreaus, or Herophilists, and so on. Nevertheless his predilection in favor of the Hippocratic writings is well marked, for he explains, comments upon them, and amplifies them at length, refutes the objections of their adversaries and gives them the highest place. He says, 'No one before me has given the true method of treating disease; Hippocrates, I confess, has heretofore shown the path, but as he was the first to enter it he was not able to go as far as he wished. … He has not made all the necessary distinction, and is often obscure, as is usually the case with ancients when they attempt to be concise. He says very little of complicated diseases; in a word, he has only sketched what another was to complete; he has opened the path, but has left it for a successor to enlarge and make it plain.' This implies how he regarded himself as the successor of Hippocrates, and how little weight he attached to the labors of others. He held that there were three sorts of principles in man—spirits, humors, and solids. Throughout his metaphysical speculations Galen reproduces and amplifies the Hippocratic dogmatism. Between perfect health and disease there were, he thought, eight kinds of temperaments or imperfect mixtures compatible with the exercise of the functions of life. With Plato and Aristotle he thought the human soul to be composed of three faculties or parts, the vegetive, residing in the liver; the irascible, having its seat in the heart, and the rational, which resided in the brain. He divided diseases of the solids of the body into what he called distempers; he distinguished between the continued and intermittent fevers, regarding the quotidian as being caused by phlegm, the tertian as due to yellow bile, and the quartan due to atrabile. In the doctrine of coction, crises, and critical days, he agreed with Hippocrates; with him he also agreed in the positive statement that diseases are cured by their contraries."

_Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 7-11th Centuries. Medical Art of the Arabs.

"It probably sounds paradoxical (though it is not) to affirm that, throughout the first half of the Middle Ages, science made its home chiefly with the Semites and Græco-Romans (its founders), while, in opposition to the original relations, faith and its outgrowths alone were fostered by the Germans. In the sterile wastes of the desert the Arabians constructed a verdant oasis of science, in lands to-day the home once more of absolute or partial barbarism. A genuine meteor of civilization were these Arabians. … The Arabians built their medicine upon the principles and theories of the Greeks (whose medical writings were studied and copied mostly in translations only), and especially upon those of Galen, in such a way, that, on the whole, they added to it very little matter of their own, save numerous subtle definitions and amplifications. But Indian medical views and works, as well as those of other earlier Asiatic peoples (e. g., the Chaldeans), exercised demonstrably, but in a subordinate degree, an influence upon Arabian medicine. The Arabians interwove too into their medical views various philosophical theorems, especially those of Aristotle, already corrupted by the Alexandrians and still further falsified by themselves with portions of the Neo-Platonic philosophy; and finally they added thereto a goodly share of the absurdities of astrology and alchemy. Indeed it is nowadays considered proven that they even made use of ancient Egyptian medical works, e. g., the papyrus Ebers. Thus the medicine of the Arabians, like Grecian medicine its parent, did not greatly surpass the grade of development of mere medical philosophy, and, so far as regards its intrinsic worth, it stands entirely upon Grecian foundations. … Yet they constantly advanced novelties in the sciences subsidiary to medicine, materia medica and pharmacy, from the latter of which chemistry, pharmacies and the profession of the apothecary were developed. … The mode of transfer of Greek medicine to the Arabians was probably as follows: The inhabitants of the neighboring parts of Asia, including both the Persians and Arabians, as the result of multifarious business connexions with Alexandria, came, even at an early date, in contact with Grecian science, and by degrees a permanent alliance was formed with it. In a more evident way the same result was accomplished by the Jewish schools in Asia, the great majority of which owed their foundation to Alexandria. Such schools were established at Nisibis, at Nahardea in Mesopotamia, at Mathæ-Mechasja on the Euphrates, at Sura, &c., and their period of prime falls in the 5th century. The influence of the Nestorian universities was especially favorable and permanent, particularly the school under Greek management founded at Edessa, in Mesopotamia, where Stephen of Edessa, the reputed father of Alexander of Tralles, taught (A. D. 530). …. Still more influential in the transfer of Grecian science to the Arabians was the banishment of the 'heathen' philosophers of the last so-called Platonic school of Athens, by the 'Christian' despot Justinian I. (529). These philosophers were well received at the court of the infidel Chosroës, and in return manifested their gratitude by the propagation of Grecian science. … From all these causes it resulted that, even as early as the time of Mohammed (571-632), physicians educated in the Grecian doctrines lived among the Arabians. … Arabian culture (and of course Arabian medicine) reached its zenith at the period of the greatest power and greatest wealth of the Caliphate in the 9th and 10th centuries. At that time intellectual life was rooted in the schools of the mosques, i. e., the Arabian universities, which the great caliphs were zealous in founding. Such Arabian universities arose and existed in the progress of time (even as late as the 14th century) at Bagdad, Bassora, Cufa, Samarcand, Ispahan, Damascus, Bokhara, Firuzabad and Khurdistan, and under the scholastic Fatimides (909-1171) in Alexandria. Under the Ommyiades (755-1031), after the settlement of the Arabians in Spain in the beginning of the 8th century, were founded the famous universities of Cordova (possessing in the 10th century a library of 250,000 volumes), Seville, Toledo, Almeria and Murcia under the three caliphs named Abderrahman and Al Hakem. {2130} Less important were the universities of Granada and Valencia, and least important of all, those founded by the Edrisi dynasty (800-986) in the provinces of Tunis, Fez and Morocco. In spite of all these institutions the Arabians possessed no talent for productive research; still less, like the ancient Semites, did they create any arts, save poesy and architecture. Their whole civilization bore the stamp of its foreign origin. … 'The Prince of Physicians' (el Sheik el Reis—he was also a poet) was the title given by the Arabians to Abu Ali el Hossein ebn Abdallah ebn Sina (Ebn Sina, Avicenna), 980-1037, in recognition of his great erudition, of which the chief evidences are stored in his 'Canon.' This work, though it contains substantially merely the conclusions of the Greeks, was the text-book and law of the healing art, even as late as the first century of modern times."

J. H. Baas, Outlines of the History of Medicine, pages 216-229.

"The Saracens commenced the application of chemistry, both to the theory and practice of medicine, in the explanation of the functions of the human body and in the cure of its diseases. Nor was their surgery behind their medicine. Albucasis, of Cordova, shrinks not from the performance of the most formidable operations in his own and in the obstetrical art; the actual cautery and the knife are used without hesitation. He has left us ample descriptions of the surgical instruments then employed; and from him we learn that, in operations on females in which considerations of delicacy intervened, the services of properly instructed women were secured. How different was all this from the state of things in Europe: the Christian peasant, fever-stricken or overtaken by accident, hied to the nearest saint-shrine and expected a miracle; the Spanish Moor relied on the prescription or lancet of his physician, or the bandage and knife of his surgeon."

J. W. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, volume 2, chapter 2.

"The accession of Gehwer to the throne of Mussulman Spain, early in the eleventh century, was marked by the promulgation of regulations so judiciously planned, touching medical science and its practice, that he deserves the highest commendation for the unwavering zeal with which he supervised this important branch of learning taught in the metropolis. Those evils which the provinces had suffered previous to his rule, through the practice of medicine by debased empirics, were quickly removed by this sagacious Caliph. Upon the publication of his rescripts, such medical charlatans or ambulatory physicians as boldly announced themselves to be medici, without a knowledge of the science, were ignominiously expelled from the provincial towns. He decreed that a college of skilled surgeons should be forthwith organized, for the single specified function of rigidly examining into the assumed qualifications of applicants for licenses to exercise the curative art in municipal or rural departments, or sought professional employment as physicians in the numerous hospitals upon the Mahometan domains."

G. F. Fort, Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, chapter 17.

"Anatomy and physiology, far from making any conquests under Arabian rule, followed on the contrary a retrograde movement. As those physicians never devoted themselves to dissections, they were under the necessity of conforming entirely to the accounts of Galen. … Pathology was enriched in the Arabian writings by some new observations. … The physicians of this nation were the first … who began to distinguish eruptive fevers by the exterior characters of the eruption, while the Greeks paid but little attention to these signs. Therapeutics made also some interesting acquisitions under the Arab physicians. It owes to them, among other things, the introduction of mild purgatives, such as cassia, senna, and manna, which replaced advantageously, in many cases, the drastics employed by the ancients; it is indebted to them, also, for several chemical and pharmaceutical improvements, as the confection of syrups, tinctures, and distilled waters, which are very frequently and usefully employed. Finally, external therapeutics, or surgery, received some minor additions, such as pomades, plasters, and new ointments; but these additions were very far from compensating for the considerable losses which it suffered by their abandoning a multitude of operations in use among the Greeks."

P. V. Renouard, History of Medicine, page 267.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 12-17th Centuries. Mediæval Medicine.

"The difficulties under which medical science laboured may be estimated from the fact that dissection was forbidden by the clergy of the Middle Ages, on the ground that it was impious to mutilate a form made in the image of God. We do not find this pious objection interfering with such mutilation when effected by means of the rack and the wheel and such other clerical rather than medical instruments. But in the reign of Philip the Second of Spain a famous Spanish doctor was actually condemned by the Inquisition to be burnt for having performed a surgical operation, and it was only by royal favour that he was permitted instead to expiate his crime by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he died in poverty and exile. This being the attitude of the all-powerful Church towards medical progress, it is not surprising that medical science should have stagnated, and that Galen and Dioscorides were permitted to lay down the law in the sixteenth century as they had done since the beginning of the Christian era. Some light is thrown upon the state of things here from resulting by a work translated from the German in the year 1561, and entitled 'A most excellent and perfecte homish apothecarye or physicke booke, for all the grefes and diseases of the bodye.' The first chapter is 'Concerning the Head and his partes.' 'Galen sayth, the head is divided into foure partes: in the fore part hath blood the dominion; Colera in the ryght syde, Melancholy in the left syde, and Flegma beareth rule in the hindermost part. If the head doth ake so sore by reason of a runninge that he cannot snoffe hys nose, bath hys fete in a depe tub untill the knees and give him this medicine … which riseth into hys head and dryeth hys moyst braynes. Galen sayth He that hath payne in the hindermost part of hys head, the same must be let blood under the chynne, specially on the right side; also were it good ofte to burn the heyre of a man before hys nose. The braynes are greved many wayes; many there are whom the head whyrleth so sore that he thinketh the earth turneth upsydedoune: Cummin refraineth the whyrling, comforteth the braynes and maketh them to growe agayne: or he may take the braynes of a hogge, rost the same upon a grede yron and cut slices thereof and lay to the greved parts.' {2131} This doctrine of like helping like was of universal application, and in medical works of the Middle Ages we meet constantly with such prescriptions as these:—'Take the right eye of a Frogg, lap it in a peece of russet cloth and hang it about the neck: it cureth the light eye if it bee en flamed or bleared. And if the left eye be greved, do the like by the left eye of the said Frogg." Again—'The skin of a Raven's heel is good against the gout, but the right heel skin must be laid upon the right foot if that be gouty, and the left upon the left. … If you would have a man become bold or impudent let him carry about him the skin or eyes of a Lion or a Cock, and he will be fearless of his enemies, nay, he will be very terrible unto them. If you would have him talkative, give him tongues, and seek out those of water frogs and ducks and such creatures notorious for their continuall noise making.' On the same principle we find it prescribed as a cure for the quartane ague to lay the fourth book of Homer's Iliad under the patient's head; a remedy which had at least the negative merit of not being nauseous. … For weak eyes the patient is to 'take the tounge of a foxe, and hange the same about his necke, and so long it hangeth there his sight shall not wax feeble, as sayth Pliny.' The hanging of such amulets round the neck was very frequently prescribed, and the efficacy of them is a thing curiously well attested. Elias Ashmole in his diary for 1681 has entered the following—'I tooke this morning a good dose of elixir, and hung three spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague away. Deo gratias!' A baked toad hung in a silk bag about the neck was also held in high esteem, as was a toad, either alive or dried, laid upon the back of the neck as a means of stopping a bleeding at the nose: and again, 'either frogg or toade, the nails whereof have been clipped, hanged about one that is sick of quartane ague, riddeth away the disease forever, as sayth Pliny.' We have even a striking instance of the benefit derived from an amulet by a horse, who could not be suspected of having helped forward the cure by the strength of his faith in it. 'The root of cut Malowe hanged about the neck driveth away blemishes of the eyen, whether it be in a man or a horse, as I Jerome of Brunsweig, have seene myselfe. I have myselfe done it to a blind horse that I bought for X crounes, and was sold again of XL crounes'—a trick distinctly worth knowing."

_E. A. King, Mediæval Medicine (Nineteenth Century, July 1893)._

"If we survey the social and political state of Europe from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, in its relation to the development of medical art, our attention is at once arrested by Italy, which at this period was far ahead of the rest of the world. Taking the number of universities as an index of civilization, we find that, before the year 1500, there were sixteen in Italy,—while in France there were but six: in Germany, including Hungary, Bohemia, Bavaria, &c., there were eight: and in Britain, two; making sixteen in all,—the exact number which existed in Italy alone. The Italian Universities were, likewise, no less superior in number than in fame to those of the north. … In many of the Italian republics, during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, the power was chiefly in the hands of the middle classes; and it is probable that the physicians occupied a high and influential position among them. Galvanis Flamma describes Milan in 1288, as having a population of 200,000, among whom were 600 notaries, 200 physicians, 80 schoolmasters, and fifty transcribers of manuscripts or books. Milan was about this period at a pitch of glory which has not been equalled since the Greek republics."

J. R. Russell, History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine, chapter 5.

"Three schools, as early as 1158, had a reputation which extended throughout the whole of Europe: Paris for theological studies, Bologna for Roman or civil law, and Salerno as the chief medical school of the west."

G. F. Fort, Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, chapter 24.

"In 1215 Pope Innocent III. fulminated an anathema specially directed against surgery, by ordaining, that as the church abhorred all cruel or sanguinary practices, no priest should be permitted to follow surgery, or to perform any operations in which either instruments of steel or fire were employed: and that they should refuse their benediction to all those who professed and pursued it. … The saints have proved sad enemies to the doctors. Miraculous cures are attested by monks, abbots, bishops, popes, and consecrated saints. … Pilgrimages and visits to holy shrines have usurped the place of medicine, and, as in many cases at our own watering places, by air and exercise, have unquestionably effected what the employment of regular professional aid had been unable to accomplish. St. Dominic, St. Bellinus, and St. Vitus have been greatly renowned in the cure of diseases in general; the latter particularly, who takes both poisons and madness of all kinds under his special protection. Melton says 'the saints of the Romanists have usurped the place of the zodiacal constellations in their governance of the parts of man's body, and that "for every limbe they have a saint." Thus St. Otilia keepes the head instead of Aries; St. Blasius is appointed to governe the necke instead of Taurus; St. Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini, Cancer, and Leo: St. Erasmus rules the belly with the entrayles, in the place of Libra and Scorpius; in the stead of Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the holy church of Rome hath elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus. St. Quirinus, St. John, and many others, which governe the thighes, feet, shinnes, and knees.' This supposed influence of the Romish saints is more minutely exhibited, according to Hone, in two very old prints, from engravings on wood, in the collection of the British Museum. Right hand: the top joint of the thumb is dedicated to God, the second joint to the Virgin; the top joint of the fore-finger to St. Barnabas, the second joint to St. John, the third to St. Paul: the top joint of the second finger to Simon Cleophas, the second joint to Tathideo, the third to Joseph; the top joint of the third finger to Zaccheus, the second to Stephen, the third to the evangelist Luke; the top joint of the little finger to Leatus, the second to Mark, the third to Nicodemus. Left hand: the top joint of the thumb is dedicated to Christ, the second joint to the Virgin: the top joint of the fore-finger to St. James, the second to St. John the Evangelist, the third to St. Peter; the first joint of the second finger to St. Simon, the second joint to St. Matthew, the third to St. James the Great; the top joint of the third finger to St. Jude, the second joint to St. Bartholomew, the third to St. Andrew; the top joint of the little finger to St. Matthias, the second to St. Thomas, the third joint to St. Philip. … {2132} "The credulity of mankind has never been more strongly displayed than in the general belief afforded to the authenticity of remarkable cures of diseases said to have been effected by the imposition of royal hands. The practice seems to have originated in an opinion that there is something sacred or divine attaching either to the sovereign or his functions. … The practice appears to be one of English growth, commencing with Edward the Confessor, and descending only to foreign potentates who could show an alliance with the royal family of England. The kings of France, however, claimed the right to dispense the Gift of Healing, and it was certainly exercised by Philip the First; but the French historians say that he was deprived of the power on account of the irregularity of his life. Laurentius, first physician to Henry IV, of France, who is indignant at the attempt made to derive its origin from Edward the Confessor, asserts the power to have commenced with Clovis I, A. D. 481, and says that Louis I, A. D. 814, added to the ceremonial of touching, the sign of the cross. Mezeray also says, that St. Louis, through humility, first added the sign of the cross in touching for the king's evil. … If credit is to be given to a statement … by William of Malmesbury, with respect to Edward the Confessor, we must admit that in England, for a period of nearly 700 years, the practice of the royal touch was exercised in a greater or lesser degree, as it extended to the reign of Queen Anne. It must not however be supposed that historical documents are extant to prove a regular continuance of the practice during this time. No accounts whatever of the first four Norman kings attempting to cure the complaint are to be found. In the reign of William III, it was not on any occasion exercised. He manifested more sense than his predecessors, for he withheld from employing the royal touch for the cure of scrofula; and Rapin says, that he was so persuaded he should do no injury to persons afflicted with this distemper by not touching them, that he refrained from it all his reign. Queen Elizabeth was also averse to the practice, yet she extensively performed it. It flourished most in the time of Charles II, particularly after his restoration, and a public register of cases was kept at Whitehall, the principal scene of its operation."

T. J. Pettigrew, Superstitions connected with the History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery, pages 34-37, and 117-121.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 16th Century. Paracelsus.

Paracelsus, of whose many names this one stands alone in history to represent him, was an extraordinary person, born in Switzerland, in 1493. He died in 1541. "His character has been very variously estimated. The obstructives of his own age and many hasty judges since have pronounced him a quack. This is simply ridiculous. As a chemist, he is considered to have been the discoverer of zinc, and perhaps of bismuth. He was acquainted with hydrogen, muriatic, and sulphurous gases. He distinguished alum from the vitriols; remarking that the former contained an earth, and the latter metals. He perceived the part played by the atmosphere in combustion, and recognized the analogy between combustion and respiration. He saw that in the organic system chemical processes are constantly going on. Thus, to him is due the fundamental idea from which have sprung the chemico-physiological researches of Liebig, Mulder, Boussingault, and others. By using in medicine, not crude vegetables, but their active principles, he opened the way to the discovery of the proximate principles of vegetables, organic alkalis, and the like. But perhaps the greatest service he rendered to chemistry, was by declaring it an essential part of medical education, and by showing that its true practical application lay not in gold-making, but in pharmacy and the industrial arts. In medicine he scouted the fearfully complex electuaries and mixtures of the Galenists and the Arabian polypharmacists, recommending simpler and more active preparations. He showed that the idea of poison is merely relative, and knew that poisons in suitable doses may be employed in medicine. He prescribed tin as a remedy for intestinal worms, mercury as an anti-syphilitic, and lead in the diseases of the skin. He also used preparations of antimony, arsenic, and iron. He employed sulphuric acid in the treatment of saturnine affections. The astonishing cures which he undoubtedly performed were, however, due not so much to his peculiar medicines, as to his eminent sagacity and insight. He showed the importance of a chemical examination of urine for the diagnosis of disease."

_J. W. Slater, Paracelsus (Imperial Dict. of Univ. Biog.)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 16th Century. The first English College of Physicians.

"The modern doctor dates only from the reign of Henry VIII., when the College of Physicians in England was founded as a body corporate by letters patent in the tenth year of the reign. This grant was in response to a petition from a few of the most notable members of the profession resident in London, who were perhaps moved by both a laudable zeal in the interests of science, and a compassion for the sufferings of the subjects of astrological and toxicological experiments. The charter thus obtained, though probably drafted by the promoters themselves, was found to be so inadequately worded and expressed, that it became necessary to obtain powers to amend it by Act of Parliament. Among these early members were Linacre, Wotton, and others, famous scholars beyond doubt, though possibly but indifferent practitioners. In fact, we are constantly struck throughout the early history of the profession by the frequent occurrence of names associated with almost every other branch of study than that strictly appertaining to the art of medicine. We have naturalists, magneticians, astronomers, mathematicians, logicians, and classical scholars, but scarce one who accomplished anything worthy to be recorded in the annals of medical science. Indeed it is difficult to conceive any useful object that could have been attained by the existence of the College as a professional licensing body, other than the pecuniary interests of the orthodox. … It is most significant as to the social degradation of the science of medicine, that most of the notorious empirics of the latter half of the sixteenth century were both highly recommended and strenuously supported in their resistance to the proctors of orthodoxy by some of the greatest names of the age. These self-deluded victims of quackery were not indeed adverse in theory to the pretensions of more regular members of the profession. {2133} They would patronize the Court physicians, or, if favorites of the Crown, they might even submit to the Sovereign's recommendation in that behalf; but none the less their family doctor was in far too many cases some outlandish professor of occult arts, retained in learned state on the premises, who undertook the speedy, not to say miraculous, cure of his patron's particular disease by all the charms of the Cabala."

_H. Hall, The Early Medicus (Merry England; also in Eclectic Magazine, June, 1884)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 16th Century. The System of Van Helmont.

John Baptist van Helmont "was born at Brussels in the year 1577. … His parents were noble, and he was heir to great possessions. He pursued in Louvain the usual course of scholastic philosophy. … Becoming accidentally acquainted with the writings of Thomas à Kempis and John Tauler, he from that day adopted what goes by the vague term of mysticism. That is, thoroughly convinced that there was a spiritual world in intimate and eternal union with the spirit of man; that this spiritual world was revealed to that human soul which submitted to receive it in humility; and that the doctrines of Christianity were not to be looked upon as a system of philosophy; but as a rule of life, he resolved to follow them to the letter. The consequence of this resolution was, that he devoted himself to the art of medicine, in imitation of the Great Healer of the body as well as of the soul; and as the prejudices of his time and country made his rank and wealth an obstacle to his entrance into the medical profession, he made over all his property, with its honours, to his sister; that, 'laying aside every weight, he might run the race that was set before him.' He entered on his new studies with all the zeal of his character, and very soon had so completely mastered the writings of Hippocrates and Galen, as to excite the surprise of his contemporaries. But although styled a dreamer, and having a mind easily moved to belief in spiritual manifestation, he was not of a credulous nature in regard to matters belonging to the senses. And as he believed that Christianity was to be practised, and to be found true by the test of experiment, so he believed that the doctrines of Hippocrates and of Galen were to be subjected to a similar trial. An opportunity soon occurred to himself. He caught the itch and turned to Galen for its cure. Galen attributes this disease to overheated bile and sour phlegm, and says that it is to be cured by purgatives. Van Helmont, with the implicit faith of his simple nature, procured the prescribed medicines, and took them as ordered by Galen. Alas, no cure of the itch followed, but great exhaustion of his whole body: so Galen was not to be trusted. This was a serious discovery; for if he could not trust Galen, by whom the whole medical world swore, to whom was he to turn? … Van Helmont resolved to work out for himself a solution of the great problem to which he had devoted his life. Van Helmont's system may be called spiritual vitalism. The primary cause of all organization was Archæus. By Archæus, a man is much more nearly allied, he says, to the world of spirits and the Father of spirits than to the external world. Archæus is the creative spirit which, working upon the raw material of water or fluidity, by means of 'a ferment' excites all the endless actions which result in the growth and nourishment of the body. Thus, digestion is neither a chemical nor a mechanical operation; nor is it, as was then supposed, the effects of heat, for it is arrested instead of aided by fever, and goes on in perfection in fishes and cold-blooded animals; but, on the command of Archæus, an acid is generated in the stomach, which dissolves the food. This is the first digestion. The second consists in the neutralization of this acid by the bile out of the gall bladder. The third takes place in the vessels of the mesentery. The fourth goes on in the heart, by the action of the vital spirits. The fifth consists in the conversion of the arterial blood into vital spirits, chiefly in the brain. The sixth consists of the preparation of nourishment in the laboratory of each organ, during which operation Archæus, present everywhere, is itself regenerated, and superintends the momentary regeneration of the whole frame. If for digestion we substitute the word nutrition, we cannot fail to be struck by the near approach to accuracy in this description of the succession of processes by which it is brought about. Van Helmont's pathology was quite consistent with his physiology. As life and all vital action depended upon Archæus, so the perturbation of Archæus gave rise to fevers, and derangements of the blood and secretions. Thus, gout was a disease not confined to the part in which it showed itself, but was the result of Archæus. It will be seen that by this theory the entire system of Galen was non-suited. There is no place for the elements and the humours."

J. R. Russell, History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine, chapter 8.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood.

William Harvey, "physician and discoverer of the circulation of the blood, was born at Folkestone, Kent, 1 April 1578, in a house which was in later times the posthouse of the town and which still belongs to Caius College, Cambridge, to which Harvey bequeathed it. His father was Thomas Harvey, a Kentish yeoman. … In 1588 William was sent to the King's School, Canterbury. Thence he went to Cambridge, where he was admitted a pensioner in Gonville and Caius College, 31 May 1593. … He graduated B. A. 1597, and, determining to study medicine, travelled through France and Germany to Padua, the most famous school of physic of that time. … He returned to England, graduated M. D. at Cambridge 1602, and soon after took a house in the parish of St. Martin-extra-Ludgate in London. … On 4 August 1615 he was elected Lumleian lecturer at the College of Physicians, … and in the following April, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th, he delivered at the college in Knightrider Street, near St. Paul's Cathedral, the lectures in which he made the first public statement of his thoughts on the circulation of the blood. The notes from which he delivered these lectures exist in their original manuscript and binding at the British Museum. … In 1628, twelve years after his first statement of it in his lectures, he published at Frankfurt, through William Fitzer, his discovery of the circulation of the blood. The book is a small quarto, entitled 'Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus,' and contains seventy-two pages and two plates of diagrams. The printers evidently had difficulty in reading the author's handwriting, and there are many misprints. … {2134} He begins by modestly stating how the difficulties of the subject had gradually become clear to him, and by expressing with a quotation from the 'Andria' of Terence, the hope that his discovery might help others to still further knowledge. He then describes the motions of arteries, of the ventricles of the heart, and of its auricles, as seen in living animals, and the use of these movements. He shows that the blood coming into the right auricle from the vena cava, and passing then to the right ventricle, is pumped out to the lungs through the pulmonary artery, passes through the parenchyma of the lungs, and comes thence by the pulmonary veins to the left ventricle. This same blood, he shows, is then pumped out to the body. It is carried out by arteries and comes back by veins, performing a complete circulation. He shows that, in a live snake, when the great veins are tied some way from the heart, the piece of vein between the ligature and the heart is empty, and further, that blood coming from the heart is checked in an artery by a ligature, so that there is blood between the heart and the ligature and no blood beyond the ligature. He then shows how the blood comes back to the heart by the veins, and demonstrates their valves. These had before been described by Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente, but before Harvey no exact explanation of their function had been given. He gives diagrams showing the results of obstructing the veins, and that these valves may thus be seen to prevent the flow of blood in the veins in any direction except towards the heart. After a summary of a few lines in the fourteenth chapter he further illustrates the perpetual circuit of the blood, and points out how morbid materials are carried from the heart all over the body. The last chapter gives a masterly account of the structure of the heart in men and animals, and points out that the right ventricle is thinner than the left because it has only to send the blood a short way into the lungs, while the left ventricle has to pump it all over the body. This great and original book at once attracted attention and excited discussion. In the College of Physicians of London, where Harvey had mentioned the discovery in his lectures every year since 1616, the Exercitatio received all the honour it deserved. On the continent of Europe it was received with less favour, but neither in England nor abroad did anyone suggest that the discovery was to be found in other writers. … Before his death the great discovery of Harvey was accepted throughout the medical world. The modern controversy … as to whether the discovery was taken from some previous author is sufficiently refuted by the opinion of the opponents of his views in his own time, who agreed in denouncing the doctrine as new; by the laborious method of gradual demonstration obvious in his book and lectures; and, lastly, by the complete absence of lucid demonstration of the action of the heart and course of the blood in Cæsalpinus, Servetus, and all others who have been suggested as possible originals of the discovery. It remains to this day the greatest of the discoveries of physiology, and its whole honour belongs to Harvey."

_N. Moore, Harvey (Dict. of National Biog., volume 25)._

ALSO IN: R. Willis, William Harvey: A history of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Discovery of the Lymphatic Circulation.

"The discovery of the lymphatic vessels and their purpose was scarcely less remarkable than that of the circulation of the blood. It has about it less of eclat, because it was not the work of one man, but was a matter of slow development. Herophilus and Erasistratus had seen white vessels connected with the lymph nodes in the mesentery of certain animals, and had supposed them to be arteries full of air. Galen disputed this, and believed the intestinal chyle to be carried by the veins of the mesentery into the liver. In 1563 Eustachius had described the thoracic duct in the horse; in 1622 Aselli, professor of anatomy at Milan, discovered the lacteal vessels in a dog which had been killed immediately after eating. Having pricked one of these by mistake, he saw a white fluid issue from it. Repeating the same experiment at other times he became certain that the white threads were vessels which drew the chyle from the intestines. He observed the valves with which they are supplied, and supposed these vessels to all meet in the pancreas and to be continued into the liver. In 1647 Pecquet, who was still a student at Montpelier, discovered the lymph reservoir, or receptaculum chyli, and the canal which leads from it, i. e., the thoracic duct, which he followed to its termination in the left subclavian vein. Having ligated it he saw it swell below, and empty itself above the ligature. He studied the courses of the lacteals, and convinced himself that they all entered into the common reservoir. His discovery gave the last blow to the ancient theory, which attributed to the liver the function of blood making, and it confirmed the doctrine of Harvey, while, like it, it had been very strongly opposed. Strangely enough, Harvey in this instance united with his great opponent, Riolan, in making common cause against the discovery of Pecquet and its significance. From that time the lymphatic vessels and glands became objects of common interest and were investigated by many anatomists, especially Bartholin, Ruysch, the Hunters, Hewson, and above all by Mascagni. He was the first to give a graphic description of the whole lymphatic apparatus."

_Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Descartes and the dawn of modern Physiological science.

"The essence of modern, as contrasted with ancient, physiological science appears to me to lie in its antagonism to animistic hypotheses and animistic phraseology. It offers physical explanations of vital phenomena, or frankly confesses that it has none to offer. And, so far as I know, the first person who gave expression to this modern view of physiology, who was bold enough to enunciate the proposition that vital phenomena, like all the other phenomena of the physical world, are, in ultimate analysis, resolvable into matter and motion was René Descartes. The fifty-four years of life of this most original and powerful thinker are widely overlapped, on both sides, by the eighty of Harvey, who survived his younger contemporary by seven years, and takes pleasure in acknowledging the French philosopher's appreciation of his great discovery. {2135} In fact, Descartes accepted the doctrine of the circulation as propounded by 'Harvæus médecin d'Angleterre,' and gave a full account of it in his first work, the famous 'Discours de la Méthode,' which was published in 1637, only nine years after the exercitation 'De motu cordis;' and, though differing from Harvey on some important points (in which it may be noted, in passing, Descartes was wrong and Harvey right), he always speaks of him with great respect. And so important does the subject seem to Descartes that he returns to it in the 'Traité des Passions' and in the 'Traité de l'Homme.' It is easy to see that Harvey's work must have had a peculiar significance for the subtle thinker, to whom we owe both the spiritualistic and the materialistic philosophies of modern times. It was in the very year of its publication, 1628, that Descartes withdrew into that life of solitary investigation and meditation of which his philosophy was the fruit. … Descartes uses 'thought' as the equivalent of our modern term 'consciousness.' Thought is the function of the soul, and its only function. Our natural heat and all the movements of the body, says he, do not depend on the soul. Death does not take place from any fault of the soul, but only because some of the principal parts of the body become corrupted. … Descartes' 'Treatise on Man' is a sketch of human physiology, in which a bold attempt is made to explain all the phenomena of life, except those of consciousness, by physical reasonings. To a mind turned in this direction, Harvey's exposition of the heart and vessels as a hydraulic mechanism must have been supremely welcome. Descartes was not a mere philosophical theorist, but a hardworking dissector and experimenter, and he held the strongest opinion respecting the practical value of the new conception which he was introducing. … 'It is true,' says he, 'that as medicine is now practised, it contains little that is very useful; but without any desire to depreciate, I am sure that there is no one, even among professional men, who will not declare that all we know is very little as compared with that which remains to be known; and that we might escape an infinity of diseases of the mind, no less than of the body, and even perhaps from the weakness of old age, if we had sufficient knowledge of their causes and of all the remedies with which nature has provided us.' So strongly impressed was Descartes with this, that he resolved to spend the rest of his life in trying to acquire such a knowledge of nature as would lead to the construction of a better medical doctrine. The anti-Cartesians found material for cheap ridicule in these aspirations of the philosopher; and it is almost needless to say that, in the thirteen years which elapsed between the publication of the 'Discours' and the death of Descartes, he did not contribute much to their realisation. But, for the next century, all progress in physiology took place along the lines which Descartes laid down. The greatest physiological and pathological work of the seventeenth century, Borelli's treatise 'De Motu Animalium,' is, to all intents and purposes, a development of Descartes' fundamental conception; and the same may be said of the physiology and pathology of Boerhaave, whose authority dominated in the medical world of the first half of the eighteenth century. With the origin of modern chemistry, and of electrical science, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, aids in the analysis of the phenomena of life, of which Descartes could not have dreamed, were offered to the physiologist. And the greater part of the gigantic progress which has been made in the present century is a justification of the prevision of Descartes. For it consists, essentially, in a more and more complete resolution of the grosser organs of the living body into physico-chemical mechanisms. 'I shall try to explain our whole bodily machinery in such a way, that it will be no more necessary for us to suppose that the soul produces such movements as are not voluntary, than it is to think that there is in a clock a soul which causes it to show the hours.' These words of Descartes might be appropriately taken as a motto by the author of any modern treatise on physiology."

_T. H. Huxley, Connection of the Biological Sciences with Medicine (Science and Culture, etc., lecture 13)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Introduction of Peruvian Bark.

"The aborigines of South America appear, except perhaps in one locality, to have been ignorant of the virtues of Peruvian bark. This sovereign remedy is absent in the wallets of itinerant doctors, whose materia medica has been handed down from father to son, since the days of the Yncas. It is mentioned neither by the Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega, nor by Acosta, in their lists of Indian medicines. It seems probable, nevertheless, that the Indians were aware of the virtues of Peruvian bark in the neighborhood of Loxa, 230 miles south of Quito, where its use was first made known to Europeans; and the local name for the tree quina-quina, 'bark of bark,' indicates that it was believed to possess some special medicinal properties. … In 1638 the wife of Don Luis Geronimo Fernandez de Cabrera Bobadilla y Mendoza, fourth Count of Chinchon, and Viceroy of Peru, lay sick of an intermittent fever in the palace of Lima. … The news of her illness at Lima reached Don Francisco Lopez de Canizares, the Corregidor of Loxa, who had become acquainted with the febrifuge virtues of the bark. He sent a parcel of it to the Vice-Queen, and the new remedy, administered by her physician, Dr. Don Juan de Vega, effected a rapid and complete cure. … The Countess of Chinchon returned to Spain in the spring of 1640, bringing with her a supply of that precious quina bark which had worked so wonderful a cure upon herself, and the healing virtues of which she intended to distribute amongst the sick on her husband's estates. It thus gradually became known in Europe, and was most appropriately called Countess's powder (Pulvis Comitissæ). By this name it was long known to druggists and in commerce. … In memory of the great service to humanity performed by the Countess of Chinchon, Linnæus named the genus which yields Peruvian bark, Chinchona. Unfortunately the great botanist was misinformed as to the name of her whom he desired to honour. This is to be accounted for by his having received his knowledge of the Countess through a foreign and not a Spanish source. Thus misled, Linnæus spelt the word Cinchona … and Cinhona, … omitting one or two letters. … After the cure of the Countess of Chinchon the Jesuits were the great promoters of the introduction of bark into Europe. In 1670 these fathers sent parcels of the powdered bark to Rome, whence it was distributed to members of the fraternity throughout Europe, by Cardinal de Lugo, and used for the cure of agues with great success. Hence the name of 'Jesuits' bark,' and 'Cardinal's bark;' and it was a ludicrous result of its patronage by the Jesuits that its use should have been for a long time opposed by Protestants, and favoured by Roman Catholics. In 1679 Louis XIV. bought the secret of preparing quinquina from Sir Robert Talbor, an English doctor, for 2,000 louis-d'or, a large pension, and a title. From that time Peruvian bark seems to have been recognised as the most efficacious remedy for intermittent fevers."

C. R. Markham, Peruvian Bark, chapters 2-4.

{2136}

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Sydenham, the Father of Rational Medicine.

"Sydenham [Thomas Sydenham, 1624-1689], the prince of practical physicians, whose character is as beautiful and as genuinely English as his name, did for his art what Locke did for the philosophy of mind—he made it, in the main, observational; he made knowledge a means, not an end. It would not be easy to over-estimate our obligations as a nation to these two men, in regard to all that is involved in the promotion of health of body and soundness of mind. They were among the first in their respective regions to show their faith in the inductive method, by their works. They both professed to be more of guides than critics, and were the interpreters and servants of Nature, not her diviners and tormentors." Of Sydenham, "we must remember in the midst of what a mass of errors and prejudices, of theories actively mischievous, he was placed, at a time when the mania of hypothesis was at its height, and when the practical part of his art was overrun and stultified by vile and silly nostrums. We must have all this in our mind, or we shall fail in estimating the amount of independent thought, of courage and uprightness, and of all that deserves to be called magnanimity and virtue, which was involved in his thinking and writing and acting as he did. 'The improvement of physic [he wrote] in my opinion, depends, 1st, Upon collecting as genuine and natural a description or history of diseases as can be procured; and, 2d, Upon laying down a fixed and complete method of cure. With regard to the history of diseases, whoever considers the undertaking deliberately will perceive that a few such particulars must be attended to: 1st, All diseases should be described as objects of natural history, with the same exactness as is done by botanists, for there are many diseases that come under the same genus, and bear the same name, that, being specifically different, require a different treatment. The word carduus or thistle, is applied to several herbs, and yet a botanist would be inaccurate and imperfect who would content himself with a generic description. Furthermore, when this distribution of distempers into genera has been attempted, it has been to fit into some hypothesis, and hence this distribution is made to suit the bent of the author rather than the real nature of the disorder. How much this has obstructed the improvement of physic any man may know. In writing, therefore, such a natural history of diseases, every merely philosophical hypothesis should be set aside, and the manifest and natural phenomena, however minute, should be noted with the utmost exactness. The usefulness of this procedure cannot be easily overrated, as compared with the subtle inquiries and trifling notions of modern writers. … If only one person in every age had accurately described, and consistently cured, but a single disease, and made known his secret, physic would not be where it now is; but we have long since forsook the ancient method of cure, founded upon the knowledge of conjunct causes, insomuch that the art, as at this day practised, is rather the art of talking about diseases than of curing them.' … His friend Locke could not have stated the case more clearly or sensibly. It is this doctrine of 'conjunct causes,' this necessity for watching the action of compound and often opposing forces, and the having to do all this not in a machine, of which if you have seen one, you have seen all, but where each organism has often much that is different from, as well as common with, all others. … It is this which takes medicine out of the category of exact sciences, and puts it into that which includes politics, ethics, navigation and practical engineering, in all of which, though there are principles, and those principles quite within the scope of human reason, yet the application of these principles must, in the main, be left to each man's skill, presence of mind, and judgment, as to the case in hand. … It would not be easy to over-estimate the permanent impression for good, which the writings, the character, and the practice of Sydenham have made on the art of healing in England, and on the Continent generally. In the writings of Boerhaave, Stahl, Gaubius, Pinel, Bordeu, Haller, and many others, he is spoken of as the father of rational medicine; as the first man who applied to his profession the Baconian principles of interpreting and serving nature, and who never forgot the master's rule, 'Non fingendum aut excogitandum, sed inveniendum, quid natura aut faciat aut ferat.' … Like all men of a large practical nature, he could not have been what he was, or done what he did, without possessing and often exercising the true philosophizing faculty. He was a man of the same quality of mind in this respect with Watt, Franklin, and John Hunter, in whom speculation was not the less genuine that it was with them a means rather than an end."

Dr. John Brown, Locke and Sydenham and other Papers, pages 54-90.

ALSO IN: T. Sydenham, Works; translated by R. G, Latham.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17th Century. Closing period of the Humoral Pathology. The Doctrines of Hoffmann, Stahl and Boerhaave.

"If we take a general survey of medical opinions, we shall find that they are all either subordinate to, or coincident with, two grand theories. The one of these considers the solid constituents of the animal economy as the elementary vehicle of life, and consequently places in them the primary seat of disease. The other, on the contrary, sees in the humors the original realization of vitality; and these, as they determine the existence and quality of the secondary parts, or solids, contain, therefore, within themselves, the ultimate principle of the morbid affection. By relation to these theories, the history of medicine is divided into three great periods. During the first, the two theories, still crude, are not yet disentangled from each other; this period extends from the origin of medicine to the time of Galen. The second comprehends the reign of Humoral Pathology—the interval between Galen and Frederic Hoffmann. In the last the doctrine of the Living Solid is predominant; from Hoffmann it reaches to the present day. … By Galen, Humorism was first formally expounded, and reduced to a regular code of doctrine. {2137} Four elementary fluids, their relations and changes, sufficed to explain the varieties of natural temperament, and the causes of disease; while the genius, eloquence, and unbounded learning with which he illustrated this theory, mainly bestowed on it the ascendency, which, without essential alteration, it retained from the conclusion of the second to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Galenism and Humorism are, in fact, convertible expressions. Not that this hypothesis during that long interval encountered no opposition. It met, certainly, with some partial contradiction among the Greek and Arabian physicians. After the restoration of learning Fernelius and Brissot, Argenterius and Joubert, attacked it in different ways. … Until the epoch we have stated, the prevalence of the Humoral Pathology was, however, all but universal. Nor was this doctrine merely an erroneous speculation; it exerted the most decisive, the most pernicious influence on practice.—The various diseased affections were denominated in accommodation to the theory. In place of saying that a malady affected the liver, the peritonæum, or the organs of circulation, its seat was assumed in the blood, the bile, or the lymph. The morbific causes acted exclusively on the fluids; the food digested in the stomach, and converted into chyle, determined the qualities of the blood; and poisons operated through the corruption they thus effected in the vital humors. All symptoms were interpreted in blind subservience to the hypothesis; and those only attracted attention which the hypothesis seemed calculated to explain. The color and consistence of the blood, mucus, feces, urine, and pus, were carefully studied. On the other hand the phenomena of the solids, if not wholly overlooked, as mere accidents, were slumped together under some collective name, and attached to the theory through a subsidiary hypothesis. By supposed changes in the humors, they explained the association and consecution of symptoms. Under the terms, crudity, coction, and evacuation, were designated the three principal periods of diseases, as dependent on an alteration of the morbific matter. In the first, this matter, in all its deleterious energy, had not yet undergone any change on the part of the organs; it was still crude. In the second, nature gradually resumed the ascendant; coction took place. In the third, the peccant matter, now rendered mobile, was evacuated by urine, perspiration, dejection, &c., and æquilibrium restored. When no critical discharge was apparent, the morbific matter, it was supposed, had, after a suitable elaboration, been assimilated to the humors, and its deleterious character neutralized. Coction might be perfect or imperfect; and the transformation of one disease into another was lightly solved by the transport or emigration of the noxious humor. … Examinations of the dead body confirmed them in their notions. In the redness and tumefaction of inflamed parts, they beheld only a congestion of blood; and in dropsies, merely the dissolution of that fluid; tubercles were simply coagula of lymph; and other organic alterations, in general, naught but obstructions from an increased viscosity of the humors. The plan of cure was in unison with the rest of the hypothesis. Venesection was copiously employed to renew the blood, to attenuate its consistency, or to remove a part of the morbific matter with which it was impregnated; and cathartics, sudorifics, diuretics, were largely administered, with a similar intent. In a word, as plethora or cacochymia were the two great causes of disease, their whole therapeutic was directed to change the quantity or quality of the fluids. Nor was this murderous treatment limited to the actual period of disease. Seven or eight annual bloodings, and as many purgations—such was the common regimen the theory prescribed to insure continuance of health; and the twofold depletion, still customary, at spring and fall, among the peasantry of many European countries, is a remnant of the once universal practice. In Spain, every village has even now its Sangrador, whose only cast of surgery is blood-letting; and he is rarely idle. The medical treatment of Lewis XIII, may be quoted as a specimen of the humoral therapeutic, Within a single year this theory inflicted on that unfortunate monarch above a hundred cathartics, and more than forty bloodings.—During the fifteen centuries of Humorism, how many millions of lives did medicine cost mankind? The establishment of a system founded on the correcter doctrine of Solidism, and purified from the crudities of the Iatro-mathematical and Iatro-chemical hypotheses was reserved for three celebrated physicians toward the commencement of the eighteenth century—Frederic Hoffmann—George Ernest Stahl—and Hermann Boerhaave. The first and second of this triumvirate were born in the same year, were both pupils of Wedelius of Jena, and both professors, and rival professors, in the University of Halle; the third was eight years younger than his contemporaries, and long an ornament of the University of Leyden."

Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions on Philosophy and Literature, pages 246-249.

"The great and permanent merits of Hoffmann [1660-1742] as a medical philosopher, undoubtedly consisted in his having perceived and pointed out more clearly than any of his predecessors, the extensive and powerful influence of the Nervous System, in modifying and regulating at least, if not in producing, all the phenomena of the organic as well as of the animal functions in the human economy, and more particularly in his application of this doctrine to the explanation of diseases. … It was reserved for Hoffmann … to take a comprehensive view of the Nervous System, not only as the organ of sense and motion, but also as the common centre by which all the different parts of the animal economy are connected together, and through which they mutually influence each other. He was, accordingly, led to regard all those alterations in the structure and functions of this economy, which constitute the state of disease, as having their primary origin in affections of the nervous system, and as depending, therefore, upon a deranged state of the imperceptible and contractile motions in the solids, rather than upon changes induced in the chemical composition of the fluid parts of the body."

J. Thomson, Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, pages 195-196.

{2138}

"George Ernest Stahl (1660-1734), chemist, was professor of medicine at Halle (1694) and physician to the King of Prussia (1716). He opposed materialism, and substituted 'animism,' explaining the symptoms of disease as efforts of the soul to get rid of morbid influences. Stahl's 'anima' corresponds to Sydenham's 'nature' in a measure, and has some relationship to the Archeus of Paracelsus and Van Helmont. Stahl was the author of the 'phlogiston' theory in chemistry, which in its time has had important influence on medicine. Phlogiston was a substance which he supposed to exist in all combustible matters, and the escape of this principle from any compound was held to account for the phenomenon of fire. According to Stahl, diseases arise from the direct action of noxious powers upon the body; and from the reaction of the system itself endeavouring to oppose and counteract the effects of the noxious powers, and so preserve and repair itself. He did not consider diseases, therefore, pernicious in themselves, though he admitted that they might become so from mistakes made by the soul in the choice, or proportion of the motions excited to remove them, or the time when these efforts are made. Death, according to this theory, is due to the indolence of the soul, leading it to desist from its vital motions, and refusing to continue longer the struggle against the derangements of the body. Here we have the 'expectant treatment' so much in vogue with many medical men. 'Trusting to the constant attention and wisdom of nature,' they administered inert medicines as placebos, while they left to nature the cure of the disease. But they neglected the use of invaluable remedies such as opium and Peruvian bark, for which error it must be admitted they atoned by discountenancing bleeding, vomiting, etc. Stahl's remedies were chiefly of the class known as 'Antiphlogistic,' or anti-febrile."

E. Berdoe, The Origin and Growth of the Healing Art, book 5, chapter 7.

"The influence of Boerhaave [1668-1738] was immense while it lasted—it was world-wide; but it was like a ripple on the ocean—it had no depth. He knew everything and did everything better than any of his contemporaries, except those who made one thing, not everything, their study. He was familiar with the researches of the great anatomists, of the chemists, of the botanists, of historians, of men of learning, but he was not a great anatomist, chemist, or historian. As to his practice, we cannot pronounce a very decided opinion, except that he was a man of judgment and independence. Here his reputation made his success: a prescription of his would no doubt effect many a cure, although the patient had taken the remedy he prescribed fifty times without any benefit. His greatness depended upon his inexhaustible activity. He had the energy of a dozen ordinary men, and so he was twelve times as powerful as one. He mentions quite incidentally how he was in the habit of frequently spending whole nights in botanical excursions on foot; and we know he had no time to sleep in the day. He took an interest in everything, was always on the alert, had a prodigious memory, and indefatigable industry. On these great homely qualities, added to a kind disposition and an unaffected piety, his popularity was founded. It was all fairly won and nobly worn. It is startling, however, to find that a man whose name one hundred years ago was familiar to the ear as household words, and of whom historians predicted that he would always be regarded as one of the greatest as well as best of men, an example to his race, should be already almost forgotten. An example is of no use unless it is known; Boerhaave is now unknown. The reason is plain;—he was not the founder of any system, nor did he make any discovery. He simply used with supreme success the thoughts and discoveries of others; as soon as he ceased to live, his influence began therefore to decline; and before his generation had passed away, his star had waned before the genius of Cullen, who succeeded in fixing the attention of Europe, and who, in his turn, was soon to be displaced by others."

J. R. Russell, History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine, pages 297-298.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17-18th Centuries. Introduction of the Microscope in Medicine. First glimmerings of the Germ Theory of Disease.

"Since Athanasius Kircher [1601-1680] mistook blood and pus corpuscles for small worms, and built up on his mistake a new theory of disease and putrefaction, and since Christian Lange, the Professor of Pathological Anatomy in Leipzig, in the preface to Kircher's book (1671) expressed his opinion that the purpura of lying-in-women, measles, and other fevers were the result of putrefaction caused by worms or animalculæ, a 'Pathologia Animata' has, from time to time, been put forward to explain the causation of disease. … Remarkable as were Kircher's observations, still more wonderful were those of Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, a native of Delft in Holland, who in his youth had learned the art of polishing lenses, and who was able, ultimately, to produce the first really good microscope that had yet been constructed. Not only did Leeuwenhoek make his microscope, but he used it to such good purpose that he was able to place before the Royal Society of London a series of most interesting and valuable letters giving the result of his researches on minute specks of living protoplasm. … The world that Leeuwenhoek … opened up so thoroughly was rapidly invaded by other observers and theorists. The thoughtful physicians of the time believed that at last they had found the 'fons et origo mali,' and Nicolas Andry, reviewing Kircher's' Contagium Animatum,' replaced his worms by these newly-described animalculæ or germs, and pushing the theory to its legitimate and logical conclusion, he also evolved a germ theory of putrefaction and fermentation. He maintained that air, water, vinegar, fermenting wine, old beer, and sour milk were all full of germs; that the blood and pustules of smallpox also contained them, and that other diseases, very rife about this period, were the result of the activity of these organisms. Such headway did he make, and such conviction did his arguments carry with them, that the mercurial treatment much in vogue at that time was actually based on the supposition that these organisms, the 'causæ causantes' of disease, were killed by the action of mercury and mercurial salts. With a kind of prophetic instinct, and certainly as the result of keen observation, Varro and Lancisi ascribed the dangerous character of marsh or swamp air to the action of invisible animalculæ; in fact the theory was so freely and forcibly propagated that even where no micro-organisms could be found their presence was inferred with the inevitable result, as Löffler points out, that these 'inconceivable' worms became the legitimate butts for the shafts of ridicule; and in 1726 there appeared in Paris a satirical work, in which these small organisms received the name of 'fainter,' 'body-pincher,' 'ulcerator,' 'weeping fistula,' 'sensualist'; the whole system was thus laughingly held up to satire, and the germ theory of disease completely discredited. {2139} Linnæus [1707-1778], however, with his wonderful powers of observation and deduction, considered that it was possible that there might be rescued from this 'chaos' small living beings which were as yet insufficiently separated and examined, but in which he firmly believed might lie not only the actual contagium of certain eruptive diseases, and of acute fevers, but also the exciting causes of both fermentation and putrefaction. The man, however, who of all workers earliest recognized the importance of Linnæus' observations was a Viennese doctor, Marcus Antonius Plenciz. … He it was who, at this time, insisted upon the specific character of the infective agent in every case of disease; for scarlet fever there was a scarlet fever seed or germ—a seed which could never give rise to smallpox. He showed that it was possible for this organism to become disseminated through the air, and for it to multiply in the body; and he explained the incubation stage of a febrile disease as dependent on the growth of a germ within the body during the period after its introduction, when its presence had not yet been made manifest. … As regards putrefaction, having corroborated Linnæus' observations and found countless animalculæ in putrefying matter, he came to the conclusion that this process was the result of the development, multiplication, and carrying on of the functions of nutrition and excretion by these germs; the products of fermentation being the volatile salts set free by the organisms, which, multiplying rapidly by forming seeds or eggs, rendered the fluid in which they developed thick, turbid, and foul. This theory, admirable as it was, and accurate as it has since been proved to be, could not then be based on any very extensive or detailed observation, and we find that some of the most prominent and brilliant men of the period did not feel justified in accepting the explanation that Plenciz had offered as to the causes of disease and fermentation processes."

G. S. Woodhead, Bacteria and their Products, chapter 3.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17-18th Centuries. Hahnemann and the origin of the System of Homœopathy.

Samuel Hahnemann, originator of the system of medicine called "Homœopathy," was born in 1755, at Meissen, in Saxony. He studied medicine at Leipsic, and afterwards at Vienna. In 1784 he settled in Dresden, but returned to Leipsic in 1789. "In the following year, while translating Cullen's Materia Medica out of English into German, his attention was arrested by the insufficient explanation's advanced in that work of the cure of ague by cinchona bark. By way of experiment, he took a large dose of that substance to ascertain its action on the healthy body. In the course of a few days he experienced the symptoms of ague; and it thus occurred to him that perhaps the reason why cinchona cures ague is because it has the power to produce symptoms in a healthy person similar to those of ague. To ascertain the truth of this conjecture, he ransacked the records of medicine for well-attested cures effected by single remedies; and finding sufficient evidences of this fact, he advanced a step further, and proposed, in an article published in Hufeland's Journal, in the year 1797, to apply this new principle to the discovery of proper medicines for every form of disease. Soon afterwards he published a case to illustrate his method. It was one of a severe kind of colic cured by a strong dose of veratrum album. Before this substance gave relief to the patient it excited a severe aggravation of his symptoms. This induced Hahnemann, instead of drops or grains, to give the fraction of a drop or grain, and he thus introduced infinitesimal doses. Some years later he applied his new principle in the treatment of scarlet fever; and finding that belladonna cured the peculiar type of that disease, which then prevailed in Germany, he proposed to give this medicine as a prophylactic, or preventive against scarlet fever; from that time it has been extensively employed for this purpose. In the year 1810 he published his great work, entitled Organon of Medicine, which has been translated into all the European languages, as well as into Arabic. In this book he fully expounded his new system, which he called Homœopathy. His next publication was a Materia Medica, consisting of a description of the effects of medicines upon persons in health. These works were published between the years 1810 and 1821, at Leipsic, where he founded a school, and was surrounded by disciples. As his system involved the administration of medicines, each separately by itself, and in doses infinitely minute, there was no longer any need of the apothecaries' intervention between their physician and the patient. In consequence of this the Apothecaries Company brought to bear upon Hahnemann an act forbidding physicians to dispense their own medicines, and with such effect that he was obliged to leave Leipsic. The Grand Duke of Anhalt Köthen, appointed him his physician, and invited him to live at Köthen. Thither, accordingly, he removed in the year 1821, and there he prepared various new editions of his Organon, and new volumes of his Materia Medica for publication. In 1835 he married a second time; his wife was a French lady of considerable position; and in the same year he left Köthen, and settled in Paris, where he enjoyed a great reputation till his death, which took place in the year 1843."

W. Bayes, Origin and Present Status of Homœopathy (Translation of the Homœopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, 1869, article 21).

ALSO IN: _W. Aneke, History of Homœopathy._

J. C. Burnett, Ecce Medicus; or Hahnemann as a man and as a physician.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th Century. The work of John Hunter in surgery and anatomy.

"John Hunter [born 1728, died 1793] was not only one of the most profound anatomists of the age in which he lived, but he is by the common consent of his successors allowed to be one of the greatest men that ever practised surgery. One of the most striking discoveries in this part of his profession— indeed one of the most brilliant in surgery of his century—was the operation for the cure of popliteal aneurism by tying the femoral artery above the tumour in the ham, and without interfering with it. He improved the treatment of the rupture of the tendo achillis, in consequence of having experienced the accident himself when dancing. He invented the method of curing fistula lacrymalis by perforating the os unguis, and curing hydrocele radically by injection. His anatomical discoveries were numerous and important—amongst others the distribution of the blood-vessels of the uterus, which he traced till their disappearance in the placenta. {2140} He was the first who demonstrated the existence of lymphatic vessels in birds; described the distribution of the branches of the olfactory nerve, as well as those of the fifth pair; and to him we owe the best and most faithful account of the descent of the testicle in the human subject, from the abdomen into the scrotum. Physiology is also indebted to him for many new views and ingenious suggestions. … 'Before his time surgery had been little more than a mechanical art, somewhat dignified by the material on which it was employed. Hunter first made it a science; and by pointing out its peculiar excellence as affording visible examples of the effects and progress of disease, induced men of far higher attainments than those who had before practised it to make it their study.' The best monument of his genius and talents, however, is the splendid museum which he formed by his sole efforts, and which he made, too, when labouring under every disadvantage of deficient education and limited means. It shows that as an anatomist and physiologist he had no superior."

_W. Baird, Hunter (The Imperial dictionary of universal biography)._

ALSO IN: _S. D. Gross, John Hunter and his Pupils._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th Century. Preventive Inoculation against Smallpox.

"One of the most notable events of the 18th century, or for that matter, in the history of medicine, was the introduction of the systematic practice of preventive inoculation against small-pox. We are so generally taught that this is entirely due to the efforts of Jenner, or rather we are so often allowed to think it without being necessarily taught otherwise, that the measure deserves a historical sketch. The communication of the natural disease to the healthy in order to protect them from the same natural disease, in other words, the communication of small-pox to prevent the same, reaches back into antiquity. It is mentioned in the Sanskrit Vedas as then performed, always by Brahmins, who employed pus procured from small-pox vesicles a year before. They rubbed the place selected for operation until the skin was red, then scratched with a sharp instrument, and laid upon the place cotton soaked in the variolous pus, moistened with water from the sacred Ganges. Along with this measure they insisted upon most hygienic regulations, to which in a large measure their good results were due. Among the Chinese was practised what was known as 'Pock-sowing,' and as long ago as 1000 years before Christ they introduced into the nasal cavities of young children pledgets of cotton saturated with variolous pus. The Arabians inoculated the same disease with needles, and so did the Circassians, while in the states of north Africa incisions were made between the fingers, and among some of the negroes inoculation was performed in or upon the nose. In Constantinople, under the Greeks, the custom had long been naturalized and was practised by old women instructed in the art, who regarded it as a revelation of St. Mary. The first accounts of this practice were given to the Royal Society by Timoni, a physician of Constantinople, in 1714. The actual introduction of the practice into the West, however, was due to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who died in 1762, and who was wife of the English ambassador to the Porte in 1717. She had her son inoculated in Constantinople by her surgeon Maitland, and after her return to London, in 1721, it was also performed upon her daughter. During the same years experiments were undertaken by Maitland upon criminals; and as these turned out favorably, the Prince of Wales and his sisters were inoculated by Mead. The practice was then more or less speedily adopted on this side of the ocean as well as on that, but suffered occasional severe blows because of unfortunate cases here and there, such as never can be avoided. The clergy, especially, using the Bible, as designing men always can use it, to back up any view or practice, became warm opponents of vaccination, and stigmatized it as a very atrocious invasion of the Divine prerogative of punishment. But in 1746 the Bishop of Worcester recommended it from the pulpit, and established houses for inoculation, and thus made it again popular. In Germany the operation was generally favored, and in France and Italy a little later came into vogue."

_Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th Century. Jenner and the discovery of Vaccination.

Many before the English physician, Dr. Jenner, "had witnessed the cow-pox, and had heard of the report current among the milkmaids in Gloucestershire, that whoever had taken that disease was secure against smallpox. It was a trifling, vulgar rumor, supposed to have no significance whatever; and no one had thought it worthy of investigation, until it was accidentally brought under the notice of Jenner. He was a youth, pursuing his studies at Sodbury, when his attention was arrested by the casual observation made by a country girl who came to his master's shop for advice. The smallpox was mentioned, when the girl said, 'I can't take that disease, for I have had cow-pox.' The observation immediately riveted Jenner's attention, and he forthwith set about inquiring and making observations on the subject. His professional friends, to whom he mentioned his views as to the prophylactic virtues of cow-pox, laughed at him, and even threatened to expel him from their society, if he persisted in harassing them with the subject. In London he was so fortunate as to study under John Hunter [1770-1773] to whom he communicated his views. The advice of the great anatomist was thoroughly characteristic: 'Don't think, but try; be patient, be accurate.' Jenner's courage was greatly supported by the advice, which conveyed to him the true art of philosophical investigation. He went back to the country to practise his profession, and carefully to make observations and experiments, which he continued to pursue for a period of twenty years. His faith in his discovery was so implicit that he vaccinated his own son on three several occasions. At length he published his views in a quarto of about seventy pages, in which he gave the details of twenty-three cases of successful vaccination of individuals, to whom it was found afterwards impossible to communicate the smallpox either by contagion or inoculation. It was in 1798 that this treatise was published; though he had been working out his ideas as long before as 1775, when they began to assume a definite form. How was the discovery received? First with indifference, then with active hostility. He proceeded to London to exhibit to the profession the process of vaccination and its successful results; but not a single doctor could be got to make a trial of it, and after fruitlessly waiting for nearly three months, Jenner returned to his native village. {2141} He was even caricatured and abused for his attempt to 'bestialize' his species by the introduction into their systems of diseased matter from the cow's udder. Cobbett was one of his most furious assailants. Vaccination was denounced from the pulpit as 'diabolical.' It was averred that vaccinated children became 'ox-faced,' that abscesses broke out to 'indicate sprouting horns,' and that the countenance was gradually 'transmuted into the visage of a cow, the voice into the bellowing of bulls.' Vaccination, however, was a truth, and notwithstanding the violence of the opposition belief in it spread slowly. In one village where a gentleman tried to introduce the practice, the first persons who permitted themselves to be vaccinated were absolutely pelted, and were driven into their houses if they appeared out of doors. Two ladies of title,—Lady Ducie and the Countess of Berkeley,—to their honor be it remembered,—had the courage to vaccinate their own children; and the prejudices of the day were at once broken through. The medical profession gradually came round, and there were several who even sought to rob Dr. Jenner of the merit of the discovery, when its vast importance came to be recognized. Jenner's cause at last triumphed, and he was publicly honored and rewarded. In his prosperity he was as modest as he had been in his obscurity. He was invited to settle in London, and told that he might command a practice of £10,000 a year. But his answer was, 'No! In the morning of my days I have sought the sequestered and lowly paths of life,—the valley, and not the mountain,—and now, in the evening of my days, it is not meet for me to hold myself up as an object for fortune and for fame.' In Jenner's own lifetime the practice of vaccination had been adopted all over the civilized world; and when he died, his title as Benefactor of his kind was recognized far and wide. Cuvier has said, 'If vaccine were the only discovery of the epoch, it would serve to render it illustrious forever."

S. Smiles, Self-help, chapter 4.

ALSO IN: _J. Barron, Life of Edward Jenner._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th Century. The Brunonian System of Stimulation.

"John Brown, born of obscure parents in a village of Berwick, in Scotland, was remarkable, from his early youth, for an extraordinary aptitude for acquiring languages, a decided inclination for scholastic dispute, a pedantic tone and manner, and somewhat irregular conduct. Having abandoned theology for medicine, he fixed his residence in Edinburgh. … He was particularly entertained and countenanced by Cullen, who even took him into his family in the character of preceptor of his children. This agreeable relation subsisted during twelve consecutive years between these two men, whose characters and minds were so different. … But some trifling matters of mutual discontent grew at length into coldness, and changed the old friendship which had united them into an irreconcilable hatred. Their rupture broke out about the year 1778, and in a short time after, Brown published his Elements of Medicine. … Brown employed some of the ideas of his master to develop a doctrine much more simple in appearance, but founded entirely on abstract considerations; a doctrine in which every provision seems to be made for discussion, but none for practice. Cullen had said that the nervous system receives the first impression of excitants, and transmits it afterwards to the other organs endowed with motion and vitality. Brown explains thus, the same thought: 'Life is only sustained by incitation. It is only the result of the action of incitants on the incitability of organs.' Cullen regarded the atony of the small vessels as the proximate cause of fever. Brown, improving on this hypothesis, admits, with hardly any exceptions, only hyposthenic diseases. … The Scotch physiologist distinguished only two pathological states—one consisting in an excess of incitability, which he names the sthenic diathesis; the other, constituted by a want, more or less notable, of the same faculty, which he designates as the asthenic diathesis. Besides, Brown considers these two states as affecting the entire economy, rather than any organ in particular. … After having reduced all diseases to two genera, and withdrawn from pathology the study of local lesions, Brown arrives, by a subtile argumentation, to consider the affections of the sthenic order as prevailing in a very small number of instances, so that the diseases of the asthenic type comprehend nearly the totality of affections. According to this theory, a physician is rarely ever mistaken if he orders in all his cases, remedies of an exciting nature. … Never since the days of Thessalus (of charlatan memory) had anyone simplified to such a point the study and practice of medicine. We may even say that in this respect the Scotch pathologist left far in the rear the physician of Nero. To this attraction, well calculated to tempt students and practitioners, the doctrine of Brown joined the advantage of being presented in an energetic and captivating style, full of imagery, which suffices to explain its rapid progress. But this doctrine, so seductive in its exposition, so easy in its application, is one of the most disastrous that man has been able to imagine, for it tends to propagate the abuse of diffusible stimulants, of which spirituous liquors make a part, an abuse excessively injurious to health in general, and the intellectual faculties in particular—an abuse to which man is too much inclined, naturally, and which the sophisms of Brown may have contributed to spread in all classes of English society. … Notwithstanding its defects, the system of Brown made rapid progress, principally in Germany and Italy."

P. V. Renouard, History of Medicine, pages 555-560.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th Century. The System of Haller.

"About the time when we seniors commenced the study of medicine, it was still under the influence of the important discoveries which Albrecht von Haller [1708-1777] had made on the excitability of nerves; and which he had placed in connection with the vitalistic theory of the nature of life. Haller had observed the excitability in the nerves and muscles of amputated members. The most surprising thing to him was, that the most varied external actions, mechanical, chemical, thermal, to which electrical ones were subsequently added, had always the same result; namely, that they produced muscular contraction. They were only quantitatively distinguished as regards their action on the organism, that is, only by the strength of the excitation; he designated them by the common name of stimulus; he called the altered condition of the nerve the excitation, and its capacity of responding to a stimulus the excitability, which was lost at death. {2142} This entire condition of things, which physically speaking asserts no more than the nerves, as concerns the changes which take place in them after excitation, are in an exceedingly unstable state of equilibrium; this was looked upon as the fundamental property of animal life, and was unhesitatingly transferred to the other organs and tissues of the body, for which there was no similar justification. It was believed that none of them were active of themselves, but must receive an impulse by a stimulus from without; air and nourishment were considered to be the normal stimuli. The kind of activity seemed, on the contrary, to be conditioned by the specific energy of the organ, under the influence of the vital force. Increase or diminution of the excitability was the category under which the whole of the acute diseases were referred, and from which indications were taken as to whether the treatment should be lowering or stimulating. The rigid one-sidedness and the unrelenting logic with which … [John] Brown had once worked out the system was broken, but it always furnished the leading points of view."

_H. Helmholtz, On Thought in Medicine (Popular Lectures, series 2, lecture 5)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18th. Century. Physiological Views of Bichat.

Marie Francis Xavier Bichat, was born in 1771 and died in 1802, accomplishing his extraordinary work as an anatomist and physician within a lifetime of thirty-one years. "The peculiar physiological views of Bichat are to be found stated more or less distinctly in all his works; and it is a merit of his that he has always kept in sight the necessary connexion of this part of the science of medicine with every other, and, so far as he has developed his ideas upon the subjects of pathology, materia medica, and therapeutics, they seem all to have been founded upon and connected with the principles of physiology, which he had adopted. … Everything around living bodies, according to Bichat, tends constantly to their destruction. And to this influence they would necessarily yield, were they not gifted with some permanent principle of reaction. This principle is their life, and a living system is therefore necessarily always engaged in the performance of functions, whose object is to resist death. Life, however, does not consist in a single principle, as has been taught by some celebrated writers, by Stahl, Van Helmont, and Barthez, &c. We are to study the phenomena of life, as we do those of other matter, and refer the operations performed in living systems to such ultimate principles as we can trace them to, in the same way that we do the operations taking place among inorganic substances. … His essential doctrine … is that there is no one single, individual, presiding principle of vitality, which animates the body, but that it is a collection of matter gifted for a time with certain powers of action, combined into organs which are thus enabled to act, and that the result is a series of functions, the connected performance of which constitutes it a living thing. This is his view of life, considered in the most general and simple way. But in carrying the examination farther, he points out two remarkable modifications of life, as considered in different relations, one common both to vegetables and animals, the other peculiar to animals. … Those which we have in common with the vegetable, which are necessary merely to our individual, bodily existence, are called the functions of organic life, because they are common to all organized matter. Those, on the other hand, which are peculiar to animals, which in them are superadded to the possession of the organic functions, are called the functions of animal life. Physiologically speaking, then, we have two lives, the concurrence of which enables us to live and move and have our being; both equally necessary to the relations we maintain as human beings, but not equally necessary to the simple existence of a living thing. … The two lives differ, in some important respects, as to the organs by which their functions are performed. Those of the animal life present a symmetry of external form, strongly contrasted with the irregularity, which is a prominent characteristic of those of organic life. In the animal life, every function IS either performed by a pair of organs, perfectly similar in structure and size, situated one upon each side of the median dividing line of the body, or else by a single organ divided into two similar and perfectly symmetrical halves by that line. … The organs of the organic life, on the contrary, present a picture totally different; they are irregularly formed, and irregularly arranged. … This symmetry of the form is accompanied by a corresponding harmony in the functions of the organs of the animal life. … The functions of the organic life are constantly going on; they admit of no interruption, no repose. … In those of the animal life, the case is widely different. They have intervals of entire repose. The organs of this life are incapable of constant activity, they become fatigued by exercise and require rest. This rest, with regard to any particular organ, is the sleep of that organ. … Upon this principle, Bichat founds his theory of sleep. General sleep is the combination of the sleep of particular organs. Sleep then is not any definite state, but is more or less complete rest of the whole system in proportion to the number of organs which require repose. … The two lives differ also in regard to habit; the animal being much under its control, the organic but slightly. … But the principal and most important feature in the physiological system of Bichat, is the complete, and entire, and exclusive explanation of all the phenomena of the living system upon the principles of vitality alone. Former physiologists have not always kept this distinctly in view. … The human body has been regarded, too often, as a mass of matter, organized to be sure, but yet under the direction of physical laws, and the performance of its functions has been ascribed to the powers of inorganic matter. Hence, physiology has generally been somewhat tinctured by the favorite science of the age, with some of its notions. … With Bichat the properties of life were all in all. The phenomena of the system, whether in health or disease, were all ascribed to their influence and operation."

_J. Ware, Life and Writings of Bichat (North American Review, July, 1822)._

{2143}

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18-19th Centuries. Pinel and the Reform in treatment of the Insane.

Philippe Pinel, "who had attained some distinction as an alienist, was appointed, 1792, to fill the post of superintendent of the Bicêtre, which then contained upwards of 200 male patients, believed not only to be incurable, but entirely uncontrollable. The previous experience of the physician, here stood him in good stead. He had been a diligent student of the authorities of his own and foreign countries on diseases of the mind, and in his earlier years had been appointed by the French government to report on the condition of the asylums at Paris and Charenton. On assuming the oversight of the Bicêtre, he found 53 men languishing in chains, some of whom had been bound for a great number of years. These were regarded by the authorities as dangerous and even desperate characters; but the sight of men grown gray and decrepit as the result of prolonged torture, made a very different impression on the mind of Pinel. He addressed appeal after appeal to the Commune, craving power to release, without delay, the unhappy beings under his charge. The authorities tardily and unwillingly yielded to the importunity of the physician. An official, who was deputed by the Commune to accompany the superintendent and watch his experiment, no sooner caught sight of the chained maniacs than he excitedly exclaimed: 'Ah, ça! citoyen, es-tu fou toi-même de vouloir déchaîner de pareils animaux?' The physician was not to be deterred, however, from carrying out his benevolent project, and did not rest satisfied until all of the 53 men had been gradually liberated from their chains. Singular as it may appear, the man who had been regarded as the most dangerous, and who had survived forty years of this severe treatment, was afterwards known as the faithful and devoted servant of Pinel. The reforms of Pinel were not confined to the Bicêtre, an establishment exclusively for men, but extended to the Salpêtrière, an institution for women. There is, perhaps, no more touching event in history than that of this kind-hearted and wise physician removing the bands and chains from the ill-fated inmates of this place of horrors. The monstrous fallacy of cruel treatment once fully exposed, the insane came to be looked upon as unfortunate human beings, stricken with a terrible disease, and, like other sick persons, requiring every aid which science and benevolent sympathy could provide with a view to cure. Governmental inquiries were instituted with a view to the attainment of better treatment, and in different countries, almost simultaneously, the provision of suitable and adequate accommodation for the insane was declared to be a State necessity."

W. P. Letchworth, The Insane in Foreign Countries, chapter 1.

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The Discovery of Anæsthetics.

"In 1798, Mr. Humphry Davy, an apprentice to Mr. Borlase a surgeon at Bodmin, had so distinguished himself by zeal and power in the study of chemistry and natural philosophy, that he was invited by Dr. Beddoes of Bristol, to become the 'superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution which had been established at Clifton for the purpose of trying the medicinal effects of different gases.' He obtained release from his apprenticeship, accepted the appointment, and devoted himself to the study of gases, not only in their medicinal effects, but much more in all their chemical and physical relations. After two years' work he published his 'Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide.' … He wrote, near the end of his essay: 'As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.' It seems strange that no one caught at a suggestion such as this. … The nitrous oxide might have been of as little general interest as the carbonic or any other, had it not been for the strange and various excitements produced by its inhalation. These made it a favourite subject with chemical lecturers, and year after year, in nearly every chemical theatre, it was fun to inhale it after the lecture on the gaseous compounds of nitrogen; and among those who inhaled it there must have been many who, in their intoxication, received sharp and heavy blows, but, at the time, felt no pain. And this went on for more than forty years, exciting nothing worthy to be called thought or observation, till, in December 1844, Mr. Colton, a popular itinerant lecturer on chemistry, delivered a lecture on 'laughing gas' in Hartford, Connecticut. Among his auditors was Mr. Horace Wells, an enterprising dentist in that town, a man of some power in mechanical invention. After the lecture came the usual amusement of inhaling the gas, and Wells, in whom long wishing had bred a kind of belief that something might be found to make tooth-drawing painless, observed that one of the men excited by the gas was not conscious of hurting himself when he fell on the benches and bruised and cut his knees. Even when he became calm and clear-headed the man was sure that he did not feel pain at the time of his fall. Wells was at once convinced—more easily convinced than a man of more scientific mind would have been—that, during similar insensibility, in a state of intense nervous excitement, teeth might be drawn without pain, and he determined that himself and one of his own largest teeth should be the first for trial. Next morning Colton gave him the gas, and his friend Dr. Riggs extracted his tooth. He remained unconscious for a few moments, and then exclaimed, 'A new era in tooth-pulling! It did not hurt me more than the prick of a pin. It is the greatest discovery ever made.' In the next three weeks Wells extracted teeth from some twelve or fifteen persons under the influence of the nitrous oxide, and gave pain to only two or three. Dr. Riggs, also, used it with the same success, and the practice was well known and talked of in Hartford. Encouraged by his success Wells went to Boston, wishing to enlarge the reputation of his discovery and to have an opportunity of giving the gas to some one undergoing a surgical operation. Dr. J. C. Warren, the senior Surgeon of the Massachusetts General Hospital, to whom he applied for this purpose, asked him to show first its effects on some one from whom he would draw a tooth. He undertook to do this in the theatre of the medical college before a large class of students, to whom he had, on a previous day, explained his plan. Unluckily, the bag of gas from which the patient was inhaling was taken a way too soon; he cried out when his tooth was drawn; the students hissed and hooted; and the discovery was denounced as an imposture. Wells left Boston disappointed and disheartened; he fell ill, and was for many months unable to practise his profession. Soon afterwards he gave up dentistry, and neglected the use and study of the nitrous oxide, till he was recalled to it by a discovery even more important than his own. The thread of the history of nitrous oxide may be broken here. {2144} The inhalation of sulphuric ether was often, even in the last century, used for the relief of spasmodic asthma, phthisis, and some other diseases of the chest. … As the sulphuric ether would 'produce effects very similar to those occasioned by nitrous oxide,' and was much the more easy to procure, it came to be often inhaled, for amusement, by chemist's lads and by pupils in the dispensaries of surgeons. It was often thus used by young people in many places in the United States. They had what they called 'ether frolics.' … Among those who had joined in these ether-frolics was Dr. Wilhite of Anderson, South Carolina. In one of them, in 1839," a negro boy was unconscious so long that he was supposed for some time to be dead. "The fright at having, it was supposed, so nearly killed the boy, put an end to the ether-frolics in that neighbourhood; but in 1842, Wilhite had become a pupil of Dr. Crauford Long, practising at that time at Jefferson (Jackson County, Georgia). Here he and Dr. Long and three fellow-pupils often amused themselves with the ether-inhalation, and Dr. Long observed that when he became furiously excited, as he often did, he was unconscious of the blows which he, by chance, received as he rushed or tumbled about. He observed the same in his pupils; and thinking over this, and emboldened by what Mr. Wilhite told him of the negro-boy recovering after an hour's insensibility, he determined to try whether the ether-inhalation would make any one insensible of the pain of an operation. So, in March, 1842, nearly three years before Wells's observations with the nitrous oxide, he induced a Mr. Venable, who had been very fond of inhaling ether, to inhale it till he was quite insensible. Then he dissected a tumour from his neck; no pain was felt, and no harm followed. Three months later, he similarly removed another tumour from him; and again, in 1842 and in 1845, he operated on other three patients, and none felt pain. His operations were known and talked of in his neighbourhood; but the neighbourhood was only that of an obscure little town; and he did not publish any of his observations. … He waited to test the ether more thoroughly in some greater operation than those in which he had yet tried it; and then he would have published his account of it. While he was waiting, others began to stir more actively in busier places, where his work was quite unknown, not even heard of. Among those with whom, in his unlucky visit to Boston, Wells talked of his use of the nitrous oxide, and of the great discovery which he believed that he had made, were Dr. Morton and Dr. Charles Jackson. … Morton was a restless energetic dentist, a rough man, resolute to get practice and make his fortune. Jackson was a quiet scientific gentleman, unpractical and unselfish, in good repute as a chemist, geologist, and mineralogist. At the time of Wells's visit, Morton, who had been his pupil in 1842, and for a short time, in 1843, his partner, was studying medicine and anatomy at the Massachusetts Medical College, and was living in Jackson's house. Neither Morton nor Jackson put much if any faith in Wells's story, and Morton witnessed his failure in the medical theatre. Still, Morton had it in his head that tooth-drawing might somehow be made painless. … Jackson had long known, as many others did, of sulphuric ether being inhaled for amusement and of its producing effects like those of nitrous oxide; he knew also of its employment as a remedy for the irritation caused by inhaling chlorine. He had himself used it for this purpose, and once, in 1842, while using it, he became completely insensible. He had thus been led to think that the pure ether might be used for the prevention of pain in surgical operations; he spoke of it with some scientific friends, and sometimes advised a trial of it; but he did not urge it or take any active steps to promote even the trial. One evening, Morton, who was now in practice as a dentist, called on him, full of some scheme which he did not divulge, and urgent for success in painless tooth-drawing. Jackson advised him to use the ether, and taught him how to use it. On that same evening, the 30th of September, 1846, Morton inhaled the ether, put himself to sleep, and, when he awoke, found that he had been asleep for eight minutes. Instantly, as he tells, he looked for an opportunity of giving it to a patient; and one just then coming in, a stout healthy man, he induced him to inhale, made him quite insensible, and drew his tooth without his having the least consciousness of what was done. But the great step had yet to be made. … Could it be right to incur the risk of insensibility long enough and deep enough for a large surgical operation? It was generally believed that in such insensibility there was serious danger to life. Was it really so? Jackson advised Morton to ask Dr. J. C. Warren to let him try, and Warren dared to let him. It is hard, now, to think how bold the enterprise must have seemed to those who were capable of thinking accurately on the facts then known. The first trial was made on the 16th of October, 1846. Morton gave the ether to a patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Warren removed a tumour from his neck. The result was not complete success; the patient hardly felt the pain of the cutting, but he was aware that the operation was being performed. On the next day, in a severer operation by Dr. Hayward, the success was perfect; the patient felt nothing, and in long insensibility there was no appearance of danger to life. The discovery might already be deemed complete; for the trials of the next following days had the same success, and thence onwards the use of the ether extended over constantly widening fields. … It might almost be said that in every place, at least in Europe, where the discovery was promoted more quickly than in America, the month might be named before which all operative surgery was agonising, and after which it was painless."

_Sir J. Paget, Escape from Pain (Nineteenth Century, December 1879)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The Study of Fermentation and its results.

"It was some time ago the current belief that epidemic diseases generally were propagated by a kind of malaria, which consisted of organic matter in a state of motor-decay; that when such matter was taken into the body through the lungs, skin, or stomach, it had the power of spreading there the destroying process by which itself had been assailed. Such a power was visibly exerted in the case of yeast. A little leaven was seen to leaven the whole lump—a mere speck of matter, in this supposed state of decomposition, being apparently competent to propagate indefinitely its own decay. Why should not a bit of rotten malaria act in a similar manner within the human frame? In 1836 a very wonderful reply was given to this question. In that year Cagniard de la Tour discovered the yeast-plant—a living organism, which when placed in a proper medium feeds, grows, and reproduces itself, and in this way carries on the process which we name fermentation. By this striking discovery fermentation was connected with organic growth. Schwann, of Berlin, discovered the yeast-plant independently about the same time."

J. Tyndall, Fragments of Science, volume 1, chapter 5.

{2145}

The question of fermentation "had come to present an entirely new aspect through the discovery of Cagniard de la Tour that yeast is really a plant belonging to one of the lowest types of fungi, which grows and reproduces itself in the fermentable fluid, and whose vegetative action is presumably the cause of that fermentation, just as the development of mould in a jam-pot occasions a like change in the upper stratum of the jam, on whose surface, and at whose expense, it lives and reproduces itself. Chemists generally—especially Liebig, who had a fermentation theory of his own—pooh-poohed this idea altogether; maintaining the presence of the yeast-plant to be a mere concomitant, and refusing to believe that it had any real share in the process. But in 1843, Professor Helmholtz, then a young undistinguished man, devised a method of stopping the passage of organic germs from a fermenting into a fermentable liquid, without checking the passage of fluids; and as no fermentation was then set up, he drew the inference that the 'particulate' organic germs, not the soluble material of the yeast, furnish the primum mobile of this change,—a doctrine which, though now universally accepted, had to fight its way for some time against the whole force of chemical authority. A little before Cagniard de la Tour's discovery, a set of investigations had been made by Schulze and Schwann, to determine whether the exclusion of air was absolutely necessary to prevent the appearance of living organisms in decomposing fluids, or whether these fluids might be kept free from animal or vegetable life, by such means as would presumably destroy any germs which the air admitted to them might bring in from without, such as passing it through a red-hot tube or strong sulphuric acid. These experiments, it should be said, had reference rather to the question of 'spontaneous generation,' or 'abiogenesis,' than to the cause of fermentation and decomposition; its object being to determine whether the living things found by the microscope in a decomposing liquid exposed to the air, spring from germs brought by the atmosphere, or are generated 'de novo' in the act of decay—the latter doctrine having then many upholders. But the discovery of the real nature of yeast, and the recognition of the part it plays in alcoholic fermentation, gave an entirely new value to Schulze's and Schwann's results; suggesting that putrefactive and other kinds of decomposition may be really due, not (as formerly supposed) to the action of atmospheric oxygen upon unstable organic compounds, but to a new arrangement of elements brought about by the development of germinal particles deposited from the atmosphere. It was at this point that Pasteur took up the inquiry; and for its subsequent complete working-out, science is mainly indebted to him: for although other investigators—notably Professor Tyndall—have confirmed and extended his conclusions by ingenious variations on his mode of research, they would be the first to acknowledge that all those main positions which have now gained universal acceptance—save on the part of a few obstinate 'irreconcilables'—have been established by Pasteur's own labours. … The first application of these doctrines to the study of disease in the living animal was made in a very important investigation, committed to Pasteur by his old master in chemistry (the eminent and eloquent Dumas), into the nature of the 'pébrine,' which was threatening to extinguish the whole silk culture of France and Italy. … Though it concerned only a humble worm, it laid the foundation of an entirely new system and method of research into the nature and causes of a large class of diseases in man and the higher animals, of which we are now only beginning to see the important issues. Among the most immediately productive of its results, may be accounted the 'antiseptic surgery' of Professor Lister; of which the principle is the careful exclusion of living bacteria and other germs, alike from the natural internal cavities of the body, and from such as are formed by disease, whenever these may be laid open by accident, or may have to be opened surgically. This exclusion is effected by the judicious use of carbolic acid, which kills the germs without doing any mischief to the patient; and the saving of lives, of limbs, and of severe suffering, already brought about by this method, constitutes in itself a glorious triumph alike to the scientific elaborator of the germ-doctrine, and to the scientific surgeon by whom it has been thus applied. A far wider range of study, however, soon opened itself. The revival by Dr. Farr of the doctrine of 'zymosis' (fermentation),—long ago suggested by the sagacity of Robert Boyle, and practically taken up in the middle of the last century by Sir John Pringle (the most scientific physician of his time),—as the expression of the effect produced in the blood by the introduction of a specific poison (such as that of small-pox, measles, scarlatina, cholera, typhus, &c.), had naturally directed the attention of thoughtful men to the question (often previously raised speculatively), whether these specific poisons are not really organic germs, each kind of which, a real 'contagium vivum,' when sown in the circulating fluid, produces a definite 'zymosis' of its own, in the course of which the poison is reproduced with large increase, exactly after the manner of yeast in a fermenting wort. Pasteur's success brought this question to the front, as one not to talk about, but to work at."

_W. B. Carpenter, Disease-Germs (Nineteenth Century, October, 1881)._

ALSO IN: _L. Pasteur, Studies in Fermentation._

_Dr. Duclaux, Fermentation._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. Virchow and Cellular Pathology.

"That really gifted scholar and paragon of industry and attainment, Rudolph Virchow, announced in 1858 a theory known as Modern Vitalism which was borrowed from natural scientific medicine and is distinguished from the vitalism of the previous century in this, that it breaks up the old vital force, which was supposed to be either distributed throughout the entire body, or located in a few organs, into an indefinite number of associate vital forces working harmoniously, and assigns to them all the final elementary principles without microscopic seat. 'Every animal principle has a sum of vital unities, each of which bears all the characteristics of life. {2146} The characteristics and unity of life cannot be found in any determinate point of a higher organism, e. g., in the brain, but only in the definite, ever recurring arrangements of each element present. Hence it results that the composition of a large body amounts to a kind of social arrangement, in which each one of the movements of individual existence is dependent upon the others, but in such a way that each element has a special activity of its own, and that each, although it receives the impulse to its own activity from other parts, still itself performs its own functions.' This it will be seen is nothing but another way of expressing the cell doctrine to which most medical men are now committed, which means that our bodies are built up with cells, and that each cell has a unity and a purpose of its own. Sir Robert Hooke in 1677 discovered plant cells. Schwann discovered animal cells, and Robert Brown discovered cell nuclei, but it remained for Virchow, using the microscope, to supply the gap which had risen between anatomical knowledge and medical theory, that is, to supply a 'cellular pathology,' since which time the cell has assumed the role which the fibre occupied in the theories of the 17th and 18th centuries. Time alone can decide as to the ultimate validity of these views. This theory was from its announcement most enthusiastically received, and so far has responded to nearly all the requirements which have been made of it. Even its author was almost startled with its success. … As a result of Virchow's labors there has arisen in Germany what has been called the medical school of natural sciences of which Virchow is the intellectual father. This school seeks mainly by means of pathological anatomy and microscopy, experimental physiology and pathology, and the other applied sciences, or rather by their methods, to make medicine also an exact science."

_Roswell Park, Lectures on the History of Medicine (in MS.)._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: 19th Century. The development of Bacteriology.

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