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diff --git a/33427.txt b/33427.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd2eee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/33427.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15786 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, +Volume 5, Slice 8, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8 + "Chariot" to "Chatelaine" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 14, 2010 [EBook #33427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOL 5 SL 8 *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + +(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally + printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an + underscore, like C_n. + +(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. + +(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective + paragraphs. + +(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not + inserted. + +(5) The following typographical error has been corrected: + + ARTICLE CHARLES ALBERT: "... made a savage demonstration against + him at the Palazzo Greppi, whence he escaped in the night with + difficulty and returned to Piedmont with his defeated army." 'army + amended from armp'. + + + + + ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA + + A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE + AND GENERAL INFORMATION + + ELEVENTH EDITION + + + VOLUME V, SLICE VIII + + Chariot to Chatelaine + + + + +ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: + + + CHARIOT CHARLES MARTEL + CHARISIUS, FLAVIUS SOSIPATER CHARLESTON (Illinois, U.S.A) + CHARITON CHARLESTON (South Carolina, U.S.A.) + CHARITY AND CHARITIES CHARLESTON (West Virginia, U.S.A.) + CHARIVARI CHARLESTOWN + CHARKHARI CHARLET, NICOLAS TOUSSAINT + CHARLATAN CHARLEVILLE + CHARLEMAGNE CHARLEVOIX, PIERRE FRANCOIS XAVIER DE + CHARLEMAGNE, JEAN ARMAND CHARLEVOIX + CHARLEMONT, JAMES CAULFEILD CHARLOTTE + CHARLEROI (town in Belgium) CHARLOTTENBURG + CHARLEROI (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) CHARLOTTESVILLE + CHARLES CHARLOTTETOWN + CHARLES II. (Roman emperor) CHARM + CHARLES III. (Roman emperor) CHARNAY, (CLAUDE JOSEPH) DESIRE + CHARLES IV. (Roman emperor) CHARNEL HOUSE + CHARLES V. (Roman emperor) CHARNOCK, JOB + CHARLES VI. (Roman emperor) CHARNOCK, ROBERT + CHARLES VII. (Roman emperor) CHARNOCKITE + CHARLES I. (king of Great Britain) CHARNWOOD FOREST + CHARLES II. (king of G. Britain) CHAROLLES + CHARLES I. and II. (of France) CHARON + CHARLES III. (king of France) CHARONDAS + CHARLES IV. (king of France) CHARPENTIER, FRANCOIS + CHARLES V. (king of France) CHARRIERE, AGNES ISABELLE EMILIE DE + CHARLES VI. (king of France) CHARRON, PIERRE + CHARLES VII. (king of France) CHARRUA + CHARLES VIII. (king of France) CHART + CHARLES IX. (king of France) CHARTER + CHARLES X. (king of France) CHARTERED COMPANIES + CHARLES I. (king of Hungary) CHARTERHOUSE + CHARLES I. (king of Naples) CHARTER-PARTY + CHARLES II. (king of Naples) CHARTERS TOWERS + CHARLES II. (king of Navarre) CHARTIER, ALAIN + CHARLES III. (king of Navarre) CHARTISM + CHARLES (king of Rumania) CHARTRES + CHARLES II. (king of Spain) CHARTREUSE + CHARLES III. (king of Spain) CHARTREUSE, LA GRANDE + CHARLES IV. (king of Spain) CHARWOMAN + CHARLES IX. (king of Sweden) CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND + CHARLES X. (king of Sweden) CHASE, SAMUEL + CHARLES XI. (king of Sweden) CHASE, WILLIAM MERRITT + CHARLES XII. (king of Sweden) CHASE + CHARLES XIII. (king of Sweden) CHASING + CHARLES XIV. (king of Sweden) CHASLES, VICTOR EUPHEMIEN PHILARETE + CHARLES XV. (king of Sweden) CHASSE + CHARLES (duke of Brittany) CHASSE + CHARLES (duke of Burgundy) CHASSELOUP-LAUBAT, FRANCOIS + CHARLES (count of Flanders) CHASSEPOT + CHARLES I. (duke of Lorraine) CHASSESRIAU, THEODORE + CHARLES II. (duke of Lorraine) CHASSIS + CHARLES III. or II. (duke of Lrn.) CHASTELARD, PIERRE DE BOCSOZEL DE + CHARLES IV. or III. (duke of Lrn.) CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES + CHARLES V. or IV. (duke of Lor.) CHASUBLE + CHARLES II. (duke of Parma) CHATEAU + CHARLES (archduke of Austria) CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANCOIS RENE + CHARLES (cardinal of Lorraine) CHATEAUBRIANT + CHARLES (prince of Lorraine) CHATEAUDUN + CHARLES (count of Valois) CHATEAU-GONTIER + CHARLES (prince of Viana) CHATEAUNEUF, LA BELLE + CHARLES, ELIZABETH CHATEAU-RENAULT, DE ROUSSELET + CHARLES, JACQUES ALEXANDRE CESAR CHATEAUROUX, MARIE ANNE + CHARLES, THOMAS CHATEAUROUX + CHARLES ALBERT CHATEAU-THIERRY + CHARLES AUGUSTUS CHATELAIN + CHARLES EDWARD CHATELAINE + CHARLES EMMANUEL I. + + + + +CHARIOT (derived from an O. Fr. word, formed from _char_, a car), in +antiquity, a conveyance (Gr. [Greek: arma], Lat. _currus_) used in +battle, for the chase, in public processions and in games. The Greek +chariot had two wheels, and was made to be drawn by two horses; if a +third or, more commonly, two reserve horses were added, they were +attached on each side of the main pair by a single trace fastened to the +front of the chariot, as may be seen on two prize vases in the British +Museum from the Panathenaic games at Athens. On the monuments there is +no other sign of traces, from the want of which wheeling round must have +been difficult. Immediately on the axle ([Greek: axon], _axis_), without +springs of any kind, rested the basket or body ([Greek: diphros]) of the +chariot, which consisted of a floor to stand on, and a semicircular +guard round the front about half the height of the driver. It was +entirely open at the back, so that the combatant might readily leap to +the ground and up again as was necessary. There was no seat, and +generally only room for the combatant and his charioteer to stand in. +The pole ([Greek: rumos], _temo_) was probably attached to the middle of +the axle, though it appears to spring from the front of the basket; at +the end of the pole was the yoke ([Greek: zygon], _jugum_), which +consisted of two small saddles fitting the necks of the horses, and +fastened by broad bands round the chest. Besides this the harness of +each horse consisted of a bridle and a pair of reins, mostly the same as +in use now, made of leather and ornamented with studs of ivory or metal. +The reins were passed through rings attached to the collar bands or +yoke, and were long enough to be tied round the waist of the charioteer +in case of his having to defend himself. The wheels and body of the +chariot were usually of wood, strengthened in places with bronze or +iron; the wheels had from four to eight spokes and tires of bronze or +iron. This description applies generally to the chariots of all the +nations of antiquity; the differences consisted chiefly in the +mountings. The chariots of the Egyptians and Assyrians, with whom the +bow was the principal arm of attack, were richly mounted with quivers +full of arrows, while those of the Greeks, whose characteristic weapon +was the spear, were plain except as regards mere decoration. Among the +Persians, again, and more remarkably among the ancient Britons, there +was a class of chariot having the wheels mounted with sharp, +sickle-shaped blades, which cut to pieces whatever came in their way. +This was probably an invention of the Persians; Cyrus the younger +employed these chariots in large numbers. Among the Greeks and Romans, +on the other hand, the chariot had passed out of use in war before +historical times, and was retained only for races in the public games, +or for processions, without undergoing any alteration apparently, its +form continuing to correspond with the description of Homer, though it +was lighter in build, having to carry only the charioteer. On two +Panathenaic prize vases in the British Museum are figures of racing +_bigae_, in which, contrary to the description given above, the driver +is seated with his feet resting on a board hanging down in front close +to the legs of his horses. The _biga_ itself consists of a seat resting +on the axle, with a rail at each side to protect the driver from the +wheels. The chariot was unsuited to the uneven soil of Greece and Italy, +and it is not improbable that these nations had brought it with them as +part of their original habits from their former seats in the East. In +the remains of Egyptian and Assyrian art there are numerous +representations of chariots, from which it may be seen with what +richness they were sometimes ornamented. The "iron" chariots in use +among the Jews appear to have been chariots strengthened or plated with +metal, and no doubt were of the form above described, which prevailed +generally among the other ancient nations. (See also CARRIAGE.) + + The chief authorities are J.C. Ginzrot, _Die Wagen and Fahrwerke der + Griechen und Romer_ (1817); C.F. Grashof, _Uber das Fuhrwerk bei Homer + und Hesiod_ (1846); W. Leaf in _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, v.; E. + Buchholz, _Die homerischen Realien_ (1871-1885); W. Helbig, _Das + homerische Epos aus den Denkmalern erlautert_ (1884), and the article + "Currus" in Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des Antiquites_. + + + + +CHARISIUS, FLAVIUS SOSIPATER, Latin grammarian, flourished about the +middle of the 4th century A.D. He was probably an African by birth, +summoned to Constantinople to take the place of Euanthius, a learned +commentator on Terence. The _Ars Grammatica_ of Charisius, in five +books, addressed to his son (not a Roman, as the preface shows), has +come down to us in a mutilated condition, the beginning of the first, +part of the fourth, and the greater part of the fifth book having been +lost. The work, which is merely a compilation, is valuable as containing +excerpts from the earlier writers on grammar, who are in many cases +mentioned by name--Q. Remmius Palaemon, C. Julius Romanus, Cominianus. + + The best edition is by H. Keil, _Grammatici Latini_, i. (1857); see + also article by G. Gotz in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_, iii. 2 + (1899); Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist. of Roman Literature_ (Eng. trans.), S + 419, I. 2; Frohde, in _Jahr. f. Philol._, 18 Suppl. (1892), 567-672. + + + + +CHARITON, of Aphrodisias in Caria, the author of a Greek romance +entitled _The Loves of Chaereas and Callirrhoe_, probably flourished in +the 4th century A.D. The action of the story, which is to a certain +extent historical, takes place during the time of the Peloponnesian War. +Opinions differ as to the merits of the romance, which is an imitation +of Xenophon of Ephesus and Heliodorus. + + Editions by J.P. D'Orville (1783), G.A. Hirschig (1856) and R. Hercher + (1859); there is an (anonymous) English translation (1764); see also + E. Rohde, _Der griechische Roman_ (1900). + + + + +CHARITY AND CHARITIES. The word "charity," or love, represents the +principle of the good life. It stands for a mood or habit of mind and an +endeavour. From it, as a habit of mind, springs the social and personal +endeavour which in the widest sense we may call charity. The two +correspond. Where the habit of mind has not been gained, the endeavour +fluctuates and is relatively purposeless. In so far as it has been +gained, the endeavour is founded on an intelligent scrutiny of social +conditions and guided by a definite purpose. In the one case it is +realized that some social theory must be found by us, if our action is +to be right and consistent; in the other case no need of such a theory +is felt. This article is based on the assumption that there are +principles in charity or charitable work, and that these can be +ascertained by a study of the development of social conditions, and +their relation to prevalent social aims and religious or philosophic +conceptions. It is assumed also that the charity of the religious life, +if rightly understood, cannot be inconsistent with that of the social +life. + + Perhaps some closer definition of charity is necessary. The words that + signify goodwill towards the community and its members are primarily + words expressive of the affections of family life in the relations + existing between parents, and between parent and child. As will be + seen, the analogies underlying such phrases as "God the Father," + "children of God," "brethren," have played a great part in the + development of charitable thought in pre-Christian as well as in + Christian days. The germ, if we may say so, of the words [Greek: + philia, agape], _amor_, love; _amicitia_, friendship, is the sexual or + the parental relation. With the realization of the larger life in man + the meaning of the word expands. _Caritas_, or charity, strikes + another note--high price, and thus dearness. It is charity, indeed, + expressed in mercantile metaphor; and it would seem that it was + associated in thought with the word [Greek: charis], which has also a + commercial meaning, but signifies as well favour, gratitude, grace, + kindness. Partly thus, perhaps, it assumed and suggested a nobler + conception; and sometimes, as, for instance, in English ecclesiastical + documents, it was spelt _charitas_. [Greek: Agape], which in the + Authorized Version of the Bible is translated charity, was used by St + Paul as a translation of the Hebrew word _hesed_, which in the Old + Testament is in the same version translated "mercy"--as in Hosea vi. + 6, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice." This word represents the + charity of kindness and goodness, as distinguished from almsgiving. + Almsgiving, _sedaqah_, is translated by the word [Greek: eleemosune] + in the Septuagint, and in the Authorized Version by the word + "righteousness." It represents the deed or the gift which is due--done + or made, not spontaneously, but under a sense of religious obligation. + In the earlier Christian period the word almsgiving has this meaning, + and was in that sense applied to a wide range of actions and + contracts, from a gift to a beggar at a church door to a grant and a + tenure of land. It also, in the word almoner, represented the + fulfilment of the religious obligation with the aid of an agent or + delegate. The words charity or love (_caritas_ or [Greek: agape]), on + the other hand, without losing the tone with which the thought of + parental or family love inspires them, assume a higher meaning. In + religious thought they imply an ideal life, as represented by such + expressions as "love (_agape_) of God." This on the one side; and on + the other an ideal social relation, in such words as "love of man." + Thus in the word "charity" religious and social associations meet; and + thus regarded the word means a disciplined and habitual mood in which + the mind is considerate of the welfare of others individually and + generally, and devises what is for their real good, and in which the + intelligence and the will strive to fulfil the mind's purpose. Charity + thus has no necessary relation to relief or alms. To give a lecture, + or to nurse a sick man who is not in want or "poor," may be equally a + deed of charity; though in fact charity concerns itself largely with + the classes usually called "the poor," and with problems of distress + and relief. Relief, however, is not an essential part of charity or + charitable work. It is one of many means at its disposal. If the world + were so poor that no one could make a gift, or so wealthy that no one + needed it, charity--the charity of life and of deeds--would remain. + +The history of charity is a history of many social and religious +theories, influences and endeavours, that have left their mark alike +upon the popular and the cultivated thought of the present day. The +inconsistencies of charitable effort and argument may thus in part be +accounted for. To understand the problem of charity we have therefore +(1) to consider the stages of charitable thought--the primitive, pagan, +Greek and Roman, Jewish and Christian elements, that make up the modern +consciousness in regard to charity, and also the growth of the habit of +"charity" as representing a gradually educated social instinct. (2) We +have also to consider in their relation to charity the results of recent +investigations of the conditions of social life. (3) At each stage we +have to note the corresponding stage of practical administration in +public relief and private effort--for the division between public or +"poor-law" relief and charity which prevails in England is, +comparatively speaking, a novelty, and, generally speaking, the work of +charity can hardly be appreciated or understood if it be considered +without reference to public relief. (4) As to the present day, we have +to consider practical suggestions in regard to such subjects as charity +and economic thought, charity organization, friendly visiting and +almonership, co-operation with the poor-law, charity and thrift, +parochial management, hospitals and medical relief, exceptional distress +and the "unemployed," the utilization of endowments and their +supervision, and their adaptation to new needs and emergencies. (5) We +have also throughout to consider charitable help in relation to classes +of dependants, who appear early in the history of the question--widows +and orphans, the sick and the aged, vagrants and wayfarers. + +First in the series come the charities of the family and of hospitality; +then the wider charities of religion, the charities of the community, +and of individual donors and of mutual help. These gradually assumed +importance in communities which consisted originally of self-supporting +classes, within which widows and orphans, for instance, would be rather +provided for, in accordance with recognized class obligations, than +relieved. Then come habitual almsgiving, the charitable endowment, and +the modern charitable institution and association. But throughout the +test of progress or decadence appears to be the condition of the family. +The family is the source, the home and the hearthstone of charity. It +has been created but slowly, and there is naturally a constant tendency +to break away from its obligations and to ignore and depreciate its +utility. Yet the family, as we now have it, is itself the outcome of +infinite thought working through social instinct, and has at each stage +of its development indicated a general advance. To it, therefore, +constant reference must be made. + + +PART I.--PRIMITIVE CHARITY + +The study of early communities has brought to light the history of the +development of the family. "Marriage in its lowest phases is by no means +a matter of affection or companionship"; and only very slowly has the +position of both parents been recognized as implying different but +correlative responsibilities towards their child. Only very slowly, +also, has the morality necessary to the making of the family been won. +Charity at earlier stages is hardly recognized as a virtue, nor +infanticide as an evil. Hospitality--the beginning of a larger social +life--is non-existent. The self-support of the community is secured by +marriage, and when relations fail marriage becomes a provision against +poverty. Then by the tribal system is created another safeguard against +want. But apart also from these methods of maintenance, at a very early +stage there is charitable relief. The festivals of the solstices and +equinoxes, and of the seasons, are the occasions for sacrifice and +relief; and, as Christmas customs prove, the instinct to give help or +alms at such festival periods still remains. Charity is concerned +primarily with certain elemental forces of social life: the relation +between these primitive instincts and impulses that still influence +charity should not, therefore, be overlooked. The basis of social life +is also the basis of charitable thought and action. + + The savage is the civilized man in the rough. "The lowest races have," + Lord Avebury writes, "no institution of marriage." Many have no word + for "dear" or "beloved." The child belongs to the tribe rather than to + the parent. In these circumstances a problem of charity such as the + following may arise:--"Am I to starve, while my sister has children + whom she can sell?" a question asked of Burton by a negro. From the + point of view of the tribe, an able-bodied man would be more valuable + than dependent children, and the relationship of the larger family of + brothers and sisters would be a truer claim to help than that of + mother and child. Subsequently the child is recognized as related, not + to the father, but to the mother, and there is "a kind of bond which + lasts for life between mother and child, although the father is a + stranger to it." Slowly only is the relative position of both parents, + with different but correlative responsibilities, recognized. The first + two steps of charity have then been made: the social value of the bond + between the mother, and then between the father, and the child has + been recognized. Until this point is reached the morality necessary to + the making of the family is wanting, and for a long time afterwards it + is hardly won. The virtue of chastity--the condition precedent to the + higher family life--is unrecognized. Indeed, the set of such religious + thought as there may be is against it. Abstract conceptions, even in + the nobler races, are lacking. The religion of life is vaguely + struggling with its animality, and that which it at last learns to + rule it at first worships. In these circumstances there is little + charity for the child and little for the stranger. "There is," Dr + Schweinfurth wrote in his _Heart of Africa_, "an utter want of + wholesome intercourse between race and race. For any member of a tribe + that speaks one dialect to cross the borders of a tribe that speaks + another is to make a venture at the hazard of his life." The religious + obligations that fostered and sanctified family life among the Greeks + and Romans and Jews are unknown. Much later in development comes + charity for the child, with the abhorrence of infanticide--against + which the Jewish-Christian charity of 2000 years ago uttered its most + vigorous protests. If the child belonged primarily to the tribe or + state, its maintenance or destruction was a common concern. This + motive influenced the Greeks, who are historically nearer the earlier + forms of social life than ourselves. For the common good they exposed + the deformed child; but also "where there were too many, for in our + state population has a limit," as Aristotle says, "the babe or unborn + child was destroyed." And so, to lighten their own responsibilities, + parents were wont to do in the slow years of the degradation of the + Roman empire, though the interest of the state then required a + contrary policy. The transition to our present feeling of + responsibility for child-life has been very gradual and uncertain, + through the middle ages and even till the 18th century. Strictly it + may be said that all penitentiaries and other similar institutions are + concrete protests on behalf of a better family life. The movement for + the care of children in the 18th century naturally and instinctively + allied itself with the penitentiary movement. The want of regard for + child-life, when the rearing of children becomes a source of economic + pressure, suggests why in earlier stages of civilization all that + charitable apparatus which we now think necessary for the assistance + of children is wanting, even if the need, so far as it does arise, is + not adequately met by the recognized obligations of the clan-family or + brotherhood. + + In the case of barbarous races charity and self-support may be + considered from some other points of view. Self-support is secured in + two ways--by marriage and by slavery. "For a man or woman to be + unmarried after the age of thirty is unheard of" (T.H. Lewin, _Wild + Races of South-East India_). On the other hand, if any one is without + a father, mother or other relative, and destitute of the necessaries + of life, he may sell himself and become a slave. Thus slavery becomes + a provision for poverty when relations fail. The clan-family may serve + the same purpose. David Livingstone describes the formation of the + clan-family among the Bakuena. "Each man, by virtue of paternity, is + chief of his own children. They build huts round his.... Near the + centre of each circle of huts is a spot called a 'kotla,' with a + fireplace; here they work, eat, &c. A poor man attaches himself to the + 'kotla' of a rich one, and is considered a child of the latter." Thus + the clan-family is also a poor-relief association. + + Studies in folklore bring to light many relations between the charity + of the old world and that of our own day. + + + The early community. + +In regard to the charity of the early community, we may take the 8th +century B.C. as the point of departure. The _Odyssey_ (about 800 B.C.) +and Hesiod (about 700 B.C.) are roughly parallel with Amos (816-775), +and represent two streams of thought that meet in the early Christian +period. The period covered by the _Odyssey_ seems to merge into that of +Hesiod. We take the former first, dealing with the clan-family and the +phratry, which are together the self-maintaining unit of society, with +the general relief of the poor, with hospitality, and with vagrancy. In +Hesiod we find the customary law of charity in the earlier community +definitely stated, and also indications of the normal methods of +neighbourly help which were in force in country districts. First of the +family and brotherhood, or phratry. The family (_Od_. viii. 582) +included alike the wife's father and the daughter's husband. It was thus +a clanlike family. Out of this was developed the phratry or brotherhood, +in which were included alike noble families, peasants and craftsmen, +united by a common worship and responsibilities and a common customary +law (_themis_). Zeus, the god of social life, was worshipped by the +phratry. He was the father of the law (_themis_). He was god of host and +guest. Society was thus based on law, the brotherhood and the family. +The irresponsible man, the man worthy of no respect or consideration, +was one who belonged to no brotherhood, was subject to no customary law, +and had no hearth or family. The phratry was, and became afterwards +still more, "a natural gild." Outside the self-sustaining phratry was +the stranger, including the wayfarer and the vagrant; and partly merged +in these classes was the beggar, the recognized recipient of the alms of +the community. To change one's abode and to travel was assumed to be a +cause of reproach (_Il_. ix. 648). The "land-louper" was naturally +suspected. On the other hand, a stranger's first thought in a new +country was whether the inhabitants were wild or social ([Greek: +dikaioi]), hospitable and God-fearing (_Od_. xiii. 201). Hospitality +thus became the first public charity; Zeus sent all strangers and +beggars, and it was against all law ([Greek: themis]) to slight them. +Out of this feeling--a kind of glorified almsgiving--grew up the system +of hospitality in Greek states and also in the Roman world. The host +greeted the stranger (or the suppliant). An oath of friendship was taken +by the stranger, who was then received with the greeting, Welcome +([Greek: chaire]), and water was provided for ablution, and food and +shelter. In the larger house there was a guests' table. In the hut he +shared the peasant's meal. The custom bound alike the rich and the poor. +On parting presents were given, usually food for the onward journey, +sometimes costly gifts. The obligation was mutual, that the host should +give hospitality, and that the guest should not abuse it. From early +times tallies were exchanged between them as evidence of this formal +relationship, which each could claim again of the other by the +production of the token. And further, the relationship on either side +became hereditary. Thus individuals and families and tribes remained +linked in friendship and in the interchange of hospitalities. + +Under the same patronage of Zeus and the same laws of hospitality were +vagrants and beggars. The vagrant and loafer are sketched in the +_Odyssey_--the vagrant who lies glibly that he may get entertainment, +and the loafer who prefers begging to work on a farm. These and the +winter idlers, whom Hesiod pictures--a group known to modern +life--prefer at that season to spend their time in the warmth of the +village smithy, or at a house of common resort ([Greek: lesche])--a +common lodging-house, we might say--where they would pass the night. +Apparently, as in modern times, the vagrants had organized their own +system of entertainment, and, supported by the public, were a class for +whom it was worth while to cater. The local or public beggars formed a +still more definite class. Their begging was a recognized means of +maintenance; it was a part of the method of poor relief. Thus of +Penelope it was said that, if Odysseus' tale were true, she would give +him better clothes, and then he might beg his bread throughout the +country-side. Feasts, too, and almsgiving were nearly allied, and feasts +have always been one resource for the relief of the poor. Thus naturally +the beggars frequented feasts, and were apparently a recognized and yet +inevitable nuisance. They wore, as part of their dress, scrips or +wallets in which they carried away the food they received, as later +Roman clients carried away portions of food in baskets (_sportula_) from +their patron's dinner. Odysseus, when he dresses up as a beggar, puts on +a wallet as part of his costume. Thus we find a system of voluntary +relief in force based on a recognition of the duty of almsgiving as +complete and peremptory as that which we shall notice later among the +Jews and the early Christians. We are concerned with country districts, +and not with towns, and, as social conditions that are similar produce +similar methods of administration, so we find here a general plan of +relief similar to that which was in vogue in Scotland till the Scottish +Poor Law Act of 1845. + +In Hesiod the fundamental conceptions of charity are more clearly +expressed. He has, if not his ten, at least his four commandments, for +disobedience to which Zeus will punish the offender. They are: Thou +shalt do no evil to suppliant or guest; thou shalt not dishonour any +woman of the family; thou shalt not sin against the orphan; thou shalt +not be unkind to aged parents. + + The laws of social life are thus duty to one's guest and duty to one's + family; and chastity has its true place in that relation, as the later + Greeks, who so often quote Hesiod (cf. the so-called _Economics_ of + Aristotle), fully realized. Also the family charities due to the + orphan, whose lot is deplored in the _Iliad_ (xxii. 490), and to the + aged are now clearly enunciated. But there is also in Hesiod the duty + to one's neighbour, not according to the "perfection" of "Cristes + lore," but according to a law of honourable reciprocity in act and + intent. "Love him who loves thee, and cleave to him who cleaveth to + thee: to him who would have given, give; to him who would not have + given, give not." The groundwork of Hesiod's charity outside the + family is neighbourly help (such as formed no small part of old + Scottish charity in the country districts); and he put his argument + thus: Competition, which is a kind of strife, "lies in the roots of + the world and in men." It is good, and rouses the idle "handless" man + to work. On one side are social duty ([Greek: dike]) and work, done + briskly at the right season of the year, which brings a full barn. On + the other side are unthrift and hunger, and relief with the disgrace + of begging; and the relief, when the family can do no more, must come + from neighbours, to whose house the beggar has to go with his wife and + children to ask for victual. Once they may be helped, or twice, and + then they will be refused. It is better, Hesiod tells his brother, to + work and so pay off his debts and avoid hunger (see _Erga_, 391, &c., + and elsewhere). Here indeed is a problem of to-day as it appeared to + an early Greek. The alternatives before the idler--so far as his own + community is concerned--are labour with neighbourly help to a limited + extent, or hunger. + + Hesiod was a farmer in Boeotia. Some 530 years afterwards a pupil of + Aristotle thus describes the district and its community of farmers. + "They are," he says, "well to do, but simple in their way of life. + They practise justice, good faith, and hospitality. To needy townsmen + and vagabonds they give freely of their substance; for meanness and + covetousness are unknown to them." The charitable method of Homeric + and Hesiodic days still continued. + + +PART II.--CHARITY AMONG THE GREEKS + + The Greek state. + +Society in a Greek state was divided into two parts, citizens and +slaves. The citizens required leisure for education, war and government. +The slaves were their ministers and servants to enable them to secure +this leisure. We have therefore to consider, on the one hand, the +position of the family and the clan-family, and the maintenance of the +citizen from public funds and by public and private charities; and on +the other hand the condition of the slaves, and the relation between +slavery and charity. + +The slaves formed the larger part of the population. The census of +Attica, made between 317 and 307 B.C., gives their numbers at 400,000 +out of a population of about 500,000; and even if this be considered +excessive, the proportion of slaves to citizens would certainly be very +large. The citizens with their wives and children formed some 12% of the +community. Thus, apart from the resident aliens, returned in the census +at 10,000, and their wives and children, we have two divisions of +society: the citizens, with their own organization of relief and +charities; and the slaves, permanently maintained by reason of their +dependence on individual members of the civic class. Thus, there is no +poverty but that of the poor citizens. Poverty is limited to them. The +slaves--that is to say, the bulk of the labouring population--are +provided for. + +From times relatively near to Hesiod's we may trace the growth and +influence of the clan-family as the centre of customary charity within +the community, the gradual increase of a class of poor either outside +the clan-family or eventually independent of it, and the development of +a new organization of relief introduced by the state to meet newer +demands. We picture the early state as a group of families, each of +which tends to form in time a separate group or clan. At each expansion +from the family to the clan the members of the clan retain rights and +have to fulfil duties which are the same as, or similar to, those which +prevailed in the family. Thus, in Attica the clan-families (_genos_) and +the brotherhoods (_phratria_) were "the only basis of legal rights and +obligations over and above the natural family." The clan-family was "a +natural guild," consisting of rich and poor members--the well-born or +noble and the craftsman alike. Originally it would seem that the land +was divided among the families of the clan by lot and was inalienable. +Thus with the family was combined the means of supporting the family. On +the other hand, every youth was registered in his phratry, and the +phratry remained till the reforms of Cleisthenes (509 B.C.) a political, +and even after that time a social, organization of importance. + +First, as to the family--the mother and wife, and the father. Already +before the age of Plato and Xenophon (450-350 B.C.) we find that the +family has suffered a slow decline. The wife, according to later Greek +usage, was married as a child, hardly educated, and confined to the +house, except at some festival or funeral. But with the decline came +criticism and a nobler conception of family life. "First, then, come +laws regarding the wife," writes the author of the so-called _Economics_ +of Aristotle, and the law, "thou shalt do no wrong; for, if we do no +wrong, we shall not be wronged." This is the "common law," as the +Pythagoreans say, "and it implies that we must not wrong the wife in the +least, but treat her with the reverence due to a suppliant, or one taken +from the altar." The sanctity of marriage is thus placed among the +"commandments" of Hesiod, beside the duty towards the stranger and the +orphan. These and other references to the Pythagoreans suggest that +they, possibly in common with other mystics, preached the higher +religion of marriage and social life, and thus inspired a deeper social +feeling, which eventually allied itself with the Christian movement. + +Next, as to parents and children: the son was under an obligation to +support his father, subject, after Solon's time, to the condition that +he had taught him a trade; and after Solon's time the father had no +claim for support from an illegitimate son. "The possession of +children," it was said (Arist. _Econ._), "is not by nature for the +public good only, but also for private advantage. For what the strong +may gain by their toil for the weak, the weak in their old age receive +from the strong... Thus is the nature of each, the man and the woman, +prearranged by the Divine Being for a life in common." Honour to parents +is "the first and greatest and oldest of all debts" (Plato, _Laws_, +717). The child has to care for the parent in his old age. "Nemesis, the +minister of justice ([Greek: dike]), is appointed to watch over all +these things." And "if a man fail to adorn the sepulchre of his dead +parents, the magistrates take note of it and inquire" (Xen. _Mem._ ii. +14). The heightened conception of marriage implies a fuller +interpretation of the mutual relations of parent and child as well; both +become sacred. + +Then as to orphans. Before Solon's time (594 B.C.) the property of any +member of the clan-family who died without children went to the clan; +and after his time, when citizens were permitted to leave their property +by will, the property of an intestate fell to the clan. This arrangement +carried with it corresponding duties. Through the clan-family provision +was made for orphans. Any member of the clan had the legal right to +claim an orphan member in marriage; and, if the nearest agnate did not +marry her, he had to give her a dowry proportionate to the amount of his +own property. Later, there is evidence of a growing sense of +responsibility in regard to orphans. Hippodamus (about 443 B.C.), in his +scheme of the perfected state (Arist. _Pol._ 1268), suggested that there +should be public magistrates to deal with the affairs of orphans (and +strangers); and Plato, his contemporary, writes of the duty of the state +and of the guardian towards them very fully. Orphans, he proposes +(_Laws_, 927), should be placed under the care of public guardians. "Men +should have a fear of the loneliness of orphans ... and of the souls of +the departed, who by nature take a special care of their own +children.... A man should love the unfortunate orphan (boy or girl) of +whom he is guardian as if he were his own child; he should be as careful +and diligent in the management of the orphan's property as of his +own--or even more careful still." + +To relieve the poverty of citizens and to preserve the citizen-hood were +objects of public policy and of charity. In Crete and Sparta the +citizens were wholly supported out of the public resources. In Attica +the system was different. The citizens were aided in various ways, in +which, as often happens, legal or official and voluntary or private +methods worked on parallel lines. The means were (1) legal enactment for +release of debts; (2) emigration; (3) the supply of corn; (4) poor +relief for the infirm, and relief for the children of those fallen in +war; (5) emoluments; (6) voluntary public service, separate gifts and +liberality; (7) loan societies. + + (1) In 594 B.C. the labouring class in Attica were overwhelmed with + debts and mortgages, and their persons pledged as security. Only by a + sharp reform was it possible to preserve them from slavery. This Solon + effected. He annulled their obligations, abolished the pledge of the + person, and gave the labourers the franchise (but see under SOLON). + Besides the laws above mentioned, he gave power to the Areopagus to + inquire from what sources each man obtained the necessaries of life, + and to punish those who did not work. His action and that of his + successor, Peisistratus (560 B.C.), suggest that the class of poor + ([Greek: aporoi]) was increasing, and that by the efforts of these two + men the social decline of the people was avoided or at least + postponed. Peisistratus lent the poor money that they might maintain + themselves in husbandry. He wished, it is said (Arist. _Ath. Pol._ + xvi.), to enable them to earn a moderate living, that they might be + occupied with their own affairs, instead of spending their time in the + city or neglecting their work in order to visit it. As rent for their + land they paid a tenth of the produce. + + (2) Akin to this policy was that of emigration. Athenians, selected in + some instances from the two lowest political classes, emigrated, + though still retaining their rights of citizenship. In 570-565 B.C. + Salamis was annexed and divided into lots and settled, and later + Pericles settled more than 2750 citizens in the Chersonese and + elsewhere--practically a considerable section of the whole body of + citizens. "By this means," says Plutarch, "he relieved the state of + numerous idle agitators and assisted the necessitous." In other states + this expedient was frequently adopted. + + (3) A third method was the supply of corn at reduced rates--a method + similar to that adopted, as we shall see, at Rome, Constantinople and + elsewhere. The maintenance of the mass of the people depended on the + corn fleets. There were public granaries, where large stores were laid + up at the public expense. A portion of all cargoes of corn was + retained at Athens and in other ways importation was promoted. + Exportation was forbidden. Public donations and distributions of corn + were frequent, and in times of scarcity rich citizens made large + contributions with that object. The distributions were made to adult + citizens of eighteen years of age and upwards whose names were on the + registers. + + (4) In addition to this there was a system of public relief for those + who were unable to earn a livelihood on account of bodily defects and + infirmities. The qualification was a property test. The property of + the applicant had to be shown to be of a value of not more than three + minae (say L12). Socrates, it may be noted, adopts the same method of + estimating his comparative poverty (Xen. _Econ._ 2. 6), saying that + his goods would realize about five minae (or about twenty guineas). + The senate examined the case, and the ecclesia awarded the bounty, + which amounted to 1 or 2 obols a day, rather more than 1-1/2d. or + 3d.--out-door relief, as we might say, amounting at most to about 1s. + 9d. a week. There was also a fund for the maintenance of the children + of those who had fallen in war, up to the age of eighteen. + + (5) But the main source of support was the receipt of emoluments for + various public services. This was not relief, though it produced in + the course of time the effect of relief. It was rather the Athenian + method of supporting a governing class of citizens. + + The inner political history of Athens is the history of the extension + of the franchise to the lower classes of citizens, with the privileges + of holding office and receiving emoluments. In early times, either by + Solon (q.v.) or previously, the citizens were classified on the basis + of property. The rich retained the franchise and the right of holding + office; the middle classes obtained the franchise; the fourth or + lowest class gained neither. By the reforms of Cleisthenes (509 B.C.) + the clan-family and the phratry were set aside for the _deme_ or + parish, a geographical division superseding the social. Finally, about + 478 B.C., when all had acquired the franchise, the right to hold + office also was obtained by the third class. These changes coincided + with a period of economic progress. The rate of interest was high, + usually 12%; and in trading and bottomry the returns were much higher. + A small capital at this interest soon produced comparative wealth; and + simultaneously prices were falling. Then came the reaction. "After the + Peloponnesian war" (432-404 B.C.), writes Professor Jebb, "the wealth + of the country ceased to grow, as population had ceased to grow about + 50 years sooner. The rich went on accumulating: the poor, having no + means of enriching themselves by enterprise, were for the most part + occupied in watching for some chance of snatching a larger share of + the stationary total." Thus the poorer classes in a time of prosperity + had won the power which they were able to turn to their own account + afterwards. A period of economic pressure followed, coupled with a + decline in the population; no return to the land was feasible, nor was + emigration; the people had become town-folk inadaptable to new uses; + decreasing vitality and energy were marked by a new temper, the + "pauper" temper, unsettled, idle and grasping, and political power was + utilized to obtain relief. The relief was forthcoming, but it was of + no avail to stop the general decline. The state, it might almost be + said, in giving scope to the assertion of the spirit of dependence, + had ruined the self-regarding energy on which both family and state + alike depended. The emoluments were diverse. The number of citizens + was not large; the functions in which citizens could take part were + numerous; and when payment was forthcoming the poorer citizens pressed + in to exercise their rights (cf. Arist. _Pol._ 1293 a). All Athenian + citizens could attend the public assembly or _ecclesia_. Probably the + attendance at it varied from a few hundred to 5000 persons. In 395 + B.C. the payment for attendance was fixed at 3 obols, or little more + than 4-1/2d. a day--for the system of payment had probably been + introduced a few years before (but see ECCLESIA and refs.). A juror or + _dicast_ would receive the same sum for attendance, and the courts or + juries often consisted of 500 persons. If the estimate (Bockh, _Public + Economy of Athens_, Eng. trans. pp. 109, 117) holds good that in the + age of Demosthenes (384-323 B.C.) the member of a poor family of four + free persons could live (including rent) on about 3.3d. or between 2 + and 3 obols a day, the pay of the citizen attending the assembly or + the court would at least cover the expenses of subsistence. On the + other hand, it would be less than the pay of a day labourer, which was + probably about 4 obols or 6d. a day. In any case many citizens--they + numbered in all about 20,000--in return for their participation in + political duties would receive considerable pecuniary assistance. + Attending a great public festival also, the citizen would receive 2 + obols or 3d. a day during the festival days; and there were besides + frequent public sacrifices, with the meal or feast which accompanied + them. But besides this there were confiscations of private property, + which produced a surplus revenue divisible among the poorer citizens. + (Some hold that there were confiscations in other Greek states, but + not in Athens.) In these circumstances it is not to be wondered that + men like Isocrates should regret that the influence of the Areopagus, + the old court of morals and justice in Athens, had disappeared, for it + "maintained a sort of censorial police over the lives and habits of + the citizens; and it professed to enforce a tutelary and paternal + discipline, beyond that which the strict letter of the law could mark + out, over the indolent, the prodigal, the undutiful, and the deserters + of old rite and custom." + + (6) In addition to public emoluments and relief there was much private + liberality and charity. Many expensive public services were undertaken + honorarily by the citizens under a kind of civic compulsion. Thus in a + trial about 425 B.C. (Lysias, _Or._ 19. 57) a citizen submitted + evidence that his father expended more than L2000 during his life in + paying the expenses of choruses at festivals, fitting out seven + triremes for the navy, and meeting levies of income tax to meet + emergencies. Besides this he had helped poor citizens by portioning + their daughters and sisters, had ransomed some, and paid the funeral + expenses of others (cf. for other instances Plutarch's _Cimon_, + Theophrastus, _Eth._, and Xen. _Econ._). + + (7) There were also mutual help societies ([Greek: eranoi]). Those for + relief would appear to have been loan societies (cf. Theoph. _Eth._), + one of whose members would beat up contributions to help a friend, who + would afterwards repay the advance. + + The criticisms of Aristotle (384-321 B.C.) suggest the direction to + which he looked for reform. He (_Pol._ 1320 a) passes a very + unfavourable judgment on the distribution of public money to the + poorer citizens. The demagogues (he does not speak of Athens + particularly) distributed the surplus revenues to the poor, who + received them all at the same time; and then they were in want again. + It was only, he argued, like pouring water through a sieve. It were + better to see to it that the greater number were not so entirely + destitute, for the depravity of a democratic government was due to + this. The problem was to contrive how plenty ([Greek: euporia], not + poverty, [Greek: aporia]) should become permanent. His proposals are + adequate aid and voluntary charity. Public relief should, he urges, be + given in large amounts so as to help people to acquire small farms or + start in business, and the well-to-do ([Greek: euporoi]) should in the + meantime subscribe to pay the poor for their attendance at the public + assemblies. (This proves, indeed, how the payments had become poor + relief.) He mentions also how the Carthaginian notables divided the + destitute amongst them and gave them the means of setting to work, and + the Tarentines ([Greek: koina poiountes]) shared their property with + the poor. (The Rhodians also may be mentioned (Strabo xiv. c. 652), + amongst whom the well-to-do undertook the relief of the poor + voluntarily.) The later word for charitable distribution was a sharing + ([Greek: koinonia], Ep. Rom. xv. 26), which would seem to indicate + that after Aristotle's time popular thought had turned in that + direction. But the chief service rendered by Aristotle--a service + which covered indeed the whole ground of social progress--was to show + that unless the purpose of civil and social life was carefully + considered and clearly realized by those who desired to improve its + conditions, no change for the better could result from individual or + associated action. + +Two forms of charity have still to be mentioned: charity to the stranger +and to the sick. It will be convenient to consider both in relation to +the whole classical period. + +With the growth of towns the administration of hospitality was +elaborated. + + + The stranger. + + (1) There was hospitality between members of families bound by the + rites of host and guest. The guest received as a right only shelter + and fire. Usually he dined with the host the first day, and if + afterwards he was fed provisions were supplied to him. There were + large guest-chambers ([Greek: xenon]) or small guest-houses, + completely isolated on the right or left of the principal house; and + here the guest was lodged. (2) There were also, e.g. at Hierapolis + (Sir W.M. Ramsay's _Phrygia_, ii. 97), brotherhoods of hospitality + ([Greek: xenoi tekmereioi], bearers of the sign), which made + hospitality a duty, and had a common chest and Apollo as their + tutelary god. (3) There were inns or resting-places ([Greek: + katagogia]) for strangers at temples (Thuc. iii. 68; Plato, _Laws_, + 953 A) and places of resort ([Greek: lesche]) at or near the temples + for the entertainment of strangers--for instance, at a temple of + Asclepius at Epidaurus (Pausanias ii. 174); and Pausanias argues that + they were common throughout the country. Probably also at the temples + hospitable provision was made for strangers. The evidence at present + is not perhaps sufficiently complete, but, so far as it goes, it tends + to the conclusion that in pre-Christian times hospitality was provided + to passers-by and strangers in the temple buildings, as later it was + furnished in the monasteries and churches. (4) There were also in + towns houses for strangers ([Greek: xenon]) provided at the public + cost. This was so at Megara; and in Crete strangers had a place at the + public meals and a dormitory. Xenophon suggested that it would be + profitable for the Athenian state to establish inns for traders + ([Greek: katagogia demusia]) at Athens. Thus, apart from the official + hospitality of the proxenus or "consul," who had charge of the affairs + of foreigners, and the hospitality which was shown to persons of + distinction by states or private individuals, there was in Greece a + large provision for strangers, wayfarers and vagrants based on the + charitable sentiment of hospitality. Among the Romans similar customs + of private and public hospitality prevailed; and throughout the empire + the older system was altered, probably very slowly. In Christian times + (cf. Ramsay above) Pagan temples were (about A.D. 408) utilized for + other purposes, including that of hospitality to strangers. + + + The sick. + +Round the temples, at first probably village temples, the organization +of medical relief grew up. Primitive medicine is connected with dreams, +worship, and liturgical "pollution," punishment and penitence, and an +experimental practice. Finally, systematic observation and science (with +no knowledge of chemistry and little of physiology) assert themselves, +and a secular administration is created by the side of the older +religious organization. + + Sickness among primitive races is conceived to be a material substance + to be extracted, or an evil spirit to be driven away by incantation. + Religion and medicine are thus at the beginning almost one and the + same thing. In Anatolia, in the groups of villages (cf. Ramsay as + above, i. 101) under the theocratic government of a central [Greek: + ieron] or temple, the god Men Karou was the physician and saviour + ([Greek: soter] and [Greek: sozon]) of his people. Priests, prophets + and physicians were his ministers. He punished wrong-doing by diseases + which he taught the penitent to cure. So elsewhere pollution, physical + or moral, was chastened by disease and loss of property or children, + and further ills were avoided by sacrifice and expiation and public + warning. In the temple and out of this phase of thought grew up + schools of medicine, in whose practice dreams and religious ritual + retained a place. The newer gods, Asclepius and Apollo, succeeded the + older local divinities; and the "sons" of Asclepius became a + profession, and the temple with its adjacent buildings a kind of + hospital. There were many temples of Asclepius in Greece and + elsewhere, placed generally in high and salubrious positions. After + ablution the patient offered sacrifices, repeating himself the words + of the hymn that was chanted. Then, when night came on, he slept in + the temple. In the early dawn he was to dream "the heavenly dream" + which would suggest his cure; but if he did not dream, relations and + others--officials at the temple--might dream for him. At dawn the + priests or sons of Asclepius came into the temple and visited the + sick, so that, in a kind of drama, where reality and appearance seemed + to meet, the patients believed that they saw the god himself. The next + morning the prescription and treatment were settled. At hand in the + inn or guest-chambers of the temple the patient could remain, sleeping + again in the temple, if necessary, and carrying out the required + regimen. In the temple were votive tablets of cases, popular and + awe-inspiring, and records and prescriptions, which later found their + way into the medical works of Galen and others. At the temple of + Asclepius at Epidaurus was an inn ([Greek: katagogion]) with four + courts and colonnades, and in all 160 rooms. (Cf. Pausanias ii. 171; + and _Report, Archaeol. in Greece_, R.C. Bosanquet, 1899, 1900.) + +At three centres more particularly, Rhodes, Cnidos and Cos, were the +medical schools of the Asclepiads. If one may judge from an inscription +at Athens, priests of Asclepius attended the poor gratuitously. And +years afterwards, in the 11th century, when there was a revival of +medicine, we find (Daremberg, _La Medecine: histoire et doctrines_) at +Salerno the Christian priest as doctor, a simple and less palatable +pharmacy for the poor than for the rich, and gratuitous medical relief. + +Besides the temple schools and hospitals there was a secular +organization of medical aid and relief. States appointed trained medical +men as physicians, and provided for them medical establishments ([Greek: +iatreia], "large houses with large doors full of light") for the +reception of the sick, and for operations there were provided beds, +instruments, medicines, &c. At these places also pupils were taught. A +lower degree of medical establishment was to be found at the barbers' +shops. Out-patients were seen at the _iatreia_. They were also visited +at home. There were doctors' assistants and slave doctors. The latter, +apparently, attended only slaves (Plato, _Laws_, 720); they do "a great +service to the master of the house, who in this manner is relieved of +the care of his slaves." It was a precept of Hippocrates that if a +physician came to a town where there were sick poor, he should make it +his first duty to attend to them; and the state physician attended +gratuitously any one who applied to him. There were also travelling +physicians going rounds to heal children and the poor. These methods +continued, probably all of them, to Christian times. + +It has been argued that medical practice was introduced into Italy by +the Greeks. But the evidence seems to show that there was a quite +independent Latin tradition and school of medicine (Rene Brian, +"Medecine dans le Latium et a Rome," _Rev. Archeol._, 1885). In Rome +there were consulting-rooms and dispensaries, and houses in which the +sick were received. Hospitals are mentioned by Roman writers in the 1st +century A.D. There were infirmaries--detached buildings--for sick +slaves; and in Rome, as at Athens, there were slaves skilled in +medicine. In Rome also for each _regio_ there was a chief physician who +attended to the poorer people. + + + Slavery. + +Slavery was so large a factor in pre-Christian and early Christian +society that a word should be said on its relation to charity. +Indirectly it was a cause of poverty and social degradation. Thus in the +case of Athens, with the achievement of maritime supremacy the number of +slaves increased greatly. Manual arts were despised as unbecoming to a +citizen, and the slaves carried on the larger part of the agricultural +and industrial work of the community; and for a time--until after the +Peloponnesian War (404 B.C.)--slavery was an economic success. But by +degrees the slave, it would seem, dispossessed the citizen and rendered +him unfit for competition. The position of the free artisan thus became +akin to that of the slave (Arist. _Pol._ 1260 a, &c.), and slavery +became the industrial method of the country. Though Greeks, Romans, Jews +and Christians spent money in ransoming individual slaves and also +enfranchised many, no general abolition of slavery was possible. At +last through economic changes the new status of _coloni_, who paid as +rent part of the produce of the land they tilled, superseded the status +of slavery (cf. above; the system turned to account by Peisistratus). +But this result was only achieved much later, when a new society was +being created, when the slaves from the slave prisons (_ergastula_) of +Italy joined its invaders, and the slave-owner or master, as one may +suppose, unable any longer to work the gangs, let them become _coloni_. + +In Greece the feeling towards the slave became constantly more humane. +Real slavery, Aristotle said, was a cast of mind, not a condition of +life. The slave was not to be ordered about, but to be commanded and +persuaded like a child. The master was under the strongest obligation to +promote his welfare. In Rome, on the other hand, slavery continued to +the end a massive, brutal, industrial force--a standing danger to the +state. But alike in Greece and Rome the influence of slavery on the +family was pernicious. The pompous array of domestic slaves, the +transfer of motherly duties to slave nurses, the loss of that homely +education which for most people comes only from the practical details of +life--all this in later Greece and Italy, and far into Christian times, +prevented that permanent invigoration and reform of family life which +Jewish and Christian influences might otherwise have produced. + + +PART III.--CHARITY IN ROMAN TIMES + +The words that suggest most clearly the Roman attitude towards what we +call charity are _liberalitas_, _beneficentia_ and _pietas_. The two +former are almost synonymous (Cicero, _De Offic._ i. 7, 14). Liberality +lays stress on the mood--that of the _liber_, the freeborn, and so in a +sense the independent and superior; beneficence on the deed and its +purpose (Seneca, _De Benef._ vi. 10). The conditions laid down by +Cicero, following Panaetius the Stoic (185-112 B.C.) are three: not to +do harm to him whom one would benefit, not to exceed one's means, and to +have regard to merit. The character of the person whom we would benefit +should be considered, his feelings towards us, the interest of the +community, our social relations in life, and services rendered in the +past. The utility of the deed or gift graded according to social +relationship and estimated largely from the point of view of ultimate +advantage to the doer or donor seems to predominate in the general +thought of the book, though (cf. Aristotle, _Eth._ viii. 3) the idea +culminates in the completeness of friendship where "all things are in +common." _Pietas_ has the religious note which the other words lack, +loving dutifulness to gods and home and country. Not "piety" only but +"pity" derive from it: thus it comes near to our "charity." Both books, +the _De Officiis_ and the _De Beneficiis_, represent a Roman and Stoical +revision of the problem of charity and, as in Stoicism generally, there +seems to be a half-conscious attempt to feel the way to a new social +standpoint from this side. + + + Roman times. + +As from the point of view of charity the well-being of the community +depends upon the vigour of the deep-laid elemental life within it, so in +passing to Roman times we consider the family first. The Roman family +was unique in its completeness, and by some of its conditions the world +has long been bound. The father alone had independent authority (_sui +juris_), and so long as he lived all who were under his power--his wife, +his sons, and their wives and children, and his unmarried +daughters--could not acquire any property of their own. Failing father +or husband, the unmarried daughters were placed under the guardianship +of the nearest male members of the family. Thus the family, in the +narrower sense in which we commonly use the word, as meaning descendants +of a common father or grandfather, was, as it were, a single point of +growth in a larger organism, the _gens_, which consisted of all those +who shared a common ancestry. + + The wife, though in law the property of her husband, held a position + of honour and influence higher than that of the Greek wife, at least + in historic times. She seems to come nearer to the ideal of Xenophon: + "the good wife should be the mistress of everything within the house." + "A house of his own and the blessing of children appeared to the Roman + citizen as the end and essence of life" (Mommsen, _Hist. Rome_). The + obligation of the father to the sons was strongly felt. The family, + past, present and future, was conceived as one and indivisible. Each + succeeding generation had a right to the care of its predecessor in + mind, body and estate. The training of the sons was distinctly a home + and not a school training. Brought up by the father and constantly at + his side, they learnt spontaneously the habits and traditions of the + family. The home was their school. By their father they were + introduced into public life, and though still remaining under his + power during his lifetime, they became citizens, and their relation to + the state was direct. The nation was a nation of yeomen. Only + agriculture and warfare were considered honourable employments. The + father and sons worked outdoors on the farm, employing little or no + slave labour; the wife and daughters indoors at spinning and weaving. + The drudgery of the household was done by domestic slaves. The father + was the working head of a toiling household. Their chief gods were the + same as those of early Greece--Zeus-Diovis and Hestia-Vesta, the + goddess of the hearth and home. Out of this solid, compact family + Roman society was built, and so long as the family was strong + attachment to the service of the state was intense. The _res publica_, + the common weal, the phrase and the thought, meet one at every turn; + and never were citizens more patient and tenacious combatants on their + country's behalf. The men were soldiers in an unpaid militia and were + constantly engaged in wars with the rivals of Rome, leaving home and + family for their campaigns and returning to them in the winter. With a + hardness and closeness inconsistent with--indeed, opposed to--the + charitable spirit, they combined the strength of character and sense + of justice without which charity becomes sentimental and unsocial. In + the development of the family, and thus, indirectly, in the + development of charity, they stand for settled obligation and + unrelenting duty. + +Under the protection of the head of the family "in dependent freedom" +lived the clients. They were in a middle position between the freemen +and the slaves. The relation between patron and client lasted for +several generations; and there were many clients. Their number increased +as state after state was conquered, and they formed the _plebs_, in Rome +the _plebs urbana_, the lower orders of the city. + +In relation to our subject the important factors are the family, the +_plebs_ and slavery. + +Two processes were at work from an early date, before the first agrarian +law (486 B.C.): the impoverishment of the _plebs_ and the increase of +slavery. The former led to the _annona civica_, or the free supply of +corn to the citizens, and to the _sportula_ or the organized food-supply +for poor clients, and ultimately to the _alimentarii pueri_, the +maintenance of children of citizens by voluntary and imperial bounty. +The latter (slavery) was the standing witness that, as self-support was +undermined, the task of relief became hopeless, and the impoverished +citizen, as the generations passed, became in turn dependant, beggar, +pauper and slave. + +The great patrician families--"an oligarchy of warriors and +slaveholders"--did not themselves engage in trade, but, entering on +large speculations, employed as their agents their clients, _libertini_ +or freedmen, and, later, their slaves. The constant wars, for which the +soldiers of a local militia were eventually retained in permanent +service, broke up the yeomanry and very greatly reduced their number. +Whole families of citizens became impoverished, and their lands were in +consequence sold to the large patrician families, members of which had +acquired lucrative posts, or prospered in their speculations, and +assumed possession of the larger part of the land, the _ager publicus_, +acquired by the state through conquest. The city had always been the +centre of the patrician families, the patron of the trading _libertini_ +and other dependants. To it now flocked as well the _metoeci_, the +resident aliens from the conquered states, and the poorer citizens, +landless and unable for social reasons to turn to trade. There was thus +in Rome a growing multitude of aliens, dispossessed yeomen and dependent +clients. Simultaneously slavery increased very largely after the second +Punic War (202 B.C.). Every conquest brought slaves into the market, for +whom ready purchasers were found. The slaves took the place of the +freemen upon the old family estates, and the free country people became +extinct. Husbandry gave place to shepherding. The estates were thrown +into large domains (_latifundia_), managed by bailiffs and worked by +slaves, often fettered or bound by chains, lodged in cells in houses of +labour (_ergastula_), and sometimes cared for when ill in infirmaries +(_valetudinaria_). In Crete and Sparta the slaves toiled that the mass +of citizens might have means and leisure. In Rome the slave class was +organized for private and not for common ends. In Athens the citizens +were paid for their services; at Rome no offices were paid. Thus the +citizen at Rome was, one might almost say, forced into a dependence on +the public corn, for as the large properties swallowed up the smaller, +and the slave dispossessed the citizen, a population grew up unfit for +rural toil, disinclined to live by methods that pride considered sordid, +unstable and pleasure-loving, and yet a serious political factor, as +dependent on the rich for their enjoyments as they were on their patrons +or the prefect of the corn in the city for their food. + + It is estimated, from extremely difficult and uncertain data, that the + population of Rome in the time of Augustus was about 1,200,000 or + 1,500,000. At that time the_ plebs urbana_ numbered 320,000. If this + be multiplied by three, to give a low average of dependants, wives and + children, this section of the population would number 960,000. The + remainder of the 1,500,000, 540,000, would consist of (a) slaves, and + (b) those, the comparatively few, who would be members of the great + clan-families (_gentes_). Proportionately to Attica this seems to + allow too small a population of slaves. But however this be, we may + picture the population of Rome as consisting chiefly of a few + patrician families ministered to by a very large number of slaves, and + a populace of needy citizens, in whose ranks it was profitable for an + outsider to find a place in order that he might participate in the + advantages of state maintenance. + + + The annona civica. + +In Rome the clan-family became the dominant political factor. As in +England and elsewhere in the middle ages, and even in later times, the +family, in these circumstances, assumes an influence which is out of +harmony with the common good. The social advantage of the family lies in +its self-maintenance, its home charities, and its moral and educational +force, but if its separate interests are made supreme, it becomes +uncharitable and unsocial. In Rome this was the line of development. The +stronger clan-families crushed the weaker, and became the "oligarchy of +warriors and slaveholders." In the same spirit they possessed themselves +of the _ager publicus_. The land obtained by the Romans by right of +conquest was public. It belonged to the state, and to a yeoman state it +was the most valuable acquisition. At first part of it was sold and part +was distributed to citizens without property and destitute (cf. +Plutarch, _Tib. Gracchus_). At a very early date, however, the patrician +families acquired possession of much of it and held it at a low rental, +and thus the natural outlet for a conquering farmer race was monopolized +by one class, the richer clan-families. This injustice was in part +remedied by the establishment of colonies, in which the emigrant +citizens received sufficient portions of land. But these colonies were +comparatively few, and after each conquest the rich families made large +purchases, while the smaller proprietors, whose services as soldiers +were constantly required, were unable to attend to their lands or to +retain possession of them. To prevent this (367 B.C.) the Licinian law +was passed, by which ownership in land was limited to 500 _jugera_, +about 312 acres. This law was ignored, however, and more than two +centuries later the evil, the double evil of the dispossession of the +citizen farmer and of slavery, reached a crisis. The slave war broke out +(134 B.C.) and (133 B.C.) Tiberius Gracchus made his attempt to re-endow +the Roman citizens with the lands which they had acquired by conquest. +He undertook what was essentially a charitable or philanthropic +movement, which was set on foot too late. He had passed through Tuscany, +and seen with resentment and pity the deserted country where the foreign +slaves and barbarians were now the only shepherds and cultivators. He +had been brought up under the influence of Greek Stoical thought, with +which, almost in spite of itself, there was always associated an element +of pity. The problem which he desired to solve, though larger in scale, +was essentially the same as that with which Solon and Peisistratus had +dealt successfully. At bottom the issue lay between private property, +considered as the basis of family life for the great bulk of the +community, with personal independence, and pauperism, with the _annona_ +or slavery. In 133 B.C. Tiberius Gracchus became tribune. To expand +society on the lines of private property, he proposed the enforcement of +"the Licinian Rogations"; the rich were to give up all beyond their +rightful 312 acres, and the remainder was to be distributed amongst the +poor. The measure was carried by the use of arbitrary powers, and +followed by the death of Tiberius at the hands of the patricians, the +dominant clan-families. In 132 B.C. Caius Gracchus took up his brother's +quarrel, and adopting, it would seem, a large scheme of political and +social reform, proposed measures for emigration and for relief. The +former failed; the latter apparently were acceptable to all parties, and +continued in force long after C. Gracchus had been slain (121 B.C.). +Already, at times, there had been sales of corn at cheap prices. Now, by +the _lex frumentaria_ he gave the citizens--those who had the Roman +franchise--the right to purchase corn every month from the public stores +at rather more than half-price, 6-1/3 _asses_ or about 3.3d. the peck. +This, the fatal alternative, was accepted, and henceforth there was no +possibility of a reversion to better social conditions. + +The provisioning of Rome was, like that of Athens, a public service. +There were public granaries (267 B.C.), and there was a quaestor to +supervise the transit of the corn from Sicily and, later, from Spain and +Africa, and an elaborate administration for collecting and conveying it. +The _lex frumentaria_ of Caius was followed by the _lex Octavia_, +restricting the monthly sale to citizens settled in Rome, and to 5 +_modii_ (1-1/4 bushels). According to Polybius, the amount required for +the maintenance of a slave was 5 _modii_ a month, and of a soldier 4. +Hence the allowance, if continued at this rate, was practically a +maintenance. The _lex Clodia_ (58 B.C.) made the corn gratuitous to the +_plebs urbana_. + + Julius Caesar (5 B.C.) found the number of recipients to be 320,000, + and reduced them to 150,000. In Augustus's time they rose to 200,000. + There seems, however, to be some confusion as to the numbers. From the + _Ancyranum Monumentum_ it appears that the _plebs urbana_ who received + Augustus's dole of 60 _denarii_ (37s. 6d.) in his eighth consulship + numbered 320,000. And (Suet. _Caes._ 41) it seems likely that in + Caesar's time the lists of the recipients were settled by lot; + further, probably only those whose property was worth less than + 400,000 _sesterces_ (L3541) were placed on the lists. It is probable, + therefore, that 320,000 represents a maximum, reduced for purposes of + administration to a smaller number (a) by a property test, and (b) by + some kind of scrutiny. The names of those certified to receive the + corn were exposed on bronze tablets. They were then called _aerarii_. + They had tickets (_tesserae_) for purposes of identification, and they + received the corn or bread in the time of the republic at the temple + of Ceres, and afterwards at steps in the several (14) regions or wards + of Rome. Hence the bread was called _panis gradilis_. In the middle of + the 2nd century there were state bakeries, and wheaten loaves were + baked for the people perhaps two or three times a week. In Aurelian's + time (A.D. 270) the flour was of the best, and the weight of the loaf + (one _uncia_) was doubled. To the gifts of bread were added pork, oil + and possibly wine; clothes also--white tunics with long sleeves--were + distributed. In the period after Constantine (cf. _Theod. Code_, xiv. + 15) three classes received the bread--the palace people (_palatini_), + soldiers (_militares_), and the populace (_populares_). No + distribution was permitted except at the steps. Each class had its own + steps in the several wards. The bread at one step could not be + transferred to another step. Each class had its own supply. There were + arrangements for the exchange of stale loaves. Against + misappropriation there were (law of Valentinian and Valens) severe + penalties. If a public prosecutor (_actor_), a collector of the + revenue (_procurator_), or the slave of a senator obtained bread with + the cognizance of the clerk, or by bribery, the slave, if his master + was not a party to the offence, had to serve in the state bakehouse in + chains. If the master were involved, his house was confiscated. If + others who had not the right obtained the bread, they and their + property were placed at the service of the bakery (_pistrini exercitio + subjugari_). If they were poor (_pauperes_) they were enslaved, and + the delinquent client was to be put to death. + +The right to relief was dependent on the right of citizenship. Hence it +became hereditary and passed from father to son. It was thus in the +nature of a continuous endowed charity, like the well-known family +charity of Smith, for instance, in which a large property was left to +the testator's descendants, of whom it was said that as a result no +Smith of that family could fail to be poor. But the _annona civica_ was +an endowed charity, affecting not a single family, but the whole +population. Later, when Constantinople was founded, the right to relief +was attached to new houses as a premium on building operations. Thus it +belonged not to persons only, but also to houses, and became a species +of "immovable" property, passing to the purchaser of the house or +property, as would the adscript slaves. The bread followed the house +(_aedes sequantur annonae_). If, on the transfer of a house, bread +claims were lost owing to the absence of claimants, they were +transferred to the treasury (_fisci viribus vindicentur_). But the +savage law of Valentinian, referred to above, shows to what lengths such +a system was pushed. Early in its history the _annona civica_ attracted +many to Rome in the hope of living there without working. For the 400 +years since the _lex Clodia_ was enacted constant injury had been done +by it, and now (A.D. 364) people had to be kept off the civic bounty as +if they were birds of prey, and the very poor man (_pauperrimus_), who +had no civic title to the food, if he obtained it by fraud, was +enslaved. Thus, in spite of the abundant state relief, there had grown +up a class of the very poor, the Gentiles of the state, who were outside +the sphere of its ministrations. The _annona civica_ was introduced not +only into Constantinople, but also into Alexandria, with baleful +results, and into Antioch. When Constantinople was founded the +corn-ships of Africa sailed there instead of to Rome. On charitable +relief, as we shall see, the _annona_ has had a long-continued and fatal +influence. + + 1. If the government considers itself responsible for provisioning the + people it must fix the price of necessaries, and to meet distress or + popular clamour it will lower the price. It becomes thus a large + relief society for the supply of corn. In a time of distress, when the + corn laws were a matter of moment in England, a similar system was + adopted in the well-known Speenhamland scale (1795), by which a larger + or lesser allowance was given to a family according to its size and + the prevailing price of corn. A maintenance was thus provided for the + able-bodied and their families, at least in part, without any + equivalent in labour; though in England labour was demanded of the + applicant, and work was done more or less perfunctorily. In amount the + Roman dole seems to have been equivalent to the allowance provided for + a slave, but the citizen received it without having to do any labour + task. He received it as a statutory right. There could hardly be a + more effective method for degrading his manhood and denaturalizing his + family. He was also a voter, and the alms appealed to his weakness and + indolence; and the fear of displeasing him and losing his vote kept + him, socially, master of the situation, to his own ruin. If in England + now relief were given to able-bodied persons who retained their votes, + this evil would also attach to it. + + 2. The system obliged the hard-working to maintain the idlers, while + it continually increased their number. The needy teacher in Juvenal, + instead of a fee, is put off with a _tessera_, to which, not being a + citizen, he has no right. "The foreign reapers," it was said, "filled + Rome's belly and left Rome free for the stage and the circus." The + freeman had become a slave--"stupid and drowsy, to whom days of ease + had become habitual, the games, the circus, the theatre, dice, + eating-houses and brothels." Here are all the marks of a degraded + pauperism. + + 3. The system led the way to an ever more extensive slavery. The man + who could not live on his dole and other scrapings had the alternative + of becoming a slave. "Better have a good master than live so + distressfully"; and "If I were free I should live at my own risk; now + I live at yours," are the expressions suggestive of the natural + temptations of slavery in these conditions. The escaped slaves + returned to "their manger." The _annona_ did not prevent destitution. + It was a half-way house to slavery. + + 4. The effect on agriculture, and proportionally on commerce + generally, was ruinous. The largest corn-market, Rome, was withdrawn + from the trade--the market to which all the necessaries of life would + naturally have gravitated; and the supply of corn was placed in the + hands of producers at a few centres where it could be grown most + cheaply--Sicily, Spain and Africa. The Italian farmer had to turn his + attention to other produce--the cultivation of the olive and the vine, + and cattle and pig rearing. The greater the extension of the system + the more impossible was the regeneration of Rome. The Roman citizen + might well say that he was out of work, for, so far as the land was + concerned, the means of obtaining a living were placed out of his + reach. While not yet unfitted for the country by life in the town, he + at least could not "return to the land." + + 5. The method was the outcome of distress and political hopelessness. + Yet the rich also adopted it in distributing their private largess. + Cicero (_De Off._ ii. 16) writes as though he recognized its evil; but + though he expresses his disapprobation of the popular shows upon which + the _aediles_ spent large sums, he argues that something must be done + "if the people demand it, and if good men, though they do not wish it, + assent to it." Thus in a guarded manner he approves a distribution of + food--a free breakfast in the streets of Rome. One bad result of the + _annona_ was that it encouraged a special and ruinous form of + charitable munificence. + + + The sportula. + +The _sportula_ was a form of charity corresponding to the _annona +civica_. Charity and poor relief run on parallel lines, and when the one +is administered without discrimination, little discrimination will +usually be exercised in the other. It was the charity of the patron of +the chiefs of the clan-families to their clients. Between them it was +natural that a relation, partly hospitable, partly charitable, should +grow up. The clients who attended the patron at his house were invited +to dine at his table. The patron, as Juvenal describes him, dined +luxuriously and in solitary grandeur, while the guests put up with what +they could get; or, as was usual under the empire, instead of the dinner +(_coena recta_) a present of food was given at the outer vestibule of +the house to clients who brought with them baskets (_sportula_) to carry +off their food, or even charcoal stoves to keep it warm. There was +endless trickery. The patron (or almoner who acted for him) tried to +identify the applicant, fearing lest he might get the dole under a false +name; and at each mansion was kept a list of persons, male and female, +entitled to receive the allowance. "The pilferer grabs the dole" +(_sportulam furunculus captat_) was a proverb. The _sportula_ was a +charity sufficiently important for state regulation. Nero (A.D. 54) +reduced it to a payment in money (100 _quadrantes_, about 1s.). Domitian +(A.D. 81) restored the custom of giving food. Subsequently both +practices--gifts in money and in food--appear to have been continued. + +In these conditions the Roman family steadily decayed. Its "old +discipline" was neglected; and Tacitus (A.D. 75), in his dialogue on +Oratory, wrote (c. xxviii.) what might be called its epitaph. Of the +general decline the laws of Caesar and Augustus to encourage marriage +and to reward the parents of large families are sufficient evidence. + +The destruction of the working-class family must have been finally +achieved by the imperial control of the _collegia_. + + + The collegia. + + In old Rome there were corporations of craftsmen for common worship, + and for the maintenance of the traditions of the craft. These + corporations were ruined by slave labour, and becoming secret + societies, in the time of Augustus were suppressed. Subsequently they + were reorganized, and gave scope for much friendliness. They often + existed in connexion with some great house, whose chief was their + patron and whose household gods they worshipped. The gilds of the + poor, or rather of the lower orders (_collegia tenuiorum_), consisted + of artisans and others, and slaves also, who paid monthly + contributions to a common fund to meet the expenses of worship, common + meals, and funerals. They were not in Italy, it would seem (J.P. + Waltzing, _Etudes histor. sur les corporations professionnelles chez + les Romains_, i. 145, 300), though they may have been in Asia Minor + and elsewhere, societies for mutual help generally. They were chiefly + funeral benefit societies. Under Severus (A.D. 192) the _collegia_ + were extended and more closely organized as industrial bodies. They + were protected and controlled, as in England in the 15th century the + municipalities affected the cause of the craft gilds and ended by + controlling them. Industrial disorder was thus prevented; the + government were able to provide the supplies required in Rome and the + large cities with less risk and uncertainty; and the workmen employed + in trade, especially the carrying trade, became almost slaves. In the + 2nd century, and until the invasions, there were three groups of + _collegia_: (1) those engaged in various state manufactures; (2) those + engaged in the provision trade; and (3) the free trades, which + gradually lapsed into a kind of slavery. If the members of these gilds + fled they were brought back by force. Parents had to keep to the trade + to which they belonged; their children had to succeed them in it. A + slave caste indeed had been formed of the once free workmen. + + + Pueri alimentarii. + +As a charitable protest against the destruction of children, in the +midst of a broken family life, and increasing dependence and poverty, a +special institution was founded (to use the Scottish word) for the +"alimentation" of the children of citizens, at first by voluntary +charity and afterwards by imperial bounty. + + Nerva and Trajan adopted the plan. Pliny (_Ep._ vii. 18) refers to it. + There was a desire to give more lasting and certain help than an + allotment of food to parents. A list of children, whose names were on + the relief tables at Rome, was accordingly drawn up, and a special + service for their maintenance established. Two instances are recorded + in inscriptions--one at Veleia, one at Beneventum. The emperor lent + money for the purpose at a low percentage--2-1/2 or 5% as against the + usual 10 or 12. At Veleia his loan amounted to 1,044,000 + _sesterces_--about L8156, and 51 of the local landed proprietors + mortgaged land, valued at 13 or 14 million _sesterces_, as security + for the debt. The interest on the emperor's money at 5% was paid into + the municipal treasury, and out of it the children were relieved. The + figures seem small; at Veleia 300 children were assisted, of whom 36 + were girls. The annual interest at 5% amounted to nearly L408, which + divided among 300 gives about 27s. a head. The figures suggest that + the money served as a charitable supplementation of the citizens' + relief in direct aid of the children. Apparently the scheme was widely + adopted. Curators of high position were the patrons; procurators acted + as inspectors over large areas; and _quaestores alimentarii_ undertook + the local management. Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138), and Marcus Aurelius + (A.D. 160), and subsequently Severus (A.D. 192) established these + bursaries for children in the names of their wives. In the 3rd century + the system fell into disorder. There were large arrears of payments, + and in the military anarchy that ensued it came to an end. It is of + special interest, as indicating a new feeling of responsibility + towards children akin to the humane Stoicism of the Antonines, and an + attempt to found, apart from temples or _collegia_, what was in the + nature of a public endowed charity. + + +PART IV.--JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN CHARITY + +With Christianity two elements came into fusion, the Jewish and the +Greco-Roman. To trace this fusion and its results it is necessary to +describe the Jewish system of charity, and to compare it with that of +the early Christian church, to note the theory of love or friendship in +Aristotle as representing Greek thought, and of charity in St Paul as +representing Christian thought, and to mark the Roman influences which +moulded the administration of Ambrose and Gregory and Western +Christianity generally. + + + Hebrew charity. + +In the early history of the Hebrews we find the family, clan-family and +tribe. With the Exodus (probably about 1390 B.C.) comes the law of Moses +(cf. Kittel, _Hist. of the Hebrews_, Eng. trans. i. 244), the central +and permanent element of Jewish thought. We may compare it to the +"commandments" of Hesiod. There is the recognition of the family and its +obligations: "Honour thy father and mother"; and honour included help +and support. There is also the law essential to family unity: "Thou +shalt not commit adultery"; and as to property there is imposed the +regulation of desire: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house." +Maimonides (A.D. 1135), true to the old conception of the family (x. +16), calls the support of adult children, "after one is exempt from +supporting them," and the support of a father or mother by a child, +"great acts of charity; since kindred are entitled to the first +consideration." To relief of the stranger the Decalogue makes no +reference, but in the Hebraic laws it is constantly pressed; and the +Levitical law (xix. 18) goes further. It first applies a new standard to +social life: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This thought is +the outcome of a deep ethical fervour--the element which the Jews +brought into the work of charity. In Judges and Joshua, the "Homeric" +books of the Old Testament, the Hebrews appear as a passionately fierce +and cruel people. Subsequently against their oppression of the poor the +prophets protested with a vehemence as great as the evil was intense; +and their denunciations remained part of the national literature, a +standing argument that life without charity is nothing worth. Thus +schooled and afterwards tutored into discipline by the tribulation of +the exile (587 B.C.), they turned their fierceness into a zeal, which, +as their literature shows, was as fervent in ethics as it was in +religion and ceremonial. In the services at the synagogues, which +supplemented and afterwards took the place of the Temple, the +Commandments were constantly repeated and the Law and the Prophets read; +and as the Jews of the Dispersion increased in number, and especially +after the destruction of Jerusalem, the synagogues became centres of +social and charitable co-operation. Thus rightly would a Jewish rabbi +say, "On three things the world is stayed: on the Thorah (or the law), +and on worship, and on the bestowal of kindness." Also there was on the +charitable side an indefinite power of expansion. Rigid in its +ceremonial, there it was free. Within the nation, as the Prophets, and +after the exile, as the Psalms show, there was the hope of a universal +religion, and with it of a universally recognized charity. St Paul +accentuated the prohibitive side of the law and protested against it; +but, even while he was so doing, stimulated by the Jewish discipline, he +was moving unfettered towards new conceptions of charity and +life--charity as the central word of the Christian life, and life as a +participation in a higher existence--the "body of Christ." + +To mark the line of development, we could compare--1. The family among +the Jews and in the early Christian church; 2. The sources of relief and +the tithe, the treatment of the poor and their aid, and the assistance +of special classes of poor; 3. The care of strangers; and, lastly, we +would consider the theory of almsgiving, friendship or love, and +charity. + +1. As elsewhere, property is the basis of the family. Wife and children +are the property of the father. But the wife is held in high respect. In +the post-exilian period the virtuous wife is represented as laborious as +a Roman matron, a "lady bountiful" to the poor, and to her husband wife +and friend alike. Monogamy without concubinage is now the rule--is taken +for granted as right. There is no "exposure of children." The slaves are +kindly treated, as servants rather than slaves--though in Roman times +and afterwards the Jews were great slave-traders. The household is not +allowed to eat the bread of idleness. "Six days," it was said, "_must_ +[not _mayest_] thou work." "Labour, if poor; but find work, if rich." +"Whoever does not teach his son business or work, teaches him robbery." +In Job xxxi., a chapter which has been called "an inventory of late Old +Testament morality," we find the family life developed side by side with +the life of charity. In turn are mentioned the relief of the widow, the +fatherless and the stranger--the classification of dependents in the +Christian church; and the whole chapter is a justification of the homely +charities of a good family. "The Jewish religion, more especially in the +old and orthodox form, is essentially a family religion" (C.G. +Montefiore, _Religion of Ancient Hebrews_). + +In the early documents of the Church the fifth commandment is made the +basis of family life (cf. Eph. vi. 1; _Apost. Const._ ii. 32, iv. 11--if +we take the first six books of the _Apost. Const._ as a composite +production before A.D. 300, representing Judaeo-Christian or Eastern +church thought). But two points are prominent. Duties are insisted on as +reciprocal (cf. especially St Paul's Epistles), as, e.g. between husband +and wife, parent and child, master and servant. Charity is mutual; the +family is a circle of reciprocal duties and charities. This implies a +principle of the greatest importance in relation to the social utility +of charity. Further reference will be made to it later. Next the "thou +shalt love thy neighbour" is translated from its position as one among +many sayings to the chief place as a rule of life. In the _Didache_ or +_Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (Jewish-Christian, c. 90-120 A.D.) the +first commandment in "the way of life" is adapted from St Matthew's +Gospel thus: "First, thou shalt love God who made thee; secondly, thy +neighbour as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst not have +done to thee, neither do thou to another." A principle is thus applied +which touches all social relations in which the "self" can be made the +standard of judgment. Of this also later. To touch on other points of +comparison: the earlier documents seem to ring with a reiterated cry for +a purer family life (cf. the second, the negative, group of commandments +in the _Didache_, and the judgment of the apocalyptic writings, such as +the Revelations of Peter, &c.); and, sharing the Jewish feeling, the +riper conscience of the Christian community formulates and accepts the +injunction to preserve infant life at every stage. It advocates, indeed, +the Jewish purity of family life with a missionary fervour, and it makes +of it a condition of church membership. The Jewish rule of labour is +enforced (_Ap. Const._ ii. 63). If a stranger settle (_Didache_, xii. 3) +among the brotherhood, "let him work and eat." And the father +(_Constit._ iv. 11) is to teach the children "such trades as are +agreeable and suitable to their need." And the charities to the widow, +the fatherless, are organized on Jewish lines. + +2. The sources of relief among the Jews were the three gifts of corn: +(1) the corners of the field (cf. Lev. xix. &c.), amounting to a +sixtieth part of it; (2) the gleanings, a definite minimum dropped in +the process of reaping (Maimonides, _Laws of the Hebrews relating to the +Poor_, iv. 1); (3) corn overlooked and left behind. So it was with the +grapes and with all crops that were harvested, as opposed, e.g. to +figs, that were gathered from time to time. These gifts were divisible +three times in the day, so as to suit the convenience of the poor (Maim. +ii. 17), and the poor had a right to them. They are indeed a poor-rate +paid in kind such as in early times would naturally spring up among an +agricultural people. Another gift "out of the seed of the earth," is the +tithe. In the post-exilian period the septenniad was in force. Each year +a fiftieth part of the produce (Maim. vi. 2, and Deut. xviii. 4) was +given to the priest (the class which in the Jewish state was supported +by the community). Of the remainder one-tenth went to the Levite, and +one-tenth in three years of the septennium was retained for pilgrimage +to Jerusalem, in two given to the poor. In the seventh year "all things +were in common." Supplementing these gifts were alms to all who asked; +"and he who gave less than a tenth of his means was a man of evil eye" +(Maim. vii. 5). All were to give alms, even the poor themselves who were +in receipt of relief. Refusal might be punished with stripes at the hand +of the Sanhedrim. At the Temple alms for distribution to the worthy poor +were placed by worshippers in the cell of silence; and it is said that +in Palestine at meal times the table was open to all comers. As the +synagogues extended, and possibly after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), +the collections of alms was further systematized. There were two +collections. In each city alms of the box or chest (_kupha_) were +collected for the poor of the city on each Sabbath eve (later, monthly +or thrice a year), and distributed in money or food for seven days. Two +collected, three distributed. Three others gathered and distributed +daily alms of the basket (_tamchui_). These were for strangers and +wayfarers--casual relief "for the poor of the whole world." In the +Jewish synagogue community from early times the president (_parnass_) +and treasurer were elected annually with seven heads of the congregation +(see Abraham's _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, p. 54), and sometimes +special officers for the care of the poor. A staff of almoners was thus +forthcoming. In addition to these collections were the _pruta_ given to +the poor before prayers (Maim. x. 15), and moneys gathered to help +particular cases (cf. _Jewish Life_, p. 322) by circular letter. There +were also gifts at marriages and funerals; and fines imposed for breach +of the communal ordinances were reserved for the poor. The distinctive +feature of the Jewish charity was the belief that "the poor would not +cease out of the land," and that therefore on charitable grounds a +permanent provision should be made for them--a poor-rate, in fact, +subject to stripes and distraint, if necessary (Maim. vii. 10; and +generally cf. articles on "Alms" and "Charity" in the _Jewish +Encyclopaedia_). + + If we compare this with the early church we find the following sources + of relief: (1) The Eucharistic offerings, some consumed at the time, + some carried home, some reserved for the absent (see Hatch, _Early + Church_, p. 40). The ministration, like the Eucharist, was connected + with the love feast, and was at first daily (Acts ii. 42, vi. 1, and + the _Didache_). (2) Freewill offerings and first-fruits and voluntary + tithes (_Ap. Con._ ii. 25) brought to the bishop and used for the + poor--orphans, widows, the afflicted and strangers in distress, and + for the clergy, deaconesses, &c. (3) Collections in churches on + Sundays and week-days, alms-boxes and gifts to the poor by worshippers + as they entered church; also collections for special purposes (cf. for + Christians at Jerusalem). Apart from "the corners," &c., the sources + of relief in the Christian and Jewish churches are the same. The + separate Jewish tithe for the poor, which (Maim. vi. II, 13) might be + used in part by the donor as personal charity, disappears. A voluntary + tithe remains, in part used for the poor. We do not hear of stripes + and distraint, but in both bodies there is a penitential system and + excommunication (cf. _Jewish Life_, p. 52), and in both a settlement + of disputes within the body (Clem. _Hov_. iii. 67). In both, too, + there is the abundant alms provided in the belief of the permanence of + poverty and the duty of giving to all who ask. As to administration in + the early church (Acts vi. 3), we find seven deacons, the number of + the local Jewish council; and later there were in Rome seven + ecclesiastical relief districts, each in charge of a deacon. The + deacon acted as the minister of the bishop (_Ep._ Clem, to Jam. xii.), + reporting to him and giving as he dictated (_Ap. Con._ ii. 30, 31). He + at first combined disciplinary powers with charitable. The presbyters + also (Polycarp, _Ad Phil._ 6, A.D. 69-155), forming (Hatch, p. 69) a + kind of bishop's council, visited the sick, &c. The bishop was + president and treasurer. The bishop was thus the trustee of the poor. + By reason of the churches' care of orphans, responsibilities of + trusteeship also devolved on him. The temples were in pagan times + depositories of money. Probably the churches were also. + +3. Great stress is laid by the Jews on the duty of gentleness to the +poor (Maim. x. 5). The woman was to have first attention (Maim. vi. 13). +If the applicant was hungry he was to be fed, and then examined to learn +whether he was a deceiver (Maim. vii. 6). Assistance was to be given +according to the want--clothes, household things, a wife or a +husband--and according to the poor man's station in life. For widows and +orphans the "gleanings" were left. Both are the recognized objects of +charity (Maim. x. 16,17). "The poor and the orphan were to be employed +in domestic affairs in preference to servants." The dower was a constant +form of help. The ransoming of slaves took precedence of relief to the +poor. The highest degree of alms-deed (Maim. x. 7) was "to yield support +to him who is cast down, either by means of gifts, or by loan, or by +commerce, or by procuring for him traffic with others. Thus his hand +becometh strengthened, exempt from the necessity of soliciting succour +from any created being." + +If we compare the Christian methods we find but slight difference. The +absoluteness of "Give to him that asketh" is in the _Didache_ checked by +the "Woe to him that receives: for if any receives having need, he shall +be guiltless, but he that has no need shall give account, ... and coming +into distress ... he shall not come out thence till he hath paid the +last farthing." It is the duty of the bishop to know who is most worthy +of assistance (_Ap. Con._ ii. 3, 4); and "if any one is in want by +gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve assistance, or +to be esteemed a member of the church." The widow assumes the position +not only of a recipient of alms, but a church worker. Some were a +private charge, some were maintained by the church. The recognized +"widow" was maintained: she was to be sixty years of age (cf. 1 Tim, v. +9 and _Ap. Con._ iii. 1), and was sometimes tempted to become a +bedes-woman and gossipy pauper, if one may judge from the texts. +Remarriage was not approved. Orphans were provided for by members of the +churches. The virgins formed another class, as, contrary to the earlier +feeling, marriage came to be held a state of lesser sanctity. They too +seem to have been also, in part at least, church workers. Thus round the +churches grew up new groups of recognized dependents; but the older +theory of charity was broad and practical--akin to that of Maimonides. +"Love all your brethren, performing to orphans the part of parents, to +widows that of husbands, affording them sustenance with all kindliness, +arranging marriages for those who are in their prime, and for those who +are without a profession the means of necessary support through +employment: giving work to the artificer and alms to the incapable" +(_Ep._ Clem, to James viii.). + +4. The Jews in pre-Christian and Talmudic times supported the stranger +or wayfarer by the distribution of food (_tamchui_); the strangers were +lodged in private houses, and there were inns provided at which no money +was taken (cf. _Jewish Life_, p. 314). Subsequently, besides these +methods, special societies were formed "for the entertainment of the +resident poor and of strangers." There were commendatory letters also. +These conditions prevailed in the Christian church also. The +_Xenodocheion_, coming by direct succession alike from Jewish and Greek +precedents, was the first form of Christian hospital both for strangers +and for members of the Christian churches. In the Christian community +the endowment charity comes into existence in the 4th century, among the +Jews not till the 13th. The charities of the synagogue without separate +societies sufficed. + + + Greek, Jewish and Christian thought. + +We may now compare the conceptions of Jews and Christians on charity +with those of the Greeks. There are two chief exponents of the diverse +views--Aristotle and St Paul; for to simplify the issues we refer to +them only. Thoughts such as Aristotle's, recast by the Stoic Panaetius +(185-112 B.C.), and used by Cicero in his _De Officiis_, became in the +hands of St Ambrose arguments for the direction of the clergy in the +founding of the medieval church; and in the 13th century Aristotle +reasserts his influence through such leaders of medieval thought as St +Thomas Aquinas. St Paul's chapters on charity, not fully appreciated +and understood, one is inclined to think, have perhaps more than any +other words prevented an absolute lapse into the materialism of +almsgiving. After him we think of St Francis, the greatest of a group of +men who, seeking reality in life, revived charity; but to the theory of +charity it might almost be said that since Aristotle and St Paul nothing +has been added until we come to the economic and moral issues which Dr +Chalmers explained and illustrated. + +The problem turns on the conception (1) of purpose, (2) of the self, and +(3) of charity, love or friendship as an active force in social life. To +the Greek, or at least to Greek philosophic thought, purpose was the +measure of goodness. To have no purpose was, so far as the particular +act was concerned, to be simply irrational; and the less definite the +purpose the more irrational the act. This conception of purpose was the +touchstone of family and social life, and of the civic life also. In no +sphere could goodness be irrational. To say that it was without purpose +was to say that it was without reality. So far as the actor was +concerned, the main purpose of right action was the good of the soul +([Greek: psyche]); and by the soul was meant the better self, "the +ruling part" acting in harmony with every faculty and function of the +man. With faculties constantly trained and developed, a higher life was +gradually developed in the soul. We are thus, it might be said, what we +become. The gates of the higher life are within us. The issue is whether +we will open them and pass in. + +Consistent with this is the social purpose. Love or friendship is not +conceived by Aristotle except in relation to social life. Society is +based on an interchange of services. This interchange in one series of +acts we call justice; in another friendship or love. A man cannot be +just unless he has acquired a certain character or habit of mind; and +hence no just man will act without knowledge, previous deliberation and +definite purpose. So also will a friend fulfil these conditions in his +acts of love or friendship. In the love existing between good men there +is continuance and equality of service; but in the case of benefactor +and benefited, in deeds of charity, in fact, there is no such equality. +The satisfaction is on one side but often not on the other. (The dilemma +is one that is pressed, though not satisfactorily, in Cicero and +Seneca.) The reason for this will be found, Aristotle suggests, in the +feeling of satisfaction which men experience in action. We realize +ourselves in our deeds--throw ourselves into them, as people say; and +this is happiness. What we make we like: it is part of us. On the other +hand, in the person benefited there may be no corresponding action, and +in so far as there is not, there is no exchange of service or the +contentment that arises from it. The "self" of the recipient is not +drawn out. On the contrary, he may be made worse, and feel the +uneasiness and discontent that result from this. In truth, to complete +Aristotle's argument, the good deed on one side, as it represents the +best self of the benefactor, should on the other side draw out the best +self of the person benefited. And where there is not ultimately this +result, there is not effective friendship or charity, and consequently +there is no personal or social satisfaction. The point may be pushed +somewhat further. In recent developments of charitable work the term +"friendly visitor" is applied to persons who endeavour to help families +in distress on the lines of associated charity. It represents the work +of charity in one definite light. So far as the relation is mutual, it +cannot at the outset be said to exist. The charitable friend wishes to +befriend another; but at first there may be no reciprocal feeling of +friendship on the other's part--indeed, such a feeling may never be +created. The effort to reciprocate kindness by becoming what the friend +desires may be too painful to make. Or the two may be on different +planes, one not really befriending, but giving without intelligence, the +other not really endeavouring to change his nature, but receiving help +solely with a view to immediate advantage. The would-be befriender may +begin "despairing of no man," expecting nothing in return; but if, in +fact, there is never any kind of return, the friendship actually fails +of its purpose, and the "friend's" satisfaction is lost, except in that +he may "have loved much." In any case, according to this theory +friendship, love and charity represent the mood from which spring social +acts, the value of which will depend on the knowledge, deliberation and +purpose with which they are done, and accordingly as they acquire value +on this account will they give lasting satisfaction to both parties. + +St Paul's position is different. He seems at first sight to ignore the +state and social life. He lays stress on motive force rather than on +purpose. He speaks as an outsider to the state, though technically a +citizen. His mind assumes towards it the external Judaic position, as +though he belonged to a society of settlers ([Greek: paroikoi]). Also, +as he expects the millennium, social life and its needs are not +uppermost in his thoughts. He considers charity in relation to a +community of fellow-believers--drawn together in congregations. His +theory springs from this social base, though it over-arches life itself. +He is intent on creating a spiritual association. He conceives of the +spirit ([Greek: pneuma]) as "an immaterial personality." It transcends +the soul ([Greek: psyche]), and is the Christ life, the ideal and +spiritual life. Christians participate in it, and they thus become part +of "the body of Christ," which exists by virtue of love--love akin to +the ideal life, [Greek: agape]. The word represents the love that is +instinct with reverence, and not love [Greek: philia] which may have in +it some quality of passion. This love is the life of "the body of +Christ." Therefore no act done without it is a living act--but, on the +contrary, must be dead--an act in which no part of the ideal life is +blended. On the individual act or the purpose no stress is laid. It is +assumed that love, because it is of this intense and exalted type, will +find the true purpose in the particular act. And, when the expectation +of the millennium passed away, the theory of this ideal charity remained +as a motive force available for whatever new conditions, spiritual or +social, might arise. Nevertheless, no sooner does this charity touch +social conditions, than the necessity asserts itself of submitting to +the limitations which knowledge, deliberation and purpose impose. This +view had been depreciated or ignored by Christians, who have been +content to rely upon the strength of their motives, or perhaps have not +realized what the Greeks understood, that society was a natural organism +(Arist. _Pol._ 1253A), which develops, fails or prospers in accordance +with definite laws. Hence endless failure in spite of some success. For +love, whether we idealize it as [Greek: agape] or consider it a social +instinct as [Greek: philia], cannot be love at all unless it quickens +the intelligence as much as it animates the will. It cannot, except by +some confusion of thought, be held to justify the indulgence of emotion +irrespective of moral and social results. Yet, though this fatal error +may have dominated thought for a long time, it is hardly possible to +attribute it to St Paul's theory of charity when the very practical +nature of Judaism and early Christianity is considered. In his view the +misunderstanding could not arise. And to create a world or "body" of men +and women linked together by love, even though it be outside the normal +life of the community, was to create a new form of religious +organization, and to achieve for it (so far as it was achieved) what, +_mutatis mutandis_, Aristotle held to be the indispensable condition of +social life, friendship ([Greek: philia]), "the greatest good of +states," for "Socrates and all the world declare," he wrote, that "the +unity of the state" is "created by friendship" (Arist. _Pol._ ii. 1262 +b). + + It should, however, be considered to what extent charity in the + Christian church was devoid of social purpose, (1) The Jewish + conceptions of charity passed, one might almost say, in their + completeness into the Christian church. Prayer, the petition and the + purging of the mind, fasting, the humiliation of the body, and alms, + as part of the same discipline, the submissive renunciation of + possessions--all these formed part of the discipline that was to + create the religious mood. Alms henceforth become a definite part of + the religious discipline and service. Humility and poverty hereafter + appear as yoked virtues, and many problems of charity are raised in + regard to them. The non-Christian no less than the Christian world + appreciated more and more the need of self-discipline ([Greek: + askesis]); and it seems as though in the first two centuries A.D. + those who may have thought of reinvigorating society searched for the + remedy rather in the preaching and practice of temperance than in the + application of ideas that were the outcome of the observation of + social or economic conditions. Having no object of this kind as its + mark, almsgiving took the place of charity, and, as Christianity + triumphed, the family life, instead of reviving, continued to decay, + while the virtues of the discipline of the body, considered apart from + social life, became an end in themselves, and it was desired rather to + annihilate instinct than to control it. Possibly this was a necessary + phase in a movement of progress, but however that be, charity, as St + Paul understood it, had in it no part. (2) But the evil went farther. + Jewish religious philosophy is not elaborated as a consistent whole by + any one writer. It is rather a miscellany of maxims; and again and + again, as in much religious thought, side issues assume the principal + place. The direct effect of the charitable act, or almsgiving, is + ignored. Many thoughts and motives are blended. The Jews spoke of the + poor as the means of the rich man's salvation. St Chrysostom + emphasizes this: "If there were no poor, the greater part of your sins + would not be removed: they are the healers of your wounds" (_Hom._ + xiv., Timothy, &c., St Cyprian on works and alms). Alms are the + medicine of sin. And the same thought is worked into the penitential + system. Augustine speaks of "penance such as fasting, almsgiving and + prayer for breaches of the Decalogue" (Reichel, _Manual of Canon Law_, + p. 23); and many other references might be cited. "Pecuniary penances + (Ib. 154), in so far as they were relaxations of, or substitutes for, + bodily penances, were permitted because of the greater good thereby + accruing to others" (and in this case they were--A.D. 1284--legally + enforceable under English statute law). The penitential system takes + for granted that the almsgiving is good for others and puts a premium + on it, even though in fact it were done, not with any definite object, + but really for the good of the penitent. Thus almsgiving becomes + detached from charity on the one side and from social good on the + other. Still further is it vulgarized by another confusion of thought. + It is considered that the alms are paid to the credit of the giver, + and are realized as such by him in the after-world; or even that by + alms present prosperity may be obtained, or at least evil accident + avoided. Thus motives were blended, as indeed they now are, with the + result that the gift assumed a greater importance than the charity, by + which alone the gift should have been sanctified, and its actual + effect was habitually overlooked or treated as only partially + relevant. + + (3) The Christian maxim of "loving ([Greek: agape]) one's neighbour as + one's self" sets a standard of charity. Its relations are idealized + according as the "self" is understood; and thus the good self becomes + the measure of charity. In this sense, the nobler the self the + completer the charity; and the charity of the best men, men who love + and understand their neighbours best, having regard to their chief + good, is the best, the most effectual charity. Further, if in what we + consider "best" we give but a lesser place to social purpose or even + allow it no place at all, our "self" will have no sufficient social + aim and our charity little or no social result. For this "self," + however, religion has substituted not St Paul's conception of the + spirit ([Greek: pneuma]), but a soul, conceived as endowed with a + substantial nature, able to enjoy and suffer quasi-material rewards + and punishments in the after-life; and in so far as the safeguard of + this soul by good deeds or almsgiving has become a paramount object, + the purpose of charitable action has been translated from the actual + world to another sphere. Thus, as we have seen, the aid of the poor + has been considered not an object in itself, but as a means by which + the almsgiver effects his own ulterior purpose and "makes God his + debtor." The problem thus handled raises the question of reward and + also of punishment. Properly, from the point of view of charity, both + are excluded. We may indeed act from a complexity of motives and + expect a complexity of rewards, and undoubtedly a good act does + refresh the "self," and may as a result, though not as a reward, win + approval. But in reality reward, if the word be used at all, is + according to purpose; and the only reward of a deed lies in the + fulfilment of its purpose. In the theory of almsgiving which we are + discussing, however, act and reward are on different planes. The + reward is on that of a future life; the act related to a distressed + person here and now. The interest in the act on the doer's part lies + in its post-mortal consequences to himself, and not either wholly or + chiefly in the act itself. Nor, as the interest ends with the act--the + giving--can the intelligence be quickened by it. The questions "How? + by whom? with what object? on what plan? with what result?" receive no + detailed consideration at all. Two general results follow. In so far + as it is thus practised, almsgiving is out of sympathy with social + progress. It is indeed alien to it. Next also the self-contained, + self-sustained poverty that will have no relief and does without it, + is outside the range of its thought and understanding. On the other + hand, this almsgiving is equally incapable of influencing the weak and + the vicious; and those who are suffering from illness or trouble it + has not the width of vision to understand nor the moral energy to + support so that they shall not fall out of the ranks of the + self-supporting. It believes that "the poor" will not cease out of the + land. And indeed, however great might be the economic progress of the + people, it is not likely that the poor will cease, if the alms given + in this spirit be large enough in amount to affect social conditions + seriously one way or the other. When we measure the effects of + charity, this inheritance of divided thought and inconsistent counsels + must be given its full weight. + + + The organization of the parish and endowed charities. + +The sub-apostolic church was a congregation, like a synagogue, the +centre of a system of voluntary and personal relief, connected with the +congregational meals (or [Greek: agapai]) and the Eucharist, and under +the supervision of no single officer or bishop. Out of this was +developed a system of relief controlled by a bishop, who was assisted +chiefly by deacons or presbyters, while the [Greek: agapai], consisting +of offerings laid before the altar, still remained. Subsequently the +meal was separated from the sacrament, and became a dole of food, or +poor people's meal--e.g. in St Augustine's time in western Africa--and +it was not allowed to be served in churches (A.D. 391). As religious +asceticism became dominant, the sacrament was taken fasting; it appeared +unseemly that men and women should meet together for such purposes, and +the [Greek: agapai] fell out of repute. Simultaneously it would seem +that the parish [Greek: paroikia] became from a congregational +settlement a geographical area. + +The organization of relief at Rome illustrates both a type of +administration and a transition. St Gregory's reforms (A.D. 590) largely +developed it. The first factor in the transition was the church fund of +the second period of Christianity, about A.D. 150 to after 208 +(Tertullian, _Apol_. 39). It served as a friendly fund, was supported by +voluntary gifts, and was used to succour and to bury the poor, to help +destitute and orphaned children, old household slaves and those who +suffered for the faith. This fund is quite different from the _collegia +tenuiorum_ or _funeratica_ of the Romans, which were societies to which +the members paid stipulated sums at stated periods, for funeral benefits +or for common meals (J.P. Waltzing, _Corporations professionnelles chez +les Romains_, i. 313). It represents the charitable centre round which +the parochial system developed. That system was adopted probably about +the middle of the 3rd century, but in Rome the diaconate probably +remained centralized. At the end of the 4th century Pope Anastasius had +founded deaconries in Rome, and endowed them largely "to meet the +frequent demands of the diaconate." Gregory two hundred years later +reorganized the system. He divided the fourteen old "regions" into seven +ecclesiastical districts and thirty "titles" (or parishes). The parishes +were under the charge of sixty-six priests; the districts were +eleemosynary divisions. Each was placed under the charge of a deacon, +not (Greg. _Ep_. xi. and xxviii.) under the priests (_presbyteri +titularii_). Over the deacons was an archdeacon. It was the duty of the +deacons to care for the poor, widows, orphans, wards, and old people of +their several districts. They inquired in regard to those who were +relieved, and drew up under the guidance of the bishop the register of +poor (_matricula_). Only these received regular relief. In each district +was an hospital or office for alms, of which the deacon had charge, +assisted by a steward (or _oeconomus_). Here food was given and meals +were taken, the sick and poor were maintained, and orphan or foundling +children lodged. The churches of Rome and of other large towns possessed +considerable estates, "the patrimony of the patron saints," and to Rome +belonged estates in Sicily which had not been ravaged by the invaders, +and they continued to pay to it their tenth of corn, as they had done +since Sicily was conquered. Four times a year (Milman, _Lat. Christ_, +ii. 117) the shares of the (1) clergy and papal officers, (2) churches +and monasteries, and (3) "hospitals, deaconries and ecclesiastical wards +for the poor," were calculated in money and distributed; and the first +day in every month St Gregory distributed to the poor in kind corn, +wine, cheese, vegetables, bacon, meal, fish and oil. The sick and infirm +were superintended by persons appointed to inspect every street. Before +the pope sat down to his own meal a portion was separated and sent out +to the hungry at his door. The Roman _plebs_ had thus become the poor of +Christ (_pauperes Christi_), and under that title were being fed by +_civica annona_ and _sportula_ as their ancestors had been; and the +deaconries had superseded the "regions" and the "steps" from which the +corn had been distributed. The _hospitium_ was now part of a common +organization of relief, and the sick were visited according to Jewish +and early Christian precedent. How far kindly Romans visited the sick of +their day we do not know. Alms and the _annona_ were now, it would seem, +administered concurrently; and there was a system of poor relief +independent of the churches and their alms (unless these, organized, as +in Scottish towns, on the ancient ecclesiastical lines, were paid wholly +or in part to a central diaconate fund). Much had changed, but in much +Roman thought still prevailed. + +On lines similar to these the organization of poor relief in the middle +ages was developed. In the provinces in the later empire the senate or +_ordo decurionum_ were responsible for the public provisioning of the +towns (Fustel de Coulanges, _La Gaule romaine_, p. 251), and no doubt +the care of the poor would thus in some measure devolve on them in times +of scarcity or distress. On the religious side, on the other hand, the +churches would probably be constant centres of almsgiving and relief; +and then, further, when the Roman municipal system had decayed, each +citizen (as in Charlemagne's time, 742-814) was required to support his +own dependants--a step suggestive of much after-history. + + The change in sentiment and method could hardly be more strongly + marked than by a comparison of "the _Teaching_" with St Ambrose's + (334-397) "Duties of the Clergy" (_De Officiis Ministrorum_). For the + old instinctive obedience to a command there is now an endeavour to + find a reasoned basis for charitable action. Pauperism is recognized. + "Never was the greed of beggars greater than it is now.... They want + to empty the purses of the poor, to deprive them of the means of + support. Not content with a little, they ask for more.... With lies + about their lives they ask for further sums of money." "A method in + giving is necessary." But in the suggestions made there is little + consistency. Liberality is urged as a means of gaining the love of the + people; a new and a false issue is thus raised. The relief is neither + to be "too freely given to those who are unsuitable, nor too sparingly + bestowed upon the needy." Everywhere there is a doctrine of the mean + reflected through Cicero's _De Officiis_, the doctrine insufficiently + stated, as though it were a mean of quantity, and not that rightly + tempered mean which is the harmony of opposing moods. The poor are not + to be sent away empty. Those rejected by the church are not to be left + to the "outer darkness" of an earlier Christianity. They must be + supplied if they are in want. The methodic giver is "hard towards + none, but is free towards all." Consequently none are refused, and no + account is taken of the regeneration that may spring up in a man from + the effort towards self-help which refusal may originate. Thus after + all it appears that method means no more than this--to give sometimes + more, sometimes less, to all needy people. In the small congregational + church of early Christianity, each member of which was admitted on the + conditions of strictest discipline, the common alms of the faithful + could hardly have done much harm within the body, even though outside + they created and kept alive a horde of vagrant alms-seekers and + pretenders. Now in this department at least the church had become the + state, and discipline and a close knowledge of one's fellow-Christians + no longer safeguarded the alms. From Cicero is borrowed the thought of + "active help," which "is often grander and more noble," but the + thought is not worked out. From the social side the problem is not + understood or even stated, and hence no principle of charity or of + charitable administration is brought to light in the investigation. + Still there are rudiments of the economics of charity in the praise of + Joseph, who made the people _buy_ the corn, for otherwise "they would + have given up cultivating the soil; for he who has the use of what is + another's often neglects his own." Perhaps, as St Augustine inspired + the theology of the middle ages, we may say that St Ambrose, in the + mingled motives, indefiniteness, and kindliness of this book, stands + for the charity of the middle ages, except in so far as the movement + which culminated in the brotherhood of St Francis awakened the + intelligence of the world to wider issues. + +In Constantinople the pauperism seems to have been extreme. The corn +supplies of Africa were diverted there in great part when it became the +capital of the empire. This must have left to Rome a larger scope for +the development of the civic-religious administration of relief. St +Chrysostom's sermons give no impression of the rise of any new +administrative force, alike sagacious and dominant. The appeal to give +alms is constant, but the positive counsel on charitable work is _nil_. +The people had the _annona civica_, and imperial gifts, corn, allowances +(_salaria_) from the treasury granted for the poor and needy, and an +annual gift of 50 gold pounds (rather more than L1400) for funerals. +Besides these there were many institutions, and the begging and the +almsgiving at the church doors. "The land could not support the lazy and +valiant beggars." There were public works provided for them; if they +refused to work on them they were to be driven away. The sick might +visit the capital, but must be registered and sent back (A.D. 382); the +sturdy beggar was condemned to slavery. So little did alms effect. And +in the East monasticism seems to have produced no firmness of purpose +such as led to the organization of the church and of charitable relief +under St Gregory. + +Another movement of the Byzantine period was the establishment of the +endowed charity. The Jewish synagogue long served as a place for the +reception of strangers--a religious [Greek: xenodocheion]. Probably the +strangers referred to in "the _Teaching_" were so entertained. The table +of the bishop and a room in his house served as the guest-chamber, for +which afterwards a separate building was instituted. In the East the +Jewish charitable inn first appears, and there took place the earliest +extension of institutions. There was probably a demand for an +elaboration of institutions as social changes made themselves felt in +the churches. We have seen this in the case of the [Greek: agape]. +Similar changes would affect other branches of charitable work. The +hospital (_hospitalium_, [Greek: xenodocheion]) is defined as a "house +of God in which strangers who lack hospitality are received" (Suicerus, +_Thesaur._), a home separated from the church; and round the church, out +of the primitive [Greek: xenodocheion] of early Christian times and the +entertainment of strangers at the houses of members of the community, +would grow up other similar charities. In A.D. 321 licence was given by +Constantine to leave property to the Church. The churches were thus +placed in the same position as pagan temples, and though subsequently +Valentinian (A.D. 379) withdrew the permission on account of the +shameless legacy-hunting of the clergy, in that period much must have +been done to endow church and charitable institutions. In the same +period grew to its height the passion for monasticism. This affected the +parish and the endowed charity alike. Under its influence the deacon as +an almoner tends to disappear, except where, as in Rome, there is an +elaborate system of relief. Nor does it seem that deaconesses, widows, +and virgins continued to occupy their old position as church workers and +alms-receivers. Naturally when marriage was considered "in itself an +evil, perhaps to be tolerated, but still degrading to human nature," and +(A.D. 385) the marriage of the clergy was prohibited, men, except those +in charge of parishes, and women would join regular monastic bodies; the +deacon, as almoner, would disappear, and the "widows" and virgins would +become nuns. Thus there would grow up a large body of men and women +living segregated in institutions, and forming a leisured class able to +superintend institutional charities. And now two new officers appear, +the _eleemosynarius_ or almoner and the _oeconomus_ or steward (already +an assistant treasurer to the bishop), who superintend and distribute +the alms and manage the property of the institution. (In the first six +books of the _Apost. Constit._, A.D. 300, these officers are not +mentioned.) In these circumstances the _hospitium_ or hospital ([Greek: +xenon], [Greek: katagogion]) assumes a new character. It becomes in St +Basil's hands (A.D. 330-379) a resort not only for those who "visit it +from time to time as they pass by, but also for those who need some +treatment in illness." And round St Basil at Caesarea there springs up a +colony of institutions. Four kinds principally are mentioned in the +Theodosian code: (i) the guest-houses ([Greek: xenodocheia]); (2) the +poor-houses ([Greek: ptocheia]), where the poor (_mendici_) were housed +and maintained (the [Greek: ptocheion] was a general term also applied +to all houses for the poor, the aged, orphans and sick); (3) there were +orphanages ([Greek: orphanotropheia]) for orphans and wards; and (4) +there were houses for infant children ([Greek: brephotropheia]). Thus a +large number of endowed charities had grown up. This new movement it is +necessary to consider in connexion with the law relating to religious +property and bequests, in its bearing on the rule of the monasteries, +and in its effect on the family. + + The sacred property (_res sacra_) of Roman law consisted of things + dedicated to the gods by the pontiff with the approval of the civil + authority, in turn, the people, the senate and the emperor. Things so + consecrated were inalienable. Apart from this in the empire, the + municipalities as they grew up were considered "juristic persons" who + were entitled to receive and hold property. In a similar position were + authorized _collegia_, amongst which were the mutual aid societies + referred to above. Christians associated in these societies would + leave legacies to them. Thus (W.M. Ramsay, _Cities and Bishoprics of + Phrygia_, I. i. 119) an inscription mentions a bequest (possibly by a + Christian) to the council ([Greek: synhedrion]) of the presidents of + the dyers in purple for a ceremonial, on the condition that, if the + ceremony be neglected, the legacy shall become the property of the + gild for the care of nurslings; and in the same way a bequest is left + in Rome (Orelli 4420) for a memorial sacrifice, on the condition that, + if it be not performed, double the cost be paid to the treasury of the + corn-supply (_fisco stationis annonae_). No unauthorized _collegia_ + could receive a legacy. "The law recognized no freedom of + association." Nor could any private individual create a foundation + with separate property of its own. Property could only be left to an + authorized juristic person, being a municipality or a _collegium_. But + as the problem of poverty was considered from a broader standpoint, + there was a desire to deal with it in a more permanent manner than by + the _annona civica_. The _pueri alimentarii_ (see above) were + considered to hold their property as part of the _fiscus_ or property + of the state. Pliny (_Ep._ vii. 18), seeking a method of endowment, + transferred property in land to the steward of public property, and + then took it back again subject to a permanent charge for the aid of + children of freemen. By the law of Constantine and subsequent laws no + such devices were necessary. Widows or deaconesses, or virgins + dedicated to God, or nuns (A.D. 455), could leave bequests to a church + or memorial church (_martyrum_), or to a priest or a monk, or to the + poor in any shape or form, in writing or without it. Later (A.D. 475) + donations of every kind, "to the person of any martyr, or apostle, or + prophet, or the holy angels," for building an oratory were made valid, + even if the building were promised only and not begun; and the same + rule applied to infirmaries ([Greek: nosokomoeia]) and poor-houses + ([Greek: ptocheia])--the bishop or steward being competent to appear + as plaintiff in such cases. Later, again (A.D. 528), contributions of + 50 solidi (say about L19, 10s.) to a church, hostel ([Greek: + xenodocheion]), &c., were made legal, though not registered; while + larger sums, if registered, were also legalized. So (A.D. 529) + property might be given for "churches, hostels, poor-houses, infant + and orphan homes, and homes for the aged, or any such community" + (_consortium_), even though not registered, and such property was free + from taxation. The next year (530) it was enacted that prescription + even for 100 years did not alienate church and charitable property. + The broadest interpretation was allowed. If by will a share of an + estate was left "to Christ our Lord," the church of the city or other + locality might receive it as heir; "let these, the law says, belong to + the holy churches, so that they may become the alimony of the poor." + It was sufficient to leave property to the poor (_Corpus Juris + Civilis_, ed. Krueger, 1877, ii. 25). The bequest was legal. It went + to the legal representative of the poor--the church. Charitable + property was thus church property. The word "alms" covered both. It + was given to pious uses, and as a kind of public institution "shared + that corporate capacity which belonged to all ecclesiastical + institutions by virtue of a general rule of law." On a _pia causa_ it + was not necessary to confer a juristic personality. Other laws + preserved or regulated alienation (A.D. 477, A.D. 530), and checked + negligence or fraud in management. The clergy had thus become the + owners of large properties, with the _coloni_ and slaves upon the + estates and the allowances of civic corn (_annona civica_); and (A.D. + 357) it was stipulated that whatever they acquired by thrift or + trading should be used for the service of the poor and needy, though + what they acquired from the labour of their slaves in the labour + houses (_ergastula_) or inns (_tabernae_) might be considered a profit + of religion (_religionis lucrum_). + +Thus grew up the system of endowed charities, which with certain +modifications continued throughout the middle ages, and, though it +assumed different forms in connexion with gilds and municipalities, in +England it still retains, partially at least, its relation to the +church. It remained the system of institutional relief parallel to the +more personal almsgiving of the parish. + +Monasticism, in acting on men of strong character, endowed them with a +double strength of will, and to men like St Gregory it seemed to give +back with administrative power the relentless firmness of the Roman. In +the East it produced the turbulent soldiery of the church, in the West +its missionaries; and each mission-monastery was a centre of relief. But +whatever the services monasticism rendered, it can hardly be said to +have furthered true charity from the social standpoint, though out of +regard to some of its institutional work we may to a certain degree +qualify this judgment. The movement was almost of necessity in large +measure anti-parochial, and thus out of sympathy with the charities of +the parish, where personal relations with the poor at their homes count +for most. + + The good and evil of it may be weighed. Monasticism working through St + Augustine helped the world to realize the mood of love as the real or + eternal life. Of the natural life of the world and its + responsibilities, through which that mood would have borne its + completest fruit, it took but little heed, except in so far as, by + creating a class possessed of leisure, it created able scholars, + lawyers and administrators, and disciplined the will of strong men. + It had no power to stay the social evils of the day. Unlike the + friars, at their best the monks were a class apart, not a class mixed + up with the people. So were their charities. The belief in poverty as + a fixed condition--irretrievable and ever to be alleviated without any + regard to science or observation, subjected charity to a perpetual + stagnation. Charity requires belief in growth, in the sharing of life, + in the utility and nobility of what is done here and now for the + hereafter of this present world. Monasticism had no thought of this. + It was based on a belief in the evil of matter; and from that root + could spring no social charity. Economic difficulties also fostered + monasticism. Gold was appreciated in value, and necessaries were + expensive, and the cost of maintaining a family was great. It was an + economy to force a son or a brother into the church. The population + was decreasing; and in spite of church feeling Marjorian (A.D. 461) + had to forbid women from taking the veil before forty, and to require + the remarriage of widows, subject to a large forfeit of property + (Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, ii. 420). Monasticism was + inconsistent with the social good. As to the family--like the moderns + who depreciate thrift and are careless of the life of the family, the + monks, believing that marriage was a lower form of morality, if not + indeed, as would at times appear, hardly moral at all, could feel but + little enthusiasm for what is socially a chief source of health to the + community and a well-spring of spontaneous charitable feeling. By the + sacerdotal-monastic movement the moralizing force of Christianity was + denaturalized. Among the secular clergy the falsity of the position as + between men and women revealed itself in relations which being + unhallowed and unrecognized became also degrading. But worse than all, + it pushed charity from its pivot. For this no monasteries or + institutions, no domination of religious belief, could atone. The + church that with so fine an intensity of purpose had fostered chastity + and marriage was betraying its trust. It was out of touch with the + primal unit of social life, the child-school of dawning habits and the + loving economy of the home. It produced no treatise on economy in the + older Greek sense of the word. The home and its associations no longer + retained their pre-eminence. In the extreme advocacy of the celibate + state, the honourable development of the married life and its duties + were depreciated and sometimes, one would think, quite forgotten. + +We may ask, then, What were the results of charity at the close of the +period which ends with St Gregory and the founding of the medieval +church?--for if the charity is reflected in the social good the results +should be manifest. Economic and social conditions were adverse. With +lessened trade the middle class was decaying (Dill, _Roman Society in +the Last Century of the Western Empire_, p. 204) and a selfish +aristocracy rising up. Municipal responsibility had been taxed to +extinction. The public service was corrupt. The rich evaded taxation, +the poor were oppressed by it. There were laws upon laws, endeavours to +underpin the framework of a decaying society. Society was bankrupt of +skill--and the skill of a generation has a close bearing on its +charitable administration. While hospitals increased, medicine was +unprogressive. There were miserable years of famine and pestilence, and +constant wars. The care of the poorer classes, and ultimately of the +people, was the charge of the church. The church strengthened the +feeling of kindness for those in want, widows, orphans and the sick. It +lessened the degradation of the "actresses," and, co-operating with +Stoic opinion, abolished the slaughter of the gladiatorial shows. It +created a popular "dogmatic system and moral discipline," which paganism +failed to do; but it produced no prophet of charity, such as enlarged +the moral imagination of the Jews. It ransomed slaves, as did paganism +also, but it did not abolish slavery. Large economic causes produced +that great reform. The serf attached to the soil took the place of the +slave. The almsgiving of the church by degrees took the place of +_annona_ and _sportula_, and it may have created pauperism. But +dependence on almsgiving was at least an advance on dependence founded +on a civic and hereditary right to relief. As the _colonus_ stood higher +than the slave, so did the pauper, socially at any rate, free to support +himself, exceed the _colonus_. Bad economic conditions and traditions, +and a bad system of almsgiving, might enthral him. But the way, at +least, was open; and thus it became possible that charity, working in +alliance with good economic traditions, should in the end accomplish the +self-support of society, the independence of the whole people. + + +PART V.--MEDIEVAL CHARITY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT + +It remains to trace the history of thought and administration in +relation to (1) the development of charitable responsibility in the +parish, and the use of tithe and church property for poor relief; and +(2) the revision of the theory of charity, with which are associated the +names of St Augustine (354-430), St Benedict (480-542), St Bernard +(1091-1153), St Francis (1182-1226), and St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). +(3) There follows, in reference chiefly to England, a sketch of the +dependence of the poor under feudalism, the charities of the parish, the +monastery and the hospital--the medieval system of endowed charity; the +rise of gild and municipal charities; the decadence at the close of the +15th century, and the statutory endeavours to cope with economic +difficulties which, in the 16th century, led to the establishment of +statutory serfdom and the poor-laws. New elements affect the problem of +charity in the 17th and 18th centuries; but it is not too much to say +that almost all these headings represent phases of thought or +institutions which in later forms are interwoven with the charitable +thought and endeavours of the present day. + + + The parish and charitable relief. + +Naturally, two methods of relief have usually been prominent: relief +administered locally, chiefly to residents in their own homes, and +relief administered in an institution. At the time of Charlemagne +(742-814) the system of relief was parochial, consisting principally of +assistance at the home. After that time, except probably in England, the +institutional method appears to have predominated, and the monastery or +hospital in one form or another gradually encroached on the parish. + + The system of parochial charity was the outcome, apparently, of three + conditions: the position and influence of the bishop, the eleemosynary + nature of the church funds, and the need of some responsible + organization of relief. It resulted in what might almost be called an + ecclesiastical poor-law. The affairs of a local church or congregation + were superintended by a bishop. To deal with the outlying districts he + detached priests for religious work and, as in Rome and (774) + Strassburg, deacons also for the administration of relief. Originally + all the income of the church or congregation was paid into one fund + only, of which the bishop had charge, and this fund was available + primarily for charitable purposes. Church property was the patrimony + of the poor. In the 4th century (IV. Council of Carthage, 398) the + names of the clergy were entered on a list (_matricula_ or _canon_), + as were also the names of the poor, and both received from the church + their daily portion (cf. Ratzinger, _Geschichte der kirchlichen + Armenpflege_, p. 117). There were no expenses for building. Before the + reign of Constantine (306) very few churches were built (Ratzinger, p. + 120). Thus the early church as has been said, was chiefly a charitable + society. By degrees the property of the church was very largely + increased by gifts and bequests, and in the West before St Gregory's + time the division of it for four separate purposes--the support of the + bishop, of the clergy, and of the poor, and for church + buildings--still further promoted decentralization. Apart from any + special gifts, there was thus created a separate fund for almsgiving, + supervised by the bishop, consisting of a fourth of the church + property, the oblations (mostly used for the poor), and the tithe, + which at first was used for the poor solely. The organization of the + church was gradually extended. The church once established in the + chief city of a district would become in turn the mother church of + other neighbourhoods, and the bishop or priest of the mother church + would come to exercise supervision over them and their parishes. + + In France, which may serve as a good illustration, in the 4th century + (Ratzinger, p. 181) the civic organization was utilized for a further + change. The Roman provinces were divided into large areas, + _civitales_, and these were adopted by the church as bishop's parishes + or, as we should call them, dioceses; and the chief city became the + cathedral city. The bishop thus became responsible in Charlemagne's + time both for his own parish--that of the mother church--and for the + supervision of the parishes in the _civitas_, and so for the sick and + needy of the diocese generally. He had to take charge of the poor in + his own parish personally, keep the list of the poor, and houses for + the homeless. The other parishes were at first, or in some measure, + supported from his funds, but they acquired by degrees tithe and + property of their own and were endowed by Charlemagne, who gave one or + more manses or lots of land (cf. Fustel de Coulanges, _Hist, des + institutions politiques de l'ancienne France_, p. 360) for the support + of each parish priest. The priests were required to relieve their own + poor so that they should not stray into other cities (II. Counc. + Tours, 567), and to provide food and lodging for strangers. The method + was indeed elaborated and became, like the Jewish, that contradiction + in terms--a compulsory system of charitable relief. The payment of + tithe was enforced by Charlemagne, and it became a legal due (Counc. + Frankfort, 794; Arelat. 794). At the same time two other conditions + were enforced. Each person (_unusquisque fidelium nostrorum_ or _omnes + cives_) was to keep his own family, i.e. all dependent on him--all, + that is, upon his freehold estate (_allodium_), and no one was to + presume to give relief to able-bodied beggars unless they were set to + work (Charlem. _Capit_. v. 10). Thus we find here the germ of a + poor-law system. As in the times of the _annona civica_, slavery, + feudalism, or statutory serfdom, the burthen of the maintenance of the + poor fell only in part on charity. Only those who could not be + maintained as members of some "family" were properly entitled to + relief, and in these circumstances the officially recognized clients + of the church consisted of the gradually decreasing number of free + poor and those who were tenants of church lands. + + Since 817 there has been no universally binding decision of the church + respecting the care of the poor (Ratzinger, p. 236). So long ago did + laicization begin in charity. In the wars and confusion of the 9th and + 10th centuries the poorer freemen lapsed still further into slavery, + or became _coloni_ or bond servants; and later they passed under the + feudal rule. Thus the church's duty to relieve them became the + masters' obligation to maintain them. Simultaneously the activity of + the clergy, regular and secular alike, dwindled. They were exhorted to + increase their alms. The revenues and property of "the poor" were + largely turned to private or partly ecclesiastical purposes, or + secularized. Legacies went wholly to the clergy, but only the tithe of + the produce of their own lands was used for relief; and of the general + tithe, only a third or fourth part was so applied. Eventually to a + large extent, but more elsewhere than in England (Ratzinger, pp. 246, + 269), the tithe itself was appropriated by nobles or even by the + monasteries; and thus during and after the 10th century a new + organization of charity was created on non-parochial methods of + relief. Alms, with prayer and fasting, had always been connected with + penance. But the character of the penitential system had altered. By + the 7th century private penance had superseded the public and + congregational penance of the earlier church (_Dict. Christian + Antiquities_, art. "Penitence"). To the penalties of exclusion from + the sacraments or from the services of the church or from its + communion was coupled, with other penitential discipline, an elaborate + penitential system, in which about the 7th century the redemption of + sin by the "sacrifice" of property, payments of money fines, &c., was + introduced. (Cf. for instance Conc. Elberti:--Labbeus i. 969 (A.D. + 305), with Conc. Berghamstedense, Wilkins, Conc. p. 60 (A.D. 696), and + the Penitential (p. 115) and Canons (A.D. 960), p. 236.) The same sin + committed by an overseer (_praepositus paganus_) was compensated by a + fine of 100 _solidi_; in the case of a _colonus_ by a fine of 50. So + amongst the ways of penitence were entered in the above-mentioned + Canons, to erect a church, and if means allowed, add to it land ... to + repair the public roads ... "to distribute," to help poor widows, + orphans and strangers, redeem slaves, fast, &c.--a combination of + "good deeds" which suggests a line of thought such as ultimately found + expression in the definition of charities in the Charitable Uses Act + of Queen Elizabeth. The confessor, too, was "_spiritualis medicus_," + and much that from the point of view of counsel would now be the work + of charity would in his hands be dealt with in that capacity. For + lesser sins (cf. Bede (673-735), _Hom._ 34, quoted by Ratzinger) the + penalty was prayer, fasting and alms; for the greater sins--murder, + adultery and idolatry--to give up all. Thus while half-converted + barbarians were kept in moral subjection by material penances, the + church was enriched by their gifts; and these tended to support the + monastic and institutional methods which were in favour, and to which, + on the revival of religious earnestness in the 11th century, the world + looked for the reform of social life. + + + Medieval revision of the theory of charity. + +To understand medieval charity it is necessary to return to St +Augustine. According to him, the motive of man in his legitimate effort +to assert himself in life was love or desire (_amor_ or _cupido_). "All +impulses were only evolutions of this typical characteristic" (Harnack, +_History of Dogma_ (trans.), v. iii.); and this was so alike in the +spiritual and the sensuous life. Happiness thus depended on desire; and +desire in turn depended on the regulation of the will; but the will was +regulated only by grace. God was the _spiritualis substantia_; and +freedom was the identity of the will with the omnipotent unchanging +nature. This highest Being was "holiness working on the will in the form +of omnipotent love." This love was grace--"grace imparting itself in +love." Love (_caritas_--charity) is identified with justice; and the +will, the goodwill, is love. The identity of the will with the will of +God was attained by communion with Him. The after-life consummated by +sight this communion, which was here reached only by faith. Such a +method of thought was entirely introspective, and it turned the mind +"wholly to hope, asceticism and the contemplation of God in worship." +"Where St Augustine indulges in the exposition of practical piety he has +no theory at all of Christ's work." To charity on that side he added +nothing. In the 11th century there was a revival of piety, which had +amongst its objects the restoration of discipline in the monasteries and +a monastic training for the secular clergy. To this Augustinian thought +led the way. "Christianity was asceticism and the city of God" (Harnack +vi. 6). A new religious feeling took possession of the general mind, a +regard and adoration of the actual, the historic Christ. Of this St +Bernard was the expositor. "Beside the sacramental Christ the image of +the historical took its place,--majesty in humility, innocence in penal +suffering, life in death." The spiritual and the sensuous were +intermingled. Dogmatic formulae fell into the background. The picture of +the historic Christ led to the realization of the Christ according to +the spirit ([Greek: kata pneuma]). Thus St Bernard carried forward +Augustinian thought; and the historic Christ became the "sinless man, +approved by suffering, to whom the divine grace, by which He lives, has +lent such power that His image takes shape in other men and incites them +to corresponding humility and love." + +Humility and poverty represented the conditions under which alone this +spirit could be realized; and the poverty must be spiritual, and +therefore self-imposed ("wilful," as it was afterwards called). This led +to practical results. Poverty was not a social state, but a spiritual; +and consequently the poor generally were not the _pauperes Christi_, but +those who, like the monks, had taken vows of poverty. From these +premisses followed later the doctrine that gifts to the church were not +gifts to the poor, as once they had been, but to the religious bodies. +The church was not the church of the poor, but of the poor in spirit. +But the immediate effect was the belief for a time, apparently almost +universal, that the salvation of society would come from the monastic +orders. By their aid, backed by the general opinion, the secular clergy +were brought back to celibacy and the monasteries newly disciplined. But +charity could not thus regain its touch of life and become the means of +raising the standard of social duty. + +Next, one amongst many who were stirred by a kindred inspiration, St +Francis turned back to actual life and gave a new reality to religious +idealism. For him the poor were once again the _pauperes Christi_. To +follow Christ was to adopt the life of "evangelical poverty," and this +was to live among the poor the life of a poor man. The follower was to +work with his hands (as the poor clergy of the early church had done and +the clergy of the early English church were exhorted to do); he was to +receive no money; he was to earn the actual necessaries of life, though +what he could not earn he might beg. To ask for this was a right, so +long as he was bringing a better life into the world. All in excess of +this he gave to the poor. He would possess no property, buildings or +endowments, nor was his order to do so. The fulness of his life was in +the complete realization of it now, without the cares of property and +without any fear of the future. Having a definite aim and mission, he +was ready to accept the want that might come upon him, and his life was +a discipline to enable him to suffer it if it came. To him humility was +the soul making itself fit to love; and poverty was humility expanded +from a mood to a life, a life not guarded by seclusion, but spent +amongst those who were actually poor. The object of life was to console +the poor--those outside all monasteries and institutions--the poor as +they lived and worked. The movement was practically a lay movement, and +its force consisted in its simplicity and directness. Book learning was +disparaged: life was to be the teacher. The brothers thus became +observant and practical, and afterwards indeed learned, and their +learning had the same characteristics. Their power lay in their +practical sagacity, in their treatment of life, outside the cloister and +the hospital, at first hand. They knew the people because they settled +amongst them, living just as they did. This was their method of charity. + +The inspiration that drew St Francis to this method was the +contemplation of the life of Christ. But it was more than this. The +Christ was to him, as to St Bernard, an ideal, whose nature passed into +that of the contemplating and adoring beholder, so that, as he said, +"having lost its individuality, of itself the creature could no longer +act." He had no impulse but the Christ impulse. He was changed. His +identity was merged in that of Christ. And with this came the conception +of a gracious and finely ordered charity, moving like the natural world +in a constant harmonious development towards a definite end. The +mysticism was intense, but it was practical because it was intense. In +that lay the strength of the movement of the true Franciscans, and in +those orders that, whether called heretical or not, followed +them--Lollards and others. Religion thus became a personal and original +possession. It became individual. It was inspired by a social endeavour, +and for the world at large it made of charity a new thing. + +St Thomas Aquinas took up St Bernard's position. Renunciation of +property, voluntary poverty, was in his view also a necessary means of +reaching the perfect life; and the feeling that was akin to this +renunciation and prompted it was charity. "All perfection of the +Christian life was to be attained according to charity," and charity +united us to God. + + In the system elaborated by St Thomas Aquinas two lines of thought are + wrought into a kind of harmony. The one stands for Aristotle and + nature, the other for Christian tradition and theology. We have thus a + duplicate theory of thought and action throughout, both rational and + theologic virtues, and a duplicate beatitude or state of happiness + correspondent to each. On the one hand it is argued that the good act + is an act which, in relation to its object, wholly serves its purpose; + and thus the measure of goodness (_Prima Secundae Summae Theolog. Q._ + xviii. 2) is the proportion between action and effect. On the other + hand, the act has to satisfy the twofold law, human reason and eternal + reason. From the point of view of the former the cardinal factor is + desire, which, made proportionate to an end, is love (_amor_); and, + seeking the good of others, it loses its quality of concupiscence and + becomes friendly love (_amor amicitiae_). But this rational love + (_amor_) and charity (_caritas_), the theologic virtue, may meet. All + virtue or goodness is a degree of love (_amor_), if by virtue we mean + the cardinal virtues and refer to the rule of reason only. But there + are also theologic virtues, which are on one side "essential," on the + other side participative. As wood ignited participates in the natural + fire, so does the individual in these virtues (II. II.^ae lxii. l). + Charity is a kind of friendship towards God. It is received _per + infusionem spiritus sancti_, and is the chief and root of the + theologic virtues of faith and hope, and on it the rational virtues + depend. They are not degrees of charity as they are of (_amor_) love, + but charity gives purpose, order and quality to them all. In this + sense the word is applied to the rational virtues--as, for instance, + beneficence. The counterpart of charity in social life is pity + (_misericordia_), the compassion that moves us to supply another's + want (_summa religionis Christianae in misericordia consistit quantum + ad exteriora opera_). It is, however, an emotion, not a virtue, and + must be regulated like any other emotion (... _passio est et non + virtus. Hic autem motus potest esse secundum rationem regulatus_, II. + II.^ae xxx. 3). Thus we pass to alms, which are the instrument of + pity--an act of charity done through the intervention of pity. The act + is not done in order to purchase spiritual good by a corporal means, + but to merit a spiritual good (_per effectum caritatis_) through being + in a state of charity; and from that point of view its effect is + tested by the recipient being moved to pray for his benefactor. The + claim of others on our beneficence is relative, according to + consanguinity and other bonds (II. II.^ae xxxi. 3), subject to the + condition that the common good of many is a holier obligation + (_divinius_) than that of one. Obedience and obligation to parents may + be crossed by other obligations, as, for instance, duty to the church. + To give alms is a command. Alms should consist of the + superfluous--that is, of all that the individual possesses after he + has reserved what is necessary. What is necessary the donor should fix + in due relation to the claims of his family and dependants, his + position in life (_dignitas_), and the sustenance of his body. On the + other hand, his gift should meet the actual necessities of the + recipient and no more. More than this will lead to excess on the + recipient's part (_ut inde luxurietur_) or to want of spirit and + apathy (_ut aliis remissio et refrigerium sit_), though allowance must + be made for different requirements in different conditions of life. It + were better to distribute alms to many persons than to give more than + is necessary to one. In individual cases there remains the further + question of correction--the removing of some evil or sin from another; + and this, too, is an act of charity. + + It will be seen that though St Thomas bases his argument on a + duplicate theory of thought, action and happiness, part natural, part + theologic, and states fully the conditions of good action, he does not + bring the two into unison. Logically the argument should follow that + alms that fail in social benefit (produce _remissionem et + refrigerium_, for instance) fail also in spiritual good, for the two + cannot be inconsistent. But in regard to the former he does not press + the importance of purpose, and, in spite of his Aristotle, he misses + the point on which Aristotle, as a close observer of social + conditions, insists, that gifts without purpose and reciprocity foster + the dependence they are designed to meet. The proverb of the "pierced + cask" is as applicable to ecclesiastical as to political almsgiving, + as has often been proved by the event. The distribution of all + "superfluous" income in the form of alms would have the effect of a + huge endowment, and would stereotype "the poor" as a permanent and + unprogressive class. The proposal suggests that St Thomas contemplated + the adoption of a method of relief which would be like a voluntary + poor-law; and it is noteworthy that his phrase "necessary relief" + forms the defining words of the Elizabethan poor-law, while he also + lays stress on the importance of "correction," which, on the decline + and disappearance of the penitential system, assumed at the + Reformation a prominent position in administration in relation not + only to "sin," but also to offences against society, such as idleness, + &c. + +On this foundation was built up the classification of acts of charity, +which in one shape or another has a long social tradition, and which St +Thomas quotes in an elaborated form--the seven spiritual acts +(_consule_, _carpe_, _doce_, _solare_, _remitte_, _fer_, _ora_), +counsel, sustain, teach, console, save, pardon, pray; and the seven +corporal (_vestio_, _poto_, _cibo_, _redimo_, _tego_, _colligo_, +_condo_) I clothe, I give drink to, I feed, I free from prison, I +shelter, I assist in sickness, I bury (II. II.^ae xxxii. 2). These in +subsequent thought became "good works," and availed for the after-life, +bringing with them definite boons. Thus charity was linked to the system +of indulgences. The bias of the act of charity is made to favour the +actor. Primarily the benefit reverts to him. He becomes conscious of an +ultimate reward accruing to himself. The simplicity of the deed, the +spontaneity from which, as in a well-practised art, its freshness +springs and its good effects result, is falsified at the outset. The +thought that should be wholly concerned in the fulfilment of a definite +purpose is diverted from it. The deed itself, apart from the outcome of +the deed, is highly considered. An extreme inducement is placed on +giving, counselling, and the like, but none on the personal or social +utility of the gift or counsel. Yet the value of these lies in their +end. No policy or science of charity can grow out of such a system. It +can produce innumerable isolated acts, which may or may not be +beneficent, but it cannot enkindle the "ordered charity." This charity +is, strictly speaking, by its very nature alike intellectual and +emotional. Otherwise it would inevitably fail of its purpose, for though +emotion might stimulate it, intelligence would not guide it. + +There are, then, these three lines of thought. That of St Bernard, who +invigorated the monastic movement, and helped to make the monastery or +hospital the centre of charitable relief. That of St Francis, who, +passing by regular and secular clergy alike, revived and reinvigorated +the conception of charity and gave it once more the reality of a social +force, knowing that it would find a freer scope and larger usefulness in +the life of the people than in the religious aristocracy of monasteries. +And that of St Thomas Aquinas, who, analysing the problem of charity and +almsgiving, and associating it with definite groups of works, led to its +taking, in the common thought, certain stereotyped forms, so that its +social aim and purpose were ignored and its power for good was +neutralized. + + + Charity and social conditions in England. + +We have now to turn to the conditions of social life in which these +thoughts fermented and took practical shape. The population of England +from the Conquest to the 14th century is estimated at between 1-1/2 and +2-1/2 millions. London, it is believed, had a population of about +40,000. Other towns were small. Two or three of the larger had 4000 or +5000 inhabitants. The only substantial building in a village, apart +perhaps from the manor-house, was the church, used for many secular as +well as religious purposes. In the towns the mud or wood-paved huts +sheltered a people who, accepting a common poverty, traded in little +more than the necessaries of life (Green, _Town Life in the 15th +Century_, i. 13). The population was stationary. Famine and pestilence +were of frequent occurrence (Creighton, _Epidemics in Britain_, p. 19), +and for the careless there was waste at harvest-time and want in winter. +Hunger was the drill-sergeant of society. Owing to the hardship and +penury of life infant mortality was probably very great (Blashill, +_Sutton in Holdernesse_, p. 123). The 15th century was, however, "the +golden age of the labourer." Our problem is to ascertain what was the +service of charity to this people till the end of that century. In order +to estimate this we have to apply tests similar to those we applied +before to Greece and Rome and the pre-medieval church. + + _The Family._--Largely Germanic in its origin, we may perhaps set down + as elemental in the English race what Tacitus said of the Germans. + They had the home virtues. They had a high regard for chastity, and + respected and enforced the family tie. The wife was honoured. The men + were poor, but when the actual pressure of their work--fighting--was + removed, idle. They were born gamblers. Much toil fell upon the wife; + but slavery was rather a form of tenure than a Roman bondage. As + elsewhere, there was in England "the joint family or household" + (Pollock and Maitland, _English Law before Edward I._ i. 31). Each + member of the community was, or should be, under some lord; for the + lordless man was, like the wanderer in Homer, who belonged to no + phratry, suspected and dangerous, and his kinsfolk might be required + to find a lord for him. There was personal servitude, but it was not + of one complexion; there were grades amongst the unfree, and the + general advance to freedom was continuous. By the 9th century the + larger amount of the slavery was bondage by tenure. In the reign of + Edward I., though "the larger half of the rural population was + unfree," yet the serf, notwithstanding the fact that he was his lord's + chattel, was free against all save his lord. A century later (1381) + villenage--that is payment for tenancy by service, instead of by + quit-rent--was practically extinguished. So steady was the progress + towards the freedom and self-maintenance of the individual and his + family. + + _The Manor._--In social importance, next to the family, comes the + manor, the organization of which affected charity greatly on one side. + It was "an economic unit," the estate of a lord on which there were + associated the lord with his demesne, tenants free of service, and + villeins and others, tenants by service. All had the use of land, even + the serf. The estate was regulated by a manor court, consisting of the + lord of the manor or his representative, and the free tenants, and + entrusted with wide quasi-domestic jurisdiction. The value of the + estate depended on the labour available for its cultivation, and the + cultivators were the unfree tenants. Hence the lord, through the + manor-court, required an indemnity or fine if a child, for instance, + left the manor; and similarly, if a villein died, his widow might have + to remarry or pay a fine. Thus the lord reacquired a servant and the + widow and her family were maintained. The courts, too, fixed prices, + and thus in local and limited conditions of supply and demand were + able to equalize them in a measure and neutralize some of the effects + of scarcity. In this way, till the reign of Edward I., and, where the + manor courts remained active, till much later, a self-supporting + social organization made any systematic public or charitable relief + unnecessary. + + _The Parish and the Tithe._--The conversion of England in the 7th + century was effected by bishops, accompanied by itinerant priests, who + made use of conventual houses as the centres of their work. The + parochial system was not firmly established till the 10th century + (970). Then, by a law of Edgar, a man who had a church on his own land + was allowed to pay a third of his tithe to his own church, instead of + giving the whole of it to the minister or conventual church. Theodore, + archbishop of Canterbury (667), had introduced the Carolingian system + into England; and, accordingly, the parish priest was required to + provide for strangers and to keep a room in his house for them. Of the + tithe, a third and not a fourth was to go to the poor with any + surplus; and in order to have larger means of helping them, the + priests were urged to work themselves, according to the ancient canons + of the church (cf. Labbeus, IV. Conc. Carthag. A.D. 398). The + importance of the tithe to the poor is shown by acts of Richard II. + and Henry IV., by which it was enacted that, if parochial tithes were + appropriated to a monastery, a portion of them should be assigned to + the poor of the parish. At a very early date (1287) quasi-compulsory + charges in the nature of a rate were imposed on parishioners for + various church purposes (Pollock and Maitland, i. 604), though in the + 14th and 15th centuries a compulsory church rate was seldom made. + Collections were made by paid collectors, especially for Hock-tide + (q.v.) money--gathered for church purposes (Brand's _Antiquities_, + p. 112). But there must have been many varieties in practice. In + Somersetshire the churchwardens' accounts (1349 to 1560) show that the + parish contributed nothing to the relief of the poor, and it seems + probable that the personal charities of the parishioners, and the + charities of the gild fellowships and of the parsonage house sufficed + (Bishop Hobhouse, _Churchwardens' Accounts, 1349-1560_, Somerset + Record Society). Many parishes possessed land, houses and cattle, and + received gifts and legacies of all kinds. The proceeds of this + property, if given for the use of the parish generally, might, if + necessary, be available for the relief of the poor, but, if given + definitely for their use, would provide doles, or stock cattle or + "poor's" lands, &c. (Cf. Augustus Jessopp, _Before the Great Pillage_, + p. 40; and many instances in the reports of the Charity Commissioners, + 1818-1835.) Of the endowments for parish doles very many may have + disappeared in the break-up of the 16th century. There were also + "Parish Ales," the proceeds of which would be used for parish purposes + or for relief. Further, all the greater festivals were days of + feasting and the distribution of food; at funerals also there were + often large distributions, and also at marriages. The faithful + generally, subject to penance, were required to relieve the poor and + the stranger. In the larger part of England the parish and the vill + were usually coterminous. In the north a parish contained several + vills. There were thus side by side the charitable relief system of + the parish, which at an early date became a rating area, and the + self-supporting system of the manor. + + _The Monasteries._--As Christianity spread monasteries spread, and + each monastery was a centre of relief. Sometimes they were + established, like St Albans (796), for a hundred Benedictine monks and + for the entertainment of strangers; or sometimes without any such + special purpose, like the abbey of Croyland (reorganized 946), which, + becoming exceeding rich from its _diversorium pauperum_, or almonry, + "relieved the whole country round so that prodigious numbers resorted + to it." At Glastonbury, for instance (1537), L140 16s. 8d. was given + away in doles. But documents seem to prove (Denton, _England in + Fifteenth Century_, p. 245) that the relief generally given by + monasteries was much less than is usually supposed. + + The general system may be described (cf. Rule, _St Dunst. Cant. + Archp._ p. 42, Dugdale; J.B. Clark, _The Observances_, Augustinian + Priory, Barnwell; Abbot Gasquet, _English Monastic Life_). The almonry + was usually near the church of the monastery. An almoner was in + charge. He was to be prudent and discreet in the distribution of his + doles (_portiones_) and to relieve travellers, palmers, chaplains and + mendicants (_mendicantes_, apparently the beggars recognized as living + by begging, such as we have noted under other social conditions), and + the leprous more liberally than others. The old and infirm, lame and + blind who were confined to their beds he was to visit and relieve + suitably (_in competenti annona_). The importunity of the poor he was + to put up with, and to meet their need as far as he could. In the + almonry there were usually rooms for the sick. The sick outside the + precincts were relieved at the almoner's discretion. Continuous relief + might be given after consultation with the superior. All the remnants + of meals and the old clothes of the monks were given to the almoner + for distribution, and at Christmas he had a store of stockings and + other articles to give away as presents to widows, orphans and poor + clerks. He also provided the Maundy gifts and selected the poor for + the washing of feet. He was thus a local visitor and alms distributor, + not merely at the gate of the monastery but in the neighbourhood, and + had also at his disposal "indoor" relief for the sick. Separate from + the rest the house there was also a dormitory and rooms and the + kitchen for strangers. A _hospitularius_ attended to their needs and + novices waited on them. Guests who were laymen might stay on, working + in return for board and lodging (Smith's _Dict. Christian Antiq._, + "Benedictine"). + + The monasteries often established hospitals; they served also as + schools for the gentry and for the poor; and they were pioneers of + agriculture. In the 12th century, in which many monastic orders were + constituted, there were many lavish endowments. In the 14th century + their usefulness had begun to wane. At the end of that century the + larger estates were generally held in entail, with the result that + younger sons were put into religious houses. This worldliness had its + natural consequences. In the 15th century, owing to mismanagement, + waste, and subsequently to the decline of rural prosperity, their + resources were greatly crippled. In their relation to charity one or + two points may be noted: (1) Of the small population of England the + professed monks and nuns with the parish priests (Rogers, _Hist. + Agric. and Prices_, i. 58) numbered at least 30,000 or 40,000. This + number of celibates was a standing protest against the moral + sufficiency of the family life. On the other hand, amongst them were + the brothers and sisters who visited the poor and nursed the sick in + hospitals; and many who now succumb physically or mentally to the + pressure of life, and are cared for in institutions, may then have + found maintenance and a retreat in the monasteries. (2) Bound together + by no common controlling organization, the monasteries were but so + many miscellaneous centres of relief, chiefly casual relief. They were + mostly "magnificent hostelries." (3) They stood outside the parish, + and they weakened its organization and hampered its development. + + _The Hospitals._--The revival of piety in the 11th century led to a + large increase in the number of hospitals and hospital orders. To show + how far they covered the field in England two instances may be quoted. + At Canterbury (Creighton, _Epidemics_, p. 87) there were four for + different purposes, two endowed by Lanfranc (1084), one for poor, + infirm, lame and blind men and women, and one outside the town for + lepers. These hospitals were put under the charge of a priory, and + endowed out of tithes payable to the secular clergy. Later (Henry + II.), a hospital for leprous sisters was established, and afterwards a + hospital for leprous monks and poor relations of the monks of St + Augustine's. In a less populous parish, Luton (Cobbe, _Luton Church_), + there were a hospital for the poor, an almshouse, and two hospitals, + one for the sick and one for the leprous. The word "leper," it is + evident, was used very loosely, and was applied to many diseases other + than leprosy. There were hospitals for the infirm and the leprous; the + disease was not considered contagious. The hospital in its modern + sense was but slowly created. Thus St Bartholomew's in London was + founded (1123) for a master, brethren and sisters, and for the + entertainment of poor diseased persons till they got well; of + distressed women big with child till they were able to go abroad; and + for the maintenance, until the age of seven, of all such children + whose mothers died in the house. St Thomas's (rebuilt 1228) had a + master and brethren and three lay sisters, and 40 beds for poor, + infirm and impotent people, who had also victual and firing. There + were hospitals for many special purposes--as for the blind, for + instance. There were also many hospital orders in England and on the + continent. They sprang up beside the monastic orders, and for a time + were very popular: brothers and sisters of the Holy Ghost (1198), + sisters of St Elizabeth (1207-1231), Beguines and Beghards (see + BEGUINES), knights of St John and others. + + _The Mendicant Orders._--The Franciscans tended the sick and poor in + the slums of the towns with great devotion--indeed, the whole movement + tells of a splendid self-abandonment and an intensity of effort in the + early spring of its enthusiasm, and with the aid of reform councils + and reformations it lengthened out its usefulness for two centuries. + + + Medieval endowed charities. + +As in the pre-medieval church, the system of relief is that of +charitable endowments--a marked contrast to the modern method of +voluntary associations or rate-supported institutions. + + (1) _The Church as Legatee._--The church building among the Teutonic + races was not held by the bishop as part of what was originally the + charitable property of the church. It was assigned to the patron saint + of the church by the donor, who retained the right of administration, + of which his own patronage or right of presentation is a relic. + Subsequently, with the study of Roman law, the conception of the + church as a _persona ficta_ prevailed; and till the larger growth of + the gilds and corporations it was the only general legatee for + charitable gifts. As these arise a large number of charitable trusts + are created and held by lay corporations; and "alms" include gifts for + social as well as religious or eleemosynary purposes. (2) _Freedom + from Taxation and Service._--Gifts to the church for charitable or + other purposes were made in free, pure and perpetual alms ("_ad + tenendum in puram et perpetuam eleemosynam sine omni temporali + servicio et consuetudine_"). Land held under this _frankalmoigne_ was + given "in perpetual alms," therefore the donor could not retract it; + in free alms, therefore he could exact no services in regard to it; + and in pure alms as being free from secular jurisdiction (cf. Pollock + and Maitland). (3) _Alienation and Mortmain._--To prevent alienation + of property to religious houses, with the consequent loss of service + to the superior or chief lords, a licence from the chief lord was + required to legalize the alienation (Magna Carta, and Edw. I., _De + viris religiosis_). Other statutes (Edw. I. and Rich. II.) enacted + that this licence should be issued out of chancery after + investigation; and the principle was applied to civil corporations. + The necessity of this licence was one lay check on injurious + alienation. (4) _Irresponsible Administration._--Until after the 13th + century, when the lay courts had asserted their right to settle + disputes as to lands held in alms, the administration of charity was + from the lay point of view entirely irresponsible. It was outside the + secular jurisdiction; and civilly the professed clergy, who were the + administrators, were "dead." They could not sue or be sued except + through their sovereign--their chief, the abbot. They formed a large + body of non-civic inhabitants free from the pressure and the + responsibilities of civil life. (5) _Control_.--Apart from the control + of the abbot, prior, master or other head, the bishop was visitor, or, + as we should say, inspector; and abuses might be remedied by the visit + of the bishop or his ordinary. The bishop's ordinary (2 Henry V. i. 1) + was the recognized visitor of all hospitals apart from the founder. + The founder and his family retained a right of intervention. Sometimes + thus an institution was reorganized, or even dissolved, the property + reverting to the founder (Dugdale, _Monasticon Anglicanum_, vi. 2. + 715). (6) _Cy-pres._--Charities were, especially after Henry V.'s + reign, appropriated to other uses, either because their original + purpose failed or because some new object had become important. Thus, + for instance, a college or hospital for lepers (1363) is + re-established by the founder's family with a master and priest, _quod + nulli leprosi reperiebantur_; and a similar hospital founded in Henry + I.'s time near Oxford has decayed, and is given by Edward III. to + Oriel College, Oxford, to maintain a chaplain and poor brethren. Thus, + apart from alienation pure and simple, the principle of adaptation to + new uses was put in force at an early date, and supplied many + precedents to Wolsey, Edward VI. and the post-Reformation bishops. The + system of endowments was indeed far more adaptable than it would at + first sight seem to have been. (7) _The Sources of Income._--The + hospitals were chiefly supported by rents or the produce of land; or, + if attached to monasteries, out of the tithe of their monastic lands + or other sources of revenue, or out of the appropriated tithes of the + secular clergy; or they might be in part maintained by collections + made, for instance, by a commissioner duly authorized by a formal + attested document, in which were recounted the indulgences by popes, + archbishops and bishops to those who became its benefactors (Cobbe, p. + 75); or, in the case of leper hospitals, by a leper with a "clapdish," + who begged in the markets; or by a proctor, in the case of more + important institutions in towns, who "came with his box one day in + every month to the churches and other religious houses, at times of + service, and there received the voluntary gifts of the congregation"; + or they might receive inmates on payment, and thus apparently a + frequent abuse, decayed servants of the court and others, were "farmed + out." (8) _Mode of Admission._--The admission was usually, no doubt, + regulated by the prior or master. At York, at the hospital of St + Nicholas for the leprous, the conditions of admission were: promise or + vow of continence, participation in prayer, the abandonment of all + business, the inmate's property at death to go to the house. This may + serve as an example. The master was usually one of the regular clergy. + (9) _Decline of the Hospitals._--It is said that, in addition to 645 + monasteries and 90 "colleges" and many chantries, Henry VIII. + suppressed 110 hospitals (Speed's _Chronicle_, p. 778). The numbers + seem small. In the economic decline at the end of the 15th and + beginning of the 16th centuries many hospitals may have lapsed. + + + Gild and municipal charities. + +In the 15th century the towns grew in importance. First the wool trade +and then the cloth trade flourished, and the English developed a large +shipping trade. The towns grew up like "little principalities"; and for +the advancement of trade, gilds, consisting alike of masters and +workmen, were formed, which endeavoured to regulate and then to +monopolize the market. By degrees the corporations of the towns were +worked in their interests, and the whole commercial system became +restrictive and inadaptable. Meanwhile the towns attracted newcomers; +freedom from feudal obligations was gained with comparative ease; and a +new _plebs_ was congregating, a population of inhabitants not qualified +as burghers or gild members, women, sons living with their fathers, +menial servants and apprentices. There was thus an increasing +restriction imposed on trade, coupled with a growing _plebs_. Naturally, +then, lay charities sprang up for members of gilds, and for burghers and +for the commonalty. Men left estates to their gilds to maintain decayed +members in hospitals, almshouses or otherwise, to educate their +children, portion their daughters, and to assist their widows. The +middle-class trader was thus in great measure insured against the risks +of life. The gilds were one sign of the new temper and wants of burghers +freed from feudalism. Another sign was a new standard of manners. Rules +and saws, Hesiodic in their tone, became popular--in regard, for +instance, to such a question as "how to enable a man to live on his +means, and to keep himself and those belonging to him." The boroughs +established other charities also, hospitals and almshouses for the +people, a movement which, like that of the gilds, began very early--in +Italy as early as the 9th century. They sometimes gave outdoor relief +also to registered poor (Green i. 41), and they had in large towns +courts of orphans presided over by the mayor and aldermen, thus taking +over a duty that previously had been one of conspicuous importance in +the church. As early as 1257 in Westphalian towns there was a +rough-and-ready system of Easter relief of the poor; and in Frankfort in +1437 there was a town council of almoners with a systematic programme of +relief (Ratzinger, p. 352). Thus at the close of the middle ages the +towns were gradually assuming what had been charitable functions of the +church. + + + Statutory wage control. + +While a new freedom was being attained by the labourer in the country +and the burgher in the town, the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient +supply of labour for agriculture must have been constant, especially at +every visitation of plague and famine. In accordance with a general +policy of state regulation which was to control and supervise industry, +agriculture and poor relief and to repress vagrancy by gaols and houses +of correction, the state stepped in as arbiter and organizer. By +Statutes of Labourers beginning in 1351 (25 Edw. III. 135), it aimed at +enforcing a settled wage and restraining migration. From 1351 it +endeavoured to suppress mendicity, and in part to systematize it in the +interest of infirm and aged mendicants. Each series of enactments is the +natural complement of the other. In the main their signification, from +the point of view of charity, lies in the fact that they represent a +persistent endeavour to prevent social unsettlement and in part the +distress which unsettlement causes, and which vagrancy in some measure +indicates, by keeping the people within the ranks of recognized +dependence, the settled industry of the crafts and of agriculture, or +forcing them back into it by fear of the gaol or the stocks. The extreme +point of this policy was reached when by the laws of Edward VI. and +Elizabeth the "rogue, vagabond or sturdy beggar" was branded with an R +on the shoulder and handed over as a bondman for a period to any one who +would take him. On the other hand, it was desired that relief should be +a means of preventing migration. In any time of general pressure there +is a desire to organize mendicity, to prevent the wandering of beggars, +to create a kind of settled poor, distinguished from the rest as infirm +and not able-bodied, and to keep these at least at home sufficiently +supported by local and parochial relief; and this, in its simpler form +all the world over, has in the past been by response to public begging. +The argument may be summed up thus: We cannot have begging, which +implies that the beggar is cared for by no one, belongs to no one, and +therefore throws himself on the world at large. Therefore, if he is +able-bodied he must be punished as unsocial, for it is his fault that he +belongs to no one; or we must make him some one's dependant, and so keep +him; or if he is infirm, and therefore of no service to any one--if no +one will keep him--we must organize his mendicity, for such mendicity is +justified. If he cannot dig for the man to whom he does or should +belong, he must beg. Then out of the failure to organize mendicity--for +relief of itself is no remedy, least of all casual relief--a poor-law +springs up, which, afterwards associated with the provision of +employment, will, it is hoped, make relief in some measure remedial by +increasing its quantity by means of compulsory levies. This argument, +which combined statutory wage control and statutory poor relief, seems +to have been firmly bedded in the English legislative mind for more than +two centuries, from 1351 till after 1600; and until 1834 these two +series of laws effectually reduced the English labourer to a new +industrial dependence. To people imbued with ideas of feudalism the way +of escape from villenage seemed to be not independence, but a new +reversion to it. + + + The decadence. + +Many elements produced the social and economic catastrophe of the 16th +century, for the condition into which the country fell can hardly be +considered less than a catastrophe. With the growing independence of the +people there was created after the 13th century an unsettled +"masterless" class, a residue of failure resulting from social changes, +which was large and important enough to call for legislation. In the +15th century, "the golden age of the English labourer," the towns +increased and flourished. Both town and country did well. At the end of +the century came the decadence. The measure of the strain, when perhaps +it had reached its lowest level, is indicated by the following +comparison: "The cost of a peasant's family of four in the early part of +the 14th century was L3:4:9; after 1540 it was L8" (Rogers, _Hist, of +Agric. and Prices_, iv. 756). + + The cause of this has now been fairly investigated. The value of land + in the 13th century generally depended chiefly on "the head of labour" + retained upon it. Its fertility depended on mainoeuvre (manure). To + keep labour upon it was therefore the aim of the lord or owner. The + enclosing of lands for sheep began early, and in the time of Edward + III., in the great days of the woolstaple, must have been extensive. + So long as the demand for the exportation of wool, and then for its + consumption at home in the cloth trade, continued, the towns + prospered, and the enclosures did not become a grievance. Even before + the reign of Henry VII., with the decay of trade, the towns decayed, + and their population in some cases diminished extraordinarily. This + reacted on the country, where the great families had already become + impoverished, and were hardly able to support their retainers. In + Henry VIII.'s time the lands of the religious houses were confiscated. + Worked on old lines, the custom of tillage remained in force on them. + Accordingly, when these estates fell into private hands they were + transferred subject to the condition that they should be tilled as + heretofore. The condition was evaded by the new owners, and the + disbandment of farm labourers went on apace. In England and Wales + these changes, it is said, affected a third of the country, more than + 12,000,000 acres, if the estimates be correct, or rather a third of + the best land in the kingdom. With towns decaying, the effect of this + must have been terrible. What were really "latifundia" were created, + "great landes," "enclosures of a mile or two or thereabouts ... + destroying thereby not only the farms and cottages within the same + circuits, but also the towns and villages adjoining." A herdsman and + his wife took the place of eighteen to twenty-four farm hands. The + people thus set wandering could only join the wanderers from the + decaying towns. At the same time the economic difficulty was + aggravated by a new patrician or commercial greed; and once more the + land question--the absorption of property into a few hands instead of + its free exchange--led to lasting social demoralization. A few years + after the alienation of the monasteries the coinage (1543) was + debased. By this means prices were arbitrarily raised, and wages were + increased nominally; but nevertheless the price of necessaries was "so + enhanced" that neither "the poor labourers can live with their wages + that is limited by your grace's laws, nor the artificers can make, + much less sell, their wares at any reasonable price" (Lamond, _The + Commonweal of this Realm of England_, p. xlvii). No social + reformation, such as the charitable instincts of Wycliffe, More, + Hales, Latimer and other men suggested, was attempted, or at least + persistently carried out. In towns the organization of labour had + become restrictive, exclusive and inadaptable, or, judged from the + moral standpoint, uncharitable. There had been a time of plenty and + extravagance, of which in high quarters the famous "field of the cloth + of gold" was typical; and probably, in accordance with the frequently + observed law of social economics, as the advance in wages and their + purchasing power in the earlier part of the 15th century had not been + accompanied by a simultaneous advance in self-discipline and + intelligent expenditure, it resulted in part in lessened competence + and industrial ability on the part of the workmen, and thus in the end + produced pauperism. + +The poverty of the country was very great in the reigns of Edward VI. +and Elizabeth. Adversity then taught the people new manners, and +households became more simple and thrifty. In the reign of James I., +with enforced economy and thrift, a "slow but substantial improvement in +agriculture" took place, and a new growth of commercial enterprise. The +vigour of the municipalities had abated, so that in Henry VIII.'s time +they had become the very humble servants of the government; and the +government, on the other hand, had become strongly centralized--in +itself a sign of the general withdrawal of self-sustaining activity in +all administration, in the administration of charitable relief no less +than in other departments. A system of endowed charities had been built +up, supported chiefly by rents from landed property. These now had +disappeared, and thus the means of relief, which Edward VI. and Queen +Elizabeth might have utilized at a time of general distress, had been +dissipated by the acts of their predecessors. The civil independence of +the monasteries and religious houses might have been justified, +possibly, when they were engaged in missionary work and were instilling +into the people the precepts of a higher moral law than that which was +in force around them. But afterwards, as the ability and intelligence of +the community increased, their privileges became more and more +antagonistic to charity, and tended to create a non-social and even +anti-social ecclesiastical democracy actuated by aims and interests in +which the general good of the people had little or no place. There was a +growing alienation between religious tradition and secular opinion, as +Lollardism slowly permeated the thought of the people and led the way to +the Reformation. While this alienation existed no national system of +charity, civic and yet religious, could be created. But worse than all, +the ideal of charity had been degraded. A self-regarding system of +relief had superseded charity, and it was productive of nothing but +alms, large or small, isolated and unmethodic, given with a wrong bias, +and thus almost inevitably with evil results. Out of this could spring +no vigorous co-operative charity. Charity--not relief--indeed seemed to +have left the world. The larger issues were overlooked. Then the +property of the hospitals and the gilds was wantonly confiscated, though +the poor had already lost that share in the revenues of the church to +which at one time they were admitted to have a just claim. A new +beginning had to be made. The obligations of charity had to be revived. +A new organization of charitable relief had to be created, and that with +an empty exchequer and after a vast waste of charitable resources. There +were signs of a new congregational and parochial energy, yet the task +could not be entrusted to the religious bodies, divided and disunited as +they were. In their stead it could be imposed only on some authority +which represented the general community, such as municipalities; and in +spite of the centralization of the government there seemed some hope of +creating a system of relief in connexion with them. They were tried, +and, very naturally, failed. In the poverty of the time it seemed that +the poor could be relieved only by a compulsory rate, and the +administration of statutory relief naturally devolved on the central +government--the only vigorous administrative body left in the country. +The government might indeed have adopted the alternative of letting the +industrial difficulties of the country work themselves out, but they had +inherited a policy of minute legislative control, and they continued it. +Revising previous statutes, they enacted the Poor Law, which still +remains on the statute book. It could be no remedy for social offences +against charity and the community. But in part at least it was +successful. It helped to conceal the failure to find a remedy. + + +PART VI.--AFTER THE REFORMATION + + The Reformation theory of charity. + +During the Reformation, which extended, it should be understood, from +the middle of the 14th century to the reign of James I., the groundwork +of the theory of charity was being recast. The old system and the narrow +theory on which it had come to depend were discredited. The recoil is +startling. To a very large extent charitable administration had been in +the hands of men and women who, as an indispensable condition to their +participation in it, took the vows of obedience, chastity and "wilful" +poverty. Now this was all entirely set aside. It was felt (see _Homilies +on Faith and Good Works, &c._, A.D. 1547) that socially and morally the +method had been a failure. The vow of obedience, it was argued, led to a +general disregard of the duties of civic and family life. Those who +bound themselves by it were outside the state and did not serve it. In +regard to chastity the _Homily_ states the common opinion: "How the +profession of chastity was kept, it is more honesty to pass over in +silence and let the world judge of what is well known." As to wilful +poverty, the regulars, it is urged, were not poor, but rich, for they +were in possession of much wealth. Their property, it is true, was held +_in communi_, and not personally, but nevertheless it was practically +theirs, and they used it for their personal enjoyment; and "for all +their riches they might never help father nor mother, nor others that +were indeed very needy and poor, without the license of their father +abbot" or other head. This was the negative position. The positive was +found in the doctrine of justification--the central point in the +discussions of the time, a plant from the garden of St Augustine. +Justification was the personal conviction of a lively (or living) faith, +and was defined as "a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God +through our Lord Jesus Christ, and a stedfast hope of all good things to +be received at His hands." Without this justification there could be no +good works. They were the signs of a lively faith and grew out of it. +Apart from it, what seemed to be "good works" were of the nature of sin, +phantom acts productive of nothing, "birds that were lost, unreal." So +were the works of pagans and heretics. The relation of almsgiving to +religion was thus entirely altered. The personal reward here or +hereafter to the actor was eliminated. The deed was good only in the +same sense in which the doer was good; it had in itself no merit. This +was a great gain, quite apart from any question as to the sufficiency or +insufficiency of the Protestant scheme of salvation. The deed, it was +realized, was only the outcome of the doer, the expression of himself, +what he was as a whole, neither better nor worse. Logically this led to +the discipline of the intelligence and the emotions, and undoubtedly +"justification" to very many was only consistent with such discipline +and implied it. Thus under a new guise the old position of charity +reasserted itself. But there were other differences. + + The relation of charity to prayer, fasting, almsgiving and penance was + altsred. The prayerful contemplation of the Christ was preserved in + the mysticism of Protestantism; but it was dissociated from the + "historic Christ," from the fervent idealization of whom St Francis + drew his inspiration and his active charitable impulse. The tradition + did not die out, however. It remained with many, notably with George + Herbert, of whom it made, not unlike St Francis, a poet as well as a + practical parish priest; but the absence of it indicated in much + post-Reformation endeavour a want, if not of devotion, yet of + intensity of feeling which may in part account for the fact that + sectarianism in relief has since proved itself stronger than charity, + instead of yielding to charity as its superior and its organizer. + Fasting was parted from prayer and almsgiving. It was "a thing not of + its own proper nature good as the love of father or mother or + neighbour, but according to its end." Almsgiving also as a "work" + disappeared and with it a whole series of inducements that from the + standpoint of the pecuniary and material supply of relief had long + been active. It was no wonder that the preachers advocated it in vain, + and reproached their hearers with their diminished bounty to the poor; + the old personal incentive had gone, and could only gradually be + superseded by the spontaneous activity of personal religion very + slowly wedding itself to true views of social duty and purpose. + Penance, once so closely related to almsgiving, passed out of sight. + Charity, the love of God and our neighbour, had two offices, it was + said, "to cherish good and harmless men" and "to correct and punish + vice without regard to persons." Correction as a means of discipline + takes the place of penance, and it becomes judicial, regulating and + controlling church membership by the authority of the church, a + congregation, minister or elder; or dealing with laziness or ill-doing + through the municipality or state, in connexion with what now first + appear, not prisons, but houses of correction. + +The religious life was to be democratic--not in religious bodies, but in +the whole people; and in a new sense--in relation to family and social +life--it was to be moral. That was the significance of the Reformation +for charity. + + + The organization of municipal relief. + +Consistently with this movement of religious activity towards a complete +fulfilment of the duties of civic life, the older classical social +theory, fostered by the Renaissance, assumed a new influence--the great +conception of the state as a community bound together by charity and +friendship, "We be not born to ourselves," it was said, "but partly to +the use of our country, of our parents, of our kinsfolk, and partly of +our friends and neighbours; and therefore all good virtues are grafted +on us naturally, whose effects be to do good to others, when it showeth +forth the image of God in man, whose property is ever to do good to +others" (Lamond, p. 14). Economic theory also changed. Instead of the +medieval opinion of the "theologian or social preacher," that "trade +could only be defended on the ground that honestly conducted it made no +profit" (Green, ii. 71), we have a recognition of the advantages +resulting from exchange, and individual interests, it is argued, are not +necessarily inconsistent with those of the state, but are, on the +contrary, a source of solid good to the whole community. + + Municipal laws for the suppression of the mendicity of the able-bodied + and the organization of relief on behalf of the infirm were common in + England and on the continent (Colmar, 1362; Nuremberg, 1478; + Strassburg, 1523; London, 1514). Vives (Ehrle, _Beitrage zur + Geschichte und Reform der Armenpflege_, p. 26), a Spaniard, who had + been at the court of Henry VIII., in a book translated into several + languages and widely read, seems to have summed up the thought of the + time in regard to the management of the poor. He divided them into + three classes: those in hospitals and poor-houses, the public homeless + beggars and the poor at home. He would have a census taken of the + number of each class in the town, and information obtained as to the + causes of their distress. Then he would establish a central + organization of relief under the magistrates. Work was to be supplied + for all, while begging was strictly forbidden. Non-settled poor who + were able-bodied were to be sent to their homes. Able-bodied settled + poor who knew no craft were to be put on some public work--the + undeserving being set to hard labour. For others work was to be found, + or they were to be assisted to become self-supporting. The hospitals + provided with medical advice and necessaries were to be classified to + meet the needs of the sick, the blind and lunatics. The poor living at + home were to work with a view to their self-support. What they earned, + if insufficient, might be supplemented. If a citizen found a case of + distress he was not to help it, but to send it for inquiry to the + magistrate. Children were to be taught. Private relief was to be + obtained from the rich. The funds of endowed charities were to be the + chief source of income; if more was wanted, bequests and church + collections would suffice. The scheme was put in force in Ypres in + 1524. The Sorbonne approved it, and similar plans were adopted in + Paris and elsewhere. It is in outline the scheme of London municipal + charity promoted by Edward VI., by which the poor were classified, St + Bartholomew's and St Thomas's hospitals appropriated for the sick, + Christ's hospital for the children of the poor, and Bridewell for the + correction of the able-bodied. Less the institutional arrangements and + plus the compulsory rate, the methods are those of the Poor Relief Act + of Queen Elizabeth of 1601. At first the attempt had been made to + introduce state relief in reliance on voluntary alms (1 Mary 13, 5 + Eliz. 3, 1562-1563), subject to the right of assessment if alms were + refused. But the position was anomalous. Charity is voluntary, and + spontaneously meets the demands of distress. Such demands have always + a tendency to increase with the supply. Hence the very limitations of + charitable finance are in the nature of a safeguard. At most economic + trouble can only be assuaged by relief, and it can only be met or + prevented by economic and social reforms. If a compulsory rate be not + enforced, as in Scotland and formerly in some parishes in England, a + voluntary rate may be made in supplementation of the local charities. + In Scotland, where the compulsory clauses of the Poor Relief Act of + James I. were not put in force, the country weathered the storm + without them, and the compulsory rate, which was extended throughout + the country by the Poor Act of 1844, came in very slowly in the 18th + and 19th centuries. In France (1566) a similar act was passed and set + aside. If a compulsory rate be enforced, it is inevitable that the + resources of charity, unless kept apart from the poor-law and + administered on different lines from it, will diminish, and at the + same time, as has happened often in the case of endowed charities, the + interest in charitable administration will lapse, while the charges + for poor-law relief, drawn without much scruple from the taxation of + the community, will mount to millions either to meet increasing + demands or to provide more elaborate institutional accommodation. The + principle once adopted, it was enacted (1572-1573) that the aged and + infirm should be cared for by the overseers of the poor, a new + authority; and in 1601 the duplicate acts were passed, that for the + relief of the poor (43 Eliz. 2), and that for the furtherance and + protection of endowed charities. Thus the poor were brought into the + dependence of a legally recognized class, endowed with a claim for + relief, on the fulfilment of which, after a time, they could without + difficulty insist if they were so minded. The civic authority had + indeed taken over the alms of the parish, and an _eleemosyna civica_ + had taken the place of the _annona civica_. It was a similar system + under a different name. + + + Poor Relief Acts and statutory serfdom. + +A phrase of Robert Cecil's (1st earl of Salisbury) indicates the minute +domestic character of the Elizabethan legislation (D'Ewes, 674). The +question (1601) was the repeal of a statute of tillage. Cecil says: "If +in Edward I.'s time a law was made for the maintenance of the fry of +fish, and in Henry VII.'s for the preservation of the eggs of wild fowl, +shall we now throw away a law of more consequence and import? If we +debar tillage, we give scope to the depopulating. And then, if the poor +being thrust out of their houses go to dwell with others, straight we +catch them with the statute of inmates; if they wander abroad, they are +within the danger of the statute of the poor to be whipt. So by this +undo this statute, and you endanger many thousands." A strong central +government, a local authority appointed directly by the government, and +a network of legislation controlled the whole movement of economic life. +On this reliance was placed to meet economic difficulties. The local +authorities were the justices of the peace; and they had to carry out +the statutes for this purpose, to assess the wages of artisans and +labourers, and to enforce the payment of the wages they had fixed; to +ensure that suitable provision was made for the relief of the poor at +the expense of rates which they also fixed; and to suppress vagabondage. +Since 23 Edw. III. there had been labour statutes, and in 1563 a new +statute was passed, an "Act containing divers orders for Artificers, +Labourers, Servants of Husbandry and Apprentices" (5 Eliz. c. 4). It +recognized and upheld a social classification. On the one hand there was +the gentleman or owner of property to which the act was not to apply; +and on the other the artisan and labouring class. This class in turn was +subdivided, and the justices were to assess their wages annually +according to "the plenty and scarcity of the time and other +circumstances." Persons between the ages of twelve and sixty, who were +not apprentices or engaged in certain specified employments, were +compelled to serve in husbandry by the year "with any person that +keepeth husbandry." The length of the day's work and the conditions of +apprenticeship were fixed. The assessed rate of wages was enforceable by +fine and imprisonment, and refusal to be apprenticed by imprisonment. +Thus there was created a life control over labour with an industrial +settlement and a wage fixed by the justices annually. There are +differences of opinion in regard to the extent to which this act was +enforced; and the evidence on the point is comparatively scanty. It was +enforced throughout the century in which it was passed, and it probably +continued in force generally until the Restoration, while subsequently +it was put in operation to meet special emergencies, such as times of +distress when some settlement of wages seemed desirable (cf. Rogers, v. +611; Hewins, _English Trade and Finance_, p. 82; Cunningham, _Growth of +English Industry and Commerce: Modern Times_, i. 168). It was not +repealed till 1814. + +From 1585 to 1622 there was, it is said, a slight increase in labourers' +wages, which fluctuated from 5s. 3/8d. to 5s. 8-1/4d. a week, with a +declining standard of comfort and at times great distress. Then there +was a marked increase of wage till 1662 and "a very marked improvement; +the rate of increase being very nearly double that of the earlier +periods," and reaching 9s., "as the highest weekly rate for the whole +period." Then from 1662 to 1702 there was "a slight improvement" +(Hewins, p. 89). It would seem indeed that the stir of the times between +1622 and 1662 may have caused a great demand for labour. But with the +Restoration, when the assessment system was falling into desuetude, came +the Poor Relief Act of 1662 (13 & 14 Car. II. cap. 62), which brought in +the law of settlement, and a settlement for relief of a very strict +nature was added to the industrial settlement of the Artificers and +Labourers Act. Thus, if the influence of that act, which had so long +controlled labour, was waning, its place was now taken by an act which, +though it had nothing to do with the assessment of wage, yet so settled +the labourer within the bounds of his parish that he had practically to +rely, if not upon a wage fixed by the justices, yet upon a customary +wage limited and restricted as a result of the law of settlement. And +the assessment by the justices, in so far as it may have continued, +would therefore be of little or no consequence. Settlement also, like +the Artificers and Labourers Act, would prevent the country labourer +from passing to the towns, or the townsmen passing to other towns. At +least they would do so at the risk of forfeiting their right to relief +if they lost their settlement without acquiring a new one. Hence the +industrial control, though under another name and other conditions, +remained in force to a large extent in practice. + +By the Artificers and Labourers Act then, in conjunction with other +measures, the labouring classes were finally committed to a new bondage, +when they had freed themselves from the serfdom of feudalism, and when +the control exercised over them by the gild and municipality was +relaxed. The statute was so enforced that to earn a year's livelihood +would have taken a labourer not 52 weeks, but sometimes two years, or 58 +weeks, or 80 weeks, or 72 weeks; sometimes, however, less--48 or 35. It +followed that on such a system the country could only with the utmost +good fortune free itself from the economic difficulties of the century, +and that the need of a poor-law was felt the more as these difficulties +persisted. A voluntary or a municipal system could not suffice, even as +a palliative, while such statutes as these were in force to render +labour immobile and unprogressive. Also, while wages were fixed by +statute or order, whether chiefly in the interest of the employers or +not, obviously any shortage on the wages had to be made good by the +community. The community, by fixing the wages to be earned in a +livelihood, made itself responsible for their sufficiency. And it is +suggestive to find that in the year in which the Artificers and +Labourers Act (1563) was passed, the act for the enforcement of +assessments of poor-rate (5 Eliz. cap. 3) was also enacted. The Law of +Settlement, to which we have referred, passed in the reign of Charles +II., was due, it is said, to a migration of labourers southward from +counties where less favourable statutory wages prevailed; but it was, in +fact, only a corollary of the Artificers and Labourers Act of 1563 and +the Poor Relief Act of 1601. These laws, it may be said, were the means +of making the English labourer, until the poor-law reform of 1834, a +settled but landless serf, supported by a fixed wage and a state bounty. +By the poor-law it was possible to continue this state of things till, +in consequence of an absolute economic breakdown, there was no +alternative but reform. + +The philanthropic nature of the poor-law is indicated by its +antecedents: once enacted, its bounties became a right; its philanthropy +disappeared in a quasi-legal claim. Its object was to relieve the poor +by home industries, apprentice children, and provide necessary relief to +the poor unable to work. The act was commonly interpreted so as to +include the whole of that indefinite class, the "poor"; by a better and +more rigid interpretation it was, at least in the 19th century, held to +apply only to the "destitute," that is, to those who required "necessary +relief"--according to the actual wording of the statute. The economic +fallacy of home industries founded on rate-supplied capital early +declared itself, and the method could only have continued as long as it +did because it formed part of a general system of industrial control. +When in the 18th century workhouses were established, the same +industrial fallacy, as records show, repeated itself under new +conditions. Within the parish it resulted in the farmer paying the +labourer as small a wage as possible, and leaving the parish to provide +whatever he might require in addition during his working life and in his +old age. Thus, indeed, a gigantic experiment in civic employment was +made for at least two centuries on a vast scale throughout the +country--and failed. As was natural, the lack of economic independence +reacted on the morals of the people. With pauperism came want of energy, +idleness and a disregard for chastity and the obligations of marriage. +The law, it is true, recognized the mutual obligations of parents and +grandparents, children and grandchildren; but in the general poverty +which it was itself a means of perpetuating such obligations became +practically obsolete, while at all times they are difficult to enforce. +Still, the fact that they were recognized implies a great advance in +charitable thought. The act, passed at first from year to year, was very +slowly put in force. Even before it was passed the poor-rate first +assessed under the act of 1563 was felt to be "a greater tax than some +subsidies," and in the time of Charles II. it amounted to a third of the +revenue of England and Wales (Rogers, v. 81). + +The service of villein and cottar was, as we have now seen, in part +superseded by what we have called a statutory wage-control, founded on a +basis of wage supplemented by relief, provided by a rate-supported +poor-law. But it follows that with the decay of this system the poor-law +itself should have disappeared, or should have taken some new and very +limited form. Unfortunately, as in Roman times, state relief proved to +be a popular and vigorous parasite that outlived the tree on which it +was rooted: assessments of wage under the Statute of Labourers fell into +disuse after the Restoration, it is said, and the statute was finally +repealed in 1814, and sixty years later the act against illegal +combinations of working men; but the serfdom of the poor-law, the +_eleemosyna civica_, remained, to work the gravest evil to the labouring +classes, and even after the reform of 1834 greatly impeded the recovery +of their independence. Nevertheless, by a new law of state alms for the +aged, or by statutory outdoor relief with, as some would wish, a +regulated wage, it is now proposed to bring them once again under a +thraldom similar to that from which they have so slowly emancipated +themselves. + + + The endowed charities. + +The policy adopted by Queen Elizabeth for the relief of the poor (1601) +included a scheme for the reorganization of voluntary charity as well as +plans for the extension of rate-aided relief. During the century, as we +have seen, endeavours had been made to create a system of voluntary +charity. This it was proposed to safeguard and promote concurrently with +the extension of the poor-rate. Accordingly, in the poor-law it was +arranged that the overseers, the new civic authority, and the +churchwardens, the old parochial and charitable authority, should act in +conjunction, and, subject to magisterial approval, together "raise +weekly or otherwise" the necessary means "by taxation of every +inhabitant." The old charitable organization was based on endowment, and +the churchwarden was responsible for the administration of many such +endowments. What was not available from these and other sources was to +be raised "by taxation." The object of the new act was to encourage +charitable gifts. + +Towards the end of the 18th century, when the administration of poor +relief fell into confusion, many charities were lost, or were in danger +of being lost, and many were mismanaged. In 1786 and 1788 a committee of +the House of Commons reported on the subject. In 1818, chiefly through +the instrumentality of Lord Brougham, a commission of inquiry on +educational charities was appointed, and in 1819 another commission to +investigate (with some exceptions) all the charities for the poor in +England and Wales. These and subsequent commissions continued their +inquiries till 1835, when a select committee of the House of Commons +made a strong report, advocating the establishment of a permanent and +independent board, to inquire, to compel the production of accounts, to +secure the safe custody of charity property, to adapt it to new uses on +cy-pres lines, &c. A commission followed in 1849, and eventually in 1853 +the first Charitable Trusts Act was passed, under which "The Charity +Commissioners of England and Wales" were appointed. + + The following are details of importance:--(1) _Definition._--The + definition of the act of 1601 (Charitable Uses, 43 Eliz. 4) still + holds good. It enumerates as charitable objects all that was once + called "alms": (a) "The relief of aged, impotent and poor people"--the + normal poor; "the maintenance of sick and maimed soldiers and + mariners"--the poor chiefly by reason of war, sometime a class of + privileged mendicants; (b) education, "schools of learning, free + schools and scholars in universities"; and then (c) a group of objects + which include general civic and religious purposes, and the charities + of gilds and corporations; "the repair of bridges, ports, havens, + causeways, churches, sea-banks and highways; the education and + preferment of orphans; the relief, stock, or maintenance for houses of + correction; marriages of poor maids, supportation, aid, and help of + young tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and persons decayed"; and there + follows (d) "the relief or redemption of prisoners or captives"; and, + lastly, (e) "the aid and ease of any poor inhabitants concerning + payment of fifteens" (the property-tax of Tudor times), setting out of + soldiers, and other taxes. The definition might be illustrated by the + charitable bequests of the next 60, or indeed 225, years. It is a fair + summary of them. (2) _Charitable Gifts._--A public trust and a + charitable trust are, as this definition shows, synonymous. It is a + trust which relates to public charities, and is not held for the + benefit of private persons, e.g. relations, but for the common good, + and, subject to the instructions of the founder, by trustees + responsible to the community. Gifts for charitable purposes, other + than those affected by the law of mortmain, have always been viewed + with favour. "Where a charitable bequest is capable of two + constructions, one of which would make it void and the other would + make it effectual, the latter will be adopted by the court" (Tudor's + _Charitable Trusts_, ed. 1906, by Bristowe, Hunt and Burdett, p. 167). + Gifts to the poor, or widows, or orphans, indefinitely, or in a + particular parish, were valid under the act, or for any purpose or + institution for the aid of the "poor." Thus practically the act + covered the same field as the poor-law, though afterwards it was + decided that, "as a rule, persons receiving parochial relief were not + entitled to the benefit of a charity intended for the poor" (Tudor, p. + 167). (3) _Religious Differences._--In the administration of charities + which are for the poor the broadest view is taken of religious + differences. (4) _Superstitious Uses._--The superstitious use is one + that has for its object the propagation of the rights of a religion + not tolerated by the law (Tudor, p. 4). Consequently, so far as + charities were held or left subject to such rights, they were illegal, + or became legal only as toleration was extended. Thus by degrees, + since the Toleration Act of 1688, all charities to dissenters have + become legal--that is, trusts for schools, places for religious + instruction, education and charitable purposes generally. But bequests + for masses for the soul of the donor, or for monastic orders, are + still void. (5) _Administration._--The duty of administering + charitable trusts falls upon trustees or corporations, and under the + term "eleemosynary corporations" are included endowed hospitals and + colleges. Under schemes of the Charity Commissioners, where charities + have been remodelled, besides trustees elected by corporations, there + are now usually appointed _ex-officio_ trustees who represent some + office or institution of importance in connexion with the charity. (6) + _Jurisdiction by Chancery and Charity Commission._--The Court of + Chancery has jurisdiction over charities, under the old principle that + "charities are trusts of a public nature, in regard to which no one is + entitled by an immediate and peculiar interest to prefer a complaint + for compelling the performance by the trustees of their obligations." + The court, accordingly, represents the crown as _parens patriae_. Now, + by the Charitable Trusts Act 1853, and subsequent acts, a charity + commission has been formed which is entrusted with large powers, + formerly enforced only by the Court of Chancery. (7) _Jurisdiction by + Visitor._--A further jurisdiction is by the "visitor," a right + inherent in the founder of any eleemosynary corporation, and his + heirs, or those whom he appoints, or in their default, the king. The + object of the visitor is "to prevent all perverting of the charity, or + to compose differences among members of the corporation." Formerly the + bishop's ordinary was the recognized visitor (2 Henry V. I, 1414) of + hospitals, apart from the founder. Subsequently his power was limited + (14 Eliz. c. 5, 1572) to hospitals for which the founders had + appointed no visitors. Then (1601) by the Charitable Uses Act + commissions were issued for inquiry by county juries. Now, apart from + the duty of visitors, inquiry is conducted by the charity + commissioners and the assistant commissioners. By subsequent acts (see + below) ecclesiastical and eleemosynary charities have been still + further separated and defined. (8) _Advice._--"Trustees, or other + persons concerned in the management of a charity, may apply to the + charity commissioners for their opinion, advice or direction; and any + person acting under such advice is indemnified, unless he has been + guilty of misrepresentation in obtaining it." (9) _Limitation of + Charity Commissioners' Powers_,--The commissioners cannot, however, + make any order with respect to any charity of which the gross annual + income amounts to L50 or upwards, except on the application (in + writing) of the trustees or a majority of them. Their powers are thus + very limited, except when put in motion by the trustees. If a parish + is divided they can apportion the charities if the gross income does + not exceed L20. (10) _General Powers of the Charity + Commission._--Subject to the limitation of L50, &c., the charity + commissioners have power (Charitable Trusts Act 1860) to make orders + for the appointment or removal of trustees, or of any officer, and for + the transfer, payment and vesting of any real or personal estate, or + "for the establishment of any scheme for the administration" of the + charity, (11) _Schemes and Remodelling of Charities._--Under this + power charities are remodelled, and small and miscellaneous charities + put into one fund and applied to new purposes. The cy-pres doctrine is + applied, by which if a testator leaves directions that are only + indefinite, or if the objects for which a charity was founded are + obsolete, the charity is applied to some purpose, as far as possible, + in accordance with the charitable intention of the founder. This + doctrine probably received its widest application in the City of + London Parochial Charities Act of 1883. Under other acts doles have + been applied to education and to allotments. About 380 schemes are + issued in the course of a year. (12) _Objects adopted in remodelling + Charities._--In the remodelling of charities for the general benefit + of the poor some one or more of thirteen objects are usually included + in the scheme. These are subscriptions to a medical charity, to a + provident club or coal or clothing society, to a friendly society; for + nurses, for annuities, for outfit for service, &c.; for emigration; + for recreation grounds, clubs, reading-rooms, museums, lectures; for + temporary relief to a limited amount in each year; for clothes fuel, + tools, medical aid, food, &c., or in money "in cases of unexpected + loss or sudden destitution"; for pensions. (13) _Parochial + Charities._--By the Local Government Act of 1892, local ecclesiastical + charities, i.e. endowments for "any spiritual purpose that is a + legal purpose" (for spiritual persons, church and other buildings, for + spiritual uses, &c.), are separated from parochial charities, "the + benefits of which are, or the separate distribution of the benefits of + which is, confined to inhabitants of a single parish, or of a single + ancient ecclesiastical parish, or not more than five neighbouring + parishes." These charities, since the Local Government Act 1894, are + under the supervision of the parish councils, who appoint trustees for + their management in lieu of the former overseer or vestry trustees, + or, under certain conditions, "additional trustees." The accounts have + to be submitted to the parish meeting, and the names of the + beneficiaries of dole charities published. (14) _Official + Trustees._--There is also "an official trustee of charity lands," who + as "bare trustee" may hold the land or stock of the charity managed by + the trustees or administrators. In 1905 the stock transferred to the + official trustees amounted to L24,820,945. (15) _Audit_.--The charity + commissioners have no power of audit, but the trustees of every + charity have to prepare a statement of accounts annually, and transmit + it to the commission. The accounts have to be "certified under the + hand of one or more of the trustees and by the auditor of the + charity." (16) _Taxation_.--In the case of rents and profits of lands, + &c., belonging to hospitals or almshouses, or vested in trustees for + charitable purposes, allowances are made in diminution of income-tax + (56 Vict. 35 S 61). From the inhabited house duty any hospital charity + school, or house provided for the reception or relief of poor persons, + is exempted (House Tax Act 1808). Also there is an exemption from the + land-tax in regard to land rents, &c., in possession of hospitals + before 1693. (17) _The Digest._--A digest of endowed charities in + England and Wales was compiled in the years 1861 to 1876. A new digest + of reports and financial particulars has since been completed. + + The income of endowed charities in 1876 was returned at L2,198,463. It + is now, no doubt, considerably larger than it was in 1876. Partial + returns show that at least a million a year is now available in + England and Wales for the assistance of the aged poor and for doles. + Between the poor-law, which, as it is at present administered, is a + permanent endowment provided from the rates for the support of a class + of permanent "poor," and endowed charities, which are funds available + for the poor of successive generations, there is no great difference. + But in their resources and administration the difference is marked. + Local endowed charities were constantly founded after Queen + Elizabeth's time till about 1830, and the poor-rate was at first + supplementary of the local charities. When corn and fuel were dear and + clothes very expensive, what now seem trivial endowments for food, + fuel, coal and clothes were important assets in the thrifty management + of a parish. But when the poor were recognized as a class of + dependants entitled by law to relief from the community, the rate + increased out of all proportion to the charities. A distinction then + made itself felt between the "parish" poor and the "second" poor, or + the poor who were not relieved from the rates, and relief from the + rates altogether overshadowed the charitable aid. Charitable + endowments were ignored, ill-administered, and often were lost. After + 1834 the poor-law was brought under the control of the central + government. Poor relief was placed in the hands of boards of guardians + in unions of parishes. The method of co-operation between poor-law and + charity suggested by the acts of Queen Elizabeth was set aside, and, + as a responsible partner in the public work of relief, charity was + disestablished. In the parishes the endowed charities remained in + general a disorganized medley of separate trusts, jealously guarded by + incompetent administrators. To give unity to this mass of units, so + long as the principles of charity are misunderstood or ignored, has + proved an almost impossible and certainly an unpopular task. So far as + it has been achieved, it has been accomplished by the piecemeal + legislation of schemes cautiously elaborated to meet local prejudices. + Active reform has been resented, and politicians have often + accentuated this resentment. In 1894 a select committee was appointed + to inquire whether it was desirable to take measures to bring the + action of the Charity Commission more directly under the control of + parliament, but no serious grievances were substantiated. The + committees' reports are of interest, however, as an indication of the + initial difficulties of all charitable work, the general ignorance + that prevails in regard to the elementary conditions that govern it, + the common disregard of these principles, and the absence of any + accepted theory or constructive policy that should regulate its + development and its administration. + + + Charity in the parish after 1601. + +After the Poor-Law Act of 1601 the history of the voluntary parochial +charities in a town parish is marked by their decreasing amount and +utility, as poor-law relief and pauperism increased. The act, it would +seem, was not adopted with much alacrity by the local authorities. From +1625 to 1646 there were many years of plague and sickness, but in St +Giles's, London, as late as 1649, the amount raised by the "collectors" +(or overseers) was only L176. They disbursed this to "the visited poor" +as "pensions." In 1665 an extra levy of L600 is mentioned. In the +accounts of St Martin's-in-the-Fields, where, as in St Giles's, gifts +were received, the change wrought by another half-century (1714) is +apparent. The sources of charitable relief are similar to those in all +the Protestant churches--English, Scottish or continental: church +collections and offertories; correctional fines, such as composition for +bastards and conviction money for swearers; and besides these, income +from annuities and legacies, the parish estate, the royal bounty, and +"petitions to persons of quality." In all L2041 was collected, but, so +far as relief was concerned, the parish relied not on it, but on the +poor-rate, which produced L3765. All this was collected and disbursed on +their own authority by collectors, to orphans, "pensioners" or the +"known or standing" poor, or to casual poor (L1818), including nurse +children and bastards. The begging poor were numerous and the infant +death-rate enormous, and each year three-fourths of those christened +were "inhumanly suffered to die by the barbarity of nurses." The whole +administration was uncharitable, injurious to the community and the +family, and inhuman to the child. If one may judge from later accounts +of other parishes even up to 1834, usually it remained the same, +purposeless and unintelligent; and it can hardly be denied that, +generally speaking, only since the middle of the 19th century has any +serious attention been paid to the charitable side of parochial work. +Parallel to the parochial movement of the poor-law in England, in France +(about 1617) were established the _bureaux de bienfaisance_, at first +entirely voluntary institutions, then recognized by the state, and +during the Revolution made the central administration for relief in the +communes. + + + Charitable movements after 1601. + +In the 17th century in England, as in France, opinion favoured the +establishment of large hospitals or _maisons Dieu_ for the reception of +the poor of different classes. In France throughout the century there +was a continuous struggle with mendicancy, and the hospitals were used +as places into which offenders were summarily driven. A new humanity +was, however, beginning its protest. The pitiful condition of abandoned +children attracted sympathy in both countries. St Vincent de Paul +established homes for the _enfants trouves_, followed in England by the +establishment of the Foundling hospital (1739). In both countries the +method was applied inconsiderately and pushed to excess, and it affected +family life most injuriously. Grants from parliament supported the +foundling movement in England, and homes were opened in many parts of +the country. The demand soon became overwhelming; the mortality was +enormous, and the cost so large that it outstripped all financial +expedients. The lesson of the experiment is the same as that of the +poor-law catastrophe before 1834; only, instead of the able-bodied poor +of another age, infants were made the object of a compassionate but +undiscerning philanthropy. With widespread relief there came widespread +abandonment of duty and economic bankruptcy. Had the poor-rates instead +of charitable relief been used in the same way, the moral injury would +have been as great, but the annual draft from the rates would have +concealed the moral and postponed the economic disaster. To amend the +evil, changes were made by which the relation between child and mother +was kept alive, and a personal application on her part was required; the +character of the mother and her circumstances were investigated, and +assistance was only given when it would be "the means of replacing the +mother in the course of virtue and the way of an honest livelihood." +General reforms were also made, especially through the instrumentality +of Jonas Hanway, to check infant mortality, and metropolitan parishes +were required to provide for their children outside London. A kindred +movement led to the establishment of penitentiaries (1758), of lock +hospitals and lying-in hospitals (1749-1752). + +In Queen Anne's reign there was a new educational movement, "the charity +school"--"to teach poor children the alphabet and the principles of +religion," followed by the Sunday-school movement (1780), and about the +same time (1788) by "the school of industry"--to employ children and +teach them to be industrious. In 1844 the Ragged School Union was +established, and until the Education Act of 1870 continued its voluntary +educational work. As an outcome of these movements, through the efforts +of Miss Mary Carpenter and many others, in 1854-1855 industrial and +reformatory schools were established, to prevent crime and reform child +criminals. The orphanage movement, beginning in 1758, when the Orphan +Working Home was established, has been continued to the present day on a +vastly extended scale. In 1772 a society for the discharge of persons +imprisoned for small debts was established, and in 1773 Howard began his +prison reforms. This raised the standard of work in institutional +charities generally. After the civil wars the old hospital foundations +of St Bartholomew and St Thomas, municipalized by Edward VI., became +endowed charities partly supported by voluntary contributions. The same +fate befell Christ's Hospital, in connexion with which the voting +system, the admission of candidates by the vote of the whole body of +subscribers--that peculiarly English invention--first makes its +appearance. + +A new interest in hospitals sprang up at the end of the 17th century. St +Thomas's was rebuilt (1693) and St Bartholomew's (1739); Guy's was +founded in 1724, and on the system of free "letters" obtainable in +exchange for donations, voluntary hospitals and infirmaries were +established in London (1733 and later) and in most of the large towns. +Towards the end of the 18th century the dispensary movement was +developed--a system of local dispensaries with fairly definite districts +and home visiting, a substitute for attendance at a hospital, where +"hospital fever" was dreaded, and an alternative to what was then a very +ill-administered system of poor-law medical relief. After 1840 the +provident dispensary was introduced, in order that the patients by small +contributions in the time of health might provide for illness without +having to meet large doctors' bills, and the doctor might receive some +sufficient remuneration for his attendance on poor patients. This +movement was largely extended after 1860. Three hospital funds for +collecting contributions for hospitals and making them grants, a +movement that originated in Birmingham in 1859, were established in +London in 1873 and 1897. + + Since 1868 the poor-law medical system of Great Britain has been + immensely improved and extended, while at the same time the number of + persons in receipt of free medical relief in most of the large towns + has greatly increased. The following figures refer to London: at + hospitals, 97 in number, in-patients (1904) during the year, 118,536; + out-patients and casualty cases, 1,858,800; patients at free, + part-pay, or provident dispensaries, about 280,000; orders issued for + attendance at poor-law dispensaries and at home, 114,158. The number + of beds in poor-law infirmaries (1904) was 16,976. There are in London + 12 general hospitals with, 18 without, medical schools, and 67 + special hospitals. Thus the population in receipt of public and + voluntary medical relief is very large, indeed altogether excessive. + +Each religious movement has brought with it its several charities. The +Society of Friends, the Wesleyans, the Baptists have large charities. +With the extension of the High Church movement there have been +established many sisterhoods which support penitentiaries, convalescent +homes and hospitals, schools, missions, &c. + +The magnitude of this accumulating provision of charitable relief is +evident, though it cannot be summed up in any single total. + +At the beginning of the 19th century anti-mendicity societies were +established; and later, about 1869, in England and Scotland a movement +began for the organization of charitable relief, in connexion with which +there are now societies and committees in most of the larger towns in +Great Britain, in the colonies, and in the United States of America. +More recently the movement for the establishment of settlements in poor +districts, initiated by Canon Barnett at Toynbee Hall--"to educate +citizens in the knowledge of one another, and to provide them with +teaching and recreation"--has spread to many towns in England and +America. + + + Progress of thought in 18th and 19th centuries. + +These notes of charitable movements suggest an altogether new +development of thought. On behalf of the charity school of Queen Anne's +time were preached very formal sermons, which showed but little sympathy +with child life. After the first half of the century a new humanism with +which we connect the name of Rousseau, slowly superseded this formal +beneficence. Rousseau made the world open its eyes and see nature in the +child, the family and the community. He analysed social life, intent on +explaining it and discovering on what its well-being depended; and he +stimulated that desire to meet definite social needs which is apparent +in the charities of the century. Little as it may appear to be so at +first sight, it was a period of charitable reformation. Law revised the +religious conception of charity, though he was himself so strangely +devoid of social instinct that, like some of his successors, he linked +the utmost earnestness in belief to that form of almsgiving which most +effectually fosters beggardom. Howard introduced the era of inspection, +the ardent apostle of a new social sagacity; and Bentham, no less +sagacious, propounded opinions, plans and suggestions which, perhaps it +may be said, in due course moulded the principles and methods of the +poor-law of 1834. In the broader sense the turn of thought is religious, +for while usually stress is laid on the religious scepticism of the +century, the deeper, fervent, conscientious and evangelical charity in +which Nonconformists, and especially "the Friends," took so large a +part, is often forgotten. Sometimes, indeed, as often happens now, the +feeling of charity passed into the merest sentimentality. This is +evident, for instance, from so ill-considered a measure as Pitt's Bill +for the relief of the poor. On the other hand, during the 18th century +the poor-law was the object of constant criticism, though so long as the +labour statutes and the old law of settlement were in force, and the +relief of the labouring population as state "poor" prevailed, it was +impossible to reform it. Indeed, the criticism itself was generally +vitiated by a tacit acceptance of "the poor" as a class, a permanent and +irrevocable charge on the funds of the community; and at the end of the +18th century, when the labour statutes were abrogated, but the +conditions under which poor relief was administered remained the same, +serfdom in its later stage, the serfdom of the poor-law, asserted itself +in its extremest form in times of dearth and difficulty during the +Napoleonic War. In 1802-1803 it was calculated (Marshall's _Digest_) +that 28% of the population were in receipt of permanent or occasional +relief. Those in receipt of the former numbered 734,817, including +children--so real had this serfdom of the poor become. + +In 1832 the expenditure on pauperism in England and Wales was +L7,036,968. In the early years of the 19th century the mendicity +societies, established in some of the larger towns, were a sign of the +general discontent with existing methods of administration. The Society +for Bettering the Condition of the Poor--representing a group of men +such as Patrick Colquhoun, Sir I. Bernard, Dr Lettsom, Dr Haygarth, +James Neald, Count Rumford and others--took a more positive line and +issued many useful publications (1796). After 1833 the very atmosphere +of thought seems changed. There was a general desire to be quit of the +serfdom of pauperism. The Poor-law Amendment Act was passed in 1834, and +since then male able-bodied pauperism has dwindled to a minimum. The bad +years of 1860-1870 revived the problem in England and Scotland, and the +old spirit of reform for a time prevailed. Improved administration +working with economic progress effected still further reductions of +pauperism, till on the 1st of January 1905 (exclusive of lunatics in +county asylums and casual paupers) the mean number of paupers stood at +764,589, or 22.6 per thousand of the population, instead of 41.8 per +thousand as in 1859 (see POOR-LAW). + +Charity organization societies were formed after 1869, with the object +of "improving the condition of the poor," or, in other words, to promote +independence by an ordered and co-operative charity; and the Association +for Befriending Young Servants, and workhouse aid committees, in order +to prevent relapse into pauperism on the part of those who as children +or young women received relief from the poor-law. The Local Government +Board adopted a restricted out-door relief policy, and a new interest +was felt in all the chief problems of local administration. The movement +was general. The results of the Elberfeld system of municipal relief +administered by unpaid almoners, each dealing with but one or two cases, +influenced thought both in England and America. The experience gained by +Mr Joseph Tuckerman of Boston of the utility of registering applications +for relief, and the teaching of Miss Octavia Hill, led to the foundation +of the system of friendly visiting and associated charity at Boston +(1880) and elsewhere. Since that time the influence of Arnold Toynbee +and the investigations of Charles Booth have led to a better +appreciation of the conditions of labour; and to some extent, in London +and elsewhere, the spirit of charity has assumed the form of a new +devotion to the duties of citizenship. But perhaps, in regard to charity +in Great Britain, the most important change has been the revival of the +teaching of Dr Chalmers (1780-1847), who (1819) introduced a system of +parochial charity at St John's, Glasgow, on independent lines, +consistent with the best traditions of the Scottish church. In the +development of the theory of charitable relief on the economic side this +has been a main factor. His view, which he tested by experience, may be +summed up as follows: Society is a growing, self-supporting organism. It +has within it, as between family and family, neighbour and neighbour, +master and employee, endless links of sympathy and self-support. Poverty +is not an absolute, but a relative term. Naturally the members of one +class help one another; the poor help the poor. There is thus a large +invisible fund available and constantly used by those who, by their +proximity to one another, know best how to help. The philanthropist is +an alien to this life around him. Moved by a sense of contrast between +his own lot, as he understands it, and the lot of those about him, whom +he but little understands, he concludes that he should relieve them. But +his gift, unless it be given in such a way as to promote this +self-support, instead of weakening it, is really injurious. In the first +place, by his interference he puts a check on the charitable resources +of another class and lessens their social energy. What he gives they do +not give, though they might do so. But next, he does more harm than +this. He stimulates expectation, so that by a false arithmetic his gift +of a few shillings seems to those who receive it and to those who hear +of it a possible source of help in any difficulty. To them it represents +a large command of means; and where one has received what, though it be +little, is yet, relative to wage, a large sum to be acquired without +labour, many will seek more, and with that object will waste their time +and be put off their work, or even be tempted to lie and cheat. So +social energy is diverted from its proper use. Alms thus given weakens +social ties, diminishes the natural relief funds of mutual help, and +beggars a neighbour instead of benefiting him. By this argument a clear +and well-defined purpose is placed before charity. Charity becomes a +science based on social principles and observation. Not to give alms, +but to keep alive the saving health of the family, becomes its problem: +relief becomes altogether subordinate to this, and institutions or +societies are serviceable or the reverse according as they serve or fail +to serve this purpose. Not poverty, but distress is the plea for help; +not almsgiving, but charity the means. To charity is given a definite +social aim, and a desire to use consistently with this aim every method +that increasing knowledge and trained ability can devise. + +Under such influences as these, joined with better economic conditions, +a great reform has been made. The poor-law, however, remains--the modern +_eleemosyna civica_. It now, indeed, absorbs a proportionately lesser +amount of the largely increased national income, but, excluding the +maintenance of lunatics, it costs Great Britain more than twelve +millions a year; and among the lower classes of the poor, directly or +indirectly, it serves as a bounty on dependence and is a permanent +obstacle to thrift and self-reliance. The number of those who are within +the circle of its more immediate attraction is now perhaps, in different +parts of the country or different districts in a town, not more than, +say, 20% of the population. Upon that population the statistics of a day +census would show a pauperism not of 2.63, the percentage of the mean +day pauperism on the population in 1908, but of 13.15%; and the +percentage would be much greater--twice as large, perhaps--if the total +number of those who in some way received poor relief in the course of a +year were taken into account. The English poor-law is thus among the +lower classes, those most tempted to dependence--say some six or seven +millions of the people--a very potent influence definitely antagonistic +to the good development of family life, unless it be limited to very +narrow proportions; as, for instance, to restricted indoor or +institutional relief for the sick, for the aged and infirm, who in +extreme old age require special care and nursing, and for the afflicted, +for whom no sufficient charitable provision is procurable. As ample +experience shows, only on these conditions can poor-law relief be +justified from the point of view of charity and the common good. In +marked contrast to this opinion is the English movement for Old Age +pensions, which came to its first fruition in 1908--a huge charity +started on the credit of the state, the extension of which might +ultimately involve a cost comparable with that of the army or the navy. +Schemes of the kind have been adopted in the Australasian colonies with +limitations and safeguards; and they seem likely to develop into a new +type of poor-relief organization for the aged and infirm (Report: Royal +Commission on Old Age Pensions, Commonwealth of Australia, 1906). In +England, partly to meet the demand for better state provision for the +aged, the Local Government Board in 1900 urged the boards of guardians +to give more adequate outdoor relief to aged deserving people, and laid +no stress on the test of destitution, or, in other words, the limitation +of relief to what was actually "necessary," the neglect of which has led +to new difficulties. History has proved that demoralization results from +the wholesale relief whether of the mass of the citizens, or of the +able-bodied, or of the children, and the proposal to limit the endowment +to the aged makes no substantial difference. The social results must be +similar; but social forces work slowly, and usually only the +unanswerable argument of financial bankruptcy suffices to convert a +people habituated to dependence, though the inward decay of vitality and +character may long before be manifest. Ultimately the distribution of +pensions by way of out-door relief, corrupting a far more independent +people, is calculated to work a far greater injury than the _annona +civica_. Such an endowment of old age might indeed be justified as part +of a system of regulated labour, which, as in earlier times, could not +be enforced without some such extraneous help, but it could not be +justified otherwise. It is naturally associated, therefore, with +socialistic proposals for the regulation of wage. + +In the light of the principles of charity, which we have considered +historically, we have now to turn to two questions: charity and +economics, and charity and socialism. + + + The economics of charity. + +The object of charity is to render to our neighbour the services and +duties of goodwill, friendship and love. To prevent distress charity +has for its further object to preserve and develop the manhood and +womanhood of individuals and their self-maintenance in and through the +family; and any form of state intervention is approved or disapproved by +the same standard. By self-maintenance is meant self-support throughout +life in its ordinary contingencies--sickness, widowhood, old age, &c. +Political economy we would define as the science of exchange and +exchange value. Here it has to be considered in relation to the purposes +of charity. By way of illustration we take, accordingly, three points: +distribution and use, supplementation of wage, and the standard of +well-being or comfort in relation to wage. + + (1) _Distribution and Use._--Economy in the Greek sense begins at this + point--the administration and the use of means and resources. + Political economy generally ignores this part of the problem. Yet from + the point of view of charity it is cardinal to the whole issue. The + distribution of wage may or may not be largely influenced by trades + unions; but the variation of wage, as is generally the case, by the + increase or decrease of a few pence is of less importance than its + use. Comparing a careful and an unthrifty family, the difference in + use may amount to as much as a third on the total wage. Mere + abstention from alcohol may make, in a normal family, a difference of + 6s. in a wage of 25s. On the other hand, membership of a friendly + society is at a time of sickness equivalent to the command of a large + sum of money, for the common stock of capital is by that means placed + at the disposal of each individual who has a share in it. Further, + even a small amount saved may place the holder in a position to get a + better market for his labour; he can wait when another man cannot. + Rent may be high, but by co-operation that too may be reduced. Other + points are obvious and need not be mentioned. It is evident that while + the amount of wage is important, still more important is its use. In + use it has a large expansive value. (2) _Supplementation of + Wage._--The exchange between skill and wage must be free if it is to + be valid. The less the skill the greater is the temptation to + philanthropists to supplement the lesser wage; and the more important + is non-supplementation, for the skilled can usually look after their + own interests in the market, while the less skilled, because their + labour is less marketable, have to make the greater effort to avoid + dependence. But the dole of endowed charities, outdoor relief, and any + constant giving, tend to reduce wage, and thus to deprive the + recipients of some part of the means of independence. The employer is + pressed by competition himself, and in return he presses for profit + through a reduced wage, if circumstances make it possible for the + workman to take it. And thus a few individuals may lower the wages of + a large class of poorly skilled or unskilled hands. In these + conditions unionism, even if it were likely to be advantageous, is not + feasible. Unionism can only create a coherent unit of workers where + there is a limited market and a definite saleable skill. Except for + the time, insufficient wage will not be remedied in the individual + case by supplementation in any form--doles, clothes, or other kinds of + relief; and in that case, too, the relief will probably produce + lessened energy after a short time, or in other words lessened ability + to live. An insufficient wage may be prevented by increasing the skill + of the worker, who will then have the advantage of a better series of + economic exchanges, but hardly otherwise. If the supplementation be + not immediate, but postponed, as in the case of old-age pensions, its + effect will be similar. To the extent of the prospective adventitious + gain the attraction to the friendly society and to mutual help and + saving will grow less. Necessity has been the inventor of these; and + where wage is small, a little that would otherwise be saved is quickly + spent if the necessity for saving it is removed. Only necessity + schools most men, especially the weak, to whom it makes most + difference ultimately, whether they are thrifty or whether or not they + save for the future in any way. (3) _The Standard of Well-being or + Comfort in Relation to Wage._--With an increase of income there has to + be an increase in the power to use income intelligently. Whatever is + not so used reacts on the family to its undoing. Constantly when the + wife can earn a few shillings a week, the husband will every week idle + for two or three days; so also if the husband finds that in a few days + he can earn enough to meet what he considers to be his requirements + for the week. In these circumstances the standard of well-being falls + below the standard of wage; the wage is in excess of the energy and + intelligence necessary to its economic use, and in these cases + ultimately pauperism often ensues. The family is demoralized. Thus, + with a view to the prevention of distress in good times, when there is + the less poverty there is the more need of charity, rightly + understood; for charity would strive to promote the right use of wage, + as the best means of preventing distress and preserving the economic + well-being of the family. + + + Charity and socialism. + +The theory of charity separates it entirely from socialism, as that word +is commonly used. Strictly socialism means, in questions affecting the +community, a dominant regard for the common or social good in so far as +it is contrary to private or individual advantage. But even so the +antithesis is misleading, for the two need not be inconsistent. On the +contrary, the common good is really and ultimately only individual good +(not advantage) harmonized to a common end. The issue, indeed, is that +of old Greek days, and the conditions of a settlement of it are not +substantially different. Using modern terms one may say that charity is +"interventionist." It has sought to transform the world by the +transformation of the will and the inward life in the individual and in +society. It would intensify the spirit and feeling of membership in +society and would aim at improving social conditions, as science makes +clear what the lines of reform should be. So it has constantly +intervened in all kinds of ways, and, in the 19th century for instance, +it has initiated many movements afterwards taken up by public +authorities--such as prison reform, industrial schools, child +protection, housing, food reform, &c., and it has been a friendly ally +in many reforms that affect industry very closely, as, for instance, in +the introduction of the factory acts. But it has never aimed at +recasting society itself on a new economic plan, as does socialism. +Socialism indeed offers the people a new state of social security. It +recognizes that the _annona civica_ and the old poor-law may have been +bad, but it would meet the objection made against them by insisting on +the gradual creation of a new industrial society in which wage would be +regulated and all would be supported, some by wage in adult life, some +by allowance in old age, and others by maintenance in childhood. +Accordingly for it all schemes for the state maintenance of school +children, old age pensions, or state provision for the unemployed are, +like municipal trading, steps towards a final stage, in which none shall +want because all shall be supported by society or be dependent on it +industrially. To charity this position seems to exclude the ethical +element in life and to treat the people primarily or chiefly as human +animals. It seems also to exclude the motives for energy and endeavour +that come from self-maintenance. Against it, on the other hand, +socialism would urge, that only by close regulation and penalty will the +lowest classes be improved, and that only the society that maintains +them can control them. Charity from its experience doubts the +possibility of such control without a fatal loss of initiative on the +part of those controlled, and it believes both that there is constant +improvement on the present conditions of society and that there will be +constantly more as science grows and its conclusions are put in force. +Thus charity and socialism, in the usual meaning of the word, imply +ultimately two quite different theories of social life. The one would +re-found society industrially, the other would develop it and allow it +to develop. + + + The organization of charity. + +The springs of charity lie in sympathy and religion, and, one would now +add, in science. To organize it is to give to it the "ordered nature" of +an organic whole, to give it a definite social purpose, and to associate +the members of the community for the fulfilment of that purpose. This in +turn depends on the recognition of common principles, the adoption of a +common method, self-discipline and training, and co-operation. In a mass +of people there may be a large variation in motives coincident with much +unity in action. Thus there may be acceptance of a common social purpose +in charity, while in one the impulse is similar to that which moved St +Francis or George Herbert, in another to that which moved Howard or Dr +Chalmers, or a modern poor-law reformer like Sir G. Nicholls or E. +Denison. Accepting, then, the principles of charity, we pass to the +method in relation to assistance and relief. Details may vary, but on +the following points there is general agreement among students and +workers:-- + + (1) _The Committee or Conference._--There are usually two kinds of + local relief: the public or poor-law relief, and relief connected with + religious agencies. Besides, there is the relief of endowments, + societies and charitable persons. Therefore, as a condition precedent + to all organization, there must be some local centre of association + for information and common help. A town should be divided for this + purpose into manageable areas coincident with parishes or poor-law + divisions, or other districts. Subject to an acceptance of general + principles, those engaged in charity should be members of a local + conference or committee, or allied to it. The committee would thus be + the rallying-point of a large and somewhat loosely knit association + of friends and workers. (2) _Inquiry, Aid and Registration_.--The + object of inquiry is to ascertain the actual causes of distress or + dependence, and to carry on the work there must usually be a staff of + several honorary and one or two paid workers. Two methods may be + adopted: to inquire in regard to applications for help with a view to + forming some plan of material help or friendly aid, or both, which + will lead to the ultimate self-support of the family and its members, + and, under certain conditions, in the case of the aged or sick, to + their continuous or their sufficient help; or to ascertain the facts + partly at once, partly by degrees, and then to form and carry out some + plan of help, or continue to befriend the family in need of help, in + the hope of bringing them to conditions of self-support, leaving the + work of relief entirely to other agencies. The committee in neither + case should be a relief committee--itself a direct source of relief. + On the former method it has usually no relief fund, but it raises from + relations, employers, charities and charitable persons the relief + required, according to the plan of help agreed upon, unless, indeed, + it is better not to relieve the case, or to leave it to the poor-law. + The committee thus makes itself responsible for endeavouring to the + best of its ability to raise the necessary relief, and acts as trustee + for those who co-operate without it, in such a way as to keep intact + and to give play to all the natural obligations that lie within the + inner circles of a self-supporting community. On the latter method the + work of relief is left to general charity, or to private persons, or + to the poor-law; and the effort is made to help the family to + self-support by a friendly visitor. This procedure is that adopted by + the associated charities in Boston, Mass., and other similar societies + in America and elsewhere. It is akin also to that adopted in the + municipal system of relief in Elberfeld--which has become with many + variations in detail the standard method of poor relief in Germany. + The method of associated help, combined with personal work, represents + the usual practice of charity organization societies. _Mutatis + mutandis_, the plan can be adopted on the simplest scale in parochial + or other relief committees, subject to the safeguards of sufficient + training and settled method. The inquiry should cover the following + points: names and address, and ages of family, previous addresses, + past employment and wages, present income, rent and liabilities, + membership of friendly or other society, and savings, relations, + relief (if any) from any source. These points should be verified, and + reference should be made to the clergy, the poor-law authorities, and + others, to ascertain if they know the applicant. The result should be + to show how the applicant has been living, and what are the sources of + possible help, and also what is his character. The problem, however, + is not whether the person is "deserving" or "undeserving," but + whether, granted the facts, the distress can be stayed and + self-support attained. If the help can be given privately from within + the circle of the family, so much the better. Often it may be best to + advise, but not to interfere. In some cases but little help may be + necessary; in others again the friendly relation between applicant and + friend may last for months and even years. Usually in charitable work + the question of the kind of relief available--money, tickets, clothes, + &c.--governs the decision how the case should be assisted. But this is + quite wrong: the opposite is the true rule. The wants of the case, + rightly understood, should govern the decision as to what charity + should do and what it should provide. Cases are overwhelming in + number, as at the out-patient and casualty departments of a hospital, + where the admissions are made without inquiry, and subject practically + to no restrictions; but when there is inquiry, and each case is + seriously considered and aided with a view to self-support, the + numbers will seldom be overwhelming. On this plan appeal is made to + the strength of the applicant, and requires an effort on his part. + Indiscriminate relief, on the other hand, attracts the applicant by an + appeal to his weakness, and it requires of him no effort. Hence, apart + even from the differentiating effect of inquiry, one method makes + applicants, the other limits their number, although on the latter plan + much more strenuous endeavours be made to assist the lesser number of + claimants. For the routine work of the office an extremely simple + system of records with card index, &c., has been devised. In some + cities, particularly in the United States of America, there is a + central registration of cases, notified by individual charities, + poor-relief authorities and private persons. The system of charity + organization or associated charity, it will be seen, allows of the + utmost variety of treatment, according to the difficulties in each + instance and the remedies available, and the utmost scope for personal + work. (3) _Training._--If charitable work is an art, those who + undertake it must needs be trained both in practice and method and in + judgment. It requires, too, that self-discipline which blends + intelligence with emotion, and so endows emotion with strength and + purpose. In times of distress a reserve of trained workers is of the + utmost service. At all times they do more and produce, socially, + better results; but when there is general distress of any kind they do + not lose their heads like new recruits, but prevent at least some of + the mischief that comes of the panic which often takes possession of a + community, when distress is apprehended, and leads to the wildest + distribution of relief. Also trained workers make the most useful + poor-law guardians, trustees of charities, secretaries of charitable + societies and district visitors. All clergy and ministers and all + medical men who have to be engaged in the administration of medical + relief should learn the art of charity. Poor-law guardians are + usually elected on political or general grounds, and have no special + knowledge of good methods of charity; and trustees are seldom + appointed on the score of their qualifications on this head. To + provide the necessary education in charity there should be competent + helpers and teachers at charity organization committees and elsewhere, + and an alliance for this purpose should be formed between them and + professors and teachers of moral science and economics and the + "settlements." Those who study social problems in connexion with what + a doctor would call "cases" or "practice" see the limits and the + falsity of schemes that on paper seem logical enough. This puts a + check on the influence of scheme-building and that literary + sensationalism which makes capital out of social conditions. (4) + _Co-operation._--Organization in charity depends on extensive + co-operation, and ultimately on the acceptance of common views. This + comes but slowly. But with much tribulation the goal may be reached, + if in case after case the effort is made to provide friendly help + through charities and private persons,--unless, as may well be, it + should seem best not to interfere, but to leave the applicant to apply + to the administrators of public relief. Experience of what is right + and wrong in charity is thus gained on both sides. Many sources may + have to be utilized for aid of different kinds even in a single case, + and for the prevention of distress co-operation with members of + friendly societies and with co-operative and thrift agencies is + indispensable. + + + The poor law. + +Where there is accord between charity and the poor-law pauperism may be +largely reduced. The poor-law in most countries has at its disposal +certain institutional relief and out-door allowances, but it has no +means of devising plans of help which may prevent application to the +rates or "take" people "off the rates." Thus a widow in the first days +of widowhood applies and receives an allowance according to the number +of her children. Helped at the outset by charity on some definite plan, +she may become self-supporting; and if her family be large one or two of +her children may be placed in schools by the guardians, while she +maintains the remaining children and herself. As far as possible there +should be a division of labour between the poor-law and charity. Except +where some plan such as that just mentioned is adopted, one or the other +should take whole charge of the case relieved. There should be no +supplementation of poor-law relief by charity. This will weaken the +strength and dissipate the resources of charity without adding to the +efficiency of the poor-law. Unless the guardians adopt a restrictive +out-door relief policy, there is no scope for any useful division of +labour between them and charity; for the many cases which, taken in +time, charity might save from pauperism, they will draw into chronic +dependence by their allowances a very much larger number. But if there +is a restrictive out-door policy, so far as relief is necessary, charity +may undertake to meet on its own lines distress which the poor-law would +otherwise have met by allowances, and, subject to the assistance of +urgent cases, poor-law relief may thus by degrees become institutional +only. Then, in the main, natural social forces would come into play, and +dependence on any form of _annona civica_ would cease. + + + Hospitals. + +Open-handed hospitality always creates mendicants. This is what the +hospitals offer in the out-patient and casualty departments, and they +have created a class of hospital mendicants. The cases are quickly dealt +with, without inquiry and without regard to home conditions. The medical +man in the hospital does not co-operate with any fellow-workers outside +the hospital. Where his physic or advice ceases to operate his +usefulness ceases. He regards no conditions of morality. In a large +number of cases drink or vice is the cause of application, and the cure +of the patient is dependent on moral conditions; but he returns home, +drinks and may beat his wife, and then on another visit to the hospital +he will again be physicked and so on. The man is not even referred to +the poor-law infirmary for relief. Nor are conditions of home sanitation +regarded. One cause of constant sickness is thus entirely overlooked, +while drugs, otherwise unnecessary, are constantly given at the +hospital. The hospitals are thus large isolated relief stations which +are creating a new kind of pauperism. So far as the patients can +pay--and many can do so--the general practitioners, to whom they would +otherwise go, are deprived of their gains. Still worse is it when the +hospital itself charges a fee in its out-patient department. The relief +is then claimed even more absolutely as a right, and the general +practitioners are still further injured. The doctors, as a medical +staff, are not only medical men, but whether they recognize the fact or +not, they are also almsgivers or almoners; what they give is relief. Yet +few or none of them have ever been trained for that work, and +consequently they do not realize how very advantageous, even for the +cure of their own patients, would be a thorough treatment of each case +both at the hospital and outside it. Nor can they understand how their +methods at present protract sickness and promote habitual dependence. +Were this side of their work studied by them in any way they would be +the first, probably, to press upon the governors of their hospitals the +necessity for a change. Unfortunately, at present the governors are +themselves untrained, and to finance the hospital and to make it a good +institution is their sole object. Hospitals, however, are, after all, +only a part of the general administration of charity, though as they are +now managed they have seldom any systematic connexion with that +administration. Nor is there any co-ordination between the several +hospitals and dispensaries. If one rightly refuses further treatment to +certain applicants, they have only to wander to some other hospital, +there to be admitted with little or no scrutiny. For usually +out-patients and casualty patients are not even registered, nor can they +be identified if they apply again. Practically they come and go at will. +The definite limitation of cases, according to some standard of +effectual work, association with general charity, trained almonership +and inquiry, and a just regard for the interests of general +practitioners, are stepping-stones to reform. In towns where medical +charities are numerous a representative board would promote mutual help +and organization. + + + Endowed charities. + +Like the poor-law, endowed charities may be permanent institutions +established to meet what should be passing and decreasing needs (cf. the +arguments in _The State and Charity_, by T. Mackay). Administered as +they usually are in isolation--apart from the living voluntary charities +of the generation, and consisting often of small trusts difficult to +utilize satisfactorily, they tend to create a permanent demand which +they meet by fixed quantities of relief. Also, as a rule, they make no +systematic inquiries with a view to the verification of the statements +of the applicants, for they have no staff for these purposes; nor have +they the assistance of almoners or friendly visitors. Nor does the +relief which they give form part of any plan of help in conjunction with +other aid from without; nor is the administration subject to frequent +inspection, as in the case of the poor-law. All these conditions have +led to a want of progress in the actual administration of endowed +charities, in regard to which it is often very difficult to prevent the +exercise of an undue patronage. But there is no reason why these +charities should not become a responsible part of the country's +administration, aiding it to reduce outdoor pauperism. It was never +intended that the poor-law should extinguish the endowed charities, +still less, as statistics now prove, that where endowments abound the +rate of pauperism should be considerably above the average of the rest +of the country. This shows that these charities often foster pauperism +instead of preventing it. As a step to reform, the publication of an +annual register of endowed charities in England and Wales is greatly +needed. The consolidating schemes of the charity commissioners have done +much good; still more may be done in some counties by extending to the +county the benefits of the charities of well-endowed towns, as has been +accomplished by the extension of the eleemosynary endowments of the city +of London to the metropolitan police area. Nor, again, until quite +lately, and that as yet only in a few schemes, has the principle been +adopted that pensions or other relief should be given only in +supplementation of the relief of relations, former employers and +friends, and not in substitution of it. This, coupled with good methods +of inquiry and supervision, has proved very beneficial. Hitherto, +however, to a large extent, endowed charities, it must be admitted, have +tended to weaken the family and to pauperize. + + + Relief to children at school. + +In many places funds are raised for the relief of school children by the +supply of meals during the winter and spring; and an act has now been +passed in England (1906) enabling the cost to be put upon the rates. +Usually a very large number of children are said to be underfed, but +inquiry shows that such statements may be taken as altogether excessive. +They are sometimes based on information drawn from the children at +school; or sometimes on general deductions; they are seldom founded on +any systematic and competent inquiry at the homes. When this has been +made, the numbers dwindle to very small proportions. Teachers of +experience have noted the effect of the meals in weakening the +independence of the family. While they are forthcoming women sometimes +give up cooking meals at home, use their money for other things, and +tell the child he can get his meal at school. Great temptations are put +before a parent to neglect her family, and very much distress is due to +this. The meals--just at a time when, owing to the age of her children, +the mother's care is most needed, and just in those families where the +temptation is greatest, and where the family instinct should be +strengthened--stimulate this neglect. Considered from the point of view +of meeting by eleemosynary provision a normal economic demand for food, +intervention can only have one result. The demand must continue to +outstrip the supply, so long as there are resources available on the one +side, and until on the other side the desire of the social class that is +chiefly exposed to the temptations of dependence in relation to such +relief has been satisfied. If the provision be made from the resources +of local or general taxation the largeness of the fund available will +allow practically of an unlimited expansion of the supply of food. If +the provision be made from voluntary sources, in some measure limited +therefore and less certain, this very fact will tend to circumscribe +demand and limit the offer of relief. It is indeed the problem of +poor-law relief in 1832 over again. The relief provided by local +taxation practically unlimited will create a mass of constant claimants, +with a kind of assumed right to aid based on the payment of rates; while +voluntary relief, whatever its short-comings, will be less injurious +because it is less amply endowed. In Paris the municipal subvention for +meals rose from 545,900 francs in 1892 to 1,000,000 in 1904. Between +1894 and 1904 there was an increase of 9% in the school population; and +an increase of 28% in the municipal grant. In that period the +contributions from the local school funds (_caisses des ecoles_) +decreased 36%; while the voluntary contributions otherwise received were +insignificant; and the payments for meals increased 2%. + +The subject has been lately considered from a somewhat different +standpoint (cf. the reports of the Scottish Royal Commission on Physical +Education, 1903; of the Inter-departmental committees on Physical +Deterioration, 1905, and on Medical Inspection and the Feeding of School +Children, 1905; also the report of the special committee of the Charity +Organization Society on "the assistance of school children," 1893). +After careful investigations medical officers especially have drawn +attention to the low physical condition of children in schools in the +poorer parts of large English towns, their low stature, their physical +defects, the improper food supplied to them at home, their +uncleanliness, and their want of decent bringing-up, and sometimes their +want of food. Other inquiries have shown that, as women more usually +become breadwinners their children receive less attention, and the home +and its duties are neglected, while in the lowest sections of the poorer +classes social irresponsibility reaches its maximum. Cheap but often +quite improper food is provided, and infant mortality, which is largely +preventable, remains as high as ever, though adult life is longer. This +with a marked decrease in the birth-rate in recent years, has, it may be +said, opened out a new field for charitable effort and social work. +Science is at each revision of the problem making its task more +definite. Actually the mere demand for meals stands for less; the reform +of home conditions for more. So it was hoped that instead of making +school meals a charge on taxation, as parliament has done, it would be +content to leave it a voluntary charge, while the medical inspection of +elementary Schools will be made universal; representative relief +committees formed for schools or groups of schools; the cases of want or +distress among the school children dealt with individually in connexion +with their families, and, where necessary, day schools established on +the lines of day industrial schools. + + + Exceptional distress. + +At a time of exceptional distress the following suggestions founded on +much English experience may be of service (cf. Report of special +committee of the Charity Organization Society on the best means of +dealing with exceptional distress, 1886). Usually at such a time +proposals are made to establish special funds, and to provide employment +to men and women out of work. But it is best, if possible and as long as +possible, to rely on existing agencies, and to strengthen them. Round +them there are usually workers more or less trained. A new fund usually +draws to it new people, many of whom may not have had any special +experience at all. If a new fund is inevitable, it is best that it +should make its grants to existing agencies after consultation with +them. In any case, a clear policy should be adopted, and people should +keep their heads. The exaggeration of feeling at a time of apprehended +or actual distress is sometimes extraordinary, and the unwise action +which it prompts is often a cause of continuing pauperism afterwards. +Where there is public or poor-law relief the following plan may be +adopted:--In any large town there are usually different recognized +poor-law, charitable or other areas. The local people already at work in +these areas should be formed into local committees. In each case a quick +inquiry should be made, and the relieving officer communicated with, +some central facts verified, and the home visited. Roughly, cases may be +divided into three classes: the irresponsible casual labouring class, a +middle class of men with decent homes, who have made no provision for +the future, and are not members of either friendly society or trades +union; and a third class, who have made some provision. These usually +are affected last of all; at all hazards they should be kept from +receiving public relief, and should be helped, as far as possible, +privately and personally. If there are public works, the second class +might be referred to them; if there are not, probably some should be +left to the poor-law, some assisted in the same way as members of class +three. Much would turn upon the family and the home. The first class +should be left to the poor-law. If there is no poor-law system at work +they should be put on public works. Working men of independent position, +not the creatures of any political club, but such as are respected +members of a friendly society, or are otherwise well qualified for the +task, should be called into consultation. The relief should be settled +according to the requirements of each case, but if the pressure is +great, at first at least it may be necessary to make grants according to +some generally sufficient scale. There should be as constant a revision +of cases as time permits. Great care should be taken to stop the relief +as soon as possible, and to do nothing to make it the stepping-stone to +permanent dependence. + +If employment be provided it should be work within the skill of all; it +should be fairly remunerated, so that at least the scantiness of the pay +may not be an excuse for neglect; and it should be paid for according to +measured or piece work. The discipline should be strict, though due +regard should be paid at first to those unaccustomed to digging or +earthwork. In England and Wales the guardians have power to open labour +yards. These, like charities which provide work, tend to attract and +keep in employment a low class of labourer or workman, who finds it pays +him to use the institution as a convenience. It is best, therefore, to +avoid the opening of a labour yard if possible. If it is opened, the +discipline should be very strict, and when there is laziness or +insubordination, relief in the workhouse should at once be offered. The +relief furnished to men employed in a labour yard, of which in England +at least half has to be given ih kind, should, it has been said, be +dealt out from day to day. This leads to the men giving up the work +sooner than they otherwise would. They have less to spend. + + + Unemployment. + +In Great Britain a great change has taken place in regard to the +provision of employment in connexion with the state. Since about 1890 +there has been a feeling that men in distress from want of employment +should not be dealt with by the poor-law. A circular letter issued by +the Local Government Board in 1886, and subsequently in 1895, coincided +with this feeling. It was addressed to town councils and other local +authorities, asking them to provide work (1) which will not involve the +stigma of pauperism, (2) which all can perform whatever may have been +their previous avocations, and (3) which does not compete with that of +other labourers at present in employment. This circular led to the +vestries and subsequently the borough councils in many districts +becoming partially recognized relief authorities for the unemployed, +concurrently with the poor-law. Much confusion resulted. The local +authorities had seldom any suitable organization for the investigation +of applications. It was difficult to supply work on the terms required; +and the work was often ill-done and costly. Also it was found that the +same set of people would apply year after year, unskilled labourers +usually out of work part of the winter, or men habitually "unemployed." +As on other occasions when public work was provided, very few of the +applicants were found to be artisans, or members of trades unions or of +friendly societies. In 1904 Mr Long, then president of the Local +Government Board, proposed that local voluntary distress committees +should be established in London consisting of poor-law guardians and +town councillors and others, more or less supervised by a central +committee and ultimately by the Local Government Board. This +organization was set on foot and large sums were subscribed for its +work. The report on the results of the movement was somewhat doubtful +(Report, London Unemployed Fund, 1904-1905, p. 101, &c.), but in 1905 +the Unemployed Workmen's Act was passed, and in London and elsewhere +distress committees like the voluntary committees of the previous year +were established by statute. It was enacted that for establishment +expenses, emigration and removal, labour exchanges, and the acquisition +of land a halfpenny rate might be levied, but that the rate would not be +available for the remuneration of men employed. For this purpose +(1905-1906) a large charitable fund was raised. A training farm at +Hollesley Bay was acquired, and it was hoped to train Londoners there to +become fit for agricultural work. It is impossible to judge this +experiment properly, on the evidence available up to 1908. But one or +two points are important: (1) something very like the "right to labour" +has been granted by the legislature; (2) this has been done apart from +the conditions required by the poor-laws and orders of the Local +Government Board on poor relief and without imposing disfranchisement on +the men employed; (3) a labour rate has not been levied, but a rate has +been levied in aid of the provision of employment; (4) if the line of +development that the act suggests were to be followed (as the renewed +Labour agitation in 1908-1909 made probable) it must tend to create a +class of "unemployed," unskilled labourers of varying grades of industry +who may become the dependent and state-supported proletariat of modern +urban life. Thus, unless the administration be extremely rigorous, once +more will a kind of serfdom be established, to be, as some would say, +taken over hereafter by the socialist state. + + + Vagrancy. + +In some of the English colonies Homeric hospitality still prevails, but +by degrees the station-house or some refuge is established in the towns +as they grow more populous. Finally, some system of labour in exchange +for relief is evolved. At first this is voluntary, afterwards it is +officially recognized, and finally it may become part of the system of +public relief. As bad years come, these changes are made step by step. +In England the vagrant or wayfarer is tolerated and discouraged, but not +kept employed. He should be under greater pressure to maintain himself, +it is thought. The provision made for him in different parts of the +country is far from uniform, and now, usually, at least in the larger +towns, after he has had a bath and food, he is admitted to a separate +room or cell in a casual ward. Before he leaves he has to do a task of +work, and, subject to the discretion of the master, he is detained two +nights. This plan has reduced vagrancy, and if it were universally +adopted clean accommodation would everywhere be provided for the vagrant +without the attractions of a common or "associated" ward; and probably +vagrancy would diminish still further. It seems almost needless to say +that, in these circumstances at any rate, casual alms should not be +given to vagrants. They know much better how to provide for themselves +than the almsgiver imagines, for vagrancy is in the main a mode of life +not the result of any casual difficulty. Vagrancy and criminality are +also nearly allied. The magistrate, therefore, rather than the +almsgiver, should usually interfere; and, as a rule, where the +magistrates are strict, vagrancy in a county diminishes. An +inter-departmental committee (1906) taking generally this line, reported +in favour of vagrants being placed entirely under police control, and it +recommended a system of wayfarers' tickets for men on the roads who are +not habitual vagrants, and the committal of men likely to become +habitual vagrants to certified labour colonies for not less than six +months. Still undoubtedly vagrancy has its economic side. In a bad year +the number of tramps is increased by the addition of unskilled and +irresponsible labourers, who are soonest discharged when work is slack. +As a part-voluntary system under official recognition the German +_Arbeiter-colonien_ are of interest. This in a measure has led to the +introduction of labour homes in England, the justification of which +should be that they recruit the energy of the men who find their way to +them, and enable them to earn a living which they could not do +otherwise. In a small percentage of cases their result may be achieved. +Charitable refuges or philanthropic common lodging-houses, usually +established in districts where this class already congregate, only +aggravate the difficulty. They give additional attractions to a vagrant +and casual life, and make it more endurable. They also make a +comfortable avoidance of the responsibilities of family life +comparatively easy, and in so far as they do this they are clearly +injurious to the community. + + + American conditions and methods. + +The English colonists of the New England states and Pennsylvania +introduced the disciplinary religious and relief system of Protestantism +and the Elizabethan poor-law. To the former reference has already been +made. With an appreciation of the fact that the cause of distress is not +usually poverty, but weakness of character and want of judgment, and +that relief is in itself no remedy, those who have inherited the old +Puritan traditions have, in the light of toleration and a larger social +experience, organized the method of friendly visiting, the object of +which is illustrated by the motto, "Not alms, but a friend." To the +friendship of charity is thus given a disciplinary force, capable of +immense expansion and usefulness, if the friendship on the side of those +who would help is sincere and guided by practical knowledge and +sagacity, and if on the side of those in distress there is awakened a +reciprocal regard and a willingness to change their way of life by +degrees. Visiting by "districts" is set aside, for "friendliness" is not +a quality easily diffused over a wide area. To be real it must be +limited as time and ability allow. Consequently, a friendly visitor +usually befriends but one or two, or in any case only a few, families. +The friendly visitor is the outcome of the movement for "associated +charities," but in America charity organization societies have also +adopted the term, and to a certain extent the method. Between the two +movements there is the closest affinity. The registration of applicants +for relief is much more complete in American cities than in England, +where the plan meets with comparatively little support. At the office of +the associated charities in Boston there is a central and practically a +complete register of all the applications made to the public authority +for poor relief, to the associated charities, and to many other +voluntary bodies. + +The Elizabethan poor-law system, with the machinery of overseers, +poor-houses and out-door relief, is still maintained in New England, New +York state and Pennsylvania, but with many modifications, especially in +New York. A chief factor in these changes has been immigration. While +the County or town remained the administrative area for local poor +relief, the large number of immigrant and "unsettled" poor, and the +business connected with their removal from the state, entailed the +establishment of a secondary or state system of administration and aid, +with special classes of institutions to which the counties or towns +could send their poor, as, for instance, state reform schools, farms, +almshouses, &c. For the oversight of these institutions, and often of +prisons also and lunatic asylums, in many states there have been +established state boards of "charity or corrections and charity." The +members of these boards are selected by the state for a term of years, +and give their services honorarily. There are state boards in +Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, +Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, North Carolina and elsewhere. There +is also a district board of charities in the district of Columbia. These +boards publish most useful and detailed reports. Besides the state board +there is sometimes also, as in New York, a State Charities Aid +Association, whose members, in the counties in which they reside, have a +legal right of entry to visit and inspect any public or charitable +institution owned by the state, and any county and other poor-house. A +large association of visitors accustomed to inspect and report on +institutions has thus been created. Further, the counties and towns in +New York state, for instance, and Massachusetts, and the almshouse +districts in Pennsylvania, are under boards of supervision. Usually the +overseers give out-door relief, and the pauperism of some areas is as +high as that in some English unions, 3, 4 and 5%. On the whole +population of the United States, however, and of individual states, +consisting to a great extent of comparatively young and energetic +immigrants, the pauperism is insignificant. In Massachusetts "it has +been the general policy of the state to order the removal to the state +almshouse of unsettled residents of the several cities and towns in need +of temporary aid, thus avoiding some of the abuses incident to out-door +relief." In New York state, in the city of New York, including Brooklyn, +the distribution of out-door relief by the department of charities is +forbidden, except for purposes of transportation and for the adult +blind. Most counties in the state have an almshouse, and the county +superintendents and overseers of the poor "furnish necessary relief to +such of the county poor as may require only temporary assistance, or are +so disabled that they cannot be safely removed to the almshouse." Public +attention is in many cases being drawn to the inutility and injury of +out-door relief. + +In some states and cities the system of subsidizing voluntary +institutions is in full force, and it is in force also in many English +colonies. At first sight it has the advantage of providing relief for +public purposes without the creation of a new staff or establishment. +There is thus an apparent economy. But the evils are many. Political +partisanship and favour may influence the amount and disposition of the +grants. The grants act as a bounty on the establishment and continuance +of charitable institutions, homes for children, hospitals, &c., but not +on the expansion of the voluntary charitable funds and efforts that +should maintain them; and thus charitable homes exist in which charity +in its truer sense may have little part, but in which the chief motive +of the administration may be to support sectarian interests by public +subsidies. Claimants for relief have little scruple in turning such +institutions to their own account; and the institutions, being +financially irresponsible, are not in these circumstances scrupulous on +their side to prevent a misdirection of their bounties. "Parents unload +their children upon the community more recklessly when they know that +such children will be provided for in private orphan asylums and +protectories, where the religious training that the parents prefer will +be given them" (Amos G. Warner, in _International Congress: Charities +and Correction_, 1893). Past history in New York city illustrates the +same evil. The admission was entirely in the hands of the managers. They +admitted; the city paid. In New York city the population between 1870 +and 1890 increased about 80%; the subsidies for prisoners and public +paupers increased by 43%, but those for paupers in private institutions +increased from $334,828 to $1,845,872, or about 461%. The total was at +that time $3,794,972; in 1898 it was rather less, $3,132,786. The +alternative to this system is either the establishment of state or +municipal institutions, and possibly in special cases payments to +voluntary homes for the maintenance of inmates admitted at the request +of a state authority, as at certified and other homes in England, with +grants made conditional on the work being conducted on specified lines, +and subject to a certain increasing amount of voluntary financial +support; or a close general and financial inspection of charitable +institutions--the method of reform adopted in New York; or payment for +only those inmates who are sent by public authorities and admitted on +their request. + +The enormous extent to which children's aid societies have been +increased in the United States, sometimes with the help of considerable +public grants, suggests the greatest need for caution from the point of +the preservation of the family as the central element of social strength +in the community. The problem of charity in relation to medical relief +in the large towns of the United States is similar to that of England; +its difficulties are alike. + + LITERATURE.--As good translations of the classics become accessible it + is easy for the general reader or student to combine a study of the + principles of charity in relation to the community with a study of + history. Thus, and in connexion with special investigations and the + conditions of practical charity, social economics may best be studied. + In N. Masterman, _Chalmers on Charity_ (1900); T. Mackay, _Methods of + Social Reform_ (1896); B. Bosanquet and others, _Some Aspects of the + Social Problem_ (1894); and C.S. Loch, _Methods of Social Advance_ + (1904), this point of view is generally assumed. Special + investigations of importance may be found in the reports of medical + officers of health. See Report of Committee on Physical Deterioration + referred to above, and, for instance, Dr Newsholme's _Vital + Statistics_ and Charles Booth's _Labour and Life in London_. For the + history of charity there is no good single work. On details there are + many good articles in Daremberg's _Dictionary of Classical + Antiquities_, and similar works. _Modern Methods of Charity_, by C.H. + Henderson and others (1904), supplies much general information in + regard to poor relief and charity in different countries. Apart from + books and official documents mentioned in the text as indicating the + present state of charitable and public relief, or as aids to practical + work, the following may be of service. England:--_Annual Charities' + Register and Digest, with Introduction on "How to help Cases of + Distress"_; the _Charity Organization Review; Occasional Papers_ (3 + vols.), published by the London Charity Organization Society + (1896-1906); _Reports of Proceedings of Conferences of Poor-Law + Guardians; The Strength of the People_, by Helen Bosanquet; _Homes of + the London Poor_ and _Our Common Land_, by Miss Octavia Hill; _The + Queen's Poor_, by M. Loane. United States of America:--_The + Proceedings of the International Conference on Charities and + Correction_ (1894), and the proceedings of the annual conferences; + _Friendly Visiting among the Poor_, by Mary E. Richmond (1899); + _American Charities_, by Amos G. Warner (1908); _The Practice of + Charity_, by E.T. Devine; _Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_, + by Dr J. Conrad, &c., vol. ii.; _Das Armenwesen in den Vereinigten + Staaten von America_, by Dr Francis G. Peabody (1897); the _Charities + Review_, published monthly by the New York Charity Organization + Society; the Papers and Reports of the Boston and Baltimore societies. + France:--_La Bibliographie charitable_, by Camille Granier (1891); _La + Charite avant et depuis 1789_, by P. Hubert Valleroux; Fascicules of + the _Conseil superieur de l'assistance publique, Revue d'assistance_, + published by the _Societe Internationale pour l'etude des questions + d'assistance_. Germany:--Reports and Proceedings of the _Deutsche + Vereine fur Armenpflege und Wohltatigkeit; Die Armenpflege_, a + practical handbook, by Dr E. Munsterberg (1897). + Austria:--_Osterreichs Wohlfahrtseinrichtungen, 1848-1898_, by Dr + Ernest Mischler (1899). (C. S. L.) + + + + +CHARIVARI, a French term of uncertain origin, but probably onomatopoeic, +for a mock serenade "rough music," made by beating on kettles, +fire-irons, tea-trays or what not. The charivari was anciently in France +a regular wedding custom, all bridal couples being thus serenaded. Later +it was reserved for ill-assorted and unpopular marriages, for widows or +widowers who remarried too soon, and generally as a mockery for all who +were unpopular. At the beginning of the 17th century, wedding charivaris +were forbidden by the Council of Tours under pain of excommunication, +but the custom still lingers in rural districts. The French of Louisiana +and Canada introduced the charivari into America, where it became known +under the corrupted name of "shivaree." + + + + +CHARKHARI, a native state in the Bundelkhand agency of Central India. +Area, 745 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 123,594; estimated revenue L33,000. It is +surrounded on all sides by other states of Central India, except near +Charkhari town, where it meets the United Provinces. It was founded by +Bijai Bahadur (vikramaditya), a _sanad_ being granted him in 1804 and +another in 1811. The chief, whose title is maharaja, is a Rajput of the +Bundela clan, descended from Chhatar Sal, the champion of the +independence of Bundelkhand in the 18th century. In 1857 Raja Ratan +Singh received a hereditary salute of 11 guns, a _khilat_ and a +perpetual _jagir_ of L1300 a year in recognition of his services during +the Mutiny. The town of Charkhari (locally _Maharajnagar_) is 40 m. W. +of Banda; pop. (1901) 11,718. + + + + +CHARLATAN (Ital. _ciarlatano_, from _ciarlare_, to chatter), originally +one who "patters" to a crowd to sell his wares, like a "cheap-jack" or +"quack" doctor--"quack" being similarly derived from the noise made by a +duck; so an impostor who pretends to have some special skill or +knowledge. + + + + +CHARLEMAGNE [CHARLES THE GREAT] (c. 742-814), Roman emperor, and king of +the Franks, was the elder son of Pippin the Short, king of the Franks, +and Bertha, or Bertrada, daughter of Charibert, count of Laon. The place +of his birth is unknown and its date uncertain, although some +authorities give it as the 2nd of April 742; doubts have been cast upon +his legitimacy, and it is just possible that the marriage of Pippin and +Bertha took place subsequent to the birth of their elder son. When +Pippin was crowned king of the Franks at St Denis on the 28th of July +754 by Pope Stephen II., Charles, and his brother Carloman were anointed +by the pope as a sign of their kingly rank. The rough surroundings of +the Frankish court were unfavourable to the acquisition of learning, and +Charles grew up almost ignorant of letters, but hardy in body and +skilled in the use of weapons. + +In 761 he accompanied his father on a campaign in Aquitaine, and in 763 +undertook the government of several counties. In 768 Pippin divided his +dominions between his two sons, and on his death soon afterwards Charles +became the ruler of the northern portion of the Frankish kingdom, and +was crowned at Noyon on the 9th of October 768. Bad feeling had existed +for some time between Charles and Carloman, and when Charles early in +769 was called upon to suppress a rising in Aquitaine, his brother +refused to afford him any assistance. This rebellion, however, was +easily crushed, its leader, the Aquitainian duke Hunold, was made +prisoner, and his territory more closely attached to the Frankish +kingdom. About this time Bertha, having effected a temporary +reconciliation between her sons, overcame the repugnance with which Pope +Stephen III. regarded an alliance between Frank and Lombard, and brought +about a marriage between Charles and a daughter of Desiderius, king of +the Lombards. Charles had previously contracted a union, probably of an +irregular nature, with a Frankish lady named Himiltrude, who had borne +him a son Pippin, the "Hunchback." The peace with the Lombards, in which +the Bavarians as allies of Desiderius joined, was, however, soon broken. +Charles thereupon repudiated his Lombard wife (Bertha or Desiderata) and +married in 771 a princess of the Alamanni named Hildegarde. Carloman +died in December 771, and Charles was at once recognized at Corbeny as +sole king of the Franks. Carloman's widow Gerberga had fled to the +protection of the Lombard king, who espoused her cause and requested the +new pope, Adrian I., to recognize her two sons as the lawful Frankish +kings. Adrian, between whom and the Lombards other causes of quarrel +existed, refused to assent to this demand, and when Desiderius invaded +the papal territories he appealed to the Frankish king for help. +Charles, who was at the moment engaged in his first Saxon campaign, +expostulated with Desiderius; but when such mild measures proved useless +he led his forces across the Alps in 773. Gerberga and her children were +delivered up and disappear from history; the siege of Pavia was +undertaken; and at Easter 774 the king left the seat of war and visited +Rome, where he was received with great respect. + +During his stay in the city Charles renewed the donation which his +father Pippin had made to the papacy in 754 or 756. This transaction has +given rise to much discussion as to its trustworthiness and the extent +of its operation. Our only authority, a passage in the _Liber +Pontificalis_, describes the gift as including the whole of Italy and +Corsica, except the lands north of the Po, Calabria and the city of +Naples. The vast extent of this donation, which, moreover, included +territories not owning Charles's authority, and the fact that the king +did not execute, or apparently attempt to execute, its provisions, has +caused many scholars to look upon the passage as a forgery; but the +better opinion would appear to be that it is genuine, or at least has a +genuine basis. Various explanations have been suggested. The area of the +grant may have been enlarged by later interpolations; or it may have +dealt with property rather than with sovereignty, and have only referred +to estates claimed by the pope in the territories named; or it is +possible that Charles may have actually intended to establish an +extensive papal kingdom in Italy, but was released from his promise by +Adrian when the pope saw no chance of its fulfilment. Another +supposition is that the author of the _Liber Pontificalis_ gives the +papal interpretation of a grant that had been expressed by Pippin in +ambiguous terms; and this view is supported by the history of the +subsequent controversy between king and pope. + +Returning to the scene of hostilities, Charles witnessed the +capitulation of Pavia in June 774, and the capture of Desiderius, who +was sent into a monastery. He now took the title "king of the Lombards," +to which he added the dignity of "Patrician of the Romans," which had +been granted to his father. Adalgis, the son of Desiderius, who was +residing at Constantinople, hoped the emperor Leo IV. would assist him +in recovering his father's kingdom; but a coalition formed for this +purpose was ineffectual, and a rising led by his ally Rothgaud, duke of +Friuli, was easily crushed by Charles in 776. In 777 the king was +visited at Paderborn by three Saracen chiefs who implored his aid +against Abd-ar-Rahman, the caliph of Cordova, and promised some Spanish +cities in return for help. Seizing this opportunity to extend his +influence Charles marched into Spain in 778 and took Pampeluna, but +meeting with some checks decided to return. As the Frankish forces were +defiling through the passes of the Pyrenees they were attacked by the +Wascones (probably Basques), and the rear-guard of the army was almost +annihilated. It was useless to attempt to avenge this disaster, which +occurred on the 15th of August 778, for the enemy disappeared as quickly +as he came; the incident has passed from the domain of history into that +of legend and romance, being associated by tradition with the pass of +Roncesvalles. Among the slain was one Hruodland, or Roland, margrave of +the Breton march, whose death gave rise to the _Chanson de Roland_ (see +ROLAND, LEGEND OF). + +Charles now sought to increase his authority in Italy, where Frankish +counts were set over various districts, and where Hildebrand, duke of +Spoleto, appears to have recognized his overlordship. In 780 he was +again in the peninsula, and at Mantua issued an important _capitulary_ +which increased the authority of the Lombard bishops, relieved freemen +who under stress of famine had sold themselves into servitude, and +condemned abuses of the system of vassalage. At the same time commerce +was encouraged by the abolition of unauthorized tolls and by an +improvement of the coinage; while the sale of arms to hostile peoples, +and the trade in Christian slaves were forbidden. Proceeding to Rome, +the king appears to have come to some arrangement with Adrian about the +donation of 774. At Easter 781, Carloman, his second son by Hildegarde, +was renamed Pippin and crowned king of Italy by Pope Adrian, and his +youngest son Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine; but no mention was +made at the time of his eldest son Charles, who was doubtless intended +to be king of the Franks. In 783 the king, having lost his wife +Hildegarde, married Fastrada, the daughter of a Frankish count named +Radolf; and in the same year his mother Bertha died. The emperor +Constantine VI. was at this time exhibiting some interest in Italian +affairs, and Adalgis the Lombard was still residing at his court; so +Charles sought to avert danger from this quarter by consenting in 781 to +a marriage between Constantine and his own daughter Rothrude. In 786 the +entreaties of the pope and the hostile attitude of Arichis II., duke of +Benevento, a son-in-law of Desiderius, called the king again into Italy. +Arichis submitted without a struggle, though the basis of Frankish +authority in his duchy was far from secure; but in conjunction with +Adalgis he sought aid from Constantinople. His plans were ended by his +death in 787, and although the empress Irene, the real ruler of the +eastern empire, broke off the projected marriage between her son and +Rothrude, she appears to have given very little assistance to Adalgis, +whose attack on Italy was easily repulsed. During this visit Charles +had presented certain towns to Adrian, but an estrangement soon arose +between king and pope over the claim of Charles to confirm the election +to the archbishopric of Ravenna, and it was accentuated by Adrian's +objection to the establishment by Charles of Grimoald III. as duke of +Benevento, in succession to his father Arichis. + +These journeys and campaigns, however, were but interludes in the long +and stubborn struggle between Charles and the Saxons, which began in 772 +and ended in 804 with the incorporation of Saxony in the Carolingian +empire (see SAXONY). This contest, in which the king himself took a very +active part, brought the Franks into collision with the Wiltzi, a tribe +dwelling east of the Elbe, who in 789 was reduced to dependence. A +similar sequence of events took place in southern Germany. Tassilo III., +duke of the Bavarians, who had on several occasions adopted a line of +conduct inconsistent with his allegiance to Charles, was deposed in 788 +and his duchy placed under the rule of Gerold, a brother-in-law of +Charles, to be governed on the Frankish system (see BAVARIA). Having +thus taken upon himself the control of Bavaria, Charles felt himself +responsible for protecting its eastern frontier, which had long been +menaced by the Avars, a people inhabiting the region now known as +Hungary. He accordingly ravaged their country in 791 at the head of an +army containing Saxon, Frisian, Bavarian and Alamannian warriors, which +penetrated as far as the Raab; and he spent the following year in +Bavaria preparing for a second campaign against them, the conduct of +which, however, he was compelled by further trouble in Saxony to entrust +to his son king Pippin, and to Eric, margrave of Friuli. These deputies +succeeded in 795 and 796 in taking possession of the vast treasures of +the Avars, which were distributed by the king with lavish generosity to +churches, courtiers and friends. A conspiracy against Charles, which his +friend and biographer Einhard alleges was provoked by the cruelties of +Queen Fastrada, was suppressed without difficulty in 792, and its +leader, the king's illegitimate son Pippin, was confined in a monastery +till his death in 811. Fastrada died in August 794, when Charles took +for his fourth wife an Alamannian lady named Liutgarde. + +The continuous interest taken by the king in ecclesiastical affairs was +shown at the synod of Frankfort, over which he presided in 794. It was +on his initiative that this synod condemned the heresy of _adoptianism_ +and the worship of images, which had been restored in 787 by the second +council of Nicaea; and at the same time that council was declared to +have been superfluous. This policy caused a further breach with Pope +Adrian; but when Adrian died in December 795, his successor, Leo III., +in notifying his elevation to the king, sent him the keys of St Peter's +grave and the banner of the city, and asked Charles to send an envoy to +receive his oath of fidelity. There is no doubt that Leo recognized +Charles as sovereign of Rome. He was the first pope to date his acts +according to the years of the Frankish monarchy, and a mosaic of the +time in the Lateran palace represents St Peter bestowing the banners +upon Charles as a token of temporal supremacy, while the coinage issued +by the pope bears witness to the same idea. Leo soon had occasion to +invoke the aid of his protector. In 799, after he had been attacked and +maltreated in the streets of Rome during a procession, he escaped to the +king at Paderborn, and Charles sent him back to Italy escorted by some +of his most trusted servants. Taking the same journey himself shortly +afterwards, the king reached Rome in 800 for the purpose (as he +declared) of restoring discipline in the church. His authority was +undisputed; and after Leo had cleared himself by an oath of certain +charges made against him, Charles restored the pope and banished his +leading opponents. + +The great event of this visit took place on the succeeding Christmas +Day, when Charles on rising from prayer in St Peter's was crowned by Leo +and proclaimed emperor and _augustus_ amid the acclamations of the +crowd. This act can hardly have been unpremeditated, and some doubt has +been cast upon the statement which Einhard attributes to Charles, that +he would not have entered the building had he known of the intention of +Leo. He accepted the dignity at any rate without demur, and there seems +little doubt that the question of assuming, or obtaining, this title had +previously been discussed. His policy had been steadily leading up to +this position, which was rather the emblem of the power he already held +than an extension of the area of his authority. It is probable therefore +that Charles either considered the coronation premature, as he was +hoping to obtain the assent of the eastern empire to this step, or that, +from fear of evils which he foresaw from the claim of the pope to crown +the emperor, he wished to crown himself. All the evidence tends to show +that it was the time or manner of the act rather than the act itself +which aroused his temporary displeasure. Contemporary accounts lay +stress upon the fact that as there was then no emperor, Constantinople +being under the rule of Irene, it seemed good to Leo and his counsellors +and the "rest of the Christian people" to choose Charles, already ruler +of Rome, to fill the vacant office. However doubtful such conjectures +concerning his intentions may be, it is certain that immediately after +his coronation Charles sought to establish friendly relations with +Constantinople, and even suggested a marriage between himself and Irene, +as he had again become a widower in 800. The deposition and death of the +empress foiled this plan; and after a desultory warfare in Italy between +the two empires, negotiations were recommenced which in 810 led to an +arrangement between Charles and the eastern emperor, Nicephorus I. The +death of Nicephorus and the accession of Michael I. did not interfere +with the relations, and in 812 an embassy from Constantinople arrived at +Aix-la-Chapelle, when Charles was acknowledged as emperor, and in return +agreed to cede Venice and Dalmatia to Michael. + +Increasing years and accumulating responsibilities now caused the +emperor to alter somewhat his manner of life. No longer leading his +armies in person he entrusted the direction of campaigns in various +parts of his empire to his sons and other lieutenants, and from his +favourite residence at Aix watched their progress with a keen and +sustained interest. In 802 he ordered that a new oath of fidelity to him +as emperor should be taken by all his subjects over twelve years of age. +In 804 he was visited by Pope Leo, who returned to Rome laden with +gifts. Before his coronation as emperor, Charles had entered into +communications with the caliph of Bagdad, Harun-al-Rashid, probably in +order to protect the eastern Christians, and in 801 he had received an +embassy and presents from Harun. In the same year the patriarch of +Jerusalem sent him the keys of the Holy Sepulchre; and in 807 Harun not +only sent further gifts, but appears to have confirmed the emperor's +rights in Jerusalem, which, however, probably amounted to no more than +an undefined protectorate over the Christians in that part of the world. +While thus extending his influence even into Asia, there was scarcely +any part of Europe where the power of Charles did not make itself felt. +He had not visited Spain since the disaster of Roncesvalles, but he +continued to take a lively interest in the affairs of that country. In +798 he had concluded an alliance with Alphonso II., king of the +Asturias, and a series of campaigns mainly under the leadership of King +Louis resulted in the establishment of the "Spanish march," a district +between the Pyrenees and the Ebro stretching from Pampeluna to +Barcelona, as a defence against the Saracens. In 799 the Balearic +Islands had been handed over to Charles, and a long warfare was carried +on both by sea and land between Frank and Saracen until 810, when peace +was made between the emperor and El-Hakem, the emir of Cordova. Italy +was equally the scene of continuous fighting. Grimoald of Benevento +rebelled against his overlord; the possession of Venice and Dalmatia was +disputed by the two empires; and Istria was brought into subjection. + +With England the emperor had already entered into relations, and at one +time a marriage was proposed between his son Charles and a daughter of +Offa, king of the Mercians. English exiles were welcomed at his court; +he was mainly instrumental in restoring Eardwulf to the throne of +Northumbria in 809; and Einhard includes the Scots within the sphere of +his influence. In eastern Europe the Avars had owned themselves +completely under his power in 805; campaigns against the Czechs in 805 +and 806 had met with some success, and about the same time the land of +the Sorbs was ravaged; while at the western extremity of the continent +the Breton nobles had done homage to Charles at Tours in 800. Thus the +emperor's dominions now stretched from the Eider to the Ebro, and from +the Atlantic to the Elbe, the Saale and the Raab, and they also included +the greater part of Italy; while even beyond these bounds he exercised +an acknowledged but shadowy authority. In 806 Charles arranged a +division of his territories among his three legitimate sons, but this +arrangement came to nothing owing to the death of Pippin in 810, and of +the younger Charles in the following year. Charles then named his +remaining son Louis as his successor; and at his father's command Louis +took the crown from the altar and placed it upon his own head. This +ceremony took place at Aix on the 11th of September 813. In 808 the +Frankish authority over the Obotrites was interfered with by Gudrod +(Godfrey), king of the Danes, who ravaged the Frisian coasts and spoke +boastfully of leading his troops to Aix. To ward off these attacks +Charles took a warm interest in the building of a fleet, which he +reviewed in 811; but by this time Gudrod had been killed, and his +successor Hemming made peace with the emperor. + +In 811 Charles made his will, which shows that he contemplated the +possibility of abdication. The bulk of his possessions were left to the +twenty-one metropolitan churches of his dominions, and the remainder to +his children, his servants and the poor. In his last years he passed +most of his days at Aix, though he had sufficient energy to take the +field for a short time during the Danish War. Early in 814 he was +attacked by a fever which he sought to subdue by fasting; but pleurisy +supervened, and after partaking of the communion, he died on the 28th of +January 814, and on the same day his body was buried in the church of St +Mary at Aix. In the year 1000 his tomb was opened by the emperor Otto +III., but the account that Otto found the body upright upon a throne +with a golden crown on the head and holding a golden sceptre in the +hands, is generally regarded as legendary. The tomb was again opened by +the emperor Frederick I. in 1165, when the remains were removed from a +marble sarcophagus and placed in a wooden coffin. Fifty years later they +were transferred by order of the emperor Frederick II. to a splendid +shrine, in which the relics are still exhibited once in every six years. +The sarcophagus in which the body originally lay may still be seen at +Aix, and other relics of the great emperor are in the imperial treasury +at Vienna. In 1165 Charles was canonized by the antipope Paschal III. at +the instance of the emperor Frederick I., and Louis XI. of France gave +strict orders that the feast of the saint should be observed. + +The personal appearance of Charles is thus described by Einhard:--"Big +and robust in frame, he was tall, but not excessively so, measuring +about seven of his own feet in height. His eyes were large and lustrous, +his nose rather long and his countenance bright and cheerful." He had a +commanding presence, a clear but somewhat feeble voice, and in later +life became rather corpulent. His health was uniformly good, owing +perhaps to his moderation in eating and drinking, and to his love for +hunting and swimming. He was an affectionate father, and loved to pass +his time in the company of his children, to whose education he paid the +closest attention. His sons were trained for war and the chase, and his +daughters instructed in the spinning of wool and other feminine arts. +His ideas of sexual morality were primitive. Many concubines are spoken +of, he had several illegitimate children, and the morals of his +daughters were very loose. He was a regular observer of religious rites, +took great pains to secure decorum in the services of the church, and +was generous in almsgiving both within his empire and without. He +reformed the Frankish liturgy, and brought singers from Rome to improve +the services of the church. He had considerable knowledge of theology, +took a prominent part in the theological controversies of the time, and +was responsible for the addition of the clause _filioque_ to the Nicene +Creed. The most attractive feature of his character, however, was his +love of learning. In addition to his native tongue he could read Latin +and understood Greek, but he was unable to write, and Einhard gives an +account of his futile efforts to learn this art in later life. He loved +the reading of histories and astronomy, and by questioning travellers +gained some knowledge of distant parts of the earth. He attended +lectures on grammar, and his favourite work was St Augustine's _De +civitate Dei_. He caused Frankish sagas to be collected, began a grammar +of his native tongue, and spent some of his last hours in correcting a +text of the Vulgate. He delighted in the society of scholars--Alcuin, +Angilbert, Paul the Lombard, Peter of Pisa and others, and in this +company the trappings of rank were laid aside and the emperor was known +simply as David. Under his patronage Alcuin organized the school of the +palace, where the royal children were taught in the company of others, +and founded a school at Tours which became the model for many other +establishments. Charles was unwearying in his efforts to improve the +education of clergy and laity, and in 789 ordered that schools should be +established in every diocese. The atmosphere of these schools was +strictly ecclesiastical and the questions discussed by the scholars were +often puerile, but the greatness of the educational work of Charles will +not be doubted when one considers the rude condition of Frankish society +half a century before. The main work of the Carolingian renaissance was +to restore Latin to its position as a literary language, and to +reintroduce a correct system of spelling and an improved handwriting. +The manuscripts of the time are accurate and artistic, copies of +valuable books were made and by careful collation the texts were +purified. + +Charles was not a great warrior. His victories were won rather by the +power of organization, which he possessed in a marked degree, and he was +eager to seize ideas and prompt in their execution. He erected a stone +bridge with wooden piers across the Rhine at Mainz, and began a canal +between the Altmuhl and the Rednitz to connect the Rhine and the Danube, +but this work was not finished. He built palaces at Aix (his favourite +residence), Nijmwegen and Ingelheim, and erected the church of St Mary +at Aix, modelled on that of St Vitalis at Ravenna and adorned with +columns and mosaics brought from the same city. He loved the simple +dress and manners of the Franks, and on two occasions only did he assume +the more stately attire of a Roman noble. The administrative system of +Charles in church and state was largely personal, and he brought to the +work an untiring industry, and a marvellous grasp of detail. He +admonished the pope, appointed the bishops, watched over the morals and +work of the clergy, and took an active part in the deliberations of +church synods; he founded bishoprics and monasteries, was lavish in his +gifts to ecclesiastical foundations, and chose bishops and abbots for +administrative work. As the real founder of the ecclesiastical state, he +must be held mainly responsible for the evils which resulted from the +policy of the church in exalting the ecclesiastical over the secular +authority. + +In secular affairs Charles abolished the office of duke, placed counts +over districts smaller than the former duchies, and supervised their +government by means of _missi dominici_, officials responsible to +himself alone. Marches were formed on all the borders of the empire, and +the exigencies of military service led to the growth of a system of +land-tenure which contained the germ of feudalism. The assemblies of the +people gradually changed their character under his rule. No longer did +the nation come together to direct and govern, but the emperor summoned +his people to assent to his acts. Taking a lively interest in commerce +and agriculture, Charles issued various regulations for the organization +of the one and the improvement of the other. He introduced a new system +of weights and measures, which he ordered should be used throughout his +kingdom, and took steps to reform the coinage. He was a voluminous +lawgiver. Without abolishing the customary law of the German tribes, +which is said to have been committed to writing by his orders, he added +to it by means of _capitularies_, and thus introduced certain Christian +principles and customs, and some degree of uniformity. + +The extent and glamour of his empire exercised a potent spell on western +Europe. The aim of the greatest of his successors was to restore it to +its pristine position and influence, while many of the French rulers +made its re-establishment the goal of their policy. Otto the Great to a +considerable extent succeeded; Louis XIV. referred frequently to the +empire of Charlemagne; and Napoleon regarded him as his prototype and +predecessor. The empire of Charles, however, was not lasting. In spite +of his own wonderful genius the seeds of weakness were sown in his +lifetime. The church was too powerful, an incipient feudalism was +present, and there was no real bond of union between the different races +that acknowledged his authority. All the vigilance of the emperor could +not restrain the dishonesty and the cupidity of his servants, and no +sooner was the strong hand of their ruler removed than they began to +acquire territorial power for themselves. + + AUTHORITIES.--The chief authorities for the life and times of + Charlemagne are Einhard's _Vita Karoli Magni_, the _Annales + Laurissenses majores_, the _Annales Fuldenses_, and other annals, + which are published in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_. + _Scriptores_, Band i. and ii., edited by G.H. Pertz (Hanover and + Berlin, 1826-1892). For the capitularies see _Capitularia regum + Francorum_, edited by A. Boretius in the _Monumenta. Leges_. Many of + the songs of the period appear in the _Poetae Latini aevi Carolini_, + edited by E. Dummler (Berlin, 1881-1884). The _Bibliotheca rerum + Germanicarum_, tome iv., edited by Ph. Jaffe (Berlin, 1864-1873), + contains some of the emperor's correspondence, and Hincmar's _De + ordine palatii_, edited by M. Prou (Paris, 1884), is also valuable. + + The best modern authorities are S. Abel and B. Simson, _Jahrbucher des + frankischen Reiches unter Karl dem Grossen_ (Leipzig, 1883-1888); G. + Richter and H. Kohl, _Annalen des frankischen Reichs im Zeitalter der + Karolinger_ (Halle, 1885-1887); E. Muhlbacher, _Deutsche Geschichte + unter den Karolingern_ (Stuttgart, 1886); H. Brosien, _Karl der + Grosse_ (Leipzig and Prague, 1885); J.I. Mombert, _History of Charles + the Great_ (London, 1888); M. Lipp, _Das frankische Grenzsystem unter + Karl dem Grossen_ (Breslau, 1892); J. von Dollinger, _Das Kaiserthum + Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger_ (Munich, 1864); F. von Wyss, + _Karl der Grosse als Gesetzgeber_ (Zurich, 1869); Th. Sickel, _Lehre + von den Urkunden der ersten Karolinger_ (Vienna, 1867); E. Dummler in + the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, Band xv.; Th. Lindner, _Die + Fabel von der Bestattung Karls des Grossen_ (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1893); + J.A. Ketterer, _Karl der Grosse und die Kirche_ (Munich and Leipzig, + 1898); and J.B. Mullinger, _The Schools of Charles the Great and the + Restoration of Education in the 9th century_ (London, 1877). + + The work of the monk of St Gall is found in the _Monumenta_, Band ii.; + an edition of the _Historia de vita Caroli Magni et Rolandi_, edited + by F. Castets, has been published (Paris, 1880), and an edition of the + _Kaiserchronik_, edited by E. Schroder (Hanover, 1892). See also P. + Clemen, _Die Portratdarstellung Karls des Grossen_ (Aix-la-Chapelle, + 1896). (A. W. H.*) + + +THE CHARLEMAGNE LEGENDS + +Innumerable legends soon gathered round the memory of the great emperor. +He was represented as a warrior performing superhuman feats, as a ruler +dispensing perfect justice, and even as a martyr suffering for the +faith. It was confidently believed towards the close of the 10th century +that he had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and, like many other great +rulers, it was reported that he was only sleeping to awake in the hour +of his country's need. We know from Einhard (_Vita Karoli_, cap. xxix.) +that the Frankish heroic ballads were drawn up in writing by +Charlemagne's order, and it may be accepted as certain that he was +himself the subject of many such during his lifetime. The legendary +element crept even into the Latin panegyrics produced by the court +poets. Before the end of the 9th century a monk of St Gall drew up a +chronicle _De gestis Karoli Magni_, which was based partly on oral +tradition, received from an old soldier named Adalbert, who had served +in Charlemagne's army. This recital contains various fabulous incidents. +The author relates a conversation between Otkar the Frank (Ogier the +Dane) and the Lombard king Desiderius (Didier) on the walls of Pavia in +view of Charlemagne's advancing army. To Didier's repeated question "Is +this the emperor?" Otkar continues to answer "Not yet," adding at last +"When thou shalt see the fields bristling with an iron harvest, and the +Po and the Ticino swollen with sea-floods, inundating the walls of the +city with iron billows, then shall Karl be nigh at hand." This episode, +which bears the marks of popular heroic poetry, may well be the +substance of a lost Carolingian _cantilena_.[1] + +The legendary Charlemagne and his warriors were endowed with the great +deeds of earlier kings and heroes of the Frankish kingdom, for the +romancers were not troubled by considerations of chronology. National +traditions extending over centuries were grouped round Charlemagne, his +father Pippin, and his son Louis. The history of Charles Martel +especially was absorbed in the Charlemagne legend. But if Charles's name +was associated with the heroism of his predecessors he was credited with +equal readiness with the weaknesses of his successors. In the earlier +_chansons de geste_ he is invariably a majestic figure and represents +within limitations the grandeur of the historic Charles. But in the +histories of the wars with his vassals he is often little more than a +tyrannical dotard, who is made to submit to gross insult. This picture +of affairs is drawn from later times, and the sympathies of the poet are +generally with the rebels against the monarchy. Historical tradition was +already dim when the hypothetical and much discussed _cantilenae_, which +may be taken to have formed the repository of the national legends from +the 8th to the 10th century, were succeeded in the 11th and the early +l2th centuries by the _chansons de geste_. The early poems of the cycle +sometimes contain curious information on the Frankish methods in war, in +council and in judicial procedure, which had no parallels in +contemporary institutions. The account in the _Chanson de Roland_ of the +trial of Ganelon after the battle of Roncesvalles must have been adopted +almost intact from earlier poets, and provides a striking example of the +value of the _chansons de geste_ to the historian of manners and +customs. In general, however, the trouvere depicted the feeling and +manners of his own time. + +Charlemagne's wars in Italy, Spain and Saxony formed part of the common +epic material, and there are references to his wars against the Slavs; +but especially he remained in the popular mind as the great champion of +Christianity against the creed of Mahomet, and even his Norman and Saxon +enemies became Saracens in current legend. He is the Christian emperor +directly inspired by angels; his sword Joyeuse contained the point of +the lance used in the Passion; his standard was Romaine, the banner of +St Peter, which, as the oriflamme of Saint Denis, was later to be borne +in battle before the kings of France; and in 1164 Charles was canonized +at the desire of the emperor Frederick I. Barbarossa by the anti-pope +Pascal III. This gave him no real claim to saintship, but his festival +was observed in some places until comparatively recent times. +Charlemagne was endowed with the good and bad qualities of the epic +king, and as in the case of Agamemnon and Arthur, his exploits paled +beside those of his chief warriors. These were not originally known as +the twelve peers[2] famous in later Carolingian romance. The twelve +peers were in the first instance the companions in arms of Roland in the +Teutonic sense.[3] The idea of the paladins forming an association +corresponding to the Arthurian Round Table first appears in the romance +of _Fierabras_. The lists of them are very various, but all include the +names of Roland and Oliver. The chief heroes who fought Charlemagne's +battles were Roland; Ganelon, afterwards the traitor; Turpin, the +fighting archbishop of Reims; Duke Naimes of Bavaria, the wise +counsellor who is always on the side of justice; Ogier the Dane, the +hero of a whole series of romances; and Guillaume of Toulouse, the +defender of Narbonne. Gradually most of the _chansons de geste_ were +attached to the name of Charlemagne, whose poetical history falls into +three cycles:--the _geste du roi_, relating his wars and the personal +history of himself and his family; the southern cycle, of which +Guillaume de Toulouse is the central figure; and the feudal epic, +dealing with the revolts of the barons against the emperor, the rebels +being invariably connected by the trouveres with the family of Doon de +Mayence (q.v.). + +The earliest poems of the cycle are naturally the closest to historical +truth. The central point of the _geste du roi_ is the 11th-century +_Chanson de Roland_ (see ROLAND, LEGEND OF), one of the greatest of +medieval poems. Strangely enough the defeat of Roncesvalles, which so +deeply impressed the popular mind, has not a corresponding importance in +real history. But it chanced to find as its exponent a poet whose genius +established a model for his successors, and definitely fixed the type of +later heroic poems. The other early _chansons_ to which reference is +made in _Roland--Aspremont, Enfances Ogier, Guiteclin, Balan_, relating +to Charlemagne's wars in Italy and Saxony--are not preserved in their +original form, and only the first in an early recension. _Basin_ or +_Carl el Elegast_ (preserved in Dutch and Icelandic), the _Voyage de +Charlemagne a Jerusalem_ and _Le Couronnement Looys_ also belong to the +heroic period. The purely fictitious and romantic tales added to the +personal history of Charlemagne and his warriors in the 13th century are +inferior in manner, and belong to the decadence of romance. The old +tales, very much distorted in the 15th-century prose versions, were to +undergo still further degradation in 18th-century compilations. + +According to _Berte aus grans pies_, in the 13th-century _remaniement_ +of the Brabantine trouvere Adenes li Rois, Charlemagne was the son of +Pippin and of Berte, the daughter of Flore and Blanchefleur, king and +queen of Hungary. The tale bears marks of high antiquity, and presents +one of the few incidents in the French cycle which may be referred to a +mythic origin. On the night of Berte's marriage a slave, Margiste, is +substituted for her, and reigns in her place for nine years, at the +expiration of which Blanchefleur exposes the deception; whereupon Berte +is restored from her refuge in the forest to her rightful place as +queen. _Mainet_ (12th century) and the kindred poems in German and +Italian are perhaps based on the adventures of Charles Martel, who after +his father's death had to flee to the Ardennes. They relate that, after +the death of his parents, Charles was driven by the machinations of the +two sons of Margiste to take refuge in Spain, where he accomplished his +_enfances_ (youthful exploits) with the Mussulman king Galafre under the +feigned name of Mainet. He delivered Rome from the besieging Saracens, +and returned to France in triumph. But his wife Galienne, daughter of +Galafre, whom he had converted to the Christian faith, died on her way +to rejoin him. Charlemagne then made an expedition to Italy (_Enfances +Ogier_ in the Venetian _Charlemagne_, and the first part of the +_Chevalerie Ogier de Dannemarche_ by Raimbert of Paris, 12th century) to +raise the siege of Rome, which was besieged by the Saracen emir +Corsuble. He crossed the Alps under the guidance of a white hart, +miraculously sent to assist the passage of the army. _Aspremont_ (12th +century) describes a fictitious campaign against the Saracen King +Agolant in Calabria, and is chiefly devoted to the _enfances_ of Roland. +The wars of Charlemagne with his vassals are described in _Girart de +Roussillon, Renaus de Montauban_, recounting the deeds of the four sons +of Aymon, _Huon de Bordeaux_, and in the latter part of the _Chevalerie +Ogier_, which belong properly to the cycle connected with Doon of +Mayence. + +The account of the pilgrimage of Charlemagne and his twelve paladins to +the Holy Sepulchre must in its first form have been earlier than the +Crusades, as the patriarch asks the emperor to free Spain, not the Holy +Land, from the Saracens. The legend probably originated in a desire to +authenticate the relics in the abbey of Saint Denis, supposed to have +been brought to Aix by Charlemagne, and is preserved in a 12th-century +romance, _Le Voyage de Charlemagne a Jerusalem et a Constantinople_.[4] +This journey forms the subject of a window in the cathedral of Chartres, +and there was originally a similar one at Saint-Denis. On the way home +Charles and his paladins visited the emperor Hugon at Constantinople, +where they indulged in a series of _gabs_ which they were made to carry +out. _Galien_, a favourite 15th-century romance, was attached to this +episode, for Galien was the son of the amours of Oliver with Jacqueline, +Hugon's daughter. The traditions of Charlemagne's fights with the +Norsemen (Norois, Noreins) are preserved in _Aiquin_ (12th century), +which describes the emperor's reconquest of Armorica from the "Saracen" +king Aiquin, and a disaster at Cezembre as terrible in its way as those +of Roncesvalles and Aliscans. _La destruction de Rome_ is a 13th-century +version of the older _chanson_ of the emir Balan, who collected an army +in Spain and sailed to Rome. The defenders were overpowered and the city +destroyed before the advent of Charlemagne, who, however, avenged the +disaster by a great battle in Spain. The romance of _Fierabras_ (13th +century) was one of the most popular in the 15th century, and by later +additions came to have pretensions to be a complete history of +Charlemagne. The first part represents an episode in Spain three years +before Roncesvalles, in which Oliver defeats the Saracen giant Fierabras +in single combat, and converts him. The hero of the second part is Gui +de Bourgogne, who recovers the relics of the Passion, lost in the siege +of Rome. _Otinel_ (13th century) is also pure fiction. _L'Entree en +Espagne_, preserved in a 14th-century Italian compilation, relates the +beginning of the Spanish War, the siege of Pampeluna, and the legendary +combat of Roland with Ferragus. Charlemagne's march on Saragossa, and +the capture of Huesca, Barcelona and Girone, gave rise to _La Prise de +Pampelune_ (14th century, based on a lost _chanson_); and _Gui de +Bourgogne_ (12th century) tells how the children of the barons, after +appointing Guy as king of France, set out to find and rescue their +fathers, who are represented as having been fighting in Spain for +twenty-seven years. The _Chanson de Roland_ relates the historic defeat +of Roncesvalles on the 15th of August 778, and forms the very crown of +the whole Carolingian legend. The two 13th-century romances, _Gaidon_, +by Herbert Leduc de Dammartin, and _Anseis de Carthage_, contain a +purely fictitious account of the end of the war in Spain, and of the +establishment of a Frankish kingdom under the rule of Anseis. +Charlemagne was recalled from Spain by the news of the outbreak of the +Saxons. The contest between Charlemagne and Widukind (_Guiteclin_) +offered abundant epic material. Unfortunately the original _Guiteclin_ +is lost, but the legend is preserved in _Les Saisnes_ (c. 1300) of Jehan +Bodel, which is largely occupied by the loves of Baudouin and Sibille, +the wife of Guiteclin. The adventures of Blanchefleur, wife of +Charlemagne, form a variation of the common tale of the innocent wife +falsely accused, and are told in _Macaire_ and in the extant fragments +of _La Reine Sibille_ (14th century). After the conquest of the Saracens +and the Saxons, the defeat of the Northmen, and the suppression of the +feudal revolts, the emperor abdicated in favour of his son Louis (_Le +Couronnement Looys_, 12th century). Charles's harangue to his son is in +the best tradition of epic romance. The memory of Roncesvalles haunts +him on his death-bed, and at the moment of death he has a vision of +Roland. + +The mythic element is practically lacking in the French legends, but in +Germany some part of the Odin myth was associated with Charles's name. +The constellation of the Great Bear, generally associated with Odin, is +Karlswagen in German, and Charles's Wain in English. According to +tradition in Hesse, he awaits resurrection, probably symbolic of the +triumph of the sun over winter, within the Gudensberg (Hill of Odin). +Bavarian tradition asserts that he is seated in the Untersberg in a +chair, as in his tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle. His white beard goes on +growing, and when it has thrice encircled the stone table before him the +end of the world will come; or, according to another version, Charles +will arise and after fighting a great battle on the plain of Wals will +reign over a new Germany. There were medieval chroniclers who did not +fear to assert that Charles rose from the dead to take part in the +Crusades. In the MS. _Annales S. Stephani Frisingenses_ (15th century), +which formerly belonged to the abbey of Weihenstephan, and is now at +Munich, the childhood of Charlemagne is practically the same as that of +many mythic heroes. This work, generally known as the chronicle of +Weihenstephan, gives among other legends a curious history of the +emperor's passion for a dead woman, caused by a charm given to Charles +by a serpent to whom he had rendered justice. The charm was finally +dropped into a well at Aix, which thenceforward became Charles's +favourite residence. The story of Roland's birth from the union of +Charles with his sister Gilles, also found in German and Scandinavian +versions, has abundant parallels in mythology, and was probably +transferred from mythology to Charlemagne. + +The Latin chronicle, wrongly ascribed to Turpin (Tilpinus), bishop of +Reims from 753 to 800, was in reality later than the earlier poems of +the French cycle, and the first properly authenticated mention of it is +in 1165. Its primary object was to authenticate the relics of St James +at Compostella. Alberic Trium Fontium, a monk of the Cistercian +monastery of Trois Fontanes in the diocese of Chalons, embodied much +poetical fiction in his chronicle (c. 1249). A large section of the +_Chronique rimee_ (c. 1243) of Philippe Mousket is devoted to +Charlemagne's exploits. At the beginning of the 14th century Girard of +Amiens made a dull compilation known as _Charlemagne_ from the _chansons +de gests_, authentic history and the pseudo-Turpin. _La Conqueste que +fit le grand roi Charlemaigne es Espaignes_ (pr. 1486) is the same work +as the prose compilation of _Fierabras_ (pr. 1478), and Caxton's _Lyf of +Charles the Grete_ (1485). + +The Charlemagne legend was fully developed in Italy, where it was to +have later a great poetic development at the hands of Boiardo, Ariosto +and Tasso. There are two important Italian compilations, MS. XIII. of +the library of St Mark, Venice (c. 1200), and the _Reali di Francia_ (c. +1400) of a Florentine writer, Andrea da Barberino (b. 1370), edited by +G. Vandelli (Bologna, 1892). The six books of this work are rivalled in +importance by the ten branches of the Norse _Karlamagnus saga_, written +under the reign of Haakon V. This forms a consecutive legendary history +of Charles, and is apparently based on earlier versions of the French +Charlemagne poems than those which we possess. It thus furnishes a guide +to the older forms of stories, and moreover preserves the substance of +others which have not survived in their French form. A popular +abridgment, the _Keiser Karl Magnus Kronike_ (pr. Malmo, 1534), drawn up +in Danish, serves in some cases to complete the earlier work. The 2000 +lines of the German _Kaiserchronik_ on the history of Charlemagne belong +to the first half of the 12th century, and were perhaps the work of +Conrad, the poet of the _Ruolantes Liet_. The German poet known as the +Stricker used the same sources as the author of the chronicle of +Weihenstephan for his _Karl_ (c. 1230). The earliest important Spanish +version was the _Chronica Hispaniae_ (c. 1284) of Rodrigo de Toledo. + +The French and Norman-French chansons circulated as freely in England as +in France, and it was therefore not until the period of decadence that +English versions were made. The English metrical romances of Charlemagne +are:--_Rowlandes Song_ (15th century); _The Taill of Rauf Coilyear_ (c. +1475, pr. by R. Lekpreuik, St Andrews, 1472), apparently original; _Sir +Ferumbras_ (c. 1380) and the _Sowdone of Babylone_ (c. 1400) from an +early version of _Fierabras_; a fragmentary _Roland and Vernagu_ +(Ferragus); two versions of _Otuel_ (Otinel); and a _Sege of Melayne_ +(c. 1390), forming a prologue to Otinel unknown in French. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The most important works on the Charlemagne cycle of + romance are:--G. Paris, _Hist. poetique de Charlemagne_ (Paris, 1865; + reprint, with additional notes by Paris and P. Meyer, 1905); L. + Gautier, _Les Epopees francaises_ (Paris, 4 vols. new ed., 1878, 1892, + 1880, 1882) and the supplementary _Bibliographie des chansons de + geste_ (1897). The third volume of the _Epopees francaises_ contains + an analysis and full particulars of the _chansons de geste_ + immediately connected with the history of Charlemagne. See also G. + Rauschen, _Die Legende Karls des Grossen im 11ten und 12ten + Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1890); Kristoffer Nyrop, _Den oldfranske + Heldedigtning_ (Copenhagen, 1883; Ital. trans. Turin, 1886); Pio + Rajna, _Le Origini dell' epopea francese_ (Florence, 1884); G.T. + Graesse, "Die grossen Sagenkreise des Mittelalters," in his + _Litterargeschichte_ (Dresden, 1842); _Histoire litteraire de la + France_ (vol. xxii., 1852); H.L. Ward, _Catalogue of Romances in the + Dept. of MSS. in the British Museum_ (1883), vol. i. pp. 546-689; E. + Muntz, _La Legende de Charlemagne dans l'art du moyen age_ (Paris, + 1885); and for the German legend, vol. iii. of H.F. Massmann's edition + of the _Kaiserchronik_ (Quedlinburg, 1849-1854). _The English + Charlemagne Romances_ were edited (extra series) for the Early Eng. + Text Soc. by Sidney J. Herrtage, Emil Hausknecht, Octavia Richardson + and Sidney Lee (1879-1881), the romance of _Duke Huon of Bordeaux_ + containing a general account of the cycle by Sidney Lee; the + _Karlamagnussaga_, by C.R. Unger (Christiania, 1860), see also G. + Paris in _Bibl. de l'Ecole des Charles_ (1864-1865). For individual + _chansons_ see _Anseis de Carthage_, ed. J. Alton (Tubingen, 1892); + _Aiquin_, ed. F. Jouon des Longrais (Nantes, 1880); _Aspremont_, ed. + F. Guessard and L. Gautier (Paris, 1885); _Basin_, or _Charles et + Elegast_ or _Le Couronnement de Charles_, preserved only in foreign + versions (see Paris, _Hist. Poet._ pp. 315, seq.); _Berta de li gran + pie_, ed. A. Mussafia, in _Romania_ (vols. iii. and iv., 1874-1875); + _Berte aus grans pies_, ed. A. Scheler (Brussels, 1874); + _Charlemagne_, by Girard d'Amiens, detailed analysis in Paris, _Hist. + Poet._ (Appendix iv.); _Couronnement Looys_, ed. E. Langlois (Le Puy, + 1888); _Desier_ (Desiderius or Didier), lost songs of the wars of + Lombardy, some fragments of which are preserved in _Ogier le Danois; + Destruction de Rome_, ed. G. Grober in _Romania_(1873); A. Thomas, + _Nouvelles recherches sur "l'entree de Spagne_," in _Bibl. des ecoles + francaises de Rome_ (Paris, 1882); _Fierabras_, ed. A. Krober and G. + Servois (Paris, 1860) in _Anciens poetes de la France_, and Provencal + text, ed. I. Bekker (Berlin, 1829); _Galien_, ed. E. Stengel and K. + Pfeil (Marburg, 1890); _Gaydon_, ed. F. Guessard and S. Luce (_Anciens + poetes_ ... 1862); _Gui de Bourgogne_, ed. F. Guessard and H. + Michelant (same series, 1859); _Mainet_ (fragments only extant), ed. + G. Paris, in _Romania_ (1875); _Otinel_, ed Guessard and Michelant + _(Anciens poetes_, 1859), and _Sir Otuel_, ed. S.J. Herrtage + (_E.E.T.S._, 1880); _Prise de Pampelune_ (ed. A. Mussafia, Vienna, + 1864); for the Carolingian romances relating to Roland, see ROLAND; + _Les Saisnes_, ed. F. Michel (1839); _The Sege of Melaine_, + introductory to Otinel, preserved in English only (ed. _E.E.T.S._, + 1880); _Simon de Pouille_, analysis in _Epop. fr._ (iii. pp. 346 sq.); + _Voyage de C. a Jerusalem_, ed. E. Koschwitz (Heilbronn, 1879). For + the chronicle of the Pseudo-Turpin, see an edition by Castets (Paris, + 1881) for the "Societe des langues romanes," and the dissertation by + G. Paris, _De Pseudo-Turpino_ (Paris, 1865). The Spanish versions of + Carolingian legends are studied by Mila y Fontanals in _De la poesia + heroico-popular castellana_ (Barcelona, 1874). (M. Br.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] A remnant of the popular poetry contemporary with Charlemagne and + written in the vernacular has been thought to be discernible under + its Latin translation in the description of a siege during + Charlemagne's war against the Saracens, known as the "Fragment from + the Hague" (Pertz, _Script._ iii. pp. 708-710). + + [2] The words _douze pairs_ were anglicized in a variety of forms + ranging from douzepers to dosepers. The word even occurred as a + singular in the metrical romance of _Octavian_:--"Ferst they sent out + a doseper." At the beginning of the 13th century there existed a + _cour des pairs_ which exercised judicial functions and dated + possibly from the 11th century, but their prerogatives at the + beginning of the 14th century appear to have been mainly ceremonial + and decorative. In 1257 the twelve peers were the chiefs of the great + feudal provinces, the dukes of Normandy, Burgundy and Aquitaine, the + counts of Toulouse, Champagne and Flanders, and six spiritual peers, + the archbishop of Reims, the bishops of Laon, Chalons-sur-Marne, + Beauvais, Langres and Noyon. (See Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v. + "Par."). + + [3] See J. Flach, _Le Compagnonnage dans les chansons de geste_ + (Paris, 1891). + + [4] For clerical accounts of Charles's voyage to the Holy Land see + the _Chronicon_ (c. 968) of Benedict, a monk of St Andre, and + _Descriptio qualiter Karolus Magnus clavum et coronam Domini ... + detulerit_, by an 11th-century writer. + + + + +CHARLEMAGNE, JEAN ARMAND (1753-1838), French dramatic author, was born +at Bourget (Seine) on the 30th of November 1753. Originally intended for +the church, he turned first to being a lawyer's clerk and then a +soldier. He served in the American War of Independence, and on returning +to France (1783) began to employ his pen on economic subjects, and later +in writing for the stage. He became the author of a large number of +plays, poems and romances, among which may be mentioned the comedies _M. +de Crac a Paris_ (1793), _Le Souper des Jacobins_ (1795)and _L'Agioteur_ +(1796) and _Observations de quelques patriotes sur la necessite de +conserver les monuments de la litterature et des arts_ (1794), an essay +written in collaboration with M.M. Chardin and Renouard, which induced +the Convention to protect books adorned with the coats of arms of their +former owners and other treasures from destruction at the hands of the +revolutionists. He died in Paris on the 6th of March 1838. + + + + +CHARLEMONT, JAMES CAULFEILD, 1ST EARL OF (1728-1799), Irish statesman, +son of the 3rd viscount Charlemont, was born in Dublin on the 18th of +August 1728, and succeeded his father as 4th viscount in 1734. The title +of Charlemont descended from Sir Toby Caulfeild (1565-1627) of +Oxfordshire, England, who was given lands in Ireland, and created Baron +Charlemont (the name of a fort on the Blackwater), for his services to +King James I. in 1620, and the 1st viscount was the 5th baron (d. 1671), +who was advanced by Charles II. Lord Charlemont is historically +interesting for his political connexion with Flood and Grattan; he was +a cultivated man with literary and artistic tastes, and both in Dublin +and in London his amiable character gave him considerable social +influence. For various early services in Ireland he was made an earl in +1763, but he disregarded court favours and cordially joined Grattan in +1780 in the assertion of Irish independence. He was president of the +volunteer convention in Dublin in November 1783, having taken from the +first a leading part in the embodiment of the volunteers; and he was a +strong opponent of the proposals for the Union. He died on the 4th of +August 1799; his eldest son, who succeeded him, being subsequently +(1837) created an English baron. + + His _Life_, by F. Hardy, appeared in 1810. + + + + +CHARLEROI (_Carolus Rex_), a town in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. +Pop. (1904) 26,528. It was founded in 1666 on the site of a village +called Charnoy by the Spanish governor Roderigo and named after his +sovereign Charles II. of Spain. Charleroi is the centre of the iron +industry of Belgium. It is connected by a canal with Brussels, and from +its position on the Sambre enjoys facilities of communication by water +with France as well as Belgium. It was ceded soon after its foundation +to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and Vauban fortified it. +During the French occupation the town was considerably extended, and the +fortifications were made so strong that Charleroi twice successfully +resisted the strenuous attacks of William of Orange. In 1794 Charleroi +again fell into the hands of the French, and on this occasion instead of +fortifying they dismantled it. In 1816 Charleroi was refortified under +Wellington's direction, and it was finally dismantled in 1859. Some +portions of the old ramparts are left near the railway station. There is +an archaeological museum with a miscellaneous collection of Roman and +Frank antiquities. + + + + +CHARLEROI, a borough of Washington county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the +Monongahela river, near the S.W. corner of the state, about 20 m. S. of +Pittsburgh. Pop. (1900) 5930, (1749 foreign-born); (1910) 9615. It is +served by the Pennsylvania railway. The surrounding country has good +farming land and large coal mines. In 1905 the borough ranked fifth +among the cities of the United States in the manufacture of glass +(plate-glass, lamp chimneys and bottles), its product (valued at +$1,841,308) being 2.3% of that of the whole country. Charleroi was +settled in 1890 and was incorporated in 1891. + + + + +CHARLES (Fr. _Charles_; Span. _Carlos_; Ital. _Carlo_; Ger. _Karl_; +derived from O.H.G. _Charal_, latinized as _Carolus_, meaning originally +"man": cf. Mod. Ger., _Kerl_, "fellow," A.S. _ceorl_, Mod. Eng. +"churl"), a masculine proper name. It has been borne by many European +princes, notices of the more important of whom are given below in the +following order: (1) Roman emperors, (2) kings of England, (3) other +kings in the alphabetical order of their states, (4) other reigning +princes in the same order, (5) non-reigning princes. Those princes who +are known by a name in addition to Charles (Charles Albert, &c.) will be +found after the private individuals bearing Charles as a surname. + + + + +CHARLES II.[1] called THE BALD (823-877), Roman emperor and king of the +West Franks, was the son of the emperor Louis the Pious and of his +second wife Judith and was born in 823. The attempts made by his father +to assign him a kingdom, first Alamannia (829), then the country between +the Meuse and the Pyrenees (839), at the expense of his half-brothers +Lothair and Louis led to a rising on the part of these two (see LOUIS +I., the Pious). The death of the emperor in 840 was the signal for the +outbreak of war between his sons. Charles allied himself with his +brother Louis the German to resist the pretensions of the emperor +Lothair, and the two allies conquered him in the bloody victory of +Fontenoy-en-Puisaye (25 June 841). In the following year, the two +brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated oaths of Strassburg, +made by Charles in the Teutonic language spoken by the subjects of +Louis, and by Louis in the Romance tongue of Charles's subjects. The war +was brought to an end by the treaty of Verdun (August 843), which gave +to Charles the Bald the kingdom of the western Franks, which practically +corresponded with what is now France, as far as the Meuse, the Saone +and the Rhone, with the addition of the Spanish March as far as the +Ebro. The first years of his reign up to the death of Lothair I. (855) +were comparatively peaceful, and during them was continued the system of +"confraternal government" of the sons of Louis the Pious, who had +various meetings with one another, at Coblenz (848), at Meersen (851), +and at Attigny (854). In 858 Louis the German, summoned by the +disaffected nobles, invaded the kingdom of Charles, who fled to +Burgundy, and was only saved by the help of the bishops, and by the +fidelity of the family of the Welfs, who were related to Judith. In 860 +he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of +Provence, but met with a repulse. On the death of Lothair II. in 869 he +tried to seize his dominions, but by the treaty of Mersen (870) was +compelled to share them with Louis the German. Besides this, Charles had +to struggle against the incessant rebellions in Aquitaine, against the +Bretons, whose revolt was led by their chief Nomenoe and Erispoe, and +who inflicted on the king the defeats of Ballon (845) and Juvardeil +(851), and especially against the Normans, who devastated the country in +the north of Gaul, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, and even up to +the borders of Aquitaine. Charles was several times compelled to +purchase their retreat at a heavy price. He has been accused of being +incapable of resisting them, but we must take into account the +unwillingness of the nobles, who continually refused to join the royal +army; moreover, the Frankish army does not seem to have been +sufficiently accustomed to war to make any headway against the pirates. +At any rate, Charles led various expeditions against the invaders, and +tried to put a barrier in their way by having fortified bridges built +over all the rivers. In 875, after the death of the emperor Louis II., +Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII., descended into Italy, +receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial crown at Rome (29th +December). But Louis the German, who was also a candidate for the +succession of Louis II., revenged himself for Charles's success by +invading and devastating his dominions. Charles was recalled to Gaul, +and after the death of Louis the German (28th August 876), in his turn +made an attempt to seize his kingdom, but at Andernach met with a +shameful defeat (8th October 876). In the meantime, John VIII., who was +menaced by the Saracens, was continually urging him to come to Italy, +and Charles, after having taken at Quierzy the necessary measures for +safeguarding the government of his dominions in his absence, again +crossed the Alps, but this expedition had been received with small +enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by Boso, Charles's brother-in-law, +who had been entrusted by him with the government of Lombardy, and they +refused to come with their men to join the imperial army. At the same +time Carlo man, son of Louis the German, entered northern Italy. +Charles, ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, and +died while crossing the pass of the Mont Cenis on the 5th or 6th of +October 877. He was succeeded by his son Louis the Stammerer, the child +of Ermentrude, daughter of a count of Orleans, whom he had married in +842, and who had died in 869. In 870 he had married Richilde, who was +descended from a noble family of Lorraine, but none of the children whom +he had by her played a part of any importance. Charles seems to have +been a prince of education and letters, a friend of the church, and +conscious of the support he could find in the episcopate against his +unruly nobles, for he chose his councillors for preference from among +the higher clergy, as in the case of Guenelon of Sens, who betrayed him, +or of Hincmar of Reims. But his character and his reign have been judged +very variously. The general tendency seems to have been to accept too +easily the accounts of the chroniclers of the east Frankish kingdom, +which are favourable to Louis the German, and to accuse Charles of +cowardice and bad faith. He seems on the contrary not to have lacked +activity or decision. + + AUTHORITIES.--The most important authority for the history of + Charles's reign is represented by the _Annales Bertiniani_, which were + the work of Prudentius, bishop of Troyes, up to 861, then up to 882 of + the celebrated Hincmar, archbishop of Reims. This prince's charters + are to be found published in the collections of the _Academie des + Inscriptions_, by M.M. Prou. The most complete history of the reign + is found in E. Dummler, _Geschichte des ostfrankischen Reiches_ (3 + vols., Leipzig, 1887-1888). See also J. Calmette, _La Diplomatie + carolingienne du traite de Verdun a la mort de Charles le Chauve_ + (Paris, 1901), and F. Lot, "Une Annee du regne de Charles le Chauve," + in _Le Moyen-Age_, (1902) pp. 393-438. + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] For Charles I., Roman emperor, see CHARLEMAGNE; cf. under Charles + I. of France below. + + + + +CHARLES III., THE FAT[1] (832-888), Roman emperor and king of the West +Franks, was the youngest of the three sons of Louis the German, and +received from his father the kingdom of Swabia (Alamannia). After the +death of his two brothers in succession, Carloman (881) and Louis the +Young (882), he inherited the whole of his father's dominions. In 880 he +had helped his two cousins in the west Frankish realm, Louis III. and +Carloman, in their struggle with the usurper Boso of Provence, but +abandoned them during the campaign in order to be crowned emperor at +Rome by Pope John VIII. (February 881). On his return he led an +expedition against the Norsemen of Friesland, who were entrenched in +their camp at Elsloo, but instead of engaging with them he preferred to +make terms and paid them tribute. In 884 the death of Carloman brought +into his possession the west Frankish realm, and in 885 he got rid of +his rival Hugh of Alsace, an illegitimate son of Lothair II., taking him +prisoner by treachery and putting out his eyes. However, in spite of his +six expeditions into Italy, he did not succeed in pacifying the country, +nor in delivering it from the Saracens. He was equally unfortunate in +Gaul and in Germany against the Norsemen, who in 886-887 besieged Paris. +The emperor appeared before the city with a large army (October 886), +but contented himself by treating with them, buying the retreat of the +invaders at the price of a heavy ransom, and his permission for them to +ravage Burgundy without his interfering. On his return to Alamannia, +however, the general discontent showed itself openly and a conspiracy +was formed against him. He was first forced to dismiss his favourite, +the chancellor Liutward, bishop of Vercelli. The dissolution of his +marriage with the pious empress Richarde, in spite of her innocence as +proved by the judicial examination, alienated his nobles still more from +him. He was deposed by an assembly which met at Frankfort or at Tribur +(November 887), and died in poverty at Neidingen on the Danube (18th +January 888). + + See E. Dummler, _Geschichte des ostfrankischen Reiches_ vol. iii. + (Leipzig 1888). + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] This surname has only been applied to Charles since the 13th + century. + + + + +CHARLES IV. (1316-1378), Roman emperor and king of Bohemia, was the +eldest son of John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia, and Elizabeth, sister +of Wenceslas III., the last Bohemian king of the Premyslides dynasty. He +was born at Prague on the 14th of May 1316, and in 1323 went to the +court of his uncle, Charles IV., king of France, and exchanged his +baptismal name of Wenceslas for that of Charles. He remained for seven +years in France, where he was well educated and learnt five languages; +and there he married Blanche, sister of King Philip VI., the successor +of Charles IV. In 1331 he gained some experience of warfare in Italy +with his father; and on his return to Bohemia in 1333 he was made +margrave of Moravia. Three years later he undertook the government of +Tirol on behalf of his brother John Henry, and was soon actively +concerned in a struggle for the possession of this county. In +consequence of an alliance between his father and Pope Clement VI., the +relentless enemy of the emperor Louis IV., Charles was chosen German +king in opposition to Louis by some of the princes at Rense on the 11th +of July 1346. As he had previously promised to be subservient to Clement +he made extensive concessions to the pope in 1347. Confirming the papacy +in the possession of wide territories, he promised to annul the acts of +Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend +and protect the church. Meanwhile he had accompanied his father into +France and had taken part in the battle of Crecy in August 1346, when +John was killed and Charles escaped wounded from the field. As king of +Bohemia he returned to Germany, and after being crowned German king at +Bonn on the 26th of November 1346, prepared to attack Louis. Hostilities +were interrupted by the death of the emperor in October 1347, and +Gunther, count of Schwarzburg, who was chosen king by the partisans of +Louis, soon abandoned the struggle. Charles, having made good use of the +difficulties of his opponents, was recrowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the +25th of July 1349, and was soon the undisputed ruler of Germany. Gifts +or promises had won the support of the Rhenish and Swabian towns; a +marriage alliance secured the friendship of the Habsburgs; and that of +Rudolph II., count palatine of the Rhine, was obtained when Charles, who +had become a widower in 1348, married his daughter Anna. + +In 1350 the king was visited at Prague by Cola di Rienzi, who urged him +to go to Italy, where the poet Petrarch and the citizens of Florence +also implored his presence. Turning a deaf ear to these entreaties, +Charles kept Rienzi in prison for a year, and then handed him as a +prisoner to Clement at Avignon. Four years later, however, he crossed +the Alps without an army, received the Lombard crown at Milan on the 6th +of January 1355, and was crowned emperor at Rome by a cardinal on the +5th of April in the same year. His sole object appears to have been to +obtain the imperial crown in peace, and in accordance with a promise +previously made to Pope Clement he only remained in the city for a few +hours, in spite of the expressed wishes of the Romans. Having virtually +abandoned all the imperial rights in Italy, the emperor recrossed the +Alps, pursued by the scornful words of Petrarch but laden with +considerable wealth. On his return Charles was occupied with the +administration of Germany, then just recovering from the Black Death, +and in 1356 he promulgated the Golden Bull (q.v.) to regulate the +election of the king. Having given Moravia to one brother, John Henry, +and erected the county of Luxemburg into a duchy for another, Wenceslas, +he was unremitting in his efforts to secure other territories as +compensation and to strengthen the Bohemian monarchy. To this end he +purchased part of the upper Palatinate of the Rhine in 1353, and in 1367 +annexed Lower Lusatia to Bohemia and bought numerous estates in various +parts of Germany. On the death in 1363 of Meinhard, duke of Upper +Bavaria and count of Tirol, Upper Bavaria was claimed by the sons of the +emperor Louis IV., and Tirol by Rudolph IV., duke of Austria. Both +claims were admitted by Charles on the understanding that if these +families died out both territories should pass to the house of +Luxemburg. About the same time he was promised the succession to the +margraviate of Brandenburg, which he actually obtained for his son +Wenceslas in 1373. He also gained a considerable portion of Silesian +territory, partly by inheritance through his third wife, Anna, daughter +of Henry II., duke of Schweidnitz. In 1365 Charles visited Pope Urban V. +at Avignon and undertook to escort him to Rome; and on the same occasion +was crowned king of Burgundy, or Arles, at Arles on the 4th of June +1365. + +His second journey to Italy took place in 1368, when he had a meeting +with Urban at Viterbo, was besieged in his palace at Siena, and left the +country before the end of the year 1369. During his later years the +emperor took little part in German affairs beyond securing the election +of his son Wenceslas as king of the Romans in 1376, and negotiating a +peace between the Swabian league and some nobles in 1378. After dividing +his lands between his three sons, he died on the 29th of November 1378 +at Prague, where he was buried, and where a statue was erected to his +memory in 1848. + +Charles, who according to the emperor Maximilian I. was the step-father +of the Empire, but the father of Bohemia, brought the latter country to +a high state of prosperity. He reformed the finances, caused roads to be +made, provided for greater security to life and property, and introduced +or encouraged various forms of industry. In 1348 he founded the +university of Prague, and afterwards made this city the seat of an +archbishop, and beautified it by the erection of several fine buildings. +He was an accomplished diplomatist, possessed a penetrating intellect, +and was capable of much trickery in order to gain his ends. By refusing +to become entangled in Italian troubles and confining himself to +Bohemia, he proved that he preferred the substance of power to its +shadow. Apparently the most pliant of men, he had in reality great +persistence of character, and if foiled in one set of plans readily +turned round and reached his goal by a totally different path. He was +superstitious and peace-loving, had few personal wants, and is described +as a round-shouldered man of medium height, with black hair and beard, +and sallow cheeks. + + His autobiography the "Vita Caroli IV.," which deals with events down + to the year 1346, and various other documents relating to his life and + times, are published in the _Fontes rerum Germanicarum_, Band I., + edited by J.F. Bohmer (Leipzig, 1885). For other documents relating to + the time see _Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter Kaiser Karl IV._, + edited by J.F. Bohmer and A. Huber (Innsbruck, 1889); _Acta Karoli IV. + imperatoris inedita_ (Innsbruck, 1891); E. Werunsky, _Excerpta ex + registris Clementis VI. et Innocentii VI._ (Innsbruck, 1885). See also + E. Werunsky, _Geschichte Kaiser Karls IV. und seiner Zeit_ (Innsbruck, + 1880-1892); H. Friedjung, _Kaiser Karl IV. und sein Antheil am + geistigen Leben seiner Zeit_ (Vienna, 1876); A. Gottlob, _Karls IV. + private und politische Beziehungen zu Frankreich_ (Innsbruck, 1883); + O. Winckelmann, _Die Beziehungen Kaiser Karls IV. zum Konigreich + Arelat_ (Strassburg, 1882); K. Palm, "Zu Karls IV. Politik gegen + Baiern," in the _Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte_, Band XV. + (Gottingen, 1862-1866); Th. Lindner, "Karl IV. und die Wittelsbacher," + and S. Stienherz, "Die Beziehungen Ludwigs I. von Ungarn zu Karl IV.," + and "Karl IV. und die osterreichischen Freiheitsbriefe," in the + _Mittheilungen des Instituts fur osterreichische Geschichtsforschung_ + (Innsbruck, 1880). + + + + +CHARLES V. (1500-1558), Roman emperor and (as CHARLES I.) king of Spain, +was born at Ghent on the 24th of February 1500. His parents were Philip +of Burgundy and Joanna, third child of Ferdinand and Isabella. Philip +died in 1506, and Charles succeeded to his Netherland possessions and +the county of Burgundy (Franche Comte). His grandfather, the emperor +Maximilian, as regent, appointed his daughter Margaret vice-regent, and +under her strenuous guardianship Charles lived in the Netherlands until +the estates declared him of age in 1515. In Castile, Ferdinand, king of +Aragon, acted as regent for his daughter Joanna, whose intellect was +already clouded. On the 23rd of January 1516 Ferdinand died. Charles's +visit to Spain was delayed until the autumn of 1517, and only in 1518 +was he formally recognized as king conjointly with his mother, firstly +by the cortes of Castile, and then by those of Aragon. Joanna lived to +the very eve of her son's abdication, so that he was only for some +months technically sole king of Spain. During this Spanish visit +Maximilian died, and Charles succeeded to the inheritance of the +Habsburgs, to which was shortly added the duchy of Wurttemberg. +Maximilian had also intended that he should succeed as emperor. In spite +of the formidable rivalry of Francis I. and the opposition of Pope Leo +X., pecuniary corruption and national feeling combined to secure his +election in 1519. Charles hurriedly left Spain, and after a visit to +Henry VIII. and his aunt Catherine, was crowned at Aix on the 23rd of +October 1520. + +The difficulty of Charles's reign consists in the complexity of +interests caused by the unnatural aggregate of distinct territories and +races. The crown of Castile brought with it the two recently conquered +kingdoms of Navarre and Granada, together with the new colonies in +America and scattered possessions in northern Africa. That of Aragon +comprised the three distinct states of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia, +and in addition the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, each with a +separate character and constitution of its own. No less than eight +independent cortes or parliaments existed in this Spanish-Italian group, +adding greatly to the intricacy of government. In the Netherland +provinces again the tie was almost purely personal; there existed only +the rudiments of a central administration and a common representative +system, while the county of Burgundy had a history apart. Much the same +was true of the Habsburg group of states, but Charles soon freed himself +from direct responsibility for their government by making them over, +together with Wurttemberg, to his brother Ferdinand. The Empire entailed +serious liabilities on its ruler without furnishing any reliable assets: +only through the cumbrous machinery of the diet could Charles tap the +military and financial resources of Germany. His problem here was +complicated by the growth of Lutheranism, which he had to face at his +very first diet in 1521. In addition to such administrative difficulties +Charles had inherited a quarrel with France, to which the rivalry of +Francis I. for the Empire gave a personal character. Almost equally +formidable was the advance of Sultan Suliman up the Danube, and the +union of the Turkish naval power with that of the Barbary States of +northern Africa. Against Lutheran Germany the Catholic emperor might +hope to rely upon the pope, and against France on England. But the +attitude of the popes was almost uniformly disagreeable, while from +Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Charles met with more unpleasantness than +favour. + +The difficulty of Charles himself is also that of the historian and +reader of his reign. It is probably more instructive to treat it +according to the emperor's several problems than in strict chronological +order. Yet an attempt to distinguish the several periods of his career +may serve as a useful introduction. The two best dividing lines are, +perhaps, the coronation as emperor at Bologna in 1530, and the peace of +Crepy in 1544. Until his visit to Italy (1529) Charles remained in the +background of the European stage, except for his momentous meeting with +Luther at the diet of Worms (1521). This meeting in itself forms a +subdivision. Previously to this, during his nominal rule in the +Netherlands, his visit to Spain, and his candidature for the Empire, he +seemed, as it was said, spell-bound under the ferule of his minister +Chievres. Almost every report represented him as colourless, reserved +and weak. His dependence on his Flemish counsellors provoked the rising +in Castile, the feebleness of his government the social war in Aragon. +The religious question first gave him a living interest, and at this +moment Chievres died. Aleander, the papal nuncio at Worms, now +recognized that public opinion had been wrong in its estimate of +Charles. Never again was he under tutelage. The necessity, however, of +residence in Spain prevented his taking a personal part in the great +fight with Francis I. for Italy. He could claim no credit for the +capture of his rival at Pavia. When his army sacked Rome and held Pope +Clement VII. prisoner, he could not have known where this army was. And +when later the French overran Naples, and all but deprived him of his +hold on Italy, he had to instruct his generals that they must shift for +themselves. The world had become afraid of him, but knew little of his +character. In the second main division of his career Charles changed all +this. No monarch until Napoleon was so widely seen in Europe and in +Africa. Complexity of problems is the characteristic of this period. At +the head of his army Charles forced the Turks backwards down the Danube +(1532). He personally conquered Tunis (1535), and was only prevented by +"act of God" from winning Algiers (1541). The invasion of Provence in +1536 was headed by the emperor. In person he crushed the rebellion of +Ghent (1540). In his last war with Francis (1542-44) he journeyed from +Spain to the Netherlands, brought the rebellious duke of Cleves to his +knees, and was within easy reach of Paris when he made the peace of +Crepy (1544). In Germany, meanwhile, from the diet of Augsburg (1530) +onwards, he had presided at the diets or conferences, which, as he +hoped, would effect the reunion of the church. + +Peace with France and the Turk and a short spell of friendliness with +Pope Paul III. enabled Charles at last to devote his whole energies to +the healing of religious schism. Conciliation proving impossible, he led +the army which received the submission of the Lutheran states, and then +captured the elector of Saxony at Muhlberg, after which the other +leader, Philip of Hesse, capitulated. The Armed Diet of 1548 was the +high-water mark of Charles's power. Here, in defiance of the pope, he +published the Interim which was meant to reconcile the Lutherans with +the church, and the so-called Reform which was to amend its abuses. +During the next four years, owing to ill-health and loss of insight, his +power was ebbing. In 1552 he was flying over the Brenner from Maurice of +Saxony, a princeling whose fortunes he had made. Once again the old +complications had arisen. His old enemy's son, Henry II., had attacked +him indirectly in Piedmont and Parma, and then directly in Germany in +alliance with Maurice. Once more the Turk was moving in the Danube and +in the western Mediterranean. The humiliation of his flight gave Charles +new spirit, and he once more led an army through Germany against the +French, only to be checked by the duke of Guise's defence of Metz. +Henceforth the waves of his fortune plashed to and fro until his +abdication without much ostensible loss or gain. + +Charles had abundance of good sense, but little creative genius, and he +was by nature conservative. Consequently he never sought to impose any +new or common principles of administration on his several states. He +took them as he found them, and at most, as in the Netherlands, improved +upon what he found. So also in dealing with rival powers his policy may +be called opportunist. He was indeed accused by his enemies of emulating +Charlemagne, of aiming at universal empire. Historians have frequently +repeated this charge. Charles himself in later life laughingly denied +the imputation, and facts are in favour of his denial. When Francis I. +was in his power he made no attempt to dismember France, in spite of his +pledges to his allies Henry VIII. and the duke of Bourbon. He did, +indeed, demand the duchy of Burgundy, because he believed this to have +been unrighteously stolen by Louis XI. from his grandmother when a +helpless girl. The claim was not pressed, and at the height of his +fortunes in 1548 he advised his son never to surrender it, but also +never to make it a cause of war. When Clement VII. was his prisoner, he +was vehemently urged to overthrow the temporal power, to restore +imperial dominion in Italy, at least to make the papacy harmless for the +future. In reply he restored his enemy to the whole of his dominions, +even reimposing him by force on the Florentine republic. To the end of +his life his conscience was sensitive as to Ferdinand's expulsion of the +house of Albret from Spanish Navarre, though this was essential to the +safety of Spain. Though always at war he was essentially a lover of +peace, and all his wars were virtually defensive. "Not greedy of +territory," wrote Marcantonio Contarini in 1536, "but most greedy of +peace and quiet." For peace he made sacrifices which angered his +hot-headed brother Ferdinand. He would not aid in expelling the sultan's +puppet Zapolya from Ferdinand's kingdom of Hungary, and he suffered the +restoration of the ruffianly duke of Wurttemberg, to the grave prejudice +of German Catholicism. In spite of his protests, Henry VIII. with +impunity ill-treated his aunt Catherine, and the feeble government of +Edward VI. bullied his cousin Mary, who had been his fiancee. No serious +efforts were made to restore his brother-in-law, Christian II., to the +throne of Denmark, and he advised his son Philip to make friends with +the usurper. After the defeat of the Lutheran powers in 1547 he did not +gain a palm's breadth of territory for himself. He resisted Ferdinand's +claim for Wurttemberg, which the duke had deserved to forfeit; he +disliked his acceptance of the voluntary surrender of the city of +Constance; he would not have it said that he had gone to war for the +benefit of the house of Habsburg. + +On the other hand, Charles V.'s policy was not merely negative. He +enlarged upon the old Habsburg practice of marriage as a means of +alliance of influence. Previously to his election as emperor, his sister +Isabella was married to Christian II. of Denmark, and the marriages of +Mary and Ferdinand with the king of Hungary and his sister had been +arranged. Before he was twenty Charles himself had been engaged some ten +times with a view to political combinations. Naturally, therefore, he +regarded his near relations as diplomatic assets. The federative system +was equally familiar; Germany, the Netherlands, and even Spain, were in +a measure federations. Combining these two principles, he would within +his more immediate spheres of influence strengthen existing federations +by intermarriage, while he hoped that the same means would convert the +jarring powers of Europe into a happy family. He made it a condition of +the treaty of Madrid (1526) that Francis I. should marry his sister +Eleanor, Manuel of Portugal's widow, in the hope, not that she would be +an ally or a spy within the enemy's camp, but an instrument of peace. +His son's marriage with Mary Tudor would not only salve the rubs with +England, but give such absolute security to the Netherlands that France +would shrink from war. The personal union of all the Iberian kingdoms +under a single ruler had long been an aim of Spanish statecraft. So +Charles had married his sister Eleanor, much against her will, to the +old king Manuel, and then his sister Catherine to his successor. The +empress was a Portuguese infanta, and Philip's first wife was another. +It is thus small wonder that, within a quarter of a century of Charles's +death, Philip became king of Portugal. + +In the wars with Francis I. Italy was the stake. In spite of his success +Charles for long made no direct conquests. He would convert the +peninsula into a federation mainly matrimonial. Savoy, the important +buffer state, was detached from France by the marriage of the somewhat +feeble duke to Charles's capable and devoted sister-in-law, Beatrice of +Portugal. Milan, conquered from France, was granted to Francesco Sforza, +heir of the old dynasty, and even after his treason was restored to him. +In the vain hope of offspring Charles sacrificed his niece, Christina of +Denmark, to the valetudinarian duke. In the long negotiations for a +Habsburg-Valois dynasty which followed Francesco's death, Charles was +probably sincere. He insisted that his daughter or niece should marry +the third rather than the second son of Francis I., in order, apart from +other reasons, to run less risk of the duchy falling under French +dominion. The final investiture of Philip was forced upon him, and does +not represent his saner policy. The Medici of Florence, the Gonzaga of +Mantua, the papal house of Farnese, were all attached by Habsburg +marriages. The republics of Genoa and Siena were drawn into the circle +through the agency of their chief noble families, the Doria and +Piccolomini; while Charles behaved with scrupulous moderation towards +Venice in spite of her active hostility before and after the League of +Cognac. Occasional acts of violence there were, such as the +participation in the murder of Pierluigi Farnese, and the measures which +provoked the rebellion of Siena. These were due to the difficulty of +controlling the imperial agents from a distance, and in part to the +faults of the victim prince and republic. On the whole, the loose +federation of viceroyalties and principalities harmonized with Italian +interests and traditions. The alternative was not Italian independence, +but French domination. At any rate, Charles's structure was so durable +that the French met with no real success in Italy until the 18th +century. + +Germany offered a fine field for a creative intellect, since the evils +of her disintegration stood confessed. On the other hand, princes and +towns were so jealous of an increase of central authority that Charles, +at least until his victory over the League of Schmalkalden, had little +effective power. Owing to his wars with French and Turks he was rarely +in Germany, and his visits were very short. His problem was infinitely +complicated by the union of Lutheranism and princely independence. He +fell back on the old policy of Maximilian, and strove to create a party +by personal alliances and intermarriage. In this he met with some +success. The friendship of the electors of Brandenburg, whether Catholic +or Protestant, was unbroken. In the war of Schmalkalden half the +Protestant princes were on Charles's side or friendly neutrals. At the +critical moment which preceded this, the lately rebellious duke of +Cleves and the heir of Bavaria were secured through the agency of two of +Ferdinand's invaluable daughters. The relations, indeed, between the two +old enemies, Austria and Bavaria, were permanently improved. The elector +palatine, whose love affairs with his sister Eleanor Charles as a boy +had roughly broken, received in compensation a Danish niece. Her sister, +widow of Francesco Sforza, was utilized to gain a hold upon the French +dynasty which ruled Lorraine. More than once there were proposals for +winning the hostile house of Saxony by matrimonial means. After his +victory over the League of Schmalkalden, Charles perhaps had really a +chance of making the imperial power a reality. But he lacked either +courage or imagination, contenting himself with proposals for voluntary +association on the lines of the defunct Swabian League, and dropping +even these when public opinion was against them. Now, too, he made his +great mistake in attempting to foist Philip upon the Empire as +Ferdinand's successor. Gossip reported that Ferdinand himself was to be +set aside, and careless historians have given currency to this. Such an +idea was impossible. Charles wished Philip to succeed Ferdinand, while +he ultimately conceded that Ferdinand's son Maximilian should follow +Philip, and even in his lifetime exercise the practical power in +Germany. This scheme irritated Ferdinand and his popular and ambitious +son at the critical moment when it was essential that the Habsburgs +should hold together against princely malcontents. Philip was +imprudently introduced to Germany, which had also just received a +foretaste of the unpleasant characteristics of Spanish troops. Yet the +person rather than the policy was, perhaps, at fault. It was natural +that the quasi-hereditary succession should revert to the elder line. +France proved her recuperative power by the occupation of Savoy and of +Metz, Toul and Verdun, the military keys of Lorraine. The separation of +the Empire and Spain left two weakened powers not always at accord, and +neither of them permanently able to cope on equal terms with France. +Nevertheless, this scheme did contribute in no small measure to the +failure of Charles in Germany. The main cause was, of course, the +religious schism, but his treatment of this requires separate +consideration. + +The characteristics of Charles's government, its mingled conservatism +and adaptability, are best seen in Spain and the Netherlands, with which +he was in closer personal contact than with Italy and Germany. In Spain, +when once he knew the country, he never repeated the mistakes which on +his first visit caused the rising of the communes. The cortes of Castile +were regularly summoned, and though he would allow no encroachment on +the crown's prerogatives, he was equally scrupulous in respecting their +constitutional rights. They became, perhaps, during the reign slightly +more dependent on the crown. This has been ascribed to the system of +gratuities which in later reigns became a scandal, but was not +introduced by Charles, and as yet amounted to little more than the +payment of members' expenses. Indirectly, crown influence increased +owing to the greater control which had gradually been exercised over the +composition of the municipal councils, which often returned the deputies +for the cortes. Charles was throughout nervous as to the power and +wealth of the greater nobles. They rather than the crown had conquered +the communes, and in the past they rather than the towns had been the +enemies of monarchy. He earnestly warned his son against giving them +administrative power, especially the duke of Alva, who in spite of his +sanctimonious and humble bearing cherished the highest ambitions: in +foreign affairs and war he might be freely used, for he was Spain's best +soldier. In the cortes of 1538 Charles came into collision with the +nobles as a class. They usually attended only on ceremonial occasions, +since they were exempted from direct taxation, which was the main +function of the cortes. Now, however, they were summoned, because +Charles was bent upon a scheme of indirect taxation which would have +affected all classes. They offered an uncompromising opposition, and +Charles somewhat angrily dismissed them, nor did he ever summon them +again. The peculiar Spanish system of departmental councils was further +developed, so that it may be said that the bureaucratic element was +slightly increasing just as the parliamentary element was on the wane. +The evils of this tendency were as yet scarcely apparent owing to +Charles's personal intervention in all departments. The councils +presented their reports through the minister chiefly concerned; Charles +heard their advice, and formed his own conclusions. He impressed upon +Philip that he should never become the servant of his ministers: let him +hear them all but decide himself. Naturally enough, he was well served +by his ministers, whom he very rarely changed. After the death of the +Piedmontese Gattinara he relied mainly on Nicolas Perrenot de Granvella +for Netherland and German affairs, and on Francisco de los Cobos for +Spanish, while the younger Granvella was being trained. From 1520 to +1555 these were the only ministers of high importance. Above all, +Charles never had a court favourite, and the only women who exercised +any influence were his natural advisers, his wife, his aunt Margaret and +his sister Mary. In all these ladies he was peculiarly fortunate. +Charles was never quite popular in Spain, but the empress whom he +married at his people's request was much beloved. Complaints were made +of his absenteeism, but until 1543 he spent the greater portion of his +reign in Spain, or on expeditions such as those against Tunis and +Algiers which were distinctively in Spanish interests. Spaniards +disliked his Netherland and German connexions, but without the vigorous +blows which these enabled him to strike at France, it is improbable that +Spain could have retained her hold on Italy, or her monopoly of commerce +with the Indies. The wars with Francis I. were, in spite of the rival +candidature for the Empire, Spanish wars entailed by Ferdinand's +retention of Roussillon, his annexation of Navarre, his summary eviction +of the French from Naples. The Netherlands had become convinced on +commercial grounds of the wisdom of peace with France, and the German +interest in Milan was not sufficiently active to be a standing cause of +war. Charles and Francis had inherited the hostility of Ferdinand and +Louis XII. + +The reign of Charles was in America the age of conquest and +organization. Upon his accession the settlements upon the mainland were +insignificant; by 1556 conquest was practically complete, and civil and +ecclesiastical government firmly established. Actual expansion was the +work of great adventurers starting on their own impulse from the older +colonies. To Charles fell the task of encouraging such ventures, of +controlling the conquerors, of settling the relations between colonists +and natives, which involved those between the colonists and the +missionary colonial church. He must arrest depopulation, provide for the +labour market, regulate oceanic trade, and check military preponderance +by civil and ecclesiastical organization. In America Charles took an +unceasing interest; he had a boundless belief in its possibilities, and +a determination to safeguard the interests of the crown. Cortes, +Alvarado and the brothers Pizarro were brought into close personal +communication with the emperor. If he bestowed on Cortes the confidence +which the loyal conqueror deserved, he showed the sternest determination +in crushing the rebellious and autonomous instincts of Almagro and the +Pizarros. But for this, Peru and Chile must have become independent +almost as soon as they were conquered. Throughout he strove to protect +the natives, to prevent actual slavery, and the consequent raids upon +the natives. Legislation was not, indeed, always consistent, because the +claims of the colonists could not always be resisted, but on the whole +he gave earnest support to the missionaries, who upheld the cause of the +natives against the military, and sometimes the civil and ecclesiastical +elements. His humane care for his native subjects may well be studied in +the instructions sent to Philip from Germany in 1548, when Charles was +at the summit of his power. If Charles had had his will, he would have +opened the colonial trade to the whole of his wide possessions. The +Castilians, however, jealously confined it to the city of Seville, +artificially fostering the indolence of the colonists to maintain the +agricultural and manufacturing monopoly of Castile, and by extreme +protective measures forcing them to live on smuggled goods from other +countries. Charles did actually attempt to cure the exclusive interest +of the colonists in mineral wealth by the establishment of peasant and +artisan colonies. If in many respects he failed, yet the organization of +Spanish America and the survival of the native races were perhaps the +most permanent results of his reign. It is a proof of the complexity of +his interests that the march of the Turk upon Vienna and of the French +on Naples delayed until the following reign the foundation of Spain's +eastern empire. Charles carefully organized the expedition of Magellan, +which sailed for the Moluccas and discovered the Philippines. +Unfortunately, his straits for money in 1529 compelled him to mortgage +to Portugal his disputed claim to the Moluccas, and the Philippines +consequently dropped out of sight. + +If in the administration of Spain Charles did little more than mark +time, in the Netherlands advance was rapid. Of the seven northern +provinces he added five, containing more than half the area of the later +United Provinces. In the south he freed Flanders and Artois from French +suzerainty, annexed Tournai and Cambrai, and closed the natural line of +French advance through the great bishopric of Liege by a line of +fortresses across its western frontier. Much was done to convert the +aggregate of jarring provinces into a harmonious unity by means of +common principles of law and finance, and by the creation of a national +army. While every province had its own assembly, there were at Charles's +accession only the rudiments of estates general for the Netherlands at +large. At the close of the reign the common parliamentary system was in +full swing, and was fast converting the loosely knit provinces into a +state. By these means the ruler had wished to facilitate the process of +supply, but supply soon entailed redress, and the provinces could +recognize their common interests and grievances. Under Philip II. all +patriotic spirits passionately turned to this creation of his father as +the palladium of Netherland liberty. This process of consolidation was +infinitely difficult, and conflicts between local and central +authorities were frequent. That they were safely tided over was due to +Charles's moderation and his legal mind, which prompted him to draw back +when his case was bad. The harshest act of his life was the punishment +of the rebellion of Ghent. Yet the city met with little or no sympathy +in other quarters, because she had refused to act in concert with the +other members of Flanders and the other provinces. It was no mere local +quarrel, but a breach of the growing national unity. + +In the Netherlands Charles showed none of the jealousy with which he +regarded the Spanish nobles. He encouraged the growth of large estates +through primogeniture; he gave the nobles the provincial governorships, +the great court offices, the command of the professional cavalry. In the +Order of the Golden Fleece and the long established presence of the +court at Brussels, he possessed advantages which he lacked in Spain. The +nobility were utilized as a link between the court and the provinces. +Very different was it with the church. By far the greater part of the +Netherlands fell under foreign sees, which were peculiarly liable to +papal exactions and to the intrigues of rival powers. Thus the usual +conflict between civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction was peculiarly +acute. To remedy this dualism of authority and the consequent moral and +religious abuses, Charles early designed the creation of a national +diocesan system, and this was a darling project throughout his life. He +was doing what every German territorial prince, Catholic or Lutheran, +attempted, making bishoprics and abbeys dependent on the crown, with +nomination and institution in his hands, and with reasonable control +over taxation and jurisdiction. The papacy unfortunately thwarted him, +and the scheme, which under Charles would have been carried with +national assent, and created a national church, took the appearance +under Philip of alien domination. + +If in Germany Charles was emperor, he was in the Netherlands territorial +prince, and thus his interests might easily be at disaccord with those +of the Empire. Consequently, just as he had shaken off French suzerainty +from Flanders and Artois, so he loosened the tie of the other provinces +to Germany. In 1548 they were declared free and sovereign principalities +not subject to imperial laws, and all the territories were incorporated +in the Burgundian circle. It was, indeed, agreed that they should +contribute to imperial taxation, and in return receive imperial +protection. But this soon became a dead letter, and the Netherlands were +really severed from the Empire, save for the nominal feudal tie in the +case of some provinces. Thus some writers have dated their independence +from Charles's convention of 1548 rather than from the peace of +Westphalia, a century later. Having converted his heterogeneous +territories into a self-sufficient state, Charles often contemplated the +formation of a middle kingdom between France and Germany. At the last +moment he spoiled his own work by granting the Netherlands to Philip. It +was indeed hard to set aside the order of inheritance, and the +commercial interests of the provinces were closely bound with Spain, and +with England, whose queen Philip had married. Under any other ruler than +Philip the breach might not have come so early. Yet it must be regretted +that Charles had not the courage of his convictions, and that he lost +the opportunity of completing the new nation which he had faithfully +laboured to create. + +Charles V. is in the eyes of many the very picture of a Catholic zealot. +Popular opinion is probably mainly based upon the letters written from +Yuste in 1558, when two hot-beds of heresy had been discovered in Spain +herself, and on the contemporary codicil to his will. These were, +perhaps, really in part responsible for the later persecution. Yet the +circumstances were far from being typical of the emperor's career. Death +was very near him; devotional exercises were his main occupation. The +letters, moreover, were cries of warning, and not edicts. Charles was +not then the responsible authority. There is a long step between a +violent letter and a violent act. Few men would care to have their lives +judged by letters written in the last extremities of gout. Less +pardonable was the earlier persecution of the Valencian Moriscoes in +1525-1526. They had fought for their landlords in the cause of order, +had been forcibly converted by the revolutionaries, and on the +suppression of revolution had naturally relapsed. But for this momentary +conversion the Inquisition would have had no hold upon them. The edict +of persecution was cruel and unnecessary, and all expert opinion in +Valencia was against it. It was not, however, actually enforced until +after the victory of Pavia. It seems likely that Charles in a fit of +religious exaltation regarded the persecution as a sacrificial +thank-offering for his miraculous preservation. It is characteristic +that, when in the following year he was brought into personal contact +with the Moors of Granada, he allowed them to buy themselves off from +the more obnoxious measures of the Inquisition. Henceforth the reign was +marked by extreme leniency. Spain enjoyed a long lull in the activity of +her Inquisition. At Naples in 1547 a rumour that the Spanish Inquisition +was to be introduced to check the growth of heresy in influential +quarters produced a dangerous revolt. The briefs were, however, issued +by Paul III., no friend of Charles, and when a Neapolitan deputation +visited the emperor he disclaimed any intention of making innovations. +Of a different type to all the above was the persecution in the +Netherlands. Here it was deliberate, chronic, and on an ascending scale. +It is not a sufficient explanation that heresy also was persistent, +ubiquitous and increasing, for this was also the case in Germany where +Charles's methods were neither uniform nor drastic. But in the +Netherlands the heretics were his immediate subjects, and as in every +other state, Catholic or Lutheran, they must conform to their prince's +religion. But there was more than this. After the suppression of the +German peasant revolt in 1525 many of the refugees found shelter in the +teeming Netherland cities, and heresy took the form, not of Lutheranism, +but of Anabaptism, which was believed to be perilous to society and the +state. The government put down Anabaptism, as a modern government might +stamp out Anarchism. The edicts were, indeed, directed against heresy in +general, and were as harsh as they could be--at least on paper. Yet when +Charles was assured that they were embarrassing foreign trade he let it +be understood that they should not affect the foreign mercantile +communities. Prudential considerations proved frequently a drag upon +religious zeal. + +The relations of Charles to heresy must be judged in the main by his +treatment of German Lutheranism. Here he had to deal, not with +drawing-room imprudences nor hole-and-corner conventicles, not with +oriental survivals nor millenary aspirations, but with organized +churches protected by their princes, supported by revenues filched from +his own church and stiffened by formulae as rigid as those of +Catholicism. The length and stubbornness of the conflict will serve to +show that Charles's religious conservatism had a measure of elasticity, +that he was not a bigot and nothing more. It should be remembered that +all his principal ministers were inclined to be Erasmian or indifferent, +that one of his favourite confessors, Loaysa, advised compromise, and +that several intimate members of his court and chapel were, after his +death, victims of the Inquisition. The two more obvious courses towards +the restoration of Catholic unity were force and reconciliation, in +other words, a religious war or a general council. Neither of these was +a simple remedy. The latter was impossible without papal concurrence, +inoperative without the assistance of the European powers, and merely +irritant without the adhesion of the Lutherans. It was most improbable +that the papacy, the powers and the Lutherans would combine in a +measure so palpably advantageous to the emperor. Force was hopeless save +in the absence of war with France and the Turk, and of papal hostility +in Italian territorial politics. Charles must obtain subsidies from +ecclesiastical sources, and the support of all German Catholics, +especially of the traditional rival, Bavaria. Even so the Protestants +would probably be the stronger, and therefore they must be divided by +utilizing any religious split, any class distinction, any personal or +traditional dislikes, or else by bribery. Force and reconciliation +seeming equally difficult, could an alternative be found in toleration? +The experiment might take the form either of individual toleration, or +of toleration for the Lutheran states. The former would be equally +objectionable to Lutheran and Catholic princes as loosening their grip +upon their subjects. Territorial toleration might seem equally obnoxious +to the emperor, for its recognition would strengthen the anti-imperial +particularism so closely associated with Lutheranism. If Charles could +find no permanent specific, he must apply a provisional palliative. It +was absolutely necessary to patch, if not to cure, because Germany must +be pulled together to resist French and Turks. Such palliatives were +two--suspension and comprehension. Suspension deferred the execution of +penalties incurred by heresy, either for a term of years, or until a +council should decide. Thus it recognized the divorce of the two +religions, but limited it by time. Comprehension instead of recognizing +the divorce would strive to conceal the breach. It was a domestic +remedy, German and national, not European and papal. To become permanent +it must receive the sanction of pope and council, for the Roman emperor +could not set up a church of Germany. Yet the formula adopted might +conceivably be found to fall within the four corners of the faith, and +so obviate the necessity alike of force or council. Such were the +conditions of the emperor's task, and such the methods which he actually +pursued. He would advance now on one line, now on another, now on two or +three concurrently, but he never definitely abandoned any. This fusion +of obstinacy and versatility was a marked feature of his character. + +Suspension was of course often accidental and involuntary. The two chief +stages of Lutheran growth naturally corresponded with the periods, each +of nine years, when Charles was absent. Deliberate suspension was +usually a consequence of the failure of comprehension. Thus at Augsburg +in 1530 the wide gulf between the Lutheran confession and the Catholic +confutation led to the definite suspensive treaty granted to the +Lutherans at Nuremberg (1532). Charles dared not employ the alternative +of force, because he needed their aid for the Turkish war. In 1541, +after a series of religious conferences, he personally presented a +compromise in the so-called Book of Regensburg, which was rejected by +both parties. He then proposed that the articles agreed upon should be +compulsory, while on others toleration should be exercised until a +national council should decide. Never before nor after did he go so far +upon the path of toleration, or so nearly accept a national settlement. +He was then burning to set sail for Algiers. His last formal suspensive +measure was that of Spires (Speyer) in 1544, when he was marching +against Francis. He promised a free and general council to be held in +Germany, and, as a preparation, a national religious congress. The +Lutherans were privately assured that a measure of comprehension should +be concluded with or without papal approval. Meanwhile all edicts +against heresy were suspended. No wonder that Charles afterwards +confessed that he could scarcely reconcile these concessions with his +conscience, but he won Lutheran aid for his campaign. The peace of Crepy +gave all the conditions required for the employment of force. He had +peace with French and Turk, he won the active support of the pope, he +had deeply divided the Lutherans and reconciled Bavaria. Finding that +the Lutherans would not accept the council summoned by the pope to +Trent, he resorted to force, and force succeeded. At the Armed Diet of +1548 reunion seemed within reach. But Paul III. in direct opposition to +Charles's wish had withdrawn the council from Trent to Bologna. Charles +could not force Lutherans to submit to a council which he did not +himself recognize, and he could not bring himself to national schism. +Thus, falling back upon his old palliatives, he issued the Interim and +the accompanying Reform of the Clergy, pending a final settlement by a +satisfactory general council. These measures pleased neither party, and +Charles at the very height of his power had failed. He was conscious of +failure, and made few attempts even to enforce the Interim. Henceforward +political complications gathered round him anew. The only remedy was +toleration in some form, independent of the papacy and limitless in +time. To this Charles could never assent. His ideal was shattered, but +it was a great ideal, and the patience, the moderation, even at times +the adroitness with which he had striven towards it, proved him to be no +bigot. + +The idea of abdication had long been present with Charles. After his +failure to eject the French from Metz he had not shrunk from a wearisome +campaign against Henry II., and he was now tired out. His mother's death +removed an obstacle, for there could now be no question as to his son's +succession to the Spanish kingdoms. Religious settlement in Germany +could no longer be postponed, and he shrank from the responsibility; the +hand that should rend the seamless raiment of God's church must not be +his. To Ferdinand he gave his full authority as emperor, although at his +brother's earnest request formal abdication was delayed until 1558. In +the Hall of the Golden Fleece at Brussels on the 25th of October 1555 he +formally resigned to Philip the sovereignty of his beloved Netherlands. +Turning from his son to the representatives of the estates he said, +"Gentlemen, you must not be astonished if, old and feeble as I am in all +my members, and also from the love I bear you, I shed some tears." In +the Netherlands at least the love was reciprocal, and tears were +infectious among the thousand deputies who listened to their sovereign's +last speech. On the 16th of January 1556, Charles resigned his Spanish +kingdoms and that of Sicily, and shortly afterwards his county of +Burgundy. On the 17th of September he sailed from Flushing on the last +of his many voyages, an English fleet from Portland bearing him company +down the Channel. In February 1557 he was installed in the home which he +had chosen at Yuste in Estremadura. + +The excellent books which have been written upon the emperor's +retirement have inspired an interest out of all proportion to its real +significance. His little house was attached to the monastery, but was +not within it. He was neither an ascetic nor a recluse. Gastronomic +indiscretions still entailed their inevitable penalties. Society was not +confined to interchange of civilities with the brethren. His relations, +his chief friends, his official historians, all found their way to +Yuste. Couriers brought news of Philip's war and peace with Pope Paul +IV., of the victories of Saint Quentin and Gravelines, of the French +capture of Calais, of the danger of Oran. As head of the family he +intervened in the delicate relations with the closely allied house of +Portugal: he even negotiated with the house of Navarre for reparation +for the wrong done by his grandfather Ferdinand, which appeared to weigh +upon his conscience. Above all he was shocked by the discovery that +Spain, his own court, and his very chapel were infected with heresy. His +violent letters to his son and daughter recommending immediate +persecution, his profession of regret at having kept his word when +Luther was in his power, have weighed too heavily on his reputation. The +feverish phrases of religious exaltation due to broken health and +unnatural retirement cannot balance the deliberate humanity and honour +of wholesome manhood. Apart from such occasional moments of excitement, +the emperor's last years passed tranquilly enough. At first he would +shoot pigeons in the monastery woods, and till his last illness tended +his garden and his animal pets, or watched the operations of Torriani, +maker of clocks and mechanical toys. After an illness of three weeks the +call came in the early hours of the feast of St Matthew, who, as his +chaplain said, had for Christ's sake forsaken wealth even as Charles had +forsaken empire. The dying man clasped his wife's crucifix to his breast +till his fingers lost their hold. The archbishop held it before his +eyes, and with the cry of "_Ay Jesus!_" died, in the words of his +faithul squire D. Luis de Quijada, "the chief of men that had ever been +or would ever be." Posterity need not agree, but no great man can boast +a more honest panegyric. + +In character Charles stands high among contemporary princes. It consists +of pairs of contrasts, but the better side is usually stronger than the +worse. Steadfast honesty of purpose was occasionally warped by +self-interest, or rather he was apt to think that his own course must +needs be that of righteousness. Self-control would give way, but very +rarely, to squalls of passion. Obstinacy and irresolution were fairly +balanced, the former generally bearing upon ends, the latter upon means. +His own ideals were constant, but he could gradually assimilate the +views of others, and could bend to argument and circumstance; yet even +here he had a habit of harking back to earlier schemes which he had +seemed to have definitely abandoned. Intercourse with different +nationalities taught him a certain versatility; he was dignified with +Spaniards, familiar with Flemings, while the material Italians were +pleased with his good sense. His sympathies were neither wide nor quick, +but he was a most faithful friend, and the most considerate of masters. +For all who sought him his courtesy and patience were unfailing. At his +abdication he dwelt with reasonable pride upon his labours and his +journeyings. Few monarchs have lived a more strenuous life. Yet his +industry was broken by fits of indolence, which were probably due to +health. In his prime his confessor warned him against this defect, and +it caused, indeed, the last great disaster of his life. Fortunately he +was conscious of his obstinacy, his irresolution and his indolence. He +would accept admonition from the chapter of the Golden Fleece, would +comment on his failings as a warning to his son. When Cardinal Contarini +politely assured him that to hold fast to good opinions is not obstinacy +but firmness, the emperor replied, "Ah! but I sometimes stick to bad +ones." Charles was not cruel, indeed the character of his reign was +peculiarly merciful. But he was somewhat unforgiving. He especially +resented any slight upon his honour, and his unwise severity to Philip +of Hesse was probably due to the unfounded accusation that he had +imprisoned him in violation of his pledge. The excesses of his troops in +Italy, in Guelders and on the Austrian frontiers caused him acute pain, +although he called himself "hard to weep." No great nobleman, statesman +or financier was executed at Charles's order. He was proud of his +generalship, classing himself with Alva and Montmorenci as the best of +his day. Yet his failures nearly balanced his successes. It is true that +in his most important campaign, that against the League of Schmalkalden, +the main credit must be ascribed to his well-judged audacity at the +opening, and his dogged persistency at the close. As a soldier he must +rank very high. It was said that his being emperor lost to Spain the +best light horseman of her army. At every crisis he was admirably cool, +setting a truly royal example to his men. His mettle was displayed when +he was attacked on the burning sands of Tunis, when his troops were +driven in panic from Algiers, when in spite of physical suffering he +forded the Elbe at Muhlberg, and when he was bombarded by the vastly +superior Lutheran artillery under the walls of Ingolstadt. When blamed +for exposing himself on this last occasion, "I could not help it," he +apologized; "we were short of hands, 1 could not set a bad example." +Nevertheless he was by nature timid. Just before this very action he had +a fit of trembling, and he was afraid of mice and spiders. The force of +his example was not confined to the field. Melanchthon wrote from +Augsburg in 1530 that he was a model of continence, temperance and +moderation, that the old domestic discipline was now only preserved in +the imperial household. He tenderly loved his wife, whom he had married +for pecuniary and diplomatic reasons. Of his two well-known illegitimate +children, Margaret was born before he married, and Don John long after +his wife's death, but he felt this latter to be a child of shame. His +sobriety was frequently contrasted with the universal drunkenness of the +German and Flemish nobles, which he earnestly condemned. But on his +appetite he could place no control, in spite of the ruinous effects of +his gluttony upon his health. In dress, in his household, and in his +stable he was simple and economical. He loved children, flowers, animals +and birds. Professional jesters amused him, and he was not above a joke +himself. Maps and mechanical inventions greatly interested him, and in +later life he became fond of reading. He takes his place indeed among +authors, for he dictated the commentaries on his own career. Of music he +possessed a really fine knowledge, and his high appreciation of Titian +proves the purity of his feeling for art. The little collection of books +and pictures which he carried to Yuste is an index of his tastes. +Charles was undeniably plain. He confessed that he was by nature ugly, +but that as artists usually painted him uglier than he was, strangers on +seeing him were agreeably disappointed. The protruding lower jaw and the +thin pale face were redeemed by the fine open brow and the bright +speaking eyes. He was, moreover, well made, and in youth had an +incomparable leg. Above all no man could doubt his dignity; Charles was +every inch an emperor. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Commentaries de Charles-quint_, ed. by Baron Kervyn de + Lettenhove (Brussels, 1862); _Memoirs_ written by Charles in 1550, and + treating somewhat fully of the years 1543-1548; W. Robertson, _History + of the Emperor Charles V._ (latest ed., London, 1887), an English + classic, which needs supplementing by later authorities; F.A. Mignet, + _Rivalite de Francois I et de Charles-quint_ (2 vols., Paris, 1875); + E. Armstrong, _The Emperor Charles V._ (2 vols., London, 1902), to + which reference may be made for monographs and collections of + documents bearing on the reign; H. Baumgarten, _Geschichte Karls V._ + (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1885-1893), very full but extending only to 1539; + G. de Leva, _Storia documentata di Carlo V. in correlazione all' + Italia_ (5 vols., Venice, 1862-1894), a general history of the reign, + though with special reference to its Italian aspects, and extending to + 1552; article by L.P. Gachard in _Biographie nationale_, vol. iii., + 1872, an excellent compressed account. The life of Charles V. at Yuste + may be studied in L.P. Gachard's _Retraite et mort de Charles-quint au + monastere de Yuste_ (Brussels, 1854-1855), and in Sir W. + Stirling-Maxwell's _The Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles V._ + (London, 4 editions from 1852); also in W.H. Prescott's edition of + Robertson's _History_ (1857). (E. Ar.) + + + + +CHARLES VI. (1685-1740), Roman emperor, was born on the 1st of October +1685 at Vienna. He was the second son of the emperor Leopold I. by his +third marriage with Eleanore, daughter of Philip William of Neuburg, +elector palatine of the Rhine. When the Spanish branch of the house of +Habsburg became extinct in 1700, he was put forward as the lawful heir +in opposition to Philip V., the Bourbon to whom the Spanish dominions +had been left by the will of Charles II. of Spain. He was proclaimed at +Vienna on the 19th of September 1703, and made his way to Spain by the +Low Countries, England and Lisbon, remaining in Spain till 1711, mostly +in Catalonia, where the Habsburg party was strong. Although he had a +certain tenacity of purpose, which he showed in later life, he displayed +none of the qualities required in a prince who had to gain his throne by +the sword (see SPANISH SUCCESSION, WAR OF). He was so afraid of +appearing to be ruled by a favourite that he would not take good advice, +but was easily earwigged by flatterers who played on his weakness for +appearing independent. In 1708 he was married at Barcelona to Elizabeth +Christina of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1691-1750), a Lutheran princess who +was persuaded to accept Roman Catholicism by the assurances of +Protestant divines and of the philosopher Leibnitz, that she could +always give an Evangelical meaning to Catholic ceremonies. On the death +of his elder brother Joseph I. on the 17th of April 1711, Charles +inherited the hereditary possessions of the house of Habsburg, and their +claims on the Empire. The death of Joseph without male issue had been +foreseen, and Charles had at one time been prepared to give up Spain and +the Indies on condition that he was allowed to retain Naples, Sicily and +the Milanese. But when the case arose, his natural obstinacy led him to +declare that he would not think of surrendering any of the rights of his +family. It was with great difficulty that he was persuaded to leave +Spain, months after the death of his brother (on the 27th of September +1711). Only the emphatic refusal of the European powers to tolerate the +reconstruction of the empire of Charles V. forced him to give a sullen +submission to necessity. He abandoned Spain and was crowned emperor in +December 1711, but for a long time he would not recognize Philip V. It +is to his honour that he was very reluctant to desert the Catalans who +had fought for his cause. Some of their chiefs followed him to Vienna, +and their advice had an unfortunate influence on his mind. They almost +succeeded in arousing his suspicions of the loyalty of Prince Eugene at +the very moment when the prince's splendid victories over the Turks had +led to the peace of Passarowitz on the 28th of July 1718, and a great +extension of the Austrian dominions eastward. Charles showed an +enlightened, though not always successful, interest in the commercial +prosperity of his subjects, but from the date of his return to Germany +till his death his ruling passion was to secure his inheritance against +dismemberment. As early as 1713 he had begun to prepare the "Pragmatic +Sanction" which was to regulate the succession. An only son, born on the +13th of April 1716, died in infancy, and it became the object of his +policy to obtain the recognition of his daughter Maria Theresa as his +heiress. He made great concessions to obtain his aim, and embarked on +complicated diplomatic negotiations. His last days were embittered by a +disastrous war with Turkey, in which he lost almost all he had gained by +the peace of Passarowitz. He died at Vienna on the 20th of October 1740, +and with him expired the male line of his house. Charles VI. was an +admirable representative of the tenacious ambition of the Habsburgs, and +of their belief in their own "august greatness" and boundless rights. + + For the personal character of Charles VI. see A. von Arneth, + _Geschichte Maria Theresias_ (Vienna, 1863-1879). Dr Franz Krones, R. + v. Marchland, _Grundriss der dsterreichischen Geschichte_ (Vienna, + 1882), gives a very copious bibliography. + + + + +CHARLES VII. (1697-1745), Roman emperor, known also as Charles Albert, +elector of Bavaria, was the son of the elector Maximilian Emanuel and +his second wife, Theresa Cunigunda, daughter of John Sobieski, king of +Poland. He was born on the 6th of August 1697. His father having taken +the side of Louis XIV. of France in the War of the Spanish Succession +(q.v.), Bavaria was occupied by the allies. Charles and his brother +Clement, afterwards archbishop of Cologne, were carried prisoners to +Vienna, and were educated by the Jesuits under the name of the counts of +Wittelsbach. When his father was restored to his electorate, Charles was +released, and in 1717 he led the Bavarian contingent of the imperial +army which served under Prince Eugene against the Turks, and is said to +have distinguished himself at Belgrade. On the 25th of September 1722 he +was betrothed to Maria Amelia, the younger of the two orphan daughters +of the emperor Joseph I. Her uncle Charles VI. insisted that the +Bavarian house should recognize the Pragmatic Sanction which established +his daughter Maria Theresa as heiress of the Habsburg dominions. They +did so, but with secret protests and mental reservations of their +rights, which were designed to render the recognition valueless. The +electors of Bavaria had claims on the possessions of the Habsburgs under +the will of the emperor Ferdinand I., who died in 1564. + +Charles succeeded his father on the 26th of February 1726. As a ruler of +Bavaria, he showed a vague disposition to improve the condition of his +subjects, but his profuse habits and his efforts to rival the splendour +of the French court crippled his finances. His policy was one of much +duplicity, for he was constantly endeavouring to keep on good terms with +the emperor while slipping out of his obligation to accept the Pragmatic +Sanction and intriguing to secure French support for his claims whenever +Charles VI. should die. On hearing of the emperor's last illness, he +ordered his agent at Vienna to renew his claim to the Austrian +inheritance. The claim was advanced immediately after the death of +Charles VI. on the 20th of October 1740. Charles Albert now entered into +the league against Maria Theresa, to the great misfortune of himself and +his subjects. By the help of her enemies he was elected emperor in +opposition to her husband Francis, grand duke of Tuscany, on the 24th of +January 1742, under the title of Charles VII., and was crowned at +Frankfort-on-Main on the 12th of February. But as his army had been +neglected, he was utterly unable to resist the Austrian troops. While he +was being crowned his hereditary dominions in Bavaria were being +overrun. He described himself as attacked by stone and gout, ill, +without money or land, and in distress comparable to the sorrows of +Job. During the War of the Austrian Succession (q.v.) he was a mere +puppet in the hands of the anti-Austrian coalition, and was often in +want of mere necessaries. In the changes of the war he was able to +re-enter his capital, Munich, in 1743, but had immediately afterwards to +take flight again. He was restored by Frederick the Great in October +1744, but died worn out at Munich on the 20th of January 1745. + + See A. von Arneth, _Geschichte Maria Theresias_ (Vienna, 1863-1879); + and P.T. Heigel. _Der osterreichische Erbfolgestreit und die + Kaiserwahl Karls VII._ (Munich, 1877). + + + + +CHARLES I. (1600-1649), king of Great Britain and Ireland, second son of +James I. and Anne of Denmark, was born at Dunfermline on the 19th of +November 1600. At his baptism he was created duke of Albany, and on the +16th of January 1605 duke of York. In 1612, by the death of his elder +brother Henry, he became heir-apparent, and was created prince of Wales +on the 3rd of November 1616. In 1620 he took up warmly the cause of his +sister the queen of Bohemia, and in 1621 he defended Bacon, using his +influence to prevent the chancellor's degradation from the peerage. The +prince's marriage with the infanta Maria, daughter of Philip III. of +Spain, had been for some time the subject of negotiation, James desiring +to obtain through Spanish support the restitution of his son-in-law, +Frederick, to the Palatinate; and in 1623 Charles was persuaded by +Buckingham, who now obtained a complete ascendancy over him in +opposition to wiser advisers and the king's own wishes, to make a secret +expedition himself to Spain, put an end to all formalities, and bring +home his mistress himself: "a gallant and brave thing for his Highness." +"Steenie" and "Baby Charles," as James called them, started on the 17th +of February, arriving at Paris on the 21st and at Madrid on the 7th of +March, where they assumed the unromantic names of Mr Smith, and Mr +Brown. They found the Spanish court by no means enthusiastic for the +marriage[1] and the princess herself averse. The prince's immediate +conversion was expected, and a complete religious tolerance for the +Roman Catholics in England demanded. James engaged to allow the infanta +the right of public worship and to use his influence to modify the law, +but Charles himself went much further. He promised the alteration of the +penal laws within three years, conceded the education of the children to +the mother till the age of twelve, and undertook to listen to the +infanta's priests in matters of religion, signing the marriage contract +on the 25th of July 1623. The Spanish, however, did not trust to words, +and Charles was informed that his wife could only follow him to England +when these promises were executed. Moreover, they had no intention +whatever of aiding the Protestant Frederick. Meanwhile Buckingham, +incensed at the failure of the expedition, had quarrelled with the +grandees, and Charles left Madrid, landing at Portsmouth on the 5th of +October, to the joy of the people, to whom the proposed alliance was +odious. He now with Buckingham urged James to make war on Spain, and in +December 1624 signed a marriage treaty with Henrietta Maria, daughter of +Henry IV. of France. In April Charles had declared solemnly to the +parliament that in case of his marriage to a Roman Catholic princess no +concessions should be granted to recusants, but these were in September +1624 deliberately promised by James and Charles in a secret article, the +first instance of the duplicity and deception practised by Charles in +dealing with the parliament and the nation. The French on their side +promised to assist in Mansfeld's expedition for the recovery of the +Palatinate, but Louis in October refused to allow the men to pass +through France; and the army, without pay or provisions, dwindled away +in Holland to nothing. + +On the 27th of March 1625 Charles I. succeeded to the throne by the +death of his father, and on the 1st of May he was married by proxy to +Henrietta Maria. He received her at Canterbury on the 13th of June, and +on the 18th his first parliament assembled. On the day of his marriage +Charles had given directions that the prosecutions of the Roman +Catholics should cease, but he now declared his intention of enforcing +the laws against them, and demanded subsidies for carrying on the war +against Spain. The Commons, however, responded coldly. Charles had lent +ships to Louis XIII. to be used against the Protestants at La Rochelle, +and the Commons were not aware of the subterfuges and fictitious delays +intended to prevent their employment. The Protestant feelings of the +Commons were also aroused by the king's support of the royal chaplain, +Richard Montagu, who had repudiated Calvinistic doctrine. They only +voted small sums, and sent up a petition on the state of religion and +reflecting upon Buckingham, whom they deemed responsible for the failure +of Mansfeld's expedition, at the same time demanding counsellors in whom +they could trust. Parliament was accordingly dissolved by Charles on the +12th of August. He hoped that greater success abroad would persuade the +Commons to be more generous. On the 8th of September 1625 he made the +treaty of Southampton with the Dutch against Spain, and sent an +expedition to Cadiz under Sir Edward Cecil, which, however, was a +failure. In order to make himself independent of parliament he attempted +to raise money on the crown jewels in Holland, and to diminish the +opposition in the Commons he excluded the chief leaders by appointing +them sheriffs. When the second parliament met, however, on the 6th of +February 1626, the opposition, led by Sir John Eliot, was more +determined than before, and their attack was concentrated upon +Buckingham. On the 29th of March, Charles, calling the Commons into his +presence, accused them of leading him into the war and of taking +advantage of his difficulties to "make their own game." "I pray you not +to be deceived," he said, "it is not a parliamentary way, nor 'tis not a +way to deal with a king. Remember that parliaments are altogether in my +power for their calling, sitting, and dissolution; therefore as I find +the fruits of them good or evil, they are to continue or not to be." +Charles, however, was worsted in several collisions with the two houses, +with a consequent loss of influence. He was obliged by the peers to set +at liberty Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, whom he had put into the +Tower, and to send a summons to the earl of Bristol, whom he had +attempted to exclude from parliament, while the Commons compelled him, +with a threat of doing no business, to liberate Eliot and Digges, the +managers of Buckingham's impeachment, whom he had imprisoned. Finally in +June the Commons answered Charles's demand for money by a remonstrance +asking for Buckingham's dismissal, which they decided must precede the +grant of supply. They claimed responsible ministers, while Charles +considered himself the executive and the sole and unfettered judge of +the necessities of the state. Accordingly on the 15th Charles dissolved +the parliament. + +The king was now in great need of money. He was at war with Spain and +had promised to pay L30,000 a month to Christian IV. of Denmark in +support of the Protestant campaign in Germany. To these necessities was +now added a war with France. Charles had never kept his promise +concerning the recusants; disputes arose in consequence with his wife, +and on the 31st of July 1626 he ordered all her French attendants to be +expelled from Whitehall and sent back to France. At the same time +several French ships carrying contraband goods to the Spanish +Netherlands were seized by English warships. On the 27th of June 1627 +Buckingham with a large expedition sailed to the Isle of Re to relieve +La Rochelle, then besieged by the forces of Louis XIII. Though the +success of the French Protestants was an object much desired in England, +Buckingham's unpopularity prevented support being given to the +expedition, and the duke returned to Plymouth on the 11th of November +completely defeated. Meanwhile Charles had endeavoured to get the money +refused to him by parliament by means of a forced loan, dismissing Chief +Justice Crewe for declining to support its legality, and imprisoning +several of the leaders of the opposition for refusing to subscribe to +it. These summary measures, however, only brought a small sum into the +treasury. On the 2nd of January 1628 Charles ordered the release of all +the persons imprisoned, and on the 17th of March summoned his third +parliament. + +Instead of relieving the king's necessities the Commons immediately +proceeded to discuss the constitutional position and to formulate the +Petition of Right, forbidding taxation without consent of parliament, +arbitrary and illegal imprisonment, compulsory billeting in private +houses, and martial law. Charles, on the 1st of May, first demanded that +they should "rest on his royal word and promise." He obtained an opinion +from the judges that the acceptance of the petition would not absolutely +preclude in certain cases imprisonments without showing cause, and after +a futile endeavour to avoid an acceptance by returning an ambiguous +answer which only exasperated the Commons, he gave his consent on the +7th of June in the full and usual form. Charles now obtained his +subsidies, but no real settlement was reached, and his relations with +the parliament remained as unfriendly as before. They proceeded to +remonstrate against his government and against his support of +Buckingham, and denied his right to tonnage and poundage. Accordingly, +on the 26th of June they were prorogued. New disasters befell Charles, +in the assassination of Buckingham and in the failure of the fresh +expedition sent to Re. In January 1629 the parliament reassembled, +irritated by the exaction of the duties and seizure of goods during the +interval, and suspicious of "innovations in religion," the king having +forbidden the clergy to continue the controversy concerning Calvinistic +and Arminian doctrines, the latter of which the parliament desired to +suppress. While they were discussing these matters, on the 2nd of March +1629, the king ordered them to adjourn, but amidst a scene of great +excitement the speaker, Sir John Finch, was held down in his chair and +the doors were locked, whilst resolutions against innovations in +religion and declaring those who levied or paid tonnage and poundage +enemies to their country were passed. Parliament was immediately +dissolved, and Charles imprisoned nine members, leaders of the +opposition, Eliot, Holles, Strode, Selden, Valentine, Coryton, Heyman, +Hobart and Long, his vengeance being especially shown in the case of +Eliot, the most formidable of his opponents, who died in the Tower of +consumption after long years of close and unhealthy confinement, and +whose corpse even Charles refused to give up to his family. + +For eleven years Charles ruled without parliaments and with some +success. There seemed no reason to think that "that noise," to use +Laud's expression concerning parliaments, would ever be heard again by +those then living. A revenue of about L618,000 was obtained by enforcing +the payment of tonnage and poundage, and while avoiding the taxes, +loans, and benevolences forbidden by the petition of right, by +monopolies, fines for knighthood, and for pretended encroachments on the +royal domains and forests, which enabled the king to meet expenditure at +home. In Ireland, Charles, in order to get money, had granted the Graces +in 1628, conceding security of titles of more than sixty years' +standing, and a more moderate oath of allegiance for the Roman +Catholics, together with the renunciation of the shilling fine for +non-attendance at church. He continued, however, to make various +attempts to get estates into his possession on the pretext of invalid +title, and on the 12th of May 1635 the city of London estates were +sequestered. Charles here destroyed one of the most valuable settlements +in Ireland founded by James I. in the interests of national defence, and +at the same time extinguished the historic loyalty of the city of +London, which henceforth steadily favoured the parliamentary cause. In +1633 Wentworth had been sent to Ireland to establish a medieval monarchy +and get money, and his success in organization seemed great enough to +justify the attempt to extend the system to England. Charles at the same +time restricted his foreign policy to scarcely more than a wish for the +recovery of the Palatinate, to further which he engaged in a series of +numerous and mutually destructive negotiations with Gustavus Adolphus +and with Spain, finally making peace with Spain on the 5th of November +1630, an agreement which was followed on the 2nd of January 1631 by a +further secret treaty, the two kings binding themselves to make war on +the Dutch and partition their territories. A notable feature of this +agreement was that while in Charles's portion Roman Catholicism was to +be tolerated, there was no guarantee for the security of Protestantism +in the territory to be ceded to Spain. + +In 1634 Charles levied ship-money from the seaport towns for the +increase of the navy, and in 1635 the tax was extended to the inland +counties, which aroused considerable opposition. In February 1637 +Charles obtained an opinion in favour of his claims from the judges, and +in 1638 the great Hampden case was decided in his favour. The apparent +success, however, of Charles was imperilled by the general and growing +resentment aroused by his exactions and whole policy, and this again was +small compared with the fears excited by the king's attitude towards +religion and Protestantism. He supported zealously Laud's rigid Anglican +orthodoxy, his compulsory introduction of unwelcome ritual, and his +narrow, intolerant and despotic policy, which was marked by several +savage prosecutions and sentences in the Star Chamber, drove numbers of +moderate Protestants out of the Church into Presbyterianism, and created +an intense feeling of hostility to the government throughout the +country. Charles further increased the popular fears on the subject of +religion by his welcome given to Panzani, the pope's agent, in 1634, who +endeavoured unsuccessfully to reconcile the two churches, and afterwards +to George Conn, papal agent at the court of Henrietta Maria, while the +favour shown by the king to these was contrasted with the severe +sentences passed upon the Puritans. + +The same imprudent neglect of the national sentiment was pursued in +Scotland. Charles had already made powerful enemies there by a +declaration announcing the arbitrary revocation of former church estates +to the crown. On the 18th of June 1633 he was crowned at Edinburgh with +full Anglican ceremonial, which lost him the hearts of numbers of his +Scottish subjects and aroused hostility to his government in parliament. +After his return to England he gave further offence by ordering the use +of the surplice, by his appointment of Archbishop Spotiswood as +chancellor of Scotland, and by introducing other bishops into the privy +council. In 1636 the new _Book of Canons_ was issued by the king's +authority, ordering the communion table to be placed at the east end, +enjoining confession, and declaring excommunicate any who should presume +to attack the new prayer-book. The latter was ordered to be used on the +18th of October 1636, but it did not arrive in Scotland till May 1637. +It was intensely disliked both as "popish" and as English. A riot +followed its first use in St Giles' cathedral on the 23rd of July, and +Charles's order to enforce it on the 10th of September was met by fresh +disturbances and by the establishment of the "Tables," national +committees which now became the real though informal government of +Scotland. In 1638 the national covenant was drawn up, binding those that +signed it to defend their religion to the death, and was taken by large +numbers with enthusiasm all over the country. Charles now drew back, +promised to enforce the canons and prayer-book only in a "fair and legal +way," and sent the marquis of Hamilton as a mediator. The latter, +however, a weak and incapable man, desirous of popularity with all +parties, and unfaithful to the king's interests, yielded everything, +without obtaining the return of Charles's subjects to their allegiance. +The assembly met at Glasgow on the 21st of November, and in spite of +Hamilton's opposition immediately proceeded to judge the bishops. On the +28th Hamilton dissolved it, but it continued to sit, deposed the bishops +and re-established Presbyterianism. The rebellion had now begun, and an +appeal to arms alone could decide the quarrel between Charles and his +subjects. On the 28th of May 1639 he arrived at Berwick with a small and +ill-trained force, thus beginning what is known as the first Bishops' +War; but being confronted by the Scottish army at Duns Law, he was +compelled to sign the treaty of Berwick on the 18th of June, which +provided for the disbandment of both armies and the restitution to the +king of the royal castles, referring all questions to a general assembly +and a parliament. When the assembly met it abolished episcopacy, but +Charles, who on the 3rd of August had returned to Whitehall, refused his +consent to this and to other measures proposed by the Scottish +parliament. His extreme financial necessities, and the prospect of +renewed hostilities with the Scots, now moved Charles, at the +instigation of Strafford, who in September had left Ireland to become +the king's chief adviser, to turn again to parliament for assistance as +the last resource, and on the 13th of April 1640 the Short Parliament +assembled. But on its discussing grievances before granting supplies and +finally refusing subsidies till peace was made with the Scots, it was +dissolved on the 5th of May. Charles returned once more to measures of +repression, and on the 10th imprisoned some of the London aldermen who +refused to lend money. He prepared for war, scraping together what money +he could and obtaining a grant through Strafford from Ireland. His +position, however, was hopeless; his forces were totally undisciplined, +and the Scots were supported by the parliamentary opposition in England. +On the 20th of August the Scots crossed the Tweed, beginning the +so-called second Bishops' War, defeated the king's army at Newburn on +the 28th, and subsequently occupied Newcastle and Durham. Charles at +this juncture, on the 24th of September, summoned a great council of the +peers; and on the 21st of October a cessation of arms was agreed to by +the treaty of Ripon, the Scots receiving L850 a day for the maintenance +of the army, and further negotiations being transferred to London. On +the 3rd of November the king summoned the Long Parliament. + +Such was the final issue of Charles's attempt to govern without +parliaments--Scotland in triumphant rebellion, Ireland only waiting for +a signal to rise, and in England the parliament revived with almost +irresistible strength, in spite of the king, by the force of +circumstances alone. At this great crisis, which would indeed have taxed +the resolution and resource of the most cool-headed and sagacious +statesman, Charles failed signally. Two alternative courses were open to +him, either of which still offered good chances of success. He might +have taken his stand on the ancient and undoubted prerogative of the +crown, resisted all encroachments on the executive by the parliament by +legal and constitutional means, which were probably ample, and in case +of necessity have appealed to the loyalty of the nation to support him +in arms; or he might have waived his rights, and, acknowledging the +mistakes of his past administration, have united with the parliament and +created once more that union of interests and sentiment of the monarchy +with the nation which had made England so powerful. Charles, however, +pretended to do both simultaneously or by turns, and therefore +accomplished neither. The illegally imprisoned members of the last +parliament, now smarting with the sense of their wrongs, were set free +to stimulate the violence of the opposition to the king in the new +assembly. Of Charles's double statecraft, however, the series of +incidents which terminated the career of the great Strafford form the +most terrible example. Strafford had come to London in November, having +been assured by Charles that he "should not suffer in his person, honour +or fortune," but was impeached and thrown into the Tower almost +immediately. Charles took no steps to hinder the progress of the +proceedings against him, but entered into schemes for saving him by +bringing up an army to London, and this step exasperated Strafford's +enemies and added new zeal to the prosecution. On the 23rd of April, +after the passing of the attainder by the Commons, he repeated to +Strafford his former assurances of protection. On the 1st of May he +appealed to the Lords to spare his life and be satisfied with rendering +him incapable of holding office. On the 2nd he made an attempt to seize +the Tower by force. On the 10th, yielding to the queen's fears and to +the mob surging round his palace, he signed his death-warrant. "If my +own person only were in danger," he declared to the council, "I would +gladly venture it to save my Lord Strafford's life; but seeing my wife, +children, all my kingdom are concerned in it, I am forced to give way +unto it." On the 11th he sent to the peers a petition for Strafford's +life, the force of which was completely annulled by the strange +postscript: "If he must die, it were a charity to reprieve him until +Saturday." This tragic surrender of his great and devoted servant left +an indelible stain upon the king's character, and he lived to repent it +bitterly. One of his last admonitions to the prince of Wales was "never +to give way to the punishment of any for their faithful service to the +crown." It was regarded by Charles as the cause of his own subsequent +misfortunes, and on the scaffold the remembrance of it disturbed his own +last moments. The surrender of Strafford was followed by another +stupendous concession by Charles, the surrender of his right to +dissolve the parliament without its own consent, and the parliament +immediately proceeded, with Charles's consent, to sweep away the +star-chamber, high commission and other extra-legal courts, and all +extra-parliamentary taxation. Charles, however, did not remain long or +consistently in the yielding mood. In June 1641 he engaged in a second +army plot for bringing up the forces to London, and on the 10th of +August he set out for Scotland in order to obtain the Scottish army +against the parliament in England; this plan was obviously doomed to +failure and was interrupted by another appeal to force, the so-called +Incident, at which Charles was suspected (in all probability unjustly) +of having connived, consisting in an attempt to kidnap and murder +Argyll, Hamilton and Lanark, with whom he was negotiating. Charles had +also apparently been intriguing with Irish Roman Catholic lords for +military help in return for concessions, and he was suspected of +complicity in the Irish rebellion which now broke out. He left Scotland +more discredited than ever, having by his concessions made, to use +Hyde's words, "a perfect deed of gift of that kingdom," and without +gaining any advantage. + +Charles returned to London on the 25th of November 1641 and was +immediately confronted by the Grand Remonstrance (passed on the 22nd), +in which, after reciting the chief points of the king's misgovernment, +the parliament demanded the appointment of acceptable ministers and the +constitution of an assembly of divines to settle the religious question. +On the 2nd of January 1642 Charles gave office to the opposition members +Colepeper and Falkland, and at the same time Hyde left the opposition +party to serve the king. Charles promised to take no serious step +without their advice. Nevertheless, entirely without their knowledge, +through the influence of the queen whose impeachment was intended, +Charles on the 4th made the rash and fatal attempt to seize with an +armed force the five members of the Commons, Pym, Hampden, Holies, +Hesilrige and Strode, whom, together with Mandeville (afterwards earl of +Manchester) in the Lords, he had impeached of high treason. No English +sovereign ever had (or has since that time) penetrated into the House of +Commons. So complete and flagrant a violation of parliamentary +liberties, and an appeal so crude and glaring to brute force, could only +be justified by complete success; but the court plans had been betrayed, +and were known to the offending members, who, by order of the House, had +taken refuge in the city before the king's arrival with the soldiers. +Charles, on entering the House, found "the birds flown," and returned +baffled, having thrown away the last chance of a peaceful settlement +(see LENTHALL, WILLIAM). The next day Charles was equally unsuccessful +in obtaining their surrender in the city. "The king had the worst day in +London yesterday," wrote a spectator of the scene, "that ever he had, +the people crying 'privilege of parliament' by thousands and prayed God +to turn the heart of the king, shutting up their shops and standing at +their doors with swords and halberds."[2] On the 10th, amidst general +manifestations of hostility, Charles left Whitehall to prepare for war, +destined never to return till he was brought back by his victorious +enemies to die. + +Several months followed spent in manoeuvres to obtain the control of the +forces and in a paper war of controversy. On the 23rd of April Charles +was refused entry into Hull, and on the 2nd of June the parliament sent +to him the "Nineteen Propositions," claiming the whole sovereignty and +government for the parliament, including the choice of the ministers, +the judges, and the control of the army, and the execution of the laws +against the Roman Catholics. The military events of the war are +described in the article GREAT REBELLION. On the 22nd of August the king +set up his standard at Nottingham, and on the 23rd of October he fought +the indecisive battle of Edgehill, occupying Oxford and advancing as far +as Brentford. It seemed possible that the war might immediately be ended +by Charles penetrating to the heart of the enemy's position and +occupying London, but he drew back on the 13th of November before the +parliamentary force at Turnham Green, and avoided a decisive contest. + +Next year (1643) another campaign, for surrounding instead of +penetrating into London, was projected. Newcastle and Hopton were to +advance from the north and west, seize the north and south banks of the +river below the city, destroy its commerce, and combine with Charles at +Oxford. The royalist force, however, in spite of victories at Adwalton +Moor (June 30th) and Roundway Down (July 13th), did not succeed in +combining with Charles, Newcastle in the north being kept back by the +Eastern Association and the presence of the enemy at Hull, and Hopton in +the west being detained by their successful holding out at Plymouth. +Being too weak to attempt anything alone against London, Charles marched +to besiege Gloucester, Essex following him and relieving the place. +Subsequently the rival forces fought the indecisive first battle of +Newbury, and Charles failed in preventing the return of Essex to London. +Meanwhile on the 1st of February the parliament had submitted proposals +to Charles at Oxford, but the negotiations came to nothing, and +Charles's unwise attempt at the same time to stir up a rising in his +favour in the city, known as Waller's Plot, injured his cause +considerably. He once more turned for help to Ireland, where the +cessation of the campaign against the rebels was agreed upon on the 15th +of September 1643, and several English regiments became thereby +available for employment by the king in England. Charles also accepted +the proposal for bringing over 2000 Irish. On the 22nd of January 1644 +the king opened the rival parliament at Oxford. + +The campaign of 1644 began far less favourably for Charles than the two +last, principally owing to the alliance now made between the Scots and +the parliament, the parliament taking the Solemn League and Covenant on +the 25th of September 1643, and the Scottish army crossing the border on +the 19th of January 1644. No attempt was this year made against London, +and Rupert was sent to Newcastle's succour in the north, where the great +disaster of Marston Moor on the 2nd of July ruined Charles's last +chances in that quarter. Meanwhile Charles himself had defeated Waller +at Cropredy Bridge on the 29th of June, and he subsequently followed +Essex to the west, compelling the surrender of Essex's infantry at +Lostwithiel on the 2nd of September. With an ill-timed leniency he +allowed the men to go free after giving up their stores and arms, and on +his return towards Oxford he was confronted again by Essex's army at +Newbury, combined now with that of Waller and of Manchester. Charles +owed his escape here from complete annihilation only to Manchester's +unwillingness to inflict a total defeat, and he was allowed to get away +with his artillery to Oxford and to revictual Donnington Castle and +Basing House. + +The negotiations carried on at Uxbridge during January and February 1645 +failed to secure a settlement, and on the 14th of June the crushing +defeat of the king's forces by the new model army at Naseby practically +ended the civil war. Charles, however, refused to make peace on Rupert's +advice, and considered it a point of honour "neither to abandon God's +cause, injure my successors, nor forsake my friends." His chief hope was +to join Montrose in Scotland, but his march north was prevented by the +parliamentary forces, and on the 24th of September he witnessed from the +walls of Chester the rout of his followers at Rowton Heath. He now +entered into a series of intrigues, mutually destructive, which, +becoming known to the different parties, exasperated all and diminished +still further the king's credit. One proposal was the levy of a foreign +force to reduce the kingdom; another, the supply through the marquis of +Ormonde of 10,000 Irish. Correspondence relating to these schemes, +fatally compromising as they were if Charles hoped ever to rule England +again, was discovered by his enemies, including the Glamorgan treaty, +which went much further than the instructions to Ormonde, but of which +the full responsibility has never been really traced to Charles, who on +the 29th of January 1646 disavowed his agent's proceedings. He +simultaneously treated with the parliament, and promised toleration to +the Roman Catholics if they and the pope would aid in the restoration of +the monarchy and the church. Nor was this all. The parliamentary forces +had been closing round Oxford. On the 27th of April the king left the +city, and on the 5th of May gave himself up to the Scottish army at +Newark, arriving on the 13th with them at Newcastle. On the 13th of July +the parliament sent to Charles the "Newcastle Propositions," which +included the extreme demands of Charles's acceptance of the Covenants, +the abolition of episcopacy and establishment of Presbyterianism, +severer laws against the Roman Catholics and parliamentary control of +the forces, with the withdrawal of the Irish Cessation, and a long list +of royalists to be exempted from pardon. Charles returned no definite +answer for several months. He imagined that he might now find support in +Scottish royalism, encouraged by Montrose's series of brilliant +victories, but these hopes were destroyed by the latter's defeat at +Philiphaugh on the 3rd of September. The Scots insisted on the Covenant +and on the permanent establishment of Presbyterianism, while Charles +would only consent to a temporary maintenance for three years. +Accordingly the Scots, in return for the payment of part of their army +arrears by the parliament, marched home on the 30th of January 1647, +leaving Charles behind, who under the care of the parliamentary +commissioners was conducted to Holmby House. Thence on the 12th of May +he sent his answer to the Newcastle Propositions, offering the militia +to the parliament for ten years and the establishment of Presbyterianism +for three, while a final settlement on religion was to be reached +through an assembly of twenty divines at Westminster. But in the midst +of the negotiation with the parliament Charles's person was seized, on +the 3rd of June 1647, by Cornet Joyce under instructions of the army, +which soon afterwards occupied London and overpowered the parliament, +placing Charles at Hampton Court. + +If Charles could have remained firm to either one or the other faction, +and have made concessions either to Presbyterianism or on the subject of +the militia, he might even now have prevailed. But he had learned +nothing by experience, and continued at this juncture his characteristic +policy of intrigue and double-dealing, "playing his game," to use his +own words, negotiating with both parties at once, not with the object or +wish to arrive at a settlement with either, but to augment their +disputes, gain time and profit ultimately by their divisions. The "Heads +of the Proposals," submitted to Charles by the army on the 28th of July +1647, were terms conceived on a basis far broader and more statesmanlike +than the Newcastle Propositions, and such as Charles might well have +accepted. The proposals on religion anticipated the Toleration Act of +1689. There was no mention of episcopacy, and its existence was thereby +indirectly admitted, but complete religious freedom for all Protestant +denominations was provided, and the power of the church to inflict civil +penalties abolished, while it was also suggested that dangers from Roman +Catholics and Jesuits might be avoided by means other than enforcing +attendance at church. The parliament was to dissolve itself and be +succeeded by biennial assemblies elected on a reformed franchise, not to +be dissolved without their own consent before 120 days, and not to sit +more than 240 days in the two years. A council of state was to conduct +the foreign policy of the state and conclude peace and war subject to +the approval of parliament, and to control the militia for ten years, +the commanders being appointed by parliament, as also the officers of +state for ten years. No peer created since May the 21st, 1642, was to +sit in parliament without consent of both Houses, and the judicial +decisions of the House of Lords were to be ratified by the Commons. Only +five persons were excepted from amnesty, but royalists were not to hold +office for five years and not to sit in the Commons till the end of the +second biennial parliament. Proposals for a series of reforms were also +added. Charles, however, was at the same time negotiating with +Lauderdale for an invasion of England by the Scots, and imagined he +could win over Cromwell and Fairfax by "proffers of advantage to +themselves." The precious opportunity was therefore allowed to slip by. +On the 9th of September he rejected the proposals of the parliament for +the establishment of Presbyterianism. His hopes of gaining advantages by +playing upon the differences of his opponents proved a complete failure. +Fresh terms were drawn up by the army and parliament together on the +10th of November, but before these could be presented, Charles, on the +11th, had escaped to Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight. Thence on +the 16th he sent a message offering Presbyterianism for three years and +the militia for his lifetime to the parliament, but insisting on the +maintenance of episcopacy. On the 28th of December he refused his assent +to the Four Bills, which demanded the militia for parliament for twenty +years and practically for ever, annulled the honours recently granted by +the king and his declarations against the Houses, and gave to parliament +the right to adjourn to any place it wished. On the 3rd of January 1648 +the Commons agreed to a resolution to address the king no further, in +which they were joined by the Lords on the 15th. + +Charles had meanwhile taken a further fatal step which brought about his +total destruction. On the 26th of December 1647 he had signed at +Carisbrooke with the Scottish commissioners the secret treaty called the +"Engagement," whereby the Scots undertook to invade England on his +behalf and restore him to the throne on condition of the establishment +of Presbyterianism for three years and the suppression of the +sectarians. In consequence the second civil war broke out and the Scots +invaded England under Hamilton. The royalist risings in England were +soon suppressed, and Cromwell gained an easy and decisive victory over +the Scots at Preston. Charles was now left alone to face his enemies, +with the whole tale of his intrigues and deceptions unmasked and +exposed. The last intrigue with the Scots was the most unpardonable in +the eyes of his contemporaries, no less wicked and monstrous than his +design to conquer England by the Irish soldiers; "a more prodigious +treason," said Cromwell, "than any that had been perfected before; +because the former quarrel was that Englishmen might rule over one +another; this to vassalize us to a foreign nation." Cromwell, who up to +this point had shown himself foremost in supporting the negotiations +with the king, now spoke of the treaty of Newport, which he found the +parliament in the act of negotiating on his return from Scotland, as +"this ruining hypocritical agreement." Charles had engaged in these +negotiations only to gain time and find opportunity to escape. "The +great concession I made this day," he wrote on the 7th of October, "was +made merely in order to my escape." At the beginning he had stipulated +that no concession from him should be valid unless an agreement were +reached upon every point. He had now consented to most of the demands of +the parliament, including the repudiation of the Irish Cessation, the +surrender of the delinquents and the cession of the militia for twenty +years, and of the offices of state to parliament, but remained firm in +his refusal to abolish episcopacy, consenting only to Presbyterianism +for three years. Charles's devotion to the church is undoubted. In April +1646, before his flight from Oxford, inspired perhaps by superstitious +fears as to the origin of his misfortunes, he had delivered to Sheldon, +afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, a written vow (now in the library +of St Paul's cathedral) to restore all church lands held by the crown on +his restoration to the throne; and almost his last injunction to the +prince of Wales was that of fidelity to the national church. His present +firmness, however, in its support was caused probably less by his +devotion to it than by his desire to secure the failure of the whole +treaty, and his attempts to escape naturally weakened the chances of +success. Cromwell now supported the petitions of the army against the +treaty. On the 16th of November the council of officers demanded the +trial of the king, "the capital and grand author of our troubles," and +on the 27th of November the parliamentary commissioners returned from +Newport without having secured Charles's consent. Charles was removed to +Hurst Castle on the 1st of December, where he remained till the 19th, +thence being taken to Windsor, where he arrived on the 23rd. On the 6th +"Pride's Purge" had removed from the Commons all those who might show +any favour to the king. On the 25th a last attempt by the council of +officers to come to terms with him was repulsed. On the 1st of January +the remnant of the Commons resolved that Charles was guilty of treason +by "levying war against the parliament and kingdom of England"; on the +4th they declared their own power to make laws without the lords or the +sovereign, and on the 6th established a "high court of justice" to try +the king. On the 19th Charles was brought to St James's Palace, and on +the next day his trial began in Westminster Hall, without the assistance +of any of the judges, who all refused to take part in the proceedings. +He laughed aloud at hearing himself called a traitor, and immediately +demanded by what authority he was tried. He had been in treaty with the +parliament in the Isle of Wight and taken thence by force; he saw no +lords present. He was told by Bradshaw, the president of the court, that +he was tried by the authority of the people of England, who had elected +him king; Charles making the obvious reply that he was king by +inheritance and not by election, that England had been for more than +1000 years an hereditary kingdom, and Bradshaw cutting short the +discussion by adjourning the court. On the 22nd Charles repeated his +reasoning, adding, "It is not my case alone; it is the freedom and +liberty of the people of England, and do you pretend what you will, I +stand more for their liberties, for if power without law may make laws +... I do not know what subject he is in England that can be sure of his +life or anything that he calls his own." On the 23rd he again refused to +plead. The court was adjourned, and there were several signs that the +army in their prosecution of the king had not the nation at their back. +While the soldiers had shouted "Justice! justice!" as the king passed +through their ranks, the civilian spectators from the end of the hall +had cried "God save the king!" There was considerable opposition and +reluctance to proceed among the members of the court. On the 26th, +however, the court decided unanimously upon his execution, and on the +27th Charles was brought into court for the last time to hear his +sentence. His request to be heard before the Lords and Commons was +rejected, and his attempts to answer the charges of the president were +silenced. Sentence was pronounced, and the king was removed by the +soldiers, uttering his last broken protest: "I am not suffered to speak. +Expect what justice other people will have." + +In these last hours Charles, who was probably weary of life, showed a +remarkable dignity and self-possession, and a firm resignation supported +by religious faith and by the absolute conviction of his own innocence, +which, says Burnet, "amazed all people and that so much the more because +it was not natural to him. It was imputed to a very extraordinary +measure of supernatural assistance....; it was owing to something within +himself that he went through so many indignities with so much true +greatness without disorder or any sort of affectation." Nothing in his +life became Charles like the leaving it. "He nothing common did or mean +Upon that memorable scene." On the morning of the 29th of January he +said his last sad farewell to his younger children, Elizabeth and Henry, +duke of Gloucester. On the 30th at ten o'clock he walked across from St +James's to Whitehall, calling on his guard "in a pleasant manner" to +walk apace, and at two he stepped upon the scaffold from a window, +probably the middle one, of the Banqueting House (see ARCHITECTURE, +Plate VI., fig. 75). He was separated from the people by large ranks of +soldiers, and his last speech only reached Juxon and those with him on +the scaffold. He declared that he had desired the liberty and freedom of +the people as much as any; "but I must tell you that their liberty and +freedom consists in having government. ... It is not their having a +share in the government; that is nothing appertaining unto them. A +subject and a sovereign are clean different things." These, together +with his declaration that he died a member of the Church of England, and +the mysterious "Remember," spoken to Juxon, were Charles's last words. +"It much discontents the citizens," wrote a spectator; "ye manner of his +deportment was very resolutely with some smiling countenances, +intimating his willingness to be out of his troubles."[3] "The blow I +saw given," wrote another, Philip Henry, "and can truly say with a sad +heart, at the instant whereof, I remember well, there was such a grone +by the Thousands then present as I never heard before and desire I may +never hear again. There was according to order one Troop immediately +marching fromwards Charing-Cross to Westminster and another fromwards +Westminster to Charing-Cross, purposely to masker" (i.e. to overpower) +"the people and to disperse and scatter them, so that I had much adoe +amongst the rest to escape home without hurt."[4] + +Amidst such scenes of violence was at last effected the destruction of +Charles. "It is lawful," wrote Milton, "and hath been held so through +all ages for any one who have the power to call to account a Tyrant or +wicked King and after due conviction to depose and put him to death."[5] +But here (it might well be contended) there had been no "due +conviction." The execution had been the act of the king's personal +enemies, of "only some fifty or sixty governing Englishmen with Oliver +Cromwell in the midst of them" an act technically illegal, morally +unjustifiable because the supposed crimes of Charles had been condoned +by the later negotiations with him, and indefensible on the ground of +public expediency, for the king's death proved a far greater obstacle to +the re-establishment of settled government than his life could have +been. The result was an extraordinary revulsion of feeling in favour of +Charles and the monarchy, in which the incidents of his misgovernment +were completely forgotten. He soon became in the popular veneration a +martyr and a saint. His fate was compared with the Crucifixion, and his +trials and sufferings to those of the Saviour. Handkerchiefs dipped in +his blood wrought "miracles," and the _Eikon Basilike_, published on the +day of his funeral, presented to the public a touching if not a genuine +portrait of the unfortunate sovereign. At the Restoration the +anniversary of his death was ordered to be kept as a day of fasting and +humiliation, and the service appointed for use on the occasion was only +removed from the prayer-book in 1859. The same conception of Charles as +a martyr for religion appeals still to many, and has been stimulated by +modern writers. "Had Charles been willing to abandon the church and give +up episcopacy," says Bishop Creighton, "he might have saved his throne +and his life. But on this point Charles stood firm, for this he died and +by dying saved it for the future."[6] Gladstone, Keble, Newman write in +the same strain. "It was for the Church," says Gladstone, "that Charles +shed his blood upon the scaffold."[7] "I rest," says Newman, "on the +scenes of past years, from the Upper Room in Acts to the Court of +Carisbrooke and Uxbridge." The injustice and violence of the king's +death, however, the pathetic dignity of his last days, and the many +noble traits in his character, cannot blind us to the real causes of his +downfall and destruction, and a sober judgment cannot allow that Charles +was really a martyr either for the church or for the popular liberties. + +The constitutional struggle between the crown and parliament had not +been initiated by Charles I. It was in full existence in the reign of +James I., and distinct traces appear towards the latter part of that of +Elizabeth. Charles, therefore, in some degree inherited a situation for +which he was not responsible, nor can he be justly blamed, according to +the ideas of kingship which then prevailed, for defending the +prerogatives of the crown as precious and sacred personal possessions +which it was his duty to hand down intact to his successors. Neither +will his persistence in refusing to yield up the control of the +executive to the parliament or the army, or his zeal in defending the +national church, be altogether censured. In the event the parliament +proved quite incapable of governing, an army uncontrolled by the +sovereign was shown to constitute a more grievous tyranny than Charles's +most arbitrary rule, and the downfall of the church seen to make room +only for a sectarian despotism as intolerable as the Laudian. The +natural inference might be that both conceptions of government had much +to support them, that they were bound sooner or later to come into +collision, and that the actual individuals in the drama, including the +king himself, were rather the victims of the greatness of events than +real actors in the scene, still less the controllers of their own and +the national destiny. A closer insight, however, shows that biographical +more than abstract historical elements determined the actual course and +issue of the Rebellion. The great constitutional and religious points of +dispute between the king and parliament, though doubtless involving +principles vital to the national interests, would not alone have +sufficed to destroy Charles. Monarchy was too much venerated, was too +deeply rooted in the national life, to be hastily and easily extirpated; +the perils of removing the foundation of all government, law and order +were too obvious not to be shunned at almost all costs. Still less can +the crowning tragedy of the king's death find its real explanation or +justification in these disputes and antagonisms. The real cause was the +complete discredit into which Charles had brought himself and the +monarchy. The ordinary routine of daily life and of business cannot +continue without some degree of mutual confidence between the +individuals brought into contact, far less could relations be maintained +by subjects with a king endowed with the enormous powers then attached +to the kingship, and with whom agreements, promises, negotiations were +merely subterfuges and prevarications. We have seen the series of +unhappy falsehoods and deceptions which constituted Charles's +statecraft, beginning with the fraud concerning the concessions to the +Roman Catholics at his marriage, the evasions with which he met the +Petition of Right, the abandonment of Strafford, the simultaneous +negotiation with, and betrayal of, all parties. Strafford's reported +words on hearing of his desertion by Charles, "Put not your trust in +princes," re-echo through the whole of Charles's reign. It was the +degradation and dishonour of the kingship, and the personal loss of +credit which Charles suffered through these transactions--which never +appear to have caused him a moment's regret or uneasiness, but the fatal +consequences of which were seen only too clearly by men like Hyde and +Falkland--that were the real causes of the rebellion and of the king's +execution. The constitutional and religious grievances were the outward +and visible sign of the corroding suspicions which slowly consumed the +national loyalty. In themselves there was nothing incapable of +settlement either through the spirit of union which existed between +Elizabeth and her subjects, or by the principle of compromise which +formed the basis of the constitutional settlement in 1688. The bond of +union between his people and himself Charles had, however, early broken, +and compromise is only possible between parties both of whom can +acknowledge to some extent the force of the other's position, which can +trust one another, and which are sincere in their endeavour to reach +agreement. Thus on Charles himself chiefly falls the responsibility for +the catastrophe. + +His character and motives fill a large place in English history, but +they have never been fully understood and possibly were largely due to +physical causes. His weakness as a child was so extreme that his life +was despaired of. He outgrew physical defects, and as a young man +excelled in horsemanship and in the sports of the times, but always +retained an impediment of speech. At the time of his accession his +reserve and reticence were especially noticed. Buckingham was the only +person who ever enjoyed his friendship, and after his death Charles +placed entire confidence in no man. This isolation was the cause of an +ignorance of men and of the world, and of an incapacity to appreciate +the ideas, principles and motives of others, while it prepared at the +same time a fertile soil for receiving those exalted conceptions of +kingship, of divine right and prerogative, which came into vogue at this +period, together with those exaggerated ideas of his own personal +supremacy and importance to which minds not quite normal are always +especially inclined. His character was marked by a weakness which +shirked and postponed the settlement of difficulties, by a meanness and +ingratitude even when dealing with his most devoted followers, by an +obstinacy which only feigned compliance and by an untruthfulness which +differed widely from his son's unblushing deceit, which found always +some reservation or excuse, but which while more scrupulous was also +more dangerous and insidious because employed continually as a principle +of conduct. Yet Charles, in spite of his failings, had many fine +qualities. Clarendon, who was fully conscious of them, who does not +venture to call him a good king, and allows that "his kingly virtues had +some mixture and alloy that hindered them from shining in full lustre," +declares that "he was if ever any, the most worthy of the title of an +Honest Man, so great a lover of justice that no temptation could dispose +him to a wrongful action except that it was disguised to him that he +believed it just," "the worthiest of gentlemen, the best master, the +best friend, the best husband, the best father and the best Christian +that the age in which he lived produced." With all its deplorable +mistakes and failings Charles I.'s reign belongs to a sphere infinitely +superior to that of his unscrupulous, corrupt, selfish but more +successful son. His private life was without a blemish. Immediately on +his accession he had suppressed the disorder which had existed in the +household of James I., and let it be known that whoever had business +with him "must never approach him by backstairs or private doors."[8] He +maintained a strict sobriety in food and dress. He had a fine artistic +sense, and Milton reprehends him for having made Shakespeare "the +closest companion of his solitudes." "Monsieur le Prince de Galles," +wrote Rubens in 1625, "est le prince le plus amateur de la peinture qui +soit au monde." He succeeded in bringing together during twenty years an +unrivalled collection, of which a great part was dispersed at his death. +He showed a noble insensibility to flattery. He was deeply and sincerely +religious. He wished to do right, and was conscious of the purity of his +motives. Those who came into contact with him, even the most bitter of +his opponents, were impressed with his goodness. The great tragedy of +his life, to be read in his well-known, dignified, but weak and unhappy +features, and to be followed in his inexplicable and mysterious choice +of baneful instruments, such as Rupert, Laud, Hamilton, Glamorgan, +Henrietta Maria--all in their several ways working out his +destruction--seems to have been inspired by a fateful insanity or +infirmity of mind or will, recalling the great Greek dramas in which the +poets depicted frenzied mortals rushing into their own destruction, +impelled by the unseen and superior powers. + +The king's body, after being embalmed, was buried by the few followers +who remained with him to the last, hastily and without any funeral +service, which was forbidden by the authorities, in the tomb of Henry +VIII., in St George's Chapel, Windsor, where his coffin was identified +and opened in 1813. An "account of what appeared" was published by Sir +Henry Halford, and a bone abstracted on the occasion was replaced in the +vault by the prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII.) in 1888. Charles +I. left, besides three children who died in infancy, Charles (afterwards +Charles II.); James (afterwards James II.); Henry, duke of Gloucester +(1639-1660); Mary (1631-1660), who married William of Orange; Elizabeth +(1635-1650); and Henrietta, duchess of Orleans (1644-1670). + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The leading authority for the life and reign of Charles + I. is the _History of England_ (1883) and _History of the Great Civil + War_ (1893), by S.R. Gardiner, with the references there given. Among + recent works may be mentioned _Memoirs of the Martyr King_, by A. Fea + (1905); _Life of Charles I, 1600-1625_, by E.B. Chancellor (1886); + _The Visits of Charles I. to Newcastle_, by C.S. Terry (1898); + _Charles I._, by Sir J. Skelton, valuable for its illustrations + (1898); _The Manner of the Coronation of King Charles I._, ed. by C. + Wordsworth (Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1892); _The Picture Gallery of + Charles I._, by C. Phillips (1896). See also _Calendars of State + Papers_, _Irish_ and _Domestic Series_; _Hist. MSS. Comm. Series_, + esp. _MSS. of J. Eliot Hodgkin, F.J. Savile Foljambe, Lord Montagu of + Beaulieu, Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, Marquis of Ormonde, Earl + Cowper (Coke MSS.), Earl of Lonsdale_ (note-books of parliaments of + 1626 and 1628), _Duke of Buccleuch at Montagu House, Duke of + Portland_, 11th Rep. app. pt. vi., _Duke of Hamilton_, pt. i., + _Salvetti Correspondence_, 10th Rep. pt. vi., _Lord Braye_; _Add. + MSS._ Brit. Mus., 33,596 fols. 21-32 (keys to ciphers), 34,171, + 35,297; _Notes and Queries_, ser. vi., vii., viii., ix. indexes; _Eng. + Hist. Rev._ ii. 687 ("Charles and Glamorgan" by S.R. Gardiner), vii. + 176; _Cornhill Mag._ vol. 75, January 1897, "Execution of Charles," by + C.H. Firth. (P. C. Y.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] _Hist. MSS. Comm._ 11 Rep. app. Pt. iv. 21. + + [2] _Hist. MSS. Comm.: MSS. of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu_, 141. + + [3] _Notes and Queries_, 7th ser., viii. 326. + + [4] _Letters and Diaries of P. Henry_ (1882), 12. + + [5] _Tenure of Kings and Magistrates_. + + [6] _Lectures on Archbishop Laud_ (1895), p. 25. + + [7] _Remarks on the Royal Supremacy_ (1850), p. 57. + + [8] Salvetti's Corresp. in _Hist. MSS. Comm._ 11th Rep. app. pt. i. + p. 6. + + + + +CHARLES II. (1630-1685), king of Great Britain and Ireland, second son +of Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, was born on the 29th of May +1630 at St James's Palace, and was brought up under the care +successively of the countess of Dorset, William Cavendish, duke of +Newcastle, and the marquess of Hertford. He accompanied the king during +the campaigns of the Civil War, and sat in the parliament at Oxford, but +on the 4th of March 1645 he was sent by Charles I. to the west, +accompanied by Hyde and others who formed his council. Owing, however, +to the mutual jealousies and misconduct of Goring and Grenville, and the +prince's own disregard and contempt of the council, his presence was in +no way advantageous, and could not prevent the final overthrow of the +king's forces in 1646. He retired (17th of February) to Pendennis Castle +at Falmouth, and on the approach of Fairfax (2nd of March) to Scilly, +where he remained with Hyde till the 16th of April. Thence he fled to +Jersey, and finally refusing all the overtures from the parliament, and +in opposition to the counsels of Hyde, who desired the prince to remain +on English territory, he repaired to the queen at Paris, where he +remained for two years. He is described at this time by Mme de +Motteville as "well-made, with a swarthy complexion agreeing well with +his fine black eyes, a large ugly mouth, a graceful and dignified +carriage and a fine figure"; and according to the description circulated +later for his capture after the battle of Worcester, he was over six +feet tall. He received instruction in mathematics from Hobbes, and was +early initiated into all the vices of the age by Buckingham and Percy. +In July 1648 the prince joined the royalist fleet and blockaded the +Thames with a fleet of eleven ships, returning to Holland, where he +received the news of the final royalist defeats and afterwards of the +execution of his father. On the 14th of January 1649 he had forwarded to +the council a signed _carte blanche_, granting any conditions provided +his father's life were spared. He immediately assumed the title of king, +and was proclaimed in Scotland (5th of February) and in some parts of +Ireland. On the 17th of September, after a visit to his mother at St +Germain, Charles went to Jersey and issued a declaration proclaiming his +rights; but, owing to the arrival of the fleet at Portsmouth, he was +obliged, on the 13th of February 1650, to return again to Breda. The +projected invasion of Ireland was delayed through want of funds till it +was too late; Hyde's mission to Spain, in the midst of Cromwell's' +successes, brought no assistance, and Charles now turned to Scotland for +aid. Employing the same unscrupulous and treacherous methods which had +proved so fatal to his father, he simultaneously supported and +encouraged the expedition of Montrose and the royalists, and negotiated +with the covenanters. On the 1st of May he signed the first draft of a +treaty at Breda with the latter, in which he accepted the Solemn League +and Covenant, conceded the control of public and church affairs to the +parliament and the kirk, and undertook to establish Presbyterianism in +the three kingdoms. He also signed privately a paper repudiating Ormonde +and the loyal Irish, and recalling the commissions granted to them. In +acting thus he did not scruple to desert his own royalist followers, and +to repudiate and abandon the great and noble Montrose, whose heroic +efforts he was apparently merely using in order to extort better terms +from the covenanters, and who, having been captured on the 4th of May, +was executed on the 21st in spite of some attempts by Charles to procure +for him an indemnity. + +Thus perjured and disgraced the young king embarked for Scotland on the +2nd of June; on the 11th when off Heligoland he signed the treaty, and +on the 23rd, on his arrival at Speymouth, before landing, he swore to +both the covenants. He proceeded to Falkland near Perth and passed +through Aberdeen, where he saw the mutilated arm of Montrose suspended +over the city gate. He was compelled to dismiss all his followers except +Buckingham, and to submit to interminable sermons, which generally +contained violent invectives against his parents and himself. To Argyll +he promised the payment of L40,000 at his restoration, doubtless the sum +owing as arrears of the Scottish army unpaid when Charles I. was +surrendered to the English at Newcastle, and entered into negotiations +for marrying his daughter. In August he was forced to sign a further +declaration, confessing his own wickedness in dealing with the Irish, +his father's blood-guiltiness, his mother's idolatry, and his abhorrence +of prelacy, besides ratifying his allegiance to the covenants and to +Presbyterianism. At the same time he declared himself secretly to King, +dean of Tuam, "a true child of the Church of England," "a true +Cavalier," and avowed that "what concerns Ireland is in no ways +binding"; while to the Roman Catholics in England he promised +concessions and expressed his goodwill towards their church to Pope +Innocent X. His attempt, called "The Start," on the 4th of October 1650, +to escape from the faction at Perth and to join Huntly and the royalists +in the north failed, and he was overtaken and compelled to return. On +the 1st of January 1651 he was crowned at Scone, when he was forced to +repeat his oaths to both the covenants. + +Meanwhile Cromwell had advanced and had defeated the Presbyterians at +Dunbar on the 3rd of September 1650, subsequently occupying Edinburgh. +This defeat was not wholly unwelcome to Charles in the circumstances; in +the following summer, during Cromwell's advance to the north, he shook +off the Presbyterian influence, and on the 31st of July 1651 marched +south into England with an army of about 10,000 commanded by David +Leslie. He was proclaimed king at Carlisle, joined by the earl of Derby +in Lancashire, evaded the troops of Lambert and Harrison in Cheshire, +marched through Shropshire, meeting with a rebuff at Shrewsbury, and +entered Worcester with a small, tired and dispirited force of only +16,000 men (22nd of August). Here the decisive battle, which ruined his +hopes, and in which Charles distinguished himself by conspicuous courage +and fortitude, was fought on the 3rd of September. After leading an +unsuccessful cavalry charge against the enemy he fled, about 6 P.M., +accompanied by Buckingham, Derby, Wilmot, Lauderdale and others, towards +Kidderminster, taking refuge at Whiteladies, about 25 m. from Worcester, +where he separated himself from all his followers except Wilmot, +concealing himself in the famous oak during the 6th of September, moving +subsequently to Boscobel, to Moseley and Bentley Hall, and thence, +disguised as Miss Lane's attendant, to Abbots Leigh near Bristol, to +Trent in Somersetshire, and finally to the George Inn at Brighton, +having been recognized during the forty-one days of his wanderings by +about fifty persons, none of whom, in spite of the reward of L1000 +offered for his capture, or of the death penalty threatened for aiding +his concealment, had betrayed him. + +He set sail from Shoreham on the 15th of October 1651, and landed at +Fecamp in Normandy the next day. He resided at Paris at St Germain till +June 1654, in inactivity, unable to make any further effort, and living +with difficulty on a grant from Louis XIV. of 600 livres a month. +Various missions to foreign powers met with failure; he was excluded +from Holland by the treaty made with England in April 1654, and he +anticipated his expulsion from France, owing to the new relations of +friendship established with Cromwell, by quitting the country in July. +He visited his sister, the princess of Orange, at Spa, and went to +Aix-la-Chapelle, thence finally proceeding in November to Cologne, where +he was hospitably received. The conclusion of Cromwell's treaty with +France in October 1655, and the war between England and Spain, gave hope +of aid from the latter power. In April 1656 Charles went to Bruges, and +on the 7th of February 1658 to Brussels, where he signed a treaty with +Don John of Austria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, by which he +received an allowance in place of his French pension and undertook to +assemble all his subjects in France in aid of the Spanish against the +French. This plan, however, came to nothing; projected risings in +England were betrayed, and by the capture of Dunkirk in June 1658, after +the battle of the Dunes, by the French and Cromwell's Ironsides, the +Spanish cause in Flanders was ruined. + +As long as Cromwell lived there appeared little hope of the restoration +of the monarchy, and Charles and Hyde had been aware of the plots for +his assassination, which had aroused no disapproval. By the protector's +death on the 3rd of September 1658 the scene was wholly changed, and +amidst the consequent confusion of factions the cry for the restoration +of the monarchy grew daily in strength. The premature royalist rising, +however, in August 1659 was defeated, and Charles, who had awaited the +result on the coast of Brittany, proceeded to Fuenterrabia on the +Spanish frontier, where Mazarin and Luis de Haro were negotiating the +treaty of the Pyrenees, to induce both powers to support his cause; but +the failure of the attempt in England ensured the rejection of his +request, and he returned to Brussels in December, visiting his mother at +Paris on the way. Events had meanwhile developed fast in favour of a +restoration. Charles, by Hyde's advice, had not interfered in the +movement, and had avoided inconvenient concessions to the various +factions by referring all to a "free parliament." He left Brussels for +Breda, and issued in April 1660, together with the letters to the +council, the officers of the army and the houses of parliament and the +city, the declaration of an amnesty for all except those specially +excluded afterwards by parliament, which referred to parliament the +settlement of estates and promised a liberty to tender consciences in +matters of religion not contrary to the peace of the kingdom. + +On the 8th of May Charles II. was proclaimed king in Westminster Hall +and elsewhere in London. On the 24th he sailed from the Hague, landing +on the 26th at Dover, where he was met by Monk, whom he saluted as +father, and by the mayor, from whom he accepted a "very rich bible," +"the thing that he loved above all things in the world." He reached +London on the 29th, his thirtieth birthday, arriving with the +procession, amidst general rejoicings and "through a lane of happy +faces," at seven in the evening at Whitehall, where the houses of +parliament awaited his coming, to offer in the name of the nation their +congratulations and allegiance. + +No event in the history of England had been attended with more lively +and general rejoicing than Charles's restoration, and none was destined +to cause greater subsequent disappointment and disillusion. Indolent, +sensual and dissipated by nature, Charles's vices had greatly increased +during his exile abroad, and were now, with the great turn of fortune +which gave him full opportunity to indulge them, to surpass all the +bounds of decency and control. A long residence till the age of thirty +abroad, together with his French blood, had made him politically more of +a foreigner than an Englishman, and he returned to England ignorant of +the English constitution, a Roman Catholic and a secret adversary of the +national religion, and untouched by the sentiment of England's greatness +or of patriotism. Pure selfishness was the basis of his policy both in +domestic and foreign affairs. Abroad the great national interests were +eagerly sacrificed for the sake of a pension, and at home his personal +ease and pleasure alone decided every measure, and the fate of every +minister and subject. During his exile he had surrounded himself with +young men of the same spirit as himself, such as Buckingham and Bennet, +who, without having any claim to statesmanship, inattentive to business, +neglectful of the national interests and national prejudices, became +Charles's chief advisers. With them, as with their master, public office +was only desirable as a means of procuring enjoyment, for which an +absolute monarchy provided the most favourable conditions. Such persons +were now, accordingly, destined to supplant the older and responsible +ministers of the type of Clarendon and Ormonde, men of high character +and patriotism, who followed definite lines of policy, while at the same +time the younger men of ability and standing were shut out from office. + +The first period of Charles II.'s reign (1660-1667) was that of the +administration of Lord Clarendon, the principal author of the +Restoration settlement. The king was granted the large revenue of +L1,300,000. The naval and military forces were disbanded, but Charles +managed to retain under the name of guards three regiments, which +remained the nucleus of a standing army. The settlement of estates on a +legal basis provided ill for a large number of the king's adherents who +had impoverished themselves in his cause. The king's honour was directly +involved in their compensation and, except for the gratification of a +few individuals, was tarnished by his neglect to afford them relief. +Charles used his influence to carry through parliament the act of +indemnity, and the execution of some of the regicides was a measure not +more severe than was to be expected in the times and circumstances; but +that of Sir Henry Vane, who was not a regicide and whose life Charles +had promised the parliament to spare in case of his condemnation, was +brought about by Charles's personal insistence in revenge for the +victim's high bearing during his trial, and was an act of gross cruelty +and perfidy. Charles was in favour of religious toleration, and a +declaration issued by him in October 1660 aroused great hopes; but he +made little effort to conciliate the Presbyterians or to effect a +settlement through the Savoy conference, and his real object was to gain +power over all the factions and to free his co-religionists, the Roman +Catholics, in favour of whom he issued his first declaration of +indulgence (26th of December 1662), the bill to give effect to it being +opposed by Clarendon and defeated in the Lords, and being replied to by +the passing of further acts against religious liberty. Meanwhile the +plot of Venner and of the Fifth Monarchy men had been suppressed in +January 1661, and the king was crowned on the 23rd of April. The +convention parliament had been dissolved on the 29th of December 1660, +and Charles's first parliament, the Long Parliament of the Restoration, +which met on the 8th of May 1661 and continued till January 1679, +declared the command of the forces inherent in the crown, repudiated the +taking up of arms against the king, and repealed in 1664 the Triennial +Act, adding only a provision that there should not be intermission of +parliaments for more than three years. In Ireland the church was +re-established, and a new settlement of land introduced by the Act of +Settlement 1661 and the Act of Explanation 1665. The island was excluded +from the benefit of the Navigation Laws, and in 1666 the importation of +cattle and horses into England was forbidden. In Scotland episcopacy was +set up, the covenant to which Charles had taken so many solemn oaths +burnt by the common hangman, and Argyll brought to the scaffold, while +the kingdom was given over to the savage and corrupt administration of +Lauderdale. On the 21st of May 1662, in pursuance of the pro-French and +anti-Spanish policy, Charles married Catherine of Braganza, daughter of +John IV. of Portugal, by which alliance England obtained Tangier and +Bombay. She brought him no children, and her attractions for Charles +were inferior to those of his mistress, Lady Castlemaine, whom she was +compelled to receive as a lady of her bedchamber. In February 1665 the +ill-omened war with Holland was declared, during the progress of which +it became apparent how greatly the condition of the national services +and the state of administration had deteriorated since the Commonwealth, +and to what extent England was isolated and abandoned abroad, Michael de +Ruyter, on the 13th of June 1667, carrying out his celebrated attack on +Chatham and burning several warships. The disgrace was unprecedented. +Charles did not show himself and it was reported that he had abdicated, +but to allay the popular panic it was given out "that he was very +cheerful that night at supper with his mistresses." The treaty of Breda +with Holland (21st of July 1667) removed the danger, but not the +ignominy, and Charles showed the real baseness of his character when he +joined in the popular outcry against Clarendon, the upright and devoted +adherent of his father and himself during twenty-five years of +misfortune, and drove him into poverty and exile in his old age, +recalling ominously Charles I.'s betrayal of Strafford. + +To Clarendon now succeeded the ministry of Buckingham and Arlington, who +with Lauderdale, Ashley (afterwards Lord Shaftesbury) and Clifford, +constituted the so-called Cabal ministry in 1672. With these advisers +Charles entered into those schemes so antagonistic to the national +interests which have disgraced his reign. His plan was to render himself +independent of parliament and of the nation by binding himself to France +and the French policy of aggrandizement, and receiving a French pension +with the secret intention as well of introducing the Roman Catholic +religion again into England. In 1661 under Clarendon's rule, the evil +precedent had been admitted of receiving money from France, in 1662 +Dunkirk had been sold to Louis, and in February 1667 during the Dutch +war a secret alliance had been made with Louis, Charles promising him a +free hand in the Netherlands and Louis undertaking to support Charles's +designs "in or out of the kingdom." In January 1668 Sir W. Temple had +made with Sweden and Holland the Triple Alliance against the +encroachments and aggrandizement of France, but this national policy was +soon upset by the king's own secret plans. In 1668 the conversion of his +brother James to Romanism became known to Charles. Already in 1662 the +king had sent Sir Richard Bellings to Rome to arrange the terms of +England's conversion, and now in 1668 he was in correspondence with +Oliva, the general of the Jesuits in Rome, through James de la Cloche, +the eldest of his natural sons, of whom he had become the father when +scarcely sixteen during his residence at Jersey. On the 25th of January +1669, at a secret meeting between the two royal brothers, with +Arlington, Clifford and Arundell of Wardour, it was determined to +announce to Louis XIV. the projected conversion of Charles and the +realm, and subsequent negotiations terminated in the two secret treaties +of Dover. The first, signed only, among the ministers, by Arlington and +Clifford, the rest not being initiated, on the 20th of May 1670, +provided for the return of England to Rome and the joint attack of +France and England upon Holland, England's ally, together with Charles's +support of the Bourbon claims to the throne of Spain, while Charles +received a pension of L200,000 a year. In the second, signed by +Arlington, Buckingham, Lauderdale and Ashley on the 31st of December +1670, nothing was said about the conversion, and the pension provided +for that purpose was added to the military subsidy, neither of these +treaties being communicated to parliament or to the nation. An immediate +gain to Charles was the acquisition of another mistress in the person of +Louise de Keroualle, the so-called "Madam Carwell," who had accompanied +the duchess of Orleans, the king's sister, to Dover, at the time of the +negotiations, and who joined Charles's seraglio, being created duchess +of Portsmouth, and acting as the agent of the French alliance throughout +the reign. + +On the 24th of October 1670, at the very time that these treaties were +in progress, Charles opened parliament and obtained a vote of L800,000 +on the plea of supporting the Triple Alliance. Parliament was prorogued +in April 1671, not assembling again till February 1673, and on the 2nd +of January 1672 was announced the "stop of the exchequer," or national +bankruptcy, one of the most blameworthy and unscrupulous acts of the +reign, by which the payments from the exchequer ceased, and large +numbers of persons who had lent to the government were thus ruined. On +the reassembling of parliament on the 4th of February 1673 a strong +opposition was shown to the Cabal ministry which had been constituted at +the end of 1672. The Dutch War, declared on the 17th of March 1672, +though the commercial and naval jealousies of Holland had certainly not +disappeared in England, was unpopular because of the alliance with +France and the attack upon Protestantism, while the king's second +declaration of indulgence (15th of March 1672) aroused still further +antagonism, was declared illegal by the parliament, and was followed up +by the Test Act, which obliged James and Clifford to resign their +offices. In February 1674 the war with Holland was closed by the treaty +of London or of Westminster, though Charles still gave Louis a free hand +in his aggressive policy towards the Netherlands, and the Cabal was +driven from office. Danby (afterwards duke of Leeds) now became chief +minister; but, though in reality a strong supporter of the national +policy, he could not hope to keep his place without acquiescence in the +king's schemes. In November 1675 Charles again prorogued parliament, and +did not summon it again till February 1677, when it was almost +immediately prorogued. On the 17th of February 1676, with Danby's +knowledge, Charles concluded a further treaty with Louis by which he +undertook to subordinate entirely his foreign policy to that of France, +and received an annual pension of L100,000. On the other hand, Danby +succeeded in effecting the marriage (4th of November 1677) between +William of Orange and the princess Mary, which proved the most important +political event in the whole reign. Louis revenged himself by intriguing +with the Opposition and by turning his streams of gold in that +direction, and a further treaty with France for the annual payment to +Charles of L300,000 and the dismissal of his parliament, concluded on +the 17th of May 1678, was not executed. Louis made peace with Holland +at Nijmwegen on the 10th of August, and punished Danby by disclosing +his secret negotiations, thus causing the minister's fall and +impeachment. To save Danby Charles now prorogued the parliament on the +30th of December, dissolving it on the 24th of January 1679. + +Meanwhile the "Popish Plot," the creation of a band of impostors +encouraged by Shaftesbury and the most violent and unscrupulous of the +extreme Protestant party in order to exclude James from the throne, had +thrown the whole country into a panic. Charles's conduct in this +conjuncture was highly characteristic and was marked by his usual +cynical selfishness. He carefully refrained from incurring suspicion and +unpopularity by opposing the general outcry, and though he saw through +the imposture from the beginning he made no attempt to moderate the +popular frenzy or to save the life of any of the victims, his +co-religionists, not even intervening in the case of Lord Stafford, and +allowing Titus Oates to be lodged at Whitehall with a pension. His +policy was to take advantage of the violence of the faction, to "give +them line enough," to use his own words, to encourage it rather than +repress it, with the expectation of procuring finally a strong royalist +reaction. In his resistance to the great movement for the exclusion of +James from the succession, Charles was aided by moderate men such as +Halifax, who desired only a restriction of James's powers, and still +more by the violence of the extreme exclusionists themselves, who headed +by Shaftesbury brought about their own downfall and that of their cause +by their support of the legitimacy and claims of Charles's natural son, +the duke of Monmouth. In 1679 Charles denied, in council, his supposed +marriage with Lucy Walter, Monmouth's mother, his declarations being +published in 1680 to refute the legend of the black box which was +supposed to contain the contract of marriage, and told Burnet he would +rather see him hanged than legitimize him. He deprived him of his +general's commission in consequence of his quasi-royal progresses about +the country, and in December on Monmouth's return to England he was +forbidden to appear at court. In February 1679 the king had consented to +order James to go abroad, and even approved of the attempt of the +primate and the bishop of Winchester to convert him to Protestantism. To +weaken the opposition to his government Charles accepted Sir W Temple's +new scheme of governing by a council which included the leaders of the +Opposition, and which might have become a rival to the parliament, but +this was an immediate failure. In May 1679 he prorogued the new +parliament which had attainted Danby, and in July dissolved it, while in +October he prorogued another parliament of the same mind till January +and finally till October 1680, having resolved "to wait till this +violence should wear off." He even made overtures to Shaftesbury in +November 1679, but the latter insisted on the departure of both the +queen and James. All attempts at compromise failed, and on the +assembling of the parliament in October 1680 the Exclusion Bill passed +the Commons, being, however, thrown out in the Lords through the +influence of Halifax. Charles dissolved the parliament in January 1681, +declaring that he would never give his consent to the Exclusion Bill, +and summoned another at Oxford, which met there on the 21st of March +1681, Shaftesbury's faction arriving accompanied by armed bands. Charles +expressed his willingness to consent to the handing over of the +administration to the control of a Protestant, in the case of a Roman +Catholic sovereign, but the Opposition insisted on Charles's nomination +of Monmouth as his successor, and the parliament was accordingly once +more (28th of March) dissolved by Charles, while a royal proclamation +ordered to be read in all the churches proclaimed the ill-deeds of the +parliament and the king's affection for the Protestant religion. + +Charles's tenacity and clever tact were now rewarded. A great popular +reaction ensued in favour of the monarchy, and a large number of loyal +addresses were sent in, most of them condemning the Exclusion Bill. +Shaftesbury was imprisoned, and though the Middlesex jury threw out his +indictment and he was liberated, he never recovered his power, and in +October 1682 left England for ever. The Exclusion Bill and the +limitation of James's powers were no more heard of, and full liberty +was granted to the king to pursue the retrograde and arbitrary policy to +which his disposition naturally inclined. In Scotland James set up a +tyrannical administration of the worst type. The royal enmity towards +William of Orange was increased by a visit of the latter to England in +July. No more parliaments were called, and Charles subsisted on his +permanent revenue and his French pensions. He continued the policy of +double-dealing and treachery, deceiving his ministers as at the treaty +of Dover, by pretending to support Holland and Spain while he was +secretly engaged to Louis to betray them. On the 22nd of March 1681 he +entered into a compact with Louis whereby he undertook to desert his +allies and offer no resistance to French aggressions. In August he +joined with Spain and Holland in a manifesto against France, while +secretly for a million livres he engaged himself to Louis, and in 1682 +he proposed himself as arbitrator with the intention of treacherously +handing over Luxemburg to France, an offer which was rejected owing to +Spanish suspicions of collusion. In the event, Charles's duplicity +enabled Louis to seize Strassburg in 1681 and Luxemburg in 1684. The +government at home was carried on principally by Rochester, Sunderland +and Godolphin, while Guilford was lord chancellor and Jeffreys lord +chief justice. The laws against the Nonconformists were strictly +enforced. In order to obtain servile parliaments and also obsequious +juries, who with the co-operation of judges of the stamp of Jeffreys +could be depended upon to carry out the wishes of the court, the borough +charters were confiscated, the charter of the city of London being +forfeited on the 12th of June 1683. + +The popularity of Charles, now greatly increased, was raised to national +enthusiasm by the discovery of the Rye House plot in 1683, said to be a +scheme to assassinate Charles and James at an isolated house on the high +road near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire as they returned from Newmarket to +London, among those implicated being Algernon Sidney, Lord Russell and +Monmouth, the two former paying the death penalty and Monmouth being +finally banished to the Hague. The administration became more and more +despotic, and Tangier was abandoned in order to reduce expenses and to +increase the forces at home for overawing opposition. The first +preliminary steps were now taken for the reintroduction of the Roman +Catholic religion. Danby and those confined on account of participation +in the popish plot were liberated, and Titus Oates thrown into prison. A +scheme was announced for withdrawing the control of the army in Ireland +from Rochester, the lord-lieutenant, and placing it in the king's own +hands, and the commission to which the king had delegated ecclesiastical +patronage was revoked. In May 1684 the office of lord high admiral, in +spite of the Test Act, was again given to James, who had now returned +from Scotland. To all appearances the same policy afterwards pursued so +recklessly and disastrously by James was now cautiously initiated by +Charles, who, however, not being inspired by the same religious zeal as +his brother, and not desiring "to go on his travels again," would +probably have drawn back prudently before his throne was endangered. The +developments of this movement were, however, now interrupted by the +death of Charles after a short illness on the 6th of February 1685. He +was buried on the 17th in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey with +funeral ceremonies criticized by contemporaries as mean and wanting in +respect, but the scantiness of which was probably owing to the fact that +he had died a Roman Catholic. + +On his death-bed Charles had at length declared himself an adherent of +that religion and had received the last rites according to the Romanist +usage. There appears to be no trustworthy record of his formal +conversion, assigned to various times and various agencies. As a youth, +says Clarendon, "the ill-bred familiarity of the Scotch divines had +given him a distaste" for Presbyterianism, which he indeed declared "no +religion for gentlemen," and the mean figure which the fallen national +church made in exile repelled him at the same time that he was attracted +by the "genteel part of the Catholic religion." With Charles religion +was not the serious matter it was with James, and was largely regarded +from the political aspect and from that of ease and personal +convenience. Presbyterianism constituted a dangerous encroachment on the +royal prerogative; the national church and the cavalier party were +indeed the natural supporters of the authority of the crown, but on the +other hand they refused to countenance the dependence upon France; Roman +Catholicism at that moment was the obvious medium of governing without +parliaments, of French pensions and of reigning without trouble, and was +naturally the faith of Charles's choice. Of the two papers in defence of +the Roman Catholic religion in Charles's own hand, published by James, +Halifax says "though neither his temper nor education made him very fit +to be an author, yet in this case ... he might write it all himself and +yet not one word of it his own...." + +Of his amours and mistresses the same shrewd observer of human +character, who was also well acquainted with the king, declares "that +his inclinations to love were the effects of health and a good +constitution with as little mixture of the _seraphic_ part as ever man +had.... I am apt to think his stayed as much as any man's ever did in +the _lower_ region." His health was the one subject to which he gave +unremitting attention, and his fine constitution and devotion to all +kinds of sport and physical exercise kept off the effects of +uncontrolled debauchery for thirty years. In later years the society of +his mistresses seems to have been chiefly acceptable as a means to avoid +business and petitioners, and in the case of the duchess of Portsmouth +was the price paid for ease and the continuance of the French pensions. +His ministers he never scrupled to sacrifice to his ease. The love of +ease exercised an entire sovereignty in his thoughts. "The motive of his +giving bounties was rather to make men less uneasy to him than more easy +to themselves." He would rob his own treasury and take bribes to press a +measure through the council. He had a natural affability, but too +general to be much valued, and he was fickle and deceitful. Neither +gratitude nor revenge moved him, and good or ill services left little +impression on his mind. Halifax, however, concludes by desiring to +moderate the roughness of his picture by emphasizing the excellence of +his intellect and memory and his mechanical talent, by deprecating a too +censorious judgment and by dwelling upon the disadvantages of his +bringing up, the difficulties and temptations of his position, and on +the fact that his vices were those common to human frailty. His capacity +for king-craft, knowledge of the world, and easy address enabled him to +surmount difficulties and dangers which would have proved fatal to his +father or to his brother. "It was a common saying that he could send +away a person better pleased at receiving nothing than those in the good +king his father's time that had requests granted them,"[1] and his +good-humoured tact and familiarity compensated for and concealed his +ingratitude and perfidy and preserved his popularity. He had good taste +in art and literature, was fond of chemistry and science, and the Royal +Society was founded in his reign. According to Evelyn he was "debonnaire +and easy of access, naturally kind-hearted and possessed an excellent +temper," virtues which covered a multitude of sins. + +These small traits of amiability, however, which pleased his +contemporaries, cannot disguise for us the broad lines of Charles's +career and character. How far the extraordinary corruption of private +morals which has gained for the restoration period so unenviable a +notoriety was owing to the king's own example of flagrant debauchery, +how far to the natural reaction from an artificial Puritanism, is +uncertain, but it is incontestable that Charles's cynical selfishness +was the chief cause of the degradation of public life which marks his +reign, and of the disgraceful and unscrupulous betrayal of the national +interests which raised France to a threatening predominance and +imperilled the very existence of Britain for generations. The reign of +his predecessor Charles I., and even of that of his successor James II., +with their mistaken principles and ideals, have a saving dignity wholly +wanting in that of Charles II., and the administration of Cromwell, in +spite of the popularity of the restoration, was soon regretted. "A lazy +Prince," writes Pepys, "no Council, no money, no reputation at home or +abroad. It is strange how ... everybody do nowadays reflect upon Oliver +and commend him, what brave things he did and made all the neighbour +princes fear him; while here a prince, come in with all the love and +prayers and good liking of his people ... hath lost all so soon...." + +Charles II. had no children by his queen. By his numerous mistresses he +had a large illegitimate progeny. By Barbara Villiers, Mrs Palmer, +afterwards countess of Castlemaine and duchess of Cleveland, mistress +_en titre_ till she was superseded by the duchess of Portsmouth, he had +Charles Fitzroy, duke of Southampton and Cleveland, Henry Fitzroy, duke +of Grafton, George Fitzroy, duke of Northumberland, Anne, countess of +Sussex, Charlotte, countess of Lichfield, and Barbara, a nun; by Louise +de Keroualle, duchess of Portsmouth, Charles Lennox, duke of Richmond; +by Lucy Walter, James, duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, and a daughter; +by Nell Gwyn, Charles Beauclerk, duke of St Albans, and James Beauclerk; +by Catherine Peg, Charles Fitz Charles, earl of Plymouth; by Lady +Shannon, Charlotte, countess of Yarmouth; by Mary Davis, Mary Tudor, +countess of Derwentwater. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--See the article in the _Dict, of Nat. Biog._ by A.W. + Ward (1887), with authorities there given; _Charles II._, by O. Airy + (1904); _Life of Sir G. Savile_, by H.C. Foxcroft, and esp. Halifax's + _Character of Charles II._ printed in the appendix (1898); _The Essex + Papers_ (Camden Soc., 1890); _Despatches of W. Perwich_ (Royal Hist. + Soc. Pubtns., 1903); _History of England, of the Civil War_ and _of + the Commonwealth_, by S.R. Gardiner; _Hist. of Scotland_, by A. Lang, + vol. iii. (1904); Macaulay's _Hist, of England_, vol. i.; _Notes which + passed at Meetings of the Privy Council between Charles II. and the + Earl of Clarendon_ (Roxburghe Club, 1896); _A French Ambassador at the + Court of Charles II._, by J.J. Jusserand (1902); _The Story of Nell + Gwyn and the Sayings of Charles II._, by P. Cunningham, ed. by H.B. + Wheatley (1892); for his adventures and period of exile see _Memoiren + der Herzogin Sophie_, ed. by A. Kocher (1879); "Briefe der Elisabeth + Stuart," by A. Wendland (_Litterarischer Verein in Stuttgart_, No. + 228); Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, Mlle de Montpensier and Mme de + Motteville; _The King in Exile_, by E. Scott (1905); Scottish History + Pubtns. vols. 17 (_Charles II. in Scotland_, by S.R. Gardiner, 1894) + and 18 (_Scotland and the Commonwealth, 1651-1653_, ed. by C.H. Firth, + 1895); _Charles II. in the Channel Islands_, by S.E. Hoskins (1854) i + _Boscobel_, by T. Blount, &c., ed. by C.G. Thomas (1894); _The Flight + of the King_ (1897) and _After Worcester Fight_ (1904), by A. Fea; + _Edinburgh Review_, (January 1894); _Eng. Hist. Rev._ xix. (1904) 363; + _Revue historique_, xxviii. and xxix.; _Art Journal_ (1889), p. 178 + ("Boscobel and Whiteladies," by J. Penderel-Brodhurst); _England under + Charles II._, by W.F. Taylor (1889), a collection of passages from + contemporary writers; and R. Crawfurd, _The Last Days of Charles II._ + (1909). (P. C. Y.) + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] _Mem. of Thomas, earl of Ailesbury_, p. 95. + + + + +CHARLES I. and II., kings of France. By the French, Charles the Great, +Roman emperor and king of the Franks, is reckoned the first of the +series of French kings named Charles (see CHARLEMAGNE). Similarly the +emperor Charles II. the Bald (q.v.) is reckoned as Charles II. of +France. In some enumerations the emperor Charles III. the Fat (q.v.) is +reckoned as Charles II. of France, Charlemagne not being included in the +list, and Charles the Bald being styled Charles I. + + + + +CHARLES III., the Simple (879-929), king of France, was a posthumous son +of Louis the Stammerer and of his second wife Adelaide. On the +deposition of Charles the Fat in 887 he was excluded from the throne by +his youth; but during the reign of Odo, who had succeeded Charles, he +succeeded in gaining the recognition of a certain number of notables and +in securing his coronation at Reims on the 28th of January 893. He now +obtained the alliance of the emperor, and forced Odo to cede part of +Neustria. In 898, by the death of his rival (Jan. 1), he obtained +possession of the whole kingdom. His most important act was the treaty +of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte with the Normans in 911. Some of them were +baptized; the territory which was afterwards known as the duchy of +Normandy was ceded to them; but the story of the marriage of their chief +Rollo with a sister of the king, related by the chronicler Dudo of Saint +Quentin, is very doubtful. The same year Charles, on the invitation of +the barons, took possession of the kingdom of Lotharingia. In 920 the +barons, jealous of the growth of the royal authority and discontented +with the favour shown by the king to his counsellor Hagano, rebelled, +and in 922 elected Robert, brother of King Odo, in place of Charles. +Robert was killed in the battle of Soissons, but the victory remained +with his party, who elected Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, king. In his +extremity Charles trusted himself to Herbert, count of Vermandois, who +deceived him, and threw him into confinement at Chateau-Thierry and +afterwards at Peronne. In the latter town he died on the 7th of October +929. In 907 he had married Frederona, sister of Bovo, bishop of Chalons. +After her death he married Eadgyfu (Odgiva), daughter of Edward the +Elder, king of the English, who was the mother of Louis IV. + + See A. Eckel, _Charles le Simple_ (Paris, 1899). + + + + +CHARLES IV. (1294-1328), king of France, called THE FAIR, was the third +and youngest son of Philip IV. and Jeanne of Navarre. In 1316 he was +created count of La Marche, and succeeded his brother Philip V. as king +of France and Navarre early in 1322. He followed the policy of his +predecessors in enforcing the royal authority over the nobles, but the +machinery of a centralized government strong enough to hold nobility in +check increased the royal expenditure, to meet which Charles had +recourse to doubtful financial expedients. At the beginning of his reign +he ordered a recast of the coinage, with serious results to commerce; +civil officials were deprived of offices, which had been conferred free, +but were now put up to auction; duties were imposed on exported +merchandise and on goods brought into Paris; the practice of exacting +heavy fines was encouraged by making the salaries of the magistrates +dependent on them; and on the pretext of a crusade to free Armenia from +the Turks, Charles obtained from the pope a tithe levied on the clergy, +the proceeds of which he kept for his own use; he also confiscated the +property of the Lombard bankers who had been invited to France by his +father at a time of financial crisis. The history of the assemblies +summoned by Charles IV. is obscure, but in 1326, on the outbreak of war +with England, an assembly of prelates and barons met at Meaux. +Commissioners were afterwards despatched to the provinces to state the +position of affairs and to receive complaints. The king justified his +failure to summon the estates on the ground of the expense incurred by +provincial deputies. The external politics of his reign were not marked +by any striking events. He maintained excellent relations with Pope John +XXII., who made overtures to him, indirectly, offering his support in +case of his candidature for the imperial crown. Charles tried to form a +party in Italy in support of the pope against the emperor Louis IV. of +Bavaria, but failed. A treaty with the English which secured the +district of Agenais for France was followed by a feudal war in Guienne. +Isabella, Charles's sister and the wife of Edward II., was sent to +France to negotiate, and with her brother's help arranged the final +conspiracy against her husband. Charles's first wife was Blanche, +daughter of Otto IV., count of Burgundy, and of Matilda (Mahaut), +countess of Artois, to whom he was married in 1307. In May 1314, by +order of King Philip IV., she was arrested and imprisoned in the +Chateau-Gaillard with her sister-in-law Marguerite, daughter of Robert +II., duke of Burgundy, and wife of Louis Hutin, on the charge of +adultery with two gentlemen of the royal household, Philippe and Gautier +d'Aunai. Jeanne, sister of Marguerite and wife of Philip the Tall, was +also arrested for not having denounced the culprits, and imprisoned at +Dourdan. The two knights were put to the torture and executed, and their +goods confiscated. It is impossible to say how far the charges were +true. Tradition has involved and obscured the story, which is the origin +of the legend of the _tour de Nesle_ made famous by the drama of A. +Dumas the elder. Marguerite died shortly in prison; Jeanne was declared +innocent by the parlement and returned to her husband. Blanche was still +in prison when Charles became king. He induced Pope John XXII. to +declare the marriage null, on the ground that Blanche's mother had been +his godmother. Blanche died in 1326, still in confinement, though at the +last in the abbey of Maubuisson. + +In 1322, freed from his first marriage, Charles married his cousin Mary +of Luxemburg, daughter of the emperor Henry VII., and upon her death, +two years later, Jeanne, daughter of Louis, count of Evreux. Charles IV. +died at Vincennes on the 1st of February 1328. He left no issue by his +first two wives to succeed him, and daughters only by Jeanne of Evreux. +He was the last of the direct line of Capetians. + + See A. d'Herbomey, "Notes et documents pour servir a l'histoire des + rois fils de Philippe le Bel," in _Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes_ (lix. + pp. 479 seq. and 689 seq.); de Brequigny, "Memoire sur les differends + entre la France et l'Angleterre sous le regne de Charles le Bel," in + _Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions_ (xli. pp. 641-692); H. Lot, + "Projets de crusade sous Charles le Bel et sous Philippe de Valois" + (_Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes_, xx. pp. 503-509); "Chronique + parisienne anonyme de 1316 a 1339 ..." ed. Hellot in _Mem. de la soc. + de l'hist. de Paris_ (xi., 1884, pp. 1-207). + + + + +CHARLES V. (1337-1380), king of France, called THE WISE, was born at the +chateau of Vincennes on the 21st of January 1337, the son of John II. +and Bonne of Luxemburg. In 1349 he became dauphin of the Viennois by +purchase from Humbert II., and in 1355 he was created duke of Normandy. +At the battle of Poitiers (1356) his father ordered him to leave the +field when the battle turned against the French, and he was thus saved +from the imprisonment that overtook his father. After arranging for the +government of Normandy he proceeded to Paris, where he took the title of +lieutenant of the kingdom. During the years of John II.'s imprisonment +in England Charles was virtually king of France. He summoned the +states-general of northern France (Langue d'oil) to Paris in October +1356 to obtain men and money to carry on the war. But under the +leadership of Etienne Marcel, provost of the Parisian merchants and +president of the third estate, and Robert le Coq, bishop of Laon, +president of the clergy, a partisan of Charles of Navarre, the states +refused any "aid" except on conditions which Charles declined to accept. +They demanded the dismissal of a number of the royal ministers; the +establishment of a commission elected from the three estates to regulate +the dauphin's administration, and of another board to act as council of +war; also the release of Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, who had been +imprisoned by King John. The estates of Languedoc, summoned to Toulouse, +also made protests against misgovernment, but they agreed to raise a +war-levy on terms to which the dauphin acceded. Charles sought the +alliance of his uncle, the emperor Charles IV., to whom he did homage at +Metz as dauphin of the Viennois, and he was also made imperial vicar of +Dauphine, thus acknowledging the imperial jurisdiction. But he gained +small material advantage from these proceedings. The states-general were +again convoked in February 1357. Their demands were more moderate than +in the preceding year, but they nominated members to replace certain +obnoxious persons on the royal council, demanded the right to assemble +without the royal summons, and certain administrative reforms. In return +they promised to raise and finance an army of 30,000 men, but the +money--a tithe levied on the annual revenues of the clergy and +nobility--voted for this object was not to pass through the dauphin's +hands. Charles appeared to consent, but the agreement was annulled by +letters from King John, announcing at the same time the conclusion of a +two years' truce, and the reformers failed to secure their ends. Charles +had escaped from their power by leaving Paris, but he returned for a new +meeting of the estates in the autumn of 1357. + +Meanwhile Charles of Navarre had been released by his partisans, and +allying himself with Marcel had become a popular hero in Paris. The +dauphin was obliged to receive him and to undergo an apparent +reconciliation. In Paris Etienne Marcel was supreme. He forced his way +into the dauphin's palace (February 1358), and Charles's servant, Jean +de Conflans, marshal of Champagne, and Robert de Clermont, marshal of +Normandy, were murdered before his eyes. Charles was powerless openly to +resent these outrages, but he obtained from the provincial assemblies +the money refused him by the states-general, and deferred his vengeance +until the dissensions of his enemies should offer him an opportunity. +Charles of Navarre, now in league with the English and master of lower +Normandy and of the approaches to Paris, returned to the immediate +neighbourhood of the city, and Marcel found himself driven to avowed +co-operation with the dauphin's enemies, the English and the Navarrese. +Charles had been compelled in March to take the title of regent to +prevent the possibility of further intervention from King John. In +defiance of a recent ordinance prohibiting provincial assemblies, he +presided over the estates of Picardy and Artois, and then over those of +Champagne. The states-general of 1358 were summoned to Compiegne instead +of Paris, and granted a large aid. The condition of northern France was +rendered more desperate by the outbreak (May-June 1358) of the peasant +revolt known as the Jacquerie, which was repressed with a barbarity far +exceeding the excesses of the rebels. Within the walls of Paris Jean +Maillart had formed a royalist party; Marcel was assassinated (31st July +1358), and the dauphin entered Paris in the following month. A reaction +in Charles's favour had set in, and from the estates of 1359 he regained +the authority he had lost. It was with their full concurrence that he +restored their honours to the officials who had been dismissed by the +estates of 1356 and 1357. They supported him in repudiating the treaty +of London (1359), which King John had signed in anxiety for his personal +freedom, and voted money unconditionally for the continuation of the +war. From this time the estates were only once convoked by Charles, who +contented himself thenceforward by appeals to the assembly of notables +or to the provincial bodies. Charles of Navarre was now at open war with +the regent; Edward III. landed at Calais in October; and a great part of +the country was exposed to double depredations from the English and the +Navarrese troops. In the scarcity of money Charles had recourse to the +debasement of the coinage, which suffered no less than twenty-two +variations in the two years before the treaty of Bretigny. This +disastrous financial expedient was made good later, the coinage being +established on a firm basis during the last sixteen years of Charles's +reign in accordance with the principles of Nicolas Oresme. On the +conclusion of peace King John was restored to France, but, being unable +to raise his ransom, he returned in 1364 to England, where he died in +April, leaving the crown to Charles, who was crowned at Reims on the +19th of May. + +The new king found an able servant in Bertrand du Guesclin, who won a +victory over the Navarrese troops at Cocherel and took prisoner their +best general, Jean de Grailli, captal of Buch. The establishment of +Charles's brother, Philip the Bold, in the duchy of Burgundy, though it +constituted in the event a serious menace to the monarchy, put an end to +the king of Navarre's ambitions in that direction. A treaty of peace +between the two kings was signed in 1365, by which Charles of Navarre +gave up Mantes, Meulan and the county of Longueville in exchange for +Montpellier. Negotiations were renewed in 1370 when Charles of Navarre +did homage for his French possessions, though he was then considering an +offensive and defensive alliance with Edward III. Du Guesclin undertook +to free France from the depredations of the "free companies," mercenary +soldiers put out of employment by the cessation of the war. An attempt +to send them on a crusade against the Turks failed, and Du Guesclin led +them to Spain to put Henry of Trastamara on the throne of Castile. By +the marriage of his brother Philip the Bold with Margaret of Flanders, +Charles detached the Flemings from the English alliance, and as soon as +he had restored something like order in the internal affairs of the +kingdom he provoked a quarrel with the English. The text of the treaty +of Bretigny presented technical difficulties of which Charles was not +slow to avail himself. The English power in Guienne was weakened by the +disastrous Spanish expedition of the Black Prince, whom Charles summoned +before the parlement of Paris in January 1369 to answer the charges +preferred against him by his subjects, thus expressly repudiating the +English supremacy in Guienne. War was renewed in May after a meeting of +the states-general. Between 1371 and 1373 Poitou and Saintonge were +reconquered by Du Guesclin, and soon the English had to abandon all +their territory north of the Garonne. John IV. of Brittany (Jean de +Montfort) had won his duchy with English help by the defeat of Charles +of Blois, the French nominee, at Auray in 1364. His sympathies remained +English, but he was now (1373) obliged to take refuge in England, and +later in Flanders, while the English only retained a footing in two or +three coast towns. Charles's generals avoided pitched battles, and +contented themselves with defensive and guerrilla tactics, with the +result that in 1380 only Bayonne, Bordeaux, Brest and Calais were still +in English hands. + +Charles had in 1378 obtained proof of Charles of Navarre's treasonable +designs. He seized the Norman towns held by the Navarrese, while Henry +of Trastamara invaded Navarre, and imposed conditions of peace which +rendered his lifelong enemy at last powerless. A premature attempt to +amalgamate the duchy of Brittany with the French crown failed. Charles +summoned the duke to Paris in 1378, and on his non-appearance committed +one of his rare errors of policy by confiscating his duchy. But the +Bretons rose to defend their independence, and recalled their duke. The +matter was still unsettled when Charles died at Vincennes on the 16th of +September 1380. His health, always delicate, had been further weakened, +according to popular report, by a slow poison prepared for him by the +king of Navarre. His wife, Jeanne of Bourbon, died in 1378, and the +succession devolved on their elder son Charles, a boy of twelve. Their +younger son was Louis, duke of Orleans. + +Personally Charles was no soldier. He owed the signal successes of his +reign partly to his skilful choice of advisers and administrators, to +his chancellors Jean and Guillaume de Dormans and Pierre d'Orgemont, to +Hugues Aubriot, provost of Paris, Bureau de la Riviere and others; +partly to a singular coolness and subtlety in the exercise of a not +over-scrupulous diplomacy, which made him a dangerous enemy. He had +learnt prudence and self-restraint in the troubled times of the regency, +and did not lose his moderation in success. He modelled his private life +on that of his predecessor Saint Louis, but was no fanatic in religion, +for he refused his support to the violent methods of the Inquisition in +southern France, and allowed the Jews to return to the country, at the +same time confirming their privileges. His support of the schismatic +pope Clement VII. at Avignon was doubtless due to political +considerations, as favouring the independence of the Gallican church. +Charles V. was a student of astrology, medicine, law and philosophy, and +collected a large and valuable library at the Louvre. He gathered round +him a group of distinguished writers and thinkers, among whom were Raoul +de Presles, Philippe de Mezieres, Nicolas Oresme and others. The ideas +of these men were applied by him to the practical work of +administration, though he confined himself chiefly to the consolidation +and improvement of existing institutions. The power of the nobility was +lessened by restrictions which, without prohibiting private wars, made +them practically impossible. The feudal fortresses were regularly +inspected by the central authority, and the nobles themselves became in +many cases paid officers of the king. Charles established a merchant +marine and a formidable navy, which under Jean de Vienne threatened the +English coast between 1377 and 1380. The states-general were silenced +and the royal prerogative increased; the royal domains were extended, +and the wealth of the crown was augmented; additions were made to the +revenue by the sale of municipal charters and patents; and taxation +became heavier, since Charles set no limits to the gratification of his +tastes either in the collection of jewels and precious objects, of +books, or of his love of building, examples of which are the renovation +of the Louvre and the erection of the palace of Saint Paul in Paris. + + See the chronicles of Froissart, and of Pierre d'Orgemont (_Grandes + Chroniques de Saint Denis_, Paris, vol. vi, 1838); Christine de Pisan, + _Le Livre des fais et bonnes moeurs du sage roy Charles V_, written in + 1404, ed. Michaud and Poujoulat, vol. ii. (1836); L. Delisle, + _Mandements et actes divers de Charles V_ (1886); letters of Charles + V. from the English archives in Champollion-Figeac, _Lettres de rois + et de reines_, ii. pp. 167 seq.; the anonymous _Songe du vergier_ or + _Somnium viridarii_, written in 1376 and giving the political ideas of + Charles V. and his advisers; "Relation de la mort de Charles V" in + Haureau, _Notices et extraits_, xxxi. pp. 278-284; Ch. Benoist, _La + Politique du roi Charles V_ (1874); S. Luce, _La France pendant la + guerre de cent ans_; G. Clement Simon, _La Rupture du traite de + Bretigny_ (1898); A. Vuitry, _Etudes sur le regime financier de la + France_, vols. i. and ii. (1883); and R. Delachenal, _Histoire de + Charles V_ (Paris, 1908). + + + + +CHARLES VI. (1368-1422), king of France, son of Charles V. and Jeanne of +Bourbon, was born in Paris on the 3rd of December 1368. He received the +appanage of Dauphine at his birth, and was thus the first of the princes +of France to bear the title of dauphin from infancy. Charles V. had +entrusted his education to Philippe de Mezieres, and had fixed his +majority at fourteen. He succeeded to the throne in 1380, at the age of +twelve, and the royal authority was divided between his paternal uncles, +Louis, duke of Anjou, John, duke of Berry, Philip the Bold, duke of +Burgundy, and his mother's brother, Louis II., duke of Bourbon. In +accordance with an ordinance of the late king the duke of Anjou became +regent, while the guardianship of the young king, together with the +control of Paris and Normandy, passed to the dukes of Burgundy and +Bourbon, who were to be assisted by certain of the councillors of +Charles V. The duke of Berry, excluded by this arrangement, was +compensated by the government of Languedoc and Guienne. Anjou held the +regency for a few months only, until the king's coronation in November +1380. He enriched himself from the estate of Charles V. and by excessive +exactions, before he set out in 1382 for Italy to effect the conquest of +Naples. Considerable discontent existed in the south of France at the +time of the death of Charles V., and when the duke of Anjou re-imposed +certain taxes which the late king had remitted at the end of his reign, +there were revolts at Puy and Montpellier. Paris, Rouen, the cities of +Flanders, with Amiens, Orleans, Reims and other French towns, also rose +(1382) in revolt against their masters. The _Maillotins_, as the +Parisian insurgents were named from the weapon they used, gained the +upper hand in Paris, and were able temporarily to make terms, but the +commune of Rouen was abolished, and the _Tuchins_, as the marauders in +Languedoc were called, were pitilessly hunted down. Charles VI. marched +to the help of the count of Flanders against the insurgents headed by +Philip van Artevelde, and gained a complete victory at Roosebeke +(November 27th, 1382). Strengthened by this success the king, on his +return to Paris in the following January, exacted vengeance on the +citizens by fines, executions and the suppression of the privileges of +the city. The help sent by the English to the Flemish cities resulted in +a second Flemish campaign. In 1385 Jean de Vienne made an unsuccessful +descent on the Scottish coast, and Charles equipped a fleet at Sluys for +the invasion of England, but a series of delays ended in the destruction +of the ships by the English. + +In 1385 Charles VI. married Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen II., duke of +Bavaria, her name being gallicized as Isabeau. Three years later, with +the help of his brother, Louis of Orleans, duke of Touraine, he threw +off the tutelage of his uncles, whom he replaced by Bureau de la Riviere +and others among his father's counsellors, nicknamed by the royal +princes the _marmousets_ because of their humble origin. Two years later +he deprived the duke of Berry of the government of Languedoc. The +opening years of Charles VI.'s effective rule promised well, but excess +in gaiety of all kinds undermined his constitution, and in 1392 he had +an attack of madness at Le Mans, when on his way to Brittany to force +from John V. the surrender of his cousin Pierre de Craon, who had tried +to assassinate the constable Olivier de Clisson in the streets of Paris. +Other attacks followed, and it became evident that Charles was unable +permanently to sustain the royal authority. Clisson, Bureau de la +Riviere, Jean de Mercier, and the other _marmousets_ were driven from +office, and the royal dukes regained their power. The rivalries between +the most powerful of these--the duke of Burgundy, who during the king's +attacks of madness practically ruled the country, and the duke of +Orleans--were a constant menace to peace. In 1306 peace with England +seemed assured by the marriage of Richard II. with Charles VI.'s +daughter Isabella, but the Lancastrian revolution of 1399 destroyed the +diplomatic advantages gained by this union. In France the country was +disturbed by the papal schism. At an assembly of the clergy held in +Paris in 1398 it was resolved to refuse to recognize the authority of +Benedict XIII., who succeeded Clement VII. as schismatic pope at +Avignon. The question became a party one; Benedict was supported by +Louis of Orleans, while Philip the Bold and the university of Paris +opposed him. Obedience to Benedict's authority was resumed in 1403, only +to be withdrawn again in 1408, when the king declared himself the +guardian and protector of the French church, which was indeed for a time +self-governing. Edicts further extending the royal power in +ecclesiastical affairs were even issued in 1418, after the schism was at +an end. + +The king's intelligence became yearly feebler, and in 1404 the death of +Philip the Bold aggravated the position of affairs. The new duke, John +the Fearless, did not immediately replace his father in general affairs, +and the influence of the duke of Orleans increased. Queen Isabeau, who +had generally supported the Burgundian party, was now practically +separated from her husband, whose madness had become pronounced. She was +replaced by a young Burgundian lady, Odette de Champdivers, called by +her contemporaries _la petite reine_, who rescued the king from the +state of neglect into which he had fallen. Isabeau of Bavaria was freely +accused of intrigue with the duke of Orleans. She was from time to time +regent of France, and as her policy was directed by personal +considerations and by her love of splendour she further added to the +general distress. The relations between John the Fearless and the duke +of Orleans became more embittered, and on the 23rd of November 1407 +Orleans was murdered in the streets of Paris at the instigation of his +rival. The young duke Charles of Orleans married the daughter of the +Gascon count Bernard VII. of Armagnac, and presently formed alliances +with the dukes of Berry, Bourbon and Brittany, and others who formed the +party known as the Armagnacs (see ARMAGNAC), against the Burgundians who +had gained the upper hand in the royal council. In 1411 John the +Fearless contracted an alliance with Henry IV. of England, and civil war +began in the autumn, but in 1412 the Armagnacs in their turn sought +English aid, and, by promising the sovereignty of Aquitaine to the +English king, gave John the opportunity of posing as defender of France. +In Paris the Burgundians were hand in hand with the corporation of the +butchers, who were the leaders of the Parisian populace. The +malcontents, who took their name from one of their number, Caboche, +penetrated into the palace of the dauphin Louis, and demanded the +surrender of the unpopular members of his household. A royal ordinance, +promising reforms in administration, was promulgated on the 27th of May +1413, and some of the royal advisers were executed. The king and the +dauphin, powerless in the hands of Duke John and the Parisians, appealed +secretly to the Armagnac princes for deliverance. They entered Paris in +September; the ordinance extracted by the Cabochiens was rescinded; and +numbers of the insurgents were banished the city. + +In the next year Henry V. of England, after concluding an alliance with +Burgundy, resumed the pretensions of Edward III. to the crown of France, +and in 1415 followed the disastrous battle of Agincourt. The two elder +sons of Charles VI., Louis, duke of Guienne, and John, duke of Touraine, +died in 1415 and 1417, and Charles, count of Ponthieu, became heir +apparent. Paris was governed by Bernard of Armagnac, constable of +France, who expelled all suspected of Burgundian sympathies and treated +Paris like a conquered city. Queen Isabeau was imprisoned at Tours, but +escaped to Burgundy. The capture of Paris by the Burgundians on the 20th +of May 1418 was followed by a series of horrible massacres of the +Armagnacs; and in July Duke John and Isabeau, who assumed the title of +regent, entered Paris. Meanwhile Henry V. had completed the conquest of +Normandy. The murder of John the Fearless in 1419 under the eyes of the +dauphin Charles threw the Burgundians definitely into the arms of the +English, and his successor Philip the Good, in concert with Queen +Isabeau, concluded (1420) the treaty of Troyes with Henry V., who became +master of France. Charles VI. had long been of no account in the +government, and the state of neglect in which he existed at Senlis +induced Henry V. to undertake the re-organization of his household. He +came to Paris in September 1422, and died on the 21st of October. + + The chief authorities for the reign of Charles VI. are:--_Chronica + Caroli VI._, written by a monk of Saint Denis, commissioned officially + to write the history of his time, edited by C. Bellaguet with a French + translation (6 vols., 1839-1852); Jean Juvenal des Ursins, + _Chronique_, printed by D. Godefroy in _Histoire de Charles VI_ + (1653), chiefly an abridgment of the monk of St Denis's narrative; a + fragment of the _Grandes Chroniques de Saint Denis_ covering the years + 1381 to 1383 (ed. J. Pichon 1864); correspondence of Charles VI. + printed by Champollion-Figeac in _Lettres de rois_, vol. ii.; _Choix + de pieces inedites rel. au regne de Charles VI_ (2 vols., 1863-1864), + edited by L. Douet d'Arcq for the Societe de l'Histoire de France; J. + Froissart, _Chroniques_; Enguerrand de Monstrelet, _Chroniques_, + covering the first half of the 15th century (Eng. trans., 4 vols., + 1809); _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_, by an unknown author, + ed. S. Luce (1862). See also E. Lavisse, _Hist, de France_, iv. 267 + seq.; E. Petit, "Sejours de Charles VI," _Bull. du com. des travaux + hist._ (1893); Vallet de Viriville, "Isabeau de Baviere," _Revue + francaise_ (1858-1859); M. Thibaut, _Isabeau de Baviere_ (1903). + + + + +CHARLES VII. (1403-1461), king of France, fifth son of Charles VI. and +Isabeau of Bavaria, was born in Paris on the 22nd of February 1403. The +count of Ponthieu, as he was called in his boyhood, was betrothed in +1413 to Mary of Anjou, daughter of Louis II., duke of Anjou and king of +Sicily, and spent the next two years at the Angevin court. He received +the duchy of Touraine in 1416, and in the next year the death of his +brother John made him dauphin of France. He became lieutenant-general of +the kingdom in 1417, and made active efforts to combat the complaisance +of his mother. He assumed the title of regent in December 1418, but his +authority in northern France was paralysed in 1419 by the murder of John +the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, in his presence at Montereau. Although +the deed was not apparently premeditated, as the English and Burgundians +declared, it ruined Charles's cause for the time. He was disinherited by +the treaty of Troyes in 1420, and at the time of his father's death in +1422 had retired to Mehun-sur-Yevre, near Bourges, which had been the +nominal seat of government since 1418. He was recognized as king in +Touraine, Berry and Poitou, in Languedoc and other provinces of southern +France; but the English power in the north was presently increased by +the provinces of Champagne and Maine, as the result of the victories of +Crevant (1423) and Verneuil (1424). The Armagnac administrators who had +been driven out of Paris by the duke of Bedford gathered round the young +king, nicknamed the "king of Bourges," but he was weak in body and mind, +and was under the domination of Jean Louvet and Tanguy du Chastel, the +instigators of the murder of John the Fearless, and other discredited +partisans. The power of these favourites was shaken by the influence of +the queen's mother, Yolande of Aragon, duchess of Anjou. She sought the +alliance of John V., duke of Brittany, who, however, vacillated +throughout his life between the English and French alliance, concerned +chiefly to maintain the independence of his duchy. His brother, Arthur +of Brittany, earl of Richmond (comte de Richemont), was reconciled with +the king, and became constable in 1425, with the avowed intention of +making peace between Charles VII. and the duke of Burgundy. Richemont +caused the assassination of Charles's favourites Pierre de Giac and Le +Camus de Beaulieu, and imposed one of his own choosing, Georges de la +Tremoille, an adventurer who rapidly usurped the constable's power. For +five years (1427-1432) a private war between these two exhausted the +Armagnac forces, and central France returned to anarchy. + +Meanwhile Bedford had established settled government throughout the +north of France, and in 1428 he advanced to the siege of Orleans. For +the movement which was to lead to the deliverance of France from the +English invaders, see JOAN OF ARC. The siege of Orleans was raised by +her efforts on the 8th of May 1429, and two months later Charles VII. +was crowned at Reims. Charles's intimate counsellors, La Tremoille and +Regnault de Chartres, archbishop of Reims, saw their profits menaced by +the triumphs of Joan of Arc, and accordingly the court put every +difficulty in the way of her military career, and received the news of +her capture before Compiegne (1430) with indifference. No measures were +taken for her deliverance or her ransom, and Normandy and the Isle of +France remained in English hands. Fifteen years of anarchy and civil war +intervened before peace was restored. Bands of armed men fighting for +their own hand traversed the country, and in the ten years between 1434 +and 1444 the provinces were terrorized by these _ecorcheurs_, who, with +the decline of discipline in the English army, were also recruited from +the ranks of the invaders. The duke of Bedford died in 1435, and in the +same year Philip the Good of Burgundy concluded a treaty with Charles +VII. at Arras, after fruitless negotiations for an English treaty. From +this time Charles's policy was strengthened. La Tremoille had been +assassinated in 1433 by the constable's orders, with the connivance of +Yolande of Aragon. For his former favourites were substituted energetic +advisers, his brother-in-law Charles of Anjou, Dunois (the famous +bastard of Orleans), Pierre de Breze, Richemont and others. Richemont +entered Paris on the 13th of April 1436, and in the next five years the +finance of the country was re-established on a settled basis. Charles +himself commanded the troops who captured Pontoise in 1441, and in the +next year he made a successful expedition in the south. + +Meanwhile the princes of the blood and the great nobles resented the +ascendancy of councillors and soldiers drawn from the smaller nobility +and the _bourgeoisie_. They made a formidable league against the crown +in 1440 which included Charles I., duke of Bourbon, John II., duke of +Alencon, John IV. of Armagnac, and the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. The +revolt broke out in Poitou in 1440 and was known as the _Praguerie_. +Charles VII. repressed the rising, and showed great skill with the rebel +nobles, finally buying them over individually by considerable +concessions. In 1444 a truce was concluded with England at Tours, and +Charles proceeded to organize a regular army. The central authority was +gradually made effective, and a definite system of payment, by removing +the original cause of brigandage, and the establishment of a strict +discipline learnt perhaps from the English troops, gradually stamped out +the most serious of the many evils under which the country had suffered. +Pierre Bessonneau, and the brothers Gaspard and Jean Bureau created a +considerable force of artillery. Domestic troubles in their own country +weakened the English in France. The conquest of Normandy was completed +by the battle of Formigny (15th of April 1450). Guienne was conquered in +1451 by Duncis, but not subdued, and another expedition was necessary in +1453, when Talbot was defeated and slain at Castillon. Meanwhile in 1450 +Charles VII. had resolved on the rehabilitation of Joan of Arc, thus +rendering a tardy recognition of her services. This was granted in 1456 +by the Holy See. The only foothold retained by the English on French +ground was Calais. In its earlier stages the deliverance of France from +the English had been the work of the people themselves. The change which +made Charles take an active part in public affairs is said to have been +largely due to the influence of Agnes Sorel, who became his mistress in +1444 and died in 1450. She was the first to play a public and political +role as mistress of a king of France, and may be said to have +established a tradition. Pierre de Breze, who had had a large share in +the repression of the Praguerie, obtained through her a dominating +influence over the king, and he inspired the monarch himself and the +whole administration with new vigour. Charles and Rene of Anjou retired +from court, and the greater part of the members of the king's council +were drawn from the bourgeois classes. The most famous of all these was +Jacques Coeur (q.v.). It was by the zeal of these councillors that +Charles obtained the surname of "The Well-Served." + +Charles VII. continued his father's general policy in church matters. He +desired to lessen the power of the Holy See in France and to preserve as +far as possible the liberties of the Gallican church. With the council +of Constance (1414-1418) the great schism was practically healed. +Charles, while careful to protest against its renewal, supported the +anti-papal contentions of the French members of the council of Basel +(1431-1449), and in 1438 he promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction at +Bourges, by which the patronage of ecclesiastical benefices was removed +from the Holy See, while certain interventions of the royal power were +admitted. Bishops and abbots were to be elected, in accordance with +ancient custom, by their clergy. After the English had evacuated French +territory Charles still had to cope with feudal revolt, and with the +hostility of the dauphin, who was in open revolt in 1446, and for the +next ten years ruled like an independent sovereign in Dauphine. He took +refuge in 1457 with Charles's most formidable enemy, Philip of Burgundy. +Charles VII. nevertheless found means to prevent Philip from attaining +his ambitions in Lorraine and in Germany. But the dauphin succeeded in +embarrassing his father's policy at home and abroad, and had his own +party in the court itself. Charles VII. died at Mehun-sur-Yevre on the +22nd of July 1461. He believed that he was poisoned by his son, who +cannot, however, be accused of anything more than an eager expectation +of his death. + + AUTHORITIES.--The history of the reign of Charles VII. has been + written by two modern historians,--Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de + Charles VII ... et de son epoque_ (Paris, 3 vols., 1862-1865), and G. + du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Hist, de Charles VII_ (Paris, 6 vols., + 1881-1891). There is abundant contemporary material. The herald, + Jacques le Bouvier or Berry (b. 1386), whose _Chronicques du feu roi + Charles VII_ was first printed in 1528 as the work of Alain Chartier, + was an eye-witness of many of the events he described. His + _Recouvrement de Normandie_, with other material on the same subject, + was edited for the "Rolls" series (_Chronicles and Memorials_) by + Joseph Stevenson in 1863. The _Histoire de Charles VII_ by Jean + Chartier, historiographer-royal from 1437, was included in the + _Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis_, and was first printed under + Chartier's name by Denis Godefroy, together with other contemporary + narratives, in 1661. It was re-edited by Vallet de Viriville (Paris, 3 + vols., 1858-1859). With these must be considered the Burgundian + chroniclers Enguerrand de Monstrelet, whose chronicle (ed. L. Douet + d'Arcq; Paris, 6 vols., 1857-1862) covers the years 1400-1444, and + Georges Chastellain, the existing fragments of whose chronicle are + published in his _OEuvres_ (ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove; Brussels, 8 + vols., 1863-1866). For a detailed bibliography and an account of + printed and MS. documents see du Fresne de Beaucourt, already cited, + also A. Molinier, _Manuel de bibliographie historique_, iv. 240-306. + + + + +CHARLES VIII. (1470-1498), king of France, was the only son of Louis XI. +During the whole of his childhood Charles lived far from his father at +the chateau of Amboise, which was throughout his life his favourite +residence. On the death of Louis XI in 1483 Charles, a lad of thirteen, +was of age, but was absolutely incapable of governing. Until 1492 he +abandoned the government to his sister Anne of Beaujeu. In 1491 he +married Anne, duchess of Brittany, who was already betrothed to +Maximilian of Austria. Urged by his favourite, Etienne de Vesc, he then, +at the age of twenty-two, threw off the yoke of the Beaujeus, and at the +same time discarded their wise and able policy. But he was a thoroughly +worthless man with a weak and ill-balanced intellect. He had a romantic +imagination and conceived vast projects. He proposed at first to claim +the rights of the house of Anjou, to which Louis XI. had succeeded, on +the kingdom of Naples, and to use this as a stepping-stone to the +capture of Constantinople from the Turks and his own coronation as +emperor of the East. He sacrificed everything to this adventurous +policy, signed disastrous treaties to keep his hands free, and set out +for Italy in 1494. The ceremonial side of the expedition being in his +eyes the most important, he allowed himself to be intoxicated by his +easy triumph and duped by the Italians. On the 12th of May 1495 he +entered Naples in great pomp, clothed in the imperial insignia. A +general coalition was, however, formed against him, and he was forced to +return precipitately to France. It cannot be denied that he showed +bravery at the battle of Fornovo (the 5th of July 1495). He was +preparing a fresh expedition to Italy, when he died on the 8th of April +1498, from the results of an accident, at the chateau of Amboise. + + See _Histoire de Charles VIII, roy de France_, by G. de Jaligny, Andre + de la Vigne, &c., edited by Godefroy (Paris, 1684); De Cherrier, + _Histoire de Charles VIII_ (Paris, 1868); H. Fr. Delaborde, + _Expedition de Charles VIII en Italie_ (Paris, 1888). For a complete + bibliography see H. Hauser, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France, + 1494-1610_, vol. i. (Paris, 1906); and E. Lavisse, _Histoire de + France_, vol. v. part i., by H. Lemonnier (Paris, 1903). + + + + +CHARLES IX. (1550-1574), king of France, was the third son of Henry II. +and Catherine de' Medici. At first he bore the title of duke of Orleans. +He became king in 1560 by the death of his brother Francis II., but as +he was only ten years old the power was in the hands of the +queen-mother, Catherine. Charles seems to have been a youth of good +parts, lively and agreeable, but he had a weak, passionate and fantastic +nature. His education had spoiled him. He was left to his whims--even +the strangest--and to his taste for violent exercises; and the excesses +to which he gave himself up ruined his health. Proclaimed of age on the +17th of August 1563, he continued to be absorbed in his fantasies and +his hunting, and submitted docilely to the authority of his mother. In +1570 he was married to Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of Maximilian II. +It was about this time that he dreamed of making a figure in the world. +The successes of his brother, the duke of Anjou, at Jarnac and +Moncontour had already caused him some jealousy. When Coligny came to +court, he received him very warmly, and seemed at first to accept the +idea of an intervention in the Netherlands against the Spaniards. For +the upshot of this adventure see the article ST BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE +OF. Charles was in these circumstances no hypocrite, but weak, +hesitating and ill-balanced. Moreover, the terrible events in which he +had played a part transformed his character. He became melancholy, +severe and taciturn. "It is feared," said the Venetian ambassador, "that +he may become cruel." Undermined by fever, at the age of twenty he had +the appearance of an old man, and night and day he was haunted with +nightmares. He died on the 30th of May 1574. By his mistress, Marie +Touchet, he had one son, Charles, duke of Angouleme. Charles IX. had a +sincere love of letters, himself practised poetry, was the patron of +Ronsard and the poets of the Pleiad, and granted privileges to the first +academy founded by Antoine de Baif (afterwards the Academie du Palais). +He left a work on hunting, _Traite de la chasse royale_, which was +published in 1625, and reprinted in 1859. + + AUTHORITIES.--The principal sources are the contemporary memoirs and + chronicles of T.A. d'Aubigne, Brantome, Castelnau, Haton, la Place, + Montluc, la Noue, l'Estoile, Ste Foy, de Thou, Tavannes, &c.; the + published correspondence of Catherine de' Medici, Marguerite de + Valois, and the Venetian ambassadors; and Calendars of State Papers, + &c. See also Abel Desjardins, _Charles IX, deux annees de regne_ + (Paris, 1873); de la Ferriere, _Le XVIe siecle et les Valois_ (Paris, + 1879); H. Mariejol, _La Reforme et la Ligue_ (Paris, 1904), in vol. v. + of the _Histoire de France_, by E. Lavisse, which contains a + bibliography for the reign. + + + + +CHARLES X. (1757-1836), king of France from 1824 to 1830, was the fourth +child of the dauphin, son of Louis XV. and of Marie Josephe of Saxony, +and consequently brother of Louis XVI. He was known before his accession +as Charles Philippe, count of Artois. At the age of sixteen he married +Marie Therese of Savoy, sister-in-law of his brother, the count of +Provence (Louis XVIII.). His youth was passed in scandalous dissipation, +which drew upon himself and his coterie the detestation of the people of +Paris. Although lacking military tastes, he joined the French army at +the siege of Gibraltar in 1772, merely for distraction. In a few years +he had incurred a debt of 56 million francs, a burden assumed by the +impoverished state. Prior to the Revolution he took only a minor part in +politics, but when it broke out he soon became, with the queen, the +chief of the reactionary party at court. In July 1789 he left France, +became leader of the _emigres_, and visited several of the courts of +Europe in the interest of the royalist cause. After the execution of +Louis XVI. he received from his brother, the count of Provence, the +title of lieutenant-general of the realm, and, on the death of Louis +XVII., that of "Monsieur." In 1795 he attempted to aid the royalist +rising of La Vendee, landing at the island of Yeu. But he refused to +advance farther and to put himself resolutely at the head of his party, +although warmly acclaimed by it, and courage failing him, he returned to +England, settling first in London, then in Holyrood Palace at Edinburgh +and afterwards at Hartwell. There he remained until 1813, returning to +France in February 1814, and entering Paris in April, in the track of +the Allies. + +During the reign of his brother, Louis XVIII., he was the leader of the +ultra-royalists, the party of extreme reaction. On succeeding to the +throne in September 1824 the dignity of his address and his affable +condescension won him a passing popularity. But his coronation at Reims, +with all the gorgeous ceremonial of the old regime, proclaimed his +intention of ruling, as the Most Christian King, by divine right. His +first acts, indeed, allayed the worst alarms of the Liberals; but it was +soon apparent that the weight of the crown would be consistently thrown +into the scale of the reactionary forces. The _emigres_ were awarded a +milliard as compensation for their confiscated lands; and Gallicans and +Liberals alike were offended by measures which threw increased power +into the hands of the Jesuits and Ultramontanes. In a few months there +were disquieting signs of the growing unpopularity of the king. The +royal princesses were insulted in the streets; and on the 29th of April +1825 Charles, when reviewing the National Guard, was met with cries from +the ranks of "Down with the ministers!" His reply was, next day, a +decree disbanding the citizen army. + +It was not till 1829, when the result of the elections had proved the +futility of Villele's policy of repression, that Charles consented +unwillingly to try a policy of compromise. It was, however, too late. +Villele's successor was the vicomte de Martignac, who took Decazes for +his model; and in the speech from the throne Charles declared that the +happiness of France depended on "the sincere union of the royal +authority with the liberties consecrated by the charter." But Charles +had none of the patience and commonsense which had enabled Louis XVIII. +to play with decency the part of a constitutional king. "I would rather +hew wood," he exclaimed, "than be a king under the conditions of the +king of England"; and when the Liberal opposition obstructed all the +measures proposed by a ministry not selected from the parliamentary +majority, he lost patience. "I told you," he said, "that there was no +coming to terms with these men." Martignac was dismissed; and Prince +Jules de Polignac, the very incarnation of clericalism and reaction, was +called to the helm of state. + +The inevitable result was obvious to all the world. "There is no such +thing as political experience," wrote Wellington, certainly no friend of +Liberalism; "with the warning of James II. before him, Charles X. was +setting up a government by priests, through priests, for priests." A +formidable agitation sprang up in France, which only served to make the +king more obstinate. In opening the session of 1830 he declared that he +would "find the power" to overcome the obstacles placed in his path by +"culpable manoeuvres." The reply of the chambers was a protest against +"the unjust distrust of the sentiment and reason of France"; whereupon +they were first prorogued, and on the 16th of May dissolved. The result +of the new elections was what might have been foreseen: a large increase +in the Opposition; and Charles, on the advice of his ministers, +determined on a virtual suspension of the constitution. On the 25th of +July were issued the famous "four ordinances" which were the immediate +cause of the revolution that followed. + +With singular fatuity Charles had taken no precautions in view of a +violent outbreak. Marshal Marmont, who commanded the scattered troops in +Paris, had received no orders, beyond a jesting command from the duke of +Angouleme to place them under arms "as some windows might be broken." At +the beginning of the revolution Charles was at St Cloud, whence on the +news of the fighting he withdrew first to Versailles and then to +Rambouillet. So little did he understand the seriousness of the +situation that, when the laconic message "All is over!" was brought to +him, he believed that the insurrection had been suppressed. On realizing +the truth he hastily abdicated in favour of his grandson, the duke of +Bordeaux (comte de Chambord), and appointed Louis Philippe, duke of +Orleans, lieutenant-general of the kingdom (July 30th). But, on the news +of Louis Philippe's acceptance of the crown, he gave up the contest and +began a dignified retreat to the sea-coast, followed by his suite, and +surrounded by the infantry, cavalry and artillery of the guard. Beyond +sending a corps of observation to follow his movements, the new +government did nothing to arrest his escape. At Maintenon Charles took +leave of the bulk of his troops, and proceeding with an escort of some +1200 men to Cherbourg, took ship there for England on the 16th of +August. For a time he returned to Holyrood Palace at Edinburgh, which +was again placed at his disposal. He died at Goritz, whither he had +gone for his health, on the 6th of November 1836. + +The best that can be said of Charles X. is that, if he did not know how +to rule, he knew how to cease to rule. The dignity of his exit was more +worthy of the ancient splendour of the royal house of France than the +theatrical humility of Louis Philippe's entrance. But Charles was an +impossible monarch for the 19th century, or perhaps for any other +century. He was a typical Bourbon, unable either to learn or to forget; +and the closing years of his life he spent in religious austerities, +intended to expiate, not his failure to grasp a great opportunity, but +the comparatively venial excesses of his youth.[1] + + See Achille de Vaulabelle, _Chute de l'empire: histoire des deux + restaurations_ (Paris, 1847-1857); Louis de Vielcastel, _Hist. de la + restauration_ (Paris, 1860-1878); Alphonse de Lamartine, _Hist. de la + restauration_ (Paris, 1851-1852); Louis Blanc, _Hist. de dix ans, + 1830-1840_ (5 vols., 1842-1844); G.I. de Montbel, _Derniere Epoque de + l'hist. de Charles X_ (5th ed., Paris, 1840); Theodore Anne, + _Memoires, souvenirs, et anecdotes sur l'interieur du palais de + Charles X et les evenements de 1815 a 1830_ (2 vols., Paris, 1831); + ib., _Journal de Saint-Cloud a Cherbourg_; Vedrenne, _Vie de Charles + X_ (3 vols., Paris, 1879); Petit, _Charles X_ (Paris, 1886); + Villeneuve, _Charles X et Louis XIX en exil. Memoires inedits_ (Paris, + 1889); Imbert de Saint-Amand, _La Cour de Charles X_ (Paris, 1892). + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] This, at any rate, represents the general verdict of history. It + is interesting, however, to note that so liberal-minded and shrewd a + critic of men as King Leopold I. of the Belgians formed a different + estimate. In a letter of the 18th of November 1836 addressed to + Princess (afterwards Queen) Victoria he writes:--"History will state + that Louis XVIII. was a most liberal monarch, reigning with great + mildness and justice to his end, but that his brother, from his + despotic and harsh disposition, upset all the other had done, and + lost the throne. Louis XVIII. was a clever, hard-hearted man, + shackled by no principle, very proud and false. Charles X. an honest + man, a kind friend, an honourable master, sincere in his opinions, + and inclined to do everything that is right. That teaches us what we + ought to believe in history as it is compiled according to ostensible + events and results known to the generality of people." + + + + +CHARLES I. (1288-1342), king of Hungary, the son of Charles Martell of +Naples, and Clemencia, daughter of the emperor Rudolph, was known as +Charles Robert previously to being enthroned king of Hungary in 1309. He +claimed the Hungarian crown, as the grandson of Stephen V., under the +banner of the pope, and in August 1300 proceeded from Naples to Dalmatia +to make good his claim. He was crowned at Esztergom after the death of +the last Arpad, Andrew III. (1301), but was forced the same year to +surrender the crown to Wenceslaus II. of Bohemia (1289-1306). His +failure only made Pope Boniface VIII. still more zealous on his behalf, +and at the diet of Pressburg (1304) his Magyar adherents induced him to +attempt to recover the crown of St Stephen from the Czechs. But in the +meantime (1305) Wenceslaus transferred his rights to Duke Otto of +Bavaria, who in his turn was taken prisoner by the Hungarian rebels. +Charles's prospects now improved, and he was enthroned at Buda on the +15th of June 1309, though his installation was not regarded as valid +till he was crowned with the sacred crown (which was at last recovered +from the robber-barons) at Szekesfehervar on the 27th of August 1310. +For the next three years Charles had to contend with rebellion after +rebellion, and it was only after his great victory over all the elements +of rapine and disorder at Rozgony (June 15, 1312) that he was really +master in his own land. His foreign policy aimed at the aggrandizement +of his family, but his plans were prudent as well as ambitious, and +Hungary benefited by them greatly. His most successful achievement was +the union with Poland for mutual defence against the Habsburgs and the +Czechs. This was accomplished by the convention of Trencsen (1335), +confirmed the same year at the brilliant congress of Visegrad, where all +the princes of central Europe met to compose their differences and were +splendidly entertained during the months of October and November. The +immediate result of the congress was a combined attack by the Magyars +and Poles upon the emperor Louis and his ally Albert of Austria, which +resulted in favour of Charles in 1337. Charles's desire to unite the +kingdoms of Hungary and Naples under the eldest son Louis was frustrated +by Venice and the pope, from fear lest Hungary might become the dominant +Adriatic power. He was, however, more than compensated for this +disappointment by his compact (1339) with his ally and brother-in-law, +Casimir of Poland, whereby it was agreed that Louis should succeed to +the Polish throne on the death of the childless Casimir. For an account +of the numerous important reforms effected by Charles see HUNGARY: +_History_. A statesman of the first rank, he not only raised Hungary +once more to the rank of a great power, but enriched and civilized her. +In character he was pious, courtly and valiant, popular alike with the +nobility and the middle classes, whose increasing welfare he did so much +to promote, and much beloved by the clergy. His court was famous +throughout Europe as a school of chivalry. + +Charles was married thrice. His first wife was Maria, daughter of Duke +Casimir of Teschen, whom he wedded in 1306. On her death in 1318 he +married Beatrice, daughter of the emperor Henry VII. On her decease two +years later he gave his hand to Elizabeth, daughter of Wladislaus +Lokietek, king of Poland. Five sons were the fruit of these marriages, +of whom three, Louis, Andrew and Stephen, survived him. He died on the +16th of July 1342, and was laid beside the high altar at Szekesfehervar, +the ancient burial-place of the Arpads. + + See Bela Kerekgyarto, _The Hungarian Royal Court under the House of + Anjou_ (Hung.) (Budapest, 1881); _Rationes Collectorum Pontif. in + Hungaria_ (Budapest, 1887); _Diplomas of the Angevin Period_, edited + by Imre Nagy (Hung. and Lat.), vols. i.-iii. (Budapest, 1878, &c.). + (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES I. (1226-1285), king of Naples and Sicily and count of Anjou, +was the seventh child of Louis VIII. of France and Blanche of Castile. +Louis died a few months after Charles's birth and was succeeded by his +son Louis IX. (St Louis), and on the death in 1232 of the third son +John, count of Anjou and Maine, those fiefs were conferred on Charles. +In 1246 he married Beatrice, daughter and heiress of Raymond Berenger +V., the last count of Provence, and after defeating James I. of Aragon +and other rivals with the help of his brother the French king, he took +possession of his new county. In 1248 he accompanied Louis in the +crusade to Egypt, but on the defeat of the Crusaders he was taken +prisoner with his brother. Shortly afterwards he was ransomed, and +returned to Provence in 1250. During his absence several towns had +asserted their independence; but he succeeded in subduing them without +much difficulty and gradually suppressed their communal liberties. +Charles's ambition aimed at wider fields, and when Margaret, countess of +Flanders, asked help of the French court against the German king William +of Holland, by whom she had been defeated, he gladly accepted her offer +of the county of Hainaut in exchange for his assistance (1253); this +arrangement was, however, rescinded by Louis of France, who returned +from captivity in 1254, and Charles gave up Hainaut for an immense sum +of money. He extended his influence by the subjugation of Marseilles in +1257, then one of the most important maritime cities of the world, and +two years later several communes of Piedmont recognized Charles's +suzerainty. In 1262 Pope Urban IV. determined to destroy the power of +the Hohenstaufen in Italy, and offered the kingdoms of Naples and +Sicily, in consideration of a yearly tribute, to Charles of Anjou, in +opposition to Manfred, the bastard son of the late emperor Frederick II. +The next year Charles succeeded in getting himself elected senator of +Rome, which gave him an advantage in dealing with the pope. After long +negotiations he accepted the Sicilian and Neapolitan crowns, and in 1264 +he sent a first expedition of Provencals to Italy; he also collected a +large army and navy in Provence and France with the help of King Louis, +and by an alliance with the cities of Lombardy was able to send part of +his force overland. Pope Clement IV. confirmed the Sicilian agreement on +conditions even more favourable to Charles, who sailed in 1265, and +conferred on the expedition all the privileges of a crusade. After +narrowly escaping capture by Manfred's fleet he reached Rome safely, +where he was crowned king of the Two Sicilies. The land army arrived +soon afterwards, and on the 26th of February 1266 Charles encountered +Manfred at Benevento, where after a hard-fought battle Manfred was +defeated and killed, and the whole kingdom was soon in Charles's +possession. Then Conradin, Frederick's grandson and last legitimate +descendant of the Hohenstaufen, came into Italy, where he found many +partisans among the Ghibellines of Lombardy and Tuscany, and among +Manfred's former adherents in the south. He gathered a large army +consisting partly of Germans and Saracens, but was totally defeated by +Charles at Tagliacozzo (23rd of August 1268); taken prisoner, he was +tried as a rebel and executed at Naples. Charles, in a spirit of the +most vindictive cruelty, had large numbers of Conradin's barons put to +death and their estates confiscated, and the whole population of several +towns massacred. + +He was now one of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe, for besides +ruling over Provence and Anjou and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he +was imperial vicar of Tuscany, lord of many cities of Lombardy and +Piedmont, and as the pope's favourite practically arbiter of the papal +states, especially during the interregnum between the death of Clement +IV. (1268) and the election of Gregory X. (1272). But his ambition was +by no means satisfied, and he even aspired to the crown of the East +Roman empire. In 1272 he took part with Louis IX. in a crusade to north +Africa, where the French king died of fever, and Charles, after +defeating the soldan of Tunis, returned to Sicily. The election of +Rudolph of Habsburg as German king after a long interregnum, and that of +Nicholas III. to the Holy See (1277), diminished Charles's power, for +the new pope set himself to compose the difference between Guelphs and +Ghibellines in the Italian cities, but at his death Charles secured the +election of his henchman Martin IV. (1281), who recommenced persecuting +the Ghibellines, excommunicated the Greek emperor, Michael Palaeologus, +proclaimed a crusade against the Greeks, filled every appointment in the +papal states with Charles's vassals, and reappointed the Angevin king +senator of Rome. But the cruelty of the French rulers of Sicily drove +the people of the island to despair, and a Neapolitan nobleman, Giovanni +da Procida, organized the rebellion known as the Sicilian Vespers (see +VESPERS, SICILIAN), in which the French in Sicily were all massacred or +expelled (1282). Charles determined to subjugate the island and sailed +with his fleet for Messina. The city held out until Peter III. of +Aragon, whose wife Constance was a daughter of Manfred, arrived in +Sicily, and a Sicilian-Catalan fleet under the Calabrese admiral, +Ruggiero di Lauria, completely destroyed that of Charles. "If thou art +determined, O God, to destroy me," the unhappy Angevin exclaimed, "let +my fall be gradual!" He was forced to abandon all attempts at +reconquest, but proposed to decide the question by single combat between +himself and Peter, to take place at Bordeaux under English protection. +The Aragonese accepted, but fearing treachery, as the French army was in +the neighbourhood, he failed to appear on the appointed day. In the +meanwhile Ruggiero di Lauria appeared before Naples and destroyed +another Angevin fleet commanded by Charles's son, who was taken prisoner +(May 1284). Charles came to Naples with a new fleet from Provence, and +was preparing to invade Sicily again, when he contracted a fever and +died at Foggia on the 7th of January 1285. He was undoubtedly an +extremely able soldier and a skilful statesman, and much of his +legislation shows a real political sense; but his inordinate ambition, +his oppressive methods of government and taxation, and his cruelty +created enemies on all sides, and led to the collapse of the edifice of +dominion which he had raised. + + + + +CHARLES II. (1250-1309), king of Naples and Sicily, son of Charles I., +had been captured by Ruggiero di Lauria in the naval battle at Naples in +1284, and when his father died he was still a prisoner in the hands of +Peter of Aragon. In 1288 King Edward I. of England had mediated to make +peace, and Charles was liberated on the understanding that he was to +retain Naples alone, Sicily being left to the Aragonese; Charles was +also to induce his cousin Charles of Valois to renounce for twenty +thousand pounds of silver the kingdom of Aragon which had been given to +him by Pope Martin IV. to punish Peter for having invaded Sicily, but +which the Valois had never effectively occupied. The Angevin king was +thereupon set free, leaving three of his sons and sixty Provencal +nobles as hostages, promising to pay 30,000 marks and to return a +prisoner if the conditions were not fulfilled within three years. He +went to Rieti, where the new pope Nicholas IV. immediately absolved him +from all the conditions he had sworn to observe, crowned him king of the +Two Sicilies (1289), and excommunicated Alphonso, while Charles of +Valois, in alliance with Castile, prepared to take possession of Aragon. +Alphonso III, the Aragonese king, being hard pressed, had to promise to +withdraw the troops he had sent to help his brother James in Sicily, to +renounce all rights over the island, and pay a tribute to the Holy See. +But Alphonso died childless in 1291 before the treaty could be carried +out, and James took possession of Aragon, leaving the government of +Sicily to the third brother Frederick. The new pope Boniface VIII., +elected in 1294 at Naples under the auspices of King Charles, mediated +between the latter and James, and a most dishonourable treaty was +signed: James was to marry Charles's daughter Bianca and was promised +the investiture by the pope of Sardinia and Corsica, while he was to +leave the Angevin a free hand in Sicily and even to assist him if the +Sicilians resisted. An attempt was made to bribe Frederick into +consenting to this arrangement, but being backed up by his people he +refused, and was afterwards crowned king of Sicily. The war was fought +with great fury on land and sea, but Charles, although aided by the +pope, by Charles of Valois, and by James II. of Aragon, was unable to +conquer the island, and his son the prince of Taranto was taken prisoner +at the battle of La Falconara in 1299. Peace was at last made in 1302 at +Caltabellotta, Charles II. giving up all rights to Sicily and agreeing +to the marriage of his daughter Leonora to King Frederick; the treaty +was ratified by the pope in 1303. Charles spent his last years quietly +in Naples, which city he improved and embellished. He died in August +1309, and was succeeded by his son Robert. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A. de Saint-Priest, _Histoire de la conquete de Naples + par Charles d'Anjou_ (4 vols., Paris, 1847-1849), is still of use for + the documents from the archives of Barcelona, but it needs to be + collated with more recent works; S. de Sismondi, in vol. ii. of his + _Histoire des republiques italiennes_ (Brussels, 1838), gives a good + general sketch of the reigns of Charles I. and II., but is + occasionally inaccurate as to details; the best authority on the early + life of Charles I. is R. Sternfeld, _Karl von Anjou als Graf von + Provence_ (Berlin, 1888); Charles's connexion with north Italy is + dealt with in Merkel's _La Dominazione di Carlo d'Angio in Piemonte e + in Lombardia_ (Turin, 1891), while the R. Deputazione di Storia + Patria Toscana has recently published a _Codice diplomatico delle + relazioni di Carlo d'Angio con la Toscana_; the contents of the + Angevin archives at Naples have been published by Durrien, _Archives + angevines de Naples_ (Toulouse, 1866-1867). M. Amari's _La Guerra del + Vespro Siciliano_ (8th ed., Florence, 1876) is a valuable history, but + the author is too bitterly prejudiced against the French to be quite + impartial; his work should be compared with L. Cadier's _Essai sur + l'administration du royaume de Sicile sous Charles I et Charles II + d'Anjou_ (Paris, 1891, _Bibl. des ecoles francaises d'Athenes et de + Rome_, fasc. 59), which contains many documents, and tends somewhat to + rehabilitate the Angevin rule. + + + + +CHARLES II. (1332-1387), called THE BAD, king of Navarre and count of +Evreux, was a son of Jeanne II., queen of Navarre, by her marriage with +Philip, count of Evreux (d. 1343). Having become king of Navarre on +Jeanne's death in 1349, he suppressed a rising at Pampeluna with much +cruelty, and by this and similar actions thoroughly earned his surname +of "The Bad." In 1352 he married Jeanne (d. 1393), a daughter of John +II., king of France, a union which made his relationship to the French +crown still more complicated. Through his mother he was a grandson of +Louis X. and through his father a great-grandson of Philip III., having +thus a better claim to the throne of France than Edward III. of England; +and, moreover, he held lands under the suzerainty of the French king, +whose son-in-law he now became. Charles was a man of great ability, +possessing popular manners and considerable eloquence, but he was +singularly unscrupulous, a quality which was revealed during the years +in which he played an important part in the internal affairs of France. +Trouble soon arose between King John and his son-in-law. The promised +dowry had not been paid, and the county of Angouleme, which had formerly +belonged to Jeanne of Navarre, was now in the possession of the French +king's favourite, the constable Charles la Cerda. In January 1354 the +constable was assassinated by order of Charles, and preparations for war +were begun. The king of Navarre, who defended this deed, had, however, +many friends in France and was in communication with Edward III.; and +consequently John was forced to make a treaty at Mantes and to +compensate him for the loss of Angouleme by a large grant of lands, +chiefly in Normandy. This peace did not last long, and in 1355 John was +compelled to confirm the treaty of Mantes. Returning to Normandy, +Charles was partly responsible for some unrest in the duchy, and in +April 1356 he was treacherously seized by the French king at Rouen, +remaining in captivity until November 1357, when John, after his defeat +at Poitiers, was a prisoner in England. Charles was regarded with much +favour in France, and the states-general demanded his release, which, +however, was effected by a surprise. Owing to his popularity he was +considered by Etienne Marcel and his party as a suitable rival to the +dauphin, afterwards King Charles V., and on entering Paris he was well +received and delivered an eloquent harangue to the Parisians. +Subsequently peace was made with the dauphin, who promised to restore to +Charles his confiscated estates. This peace was not enduring, and as his +lands were not given back Charles had some ground for complaint. War +again broke out, quickly followed by a new treaty, after which the king +of Navarre took part in suppressing the peasant rising known as the +_Jacquerie_. Answering the entreaties of Marcel he returned to Paris on +June 1358, and became captain-general of the city, which was soon +besieged by the dauphin. This position, however, did not prevent him +from negotiating both with the dauphin and with the English; terms were +soon arranged with the former, and Charles, having lost much of his +popularity, left Paris just before the murder of Marcel in July 1358. He +continued his alternate policy of war and peace, meanwhile adding if +possible by his depredations to the misery of France, until the +conclusion of the treaty of Bretigny in May 1360 deprived him of the +alliance of the English, and compelled him to make peace with King John +in the following October. A new cause of trouble arose when the duchy of +Burgundy was left without a ruler in November 1361, and was claimed by +Charles; but, lacking both allies and money, he was unable to prevent +the French king from seizing Burgundy, while he himself returned to +Navarre. + +In his own kingdom Charles took some steps to reform the financial and +judicial administration and so to increase his revenue; but he was soon +occupied once more with foreign entanglements, and in July 1362, in +alliance with Peter the Cruel, king of Castile, he invaded Aragon, +deserting his new ally soon afterwards for Peter IV., king of Aragon. +Meanwhile the war with the dauphin had been renewed. Still hankering +after Burgundy, Charles saw his French estates again seized; but after +some desultory warfare, chiefly in Normandy, peace was made in March +1365, and he returned to his work of interference in the politics of the +Spanish kingdoms. In turn he made treaties with the kings of Castile and +Aragon, who were at war with each other; promising to assist Peter the +Cruel to regain his throne, from which he had been driven in 1366 by his +half-brother Henry of Trastamara, and then assuring Henry and his ally +Peter of Aragon that he would aid them to retain Castile. He continued +this treacherous policy when Edward the Black Prince advanced to succour +Peter the Cruel; then signed a treaty with Edward of England, and then +in 1371 allied himself with Charles V. of France. His next important +move was to offer his assistance to Richard II. of England for an attack +upon France. About this time serious charges were brought against him. +Accused of attempting to poison the king of France and other prominent +persons, and of other crimes, his French estates were seized by order of +Charles V., and soon afterwards Navarre was invaded by the Castilians. +Won over by the surrender of Cherbourg in July 1378, the English under +John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, came to his aid; but a heavy price had +to be paid for the neutrality of the king of Castile. After the death of +Charles V. in 1380, the king of Navarre did not interfere in the +internal affairs of France, although he endeavoured vainly again to +obtain aid from Richard II., and to regain Cherbourg. His lands in +France were handed over to his eldest son Charles, who governed them +with the consent of the new king Charles VI. Charles died on the 1st of +January 1387, and many stories are current regarding the manner of his +death. Froissart relates that he was burned to death through his +bedclothes catching fire; Secousse says that he died in peace with many +signs of contrition; another story says he died of leprosy; and a +popular legend tells how he expired by a divine judgment through the +burning of the clothes steeped in sulphur and spirits in which he had +been wrapped as a cure for a loathsome disease caused by his debauchery. +He had three sons and four daughters, and was succeeded by his eldest +son Charles; one of his daughters, Jeanne, became the wife of Henry IV. +of England. + + See Jean Froissart, _Chroniques_, edited by S. Luce and G. Raynaud + (Paris, 1869-1897); D.F. Secousse, _Memoires pour servir a l'histoire + de Charles II, roi de Navarre_ (Paris, 1755-1768); E. Meyer, _Charles + II, roi de Navarre et la Normandie au XIVe siecle_ (Paris, 1898); F.T. + Perrens, _Etienne Marcel_ (Paris, 1874); R. Delachenal, _Premieres + negotiations de Charles le Mauvais avec les Anglais_ (Paris, 1900); + and E. Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, tome iv. (Paris, 1902). + + + + +CHARLES III. (1361-1425), called THE NOBLE, king of Navarre and count of +Evreux, was the eldest son of Charles II. the Bad, king of Navarre, by +his marriage with Jeanne, daughter of John II., king of France, and was +married in 1375 to Leonora (d. 1415), daughter of Henry II., king of +Castile. Having passed much of his early life in France, he became king +of Navarre on the death of Charles II. in January 1387, and his reign +was a period of peace and order, thus contrasting sharply with the long +and calamitous reign of his father. In 1393 he regained Cherbourg, which +had been handed over by Charles II. to Richard II. of England, and in +1403 he came to an arrangement with the representatives of Charles VI. +of France concerning the extensive lands which he claimed in that +country. Cherbourg was given to the French king; certain exchanges of +land were made; and in the following year Charles III. surrendered the +county of Evreux, and was created duke of Nemours and made a peer of +France. After this his only interference in the internal affairs of +France was when he sought to make peace between the rival factions in +that country. Charles sought to improve the condition of Navarre by +making canals and rendering the rivers navigable, and in other ways. He +died at Olite on the 8th of September 1425 and was buried at Pampeluna. +After the death of his two sons in 1402 the king decreed that his +kingdom should pass to his daughter Blanche (d. 1441), who took for her +second husband John, afterwards John II., king of Aragon; and the cortes +of Navarre swore to recognize Charles (q.v.), prince of Viana, her son +by this marriage, as king after his mother's death. + + + + +CHARLES (KARL EITEL ZEPHYRIN LUDWIG; in Rum. CAROL), king of Rumania +(1839- ), second son of Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, +was born on the 20th of April 1839. He was educated at Dresden +(1850-1856), and passed through his university course at Bonn. Entering +the Prussian army in 1857, he won considerable distinction in the Danish +war of 1864, and received instruction in strategy from General von +Moltke. He afterwards travelled in France, Italy, Spain and Algeria. He +was a captain in the 2nd regiment of Prussian Dragoon Guards when he was +elected _hospodar_ or prince of Rumania on the 20th of April 1866, after +the compulsory abdication of Prince Alexander John Cuza. Regarded at +first with distrust by Turkey, Russia and Austria, he succeeded in +gaining general recognition in six months; but he had to contend for ten +years with fierce party struggles between the Conservatives and the +Liberals. + +During this period, however, Charles displayed great tact in his +dealings with both parties, and kept his country in the path of +administrative and economic reform, organizing the army, developing the +railways, and establishing commercial relations with foreign powers. The +sympathy of Rumania with France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and +the consequent interruption of certain commercial undertakings, led to a +hostile movement against Prince Charles, which, being fostered by +Russia, made him resolve to abdicate; and it was with difficulty that he +was persuaded to remain. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 he joined +the Russians before Plevna (q.v.), and being placed in command of the +combined Russian and Rumanian forces, forced Osman Pasha to surrender. +As a consequence of the prince's vigorous action the independence of +Rumania, which had been proclaimed in May 1877, was confirmed by various +treaties in 1878, and recognized by Great Britain, France and Germany in +1880. On the 26th of March 1881 he was proclaimed king of Rumania, and, +with his consort, was crowned on the 22nd of May following. From that +time he pursued a successful career in home and foreign policy, and +greatly improved the financial and military position of his country; +while his appreciation of the fine arts was shown by his formation of an +important collection of paintings of all schools in his palaces at +Sinaia and Bucharest. For a detailed account of his reign, see RUMANIA. +On the 1st of November 1869 he married Princess Elizabeth (q.v.), a +daughter of Prince Hermann of Wied, widely known under her literary name +of "Carmen Sylva." As the only child of the marriage, a daughter, died +in 1874, the succession was finally settled upon the king's nephew, +Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was created prince of +Rumania on the 18th of March 1889, and married, on the 10th of January +1893, Princess Marie, daughter of Alfred, duke of Saxe-Coburg, their +children being Prince Carol (b. 1893) and Princess Elizabeth (b. 1894). + + The official life of King Charles, mainly his own composition, _Aus + dem Leben Konig Karls von Rumanien_ (Stuttgart, 1894-1900, 4 vols.), + deals mainly with political history. See for an account of his + domestic life, M. Kremnitz, _Konig Karl von Rumanien. Ein Lebensbild_ + (Breslau, 1903). + + + + +CHARLES II. (1661-1700), king of Spain, known among Spanish kings as +"The Desired" and "The Bewitched," was the son of Philip IV. by his +second marriage with Maria, daughter of the emperor Ferdinand III., his +niece. He was born on the 11th of November 1661, and was the only +surviving son of his father's two marriages--a child of old age and +disease, in whom the constant intermarriages of the Habsburgs had +developed the family type to deformity. His birth was greeted with joy +by the Spaniards, who feared the dispute as to the succession which must +have ensued if Philip IV. left no male issue. The boy was so feeble that +till the age of five or six he was fed only from the breast of a nurse. +For years afterwards it was not thought safe to allow him to walk. That +he might not be overtaxed he was left entirely uneducated, and his +indolence was indulged to such an extent that he was not even expected +to be clean. When his brother, the younger Don John of Austria, a +natural son of Philip IV., obtained power by exiling the queen mother +from court he insisted that at least the king's hair should be combed. +Charles made the malicious remark that nothing was safe from Don +John--not even vermin. The king was then fifteen, and, according to +Spanish law, of age. But he never became a man in body or mind. The +personages who ruled in his name arranged a marriage for him with Maria +Louisa of Orleans. The French princess, a lively young woman of no +sense, died in the stifling atmosphere of the Spanish court, and from +the attendance of Spanish doctors. Again his advisers arranged a +marriage with Maria Ana of Neuburg. The Bavarian wife stood the strain +and survived him. Both marriages were merely political--the first a +victory for the French, and the second for the Austrian party. France +and Austria were alike preparing for the day when the Spanish succession +would have to be fought for. The king was a mere puppet in the hands of +each alternately. By natural instinct he hated the French, but there was +no room in his nearly imbecile mind for more than childish superstition, +insane pride of birth, and an interest in court etiquette. The only +touch of manhood was a taste for shooting which he occasionally indulged +in the preserves of the Escorial. In his later days he suffered much +pain, and was driven wild by the conflict between his wish to transmit +his inheritance to "the illustrious house of Austria," his own kin, and +the belief instilled into him by the partisans of the French claimant +that only the power of Louis XIV. could avert the dismemberment of the +empire. A silly fanatic made the discovery that the king was bewitched, +and his confessor Froilan Diaz supported the belief. The king was +exorcised, and the exorcists of the kingdom were called upon to put +stringent questions to the devils they cast out. The Inquisition +interfered, and the dying king was driven mad among them. Very near his +end he had the lugubrious curiosity to cause the coffins of his embalmed +ancestors to be opened at the Escorial. The sight of the body of his +first wife, at whom he also insisted on looking, provoked a passion of +tears and despair. Under severe pressure from the cardinal archbishop of +Toledo, Portocarrero, he finally made a will in favour of Philip, duke +of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., and died on the 1st of November 1700, +after a lifetime of senile decay. + + The best picture of Charles II. is to be found in _Les Memoires de la + tour d'Espagne_ of the Marquis de Villars (London, 1861), and the + _Letters_ of the Marquise de Villars (Paris, 1868). + + + + +CHARLES III. (1716-1788), king of Spain, born on the 20th January 1716, +was the first son of the second marriage of Philip V. with Elizabeth +Farnese of Parma. It was his good fortune to be sent to rule as duke of +Parma by right of his mother at the age of sixteen, and thus came under +more intelligent influence than he could have found in Spain. In 1734 he +made himself master of Naples and Sicily by arms. Charles had, however, +no military tastes, seldom wore uniform, and could with difficulty be +persuaded to witness a review. The peremptory action of the British +admiral commanding in the Mediterranean at the approach of the War of +the Austrian Succession, who forced him to promise to observe neutrality +under a threat to bombard Naples, made a deep impression on his mind. It +gave him a feeling of hostility to England which in after-times +influenced his policy. + +As king of the Two Sicilies Charles began there the work of internal +reform which he afterwards continued in Spain. Foreign ministers who +dealt with him agreed that he had no great natural ability, but he was +honestly desirous to do his duty as king, and he showed good judgment in +his choice of ministers. The chief minister in Naples, Tanucci, had a +considerable influence over him. On the death of his half-brother +Ferdinand VI. he became king of Spain, and resigned the Two Sicilies to +his third son Ferdinand. As king of Spain his foreign policy was +disastrous. His strong family feeling and his detestation of England, +which was unchecked after the death of his wife, Maria Amelia, daughter +of Frederick Augustus II. of Saxony, led him into the Family Compact +with France. Spain was entangled in the close of the Seven Years' War, +to her great loss. In 1770 he almost ran into another war over the +barren Falkland Islands. In 1779 he was, somewhat reluctantly, led to +join France and the American insurgents against England, though he well +knew that the independence of the English colonies must have a ruinous +influence on his own American dominions. For his army he did practically +nothing, and for his fleet very little except build fine ships without +taking measures to train officers and men. + +But his internal government was on the whole beneficial to the country. +He began by compelling the people of Madrid to give up emptying their +slops out of the windows, and when they objected he said they were like +children who cried when their faces were washed. In 1766 his attempt to +force the Madrilenos to adopt the French dress led to a riot during +which he did not display much personal courage. For a long time after it +he remained at Aranjuez, leaving the government in the hands of his +minister Aranda. All his reforms were not of this formal kind. Charles +was a thorough despot of the benevolent order, and had been deeply +offended by the real or suspected share of the Jesuits in the riot of +1766. He therefore consented to the expulsion of the order, and was then +the main advocate for its suppression. His quarrel with the Jesuits, and +the recollection of some disputes with the pope he had had when king of +Naples, turned him towards a general policy of restriction of the +overgrown power of the church. The number of the idle clergy, and more +particularly of the monastic orders, was reduced, and the Inquisition, +though not abolished, was rendered torpid. In the meantime much +antiquated legislation which tended to restrict trade and industry was +abolished; roads, canals and drainage works were carried out. Many of +his paternal ventures led to little more than waste of money, or the +creation of hotbeds of jobbery. Yet on the whole the country prospered. +The result was largely due to the king, who even when he was ill-advised +did at least work steadily at his task of government. His example was +not without effect on some at least of the nobles. In his domestic life +King Charles was regular, and was a considerate master, though he had a +somewhat caustic tongue and took a rather cynical view of mankind. He +was passionately fond of hunting. During his later years he had some +trouble with his eldest son and his daughter-in-law. If Charles had +lived to see the beginning of the French Revolution he would probably +have been frightened into reaction. As he died on the 14th of December +1788 he left the reputation of a philanthropic and "philosophic" king. +In spite of his hostility to the Jesuits, his dislike of friars in +general, and his jealousy of the Inquisition, he was a very sincere +Roman Catholic, and showed much zeal in endeavouring to persuade the +pope to proclaim the Immaculate Conception as a dogma necessary to +salvation. + + See the _Reign of Charles III._, by M. Danvila y Collado (6 vols.), in + the _Historia General de Espana de la Real Academia de la Historia_ + (Madrid, 1892, &c.); and F. Rousseau, _Regne de Charles III d'Espagne_ + (Paris, 1907). + + + + +CHARLES IV. (1748-1819), king of Spain, second son of Charles III. and +his wife Maria Amelia of Saxony, was born at Portici on the 11th of +November 1748, while his father was king of the Two Sicilies. The elder +brother was set aside as imbecile and epileptic. Charles had inherited a +great frame and immense physical strength from the Saxon line of his +mother. When young he was fond of wrestling with the strongest +countrymen he could find. In character he was not malignant, but he was +intellectually torpid, and of a credulity which almost passes belief. +His wife, Maria Luisa of Parma, his first cousin, a thoroughly coarse +and vicious woman, ruled him completely, though he was capable of +obstinacy at times. During his father's lifetime he was led by her into +court intrigues which aimed at driving the king's favourite minister, +Floridablanca, from office, and replacing him by Aranda, the chief of +the "Aragonese" party. After he succeeded to the throne in 1788 his one +serious occupation was hunting. Affairs were left to be directed by his +wife and her lover Godoy (q.v.). For Godoy the king had an unaffected +liking, and the lifelong favour he showed him is almost pathetic. When +terrified by the French Revolution he turned to the Inquisition to help +him against the party which would have carried the reforming policy of +Charles III. much further. But he was too slothful to have more than a +passive part in the direction of his own government. He simply obeyed +the impulse given him by the queen and Godoy. If he ever knew his wife's +real character he thought it more consistent with his dignity to shut +his eyes. For he had a profound belief in his divine right and the +sanctity of his person. If he understood that his kingdom was treated as +a mere dependence by France, he also thought it due to his "face" to +make believe that he was a powerful monarch. Royalty never wore a more +silly aspect than in the person of Charles IV., and it is highly +credible that he never knew what his wife was, or what was the position +of his kingdom. When he was told that his son Ferdinand was appealing to +the emperor Napoleon against Godoy, he took the side of the favourite. +When the populace rose at Aranjuez in 1808 he abdicated to save the +minister. He took refuge in France, and when he and Ferdinand were both +prisoners of Napoleon's, he was with difficulty restrained from +assaulting his son. Then he abdicated in favour of Napoleon, handing +over his people like a herd of cattle. He accepted a pension from the +French emperor and spent the rest of his life between his wife and +Godoy. He died at Rome on the 20th of January 1819, probably without +having once suspected that he had done anything unbecoming a king by +divine right and a gentleman. + + See _Historia del Reinado de Carlos IV._, by General Gomez de Arteche + (3 vols.), in the _Historia General de Espana de la Real Academia de + la Historia_ (Madrid, 1892, &c.). + + + + +CHARLES IX. (1550-1611), king of Sweden, was the youngest son of +Gustavus Vasa and Margareto Lejonhufrud. By his father's will he got, by +way of appanage, the duchy of Sodermanland, which included the provinces +of Nerike and Vermland; but he did not come into actual possession of +them till after the fall of Eric XIV. (1569). In 1568 he was the real +leader of the rebellion against Eric, but took no part in the designs of +his brother John against the unhappy king after his deposition. Indeed, +Charles's relations with John III. were always more or less strained. He +had no sympathy with John's high-church tendencies on the one hand, and +he sturdily resisted all the king's endeavours to restrict his authority +as duke of Sodermanland (Sudermania) on the other. The nobility and the +majority of the _Riksdag_ supported John, however, in his endeavours to +unify the realm, and Charles had consequently (1587) to resign his +pretensions to autonomy within his duchy; but, fanatical Calvinist as he +was, on the religious question he was immovable. The matter came to a +crisis on the death of John III. (1592). The heir to the throne was +John's eldest son, Sigismund, already king of Poland and a devoted +Catholic. The fear lest Sigismund might re-catholicize the land alarmed +the Protestant majority in Sweden, and Charles came forward as their +champion, and also as the defender of the Vasa dynasty against foreign +interference. It was due entirely to him that Sigismund was forced to +confirm the resolutions of the council of Upsala, thereby recognizing +the fact that Sweden was essentially a Protestant state (see SWEDEN: +_History_). In the ensuing years Charles's task was extraordinarily +difficult. He had steadily to oppose Sigismund's reactionary tendencies; +he had also to curb the nobility, which he did with cruel rigour. +Necessity compelled him to work rather with the people than the gentry; +hence it was that the _Riksdag_ assumed under his government a power and +an importance which it had never possessed before. In 1595 the _Riksdag_ +of Soderkoping elected Charles regent, and his attempt to force Klas +Flemming, governor of Finland, to submit to his authority, rather than +to that of the king, provoked a civil war. Technically Charles was, +without doubt, guilty of high treason, and the considerable minority of +all classes which adhered to Sigismund on his landing in Sweden in 1598 +indisputably behaved like loyal subjects. But Sigismund was both an +alien and a heretic to the majority of the Swedish nation, and his +formal deposition by the _Riksdag_ in 1599 was, in effect, a natural +vindication and legitimation of Charles's position. Finally, the diet of +Linkoping (Feb. 24, 1600) declared that Sigismund and his posterity had +forfeited the Swedish throne, and, passing over duke John, the second +son of John III., a youth of ten, recognized duke Charles as their +sovereign under the title of Charles IX. + +Charles's short reign was an uninterrupted warfare. The hostility of +Poland and the break up of Russia involved him in two overseas contests +for the possession of Livonia and Ingria, while his pretensions to +Lapland brought upon him a war with Denmark in the last year of his +reign. In all these struggles he was more or less unsuccessful, owing +partly to the fact that he had to do with superior generals (e.g. +Chodkiewicz and Christian IV.) and partly to sheer ill-luck. Compared +with his foreign policy, the domestic policy of Charles IX. was +comparatively unimportant. It aimed at confirming and supplementing what +had already been done during his regency. Not till the 6th of March +1604, after Duke John had formally renounced his rights to the throne, +did Charles IX. begin to style himself king. The first deed in which the +title appears is dated the 20th of March 1604; but he was not crowned +till the 15th of March 1607. Four and a half years later Charles IX. +died at Nykoping (Oct. 30, 1611). As a ruler he is the link between his +great father and his still greater son. He consolidated the work of +Gustavus Vasa, the creation of a great Protestant state: he prepared the +way for the erection of the Protestant empire of Gustavus Adolphus. +Swedish historians have been excusably indulgent to the father of their +greatest ruler. Indisputably Charles was cruel, ungenerous and +vindictive; yet he seems, at all hazards, strenuously to have +endeavoured to do his duty during a period of political and religious +transition, and, despite his violence and brutality, possessed many of +the qualities of a wise and courageous statesman. By his first wife +Marie, daughter of the elector palatine Louis VI., he had six children, +of whom only one daughter, Catherine, survived; by his second wife, +Christina, daughter of Adolphus, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, he had five +children, including Gustavus Adolphus and Charles Philip, duke of +Finland. + + See _Sveriges Historia_, vol. iii. (Stockholm, 1878); Robert Nisbet + Bain, _Scandinavia_ (Cambridge, 1905), caps. 5-7. (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES X. [CHARLES GUSTAVUS] (1622-1660), king of Sweden, son of John +Casimir, count palatine of Zweibrucken, and Catherine, sister of +Gustavus Adolphus, was born at Nykoping Castle on the 8th of November +1622. He learnt the art of war under the great Lennart Torstensson, +being present at the second battle of Breitenfeld and at Jankowitz. From +1646 to 1648 he frequented the Swedish court. It was supposed that he +would marry the queen regnant, Christina, but her unsurmountable +objection to wedlock put an end to these anticipations, and to +compensate her cousin for a broken half-promise she declared him (1649) +her successor, despite the opposition of the senate headed by the +venerable Axel Oxenstjerna. In 1648 he was appointed generalissimo of +the Swedish forces in Germany. The conclusion of the treaties of +Westphalia prevented him from winning the military laurels he so +ardently desired, but as the Swedish plenipotentiary at the executive +congress of Nuremberg, he had unrivalled opportunities of learning +diplomacy, in which science he speedily became a past-master. As the +recognized heir to the throne, his position on his return to Sweden was +not without danger, for the growing discontent with the queen turned the +eyes of thousands to him as a possible deliverer. He therefore withdrew +to the isle of Oland till the abdication of Christina (June 5, 1654) +called him to the throne. + +The beginning of his reign was devoted to the healing of domestic +discords, and the rallying of all the forces of the nation round his +standard for a new policy of conquest. He contracted a political +marriage (Oct. 24, 1654) with Hedwig Leonora, the daughter of Frederick +III., duke of Holstein-Gottorp, by way of securing a future ally against +Denmark. The two great pressing national questions, war and the +restitution of the alienated crown lands, were duly considered at the +_Riksdag_ which assembled at Stockholm in March 1655. The war question +was decided in three days by a secret committee presided over by the +king, who easily persuaded the delegates that a war with Poland was +necessary and might prove very advantageous; but the consideration of +the question of the subsidies due to the crown for military purposes was +postponed to the following _Riksdag_ (see SWEDEN: _History_). On the +10th of July Charles quitted Sweden to engage in his Polish adventure. +By the time war was declared he had at his disposal 50,000 men and 50 +warships. Hostilities had already begun with the occupation of Dunaburg +(Dvinsk) in Polish Livonia by the Swedes (July 1, 1655), and the Polish +army encamped among the marshes of the Netze concluded a convention +(July 25) whereby the palatinates of Posen and Kalisz placed themselves +under the protection of the Swedish king. Thereupon the Swedes entered +Warsaw without opposition and occupied the whole of Great Poland. The +Polish king, John Casimir, fled to Silesia. Meanwhile Charles pressed on +towards Cracow, which was captured after a two months' siege. The fall +of Cracow extinguished the last hope of the boldest Pole; but before the +end of the year an extraordinary reaction began in Poland itself. On the +18th of October the Swedes invested the fortress-monastery of +Czenstochowa, but the place was heroically defended; and after a seventy +days' siege the besiegers were compelled to retire with great loss. + +This astounding success elicited an outburst of popular enthusiasm which +gave the war a national and religious character. The tactlessness of +Charles, the rapacity of his generals, the barbarity of his mercenaries, +his refusal to legalize his position by summoning the Polish diet, his +negotiations for the partition of the very state he affected to +befriend, awoke the long slumbering public spirit of the country. In the +beginning of 1656 John Casimir returned from exile and the Polish army +was reorganized and increased. By this time Charles had discovered that +it was easier to defeat the Poles than to conquer Poland. His chief +object, the conquest of Prussia, was still unaccomplished, and a new foe +arose in the elector of Brandenburg, alarmed by the ambition of the +Swedish king. Charles forced the elector, indeed, at the point of the +sword to become his ally and vassal (treaty of Konigsberg, Jan. 17, +1656); but the Polish national rising now imperatively demanded his +presence in the south. For weeks he scoured the interminable +snow-covered plains of Poland in pursuit of the Polish guerillas, +penetrating as far south as Jaroslau in Galicia, by which time he had +lost two-thirds of his 15,000 men with no apparent result. His retreat +from Jaroslau to Warsaw, with the fragments of his host, amidst three +converging armies, in a marshy forest region, intersected in every +direction by well-guarded rivers, was one of his most brilliant +achievements. But his necessities were overwhelming. On the 21st of June +Warsaw was retaken by the Poles, and four days later Charles was obliged +to purchase the assistance of Frederick William by the treaty of +Marienburg. On July 18-20 the combined Swedes and Brandenburgers, 18,000 +strong, after a three days' battle, defeated John Casimir's army of +100,000 at Warsaw and reoccupied the Polish capital; but this brilliant +feat of arms was altogether useless, and when the suspicious attitude of +Frederick William compelled the Swedish king at last to open +negotiations with the Poles, they refused the terms offered, the war was +resumed, and Charles concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with +the elector of Brandenburg (treaty of Labiau, Nov. 20) whereby it was +agreed that Frederick William and his heirs should henceforth possess +the full sovereignty of East Prussia. + +This was an essential modification of Charles's Baltic policy; but the +alliance of the elector had now become indispensable on almost any +terms. So serious, indeed, were the difficulties of Charles X. in Poland +that it was with extreme satisfaction that he received the tidings of +the Danish declaration of war (June 1, 1657). The hostile action of +Denmark enabled him honourably to emerge from the inglorious Polish +imbroglio, and he was certain of the zealous support of his own people. +He had learnt from Torstensson that Denmark was most vulnerable if +attacked from the south, and, imitating the strategy of his master, he +fell upon her with a velocity which paralysed resistance. At the end of +June 1657, at the head of 8000 seasoned veterans, he broke up from +Bromberg in Prussia and reached the borders of Holstein on the 18th of +July. The Danish army at once dispersed and the duchy of Bremen was +recovered by the Swedes, who in the early autumn swarmed over Jutland +and firmly established themselves in the duchies. But the fortress of +Fredriksodde (Fredericia) held Charles's little army at bay from +mid-August to mid-October, while the fleet of Denmark, after a stubborn +two days' battle, compelled the Swedish fleet to abandon its projected +attack on the Danish islands. The position of the Swedish king had now +become critical. In July an offensive and defensive alliance was +concluded between Denmark and Poland. Still more ominously, the elector +of Brandenburg, perceiving Sweden to be in difficulties, joined the +league against her and compelled Charles to accept the proffered +mediation of Cromwell and Mazarin. The negotiations foundered, however, +upon the refusal of Sweden to refer the points in dispute to a general +peace-congress, and Charles was still further encouraged by the capture +of Fredriksodde (Oct. 23-24), whereupon he began to make preparations +for conveying his troops over to Funen in transport vessels. But soon +another and cheaper expedient presented itself. In the middle of +December 1657 began the great frost which was to be so fatal to Denmark. +In a few weeks the cold had grown so intense that even the freezing of +an arm of the sea with so rapid a current as the Little Belt became a +conceivable possibility; and henceforth meteorological observations +formed an essential part of the strategy of the Swedes. On the 28th of +January 1658, Charles X. arrived at Haderslev (Hadersleben) in South +Jutland, when it was estimated that in a couple of days the ice of the +Little Belt would be firm enough to bear even the passage of a +mail-clad host. The cold during the night of the 29th of January was +most severe; and early in the morning of the 30th the Swedish king gave +the order to start, the horsemen dismounting where the ice was weakest, +and cautiously leading their horses as far apart as possible, when they +swung into their saddles again, closed their ranks and made a dash for +the shore. The Danish troops lining the opposite coast were quickly +overpowered, and the whole of Funen was won with the loss of only two +companies of cavalry, which disappeared under the ice while fighting +with the Danish left wing. Pursuing his irresistible march, Charles X., +with his eyes fixed steadily on Copenhagen, resolved to cross the frozen +Great Belt also. After some hesitation, he accepted the advice of his +chief engineer officer Eric Dahlberg, who acted as pioneer throughout +and chose the more circuitous route from Svendborg, by the islands of +Langeland, Laaland and Falster, in preference to the direct route from +Nyborg to Korsor, which would have been across a broad, almost +uninterrupted expanse of ice. Yet this second adventure was not embarked +upon without much anxious consideration. A council of war, which met at +two o'clock in the morning to consider the practicability of Dahlberg's +proposal, at once dismissed it as criminally hazardous. Even the king +wavered for an instant; but, Dahlberg persisting in his opinion, Charles +overruled the objections of the commanders. On the night of the 5th of +February the transit began, the cavalry leading the way through the +snow-covered ice, which quickly thawed beneath the horses' hoofs so that +the infantry which followed after had to wade through half an ell of +sludge, fearing every moment lest the rotting ice should break beneath +their feet. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Dahlberg leading the way, +the army reached Grimsted in Laaland without losing a man On the 8th of +February Charles reached Falster. On the 11th he stood safely on the +soil of Sjaelland (Zealand). Not without reason did the medal struck to +commemorate "the glorious transit of the Baltic Sea" bear the haughty +inscription: _Natura hoc debuit uni._ An exploit unique in history had +been achieved. The crushing effect of this unheard-of achievement on the +Danish government found expression in the treaties of Taastrup (Feb. 18) +and Roskilde (Feb. 26, 1658), whereby Denmark sacrificed nearly half her +territory to save the rest (see DENMARK: _History_). But even this was +not enough for the conqueror. Military ambition and greed of conquest +moved Charles X. to what, divested of all its pomp and circumstance, was +an outrageous act of political brigandage. At a council held at Gottorp +(July 7), Charles X. resolved to wipe from the map of Europe an +inconvenient rival, and without any warning, in defiance of all +international equity, let loose his veterans upon Denmark a second time. +For the details of this second struggle, with the concomitant diplomatic +intervention of the western powers, see DENMARK: _History_, and SWEDEN: +_History_. Only after great hesitation would Charles X. consent to +reopen negotiations with Denmark direct, at the same time proposing to +exercise pressure upon the enemy by a simultaneous winter campaign in +Norway. Such an enterprise necessitated fresh subsidies from his already +impoverished people, and obliged him in December 1659 to cross over to +Sweden to meet the estates, whom he had summoned to Gothenburg. The +lower estates murmured at the imposition of fresh burdens; and Charles +had need of all his adroitness to persuade them that his demands were +reasonable and necessary. At the very beginning of the _Riksdag_, in +January 1660, it was noticed that the king was ill; but he spared +himself as little in the council-chamber as in the battle-field, till +death suddenly overtook him on the night of the 13th of February 1660, +in his thirty-eighth year. The abrupt cessation of such an inexhaustible +fount of enterprise and energy was a distinct loss to Sweden; and signs +are not wanting that, in his latter years, Charles had begun to feel the +need and value of repose. Had he lived long enough to overcome his +martial ardour, and develop and organize the empire he helped to create, +Sweden might perhaps have remained a great power to this day. Even so +she owes her natural frontiers in the Scandinavian peninsula to Charles +X. + + See Martin Veibull, _Sveriges Storhedstid_ (Stockholm, 1881); + Frederick Ferdinand Carlson, _Sveriges Historia under Konungarne af + Pfalziska Huset_ (Stockholm, 1883-1885); E. Haumant, _La Guerre du + nord et la paix d'Oliva_ (Paris, 1893); Robert Nisbet Bain, + _Scandinavia_ (Cambridge, 1905); G. Jones, _The Diplomatic Relations + between Cromwell and Charles X._ (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1897). + (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES XI. (1655-1697), king of Sweden, the only son of Charles X., and +Hedwig Leonora of Holstein-Gottorp, was born in the palace at Stockholm, +on the 24th of November 1655. His father, who died when the child was in +his fourth year, left the care of his education to the regents whom he +had appointed. So shamefully did they neglect their duty that when, at +the age of seventeen, Charles XI. attained his majority, he was ignorant +of the very rudiments of state-craft and almost illiterate. Yet those +nearest to him had great hopes of him. He was known to be truthful, +upright and God-fearing; if he had neglected his studies it was to +devote himself to manly sports and exercises; and in the pursuit of his +favourite pastime, bear-hunting, he had already given proofs of the most +splendid courage. It was the general disaster produced by the +speculative policy of his former guardians which first called forth his +sterling qualities and hardened him into a premature manhood. With +indefatigable energy he at once attempted to grapple with the +difficulties of the situation, waging an almost desperate struggle with +sloth, corruption and incompetence. Amidst universal anarchy, the young +king, barely twenty years of age, inexperienced, ill-served, snatching +at every expedient, worked day and night in his newly-formed camp in +Scania (Skane) to arm the nation for its mortal struggle. The victory of +Fyllebro (Aug. 17, 1676), when Charles and his commander-in-chief S.G. +Helmfeld routed a Danish division, was the first gleam of good luck, and +on the 4th of December, on the tableland of Helgonaback, near Lund, the +young Swedish monarch defeated Christian V. of Denmark, who also +commanded his army in person. After a ferocious contest, the Danes were +practically annihilated. The battle of Lund was, relatively to the +number engaged, one of the bloodiest engagements of modern times. More +than half the combatants (8357, of whom 3000 were Swedes) actually +perished on the battle-field. All the Swedish commanders showed +remarkable ability, but the chief glory of the day indisputably belongs +to Charles XI. This great victory restored to the Swedes their +self-confidence and prestige. In the following year, Charles with 9000 +men routed 12,000 Danes near Malmo (July 15, 1678). This proved to be +the last pitched battle of the war, the Danes never again venturing to +attack their once more invincible enemy in the open field. In 1679 Louis +XIV. dictated the terms of a general pacification, and Charles XI, who +bitterly resented "the insufferable tutelage" of the French king, was +forced at last to acquiesce in a peace which at least left his empire +practically intact. Charles devoted the rest of his life to the gigantic +task of rehabilitating Sweden by means of a _reduktion_, or recovery of +alienated crown lands, a process which involved the examination of every +title deed in the kingdom, and resulted in the complete readjustment of +the finances. But vast as it was, the _reduktion_ represents only a +tithe of Charles XI.'s immense activity. The constructive part of his +administration was equally thorough-going, and entirely beneficial. +Here, too, everything was due to his personal initiative. Finance, +commerce, the national armaments by sea and land, judicial procedure, +church government, education, even art and science--everything, in +short--emerged recast from his shaping hand. Charles XI. died on the 5th +of April 1697, in his forty-first year. By his beloved consort Ulrica +Leonora of Denmark, from the shock of whose death in July 1693 he never +recovered, he had seven children, of whom only three survived him, a son +Charles, and two daughters, Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein, and +Ulrica Leonora, who ultimately succeeded her brother on the Swedish +throne. After Gustavus Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus Charles XI. was, +perhaps, the greatest of all the kings of Sweden. His modest, homespun +figure has indeed been unduly eclipsed by the brilliant and colossal +shapes of his heroic father and his meteoric son; yet in reality Charles +XI. is far worthier of admiration than either Charles X. or Charles XII. +He was in an eminent degree a great master-builder. He found Sweden in +ruins, and devoted his whole life to laying the solid foundations of a +new order of things which, in its essential features, has endured to the +present day. + + See Martin Veibull, _Sveriges Storhedstid_ (Stockholm, 1881); + Frederick Ferdinand Carlson, _Sveriges Historia under Konungarne af + Pfalziska Huset_ (Stockholm, 1883-1885); Robert Nisbet Bain, + _Scandinavia_ (Cambridge, 1905); O. Sjogren, _Karl den Elfte och + Svenska Folket_ (Stockholm, 1897); S. Jacobsen, _Den nordiske Kriegs + Kronicke, 1675-1679_ (Copenhagen, 1897); J.A. de Mesmes d'Avaux, + _Negociations du comte d'Avaux, 1693, 1697, 1698_ (Utrecht, 1882, + &c.). (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES XII. (1682-1718), king of Sweden, the only surviving son of +Charles XI. and Ulrica Leonora, daughter of Frederick III. of Denmark, +was born on the 17th of June 1682. He was carefully educated by +excellent tutors under the watchful eyes of his parents. His natural +parts were excellent; and a strong bias in the direction of abstract +thought, and mathematics in particular, was noticeable at an early date. +His memory was astonishing. He could translate Latin into Swedish or +German, or Swedish or German into Latin at sight. Charles XI. personally +supervised his son's physical training. He was taught to ride before he +was four, at eight was quite at home in his saddle, and when only +eleven, brought down his first bear at a single shot. As he grew older +his father took him on all his rounds, reviewing troops, inspecting +studs, foundries, dockyards and granaries. Thus the lad was gradually +initiated into all the _minutiae_ of administration. The influence of +Charles XI. over his son was, indeed, far greater than is commonly +supposed, and it accounts for much in Charles XII.'s character which is +otherwise inexplicable, for instance his precocious reserve and +taciturnity, his dislike of everything French, and his inordinate +contempt for purely diplomatic methods. On the whole, his early training +was admirable; but the young prince was not allowed the opportunity of +gradually gaining experience under his guardians. At the _Riksdag_ +assembled at Stockholm in 1697, the estates, jealous of the influence of +the regents, offered full sovereignty to the young monarch, the senate +acquiesced, and, after some hesitation, Charles at last declared that he +could not resist the urgent appeal of his subjects and would take over +the government of the realm "in God's name." The subsequent coronation +was marked by portentous novelties, the most significant of which was +the king's omission to take the usual coronation oath, which omission +was interpreted to mean that he considered himself under no obligation +to his subjects. The general opinion of the young king was, however, +still favourable. His conduct was evidently regulated by strict +principle and not by mere caprice. His refusal to countenance torture as +an instrument of judicial investigation, on the ground that "confessions +so extorted give no sure criteria for forming a judgment," showed him to +be more humane as well as more enlightened than the majority of his +council, which had defended the contrary opinion. His intense +application to affairs is noted by the English minister, John Robinson +(1650-1723), who informed his court that there was every prospect of a +happy reign in Sweden, provided his majesty were well served and did not +injure his health by too much work. + +The coalition formed against Sweden by Johann Reinhold Patkul, which +resulted in the outbreak of the Great Northern War (1699), abruptly put +an end to Charles XII.'s political apprenticeship, and forced into his +hand the sword he was never again to relinquish. The young king resolved +to attack the nearest of his three enemies--Denmark--first. The timidity +of the Danish admiral Ulrik C. Gyldenlove, and the daring of Charles, +who forced his nervous and protesting admiral to attempt the passage of +the eastern channel of the Sound, the dangerous _flinterend_, hitherto +reputed to be unnavigable, enabled the Swedish king to effect a landing +at Humleback in Sjaelland (Zealand), a few miles north of Copenhagen +(Aug. 4, 1700). He now hoped to accomplish what his grandfather, fifty +years before, had vainly attempted--the destruction of the +Danish-Norwegian monarchy by capturing its capital. But for once +prudential considerations prevailed, and the short and bloodless war was +terminated by the peace of Travendal (Aug. 18), whereby Frederick IV. +conceded full sovereignty to Charles's ally and kinsman the duke of +Gottorp, besides paying him an indemnity of 200,000 rix-dollars and +solemnly engaging to commit no hostilities against Sweden in future. +From Sjaelland Charles now hastened to Livonia with 8000 men. On the 6th +of October he had reached Pernau, with the intention of first relieving +Riga, but, hearing that Narva was in great straits, he decided to turn +northwards against the tsar. He set out for Narva on the 13th of +November, against the advice of all his generals, who feared the effect +on untried troops of a week's march through a wasted land, along boggy +roads guarded by no fewer than three formidable passes which a little +engineering skill could easily have made impregnable. Fortunately, the +two first passes were unoccupied; and the third, Pyhajoggi, was captured +by Charles, who with 400 horsemen put 6000 Russian cavalry to flight. On +the 19th of November the little army reached Lagena, a village about 9 +m. from Narva, whence it signalled its approach to the beleaguered +fortress, and early on the following morning it advanced in battle +array. The attack on the Russian fortified camp began at two o'clock in +the afternoon, in the midst of a violent snowstorm; and by nightfall the +whole position was in the hands of the Swedes: the Russian army was +annihilated. The triumph was as cheap as it was crushing; it cost +Charles less than 2000 men. + +After Narva, Charles XII. stood at the parting of ways. His best +advisers urged him to turn all his forces against the panic-stricken +Muscovites; to go into winter-quarters amongst them and live at their +expense; to fan into a flame the smouldering discontent caused by the +reforms of Peter the Great, and so disable Russia for some time to come. +But Charles's determination promptly to punish the treachery of Augustus +prevailed over every other consideration. It is easy from the +vantage-point of two centuries to criticize Charles XII. for neglecting +the Russians to pursue the Saxons; but at the beginning of the 18th +century his decision was natural enough. The real question was, which of +the two foes was the more dangerous, and Charles had many reasons to +think the civilized and martial Saxons far more formidable than the +imbecile Muscovites. Charles also rightly felt that he could never trust +the treacherous Augustus to remain quiet, even if he made peace with +him. To leave such a foe in his rear, while he plunged into the heart of +Russia would have been hazardous indeed. From this point of view +Charles's whole Polish policy, which has been blamed so long and so +loudly--the policy of placing a nominee of his own on the Polish +throne--takes quite another complexion: it was a policy not of +overvaulting ambition, but of prudential self-defence. + +First, however, Charles cleared Livonia of the invader (July 1701), +subsequently occupying the duchy of Courland and converting it into a +Swedish governor-generalship. In January 1702 Charles established +himself at Bielowice in Lithuania, and, after issuing a proclamation +declaring that "the elector of Saxony" had forfeited the Polish crown, +set out for Warsaw, which he reached on the 14th of May. The +cardinal-primate was then sent for and commanded to summon a diet, for +the purpose of deposing Augustus. A fortnight later Charles quitted +Warsaw, to seek the elector; on the 2nd of July routed the combined +Poles and Saxons at Klissow; and three weeks later, captured the +fortress of Cracow by an act of almost fabulous audacity. Thus, within +four months of the opening of the campaign, the Polish capital and the +coronation city were both in the possession of the Swedes. After +Klissow, Augustus made every effort to put an end to the war, but +Charles would not even consider his offers. By this time, too, he had +conceived a passion for the perils and adventures of warfare. His +character was hardening, and he deliberately adopted the most barbarous +expedients for converting the Augustan Poles to his views. Such commands +as "ravage, singe, and burn all about, and reduce the whole district to +a wilderness!" "sweat contributions well out of them!" "rather let the +innocent suffer than the guilty escape!" became painfully frequent in +the mouth of the young commander, not yet 21, who was far from being +naturally cruel. + +The campaign of 1703 was remarkable for Charles's victory at Pultusk +(April 21) and the long siege of Thorn, which occupied him eight months +but cost him only 50 men. On the 2nd of July 1704, with the assistance +of a bribing fund, Charles's ambassador at Warsaw, Count Arvid Bernard +Horn, succeeded in forcing through the election of Charles's candidate +to the Polish throne, Stanislaus Leszczynski, who could not be crowned +however till the 24th of September 1705, by which time the Saxons had +again been defeated at Punitz. From the autumn of 1705 to the spring of +1706, Charles was occupied in pursuing the Russian auxiliary army under +Ogilvie through the forests of Lithuania. On the 5th of August, he +recrossed the Vistula and established himself in Saxony, where his +presence in the heart of Europe, at the very crisis of the war of the +Spanish Succession, fluttered all the western diplomats. The allies, in +particular, at once suspected that Louis XIV. had bought the Swedes. +Marlborough was forthwith sent from the Hague to the castle of +Altranstadt near Leipzig, where Charles had fixed his headquarters, "to +endeavour to penetrate the designs" of the king of Sweden. He soon +convinced himself that western Europe had nothing to fear from Charles, +and that no bribes were necessary to turn the Swedish arms from Germany +to Russia. Five months later (Sept. 1707) Augustus was forced to sign +the peace of Altranstadt, whereby he resigned the Polish throne and +renounced every anti-Swedish alliance. Charles's departure from Saxony +was delayed for twelve months by a quarrel with the emperor. The court +of Vienna had treated the Silesian Protestants with tyrannical severity, +in direct contravention of the treaty of Osnabruck, of which Sweden was +one of the guarantors; and Charles demanded summary and complete +restitution so dictatorially that the emperor prepared for war. But the +allies interfered in Charles's favour, lest he might be tempted to aid +France, and induced the emperor to satisfy all the Swedish king's +demands, the maritime Powers at the same time agreeing to guarantee the +provisions of the peace of Altranstadt. + +Nothing now prevented Charles from turning his victorious arms against +the tsar; and on the 13th of August 1707, he evacuated Saxony at the +head of the largest host he ever commanded, consisting of 24,000 horse +and 20,000 foot. Delayed during the autumn months in Poland by the tardy +arrival of reinforcements from Pomerania, it was not till November 1707 +that Charles was able to take the field. On New Year's Day 1708 he +crossed the Vistula, though the ice was in a dangerous condition. On the +4th of July 1708 he cut in two the line of the Russian army, 6 m. long, +which barred his progress on the Wabis, near Holowczyn, and compelled it +to retreat. The victory of Holowczyn, memorable besides as the last +pitched battle won by Charles XII., opened up the way to the Dnieper. +The Swedish army now began to suffer severely, bread and fodder running +short, and the soldiers subsisting entirely on captured bullocks. The +Russians slowly retired before the invader, burning and destroying +everything in his path. On the 20th of December it was plain to Charles +himself that Moscow was inaccessible. But the idea of a retreat was +intolerable to him, so he determined to march southwards instead of +northwards as suggested by his generals, and join his forces with those +of the hetman of the Dnieperian Cossacks, Ivan Mazepa, who had 100,000 +horsemen and a fresh and fruitful land at his disposal. Short of falling +back upon Livonia, it was the best plan adoptable in the circumstances, +but it was rendered abortive by Peter's destruction of Mazepa's capital +Baturin, so that when Mazepa joined Charles at Horki, on the 8th of +November 1708, it was as a ruined man with little more than 1300 +personal attendants (see MAZEPA-KOLEDINSKY). A still more serious blow +was the destruction of the relief army which Levenhaupt was bringing to +Charles from Livonia, and which, hampered by hundreds of loaded wagons, +was overtaken and almost destroyed by Peter at Lyesna after a two days' +battle against fourfold odds (October). The very elements now began to +fight against the perishing but still unconquered host. The winter of +1708 was the severest that Europe had known for a century. By the 1st of +November firewood would not ignite in the open air, and the soldiers +warmed themselves over big bonfires of straw. By the time the army +reached the little Ukrainian fortress of Hadjacz in January 1709, wine +and spirits froze into solid masses of ice; birds on the wing fell dead; +saliva congealed on its passage from the mouth to the ground. +"Nevertheless," says an eye-witness, "though earth, sea and sky were +against us, the king's orders had to be obeyed and the daily march +made." + +Never had Charles XII. seemed so superhuman as during these awful days. +It is not too much to say that his imperturbable equanimity, his serene +_bonhomie_ kept the host together. The frost broke at the end of +February 1709, and then the spring floods put an end to all active +operations till May, when Charles began the siege of the fortress of +Poltava, which he wished to make a base for subsequent operations while +awaiting reinforcements from Sweden and Poland. On the 7th of June a +bullet wound put Charles _hors de combat_, whereupon Peter threw the +greater part of his forces over the river Vorskla, which separated the +two armies (June 19-25). On the 26th of June Charles held a council of +war, at which it was resolved to attack the Russians in their +entrenchments on the following day. The Swedes joyfully accepted the +chances of battle and, advancing with irresistible _elan_, were, at +first, successful on both wings. Then one or two tactical blunders were +committed; and the tsar, taking courage, enveloped the little band in a +vast semicircle bristling with the most modern guns, which fired five +times to the Swedes' once, and swept away the guards before they could +draw their swords. The Swedish infantry was well nigh annihilated, while +the 14,000 cavalry, exhausted and demoralized, surrendered two days +later at Perevolochna on Dnieper. Charles himself with 1500 horsemen +took refuge in Turkish territory. + +For the first time in his life Charles was now obliged to have recourse +to diplomacy; and his pen proved almost as formidable as his sword. He +procured the dismissal of four Russo-phil grand-viziers in succession, +and between 1710 and 1712 induced the Porte to declare war against the +tsar three times. But after November 1712 the Porte had no more money to +spare; and, the tsar making a show of submission, the sultan began to +regard Charles as a troublesome guest. On the 1st of February 1713 he +was attacked by the Turks in his camp at Bender, and made prisoner after +a contest which reads more like an extravagant episode from some heroic +folk-tale than an incident of sober 18th-century history. Charles +lingered on in Turkey fifteen months longer, in the hope of obtaining a +cavalry escort sufficiently strong to enable him to restore his credit +in Poland. Disappointed of this last hope, and moved by the despairing +appeals of his sister Ulrica and the senate to return to Sweden while +there was still a Sweden to return to, he quitted Demotika on the 20th +of September 1714, and attended by a single squire arrived unexpectedly +at midnight, on the 11th of November, at Stralsund, which, excepting +Wismar, was now all that remained to him on German soil. + +For the diplomatic events of these critical years see SWEDEN: _History_. +Here it need only be said that Sweden, during the course of the Great +Northern War, had innumerable opportunities of obtaining an honourable +and even advantageous peace, but they all foundered oh the dogged +refusal of Charles to consent to the smallest concession to his +despoilers. Even now he would listen to no offers of compromise, and +after defending Stralsund with desperate courage till it was a mere +rubbish heap, returned to Sweden after an absence of 14 years. Here he +collected another army of 20,000 men, with which he so strongly +entrenched himself on the Scanian coast in 1716 that his combined +enemies shrank from attacking him, whereupon he assumed the offensive by +attacking Norway in 1717, and again in 1718, in order to conquer +sufficient territory to enable him to extort better terms from his +enemies. It was during this second adventure that he met his death. On +the 11th of December, when the Swedish approaches had come within 280 +paces of the fortress of Fredriksten, which the Swedes were closely +besieging, Charles looked over the parapet of the foremost trench, and +was shot through the head by a bullet from the fortress. + + See Charles XII., _Die eigenhandigen Briefe Konig Karls XII._ (Berlin, + 1894); Friedrich Ferdinand Carlson, _Sveriges Historia under + Konungarne af Pfalziska Huset_ (Stockholm, 1883-1885); Robert Nisbet + Bain, _Charles XII. and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire_ (London + and Oxford, 1895); _Bidrag til den Store Nordishe Krigs Historie_ + (Copenhagen, 1899-1900); G. Syveton, _Louis XIV et Charles XII_ + (Paris, 1900); Daniel Krmann, _Historia ablegationis D. Krmann ad + regem Sueciae Carolum XII._ (Budapest, 1894); Oscar II., _Nagra bidrag + till Sveriges Krigshistoria aren 1711-1713_ (Stockholm, 1892); Martin + Weibull, _Sveriges Storhedstid_ (Stockholm, 1881). (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES XIII. (1748-1818), king of Sweden and Norway, the second son of +Adolphus Frederick, king of Sweden, and Louisa Ulrica, sister of +Frederick the Great, was born at Stockholm on the 7th of October 1748. +In 1772 he co-operated in the revolutionary plans of his brother +Gustavus III. (q.v.). On the outbreak of the Russo-Swedish War of 1788 +he served with distinction as admiral of the fleet, especially at the +battles of Hogland (June 17, 1788) and Oland (July 26, 1789). On the +latter occasion he would have won a signal victory but for the +unaccountable remissness of his second-in-command, Admiral Liljehorn. On +the death of Gustavus III., Charles, now duke of Sudermania, acted as +regent of Sweden till 1796; but the real ruler of the country was the +narrow-minded and vindictive Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm (q.v.), whose +mischievous influence over him was supreme. These four years were +perhaps the most miserable and degrading in Swedish history (an age of +lead succeeding an age of gold, as it has well been called) and may be +briefly described as alternations of fantastic jacobinism and ruthless +despotism. On the accession of Gustavus IV. (November 1796), the duke +became a mere cipher in politics till the 13th of March 1809, when those +who had dethroned Gustavus IV. appointed him regent, and finally elected +him king. But by this time he was prematurely decrepit, and Bernadotte +(see CHARLES XIV.) took over the government as soon as he landed in +Sweden (1810). By the union of 1814 Charles became the first king of +Sweden and Norway. He married his cousin Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of +Holstein-Gottorp (1759-1818), but their only child, Carl Adolf, duke of +Vermland, died in infancy (1798). Charles XIII., who for eight years had +been king only in title, died on the 5th of February 1818. + + See _Sveriges Historia_ vol. v. (Stockholm, 1884); _Drottning Hedwig + Charlottes Dagbokshandteckningar_ (Stockholm, 1898); Robert Nisbet + Bain, _Gustavus III. and his Contemporaries_ (London, 1895)_; ib. + Scandinavia_ (Cambridge, 1905). (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES XIV. (1763-1844), king of Sweden and Norway, born at Pau on the +26th of January 1763, was the son of Henri Bernadotte (1711-1780), +procurator at Pau, and Jeanne St Jean (1725-1809). The family name was +originally Deu Pouey, but was changed into Bernadotte in the beginning +of the 17th century. Bernadotte's christian names were Jean Baptiste; he +added the name Jules subsequently. He entered the French army on the 3rd +of September 1780, and first saw service in Corsica. On the outbreak of +the Revolution his eminent military qualities brought him speedy +promotion. In 1794 we find him as brigadier attached to the army of the +Sambre et Meuse, and after Jourdan's victory at Fleurus he was appointed +a general of division. At the battle of Theiningen, 1796, he +contributed, more than any one else, to the successful retreat of the +French army over the Rhine after its defeat by the archduke Charles. In +1797 he brought reinforcements from the Rhine to Bonaparte's army in +Italy, distinguishing himself greatly at the passage of the Tagliamento, +and in 1798 was sent as ambassador to Vienna, but was compelled to quit +his post owing to the disturbances caused by his hoisting the tricolor +over the embassy. On the 16th of August 1798 he married Desiree Clary +(1777-1860), the daughter of a Marseilles banker, and sister of Joseph +Bonaparte's wife. From the 2nd of July to the 14th of September he was +war minister, in which capacity he displayed great ability. About this +time he held aloof from Bonaparte, but though he declined to help +Napoleon in the preparations for the _coup d'etat_ of November 1799, he +accepted employment from the Consulate, and from April 1800 till the +18th of August 1801 commanded the army in La Vendee. On the introduction +of the empire he was made one of the eighteen marshals of France, and, +from June 1804 to September 1805, acted as governor of the +recently-occupied Hanover. During the campaign of 1805, Bernadotte with +an army corps from Hanover co-operated in the great movement which +resulted in the shutting up of Mack in Ulm. He was rewarded for his +services at Austerlitz (December 2, 1805) by the principality of Ponte +Corvo (June 5, 1806), but during the campaign against Prussia, the same +year, was severely reproached by Napoleon for not participating with his +army corps in the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, though close at hand. +In 1808, as governor of the Hanse towns, he was to have directed the +expedition against Sweden, via the Danish islands, but the plan came to +nought because of the want of transports and the defection of the +Spanish contingent. In the war against Austria, Bernadotte led the Saxon +contingent at the battle of Wagram, on which occasion, on his own +initiative he issued an order of the day, attributing the victory +principally to the valour of his Saxons, which Napoleon at once +disavowed. + +Bernadotte, considerably piqued, thereupon returned to Paris, where the +council of ministers entrusted him with the defence of the Netherlands +against the English. In 1810 he was about to enter upon his new post of +governor of Rome when he was, unexpectedly, elected successor to the +Swedish throne, partly because a large part of the Swedish army, in view +of future complications with Russia, were in favour of electing a +soldier, and partly because Bernadotte was very popular in Sweden, owing +to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners during the late +war with Denmark. The matter was decided by one of the Swedish couriers, +Baron Karl Otto Morner, who, entirely on his own initiative, offered the +succession to the Swedish crown to Bernadotte. Bernadotte communicated +Morner's offer to Napoleon, who treated the whole affair as an +absurdity. Bernadotte thereupon informed Morner that he would not refuse +the honour if he were duly elected. Although the Swedish government, +amazed at Morner's effrontery, at once placed him under arrest on his +return to Sweden, the candidature of Bernadotte gradually gained favour +there, and, on the 21st of August 1810, he was elected crown-prince. + +On the 2nd of November Bernadotte made his solemn entry into Stockholm, +and on the 5th he received the homage of the estates and was adopted by +Charles XIII. under the name of Charles John. The new crown-prince was +very soon the most popular and the most powerful man in Sweden. The +infirmity of the old king and the dissensions in the council of state +placed the government, and especially the control of foreign affairs, +entirely in his hands. The keynote of his whole policy was the +acquisition of Norway, a policy which led him into many tortuous ways +(see SWEDEN: _History_), and made him a very tricky ally during the +struggle with Napoleon in 1813. Great Britain and Prussia very properly +insisted that Charles John's first duty was to them, the former power +rigorously protesting against the expenditure of her subsidies on the +nefarious Norwegian adventure before the common enemy had been crushed. +After the defeats of Lutzen and Bautzen, it was the Swedish crown-prince +who put fresh heart into the allies; and at the conference of +Trachenberg he drew up the general plan for the campaign which began +after the expiration of the truce of Plaswitz. Though undoubtedly +sparing his Swedes unduly, to the just displeasure of the allies, +Charles John, as commander-in-chief of the northern army, successfully +defended the approaches to Berlin against Oudinot in August and against +Ney in September; but after Leipzig he went his own way, determined at +all hazards to cripple Denmark and secure Norway. For the events which +led to the union of Norway and Sweden, see SWEDEN: _History_ and NORWAY: +_History_. As unional king, Charles XIV. (who succeeded to that title in +1818 on the death of Charles XIII.) was popular in both countries. +Though his ultra-conservative views were detested, and as far as +possible opposed (especially after 1823), his dynasty was never in +serious danger, and Swedes and Norsemen alike were proud of a monarch +with a European reputation. It is true that the _Riksdag_ of 1840 +meditated compelling him to abdicate, but the storm blew over and his +jubilee was celebrated with great enthusiasm in 1843. He died at +Stockholm on the 8th of March 1844. His reign was one of uninterrupted +peace, and the great material development of the two kingdoms during the +first half of the 19th century was largely due to his energy and +foresight. + + See J.E. Sars, _Norges politiske historia_ (Christiania, 1899); Yngvar + Nielsen, _Carl Johan som han virkelig var_ (Christiania, 1897); Johan + Almen, _Atten Bernadotte_ (Stockholm, 1893); C. Schefer, _Bernadotte + roi_ (Paris, 1899); G.R. Lagerhjelm, _Napoleon och Carl Johan under + Kriget i Tyskland, 1813_ (Stockholm, 1891). (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES XV. (1826-1872), king of Sweden and Norway, eldest son of Oscar +I., king of Sweden and Norway, and Josephine Beauharnais of +Leuchtenberg, was born on the 3rd of May 1826. On the 19th of June 1850 +he married Louisa, daughter of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. He +became regent on the 25th of September 1857, and king on the death of +his father (8th of July 1859). As crown-prince, Charles's brusque and +downright manners had led many to regard his future accession with some +apprehension, yet he proved to be one of the most popular of +Scandinavian kings and a constitutional ruler in the best sense of the +word. His reign was remarkable for its manifold and far-reaching +reforms. Sweden's existing communal law (1862), ecclesiastical law +(1863) and criminal law (1864) were enacted appropriately enough under +the direction of a king whose motto was: "Build up the land upon the +laws!" Charles XV. also materially assisted De Geer (q.v.) to carry +through his memorable reform of the constitution in 1863. Charles was a +warm advocate of "Scandinavianism" and the political solidarity of the +three northern kingdoms, and his warm friendship for Frederick VII., it +is said, led him to give half promises of help to Denmark on the eve of +the war of 1864, which, in the circumstances, were perhaps misleading +and unjustifiable. In view, however, of the unpreparedness of the +Swedish army and the difficulties of the situation, Charles was forced +to observe a strict neutrality. He died at Malmo on the 18th of +September 1872. Charles XV. was highly gifted in many directions. He +attained to some eminence as a painter, and his _Digte_ show him to have +been a true poet. He left but one child, a daughter, Louisa Josephina +Eugenia, who in 1869 married the crown-prince Frederick of Denmark. + + See Cecilia Baath-Holmberg, _Carl XV., som enskild man, konung och + konstnar_ (Stockholm, 1891); Yngvar Nielsen, _Det norske og svenske + Kongehus fra 1818_ (Christiania, 1883). (R. N. B.) + + + + +CHARLES (c. 1319-1364), duke of Brittany, known as CHARLES OF BLOIS and +CHARLES OF CHATILLON, was the son of Guy of Chatillon, count of Blois (d. +1342), and of Marguerite of Valois, sister of Philip VI. of France. In +1337 he married Jeanne of Penthievre (d. 1384), daughter of Guy of +Brittany, count of Penthievre (d. 1331), and thus acquired a right to the +succession of the duchy of Brittany. On the death of John III., duke of +Brittany, in April 1341, his brother John, count of Montfort-l'Amaury, +and his niece Jeanne, wife of Charles of Blois, disputed the succession. +Charles of Blois, sustained by Philip VI., captured John of Montfort, who +was supported by King Edward III. at Nantes, besieged his wife Jeanne of +Flanders at Hennebont, and took Quimper and Guerande (1344). But next +year his partisans were defeated at Cadoret, and in June 1347 he was +himself wounded and taken prisoner at Roche-Derrien. He was not liberated +until 1356, when he continued the war against the young John of Montfort, +and perished in the battle of Auray, on the 29th of September 1364. +Charles bore a high reputation for piety, and was believed to have +performed miracles. The Roman Church has canonized him. + + See Simeon Luce, _Histoire de Bertrand du Gueselin el de son epoque_ + (Paris, 1876). + + + + +CHARLES, called THE BOLD (1433-1477), duke of Burgundy, son of Philip +the Good of Burgundy and Isabella of Portugal, was born at Dijon on the +10th of November 1433. In his father's lifetime he bore the title of +count of Charolais. He was brought up under the direction of the +seigneur d'Auxy, and early showed great application to study and also to +warlike exercises. Although he was on familiar terms with the dauphin +(afterwards Louis XI.), when the latter was a refugee at the court of +Burgundy, he could not but view with chagrin the repurchase by the king +of France of the towns on the Somme, which had been temporarily ceded to +Philip the Good by the treaty of Arras; and when his father's failing +health enabled him to take into his hands the reins of government (which +Philip abandoned to him completely by an act of the 12th of April 1465), +he entered upon his lifelong struggle against Louis XI., and became one +of the principal leaders of the League of the Public Weal. His brilliant +bravery at the battle of Montlhery (16th of July 1465), where he was +wounded and was left master of the field, neither prevented the king +from re-entering Paris nor assured Charles a decisive victory. He +succeeded, however, in forcing upon Louis the treaty of Conflans (1466), +by which the king restored to him the towns on the Somme, and promised +him the hand of his infant daughter Catherine, with Champagne as dowry. +In the meanwhile the count of Charolais obtained the surrender of +Ponthieu. The revolt of Liege and Dinant intervened to divert his +attention from the affairs of France. On the 25th of August 1466 Charles +took possession of Dinant, which he pillaged and sacked, and succeeded +in treating at the same time with the Liegeois. After the death of +Philip the Good (15th June 1467), the Liegeois renewed hostilities, but +Charles defeated them at St Trond, and made a victorious entry into +Liege, which he dismantled and deprived of some of its privileges. + +Alarmed by these early successes of the duke of Burgundy, and anxious to +settle various questions relating to the execution of the treaty of +Conflans, Louis requested a meeting with Charles and placed himself in +his hands at Peronne. In the course of the negotiations the duke was +informed of a fresh revolt of the Liegeois secretly fomented by Louis. +After deliberating for four days how to deal with his adversary, who had +thus maladroitly placed himself at his mercy, Charles decided to respect +the parole he had given and to treat with Louis (October 1468), at the +same time forcing him to assist in quelling the revolt. The town was +carried by assault and the inhabitants were massacred, Louis not having +the courage to intervene on behalf of his ancient allies. At the expiry +of the one year's truce which followed the treaty of Peronne, the king +accused Charles of treason, cited him to appear before the parlement, +and seized some of the towns on the Somme (1471). The duke retaliated by +invading France with a large army, taking possession of Nesle and +massacring its inhabitants. He failed, however, in an attack on +Beauvais, and had to content himself with ravaging the country as far as +Rouen, eventually retiring without having attained any useful result. + +Other matters, moreover, engaged his attention. Relinquishing, if not +the stately magnificence, at least the gay and wasteful profusion which +had characterized the court of Burgundy under the preceding duke, he had +bent all his efforts towards the development of his military and +political power. Since the beginning of his reign he had employed +himself in reorganizing his army and the administration of his +territories. While retaining the principles of feudal recruiting, he had +endeavoured to establish a system of rigid discipline among his troops, +which he had strengthened by taking into his pay foreign mercenaries, +particularly Englishmen and Italians, and by developing his artillery. +Furthermore, he had lost no opportunity of extending his power. In 1469 +the archduke of Austria, Sigismund, had sold him the county of Ferrette, +and the landgraviate of Alsace and some other towns, reserving to +himself the right to repurchase. In 1472-1473 Charles bought the +reversion of the duchy of Gelderland from its old duke, Arnold, whom he +had supported against the rebellion of his son. Not content with being +"the grand duke of the West," he conceived the project of forming a +kingdom of Burgundy or Arles with himself as independent sovereign, and +even persuaded the emperor Frederick to assent to crown him king at +Trier. The ceremony, however, did not take place owing to the emperor's +precipitate flight by night (September 1473), occasioned by his +displeasure at the duke's attitude. In the following year Charles +involved himself in a series of difficulties and struggles which +ultimately brought about his downfall. He embroiled himself successively +with Sigismund of Austria, to whom he refused to restore his +possessions in Alsace for the stipulated sum; with the Swiss, who +supported the free towns of Alsace in their revolt against the tyranny +of the ducal governor, Peter von Hagenbach (who was condemned and +executed by the rebels in May 1474); and finally, with Rene of Lorraine, +with whom he disputed the succession of Lorraine, the possession of +which had united the two principal portions of Charles's +territories--Flanders and the duchy and county of Burgundy. All these +enemies, incited and supported as they were by Louis, were not long in +joining forces against their common adversary. Charles suffered a first +rebuff in endeavouring to protect his kinsman, the archbishop of +Cologne, against his rebel subjects. He spent ten months (July 1474-June +1475) in besieging the little town of Neuss on the Rhine, but was +compelled by the approach of a powerful imperial army to raise the +siege. Moreover, the expedition he had persuaded his brother-in-law, +Edward IV. of England, to undertake against Louis was stopped by the +treaty of Picquigny (29th of August 1475). He was more successful in +Lorraine, where he seized Nancy (30th of November 1475). From Nancy he +marched against the Swiss, hanging and drowning the garrison of Granson +in spite of the capitulation. Some days later, however, he was attacked +before Granson by the confederate army and suffered a shamful defeat, +being compelled to fly with a handful of attendants, and leaving his +artillery and an immense booty in the hands of the allies (February +1476). He succeeded in raising a fresh army of 30,000 men, with which he +attacked Morat, but he was again defeated by the Swiss army, assisted by +the cavalry of Rene of Lorraine (22nd of June 1476). On the 6th of +October Charles lost Nancy, which was re-entered by Rene. Making a last +effort, Charles formed a new army and arrived in the depth of winter +before the walls of Nancy. Having lost many of his troops through the +severe cold, it was with only a few thousand men that he met the joint +forces of the Lorrainers and the Swiss, who had come to the relief of +the town (6th of January 1477). He himself perished in the fight, his +mutilated body being discovered some days afterwards. + +Charles the Bold has often been regarded as the last representative of +the feudal spirit--a man who possessed no other quality than a blind +bravery--and accordingly has often been contrasted with his rival Louis +XI. as representing modern politics. In reality, he was a prince of wide +knowledge and culture, knowing several languages and austere in morals; +and although he cannot be acquitted of occasional harshness, he had the +secret of winning the hearts of his subjects, who never refused him +their support in times of difficulty. He was thrice married--to +Catherine (d, 1446), daughter of Charles VII. of France, by whom he had +one daughter, Mary, afterwards the wife of the Emperor Maximilian I.; to +Isabella (d. 1465), daughter of Charles I., duke of Bourbon; and to +Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV. of England, whom he married in +1468. + + The original authorities for the life and times of Charles the Bold + are the numerous French, Burgundian and Flemish chroniclers of the + latter part of the 15th century. Special mention may be made of the + _Memoires_ of Philippe de Comines, and of the _Memoires_ and other + writings of Olivier de la Marche. See also A. Molinier, _Les Sources + de l'histoire de France_, tome iv. (1904), and the compendious + bibliography in U. Chevalier's _Repertoire des sources historiques_, + part iii. (1904). _Charles the Bold_, by J.F. Kirk (1863-1868), is a + good English biography for its date; a more recent life is R. Putnam's + _Charles the Bold_ (1908). For a general sketch of the relations + between France and Burgundy at this time see E. Lavisse, _Histoire de + France_, tome iv. (1902). (R. Po.) + + + + +CHARLES, called THE GOOD (le Bon), or THE DANE (c. 1084-1127), count of +Flanders, only son of St Canute or Knut IV., king of Denmark, by Adela, +daughter of Robert the Frisian, count of Flanders, was born about 1084. +After the assassination of Canute in 1086, his widow took refuge in +Flanders, taking with her her son. Charles was brought up by his mother +and grandfather, Robert the Frisian, on whose death he did great +services to his uncle, Robert II., and his cousin, Baldwin VII., counts +of Flanders. Baldwin died of a wound received in battle in 1119, and, +having no issue, left by will the succession to his countship to Charles +the Dane. Charles did not secure his heritage without a civil war, but +he was speedily victorious and made his position secure by treating his +opponents with great clemency. He now devoted himself to promoting the +welfare of his subjects, and did his utmost to support the cause of +Christianity, both by his bounty and by his example. He well deserved +the surname of _Le Bon_, by which he is known to posterity. He refused +the offer of the crown of Jerusalem on the death of Baldwin, and +declined to be nominated as a candidate for the imperial crown in +succession to the emperor Henry V. He was murdered in the church of St +Donat at Bruges on the 2nd of March 1127. + + See J. Perneel, _Histoire du regne de Charles le Bon, precede d'un + resume de l'histoire de Flandres_ (Brussels, 1830). + + + + +CHARLES I. (c. 950-c. 992), duke of Lower Lorraine, was a younger son of +the Frankish king Louis IV., and consequently a member of the +Carolingian family. Unable to obtain the duchy of Burgundy owing to the +opposition of his brother, King Lothair, he went to the court of his +maternal uncle, the emperor Otto the Great, about 965, and in 977 +received from the emperor Otto II. the duchy of Lower Lorraine. His +authority in Lorraine was nominal; but he aided Otto in his struggle +with Lothair, and on the death of his nephew, Louis V., made an effort +to secure the Frankish crown. Hugh Capet, however, was the successful +candidate and war broke out. Charles had gained some successes and had +captured Reims, when in 991 he was treacherously seized by Adalberon, +bishop of Laon, and handed over to Hugh. Imprisoned with his wife and +children at Orleans, Charles did not long survive his humiliation. His +eldest son Otto, duke of Lower Lorraine, died in 1005. + + + + +CHARLES II. (d. 1431), duke of Lorraine, called THE BOLD, is sometimes +referred to as Charles I. A son of Duke John I., he succeeded his father +in 1390; but he neglected his duchy and passed his life in warfare. He +died on the 25th of January 1431, leaving two daughters, one of whom, +Isabella (d. 1453), married Rene I. of Anjou (1409-1450), king of +Naples, who succeeded his father-in-law as duke of Lorraine. + + + + +CHARLES III. or II. (1543-1608), called THE GREAT, duke of Lorraine, was +a son of Duke Francis I. (d. 1545), and a descendant of Rene of Anjou. +He was only an infant when he became duke, and was brought up at the +court of Henry II. of France, marrying Henry's daughter Claude in 1559. +He took part in the wars of religion in France, and was a member of the +League; but he was overshadowed by his kinsmen the Guises, although he +was a possible candidate for the French crown in 1589. The duke, who was +an excellent ruler of Lorraine, died at Nancy on the 14th of May 1608. +He had three sons: Henry (d. 1624) and Francis (d. 1632), who became in +turn dukes of Lorraine, and Charles (d. 1607), bishop of Metz and +Strassburg. + + + + +CHARLES IV. or III. (1604-1675), duke of Lorraine, was a son of Duke +Francis II., and was born on the 5th of April 1604. He became duke on +the abdication of his father in 1624, and obtained the duchy of Bar +through his marriage with his cousin Nicole (d. 1657), daughter of Duke +Henry. Mixing in the tortuous politics of his time, he was in continual +conflict with the crown of France, and spent much of his time in +assisting her enemies and in losing and regaining his duchies (see +LORRAINE). He lived an adventurous life, and in the intervals between +his several struggles with France fought for the emperor Ferdinand II. +at Nordlingen and elsewhere; talked of succouring Charles I. in England; +and after the conclusion of the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 entered the +service of Spain. He died on the 18th of September 1675, leaving by his +second wife, Beatrix de Cusance (d. 1663), a son, Charles Henry, count +of Vaudemont (1642-1723). + + + + +CHARLES V. or IV. (1643-1690), duke of Lorraine, nephew of Duke Charles +IV., was born on the 3rd of April 1643, and in 1664 received a colonelcy +in the emperor's army. In the same year he fought with distinction at +the battle of St Gotthard, in which he captured a standard from the +Turks. He was a candidate for the elective crown of Poland in 1668. In +1670 the emperor made him general of horse, and during the following +years he was constantly on active service, first against the Turks and +subsequently against the French. At Seneff (1674) he was wounded. In the +same year he was again a candidate for the Polish crown, but was +unsuccessful, John Sobieski, who was to be associated with him in his +greatest feat of arms, being elected. In 1675, on the death of Charles +IV., he rode with a cavalry corps into the duchy of Lorraine, then +occupied by the French, and secured the adhesion of the Lorraine troops +to himself; a little after this he succeeded Montecucculi as general of +the imperial army on the Rhine, and was made a field marshal. The chief +success of his campaign of 1676 was the capture of Philipsburg, after a +long and arduous siege. The war continued without decisive result for +some time, and the fate of the duchy, which was still occupied by the +French, was the subject of endless diplomacy. At the general peace +Charles had to accept the hard conditions imposed by Louis XIV., and he +never entered into effective possession of his sovereignty. In 1678 he +married the widowed queen of Poland, Eleonora Maria of Austria, and for +nearly five years they lived quietly at Innsbruck. The Turkish invasion +of 1683, the last great effort of the Turks to impose their will on +Europe, called Charles into the field again. At the head of a weak +imperial army the duke offered the best resistance he could to the +advance of the Turks on Vienna. But he had to fall back, contesting +every position, and the Turks finally invested Vienna (July 13th, 1683). +At this critical moment other powers came to the assistance of Austria, +reinforcements poured into Charles's camp, and John Sobieski, king of +Poland, brought 27,000 Poles. Sobieski and Charles had now over 80,000 +men, Poles, Austrians and Germans, and on the morning of the 12th of +September they moved forward to the attack. By nightfall the Turks were +in complete disorder, Vienna was relieved, and the danger was at an end. +Soon the victors took the offensive and reconquered part of the kingdom +of Hungary. The Germans and Poles went home in the winter, but Charles +continued his offensive with the imperialists alone. Ofen (Buda) +resisted his efforts in 1684, but in the campaign of 1685 Neuhausel was +taken by storm, and in 1686 Charles, now reinforced by German +auxiliaries, resumed the siege of Ofen. All attempts to relieve the +place were repulsed, and Ofen was stormed on the 2nd of September. In +the following campaign the Austrians won a decisive victory on the +famous battle-ground of Mohacs (August 18th, 1687). In 1689 Charles took +the field on the Rhine against the forces of Louis XIV., the enemy of +his house. Mainz and Bonn were taken in the first campaign, but Charles +in travelling from Vienna to the front died suddenly at Wels on the 18th +of April 1690. + +His eldest son, Leopold Joseph (1679-1729), at the peace of Ryswick in +1697 obtained the duchy, of which his father had been dispossessed by +France, and was the father of Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine, who +became the husband of Maria Theresa (q.v.), and of Charles (Karl +Alexander), a distinguished Austrian commander in the wars with +Frederick the Great. The duchy was ceded by Francis Stephen to +Stanislaus Leczynski, the dethroned king of Poland, in 1736, Francis +receiving instead the grand-duchy of Tuscany. + + + + +CHARLES II. [CHARLES LOUIS DE BOURBON] (1799-1883), duke of Parma, +succeeded his mother, Maria Louisa, duchess of Lucca, as duke of Lucca +in 1824. He introduced economy into the administration, increased the +schools, and in 1832 as a reaction against the bigotry of the priests +and monks with which his mother had surrounded him, he became a +Protestant. He at first evinced Liberal tendencies, gave asylum to the +Modenese political refugees of 1831, and was indeed suspected of being a +Carbonaro. But his profligacy and eccentricities soon made him the +laughing-stock of Italy. In 1842 he returned to the Catholic Church and +made Thomas Ward, an English groom, his prime minister, a man not +without ability and tact. Charles gradually abandoned all his Liberal +ideas, and in 1847 declared himself hostile to the reforms introduced by +Pius IX. The Lucchesi demanded the constitution of 1805, promised them +by the treaty of Vienna, and a national guard, but the duke, in spite of +the warnings of Ward, refused all concessions. A few weeks later he +retired to Modena, selling his life-interest in the duchy to Tuscany. +On the 17th of October Maria Louisa of Austria, duchess of Parma, died, +and Charles Louis succeeded to her throne by the terms of the Florence +treaty, assuming the style of Charles II. His administration of Parma +was characterized by ruinous finance, debts, disorder and increased +taxation, and he concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with +Austria. But on the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 there were riots +in his capital (19th of March), and he declared his readiness to throw +in his lot with Charles Albert, the pope, and Leopold of Tuscany, +repudiated the Austrian treaty and promised a constitution. Then he +again changed his mind, abdicated in April, and left Parma in the hands +of a provisional government, whereupon the people voted for union with +Piedmont. After the armistice between Charles Albert and Austria (August +1848) the Austrian general Thurn occupied the duchy, and Charles II. +issued an edict from Weistropp annulling the acts of the provisional +government. When Piedmont attacked Austria again in 1849, Parma was +evacuated, but reoccupied by General d'Aspre in April. + +In May 1849 Charles confirmed his abdication, and was succeeded by his +son CHARLES III. (1823-1854), who, protected by Austrian troops, placed +Parma under martial law, inflicted heavy penalties on the members of the +late provisional government, closed the university, and instituted a +regular policy of persecution. A violent ruler, a drunkard and a +libertine, he was assassinated on the 26th of March 1854. At his death +his widow Maria Louisa, sister of the comte de Chambord, became regent, +during the minority of his son Robert. The duchess introduced some sort +of order into the administration, seemed inclined to rule more mildly +and dismissed some of her husband's more obnoxious ministers, but the +riots of the Mazzinians in July 1854 were repressed with ruthless +severity, and the rest of her reign was characterized by political +trials, executions and imprisonments, to which the revolutionists +replied with assassinations. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Massei, _Storia civile di Lucca_, vol. ii. (Lucca, + 1878); Anon., _Y Borboni di Parma ... del 1847 al 1859_ (Parma, 1860); + N. Bianchi, _Storia della diplomazia europea in Italia_ (Turin, 1865, + &c.); C. Tivaroni, _L'Italia sotto il dominio austriaco_, ii. 96-101, + i. 590-605 (Turin, 1892), and _L'Italia degli Italiani_, i. 126-143 + (Turin, 1895) by the same; S. Lottici and G. Sitti, _Bibliografia + generale per la storia parmense_ (Parma, 1904). + + + + +CHARLES [KARL LUDWIG] (1771-1847), archduke of Austria and duke of +Teschen, third son of the emperor Leopold II., was born at Florence (his +father being then grand-duke of Tuscany) on the 5th of September 1771. +His youth was spent in Tuscany, at Vienna and in the Austrian +Netherlands, where he began his career of military service in the war of +the French Revolution. He commanded a brigade at Jemappes, and in the +campaign of 1793 distinguished himself at the action of Aldenhoven and +the battle of Neerwinden. In this year he became _Statthalter_ in +Belgium and received the army rank of lieutenant field marshal, which +promotion was soon followed by that to Feldzeugmeister. In the remainder +of the war in the Low Countries he held high commands, and he was +present at Fleurus. In 1795 he served on the Rhine, and in the following +year was entrusted with the chief control of all the Austrian forces on +that river. His conduct of the operations against Jourdan and Moreau in +1796 marked him out at once as one of the greatest generals in Europe. +At first falling back carefully and avoiding a decision, he finally +marched away, leaving a mere screen in front of Moreau; falling upon +Jourdan he beat him in the battles of Amberg and Wurzburg, and drove him +over the Rhine with great loss. He then turned upon Moreau's army, which +he defeated and forced out of Germany. For this campaign, one of the +most brilliant in modern history, see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS. In 1797 +he was sent to arrest the victorious march of General Bonaparte in +Italy, and he conducted the retreat of the over-matched Austrians with +the highest skill. In the campaign of 1799 he was once more opposed to +Jourdan, whom he defeated in the battles of Osterach and Stokach, +following up his success by invading Switzerland and defeating Massena +in the (first) battle of Zurich, after which he re-entered Germany and +drove the French once more over the Rhine. Ill-health, however, forced +him to retire to Bohemia, whence he was soon recalled to undertake the +task of checking Moreau's advance on Vienna. The result of the battle of +Hohenlinden had, however, foredoomed the attempt, and the archduke had +to make the armistice of Steyer. His popularity was now such that the +diet of Regensburg, which met in 1802, resolved to erect a statue in his +honour and to give him the title of saviour of his country; but Charles +refused both distinctions. + +In the short and disastrous war of 1805 the archduke Charles commanded +what was intended to be the main army, in Italy, but events made Germany +the decisive theatre of operations, and the defeats sustained on the +Danube neutralized the success obtained by the archduke over Massena in +the desperately fought battle of Caldiero. With the conclusion of peace +began his active work of army reorganization, which was first tested on +the field in 1809. As generalissimo of the army he had been made field +marshal some years before. As president of the Council of War, and +supported by the prestige of being the only general who had proved +capable of defeating the French, he promptly initiated a far-reaching +scheme of reform, which replaced the obsolete methods of the 18th +century, the chief characteristics of the new order being the adoption +of the "nation in arms" principle and of the French war organization and +tactics. The new army was surprised in the process of transition by the +war of 1809, in which Charles commanded in chief; yet even so it proved +a far more formidable opponent than the old, and, against the now +heterogeneous army of which Napoleon disposed (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS) +it succumbed only after a desperate struggle. Its initial successes were +neutralized by the reverses of Abensberg, Landshut and Eckmuhl; but, +after the evacuation of Vienna, the archduke won the great battle of +Aspern-Essling (q.v.) and soon afterwards fought the still more +desperate battle of Wagram (q.v.), at the close of which the Austrians +were defeated but not routed; they had inflicted upon Napoleon a loss of +over 50,000 men in the two battles. At the end of the campaign the +archduke gave up all his military offices, and spent the rest of his +life in retirement, except a short time in 1815, when he was governor of +Mainz. In 1822 he succeeded to the duchy of Saxe-Teschen. The archduke +Charles married, in 1815, Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg (d. +1829). He had four sons, the eldest of whom, the archduke Albert (q.v.) +became one of the most celebrated generals in Europe, and two daughters, +the elder of whom became queen of Naples. He died at Vienna on the 30th +of April 1847. An equestrian statue was erected to his memory in Vienna, +1860. + +The caution which the archduke preached so earnestly in his strategical +works, he displayed in practice only when the situation seemed to demand +it, though his education certainly prejudiced him in favour of the +defensive at all costs. He was at the same time capable of forming and +executing the most daring offensive strategy, and his tactical skill in +the handling of troops, whether in wide turning movements, as at +Wurzburg and Zurich, or in masses, as at Aspern and Wagram, was +certainly equal to that of any leader of his time, Napoleon only +excepted. The campaign of 1796 is considered almost faultless. That he +sustained defeat in 1809 was due in part to the great numerical +superiority of the French and their allies, and in part to the condition +of his newly reorganized troops. His six weeks' inaction after the +victory of Aspern is, however, open to unfavourable criticism. As a +military writer, his position in the evolution of the art of war is very +important, and his doctrines had naturally the greatest weight. +Nevertheless they cannot but be considered as antiquated even in 1806. +Caution and the importance of "strategic points" are the chief features +of his system. The rigidity of his geographical strategy may be gathered +from the prescription that "this principle is _never_ to be departed +from." Again and again he repeats the advice that nothing should be +hazarded unless one's army is _completely_ secure, a rule which he +himself neglected with such brilliant results in 1796. "Strategic +points," he says (not the defeat of the enemy's army), "decide the fate +of one's own country, and must constantly remain the general's main +solicitude"--a maxim which was never more remarkably disproved than in +the war of 1809. The editor of the archduke's work is able to make but a +feeble defence against Clausewitz's reproach that Charles attached more +value to ground than to the annihilation of the foe. In his tactical +writings the same spirit is conspicuous. His reserve in battle is +designed to "cover a retreat." The baneful influence of these antiquated +principles was clearly shown in the maintenance of Koniggratz-Josefstadt +in 1866 as a "strategic point," which was preferred to the defeat of the +separated Prussian armies; in the strange plans produced in Vienna for +the campaign of 1859, and in the "almost unintelligible" battle of +Montebello in the same year. The theory and the practice of the archduke +Charles form one of the most curious contrasts in military history. In +the one he is unreal, in the other he displayed, along with the greatest +skill, a vivid activity which made him for long the most formidable +opponent of Napoleon. + + His writings were edited by the archduke Albert and his brother the + archduke William in the _Ausgewahlte Schriften weiland Sr. K. Hoheit + Erzh. Carl v. Osterreich_ (1862; reprinted 1893, Vienna and Leipzig), + which includes the _Grundsatze der Kriegskunst fur die Generale_ + (1806), _Grundsatze der Strategie erlautert durch die Darstellung des + Feldzugs 1796_ (1814), _Gesch. des Feldzugs von 1799_ (1819)--the two + latter invaluable contributions to the history of the war, and papers + "on the higher art of war," "on practical training in the field," &c. + See, besides the histories of the period, C. von + B(inder)-K(rieglstein), _Geist und Stoff im Kriege_ (Vienna, 1895); + Caemmerer, _Development of Strategical Science_ (English transl.), ch. + iv.; M. Edler v. Angeli, _Erzherzog Carl v. Osterr._ (Vienna and + Leipzig, 1896); Duller, _Erzh. Karl v. Osterr._ (Vienna, 1845); + Schneidawind, _Karl, Erzherzog v. Osterr. und die osterr. Armee_ + (Vienna, 1840); _Das Buch vom Erzh. Carl_ (1848); Thielen, _Erzh. Karl + v. Osterr._ (1858); Wolf, _Erzh. Carl_ (1860); H. von Zeissberg, + _Erzh. Karl v. Osterr._ (Vienna, 1895); M. von Angeli, _Erzh. Karl als + Feldherr und Organisator_ (Vienna, 1896). + + + + +CHARLES (1525-1574), cardinal of Lorraine, French statesman, was the +second son of Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise, and brother of Francis, +duke of Guise. He was archbishop of Reims in 1538, and cardinal in 1547. +At first he was called the cardinal of Guise, but in 1550, on the death +of his uncle John, cardinal of Lorraine, he in his turn took the style +of cardinal of Lorraine. Brilliant, cunning and a master of intrigue, he +was, like all the Guises, devoured with ambition and devoid of scruples. +He had, said Brantome, "a soul exceeding smirched," and, he adds, "by +nature he was exceeding craven." Together with his brother, Duke +Francis, the cardinal of Lorraine was all-powerful during the reigns of +Henry II. and Francis II.; in 1558 and 1559 he was one of the +negotiators of the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis; he fought and pitilessly +persecuted the reformers, and by his intolerant policy helped to provoke +the crisis of the wars of religion. The death of Francis II. deprived +him of power, but he remained one of the principal leaders of the +Catholic party. In 1561, at the Colloquy of Poissy, he was commissioned +to reply to Theodore Beza. In 1562 he went to the council of Trent, +where he at first defended the rights of the Gallican Church against the +pretensions of the pope; but after the assassination of his brother, he +approached the court of Rome, and on his return to France he +endeavoured, but without success, to obtain the promulgation of the +decrees of the council (1564). In 1567, when the Protestants took up +arms, he held for some time the first place in the king's council, but +Catherine de' Medici soon grew weary of his arrogance, and in 1570 he +had to leave the court. He endeavoured to regain favour by negotiating +at Rome the dispensation for the marriage of Henry of Navarre with +Margaret of Valois (1572). He died on the 26th of December 1574, at the +beginning of the reign of Henry III. An orator of talent, he left +several harangues or sermons, among them being _Oraison prononcee au +Colloque de Poissy_ (Paris, 1562) and _Oratio habita in Concil. Trident._ +(_Concil. Trident. Orationes_, Louvain, 1567). + + A large amount of correspondence is preserved in the Bibliotheque + Nationale, Paris. See also Rene de Bouille, _Histoire des ducs de + Guise_ (Paris, 1849); H. Forneron, _Les Guises et leur epoque_ (Paris, + 1877); Guillemin, _Le Cardinal de Lorraine_ (1847). + + + + +CHARLES [KARL ALEXANDER] (1712-1780), prince of Lorraine, was the +youngest son of Leopold, duke of Lorraine, and grandson of Charles V., +duke of Lorraine (see above), the famous general. He was born at +Luneville on the 12th of December 1712, and educated for a military +career. After his elder brother Francis, the duke, had exchanged +Lorraine for Tuscany and married Maria Theresa, Charles became an +Austrian officer, and he served in the campaigns of 1737 and 1738 +against the Turks. At the outbreak of the Silesian wars in 1740 (see +AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE), the queen made her brother-in-law a +field marshal, though he was not yet thirty years old, and in 1742 +Charles encountered Frederick the Great for the first time at the battle +of Chotusitz (May 17th). The victory of the Prussians on that field was +far from decisive, and Charles drew off his forces in good order. His +conduct of the successful campaign of 1743 against the French and +Bavarians heightened his reputation. He married, in January 1744, +Marianne of Austria, sister of Maria Theresa, who made them jointly +governors-general of the Austrian Netherlands. Very soon the war broke +out afresh, and Charles, at the head of the Austrian army on the Rhine, +won great renown by his brilliant crossing of the Rhine. Once more a +Lorraine prince at the head of Austrian troops invaded the duchy and +drove the French before him, but at this moment Frederick resumed the +Silesian war, all available troops were called back to oppose him, and +the French maintained their hold on Lorraine. Charles hurried to +Bohemia, whence, aided by the advice of the veteran field marshal Traun, +he quickly expelled the Prussians. At the close of his victorious +campaign he received the news that his wife, to whom he was deeply +attached, had died in childbirth on the 16th of December 1744 at +Brussels. He took the field again in 1745 in Silesia, but this time +without the advice of Traun, and he was twice severely defeated by +Frederick, at Hohenfriedberg and at Soor. Subsequently, as +commander-in-chief in the Low Countries he received, at Roucoux, a heavy +defeat at the hands of Marshal Saxe. His government of the Austrian +Netherlands during the peace of 1749-1756 was marked by many reforms, +and the prince won the regard of the people by his ceaseless activity on +their behalf. After the first reverses of the Seven Years' War (q.v.), +Maria Theresa called Charles again to the supreme command in the field. +The campaign of 1757 opened with Frederick's great victory of Prague, +and Prince Charles was shut up with his army in that fortress. In the +victory of the relieving army under Daun at Kolin Charles had no part. +Nevertheless the battle of Breslau, in which the Prussians suffered a +defeat even more serious than that of Kolin, was won by him, and great +enthusiasm was displayed in Austria over the victory, which seemed to be +the final blow to Frederick. But soon afterwards the king of Prussia +routed the French at Rossbach, and, swiftly returning to Silesia, he +inflicted on Charles the complete and crushing defeat of Leuthen +(December 5, 1757). A mere remnant of the Austrian army reassembled +after the pursuit, and Charles was relieved of his command. He received, +however, from the hands of the empress the grand cross, of the newly +founded order of Maria Theresa. For a year thereafter Prince Charles +acted as a military adviser at Vienna, he then returned to Brussels, +where, during the remainder of his life, he continued to govern in the +same liberal spirit as before. The affection of the people for the +prince was displayed during his dangerous illness in 1765, and in 1775 +the estates of Brabant erected a statue in his honour at Brussels. He +died on the 4th of July 1780 at the castle of Tervoeren, and was buried +with his Lorraine ancestors at Nancy. + + + + +CHARLES (1270-1325), count of Valois, of Maine, and of Anjou, third son +of Philip III., king of France, surnamed the Bold, and of Isabella of +Aragon, was born on the 12th of March 1270. By his father's will he +inherited the four lordships of Crepy, La Ferte-Milon, Pierrefonds and +Bethisy, which together formed the countship of Valois. In 1284 Martin +IV., having excommunicated Pedro III., king of Aragon, offered that +kingdom to Charles. King Philip failed in an attempt to place his son on +this throne, and died on the return of the expedition. In 1290 Charles +married Margaret, daughter of Charles II., king of Naples, and renounced +his pretensions to Aragon. In 1294, at the beginning of the hostilities +against England, he invaded Guienne and took La Reole and Saint-Sever. +During the war Flanders (1300), he took Douai, Bethune and Dam, received +the submission of Guy of Dampierre, and aided King Philip IV., the Fair, +to gain the battle of Mons-en-Pevele, on the 18th of August 1304. Asked +by Boniface VIII. for his aid against the Ghibellines, he crossed the +Alps in June 1301, entered Florence, and helped Charles II., the Lame, +king of Sicily, to reconquer Calabria and Apulia from the house of +Aragon, but was defeated in Sicily. As after the death of his first wife +Charles had married Catherine de Courtenay, a granddaughter of Baldwin +II., the last Latin emperor of Constantinople, he tried to assert his +rights to that throne. Philip the Fair also wished to get him elected +emperor; but Clement V. quashed his candidature in favour of Henry of +Luxemburg, afterwards the emperor Henry VII. Under Louis X. Charles +headed the party of feudal reaction, and was among those who compassed +the ruin of Enguerrand de Marigny. In the reign of Charles IV., the +Fair, he fought yet again in Guienne (1324), and died at Perray +(Seine-et-Oise) on the 16th of December 1325. His second wife had died +in 1307, and in July 1308 he had married a third wife, Mahaut de +Chatillon, countess of Saint-Pol. Philip, his eldest son, ascended the +French throne in 1328, and from him sprang the royal house of Valois. + + See Joseph Petit, _Charles de Valois_ (Paris, 1900). + + + + +CHARLES (1421-1461), prince of Viana, sometimes called Charles IV. king +of Navarre, was the son of John, afterwards John II., king of Aragon, by +his marriage with Blanche, daughter and heiress of Charles III., king of +Navarre. Both his grandfather Charles and his mother, who ruled over +Navarre from 1425 to 1441, had bequeathed this kingdom to Charles, whose +right had also been recognized by the Cortes; but when Blanche died in +1441 her husband John seized the government to the exclusion of his son. +The ill-feeling between father and son was increased when in 1447 John +took for his second wife Joanna Henriquez, a Castilian princess, who +soon bore him a son, afterwards Ferdinand I. king of Spain, and who +regarded her stepson as an interloper. When Joanna began to interfere in +the internal affairs of Navarre civil war broke out; and in 1452 +Charles, although aided by John II., king of Castile, was defeated and +taken prisoner. Released upon promising not to take the kingly title +until after his father's death, the prince, again unsuccessful in an +appeal to arms, took refuge in Italy with Alphonso V., king of Aragon, +Naples and Sicily. In 1458 Alphonso died and John became king of Aragon, +while Charles was offered the crowns of Naples and Sicily. He declined +these proposals, and having been reconciled with his father returned to +Navarre in 1459. Aspiring to marry a Castilian princess, he was then +thrown into prison by his father, and the Catalans rose in his favour. +This insurrection soon became general and John was obliged to yield. He +released his son, and recognized him as perpetual governor of Catalonia, +and heir to the kingdom. Soon afterwards, however, on the 23rd of +September 1461, the prince died at Barcelona, not without a suspicion +that he had been poisoned by his stepmother. Charles was a cultured and +amiable prince, fond of music and literature. He translated the _Ethics_ +of Aristotle into Spanish, a work first published at Saragossa in 1509, +and wrote a chronicle of the kings of Navarre, _Cronica de los reyes de +Navarra_, an edition which, edited by J. Yangues y Miranda, was +published at Pampeluna in 1843. + + See J. de Moret and F. de Aleson, _Anales del reyno de Navarra_, tome + iv. (Pampeluna, 1866); M.J. Quintana, _Vidas de espanoles celebres_ + (Paris, 1827); and G. Desdevises du Dezert, _Carlos d'Aragon_ (Paris, + 1889). + + + + +CHARLES, ELIZABETH (1828-1896), English author, was born at Tavistock on +the 2nd of January 1828, the daughter of John Rundle, M.P. Some of her +youthful poems won the praise of Tennyson, who read them in manuscript. +In 1851 she married Andrew Paton Charles. Her best known book, written +to order for an editor who wished for a story about Martin Luther, _The +Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family_, was published in 1862, and +was translated into most of the European languages, into Arabic, and +into many Indian dialects. Mrs Charles wrote in all some fifty books, +the majority of a semi-religious character. She took an active part in +the work of various charitable institutions, and among her friends and +correspondents were Dean Stanley, Archbishop Tait, Charles Kingsley, +Jowett and Pusey. She died at Hampstead on the 28th of March 1896. + + + + +CHARLES, JACQUES ALEXANDRE CESAR (1746-1823), French mathematician and +physicist, was born at Beaugency, Loiret, on the 12th of November 1746. +After spending some years as a clerk in the ministry of finance, he +turned to scientific pursuits, and attracted considerable attention by +his skilful and elaborate demonstrations of physical experiments. He was +the first, in 1783, to employ hydrogen for the inflation of balloons +(see AERONAUTICS), and about 1787 he anticipated Gay Lussac's law of the +dilatation of gases with heat, which on that account is sometimes known +by his name. In 1785 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences, and +subsequently he became professor of physics at the Conservatoire des +Arts et Metiers. He died in Paris on the 7th of April 1823. His +published papers are chiefly concerned with mathematical topics. + + + + +CHARLES, THOMAS (1755-1814), Welsh Nonconformist divine, was born of +humble parentage at Longmoor, in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn, +near St Clears, Carmarthenshire, on the 14th of October 1755. He was +educated for the Anglican ministry at Llanddowror and Carmarthen, and at +Jesus College, Oxford (1775-1778). In 1777 he studied theology under the +evangelical John Newton at Olney. He was ordained deacon in 1778 on the +title of the curacies of Shepton Beauchamp and Sparkford, Somerset; and +took priest's orders in 1780. He afterwards added to his charge at +Sparkford, Lovington, South Barrow and North Barrow, and in September +1782 was presented to the perpetual curacy of South Barrow by the Rev. +John Hughes, Coln St Denys. But he never left Sparkford, though the +contrary has been maintained, until he resigned all his curacies in June +1783, and returned to Wales, marrying (on August 20th) Sarah Jones of +Bala, the orphan of a flourishing shopkeeper. He had early fallen under +the influence of the great revival movement in Wales, and at the age of +seventeen had been "converted" by a sermon of Daniel Rowland's. This was +enough to make him unpopular with many of the Welsh clergy, and being +denied the privilege of preaching for nothing at two churches, he helped +his old Oxford friend John Mayor, now vicar of Shawbury, Shropshire, +from October until January 11th, 1784. On the 25th of January he took +charge of Llan yn Mowddwy (14 m. from Bala), but was not allowed to +continue there more than three months. Three influential people, among +them the rector of Bala, agitated some of the parishioners against him, +and persuaded his rector to dismiss him. His preaching, his catechizing +of the children after evensong, and his connexion with the Bala +Methodists--his wife's step-father being a Methodist preacher--gave +great offence. After a fortnight more at Shawbury, he wrote to John +Newton and another clergyman friend in London for advice. The Church of +England denied him employment, and the Methodists desired his services. +His friends advised him to return to England, but it was too late. By +September he had crossed the Rubicon, Henry Newman (his rector at +Shepton Beauchamp and Sparkford) accompanying him on a tour in +Carnarvonshire. In December, he was preaching at the Bont Uchel +Association; so that he joined the Methodists (see CALVINISTIC +METHODISTS) in 1784. + +Before taking this step, he had been wont in his enforced leisure to +gather the poor children of Bala into his house for instruction, and so +thickly did they come that he had to adjourn with them to the chapel. +This was the origin of the Welsh Circulating Schools, which he developed +on the lines adopted by Griffith Jones (d. 1761), formerly vicar of +Llanddowror. First one man was trained for the work by himself, then he +was sent to a district for six months, where, (for L8 a year) he taught +gratis the children and young people (in fact, all comers) reading and +Christian principles. Writing was added later. The expenses were met by +collections made in the Calvinistic Methodist Societies, and as the +funds increased masters were multiplied, until in 1786 Charles had +seven masters to whom he paid L10 per annum; in 1787, twelve; in 1789, +fifteen; in 1794, twenty. By this time the salary had been increased to +L12; in 1801 it was L14. He had learnt of Raikes's Sunday Schools before +he left the Establishment, but he rightly considered the system set on +foot by himself far superior; the work and object being the same, he +gave six days' tuition for every one given by them, and many people not +only objected to working as teachers on Sunday, but thought the children +forgot in the six days what they learnt on the one. But Sunday Schools +were first adopted by Charles to meet the case of young people in +service who could not attend during the week, and even in that form much +opposition was shown to them because teaching was thought to be a form +of Sabbath breaking. His first Sunday School was in 1787. Wilberforce, +Charles Grant, John Thornton and his son Henry, were among the +philanthropists who contributed to his funds; in 1798 the Sunday School +Society (established 1785) extended its operations to Wales, making him +its agent, and Sunday Schools grew rapidly in number and favour. A +powerful revival broke out at Bala in the autumn of 1791, and his +account of it in letters to correspondents, sent without his knowledge +to magazines, kindled a similar fire at Huntly. The scarcity of Welsh +bibles was Charles's greatest difficulty in his work. John Thornton and +Thomas Scott helped him to secure supplies from the Society for the +Promotion of Christian Knowledge from 1787 to 1789, when the stock +became all but exhausted. In 1799 a new edition was brought out by the +Society, and he managed to secure 700 copies of the 10,000 issued; the +Sunday School Society got 3000 testaments printed, and most of them +passed into his hands in 1801. + +In 1800, when a frost-bitten thumb gave him great pain and much fear for +his life, his friend, Rev. Philip Oliver of Chester, died, leaving him +director and one of three trustees over his chapel at Boughton; and this +added much to his anxiety. The Welsh causes at Manchester and London, +too, gave him much uneasiness, and burdened him with great +responsibilities at this juncture. In November 1802 he went to London, +and on the 7th of December he sat at a committee meeting of the +Religious Tract Society, as a country member, when his friend, Joseph +Tarn--a member of the Spa Fields and Religious Tract Society +committees--introduced the subject of a regular supply of bibles for +Wales. Charles was asked to state his case to the committee, and so +forcibly did he impress them, that it was there and then decided to move +in the matter of a general dispersion of the bible. When he visited +London a year later, his friends were ready to discuss the name of a new +Society, and the sole object of which should be to supply bibles. +Charles returned to Wales on the 30th of January 1804, and the British +and Foreign Bible Society was formally and publicly inaugurated on March +the 7th. The first Welsh testament issued by that Society appeared on +the 6th of May 1806, the bible on the 7th of May 1807--both being edited +by Charles. + +Between 1805 and 1811 he issued his Biblical Dictionary in four volumes, +which still remains the standard work of its kind in Welsh. Three +editions of his Welsh catechism were published for the use of his +schools (1789, 1791 and 1794); an English catechism for the use of +schools in Lady Huntingdon's Connexion was drawn up by him in 1797; his +shorter catechism in Welsh appeared in 1799, and passed through several +editions, in Welsh and English, before 1807, when his _Instructor_ +(still the Connexional catechism) appeared. From April 1799 to December +1801 six numbers of a Welsh magazine called _Trysorfa Ysprydol_ +(Spiritual Treasury) were edited by Thomas Jones of Mold and himself; in +March 1809 the first number of the second volume appeared, and the +twelfth and last in November 1813. + +The London Hibernian Society asked him to accompany Dr David Bogue, the +Rev. Joseph Hughes, and Samuel Mills to Ireland in August 1807, to +report on the state of Protestant religion in the country. Their report +is still extant, and among the movements initiated as a result of their +visit was the Circulating School system. In 1810, owing to the growth of +Methodism and the lack of ordained ministers, he led the Connexion in +the movement for connexionally ordained ministers, and his influence +was the chief factor in the success of that important step. From 1811 +to 1814 his energy was mainly devoted to establishing auxiliary Bible +Societies. By correspondence he stimulated some friends in Edinburgh to +establish charity schools in the Highlands, and the Gaelic School +Society (1811) was his idea. His last work was a corrected edition of +the Welsh Bible issued in small pica by the Bible Society. As a preacher +he was in great request, though possessing but few of the qualities of +the popular preacher. All his work received very small remuneration; the +family was maintained by the profits of a business managed by Mrs +Charles--a keen, active and good woman. He died on the 5th of October +1814. His influence is still felt, and he is rightly claimed as one of +the makers of modern Wales. (D. E. J.) + + + + +CHARLES ALBERT [CARLO ALBERTO] (1798-1849), king of Sardinia (Piedmont), +son of Prince Charles of Savoy-Carignano and Princess Albertine of +Saxe-Courland, was born on the 2nd of October 1798, a few days before +the French occupied Piedmont and forced his cousin King Charles Emmanuel +to take refuge in Sardinia. Although Prince and Princess Carignano +adhered to the French Republican regime, they soon fell under suspicion +and were summoned to Paris. Prince Charles died in 1800, and his widow +married a Count de Montleart and for some years led a wandering +existence, chiefly in Switzerland, neglecting her son and giving him +mere scraps of education, now under a devotee of J.J. Rousseau, now +under a Genevan Calvinist. In 1802 King Charles Emmanuel abdicated in +favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I.; the latter's only son being +dead, his brother Charles Felix was heir to the throne, and after him +Charles Albert. On the fall of Napoleon in 1814 the Piedmontese court +returned to Turin and the king was anxious to secure the succession for +Charles Albert, knowing that Austria meditated excluding him from it in +favour of an Austrian archduke, but at the same time he regarded him as +an objectionable person on account of his revolutionary upbringing. +Charles Albert was summoned to Turin, given tutors to instruct him in +legitimist principles, and on the 1st of October 1817 married the +archduchess Maria Theresa of Tuscany, who, on the 14th of March 1820, +gave birth to Victor Emmanuel, afterwards king of Italy. + +The Piedmontese government at this time was most reactionary, and had +made a clean sweep of all French institutions. But there were strong +Italian nationalists and anti-Austrian tendencies among the younger +nobles and army officers, and the Carbonari and other revolutionary +societies had made much progress. + +Their hopes centred in the young Carignano, whose agreeable manners had +endeared him to all, and who had many friends among the Liberals and +Carbonari. Early in 1820 a revolutionary movement was set on foot, and +vague plans of combined risings all over Italy and a war with Austria +were talked of. Charles Albert no doubt was aware of this, but he never +actually became a Carbonaro, and was surprised and startled when after +the outbreak of the Neapolitan revolution of 1820 some of the leading +conspirators in the Piedmontese army, including Count Santorre di +Santarosa and Count San Marzano, informed him that a military rising was +ready and that they counted on his help (2nd March 1821). He induced +them to delay the outbreak and informed the king, requesting him, +however, not to punish anyone. On the 10th the garrison of Alessandria +mutinied, and two days later Turin was in the hands of the insurgents, +the people demanding the Spanish constitution. The king at once +abdicated and appointed Charles Albert regent. The latter, pressed by +the revolutionists and abandoned by his ministers, granted the +constitution and sent to inform Charles Felix, who was now king, of the +occurrence. Charles Felix, who was then at Modena, repudiated the +regent's acts, accepted Austrian military assistance, with which the +rising was easily quelled, and exiled Charles Albert to Florence. The +young prince found himself the most unpopular man in Italy, for while +the Liberals looked on him as a traitor, to the king and the +Conservatives he was a dangerous revolutionist. At the Congress of +Verona (1822) the Austrian chancellor, Prince Metternich, tried to +induce Charles Felix to set aside Charles Albert's rights of succession. +But the king was piqued by Austria's interference, and as both the +grand-duke of Tuscany and the duke of Wellington supported him, Charles +Albert's claims were respected. France having decided to intervene in +the Spanish revolution on the side of autocracy, Charles Albert asked +permission to join the duc d'Angouleme's expedition. The king granted it +and the young prince set out for Spain, where he fought with such +gallantry at the storming of the Trocadero (1st of September 1823) that +the French soldiers proclaimed him the "first Grenadier of France." But +it was not until he had signed a secret undertaking binding himself, as +soon as he ascended the throne, to place himself under the tutelage of a +council composed of the higher clergy and the knights of the Annunziata, +and to maintain the existing forms of the monarchy (D. Berti, _Cesare +Alfieri_, xi. 77, Rome, 1871), that he was allowed to return to Turin +and forgiven. + +On the death of Charles Felix (27th of April 1831) Charles Albert +succeeded; he inherited a kingdom without an army, with an empty +treasury, a chaotic administration and medieval laws. His first task was +to set his house in order; he reorganized the finances, created the +army, and started Piedmont on a path which if not liberalism was at +least progress. "He was," wrote his reactionary minister, Count della +Margherita, "hostile to Austria from the depths of his soul and full of +illusions as to the possibility of freeing Italy from dependence on +her.... As for the revolutionaries, he detested them but feared them, +and was convinced that sooner or later he would be their victim." In +1833 a conspiracy of the _Giovane Italia_ Society, organized by Mazzini, +was discovered, and a number of its members punished with ruthless +severity. On the election in 1846 of Pius IX., who appeared to be a +Liberal and an Italian patriot, the eyes of all Italy were turned on him +as the heaven-born leader who was to rescue the country from the +foreigner. This to some extent reconciled the king to the Liberal +movement, for it accorded with his religious views. "I confess," he +wrote to the marquis of Villamarina, in 1847, "that a war of national +independence which should have for its object the defence of the pope +would be the greatest happiness that could befall me." On the 30th of +October he issued a decree granting wide reforms, and when risings broke +out in other parts of Italy early in 1848 and further liberties were +demanded, he was at last induced to grant the constitution (8th +February). + +When the news of the Milanese revolt against the Austrians reached Turin +(19th of March) public opinion demanded that the Piedmontese should +succour their struggling brothers; and after some hesitation the king +declared war. But much time had been wasted and many precious +opportunities lost. With an army of 60,000 Piedmontese troops and 30,000 +men from other parts of Italy the king took the field, and after +defeating the Austrians at Pastrengo on the 30th of April, and at Goito +on the 30th of May, where he was himself slightly wounded, more time was +wasted in useless operations. Radetzky, the Austrian general, having +received reinforcements, drove the centre of the extended Italian line +back across the Mincio (23rd of July), and in the two days' fighting at +Custozza (24th and 25th of July) the Piedmontese were beaten, forced to +retreat, and to ask for an armistice. On re-entering Milan Charles +Albert was badly received and reviled as a traitor by the Republicans, +and although he declared himself ready to die defending the city the +municipality treated with Radetzky for a capitulation; the mob, urged on +by the demagogues, made a savage demonstration against him at the +Palazzo Greppi, whence he escaped in the night with difficulty and +returned to Piedmont with his defeated army. [** amended from armp] The +French Republic offered to intervene in the spring of 1848, but Charles +Albert did not desire foreign aid, the more so as in this case it would +have had to be paid for by the cession of Nice and Savoy. The +revolutionary movement throughout Italy was breaking down, but Charles +Albert felt that while he possessed an army he could not abandon the +Lombards and Venetians, and determined to stake all on a last chance. On +the 12th of March 1849 he denounced the armistice and took the field +again with an army of 80,000 men, but gave the chief command to the +Polish general Chrzanowski. General Ramorino commanding the Lombard +division proved unable to prevent the Austrians from crossing the Ticino +(20th of April), and Chrzanowski was completely out-generalled and +defeated at La Bicocca near Novara on the 23rd. The Piedmontese fought +with great bravery, and the unhappy king sought death in vain. After the +battle he asked terms of Radetzky, who demanded the occupation by +Austria of a large part of Piedmont and the heir to the throne as a +hostage. Thereupon, feeling himself to be the obstacle to better +conditions, Charles Albert abdicated in favour of his son Victor +Emmanuel. That same night he departed alone and made his way to Oporto, +where he retired into a monastery and died on the 28th of July 1849. + +Charles Albert was not a man of first-rate ability; he was of a +hopelessly vacillating character. Devout and mystical to an almost +morbid degree, hating revolution and distrusting Liberalism, he was a +confirmed pessimist, yet he had many noble qualities: he was brave to +the verge of foolhardiness, devoted to his country, and ready to risk +his crown to free Italy from the foreigner. To him the people of Italy +owe a great debt, for if he failed in his object he at least +materialized the idea of the Risorgimento in a practical shape, and the +charges which the Republicans and demagogues brought against him were +monstrously unjust. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Besides the general works on modern Italy, see the + Marquis Costa de Beauregard's interesting volumes _La Jeunesse du roi + Charles Albert_ (Paris, 1899) and _Novare et Oporto_ (1890), based on + the king's letters and the journal of Sylvain Costa, his faithful + equerry, though the author's views are those of an old-fashioned + Savoyard who dislikes the idea of Italian unity; Ernesto Masi's _Il + Segreto del Re Carlo Alberto_ (Bologna, 1891) is a very illuminating + essay; Domenico Perrero, _Gli Ultimi Reali di Savoia_ (Turin, 1889); + L. Cappelletti, _Storia di Carlo Alberto_ (Rome, 1891); Nicomede + Bianchi, _Storia della diplomazia europea in Italia_ (8 vols., Turin, + 1865, &c.), a most important work of a general character, and the same + author's _Scritti e lettere di Carlo Alberto_ (Rome, 1879) and his + _Storia della monarchia piemontese_ (Turin, 1877); Count S. della + Margherita, _Memorandum storico-politico_ (Turin, 1851). + + + + +CHARLES AUGUSTUS [KARL AUGUST] (1757-1828), grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar, +son of Constantine, duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and Anna Amalia of +Brunswick, was born on the 3rd of September 1757. His father died when +he was only nine months old, and the boy was brought up under the +regency and supervision of his mother, a woman of enlightened but +masterful temperament. His governor was Count Eustach von Gorz, a German +nobleman of the old strait-laced school; but a more humane element was +introduced into his training when, in 1771, Wieland was appointed his +tutor. In 1774 the poet Karl Ludwig von Knebel came to Weimar as tutor +to the young Prince Constantine; and in the same year the two princes +set out, with Count Gorz and Knebel, for Paris. At Frankfort, Knebel +introduced Karl August to the young Goethe: the beginning of a momentous +friendship. In 1775 Karl August returned to Weimar, and the same year +came of age and married Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt. + +One of the first acts of the young grand-duke was to summon Goethe to +Weimar, and in 1776 he was made a member of the privy council. "People +of discernment," he said, "congratulate me on possessing this man. His +intellect, his genius is known. It makes no difference if the world is +offended because I have made Dr Goethe a member of my most important +_collegium_ without his having passed through the stages of minor +official professor and councillor of state." To the undiscerning, the +beneficial effect of this appointment was not at once apparent. With +Goethe the "storm and stress" spirit descended upon Weimar, and the +stiff traditions of the little court dissolved in a riot of youthful +exuberance. The duke was a deep drinker, but also a good sportsman; and +the revels of the court were alternated with break-neck rides across +country, ending in nights spent round the camp fire under the stars. +Karl August, however, had more serious tastes. He was interested in +literature, in art, in science; critics, unsuspected of flattery, +praised his judgment in painting; biologists found in him an expert in +anatomy. Nor did he neglect the government of his little state. His +reforms were the outcome of something more than the spirit of the +"enlightened despots" of the 18th century; for from the first he had +realized that the powers of the prince to play "earthly providence" were +strictly limited. His aim, then, was to educate his people to work out +their own political and social salvation, the object of education being +in his view, as he explained later to the dismay of Metternich and his +school, to help men to "independence of judgment." To this end Herder +was summoned to Weimar to reform the educational system; and it is +little wonder that, under a patron so enlightened, the university of +Jena attained the zenith of its fame, and Weimar became the intellectual +centre of Germany. + +Meanwhile, in the affairs of Germany and of Europe the character of Karl +August gave him an influence out of all proportion to his position as a +sovereign prince. He had early faced the problem presented by the decay +of the Empire, and began to work for the unity of Germany. The plans of +the emperor Joseph II., which threatened to absorb a great part of +Germany into the heterogeneous Habsburg monarchy, threw him into the +arms of Prussia, and he was the prime mover in the establishment of the +league of princes (_Furstenbund_) in 1785, by which, under the +leadership of Frederick the Great, Joseph's intrigues were frustrated. +He was, however, under no illusion as to the power of Austria, and he +wisely refused the offer of the Hungarian crown, made to him in 1787 by +Prussia at the instance of the Magyar malcontents, with the dry remark +that he had no desire to be another "Winter King." In 1788 Karl August +took service in the Prussian army as major-general in active command of +a regiment. As such he was present, with Goethe, at the cannonade of +Valmy in 1792, and in 1794 at the siege of Mainz and the battles of +Pirmasenz (September 14) and Kaiserslautern (October 28-30). After this, +dissatisfied with the attitude of the powers, he resigned; but rejoined +on the accession of his friend King Frederick William III. to the +Prussian throne. The disastrous campaign of Jena (1806) followed; on the +14th of October, the day after the battle, Weimar was sacked; and Karl +August, to prevent the confiscation of his territories, was forced to +join the Confederation of the Rhine. From this time till after the +Moscow campaign of 1812 his contingent fought under the French flag in +all Napoleon's wars. In 1813, however, he joined the Grand Alliance, and +at the beginning of 1814 took the command of a corps of 30,000 men +operating in the Netherlands. + +At the congress of Vienna Karl August was present in person, and +protested vainly against the narrow policy of the powers in confining +their debates to the "rights of the princes" to the exclusion of the +"rights of the people." His services in the war of liberation were +rewarded with an extension of territory and the title of grand-duke; but +his liberal attitude had already made him suspect, and his subsequent +action brought him still further into antagonism to the reactionary +powers. He was the first of the German princes to grant a liberal +constitution to his state under Article XIII. of the Act of +Confederation (May 5, 1816); and his concession of full liberty to the +press made Weimar for a while the focus of journalistic agitation +against the existing order. Metternich dubbed him contemptuously "der +grosse Bursche" for his patronage of the "revolutionary" +_Burschenschaften_; and the celebrated "festival" held at the Wartburg +by his permission in 1818, though in effect the mildest of political +demonstrations, brought down upon him the wrath of the great powers. +Karl August, against his better judgment, was compelled to yield to the +remonstrances of Prussia, Austria and Russia; the liberty of the press +was again restricted in the grand-duchy, but, thanks to the good +understanding between the grand-duke and his people, the regime of the +Carlsbad Decrees pressed less heavily upon Weimar than upon other German +states. + +Karl August died on the 14th of June 1828. Upon his contemporaries of +the most various types his personality made a great impression. Karl von +Dalberg, the prince-primate, who owed the coadjutorship of Mainz to the +duke's friendship, said that he had never met a prince "with so much +understanding, character, frankness and true-heartedness"; the Milanese, +when he visited their city, called him the "uomo principe"; and Goethe +himself said of him "he had the gift of discriminating intellects and +characters and setting each one in his place. He was inspired by the +noblest good-will, the purest humanity, and with his whole soul desired +only what was best. There was in him something of the divine. He would +gladly have wrought the happiness of all mankind. And finally, he was +greater than his surroundings,... Everywhere he himself saw and judged, +and in all circumstances his surest foundation was in himself." He left +two sons: Charles Frederick (d. 1853), by whom he was succeeded, and +Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar (1792-1862), a distinguished soldier, who, +after the congress of Vienna, became colonel of a regiment in the +service of the king of the Netherlands, distinguished himself as +commander of the Dutch troops in the Belgian campaign of 1830, and from +1847 to 1850 held the command of the forces in the Dutch East Indies. +Bernhard's son, William Augustus Edward, known as Prince Edward of +Saxe-Weimar (1823-1902), entered the British army, served with much +distinction in the Crimean War, and became colonel of the 1st Life +Guards and a field marshal; in 1851 he contracted a morganatic marriage +with Lady Augusta Gordon-Lennox (d. 1904), daughter of the 5th duke of +Richmond and Gordon, who in Germany received the title of countess of +Dornburg, but was granted the rank of princess in Great Britain by royal +decree in 1866. Karl August's only daughter, Caroline, married Frederick +Louis, hereditary grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and was the mother +of Helene (1814-1858), wife of Ferdinand, duke of Orleans, eldest son of +King Louis Philippe. + + Karl August's correspondence with Goethe was published in 2 vols. at + Weimar in 1863. See the biography by von Wegele in the _Allgem. + deutsche Biographie._ + + + + +CHARLES EDWARD [CHARLES EDWARD LOUIS PHILIP CASIMIR STUART] (1720-1788), +English prince, called the "Young Pretender" and also the "Young +Chevalier," was born at Rome on December 31st, 1720. He was the grandson +of King James II. of England and elder son of James, the "Old +Pretender," by whom (as James III.) he was created at his birth prince +of Wales, the title he bore among the English Jacobites during his +father's lifetime. The young prince was educated at his father's +miniature court in Rome, with James Murray, Jacobite earl of Dunbar, for +his governor, and under various tutors, amongst whom were the learned +Chevalier Ramsay, Sir Thomas Sheridan and the abbe Legoux. He quickly +became conversant with the English, French and Italian languages, but +all his extant letters written in English appear singularly ill-spelt +and illiterate. In 1734 his cousin, the duke of Liria, afterwards duke +of Berwick, who was proceeding to join Don Carlos in his struggle for +the crown of Naples, passed through Rome. He offered to take Charles on +his expedition, and the boy of thirteen, having been appointed general +of artillery by Don Carlos, shared with credit the dangers of the +successful siege of Gaeta. + +The handsome and accomplished youth, whose doings were eagerly reported +by the English ambassador at Florence and by the spy, John Walton, at +Rome, was now introduced by his father and the pope to the highest +Italian society, which he fascinated by the frankness of his manner and +the grace and dignity of his bearing. In 1737 James despatched his son +on a tour through the chief Italian cities, that his education as a +prince and man of the world might be completed. The distinction with +which he was received on his journey, the royal honours paid to him in +Venice, and the jealous interference of the English ambassador in regard +to his reception by the grand-duke of Tuscany, show how great was the +respect in which the exiled house was held at this period by foreign +Catholic powers, as well as the watchful policy of England in regard to +its fortunes. The Old Pretender himself calculated upon foreign aid in +his attempts to restore the monarchy of the Stuarts; and the idea of +rebellion unassisted by invasion or by support of any kind from abroad +was one which it was left for Charles Edward to endeavour to realize. Of +all the European nations France was the one on which Jacobite hopes +mainly rested, and the warm sympathy which Cardinal Tencin, who had +succeeded Fleury as French minister, felt for the Old Pretender resulted +in a definite scheme for an invasion of England to be timed +simultaneously with a prearranged Scottish rebellion. Charles was +secretly despatched to Paris in January 1744. A squadron under Admiral +Roquefeuil sailed from the coast of France. Transports containing 7000 +troops, to be led by Marshal Saxe, accompanied by the young prince, were +in readiness to set sail for England. A severe storm effected, however, +a complete disaster without any actual engagement taking place. + +The loss in ships of the line, in transports, and in lives was a +crushing blow to the hopes of Charles, who remained in France for over a +year in a retirement which he keenly felt. He had at Rome already made +the acquaintance of Lord Elcho and of John Murray of Broughton; at Paris +he had seen many supporters of the Stuart cause; he was aware that in +every European court the Jacobites were represented in earnest intrigue; +and he had now taken a considerable share in correspondence and other +actual work connected with the promotion of his own and his father's +interests. Although dissuaded by all his friends, on the 13th of July +1745 he sailed from Nantes for Scotland on board the small brig "La +Doutelle," which was accompanied by a French man-of-war, the +"Elisabeth," laden with arms and ammunition. The latter fell in with an +English man-of-war, the "Lion," and had to return to France; Charles +escaped during the engagement, and at length arrived on the 2nd of +August off Erisca, a little island of the Hebrides. Receiving, however, +but a cool reception from Macdonald of Boisdale, he set sail again and +arrived at the bay of Lochnanuagh on the west coast of Inverness-shire. + +The Macdonalds of Clanranald and Kinloch Moidart, along with other +chieftains, again attempted to dissuade him from the rashness of an +unaided rising, but they yielded at last to the enthusiasm and charm of +his manner, and Charles landed on Scottish soil in the company of the +"Seven Men of Moidart" who had come with him from France. Everywhere, +however, he met with discouragement among the chiefs, whose adherence he +wished to secure; but at last, by enlisting the support of Cameron of +Lochiel, he gained a footing for a serious rebellion. With secrecy and +speed communications were entered into with the known leaders of the +Highland clans, and on the 19th of August, in the valley of Glenfinnan, +the standard of James III. and VIII. was raised in the midst of a motley +but increasing crowd. On the same day Sir John Cope at the head of 1500 +men left Edinburgh in search of Charles; but, fearing an attack in the +Pass of Corryarrick, he changed his proposed route to Inverness, and +Charles thus had the undefended south country before him. In the +beginning of September he entered Perth, having gained numerous +accessions to his forces on his march. Crossing the Forth unopposed at +the Fords of Frew and passing through Stirling and Linlithgow, he +arrived within a few miles of the astonished metropolis, and on the 16th +of September a body of his skirmishers defeated the dragoons of Colonel +Gardiner in what was known as the "Canter of Coltbrig." His success was +still further augmented by his being enabled to enter the city, a few of +Cameron's Highlanders having on the following morning, by a happy ruse, +forced their way through the Canon-gate. On the 18th he publicly +proclaimed James VIII. of Scotland at the Market Cross and occupied +Holyrood. + +Cope had by this time brought his disappointed forces by sea to Dunbar. +On the 20th Charles met and defeated him at Prestonpans, and returned to +prosecute the siege of Edinburgh Castle, which, however, he raised on +General Guest's threatening to lay the city in ruins. In the beginning +of November Charles left Edinburgh, never to return. He was at the head +of at least 6000 men; but the ranks were being gradually thinned by the +desertion of Highlanders, whose traditions had led them to consider war +merely as a raid and an immediate return with plunder. Having passed +through Kelso, on the 9th of November he laid siege to Carlisle, which +capitulated in a week. Manchester received the prince with a warm +welcome and with 150 recruits under Francis Towneley. On the 4th of +December he had reached Derby and was within ten days' march of London, +where the inhabitants were terror-struck and a commercial panic +immediately ensued. Two armies under English leadership were now in the +field against him, one under Marshal Wade, whom he had evaded by +entering England by the west, and the other under William, duke of +Cumberland, who had returned from the continent. London was not to be +supposed helpless in such an emergency; Manchester, Glasgow and +Dumfries, rid of his presence, had risen against him, and Charles +paused. There was division among his advisers and desertion among his +men, and on the 6th of December he reluctantly was forced to begin his +retreat northward. Closely pursued by Cumberland, he marched by way of +Carlisle across the border, and at last stopped to invest Stirling +Castle. At Falkirk, on the 17th of January 1746, he defeated General +Hawley, who had marched from Edinburgh to intercept his retreat. A +fortnight later, however, Charles raised the siege of Stirling, and +after a weary though successful march rested his troops at Inverness. +Having taken Forts George and Augustus, and after varying success +against the supporters of the government in the north, he at last +prepared to face the duke of Cumberland, who had passed the early spring +at Aberdeen. On the 8th of April the duke marched thence to meet +Charles, whose little army, exhausted with a futile night march, +half-starving, and broken by desertion, was completely worsted at +Culloden on the 16th of April 1746. + +This decisive and cruel defeat sealed the fate of Charles Edward and the +house of Stuart. Accompanied by the faithful Ned Burke and a few other +followers, Charles at last gained the wild western coast. Hunted hither +and thither, he wandered on foot or cruised restlessly in open boats +among the many barren isles of the Scottish shore, enduring the greatest +hardships with marvellous courage and cheerfulness. Charles, upon whose +head a reward L30,000 had a year before been set, was thus for over five +months relentlessly pursued by the troops and spies of the government. +Disguised in female attire and aided by a passport obtained by the +devoted Flora Macdonald, he passed through Skye and parted from his +gallant conductress at Portree. Towards the end of July he took refuge +in the cave of Coiraghoth in the Braes of Glenmoriston, and in August he +joined Lochiel and Cluny Macpherson, with whom he remained in hiding +until the news was brought that two French ships were in waiting for him +at the place of his first arrival in Scotland--Lochnanuagh. He embarked +with speed and sailed for France, reaching the little port of Roscoff, +near Morlaix, on the 29th of September 1746. He was warmly welcomed by +Louis XV., and ere long he was again vigorously intriguing in Paris, and +even in Madrid. So far as political assistance was concerned, his +efforts proved fruitless, but he became at once the popular hero and +idol of the people of Paris. So enraged was he with his brother Henry's +acceptance of a cardinal's hat in July 1747, that he deliberately broke +off communication with his father in Rome (who had approved the step), +nor did he ever see him again. The enmity of the British government to +Charles Edward made peace with France an impossibility so long as she +continued to harbour the young prince. A condition of the treaty of +Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded in October 1748, was that every member of the +house of Stuart should be expelled the French dominions. Charles had +forestalled the proclamation of the treaty by an indignant protest +against its injustice, and a declaration that he would not be bound by +its provisions. But his indignation and persistent refusal to comply +with the request that he should voluntarily leave France had to be met +at last with force: he was apprehended, imprisoned for a week at +Vincennes, and on the 17th of December conducted to the French border. +He lingered at Avignon; but the French, compelled to hard measures by +the English, refused to be satisfied; and Pope Benedict XIV., alarmed by +the threat of a bombardment of Civita Vecchia, advised the prince to +withdraw. Charles quietly disappeared; for years Europe watched for him +in vain. It is now established, almost with certainty, that he returned +to the neighbourhood of Paris; and it is supposed that his residence was +known to the French ministers, who, however, firmly proclaimed their +ignorance. In 1750, and again, it is thought, in 1754, he was in London, +hatching futile plots and risking his safety for his hopeless cause, and +even abjuring the Roman Catholic faith in order to further his political +interests. + +During the next ten years of his life Charles Edward's illicit connexion +with Miss Clementina Walkinshaw (d. 1802), whom he had first met at +Bannockburn House while conducting the siege of Stirling, his imperious +fretful temper, his drunken habits and debauched life, could no longer +be concealed. He wandered over Europe in disguise, alienating the +friends and crushing the hopes of his party; and in 1766, on returning +to Rome at the death of his father, he was treated by Pope Clement XIII. +with coldness, and his title as heir to the British throne was openly +repudiated by all the great Catholic powers. It was probably through the +influence of the French court, still intriguing against England, that +the marriage between Charles (now self-styled count of Albany) and +Princess Louise of Stolberg was arranged in 1772. The union proved +childless and unhappy, and in 1780 the countess fled for refuge from her +husband's drunken violence to a convent in Florence, where Charles had +been residing since 1774. Later, the countess of Albany (q.v.) threw +herself on the protection of her brother-in-law Henry, Cardinal York, at +Rome, and the formal separation between the ill-matched pair was finally +brought about in 1784, chiefly through the kind offices of King Gustavus +III. of Sweden. Charles, lonely, ill, and evidently near death, now +summoned to Florence his natural daughter, Charlotte Stuart, the child +of Clementina Walkinshaw, born at Liege in October 1753 and hitherto +neglected by the prince. Charlotte Stuart, who was declared legitimate +and created duchess of Albany, tended her father for the remaining years +of his life, during which she contrived to reconcile the two Stuart +brothers, so that in 1785 Charles returned to Rome, where he died in the +old Palazzo Muti on the 30th of January 1788. He was buried in his +brother's cathedral church at Frascati, but in 1807 his remains were +removed to the _Grotte Vaticane_ of St Peter's. His daughter Charlotte +survived her father less than two years, dying unmarried at Bologna in +November 1789, at the early age of thirty-six. + + See A.C. Ewald, _Life and Times of Charles Stuart, the Young + Pretender_ (2 vols., 1875); C.S. Terry, _Life of the Young Pretender_, + and _The Rising of 1745; with Bibliography of Jacobite History + 1689--1788_ (Scott. Hist. fr. Contemp. Writers, iii.) (1900); Earl + Stanhope, _History of England_ (1836) and _Decline of the Last + Stuarts_ (1854); Bishop R. Forbes, _The Lyon in Mourning_ (1895-1896); + Andrew Lang, _Pickle, the Spy_ (1897), and _Prince Charles Edward_ + (1900); R. Chambers, _History of the Rebellion in Scotland_, &c. &c. + (H. M. V.) + + + + +CHARLES EMMANUEL I. [CARLO EMANUELE] (1562-1630), duke of Savoy, +succeeded his father, Emmanuel Philibert, in 1580. He continued the +latter's policy of profiting by the rivalry of France and Spain in order +to round off and extend his dominions. His three chief objects were the +conquest of Geneva, of Saluzzo and of Monferrato. Saluzzo he succeeded +in wresting from France in 1588. He intervened in the French religious +wars, and also fought with Bern and other Swiss cantons, and on the +murder of Henry III. of France in 1580 he aspired to the French throne +on the strength of the claims of his wife Catherine, sister of Henry of +Navarre, afterwards King Henry IV. In 1590 he sent an expedition to +Provence in the interests of the Catholic League, and followed it +himself later, but the peace of 1593, by which Henry of Navarre was +recognized as king of France, put an end to his ambitions. In the war +between France and Spain Charles sided with the latter, with varying +success. Finally, by the peace of Lyons (1601), he gave up all +territories beyond the Rhone, but his possession of Saluzzo was +confirmed. He now meditated a further enterprise against Geneva; but his +attempt to capture the city by treachery and with the help of Spain (the +famous _escalade_) in 1602 failed completely. The next few years were +filled with negotiations and intrigues with Spain and France which did +not lead to any particular result, but on the death in 1612 of Duke +Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua, who was lord of Monferrato, Charles +Emmanuel made a successful _coup de main_ on that district. This +arrayed the Venetians, Tuscany, the Empire and Spain against him, and +he was obliged to relinquish his conquest. The Spaniards invaded the +duchy from Lombardy, and although the duke was defeated several times he +fought bravely, gained some successes, and the terms of the peace of +1618 left him more or less in the _status quo ante_. We next find +Charles Emmanuel aspiring to the imperial crown in 1619, but without +success. In 1628 he was in alliance with Spain in the war against +France; the French invaded the duchy, which, being abandoned by Spain, +was overrun by their armies. The duke fought desperately, but was taken +ill at Savigliano and died in 1630. He was succeeded by his son Victor +Amedeo I., while his third son Tommaso founded the line of +Savoy-Carignano from which the present royal house of Italy is +descended. Charles Emmanuel achieved a great reputation as a statesman +and warrior, and increased the prestige of Savoy, but he was too shifty +and ingenious, and his schemes ended in disaster. + + See E. Ricotti, _Storia della monarchia piemontese_, vols. iii. and + iv. (Florence, 1865); T. Raulich, _Storia di Carlo Emanuele I._ + (Milan, 1896-1902); G. Curti, _Carlo Emanuele I. secondo; piu recenti + studii_ (Milan, 1894). + + + + +CHARLES MARTEL[1] (c. 688-741), Frankish ruler, was a natural son of +Pippin II., mayor of the palace, and Chalpaida. Charles was baptized by +St Rigobert, bishop of Reims. At the death of his father in 714, +Pippin's widow Plectrude claimed the government in Austrasia and +Neustria in the name of her grandchildren, and had Charles thrown into +prison. But the Neustrians threw off the Austrasian yoke and entered +into an offensive alliance with the Frisians and Saxons. In the general +anarchy Charles succeeded in escaping, defeated the Neustrians at +Ambleve, south of Liege, in 716, and at Vincy, near Cambrai, in 717, and +forced them to come to terms. In Austrasia he wrested the power from +Plectrude, and took the title of mayor of the palace, thus prejudicing +the interests of his nephews. According to the Frankish custom he +proclaimed a king in Austrasia in the person of the young Clotaire IV., +but in reality Charles was the sole master--the entry in the annals for +the year 717 being "Carolus regnare coepit." Once in possession of +Austrasia, Charles sought to extend his dominion over Neustria also. In +719 he defeated Ragenfrid, the Neustrian mayor of the palace, at +Soissons, and forced him to retreat to Angers. Ragenfrid died in 731, +and from that time Charles had no competitor in the western kingdom. He +obliged the inhabitants of Burgundy to submit, and disposed of the +Burgundian bishoprics and countships to his _leudes_. In Aquitaine Duke +Odo (Eudes) exercised independent authority, but in 719 Charles forced +him to recognize the suzerainty of northern France, at least nominally. +After the alliance between Charles and Odo on the field of Poitiers, the +mayor of the palace left Aquitaine to Odo's son Hunald, who paid homage +to him. Besides establishing a certain unity in Gaul, Charles saved it +from a very great peril. In 711 the Arabs had conquered Spain. In 720 +they crossed the Pyrenees, seized Narbonensis, a dependency of the +kingdom of the Visigoths, and advanced on Gaul. By his able policy Odo +succeeded in arresting their progress for some years; but a new vali, +Abdur Rahman, a member of an extremely fanatical sect, resumed the +attack, reached Poitiers, and advanced on Tours, the holy town of Gaul. +In October 732--just 100 years after the death of Mahomet--Charles +gained a brilliant victory over Abdur Rahman, who was called back to +Africa by the revolts of the Berbers and had to give up the struggle. +This was the last of the great Arab invasions of Europe. After his +victory Charles took the offensive, and endeavoured to wrest Narbonensis +from the Mussulmans. Although he was not successful in his attempt to +recover Narbonne (737), he destroyed the fortresses of Agde, Beziers and +Maguelonne, and set fire to the amphitheatre at Nimes. He subdued also +the Germanic tribes; annexed Frisia, where Christianity was beginning to +make progress; put an end to the duchy of Alemannia; intervened in the +internal affairs of the dukes of Bavaria; made expeditions into Saxony; +and in 738 compelled some of the Saxon tribes to pay him tribute. He +also gave St Boniface a safe conduct for his missions in Thuringia, +Alemannia and Bavaria. + +During the government of Charles Martel important changes appear to have +been made in the internal administration. Under him began the great +assemblies of nobles known as the _champs de Mars_. To attach his +_leudes_ Charles had to give them church lands as _precarium_, and this +had a very great influence in the development of the feudal system. It +was from the _precarium_, or ecclesiastical benefice, that the feudal +fief originated. Vassalage, too, acquired a greater consistency at this +period, and its rules began to crystallize. Under Charles occurred the +first attempt at reconciliation between the papacy and the Franks. Pope +Gregory III., menaced by the Lombards, invoked the aid of Charles (739), +sent him a deputation with the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and the chains +of St Peter, and offered to break with the emperor and Constantinople, +and to give Charles the Roman consulate (_ut a partibus imperatoris +recederet et Romanum consulatum Carolo sanciret_). This proposal, though +unsuccessful, was the starting-point of a new papal policy. Since the +death of Theuderich IV. in 737 there had been no king of the Franks. In +741 Charles divided the kingdom between his two sons, as though he were +himself master of the realm. To the elder, Carloman, he gave Austrasia, +Alemannia and Thuringia, with suzerainty over Bavaria; the younger, +Pippin, received Neustria, Burgundy and Provence. Shortly after this +division of the kingdom Charles died at Quierzy on the 22nd of October +741, and was buried at St Denis. The characters of Charles Martel and +his grandson Charlemagne offer many striking points of resemblance. Both +were men of courage and activity, and the two men are often confused in +the _chansons de geste_. + + See T. Breysig, _Jahrbucher d. frank. Reichs, 714--741; die Zeit Karl + Martells_ (Leipzig, 1869); A.A. Beugnot, "Sur la spoliation des biens + du clerge attribuee a Charles Martel," in the _Mem. de l'Acad. des + Inscr. et Belles-Lettres_, vol. xix. (Paris, 1853); Ulysse Chevalier, + _Bio-bibliographie_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1904). (C. Pf.) + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] Or "The Hammer." + + + + +CHARLESTON, a city and the county-seat of Coles county, Illinois, +U.S.A., in the E. part of the state, about 45 m. W. of Terre Haute, +Indiana. Pop. (1900) 5488; (1910) 5884. It is served by the Cleveland, +Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the Toledo, St Louis & Western +railways, and by interurban electric lines. It is the seat of the +Eastern Illinois state normal school (opened in 1899). The city is +situated in an important broom-corn raising district, and has broom +factories, a tile factory and planing mills. The water-works are owned +and operated by the municipality. Charleston was settled about 1835, was +incorporated in 1839, and was reincorporated in 1865. One of the +Lincoln-Douglas debates was held here in 1858. + + + + +CHARLESTON, the largest city of South Carolina, U.S.A., the county-seat +of Charleston county, a port of entry, and an important South Atlantic +seaport, on a narrow peninsula formed by the Cooper river on the E. and +the Ashley on the W. and S.W., and within sight of the ocean about 7 m. +distant. Pop. (1890) 54,955; (1900) 55,807, of whom 31,522 were of negro +descent and 2592 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 58,833. It is served +by the Atlantic Coast Line and the Southern railways, the Clyde +Steamship Line to New York, Boston and Jacksonville, the Baltimore & +Carolina Steamship Co. to Baltimore and Georgetown, and a branch of the +North German Lloyd Steamship Co., which brings immigrants from Europe +direct to the Southern states; there are freight boat lines to ports in +the West Indies, Central America and other foreign countries. + +The city extends over 3.76 sq. m. of surface, nowhere rising more than 8 +or 10 ft. above the rivers, and has about 9 m. of water front. In the +middle of the harbour, on a small island near its entrance, is the +famous Fort Sumter; a little to the north-east, on Sullivan's Island, is +the scarcely less historic Fort Moultrie, as well as extensive modern +fortifications; on James Island, opposite, is Fort Johnson, now the +United States Quarantine Station, and farther up, on the other islands, +are Fort Ripley and Castle Pinckney (now the United States buoy +station). Viewed from any of these forts, Charleston's spires and public +buildings seem to rise out of the sea. The streets are shaded with the +live oak and the linden, and are ornamented with the palmetto; and the +quaint specimens of colonial architecture, numerous pillared porticoes, +spacious verandas--both upper and lower--and flower gardens made +beautiful with magnolias, palmettoes, azaleas, jessamines, camelias and +roses, give the city a peculiarly picturesque character. + +King Street, running north and south through the middle of the +peninsula, and Market Street, crossing it about 1 m. from its lower end, +are lined with stores, shops or stalls; on Broad Street are many of the +office buildings and banks; the wholesale houses are for the most part +on Meeting Street, the first thoroughfare east of King; nearly all of +the wharves are on the east side; the finest residences are at the lower +end of the peninsula on East Battery and South Battery, on Meeting +Street below Broad, on Legare Street, on Broad Street and on Rutledge +Avenue to the west of King. At the south-east corner of Broad and +Meeting streets is Saint Michael's (built in 1752-1761), the oldest +church edifice in the city, and a fine specimen of colonial +ecclesiastical architecture; in its tower is an excellent chime of eight +bells. Beneath the vestry room lie the remains of Charles Cotesworth +Pinckney, and in the churchyard are the graves of John Rutledge, James +Louis Petigru (1789-1863), and Robert Young Hayne. At the intersection +of the same streets are also the massive United States post office +building (Italian Renaissance in style), with walls of granite; the +county court house, the city hall and Washington Square--in which stand +a statue of William Pitt (one arm of which was broken off by a cannon +shot during the British bombardment in 1780), and a monument to the +memory of Henry Timrod (1829-1867), the poet. At the foot of Broad +Street is the Colonial Exchange in which the South Carolina convention +organized a new government during the War of Independence; and at the +foot of Market Street is the large modern custom house of white marble, +built in the Roman-Corinthian style. Saint Philip's church, with +admirable architectural proportions, has a steeple nearly 200 ft. in +height, from which a beacon light shines for the guidance of mariners +far out at sea. In the west cemetery of this church are the tombs of +John C. Calhoun, and of Robert James Turnbull (1775-1833), who was +prominent locally as a nullifier and under the name of "Brutus" wrote +ably on behalf of nullification, free trade and state's rights. The +French Protestant Church, though small, is an attractive specimen of +Gothic architecture; and the Unitarian, which is in the Perpendicular +style and is modelled after the chapel of Edward VI. in Westminster, has +a beautiful fan-tracery ceiling. + +Of the few small city squares, gardens or parks, the White Point Garden +at the lower end of the peninsula is most frequented; it is shaded with +beautiful live oaks, is adorned with palmettoes and commands a fine view +of the harbour. About 1-1/2 m. north of this on Meeting Street is Marion +Square, with a tall graceful monument to the memory of John C. Calhoun +on the south side, and the South Carolina Military Academy along the +north border. The largest park in Charleston is Hampton Park, named in +honour of General Wade Hampton. It is situated in the north-west part of +the city and is beautifully laid out. The Isle of Palms, to the north of +Sullivan's Island, has a large pavilion and a wide sandy beach with a +fine surf for bathing, and is the most popular resort for visitors. The +Magnolia Gardens are about 8 m. up the Ashley. Twenty-two miles beyond +is the town of Summerville (pop. in 1900, 2420), a health resort in the +pine lands, with one of the largest tea farms in the country. Magnolia +Cemetery, the principal burial-place, is a short distance north of the +city limits; in it are the graves of William Washington (1732-1810) and +Hugh Swinton Legare. Charleston was the home of the Pinckneys, the +Rutledges, the Gadsdens, the Laurenses, and, in a later generation, of +W.G. Simms. A trace of the early social organization of the brilliant +colonial town remains in the St Cecilia Society, first formed in 1737 as +an amateur concert society. + +Charleston has an excellent system of public schools. Foremost among the +educational institutions is the college of Charleston, chartered in 1785 +and again in 1791, and opened in 1790; it is supported by the city and +by funds of its own, ranks high within the state, and has a large and +well-equipped museum of natural history, probably founded as early as +1777 and transferred to the college in 1850. Here, too, are the Medical +College of the state of South Carolina, which includes a department of +pharmacy; the South Carolina Military Academy (opened in 1843), which is +a branch of the University of South Carolina; the Porter Military +Academy (Protestant Episcopal), the Confederate home school for young +women, the Charleston University School, and the Avery Normal Institute +(Congregationalist) for coloured students. In the Charleston library +(about 25,000 volumes), founded in 1748, are important collections of +rare books and manuscripts; the rooms of the South Carolina Historical +Society are in the same building. The Charleston _News and Courier_, +published first as the _Courier_ in 1803 and combined with the _Daily +News_ (1865) in 1873, is one of the most influential newspapers in the +South. The charitable institutions of the city include the Roper +hospital, the Charleston Orphan Asylum (founded in 1792), the William +Euston home for the aged, and a home for the widows of Confederate +soldiers. + +In 1878 the United States government began the construction of jetties +to remove the bar at the entrance to Charleston harbour, which was +otherwise deep and spacious and well protected, and by means of these +jetties the bar has been so far removed as to admit vessels drawing +about 30 ft. of water. The result has been not only the promotion of the +city's commerce, but the removal of the United States naval station and +navy yard from Port Royal to what was formerly Chicora Park on the left +bank of the Cooper river, a short distance above the city limits. The +city's commerce consists largely in the export of cotton,[1] rice, +fertilizers, fruits, lumber and naval stores; the value of its exports, +$10,794,000 in 1897, decreased to $2,196,596 in 1907 ($3,164,089 in +1908), while that of the import trade ($1,255,483 in 1897) increased to +$3,840,585 in 1907 ($3,323,844 in 1908). The principal industries are +the preparation of fertilizers--largely from the extensive beds of +phosphate rock along the banks of the Ashley river and from cotton-seed +meal--cotton compressing, rice cleaning, canning oysters, fruits and +vegetables, and the manufacture of cotton bagging, of lumber, of +cooperage goods, clothing and carriages and wagons. Between 1880 and +1890 the industrial development of the city was very rapid, the +manufactures in 1890 showing an increase of 229.6% over those of 1880; +the increase between 1890 and 1900 was only 6.2%. In 1900 the total +value of the city's manufactures, 16.3% (in value) of the product of the +entire state, was $9,562,387, the value of the fertilizer product alone, +much the most important, being $3,697,090.[2] + +_History._--The first English settlement in South Carolina, established +at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley river in 1670, was +named Charles Town in honour of Charles II. The location proving +undesirable, a new Charles Town on the site of the present city was +begun about 1672, and the seat of government was removed to it in 1680. +The name Charles Town became Charlestown about 1719 and Charleston in +1783. Among the early settlers were English Churchmen, New England +Congregationalists, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, Dutch and German +Lutherans, Huguenots (especially in 1680-1688) from France and +Switzerland, and a few Quakers; later the French element of the +population was augmented by settlers from Acadia (1755) and from San +Domingo (1793). Although it soon became the largest and the wealthiest +settlement south of Philadelphia, Charleston did not receive a charter +until 1783, and did not have even a township government. Local +ordinances were passed by the provincial legislature and enforced partly +by provincial officials and partly by the church wardens. It was, +however, the political and social centre of the province, being not only +the headquarters of the governor, council and colonial officials, but +also the only place at which courts of justice were held until the +complaints of the Up Country people led to the establishment of circuit +courts in 1772. After the American War of Independence it continued to +be the capital of South Carolina until 1790. The charter of 1783, though +frequently amended and altered, is still in force. By an act of the +state legislature passed in 1837 the terms "mayor" and "alderman" +superseded the older terms "intendant" and "wardens." The city was the +heart of the nullification movement of 1832-1833; and in St Andrew's +Hall, in Broad Street, on the 20th of December 1860, a convention called +by the state legislature passed an ordinance of secession from the +Union. + +Charleston has several times been attacked by naval forces and has +suffered from many storms. Hurricane and epidemic together devastated +the town both in 1699 and in 1854; the older and more thickly settled +part of the town was burnt in 1740, and a hurricane did great damage in +1752. In 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined +fleet of Spanish and French under Captain Le Feboure was repulsed by the +forces of Governor Nathaniel Johnson (d. 1713) and Colonel William Rhett +(1666-1721). During the War of Independence Charleston withstood the +attack of Sir Peter Parker and Sir Henry Clinton in 1776, and that of +General Augustus Prevost in 1779, but shortly afterwards became the +objective of a more formidable attack by Sir Henry Clinton, the +commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. In the later years +of the contest the British turned their attention to the reduction of +the colonies in the south, and the prominent point and best base of +operations in that section was the city of Charleston, which was +occupied in the latter part of 1779 by an American force under General +Benjamin Lincoln. In December of that year Sir Henry Clinton embarked +from New York with 8000 British troops and proceeded to invest +Charleston by land. He entrenched himself west of the city between the +Cooper and Ashley rivers, which bound it north and south, and thus +hemmed Lincoln in a _cul-de-sac_. The latter made the mistake of +attempting to defend the city with an inferior force. Delays had +occurred in the British operations and Clinton was not prepared to +summon the Americans to surrender until the 10th of April 1780. Lincoln +refused, and Clinton advanced his trenches to the third parallel, +rendering his enemy's works untenable. On the 12th of May Lincoln +capitulated. About 2000 American Continentals were made prisoners, and +an equal number of militia and armed citizens. This success was regarded +by the British as an offset against the loss of Burgoyne's army in 1777, +and Charleston at once became the base of active operations in the +Carolinas, which Clinton left Cornwallis to conduct. Thenceforward +Charleston was under military rule until evacuated by the British on the +14th of December 1782. + +The bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter (garrisoned by Federal +troops) by the South Carolinians, on the 12th and 13th of April 1861, +marked the actual beginning of the American Civil War. From 1862 onwards +Charleston was more or less under siege by the Federal naval and +military forces until 1865. The Confederates repulsed a naval attack +made by the Federals under Admiral S.F. Du Pont in April 1863, and a +land attack under General Q.A. Gillmore in June of the same year. They +were compelled to evacuate the city on the 17th of February 1865, after +having burned a considerable amount of cotton and other supplies to +prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. After the Civil +War the wealth and the population steadily increased, in spite of the +destruction wrought by the earthquake of 31st August 1886 (see +EARTHQUAKE). In that catastrophe 27 persons were killed, many more were +injured and died subsequently, 90% of the buildings were injured, and +property to the value of more than $5,000,000 was destroyed. The South +Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition, held here from the 1st +of December 1901 to the 1st of June 1902, called the attention of +investors to the resources of the city and state, but was not successful +financially, and Congress appropriated $160,000 to make good the +deficit. + + Much information concerning Charleston may be obtained in A.S. + Salley's _A Guide and Historical Sketch of Charleston_ (Charleston, + 1903), and in Mrs St Julien Ravenel's _Charleston; The Place and the + People_ (New York, 1906). The best history of Charleston is William A. + Courtenay's _Charleston, S.C.: The Centennial of Incorporation_ + (Charleston, 1884). There is also a good sketch by Yates Snowden in + L.P. Powell's _Historic Towns of the Southern States_ (New York, + 1900). For the earthquake see the account by Carl McKinley in the + _Charleston Year-Book_ for 1886. See also SOUTH CAROLINA. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] At an early date cotton became an important article in + Charleston's commerce; some was shipped so early as 1747. At the + outbreak of the Civil War Charleston was one of the three most + important cotton-shipping ports in the United States, being exceeded + in importance only by New Orleans and New York. + + [2] The special census of 1905 dealt only with the factory product, + that of 1905 ($6,007,094) showing an increase of 5.1% over that of + 1900 ($5,713,315). In 1905 the (factory) fertilizer product of + Charleston was $1,291,859, which represented more than 35% of the + (factory) fertilizer product of the whole state. + + + + +CHARLESTON, the capital of West Virginia, U.S.A., and the county-seat of +Kanawha county, situated near the centre of the state, on the N. bank of +the Kanawha river, at the mouth of the Elk river, about 200 m. E. of +Cincinnati, Ohio, and about 130 m. S.W. of Wheeling. Pop. (1890) 6742; +(1900) 11,099, of whom 1787 were negroes, and 353 were foreign-born; +(1910 census) 22,996. It is served by the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Toledo +& Ohio Central, the Coal & Coke, and the Kanawha & West Virginia (39 m. +to Blakeley) railways, and by several river transportation lines on the +Kanawha river (navigable throughout the year by means of movable locks) +connecting with Ohio and Mississippi river ports. The city is +attractively built on high level land, above the river; in addition to a +fine customs house, court house and high school, it contains the West +Virginia state capitol, erected in 1880. The libraries include the state +law library, with 14,000 volumes in 1908, and the library of the state +Department of Archives and History, with about 11,000 volumes. +Charleston is in the midst of a region rich in bituminous coal, the +shipment of which by river and rail constitutes one of its principal +industries. Oil wells in the vicinity also furnish an important product +for export, and there are iron and salt mines near. An ample supply of +natural gas is utilized by its manufacturing establishments; and among +its manufactures are axes, lumber, foundry and machine shop products, +furniture, boilers, woollen goods, glass and chemical fire-engines. The +value of the city's factory products increased from $1,261,815 in 1900 +to $2,728,074 in 1905, or 116.2%, a greater rate of increase than that +of any other city (with 8000 or more inhabitants) in the state during +this period. The first permanent white settlement at Charleston was made +soon after the close of the War of Independence; it was one of the +places through which the streams of immigrants entered the Ohio Valley, +and it became of considerable importance as a centre of transfer and +shipment, but it was not until the development of the coal-mining region +that it became industrially important. Charleston was incorporated in +1794, and was chartered as a city in 1870. Since the latter year it has +been the seat of government of West Virginia, with the exception of the +decade 1875-1885, when Wheeling was the capital. + + + + +CHARLESTOWN, formerly a separate city of Middlesex county, +Massachusetts, U.S.A., but since 1874 a part of the city of Boston, with +which it had long before been in many respects practically one. It is +situated on a small peninsula on Boston harbour, between the mouths of +the Mystic and Charles rivers; the first bridge across the Charles, +built in 1786, connected Charlestown and Boston. A United States navy +yard (1800), occupying about 87 acres, and the Massachusetts state +prison (1805) are here; the old burying-ground contains the grave of +John Harvard and that of Thomas Beecher, the first American member of +the famous Beecher family; and there is a soldiers' and sailors' +monument (1872), designed by Martin Milmore. Charlestown was founded in +1628 or 1629, being the oldest part of Boston, and soon rose into +importance; it was organized as a township in 1630, and was chartered as +a city in 1847. Within its limits was fought, on the 17th of June 1775, +the battle of Bunker Hill (q.v.), when Charlestown was almost completely +destroyed by the British. The Bunker Hill Monument commemorates the +battle; and the navy yard at Moulton's Point was the landing-place of +the attacking British troops. Little was done toward the rebuilding of +Charlestown until 1783. The original territory of the township was very +large, and from parts of it were formed Woburn (1642), Malden (1649), +Stoneham (1725), and Somerville (1842); other parts were annexed to +Cambridge, to Medford and to Arlington. S.F.B. Morse, the inventor of +the electric telegraph, was born here; and Charlestown was the +birthplace and home of Nathaniel Gorham (1738-1796), a member of the +Continental Congress in 1782-1783 and 1785-1787, and its president in +1786; and was the home of Loammi Baldwin (1780-1838), a well-known civil +engineer; of Samuel Dexter (1761-1816), an eminent lawyer, secretary of +war and for a short time secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of +President John Adams; and of Oliver Holden (1765-1831), a composer of +hymn-tunes, including "Coronation." + + See R. Frothingham, _History of Charlestown_ (Boston, 1845), covering + 1629-1775; J.F. Hunnewell, _A Century of Town Life ... 1775-1887_ + (Boston, 1888); and Timothy T. Sawyer, _Old Charlestown_ (1902). + + + + +CHARLET, NICOLAS TOUSSAINT (1792-1845), French designer and painter, +more especially of military subjects, was born in Paris on the 20th of +December 1792. He was the son of a dragoon in the Republican army, whose +death in the ranks left the widow and orphan in very poor circumstances. +Madame Charlet, however, a woman of determined spirit and an extreme +Napoleonist, managed to give her boy a moderate education at the Lycee +Napoleon, and was repaid by his lifelong affection. His first employment +was in a Parisian mairie, where he had to register recruits: he served +in the National Guard in 1814, fought bravely at the Barriere de Clichy, +and, being thus unacceptable to the Bourbon party, was dismissed from +the mairie in 1816. He then, having from a very early age had a +propensity for drawing, entered the atelier of the distinguished painter +Baron Gros, and soon began issuing the first of those lithographed +designs which eventually brought him renown. His "Grenadier de +Waterloo," 1817, with the motto "La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas" (a +famous phrase frequently attributed to Cambronne, but which he never +uttered, and which cannot, perhaps, be traced farther than to this +lithograph by Charlet), was particularly popular. It was only towards +1822, however, that he began to be successful in a professional sense. +Lithographs (about 2000 altogether), water-colours, sepia-drawings, +numerous oil sketches, and a few etchings followed one another rapidly; +there were also three exhibited oil pictures, the first of which was +especially admired--"Episode in the Campaign of Russia" (1836), the +"Passage of the Rhine by Moreau" (1837), "Wounded Soldiers Halting in a +Ravine" (1843). Besides the military subjects in which he peculiarly +delighted, and which found an energetic response in the popular heart, +and kept alive a feeling of regret for the recent past of the French +nation and discontent with the present,--a feeling which increased upon +the artist himself towards the close of his career,--Charlet designed +many subjects of town life and peasant life, the ways of children, &c., +with much wit and whim in the descriptive mottoes. One of the most +famous sets is the "Vie civile, politique, et militaire du Caporal +Valentin," 50 lithographs, dating from 1838 to 1842. In 1838 his health +began to fail owing to an affection of the chest. He died in Paris on +the 30th of October 1845. Charlet was an uncommonly tall man, with an +expressive face, bantering and good natured; his character corresponded, +full of boyish fun and high spirits, with manly independence, and a vein +of religious feeling, and he was a hearty favourite among his intimates, +one of whom was the painter Gericault. Charlet married in 1824, and two +sons survived him. + + A life of Charlet was published in 1856 by a military friend, De la + Combe. (W. M. R.) + + + + +CHARLEVILLE, a town of north-eastern France, in the department of +Ardennes, 151 m. N.E. of Paris on the Eastern railway. Pop. (1906) +19,693. Charleville is situated within a bend of the Meuse on its left +bank, opposite Mezieres, with which it is united by a suspension bridge. +The town was founded in 1606 by Charles III. (Gonzaga), duke of Nevers, +afterwards duke of Mantua, and is laid out on a uniform plan. Its +central and most interesting portion is the Place Ducale, a large square +surrounded by old houses with high-pitched roofs, the porches being +arranged so as to form a continuous arcade; in the centre there is a +fountain surmounted by a statue of the duke Charles. A handsome church +in the Romanesque style and the other public buildings date from the +19th century. An old mill, standing on the bank of the river, dates from +the early years of the town's existence. On the right bank of the Meuse +is Mont Olympe, with the ruins of a fortress dismantled under Louis XIV. +Charleville, which shares with Mezieres the administrative institutions +of the department of Ardennes, has tribunals of first instance and of +commerce, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators and lycees +and training colleges for both sexes. Its chief industries are +metal-founding and the manufacture of nails, anvils, tools and other +iron goods, and brush-making; leather-working and sugar-refining, and +the making of bricks and clay pipes are also carried on. + + + + +CHARLEVOIX, PIERRE FRANCOIS XAVIER DE (1682-1761), French Jesuit +traveller and historian, was born at St Quentin on the 29th of October +1682. At the age of sixteen he entered the Society of Jesus; and at the +age of twenty-three was sent to Canada, where he remained for four years +as professor at Quebec. He then returned and became professor of belles +lettres at home, and travelled on the errands of his society in various +countries. In 1720-1722, under orders from the regent, he visited +America for the second time, and went along the Great Lakes and down the +Mississippi. In later years (1733-1755) he was one of the directors of +the _Journal de Trevoux_. He died at La Fleche on the 1st of February +1761. His works, enumerated in the _Bibliographie des Prers de la +Compagnie de Jesus_ (by Carlos Sommervogel), fall into two groups. The +first contains his _Histoire de l'etablissement, du progres et de la +decadence du Christianisme dans l'empire du Japon_ (Rouen, 1715; English +trans. _History of the Church of Japan_, 1715), and his _Histoire et +description generale du Japon_ (1736), a compilation chiefly from +Kampfer. The second group includes his historical work on America: +_Histoire de l'Isle Espagnole ou de Saint Domingue_ (1730), based on +manuscript memoirs of P. Jean-Baptiste Le Pers and original sources; +_Histoire de Paraguay_ (1756); _Vie de la Mere Marie de l'Incarnation, +institutrice et premiere superieure des Urselines de la Nouvelle-France_ +(1724); _Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle-France_ (1744; +in English 1769; tr. J.G. Shea, 1866-1872), a work of capital importance +for Canadian history. + + + + +CHARLEVOIX, a village and the county-seat of Charlevoix county, +Michigan, U.S.A., 16 m. E.S.E. of Petoskey, on Lake Michigan and Pine +Lake, which are connected by Pine river and Round Lake. Pop. (1890) +1496; (1900) 2079; (1904) 2395; (1910) 2420. It is on the main line of +the Pere Marquette railway, and during the summer season is served by +lake steamers. The village is best known as a summer resort; it is built +on bluffs and on a series of terraces rising from Round and Pine lakes +and affording extensive views; and there are a number of attractive +summer residences. Charlevoix is an important hardwood lumber port, and +the principal industries are the manufacture of lumber and of cement; +fishing (especially for lake trout and white fish); the raising of sugar +beets; and the manufacture of rustic and fancy wood-work. Charlevoix was +settled about 1866, and was incorporated as a village in 1879. + + + + +CHARLOTTE, a city and the county-seat of Mecklenburg county, North +Carolina, U.S.A., situated on Sugar Creek, in the south-west part of the +state, about 175 m. south-west of Raleigh. Pop. (1890) 11,557; (1900) +18,091, of whom 7151 were negroes; (1910 census) 34,014. It is served by +the Seaboard Air Line and the Southern railways. Among the public +buildings are a fine city hall, court-house, Federal and Young Men's +Christian Association buildings, and a Carnegie library; several +hospitals: St Peter's (Episcopal) for whites, Good Samaritan (Episcopal) +for negroes, Mercy General (Roman Catholic) and a Presbyterian. The city +is the seat of Elizabeth College and Conservatory of Music (1897), a +non-sectarian institution for women, of the Presbyterian College for +women, and of Biddle University (Presbyterian) for negroes, established +in 1867. There is a United States assay office, established as a branch +mint in 1837, during the days of North Carolina's great importance as a +gold producing state, and closed from 1861 to 1869. The city has large +cotton, clothing, and knitting mills, and manufactories of cotton-seed +oil, tools, machinery, fertilizers and furniture. The total value of its +factory products was $4,849,630 in 1905. There are large electric power +plants in and near the city. Printing and publishing are of some +importance: Charlotte is the publication headquarters of the African +Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; and several textile trade journals and +two medical periodicals are published here. The water-works are owned by +the municipality. Charlotte was settled about 1750 and was incorporated +in 1768. Here in May 1775 was adopted the "Mecklenburg Declaration of +Independence" (see NORTH CAROLINA), and in honour of its signers there +is a monument in front of the court-house. Charlotte was occupied in +September 1780 by Cornwallis, who left it after learning of the battle +of King's Mountain, and subsequently it became the principal base and +rendezvous of General Greene. + + + + +CHARLOTTENBURG, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the +Spree, lying immediately west of Berlin, of which it forms practically +the entire western suburb. The earlier name of the town was Lietzenburg. +Pop. (1890) 76,859; (1900) 189,290; (1905) 237,231. It is governed by a +council of 94 members. The central part of the town is connected with +Berlin by a magnificent avenue, the Charlottenburger Chaussee, which +runs from the Brandenburger Tor through the whole length of the +Tiergarten. Although retaining its own municipal government, +Charlottenburg, together with the adjacent suburban towns of Schoneberg +and Rixdorf, was included in 1900 in the police district of the capital. +The Schloss, built in 1696 for the electress Sophie Charlotte, queen of +the elector Frederick, afterwards King Frederick I., after whom the town +was named, contains a collection of antiquities and paintings. In the +grounds stands a granite mausoleum, the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, +with beautiful white marble recumbent statues of Frederick William III. +and his queen Louise by Christian Daniel Rauch, and also those of the +emperor William I. and the empress Augusta by Erdmann Encke. It was in +the Schloss that the emperor Frederick III. took over the reins of +government in 1888, and here he resided for nearly the whole of his +three months' reign. The town contains an equestrian statue of +Frederick. Of public buildings, the famous technical academy and the +Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church are referred to in the article BERLIN. In +Charlottenburg is the Physikalisch-technische Reichsanstalt, a state +institution for the carrying out of scientific experiments and +measurements, and for testing instruments of precision, materials, &c. +It was established in 1886 with money provided by Ernst Werner Siemens. +In addition to the famous royal porcelain manufactory, Charlottenburg +has many flourishing industries, notably iron-works grouped along the +banks of the Spree. Its main thoroughfares are laid out on a spacious +plan, while there are many quiet streets containing pretty villas. See +F. Schultz, _Chronik von Charlottenburg_ (Charlottenburg, 1888). + + + + +CHARLOTTESVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Albemarle county, +Virginia, U.S.A., picturesquely situated on the Rivanna river, 96 m. (by +rail) N.W. of Richmond in the beautiful Piedmont region. Pop. (1890) +5591; (1900) 6449 (2613 being negroes); (1910) 6765. The city is served +by the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Southern railways, and is best known +as the seat of the University of Virginia (q.v.), which was founded by +Thomas Jefferson. Here are also the Rawlings Institute for girls, +founded as the Albemarle Female Institute in 1857, and a University +school. Monticello, Jefferson's home, is still standing about 2 m. +south-east of the city on a fine hill, called Little Mountain until +Jefferson Italianised the name. The south pavilion of the present house +is the original brick building, one and a half storeys high, first +occupied by Jefferson in 1770. He was buried near the house, which was +sold by his daughter some years after his death. George Rogers Clark was +born near Monticello. Charlottesville is a trade centre for the +surrounding country; among its manufactures are woollen goods, overalls, +agricultural implements and cigars and tobacco. The city owns its +water-supply system and owns and operates its gas plant; an electric +plant, privately owned, lights the streets and many houses. The site of +the city was a part of the Castle Hill estate of Thomas Walker +(1715-1794), an intimate friend of George Washington. The act +establishing the town of Charlottesville was passed by the Assembly of +Virginia in November 1762, when the name Charlottesville (in honour of +Queen Charlotte, wife of George III.) first appeared. In 1779-1780 about +4000 of Burgoyne's troops, surrendered under the "Convention" of +Saratoga, were quartered here; in October 1780 part of them were sent to +Lancaster, Pa., and later the rest were sent north. In June 1781 +Tarleton raided Charlottesville and the vicinity, nearly captured Thomas +Jefferson, and destroyed the public records and some arms and +ammunition. In 1888 Charlottesville was chartered as a city +administratively independent of the county. + + + + +CHARLOTTETOWN, a city of Canada, the capital of Prince Edward Island, +situated in Queen's county, on Hillsborough river. Pop. (1901) 12,080. +It has a good harbour, and the river is navigable by large vessels for +several miles. The export trade of the island centres here, and the city +has regular communication by steamer with the chief American and +Canadian ports. Besides the government buildings and the court-house, it +contains numerous churches, the Prince of Wales College, supported by +the province, the Roman Catholic college of St Dunstan's and a normal +school; among its manufactures are woollen goods, lumber, canned goods, +and foundry products. The head office and workshops of the Prince Edward +Island railway are situated here. The town was founded in 1750 by the +French under the name of Port la Joie, but under British rule changed +its name in honour of the queen of George III. + + + + +CHARM (through the Fr. from the Lat. _carmen_, a song), an incantation, +verses sung with supposed magical results, hence anything possessing +powers of bringing good luck or averting evil, particularly articles +worn with that purpose, such as an amulet. It is thus used of small +trinkets attached to bracelets or chains. The word is also used, +figuratively, of fascinating qualities of feature, voice or character. + + + + +CHARNAY, (CLAUDE JOSEPH) DESIRE (1828- ), French traveller and +archaeologist, was born in Fleurie (Rhone), on the 2nd of May 1828. He +studied at the Lycee Charlemagne, in 1850 became a teacher in New +Orleans, Louisiana, and there became acquainted with John Lloyd +Stephens's books of travel in Yucatan. He travelled in Mexico, under a +commission from the French ministry of education, in 1857-1861; in +Madagascar in 1863; in South America, particularly Chile and Argentina, +in 1875; and in Java and Australia in 1878. In 1880-1883 he again +visited the ruined cities of Mexico. Pierre Lorillard of New York +contributed to defray the expense of this expedition, and Charnay named +a great ruined city near the Guatemalan boundary line Ville Lorillard in +his honour. Charnay went to Yucatan in 1886. The more important of his +publications are _Le Mexique, souvenirs et impressions de voyage_ +(1863), being his personal report on the expedition of 1857-61, of +which the official report is to be found in Viollet-le-Duc's _Cites et +ruines americaines: Mitla, Palenque, Izamal, Chichen-Itza, Uxmal_ +(1863), vol. 19 of _Recueil des voyages et des documents; Les Anciennes +Villes du Nouveau Monde_ (1885; English translation, _The Ancient Cities +of the New World_, 1887, by Mmes. Gonino and Conant); a romance, _Une +Princesse indienne avant la conquete_ (1888); _A travers les forets +vierges_ (1890); and _Manuscrit Ramirez: Histoire de I'origine des +Indiens qui habitent la Nouvelle Espagne selon leurs traditions_ (1903). +He translated Cortez's letters into French, under the title _Lettres de +Fernand Cortes a Charles-quint sur la decouverte et la conquete du +Mexique_ (1896). He elaborated a theory of Toltec migrations and +considered the prehistoric Mexican to be of Asiatic origin, because of +observed similarities to Japanese architecture, Chinese decoration, +Malaysian language and Cambodian dress, &c. + + + + +CHARNEL HOUSE (Med. Lat. _carnarium_), a place for depositing the bones +which might be thrown up in digging graves. Sometimes, as at Gloucester, +Hythe and Ripon, it was a portion of the crypt; sometimes, as at Old St +Paul's and Worcester (both now destroyed), it was a separate building in +the churchyard; sometimes chantry chapels were attached to these +buildings. Viollet-le-Duc has given two very curious examples of such +_ossuaires_ (as the French call them)--one from Fleurance (Gers), the +other from Faouet (Finistere). + + + + +CHARNOCK, JOB (d. 1693), English founder of Calcutta, went out to India +in 1655 or 1656, apparently not in the East India Company's service, but +soon joined it. He was stationed at Cossimbazar, and subsequently at +Patna. In 1685 he became chief agent at Hugli. Being besieged there by +the Mogul viceroy of Bengal, he put the company's goods and servants on +board his light vessels and dropped down the river 27 m. to the village +of Sutanati, a place well chosen for the purpose of defence, which +occupied the site of what is now Calcutta. It was only, however, at the +third attempt that Charnock finally settled down at this spot, and the +selection of the future capital of India was entirely due to his +stubborn resolution. He was a silent morose man, not popular among his +contemporaries, but "always a faithfull Man to the Company." He is said +to have married a Hindu widow. + + + + +CHARNOCK (or CHERNOCK), ROBERT (c.1663-1696), English conspirator, +belonged to a Warwickshire family, and was educated at Magdalen College, +Oxford, becoming a fellow of his college and a Roman Catholic priest. +When in 1687 the dispute arose between James II. and the fellows of +Magdalen over the election of a president Charnock favoured the first +royal nominee, Anthony Farmer, and also the succeeding one, Samuel +Parker, bishop of Oxford. Almost alone among the fellows he was not +driven out in November 1687, and he became dean and then vice-president +of the college under the new regime, but was expelled in October 1688. +Residing at the court of the Stuarts in France, or conspiring in +England, Charnock and Sir George Barclay appear to have arranged the +details of the unsuccessful attempt to kill William III. near Turnham +Green in February 1696, Barclay escaped, but Charnock was arrested, was +tried and found guilty, and was hanged on the 18th of March 1696. + + + + +CHARNOCKITE, a series of foliated igneous rocks of wide distribution and +great importance in India, Ceylon, Madagascar and Africa. The name was +given by Dr T.H. Holland from the fact that the tombstone of Job +Charnock, the founder of Calcutta, is made of a block of this rock. The +charnockite series includes rocks of many different types, some being +acid and rich in quartz and microcline, others basic and full of +pyroxene and olivine, while there are also intermediate varieties +corresponding mineralogically to norites, quartz-norites and diorites. A +special feature, recurring in many members of the group, is the presence +of strongly pleochroic, reddish or green hypersthene. Many of the +minerals of these rocks are "schillerized," as they contain minute platy +or rod-shaped enclosures, disposed parallel to certain crystallographic +planes or axes. The reflection of light from the surfaces of these +enclosures gives the minerals often a peculiar appearance, e.g. the +quartz is blue and opalescent, the felspar has a milky shimmer like +moonshine, the hypersthene has a bronzy metalloidal gleam. Very often +the different rock types occur in close association as one set forms +bands alternating with another set, or veins traversing it, and where +one facies appears the others also usually are found. The term +charnockite consequently is not the name of a rock, but of an assemblage +of rock types, connected in their origin because arising by +differentiation of the same parent magma. The banded structure which +these rocks commonly present in the field is only in a small measure due +to crushing, but is to a large extent original, and has been produced by +fluxion in a viscous crystallizing intrusive magma, together with +differentiation or segregation of the mass into bands of different +chemical and mineralogical composition. There have also been, of course, +earth movements acting on the solid rock at a later time and injection +of dikes both parallel to and across the primary foliation. In fact, the +history of the structures of the charnockite series is the history of +the most primitive gneisses in all parts of the world, for which we +cannot pretend to have as yet any thoroughly satisfactory explanations +to offer. A striking fact is the very wide distribution of rocks of this +group in the southern hemisphere; but they also, or rocks very similar +to them, occur in Norway, France, Germany, Scotland and North America, +though in these countries they have been mostly described as pyroxene +granulites, pyroxene gneisses, anorthosites, &c. They are usually +regarded as being of Archean age (pre-Cambrian), and in most cases this +can be definitely proved, though not in all. It is astonishing to find +that in spite of their great age their minerals are often in excellent +preservation. In India they form the Nilgiri Hills, the Shevaroys and +part of the Western Ghats, extending southward to Cape Comorin and +reappearing in Ceylon. Although they are certainly for the most part +igneous gneisses (or orthogneisses), rocks occur along with them, such +as marbles, scapolite limestones, and corundum rocks, which were +probably of sedimentary origin. (J. S. F.) + + + + +CHARNWOOD FOREST, an upland tract in the N.-W. of Leicestershire, +England. It is undulating, rocky, picturesque, and in great part barren, +though there are some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is +generally 600 ft. and upwards, the area exceeding this height being +about 6100 acres. The loftiest point, Bardon Hill, is 912 ft. On its +western flank lies a coalfield, with Coalville and other mining towns, +and granite and hone-stones are worked. + + + + +CHAROLLES, a town of east-central France, capital of an arrondissement +in the department of Saone-et-Loire, situated at the confluence of the +Semence and the Arconce, 39 m. W.N.W. of Macon on the Paris-Lyon +railway. Pop. (1906) 3228. It has a sub-prefecture, tribunals of primary +instance and commerce, and a communal college. There are stone quarries +in the vicinity; the town manufactures pottery, and is the centre for +trade in the famous breed of Charolais cattle and in agricultural +products. The ruins of the castle of the counts of Charolais occupy the +summit of a hill in the immediate vicinity of the town. Charolles was +the capital of Charolais, an old division of France, which from the +early 14th century gave the title of count to its possessors. In 1327 +the countship passed by marriage to the house of Armagnac, and in 1390 +it was sold to Philip of Burgundy. After the death of Charles the Bold, +who in his youth had borne the title of count of Charolais, it was +seized by Louis XI. of France, but in 1493 it was ceded by Charles VIII. +to Maximilian of Austria, the representative of the Burgundian family. +Ultimately passing to the Spanish kings, it became for a considerable +period an object of dispute between France and Spain, until at length in +1684 it was assigned to the great Conde, a creditor of the king of +Spain. It was united to the French crown in 1771. + + + + +CHARON, in Greek mythology, the son of Erebus and Nyx (Night). It was +his duty to ferry over the Styx (or Acheron) those souls of the deceased +who had duly received the rites of burial, in payment for which service +he received an obol, which was placed in the mouth of the corpse. It was +only exceptionally that he carried living passengers (_Aeneid_, vi. 295 +ff). As ferryman of the dead he is not mentioned in Homer or Hesiod, and +in this character is probably of Egyptian origin. He is represented as a +morose and grisly old man in a black sailor's cape. By the Etruscans he +was also supposed to be a kind of executioner of the powers of the +nether world, who, armed with an enormous hammer, was associated with +Mars in the slaughter of battle. Finally he came to be regarded as the +image of death and the world below. As such he survives in the Charos or +Charontas of the modern Greeks--a black bird which darts down upon its +prey, or a winged horseman who fastens his victims to the saddle and +bears them away to the realms of the dead. + + See J.A. Ambrosch, _De Charonte Etrusco_ (1837), a learned and + exhaustive monograph; B. Schmidt, _Volksleben der Neugriechen_ + (1871), i. 222-251; O. Waser, _Charon, Charun, Charos, + mythologisch-archaologische Monographie_ (1898); S. Rocco, "Sull' + origine del Mito di Caronte," in _Rivista di storia antica_, ii. + (1897), who considers Charon to be an old name for the sun-god Helios + embarking during the night for the East. + + + + +CHARONDAS, a celebrated lawgiver of Catina in Sicily. His date is +uncertain. Some make him a pupil of Pythagoras (c. 580-504 B.C.); but +all that can be said is that he was earlier than Anaxilaus of Rhegium +(494-476), since his laws were in use amongst the Rhegians until they +were abolished by that tyrant. His laws, originally written in verse, +were adopted by the other Chalcidic colonies in Sicily and Italy. +According to Aristotle there was nothing special about these laws, +except that Charondas introduced actions for perjury; but he speaks +highly of the precision with which they were drawn up (_Politics_, ii. +12). The story that Charondas killed himself because he entered the +public assembly wearing a sword, which was a violation of his own law, +is also told of Diocles and Zaleucus (Diod. Sic. xii. 11-19). The +fragments of laws attributed to him by Stobaeus and Diodorus are of late +(neo-Pythagorean) origin. + + See Bentley, _On Phalaris_, which (according to B. Niese s.v. in + Pauly, _Realencyclopadie_) contains what is even now the best account + of Charondas; A. Holm, _Geschichte Siciliens_, i.; F.D. Gerlach, + _Zaleukos, Charondas, und Pythagoras_ (1858); also art. GREEK LAW. + + + + +CHARPENTIER, FRANCOIS (1620-1702), French archaeologist and man of +letters, was born in Paris on the 15th of February 1620. He was intended +for the bar, but was employed by Colbert, who had determined on the +foundation of a French East India Company, to draw up an explanatory +account of the project for Louis XIV. Charpentier regarded as absurd the +use of Latin in monumental inscriptions, and to him was entrusted the +task of supplying the paintings of Lebrun in the Versailles Gallery with +appropriate legends. His verses were so indifferent that they had to be +replaced by others, the work of Racine and Boileau, both enemies of his. +Charpentier in his _Excellence de la langue francaise_ (1683) had +anticipated Perrault in the famous academical dispute concerning the +relative merit of the ancients and moderns. He is credited with a share +in the production of the magnificent series of medals that commemorate +the principal events of the age of Louis XIV. Charpentier, who was long +in receipt of a pension of 1200 livres from Colbert, was erudite and +ingenious, but he was always heavy and commonplace. His other works +include a _Vie de Socrate_ (1650), a translation of the _Cyropaedia_ of +Xenophon (1658), and the _Traite de la peinture parlante_ (1684). + + + + +CHARRIERE, AGNES ISABELLE EMILIE DE (1740-1805), Swiss author, was Dutch +by birth, her maiden name being van Tuyll van Seeroskerken van Zuylen. +She married in 1771 her brother's tutor, M. de Charriere, and settled +with him at Colombier, near Lausanne. She made her name by the +publication of her _Lettres neuchateloises_ (Amsterdam, 1784), offering +a simple and attractive picture of French manners. This, with _Caliste, +ou lettres ecrites de Lausanne_ (2 vols. Geneva, 1785-1788), was +analysed and highly praised by Sainte-Beuve in his _Portraits de femmes_ +and in vol. in of his _Portraits litteraires_. She wrote a number of +other novels, and some political tracts; but is perhaps best remembered +by her liaison with Benjamin Constant between 1787 and 1796. + + Her letters to Constant were printed in the _Revue suisse_ (April + 1844), her _Lettres-Memoires_ by E.H. Gaullieur in the same review in + 1857, and all the available material is utilized in a monograph on her + and her work by P. Godet, _Madame de Charriere et ses amis_ (2 vols., + Geneva, 1906). + + + + +CHARRON, PIERRE (1541-1603), French philosopher, born in Paris, was one +of the twenty-five children of a bookseller. After studying law he +practised at Paris as an advocate, but, having met with no great +success, entered the church, and soon gained the highest popularity as a +preacher, rising to the dignity of canon, and being appointed preacher +in ordinary to Marguerite, wife of Henry IV. of Navarre. About 1588, he +determined to fulfil a vow which he had once made to enter a cloister; +but being rejected by the Carthusians and the Celestines, he held +himself absolved, and continued to follow his old profession. He +delivered a course of sermons at Angers, and in the next year passed to +Bordeaux, where he formed a famous friendship with Montaigne. At the +death of Montaigne, in 1592, Charron was requested in his will to bear +the Montaigne arms. + +In 1594 Charron published (at first anonymously, afterwards under the +name of "Benoit Vaillant, Advocate of the Holy Faith," and also, in +1594, in his own name) _Les Trois Verites_, in which by methodical and +orthodox arguments, he seeks to prove that there is a God and a true +religion, that the true religion is the Christian, and that the true +church is the Roman Catholic. The last book (which is three-fourths of +the whole work) is chiefly an answer to the famous Protestant work +entitled _Le Traite de l'Eglise_ by Du Plessis Mornay; and in the second +edition (1595) there is an elaborate reply to an attack made on the +third _Verite_ by a Protestant writer. _Les Trois Verites_ ran through +several editions, and obtained for its author the favour of the bishop +of Cahors, who appointed him grand vicar and theological canon. It also +led to his being chosen deputy to the general assembly of the clergy, of +which body he became chief secretary. It was followed in 1600 by +_Discours chrestiens_, a book of sermons, similar in tone, half of which +treat of the Eucharist. In 1601 Charron published at Bordeaux his third +and most remarkable work--the famous _De la sagesse_, a complete popular +system of moral philosophy. Usually, and so far correctly, it is coupled +with the Essays of Montaigne, to which the author is under very +extensive obligations. There is, however, distinct individuality in the +book. It is specially interesting from the time when it appeared, and +the man by whom it was written. Conspicuous as a champion of orthodoxy +against atheists, Jews and Protestants--without resigning this position, +and still upholding practical orthodoxy--Charron suddenly stood forth as +the representative of the most complete intellectual scepticism. The _De +la sagesse_, which represented a considerable advance on the standpoint +of the _Trois Verites_, brought upon its author the most violent +attacks, the chief being by the Jesuit Francois Garasse (1585-1631), who +described him as a "brutal atheist." It received, however, the warm +support of Henry IV. and of the president Pierre Jeannin (1540-1622). A +second edition was soon called for. In 1603, notwithstanding much +opposition, it began to appear; but only a few pages had been printed +when Charron died suddenly in the street of apoplexy. His death was +regarded as a judgment for his impiety. + +Charron's psychology is sensationalist. With sense all our knowledge +commences, and into sense all may be resolved. The soul, located in the +ventricles of the brain, is affected by the temperament of the +individual; the dry temperament produces acute intelligence; the moist, +memory; the hot, imagination. Dividing the intelligent soul into these +three faculties, he shows--after the manner which Francis Bacon +subsequently adopted--what branches of science correspond with each. +With regard to the nature of the soul he merely quotes opinions. The +belief in its immortality, he says, is the most universal of beliefs, +but the most feebly supported by reason. As to man's power of attaining +truth his scepticism is decided; and he plainly declares that none of +our faculties enable us to distinguish truth from error. In comparing +man with the lower animals, Charron insists that there are no breaks in +nature. The latter have reason; nay, they have virtue; and, though +inferior in some respects, in others they are superior. The estimate +formed of man is not, indeed, flattering. His most essential qualities +are vanity, weakness, inconstancy, presumption. Upon this view of human +nature and the human lot Charron founds his moral system. Equally +sceptical with Montaigne, and decidedly more cynical, he is +distinguished by a deeper and sterner tone. Man comes into the world to +endure; let him endure then, and that in silence. Our compassion should +be like that of God, who succours the suffering without sharing in their +pain. Avoid vulgar errors; cherish universal sympathy. Let no passion or +attachment become too powerful for restraint. Follow the customs and +laws which surround you. Morality has no connexion with religion. Reason +is the ultimate criterion. + +Special interest attaches to Charron's treatment of religion. He insists +on the diversities in religions; he dwells also on what would indicate a +common origin. All grow from small beginnings and increase by a sort of +popular contagion; all teach that God is to be appeased by prayers, +presents, vows, but especially, and most irrationally, by human +suffering. Each is said by its devotees to have been given by +inspiration. In fact, however, a man is a Christian, Jew, or Mahommedan, +before he knows he is a man. One religion is built upon another. But +while he openly declares religion to be "strange to common sense," the +practical result at which Charron arrives is that one is not to sit in +judgment on his faith, but to be "simple and obedient," and to allow +himself to be led by public authority. This is one rule of wisdom with +regard to religion; and another equally important is to avoid +superstition, which he boldly defines as the belief that God is like a +hard judge who, eager to find fault, narrowly examines our slightest +act, that He is revengeful and hard to appease, and that therefore He +must be flattered and importuned, and won over by pain and sacrifice. +True piety, which is the first of duties, is, on the other hand, the +knowledge of God and of one's self, the latter knowledge being necessary +to the former. It is the abasing of man, the exalting of God,--the +belief that what He sends is all good, and that all the bad is from +ourselves. It leads to spiritual worship; for external ceremony is +merely for our advantage, not for His glory. Charron is thus the founder +of modern secularism. His political views are neither original nor +independent. He pours much hackneyed scorn on the common herd, declares +the sovereign to be the source of law, and asserts that popular freedom +is dangerous. + + A summary and defence of the _Sagesse_, written shortly before his + death, appeared in 1606. In 1604 his friend Michel de la Rochemaillet + prefixed to an edition of the _Sagesse_ a Life, which depicts Charron + as a most amiable man of purest character. His complete works, with + this Life, were published in 1635. An excellent abridgment of the + _Sagesse_ is given in Tennemann's _Philosophie_, vol. ix.; an edition + with notes by A. Duval appeared in 1820. + + See Liebscher, _Charron u. sein Werk, De la sagesse_ (Leipzig, 1890); + H.T. Buckle, _Introd. to History of Civilization in England_, vol. ii. + 19; Abbe Lezat, _De la predication sous Henri IV._ c. vi.; J.M. + Robertson, _Short History of Free Thought_ (London, 1906), vol. ii. p. + 19; J. Owen, _Skeptics of the French Renaissance_ (1893); Lecky, + _Rationalism in Europe_ (1865). + + + + +CHARRUA, a tribe of South American Indians, wild and warlike, formerly +ranging over Uruguay and part of S. Brazil. They were dark and heavily +built, fought on horses and used the bolas or weighted lasso. They were +always at war with the Spaniards, and Juan Diaz de Solis was killed by +them in 1516. As a tribe they are now almost extinct, but the modern +Gauchos of Uruguay have much Charrua blood in them. + + + + +CHART (from Lat. _carta, charta_, a map). A chart is a marine map +intended specially for the use of seamen (for history, see MAP), though +the word is also used loosely for other varieties of graphical +representation. The marine or nautical chart is constructed for the +purpose of ascertaining the position of a ship with reference to the +land, of finding the direction in which she has to steer, the distance +to sail or steam, and the hidden dangers to avoid. The surface of the +sea on charts is studded with numerous small figures. These are known as +the _soundings_, indicating in fathoms or in feet (as shown upon the +title of the chart), at low water of ordinary spring tides, the least +depth of water through which the ship may be sailing. Charts show the +nature of the unseen bottom of the sea--with the irregularities in its +character in the shape of hidden rocks or sand-banks, and give +information of the greatest importance to the mariner. No matter how +well the land maybe surveyed or finely delineated, unless the soundings +are shown a chart is of little use. + +The British admiralty charts are compiled, drawn and issued by the +hydrographic office. This department of the admiralty was established +under Earl Spencer by an order in council in 1795, consisting of the +hydrographer, one assistant and a draughtsman. The first hydrographer +was Alexander Dalrymple, a gentleman in the East India Company's civil +service. From this small beginning arose the important department which +is now the main source of the supply of hydrographical information to +the whole of the maritime world. The charts prepared by the officers and +draughtsmen of the hydrographic office, and published by order of the +lords commissioners of the admiralty, are compiled chiefly from the +labours of British naval officers employed in the surveying service; and +also from valuable contributions received from time to time from +officers of the royal navy and mercantile marine. In addition to the +work of British sailors, the labours of other nations have been +collected and utilized. Charts of the coasts of Europe have naturally +been taken from the surveys made by the various nations, and in charts +of other quarters of the world considerable assistance has been +received from the labours of French, Spanish, Dutch and American +surveyors. Important work is done by the Hydrographic Office of the +American navy, and the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The admiralty +charts are published with the view of meeting the wants of the sailor in +all parts of the world. They may be classed under five heads, viz. +ocean, general, and coast charts, harbour plans and physical charts; for +instance, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, approaches to Plymouth, +Plymouth Sound and wind and current charts. The harbour plans and coast +sheets are constructed on the simple principles of plane trigonometry by +the surveying officers. (See SURVEYING: _Nautical_.) That important +feature, the depth of the sea, is obtained by the ordinary sounding line +or wire; all soundings are reduced to low water of ordinary spring +tides. The times and heights of the tides, with the direction and +velocity of the tidal streams, are also ascertained. These MS. charts +are forwarded to the admiralty, and form the foundation of the +hydrography of the world. The ocean and general charts are compiled and +drawn at the hydrographic office, and as originals, existing charts, +latest surveys and maps, have to be consulted, their compilation +requires considerable experience and is a painstaking work, for the +compiler has to decide what to omit, what to insert, and to arrange the +necessary names in such a manner that while full information is given, +the features of the coast are not interfered with. As a very slight +error in the position of a light or buoy, dot, cross or figure, might +lead to grave disaster, every symbol on the admiralty chart has been +delineated with great care and consideration, and no pains are spared in +the effort to lay before the public the labours of the nautical +surveyors and explorers not only of England, but of the maritime world; +reducing their various styles into a comprehensive system furnishing the +intelligent seaman with an intelligible guide, which common industry +will soon enable him to appreciate and take full advantage of. + +As certain abbreviations are used in the charts, attention is called to +the "signs and abbreviations adopted in the charts published by the +admiralty." Certain parts of the world are still unsurveyed, or not +surveyed in sufficient detail for the requirements that steamships now +demand. Charts of these localities are therefore drawn in a light +hair-line and unfinished manner, so that the experienced seaman sees at +a glance that less trust is to be reposed upon charts drawn in this +manner. The charts given to the public are only correct up to the time +of their actual publication. They have to be kept up to date. Recent +publications by foreign governments, newly reported dangers, changes in +character or position of lights and buoys, are as soon as practicable +inserted on the charts and due notice given of such insertions in the +admiralty "Notices to Mariners." + + The charts are supplemented by the _Admiralty Pilots_, or books of + sailing directions, with tide tables, and lists of lighthouses, light + vessels, &c., for the coasts to which a ship may be bound. The + physical charts are the continuation of the work so ably begun by + Maury of the United States and FitzRoy of the British navy, and give + the sailor a good general idea of the world's ocean winds and currents + at the different periods of the year; the probable tracks and seasons + of the tropical revolving or cyclonic storms; the coastal winds; the + extent or months of the rainy seasons; localities and times where ice + may be fallen in with; and, lastly, the direction and force of the + stream and drift currents of the oceans. (T. A. H.) + + + + +CHARTER (Lat. _charta, carta_, from Gr. [Greek: chartes], originally for +_papyrus_, material for writing, thence transferred to paper and from +this material to the document, in O. Eng. _boc_, book), a written +instrument, contract or convention by which cessions of sales of +property or of rights and privileges are confirmed and held, and which +may be produced by the grantees in proof of lawful possession. The use +of the word for any written document is obsolete in England, but is +preserved in France, e.g. the Ecole des Chartes at Paris. In feudal +times charters of privileges were granted, not only by the crown, but by +mesne lords both lay and ecclesiastical, as well to communities, such as +boroughs, gilds and religious foundations, as to individuals. In modern +usage grants by charter have become all but obsolete, though in England +this form is still used in the incorporation by the crown of such +societies as the British Academy. + +The grant of the Great Charter by King John in 1215 (see MAGNA CARTA), +which guaranteed the preservation of English liberties, led to a special +association of the word with constitutional privileges, and so in modern +times it has been applied to constitutions granted by sovereigns to +their subjects, in contradistinction to those based on "the will of the +people." Such was the Charter (_Charte_) granted by Louis XVIII. to +France in 1814. In Portugal the constitution granted by Dom Pedro in +1826 was called by the French party the "Charter," while that devised by +the Cortes in 1821 was known as the "Constitution." Magna Carta also +suggested to the English radicals in 1838 the name "People's Charter," +which they gave to their published programme of reforms (see CHARTISM). +This association of the idea of liberty with the word charter led to its +figurative use in the sense of freedom or licence. This is, however, +rare; the most common use being in the phrase "chartered libertine" +(Shakespeare, _Henry V._ Act i. Sc. 1) from the derivative verb "to +charter," e.g. to grant a charter. The common colloquialism "to +charter," in the sense of to take, or hire, is derived from the special +use of "to charter" as to hire (a ship) by charter-party. + + + + +CHARTERED COMPANIES. A chartered company is a trading corporation +enjoying certain rights and privileges, and bound by certain obligations +under a special charter granted to it by the sovereign authority of the +state, such charter defining and limiting those rights, privileges and +obligations, and the localities in which they are to be exercised. Such +companies existed in early times, but have undergone changes and +modifications in accordance with the developments which have taken place +in the economic history of the states where they have existed. In Great +Britain the first trading charters were granted, not to English +companies, which were then non-existent, but to branches of the +Hanseatic League (q.v.), and it was not till 1597 that England was +finally relieved from the presence of a foreign chartered company. In +that year Queen Elizabeth closed the steel-yard where Teutons had been +established for 700 years. + +The origin of all English trading companies is to be sought in the +Merchants of the Staple. They lingered on into the 18th century, but +only as a name, for their business was solely to export English products +which, as English manufactures grew, were wanted at home. Of all early +English chartered companies, the "Merchant Adventurers" conducted its +operations the most widely. Itself a development of very early trading +gilds, at the height of its prosperity it employed as many as 50,000 +persons in the Netherlands, and the enormous influence it was able to +exercise undoubtedly saved Antwerp from the institution of the +Inquisition within its walls in the time of Charles V. In the reign of +Elizabeth British trade with the Netherlands reached in one year +12,000,000 ducats, and in that of James I. the company's yearly commerce +with Germany and the Netherlands was as much as L1,000,000. Hamburg +afterwards was its principal depot, and it became known as the "Hamburg +Company." In the "Merchant Adventurers'" enterprises is to be seen the +germ of the trading companies which had so remarkable a development in +the 16th and 17th centuries. These old regulated trade gilds passed +gradually into joint-stock associations, which were capable of far +greater extension, both as to the number of members and amount of stock, +each member being only accountable for the amount of his own stock, and +being able to transfer it at will to any other person. + +It was in the age of Elizabeth and the early Stuarts that the chartered +company, in the modern sense of the term, had its rise. The discovery of +the New World, and the opening out of fresh trading routes to the +Indies, gave an extraordinary impulse to shipping, commerce and +industrial enterprise throughout western Europe. The English, French and +Dutch governments were ready to assist trade by the granting of charters +to trading associations. It is to the "Russia Company," which received +its first charter in 1554, that Great Britain owed its first intercourse +with an empire then almost unknown. The first recorded instance of a +purely chartered company annexing territory is to be found in the action +of this company in setting up a cross at Spitzbergen in 1613 with King +James's arms upon it. Among other associations trading to the continent +of Europe, receiving charters at this time, were the Turkey Company +(Levant Co.) and the Eastland Company. Both the Russia and Turkey +Companies had an important effect upon British relations with those +empires. They maintained British influence in those countries, and even +paid the expenses of the embassies which were sent out by the English +government to their courts. The Russia Company carried on a large trade +with Persia through Russian territory; but from various causes their +business gradually declined, though the Turkey Company existed in name +until 1825. + +The chartered companies which were formed during this period for trade +with the Indies and the New World have had a more wide-reaching +influence in history. The extraordinary career of the East India Company +(q.v.) is dealt with elsewhere. + +Charters were given to companies trading to Guinea, Morocco, Guiana and +the Canaries, but none of these enjoyed a very long or prosperous +existence, principally owing to the difficulties caused by foreign +competition. It is when we turn to North America that the importance of +the chartered company, as a colonizing rather than a trading agency, is +seen in its full development. The "Hudson's Bay Company," which still +exists as a commercial concern, is dealt with under its own heading, but +most of the thirteen British North American colonies were in their +inception chartered companies very much in the modern acceptation of the +term. The history of these companies will be found under the heading of +the different colonies of which they were the origin. It is necessary, +however, to bear in mind that two classes of charters are to be found in +force among the early American colonies: (1) Those granted to trading +associations, which were often useful when the colony was first founded, +but which formed a serious obstacle to its progress when the country had +become settled and was looking forward to commercial expansion; the +existence of these charters then often led to serious conflicts between +the grantees of the charter and the colonies; ultimately elective +assemblies everywhere superseded control of trading companies. (2) The +second class of charters were those granted to the settlers themselves, +to protect them against the oppressions of the crown and the provincial +governors. These were highly prized by the colonists. + +In France and Holland, no less than in England, the institution of +chartered companies became a settled principle of the governments of +those countries during the whole of the period in question. In France +from 1599 to 1789, more than 70 of such companies came into existence, +but after 1770, when the great _Compagnie des Indes orientales_ went +into liquidation, they were almost abandoned, and finally perished in +the general sweeping away of privileges which followed on the outbreak +of the Revolution. + +If we inquire into the economic ideas which induced the granting of +charters to these earlier companies and animated their promoters, we +shall find that they were entirely consistent with the general +principles of government at the time and what were then held to be sound +commercial views. Under the old regime everything was a matter of +monopoly and privilege, and to this state of things the constitution of +the old companies corresponded, the sovereign rights accorded to them +being also quite in accordance with the views of the time. It would have +been thought impossible then that private individuals could have found +the funds or maintained the magnitude of such enterprises. It was only +this necessity which induced statesmen like Colbert to countenance them, +and Montesquieu took the same view (_Esprit des lois_, t. xx. c. 10). +John de Witt's view was that such companies were not useful for +colonization properly so called, because they want quick returns to pay +their dividends. So, even in France and Holland, opinion was by no means +settled as to their utility. In England historic protests were made +against such monopolies, but the chartered companies were less exclusive +in England than in either France or Holland, the governors of provinces +almost always allowing strangers to trade on receiving some pecuniary +inducement. French commercial companies were more privileged, exclusive +and artificial than those in Holland and England. Those of Holland may +be said to have been national enterprises. French companies rested more +than did their rivals on false principles; they were more fettered by +the royal power, and had less initiative of their own, and therefore had +less chance of surviving. As an example of the kind of rules which +prevented the growth of the French companies, it may be pointed out that +no Protestants were allowed to take part in them. State subventions, +rather than commerce or colonization, were often their object; but that +has been a characteristic of French colonial enterprise at all times. + +Such companies, however, under the old commercial system could hardly +have come into existence without exclusive privileges. Their existence +might have been prolonged had the whole people in time been allowed the +chance of participating in them. + +To sum up the causes of failure of the old chartered companies, they are +to be attributed to (1) bad administration; (2) want of capital and +credit; (3) bad economic organization; (4) distribution of dividends +made prematurely or fictitiously. But those survived the longest which +extended the most widely their privileges to outsiders. According to +contemporary protests, they had a most injurious effect on the commerce +of the countries where they had their rise. They were monopolies, and +therefore, of course, obnoxious; and it is undoubted that the colonies +they founded only became prosperous when they had escaped from their +yoke. + +On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that they contributed in no +small degree to the commercial progress of their own states. They gave +colonies to the mother country, and an impulse to the development of its +fleet. In the case of England and Holland, the enterprise of the +companies saved them from suffering from the monopolies of Spain and +Portugal, and the wars of the English, and those of the Dutch in the +Indies with Spain and Portugal, were paid for by the companies. They +furnished the mother country with luxuries which, by the 18th century, +had become necessaries. They offered a career for the younger sons of +good families, and sometimes greatly assisted large and useful +enterprises. + +During the last twenty years of the 19th century there was a great +revival of the system of chartered companies in Great Britain. It is a +feature of the general growth of interest in colonial expansion and +commercial development which has made itself felt almost universally +among European nations. Great Britain, however, alone has succeeded in +establishing such companies as have materially contributed to the growth +of her empire. These companies succeed or fail for reasons different +from those which affected the chartered companies of former days, though +there are points in common. Apart from causes inherent in the particular +case of each company, which necessitates their being examined +separately, recent experience leads us to lay down certain general +principles regarding them. The modern companies are not like those of +the 16th and 17th centuries. They are not privileged in the sense that +those companies were. They are not monopolists; they have only a limited +sovereignty, always being subject to the control of the home government. +It is true that they have certain advantages given them, for without +these advantages no capital would risk itself in the lands where they +carry on their operations. They often have very heavy corresponding +obligations, as will be seen in the case of one (the East Africa) where +the obligations were too onerous for the company to discharge, though +they were inseparable from its position. The charters of modern +companies differ in two points strongly from those of the old: they +contain clauses prohibiting any monopoly of trade, and they generally +confer some special political rights directly under the control of the +secretary of state. The political freedom of the old companies was much +greater. In these charters state control has been made a distinguishing +feature. It is to be exercised in almost all directions in which the +companies may come into contact with matters political. Of course, it is +inevitable in all disputes of the companies with foreign powers, and is +extended over all decrees of the company regarding the administration of +its territories, the taxation of natives, and mining regulations. In all +cases of dispute between the companies and the natives the secretary of +state is _ex officio_ the judge, and to the secretary of state (in the +case of the South Africa Company) the accounts of administration have to +be submitted for his approbation. It is deserving of notice that the +British character of the company is insisted upon in each case in the +charter which calls it into life. The crown always retains complete +control over the company by reserving to itself the power of revoking +the charter in case of the neglect of its stipulations. Special clauses +were inserted in the charters of the British East Africa and South +Africa Companies enabling the government to forfeit their charters if +they did not promote the objects alleged as reasons for demanding a +charter. This bound them still more strongly; and in the case of the +South Africa Company the duration of the charter was fixed at +twenty-five years. + +The chartered company of these days is therefore very strongly fixed +within limits imposed by law on its political action. As a whole, +however, very remarkable results have been achieved. This may be +attributed in no small degree to the personality of the men who have had +the supreme direction at home and abroad, and who have, by their social +position and personal qualities, acquired the confidence of the public. +With the exception of the Royal Niger Company, it would be incorrect to +say that they have been financially successful, but in the domain of +government generally it may be said that they have added vast +territories to the British empire (in Africa about 1,700,000 sq. m.), +and in these territories they have acted as a civilizing force. They +have made roads, opened facilities for trade, enforced peace, and laid +at all events the foundation of settled administration. It is not too +much to say that they have often acted unselfishly for the benefit of +the mother country and even humanity. We may instance the anti-slavery +and anti-alcohol campaigns which have been carried on, the latter +certainly being against the immediate pecuniary interests of the +companies themselves. It must, of course, be recognized that to a +certain extent this has been done under the influence of the home +government. The occupation of Uganda certainly, and of the Nigerian +territory and Rhodesia probably, will prove to have been rather for the +benefit of posterity than of the companies which effected it. In the two +cases where the companies have been bought out by the state, they have +had no compensation for much that they have expended. In fact, it would +have been impossible to take into account actual expenditure day by day, +and the cost of wars. To use the expression of Sir William Mackinnon, +the shareholders have been compelled in some cases to "take out their +dividends in philanthropy." + +The existence of such companies to-day is justified in certain political +and economic conditions only. It may be highly desirable for the +government to occupy certain territories, but political exigencies at +home will not permit it to incur the expenditure, or international +relations may make such an undertaking inexpedient at the time. In such +a case the formation of a chartered company may be the best way out of +the difficulty. But it has been demonstrated again and again that, +directly, the company's interests begin to clash with those of foreign +powers, the home government must assume a protectorate over its +territories in order to simplify the situation and save perhaps +disastrous collisions. So long as the political relations of such a +company are with savages or semi-savages, it may be left free to act, +but directly it becomes involved with a civilized power the state has +(if it wishes to retain the territory) to acquire by purchase the +political rights of the company, and it is obviously much easier to +induce a popular assembly to grant money for the purpose of maintaining +rights already existing than to acquire new ones. With the strict system +of government supervision enforced by modern charters it is not easy for +the state to be involved against its will in foreign complications. +Economically such companies are also justifiable up to a certain point. +When there is no other means of entering into commercial relations with +remote and savage races save by enterprise of such magnitude that +private individuals could not incur the risk involved, then a company +may be well entrusted with special privileges for the purpose, as an +inventor is accorded a certain protection by law by means of a patent +which enables him to bring out his invention at a profit if there is +anything in it. But such privileges should not be continued longer than +is necessary for the purpose of reasonably recompensing the adventurers. +A successful company, even when it has lost monopoly or privileges, has, +by its command of capital and general resources, established so strong a +position that private individuals or new companies can rarely compete +with it successfully. That this is so is clearly shown in the case of +the Hudson's Bay Company as at present constituted. In colonizing new +lands these companies often act successfully. They have proved more +potent than the direct action of governments. This may be seen in +Africa, where France and England have of late acquired vast areas, but +have developed them with very different results, acting from the +opposite principles of private and state promotion of colonization. +Apart from national characteristics, the individual has far more to gain +under the British system of private enterprise. A strong point in favour +of some of the British companies has been that their undertakings have +been practically extensions of existing British colonies rather than +entirely isolated ventures. But a chartered company can never be +anything but a transition stage of colonization; sooner or later the +state must take the lead. A company may act beneficially so long as a +country is undeveloped, but as soon as it becomes even semi-civilized +its conflicts with private interests become so frequent and serious that +its authority has to make way for that of the central government. + +The companies which have been formed in France during recent years do +not yet afford material for profitable study, for they have been subject +to so much vexatious interference from home owing to lack of a fixed +system of control sanctioned by government, that they have not been +able, like the British, to develop along their own lines. + + See also BORNEO; NIGERIA; BRIT. EAST AFRICA; RHODESIA; &c. The + following works deal with the subject of chartered companies + generally: Bonnassieux, _Les Grandes Compagnies de commerce_ (Paris, + 1892); Chailly-Bert, _Les Compagnies de colonisation sous l'ancien + regime_ (Paris, 1898); Cawston and Keane, _The Early Chartered + Companies_ (London, 1896); W. Cunningham, _A History of British + Industry and Commerce_ (Cambridge, 1890, 1892); Egerton, _A Short + History of British Colonial Policy_ (London, 1897); J. Scott Keltie, + _The Partition of Africa_ (London, 1895); Leroy-Beaulieu, _De la + colonisation chez les peuples modernes_ (Paris, 1898); _Les Nouvelles + Societes anglo-saxonnes_ (Paris, 1897); MacDonald, _Select Charters + illustrative of American History, 1606-1775_ (New York, 1899); B.P. + Poore, _Federal and State Constitutions_, &c (Washington, 1877; a more + complete collection of American colonial charters); H.L. Osgood, + _American Colonies in the 17th Cent._ (1904-7); Carton de Wiart, _Les + Grandes Compagnies coloniales anglaises au 19me siecle_ (Paris, 1899). + Also see articles "Compagnies de Charte," "Colonies," "Privilege," in + _Nouveau Dictionnaire d'economie politique_ (Paris, 1892); and + article "Companies, Chartered," in _Encyclopaedia of the Laws of + England_, edited by A. Wood Renton (London, 1907-1909). (W. B. Du.) + + + + +CHARTERHOUSE. This name is an English corruption of the French _maison +chartreuse_, a religious house of the Carthusian order. As such it +occurs not uncommonly in England, in various places (e.g. +Charterhouse-on-Mendip, Charterhouse Hinton) where the Carthusians were +established. It is most familiar, however, in its application to the +Charterhouse, London. On a site near the old city wall, west of the +modern thoroughfare of Aldersgate, a Carthusian monastery was founded in +1371 by Sir Walter de Manny, a knight of French birth. After its +dissolution in 1535 the property passed through various hands. In 1558, +while in the possession of Lord North, it was occupied by Queen +Elizabeth during the preparations for her coronation, and James I. held +court here on his first entrance into London. The Charterhouse was then +in the hands of Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk, but in May 1611 it came +into those of Thomas Sutton (1532-1611) of Snaith, Lincolnshire. He +acquired a fortune by the discovery of coal on two estates which he had +leased near Newcastle-on-Tyne, and afterwards, removing to London, he +carried on a commercial career. In the year of his death, which took +place on the 12th of December 1611, he endowed a hospital on the site +of the Charterhouse, calling it the hospital of King James; and in his +will he bequeathed moneys to maintain a chapel, hospital (almshouse) and +school. The will was hotly contested but upheld in court, and the +foundation was finally constituted to afford a home for eighty male +pensioners ("gentlemen by descent and in poverty, soldiers that have +borne arms by sea or land, merchants decayed by piracy or shipwreck, or +servants in household to the King or Queen's Majesty"), and to educate +forty boys. The school developed beyond the original intentions of its +founder, and now ranks among the most eminent public schools in England. +In 1872 it was removed, during the headmastership (1863-1897) of the +Rev. William Haig-Brown (d. 1907), to new buildings near Godalming in +Surrey, which were opened on the 18th of June in that year. The number +of foundation scholarships is increased to sixty. The scholars are not +now distinguished by wearing a special dress or by forming a separate +house, though one house is known as Gownboys, preserving the former +title of the scholars. The land on which the old school buildings stood +in London was sold for new buildings to accommodate the Merchant +Taylors' school, but the pensioners still occupy their picturesque home, +themselves picturesque figures in the black gowns designed for them +under the foundation. The buildings, of mellowed red brick, include a +panelled chapel, in which is the founder's tomb, a fine dining-hall, +governors' room with ornate ceiling and tapestried walls, the old +library, and the beautiful great staircase. + + + + +CHARTER-PARTY (Lat. _charta partita_, a legal paper or instrument, +"divided," i.e. written in duplicate so that each party retains half), a +written, or partly written and partly printed, contract between merchant +and shipowner, by which a ship is let or hired for the conveyance of +goods on a specified voyage, or for a definite period. (See +AFFREIGHTMENT.) + + + + +CHARTERS TOWERS, a mining town of Devonport county, Queensland, +Australia, 82 m. by rail S.W. of Townsville and 820 m. direct N.N.W. of +Brisbane. It is the centre of an important gold-field, the reefs of +which improve at the lower depths, the deepest shaft on the field being +2558 ft. below the surface-level. The gold is of a very fine quality. An +abundant water-supply is obtained from the Burdekin river, some 8 m. +distant. The population of the town in 1901 was 5523; but within a 5 m. +radius it was 20,976. Charters Towers became a municipality in 1877. + + + + +CHARTIER, ALAIN (c. 1392-c. 1430), French poet and political writer, was +born at Bayeux about 1392. Chartier belonged to a family marked by +considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume became bishop of +Paris; and Thomas became notary to the king. Jean Chartier, a monk of St +Denis, whose history of Charles VII. is printed in vol. iii. of _Les +Grands Chroniques de Saint-Denis_ (1477), was not, as is sometimes +stated, also a brother of the poet Alain studied, as his elder brother +had done, at the university of Paris. His earliest poem is the _Livre des +quatre dames_, written after the battle of Agincourt. This was followed +by the _Debat du reveille-matin_, _La Belle Dame sans merci_, and others. +None of these poems show any very patriotic feeling, though Chartier's +prose is evidence that he was not indifferent to the misfortunes of his +country. He followed the fortunes of the dauphin, afterwards Charles +VII., acting in the triple capacity of clerk, notary and financial +secretary. In 1422 he wrote the famous _Quadrilogue-invectif_. The +interlocutors in this dialogue are France herself and the three orders of +the state. Chartier lays bare the abuses of the feudal army and the +sufferings of the peasants. He rendered an immense service to his country +by maintaining that the cause of France, though desperate to all +appearance, was not yet lost if the contending factions could lay aside +their differences in the face of the common enemy. In 1424 Chartier was +sent on an embassy to Germany, and three years later he accompanied to +Scotland the mission sent to negotiate the marriage of Margaret of +Scotland, then not four years old, with the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. +In 1429 he wrote the _Livre d'esperance_, which contains a fierce attack +on the nobility and clergy. He was the author of a diatribe on the +courtiers of Charles VII. entitled _Le Curial_, translated into English +(_Here foloweth the copy of a lettre whyche maistre A. Charetier wrote to +his brother_) by Caxton about 1484. The date of his death is to be placed +about 1430. A Latin epitaph, discovered in the 18th century, says, +however, that he was archdeacon of Paris, and declares that he died in +the city of Avignon in 1449. This is obviously not authentic, for Alain +described himself as a _simple clerc_ and certainly died long before +1449. The story of the famous kiss bestowed by Margaret of Scotland on +_la precieuse bouche de laquelle sont issus et sortis tant de bons mots +et vertueuses paroles_ is mythical, for Margaret did not come to France +till 1436, after the poet's death; but the story, first told by Guillaume +Bouchet in his _Annales d'Aquitaine_ (1524), is interesting, if only as a +proof of the high degree of estimation in which the ugliest man of his +day was held. Jean de Masles, who annotated a portion of his verse, has +recorded how the pages and young gentlemen of that epoch were required +daily to learn by heart passages of his _Breviaire des nobles_. John +Lydgate studied him affectionately. His _Belle Dame sans merci_ was +translated into English by Sir Richard Ros about 1640, with an +introduction of his own; and Clement Marot and Octavien de Saint-Gelais, +writing fifty years after his death, find many fair words for the old +poet, their master and predecessor. + + See Mancel, _Alain Chartier, etude bibliographique et litteraire_, 8vo + (Paris, 1849); D. Delaunay's _Etude sur Alain Chartier_ (1876), with + considerable extracts from his writings. His works were edited by A. + Duchesne (Paris, 1617). On Jean Chartier see Vallet de Viriville, + "Essais critiques sur les historiens originaux du regne de Charles + VIII," in the _Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes_ (July-August 1857). + + + + +CHARTISM, the name given to a movement for political reform in England, +from the so-called "People's Charter" or "National Charter," the +document in which in 1838 the scheme of reforms was embodied. The +movement itself may be traced to the latter years of the 18th century. +Checked for a while by the reaction due to the excesses of the French +Revolution, it received a fresh impetus from the awful misery that +followed the Napoleonic wars and the economic changes due to the +introduction of machinery. The Six Acts of 1819 were directed, not only +against agrarian and industrial rioting, but against the political +movement of which Sir Francis Burdett was the spokesman in the House of +Commons, which demanded manhood suffrage, the ballot, annual +parliaments, the abolition of the property qualification for members of +parliament and their payment. The movement was checked for a while by +the Reform Bill of 1832; but it was soon discovered that, though the +middle classes had been enfranchised, the economic and political +grievances of the labouring population remained unredressed. Two +separate movements now developed: one socialistic, associated with the +name of Robert Owen; the other radical, aiming at the enfranchisement of +the "masses" as the first step to the amelioration of their condition. +The latter was represented in the Working Men's Association, by which in +1838 the "People's Charter" was drawn up. It embodied exactly the same +programme as that of the radical reformers mentioned above, with the +addition of a demand for equal electoral districts. + +In support of this programme a vigorous agitation began, the principal +leader of which was Feargus O'Connor, whose irresponsible and erratic +oratory produced a vast effect. Monster meetings were held, at which +seditious language was occasionally used, and slight collisions with the +military took place. Petitions of enormous size, signed in great part +with fictitious names, were presented to parliament; and a great many +newspapers were started, of which the _Northern Star_, conducted by +Feargus O'Connor, had a circulation of 50,000. In November 1839 a +Chartist mob consisting of miners and others made an attack on Newport, +Mon. The rising was a total failure; the leaders, John Frost and two +others, were seized, were found guilty of high treason, and were +condemned to death. The sentence, however, was changed to one of +transportation, and Frost spent over fourteen years in Van Diemen's +Land. In 1854 he was pardoned, and from 1856 until his death on the 29th +of July 1877 he lived in England. In 1840 the Chartist movement was +still further organized by the inauguration at Manchester of the +National Charter Association, which rapidly became powerful, being the +head of about 400 sister societies, which are said to have numbered +40,000 members. Some time after, efforts were made towards a coalition +with the more moderate radicals, but these failed; and a land scheme was +started by O'Connor, which prospered for a few years. In 1844 the +uncompromising spirit of some of the leaders was well illustrated by +their hostile attitude towards the Anti-Corn-Law League. O'Connor, +especially, entered into a public controversy with Cobden and Bright, in +which he was worsted. But it was not till 1848, during a season of great +suffering among the working classes, and under the influence of the +revolution at Paris, that the real strength of the Chartist movement was +discovered and the prevalent discontent became known. Early in March +disturbances occurred in Glasgow which required the intervention of the +military, while in the manufacturing districts all over the west of +Scotland the operatives were ready to rise in the event of the main +movement succeeding. Some agitation, too, took place in Edinburgh and in +Manchester, but of a milder nature; in fact, while there was a real and +widespread discontent, men were indisposed to resort to decided +measures. + +The principal scene of intended Chartist demonstration was London. An +enormous gathering of half a million was announced for the 10th of April +on Kennington Common, from which they were to march to the Houses of +Parliament to present a petition signed by nearly six million names, in +order by this imposing display of numbers to secure the enactment of the +six points. Probably some of the more violent members of the party +thought to imitate the Parisian mob by taking power entirely into their +own hands. The announcement of the procession excited great alarm, and +the most decided measures were taken by the authorities to prevent a +rising. The procession was forbidden. The military were called out under +the command of the duke of Wellington, and by him concealed near the +bridges and other points where the procession might attempt to force its +way. Even the Bank of England and other public buildings were put in a +state of defence, and special constables, to the number, it is said, of +170,000, were enrolled, one of whom was destined shortly after to be the +emperor of the French. After all these gigantic preparations on both +sides the Chartist demonstration proved to be a very insignificant +affair. Instead of half a million, only about 50,000 assembled on +Kennington Common, and their leaders, Feargus O'Connor and Ernest +Charles Jones, shrank from the responsibility of braving the authorities +by conducting the procession to the Houses of Parliament. The monster +petition was duly presented, and scrutinized, with the result that the +number of signatures was found to have been grossly exaggerated, and +that the most unheard-of falsification of names had been resorted to. +Thereafter the movement specially called Chartism soon died out. It +became merged, so far as its political programme is concerned, with the +advancing radicalism of the general democratic movement. + + + + +CHARTRES, a city of north-western France, capital of the department of +Eure-et-Loir, 55 m. S.W. of Paris on the railway to Le Mans. Pop. (1906) +19,433. Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure, on a hill +crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in +the surrounding country. To the south-east stretches the fruitful plain +of Beauce, "the granary of France," of which the town is the commercial +centre. The Eure, which at this point divides into three branches, is +crossed by several bridges, some of them ancient, and is fringed in +places by remains of the old fortifications, of which the Porte +Guillaume (14th century), a gateway flanked by towers, is the most +complete specimen. The steep, narrow streets of the old town contrast +with the wide, shady boulevards which encircle it and divide it from the +suburbs. The Clos St Jean, a pleasant park, lies to the north-west, and +squares and open spaces are numerous. The cathedral of Notre-Dame (see +ARCHITECTURE: _Romanesque and Gothic Architecture in France_; and +CATHEDRAL), one of the finest Gothic churches in France, was founded in +the 11th century by Bishop Fulbert on the site of an earlier church +destroyed by fire. In 1194 another conflagration laid waste the new +building then hardly completed; but clergy and people set zealously to +work, and the main part of the present structure was finished by 1240. +Though there have been numerous minor additions and alterations since +that time, the general character of the cathedral is unimpaired. The +upper woodwork was consumed by fire in 1836, but the rest of the +building was saved. The statuary of the lateral portals, the stained +glass of the 13th century, and the choir-screen of the Renaissance are +all unique from the artistic standpoint. The cathedral is also renowned +for the beauty and perfect proportions of its western towers. That to +the south, the Clocher Vieux (351 ft. high), dates from the 13th +century; its upper portion is lower and less rich in design than that of +the Clocher Neuf (377 ft.), which was not completed till the 16th +century. In length the cathedral measures 440 ft., its choir measures +150 ft. across, and the height of the vaulting is 121 ft. The abbey +church of St Pierre, dating chiefly from the 13th century, contains, +besides some fine stained glass, twelve representations of the apostles +in enamel, executed about 1547 by Leonard Limosin. Of the other churches +of Chartres the chief are St Aignan (13th, 16th and 17th centuries) and +St Martin-au-Val (12th century). The hotel de ville, a building of the +17th century, containing a museum and library, an older hotel de ville +of the 13th century, and several medieval and Renaissance houses, are of +interest. There is a statue of General F.S. Marceau-Desgraviers (b. +1769), a native of the town. + +The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefecture, a court of assizes, and +has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, +training colleges, a lycee for boys, a communal college for girls, and a +branch of the Bank of France. Its trade is carried on chiefly on +market-days, when the peasants of the Beauce bring their crops and +live-stock to be sold and make their purchases. The game-pies and other +delicacies of Chartres are well known, and the industries also include +flour-milling, brewing, distilling, iron-founding, leather manufacture, +dyeing, and the manufacture of stained glass, billiard requisites, +hosiery, &c. + +Chartres was one of the principal towns of the Carnutes, and by the +Romans was called _Autricum_, from the river _Autura_ (Eure), and +afterwards _civitas Carnutum_. It was burnt by the Normans in 858, and +unsuccessfully besieged by them in 911. In 1417 it fell into the hands +of the English, from whom it was recovered in 1432. It was attacked +unsuccessfully by the Protestants in 1568, and was taken in 1591 by +Henry IV., who was crowned there three years afterwards. In the +Franco-German War it was seized by the Germans on the 21st of October +1870, and continued during the rest of the campaign an important centre +of operations. During the middle ages it was the chief town of the +district of Beauce, and gave its name to a countship which was held by +the counts of Blois and Champagne and afterwards by the house of +Chatillon, a member of which in 1286 sold it to the crown. It was raised +to the rank of a duchy in 1528 by Francis I. After the time of Louis +XIV. the title of duke of Chartres was hereditary in the family of +Orleans. + + See M.T. Bulteau, _Monographie de la cathedrale de Chartres_ (1887); + A. Pierval, _Chartres, sa cathedrale, ses monuments_ (1896); H.J.L.J. + Masse, _Chartres: its Cathedral and Churches_ (1900). + + + + +CHARTREUSE, a liqueur, so called from having been made at the famous +Carthusian monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, at Grenoble (see below). In +consequence of the Associations Law, the Chartreux monks left France in +1904, and now continue the manufacture of this liqueur in Spain. There +are two main varieties of Chartreuse, the green and the yellow. The +green contains about 57, the yellow about 43% of alcohol. There are +other differences due to the varying nature and quantity of the +flavouring matters employed, but the secrets of manufacture are +jealously guarded. The genuine liqueur is undoubtedly produced by means +of a distillation process. + + + + +CHARTREUSE, LA GRANDE, the mother house of the very severe order of +Carthusian monks (see CARTHUSIANS). It is situated in the French +department of the Isere, about 12-1/2 m. N. of Grenoble, at a height of +3205 ft. above the sea, in the heart of a group of limestone mountains, +and not far from the source of the Guiers Mort. The original settlement +here was founded by St Bruno about 1084, and derived its name from the +small village to the S.E., formerly known as Cartusia, and now as St +Pierre de Chartreuse. The first convent on the present site was built +between 1132 and 1137, but the actual buildings date only from about +1676, the older ones having been often burnt. The convent stands in a +very picturesque position in a large meadow, sloping to the S.W., and +watered by a tiny tributary of the Guiers Mort. On the north, fine +forests extend to the Col de la Ruchere, and on the west rise +well-wooded heights, while on the east tower white limestone ridges, +culminating in the Grand Som (6670 ft.). One of the most famous of the +early Carthusian monks was St Hugh of Lincoln, who lived here from 1160 +to 1181, when he went to England to found the first Carthusian house at +Witham in Somerset; in 1186 he became bishop of Lincoln, and before his +death in 1200 had built the angel choir and other portions of the +wonderful cathedral there. + +The principal approach to the convent is from St Laurent du Pont, a +village situated on the Guiers Mort, and largely built by the monks--it +is connected by steam tramways with Voiron (for Grenoble) and St Beron +(for Chambery). Among the other routes may be mentioned those from +Grenoble by Le Sappey, or by the Col de la Charmette, or from Chambery +by the Col de Couz and the village of Les Echelles. St Laurent is about +5-1/2 m. from the convent. The road mounts along the Guiers Mort and +soon reaches the hamlet of Fourvoirie, so called from _forata via_, as +about 1510 the road was first pierced hence towards the convent. Here +are iron forges, and here was formerly the chief centre of the +manufacture of the famed Chartreuse liqueur. Beyond, the road enters the +"Desert" and passes through most delightful scenery. Some way farther +the Guiers Mort is crossed by the modern bridge of St Bruno, the older +bridge of Parant being still visible higher up the stream. Here begins +the splendid carriage road, constructed by M.E. Viaud between 1854 and +1856. It soon passes beneath the bold pinnacle of the Oeillette or +Aiguillette, beyond which formerly women were not allowed to penetrate. +After passing through four tunnels the road bends north (leaving the +Guiers Mort which flows past St Pierre de Chartreuse), and the valley +soon opens to form the upland hollow in which are the buildings of the +convent. These are not very striking, the high roofs of dark slate, the +cross-surmounted turrets and the lofty clock-tower being the chief +features. But the situation is one of ideal peace and repose. Women were +formerly lodged in the old infirmary, close to the main gate, which is +now a hotel. Within the conventual buildings are four halls formerly +used for the reception of the priors of the various branch houses in +France, Italy, Burgundy and Germany. The very plain and unadorned chapel +dates from the 15th century, but the cloisters, around which cluster the +thirty-six small houses for the fully professed monks, are of later +date. The library contained before the Revolution a very fine collection +of books and MSS., now mostly in the town library at Grenoble. + +The monks were expelled in 1793, but allowed to return in 1816, but then +they had to pay rent for the use of the buildings and the forests +around, though both one and the other were due to the industry of their +predecessors. They were again expelled in 1904, and are dispersed in +various houses in England, at Pinerolo (Italy) and at Tarragona (Spain). +It is at the last-named spot that the various pharmaceutical +preparations are now manufactured for which they are famous (though sold +only since about 1840)--the _Elixir_, the _Boule d'acier_ (a mineral +paste or salve), and the celebrated _liqueur_. The magnificent revenues +derived from the profits of this manufacture were devoted by the monks +to various purposes of benevolence, especially in the neighbouring +villages, which owe to this source their churches, schools, hospitals, +&c., &c., built and maintained at the expense of the monks. + + See _La Grande Chartreuse par un Chartreux_ (Grenoble, 1898); H. + Ferrand, _Guide a la Grande Chartreuse_ (1889); and _Les Montagnes de + la Chartreuse_ (1899) (W. A. B. C.) + + + + +CHARWOMAN, one who is hired to do occasional household work. "Char" or +"chare," which forms the first part of the word, is common, in many +forms, to Teutonic languages, meaning a "turn," and, in this original +sense, is seen in "ajar," properly "on char," of a door "on the turn" in +the act of closing. It is thus applied to a "turn of work," an odd job, +and is so used, in the form "chore," in America, and in dialects of the +south-west of England. + + + + +CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND (1808-1873), American statesman and jurist, was +born in Cornish township, New Hampshire, on the 13th of January 1808. +His father died in 1817, and the son passed several years (1820-1824) in +Ohio with his uncle, Bishop Philander Chase (1775-1852), the foremost +pioneer of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the West, the first bishop +of Ohio (1819-1831), and after 1835 bishop of Illinois. He graduated at +Dartmouth College in 1826, and after studying law under William Wirt, +attorney-general of the United States, in Washington, D.C., was admitted +to the bar in 1829, and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1830. Here he +soon gained a position of prominence at the bar, and published an +annotated edition, which long remained standard, of the laws of Ohio. At +a time when public opinion in Cincinnati was largely dominated by +Southern business connexions, Chase, influenced probably by James G. +Birney, associated himself after about 1836 with the anti-slavery +movement, and became recognized as the leader of the political reformers +as opposed to the Garrisonian abolitionists. To the cause he freely gave +his services as a lawyer, and was particularly conspicuous as counsel +for fugitive slaves seized in Ohio for rendition to slavery under the +Fugitive Slave Law of 1793--indeed, he came to be known as the +"attorney-general of fugitive slaves." His argument (1847) in the famous +Van Zandt case before the United States Supreme Court attracted +particular attention, though in this as in other cases of the kind the +judgment was against him. In brief he contended that slavery was "local, +not national," that it could exist only by virtue of positive State Law, +that the Federal government was not empowered by the Constitution to +create slavery anywhere, and that "when a slave leaves the jurisdiction +of a state he ceases to be a slave, because he continues to be a man and +leaves behind him the law which made him a slave." In 1841 he abandoned +the Whig party, with which he had previously been affiliated, and for +seven years was the undisputed leader of the Liberty party in Ohio; he +was remarkably skilful in drafting platforms and addresses, and it was +he who prepared the national Liberty platform of 1843 and the Liberty +address of 1845. Realizing in time that a third party movement could not +succeed, he took the lead during the campaign of 1848 in combining the +Liberty party with the Barnburners or Van Buren Democrats of New York to +form the Free-Soilers. He drafted the famous Free-Soil platform, and it +was largely through his influence that Van Buren was nominated for the +presidency. His object, however, was not to establish a permanent new +party organization, but to bring pressure to bear upon Northern +Democrats to force them to adopt a policy opposed to the further +extension of slavery. + +In 1849 he was elected to the United States Senate as the result of a +coalition between the Democrats and a small group of Free-Soilers in the +state legislature; and for some years thereafter, except in 1852, when +he rejoined the Free-Soilers, he classed himself as an Independent +Democrat, though he was out of harmony with the leaders of the +Democratic party. During his service in the Senate (1849-1855) he was +pre-eminently the champion of anti-slavery in that body, and no one +spoke more ably than he did against the Compromise Measures of 1850 and +the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska legislation, and +the subsequent troubles in Kansas, having convinced him of the futility +of trying to influence the Democrats, he assumed the leadership in the +North-west of the movement to form a new party to oppose the extension +of slavery. The "Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress to the +People of the United States," written by Chase and Giddings, and +published in the New York _Times_ of the 24th of January 1854, may be +regarded as the earliest draft of the Republican party creed. He was the +first Republican governor of Ohio, serving from 1855 to 1859. Although, +with the exception of Seward, he was the most prominent Republican in +the country, and had done more against slavery than any other +Republican, he failed to secure the nomination for the presidency in +1860, partly because his views on the question of protection were not +orthodox from a Republican point of view, and partly because the old +line Whig element could not forgive his coalition with the Democrats in +the senatorial campaign of 1849; his uncompromising and conspicuous +anti-slavery record, too, was against him from the point of view of +"availability." As secretary of the treasury in President Lincoln's +cabinet in 1861-1864, during the first three years of the Civil War, he +rendered services of the greatest value. That period of crisis witnessed +two great changes in American financial policy, the establishment of a +national banking system and the issue of a legal tender paper currency. +The former was Chase's own particular measure. He suggested the idea, +worked out all of the important principles and many of the details, and +induced Congress to accept them. The success of that system alone +warrants his being placed in the first rank of American financiers. It +not only secured an immediate market for government bonds, but it also +provided a permanent uniform national currency, which, though inelastic, +is absolutely stable. The issue of legal tenders, the greatest financial +blunder of the war, was made contrary to his wishes, although he did +not, as he perhaps ought to have done, push his opposition to the point +of resigning. + +Perhaps Chase's chief defect as a statesman was an insatiable desire for +supreme office. It was partly this ambition, and also temperamental +differences from the president, which led him to retire from the cabinet +in June 1864. A few months later (December 6, 1864) he was appointed +chief justice of the United States Supreme Court to succeed Judge Taney, +a position which he held until his death in 1873. Among his most +important decisions were _Texas v. White_ (7 Wallace, 700), 1869, in +which he asserted that the Constitution provided for an "indestructible +union composed of indestructible states," _Veazie Bank_ v. _Fenno_ (8 +Wallace, 533), 1869, in defence of that part of the banking legislation +of the Civil War which imposed a tax of 10% on state bank-notes, and +_Hepburn_ v. _Griswold_ (8 Wallace, 603), 1869, which declared certain +parts of the legal tender acts to be unconstitutional. When the legal +tender decision was reversed after the appointment of new judges, +1871-1872 (Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wallace, 457), Chase prepared a very +able dissenting opinion. Toward the end of his life he gradually drifted +back toward his old Democratic position, and made an unsuccessful effort +to secure the nomination of the Democratic party for the presidency in +1872. He died in New York city on the 7th of May 1873. Chase was one of +the ablest political leaders of the Civil War period, and deserves to be +placed in the front rank of American statesmen. + + The standard biography is A.B. Hart's _Salmon Portland Chase_ in the + "American Statesmen Series" (1899). Less philosophical, but containing + a greater wealth of detail, is J.W. Shuckers' _Life and Public + Services of Salmon Portland Chase_ (New York, 1874). R.B. Warden's + _Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland + Chase_ (Cincinnati, 1874) deals more fully with Chase's private life. + + + + +CHASE, SAMUEL (1741-1811), American jurist, was born in Somerset county, +Maryland, on the 17th of April 1741. He was admitted to the bar at +Annapolis in 1761, and for more than twenty years was a member of the +Maryland legislature. He took an active part in the resistance to the +Stamp Act, and from 1774 to 1778 and 1784 to 1785 was a member of the +Continental Congress. With Benjamin Franklin and Charles Carroll he was +sent by Congress in 1776 to win over the Canadians to the side of the +revolting colonies, and after his return did much to persuade Maryland +to advocate a formal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great +Britain, he himself being one of those who signed the Declaration of +Independence on the 2nd of August 1776. In this year he was also a +member of the convention which framed the first constitution for the +state of Maryland. After serving in the Maryland convention which +ratified for that state the Federal Constitution, and there vigorously +opposing ratification, though afterwards he was an ardent Federalist, he +became in 1791 chief judge of the Maryland general court, which position +he resigned in 1796 for that of an associate justice of the Supreme +Court of the United States. His radical Federalism, however, led him to +continue active in politics, and he took advantage of every opportunity, +on the bench and off, to promote the cause of his party. His overbearing +conduct while presiding at the trials of John Fries for treason, and of +James Thompson Callender (d. 1813) for seditious libel in 1800, drove +the lawyers for the defence from the court, and evoked the wrath of the +Republicans, who were stirred to action by a political harangue on the +evil tendencies of democracy which he delivered as a charge to a grand +jury at Baltimore in 1803. The House of Representatives adopted a +resolution of impeachment in March 1804, and on the 7th of December 1804 +the House managers, chief among whom were John Randolph, Joseph H. +Nicholson (1770-1817), and Caesar A. Rodney (1772-1824), laid their +articles of impeachment before the Senate. The trial, with frequent +interruptions and delays, lasted from the 2nd of January to the 1st of +March 1805. Judge Chase was defended by the ablest lawyers in the +country, including Luther Martin, Robert Goodloe Harper (1765-1825), +Philip Barton Key (1757-1815), Charles Lee (1758-1815), and Joseph +Hopkinson (1770-1842). The indictment, in eight articles, dealt with his +conduct in the Fries and Callender trials, with his treatment of a +Delaware grand jury, and (in article viii.) with his making "highly +indecent, extra-judicial" reflections upon the national administration, +probably the greatest offence in Republican eyes. On only three articles +was there a majority against Judge Chase, the largest, on article viii., +being four short of the necessary two-thirds to convict. "The case," +says Henry Adams, "proved impeachment to be an impracticable thing for +partisan purposes, and it decided the permanence of those lines of +constitutional development which were a reflection of the common law." +Judge Chase resumed his seat on the bench, and occupied it until his +death on the 19th of June 1811. + + See _The Trial of Samuel Chase_ (2 vols., Washington, 1805), reported + by Samuel H. Smith and Thomas Lloyd; an article in _The American Law + Review_, vol. xxxiii. (St Louis, Mo., 1899); and Henry Adams's + _History of the United States_, vol. ii. (New York, 1889). + + + + +CHASE, WILLIAM MERRITT (1849- ), American painter, was born at +Franklin, Indiana, on the 1st of November 1849. He was a pupil of B.F. +Hays at Indianapolis, of J.O. Eaton in New York, and subsequently of A. +Wagner and Piloty in Munich. In New York he established a school of his +own, after teaching with success for some years at the Art Students' +League. A worker in all mediums--oils, water-colour, pastel and +etching--painting with distinction the figure, landscape and still-life, +he is perhaps best known by his portraits, his sitters numbering some of +the most important men and women of his time. Mr Chase won many honours +at home and abroad, became a member of the National Academy of Design, +New York, and for ten years was president of the Society of American +Artists. Among his important canvases are "Ready for the Ride" (Union +League Club, N.Y.), "The Apprentice," "Court Jester," and portraits of +the painters Whistler and Duveneck; of General Webb and of Peter Cooper. + + + + +CHASE. (1) (Fr. _chasse_, from Lat. _captare_, frequentative of +_capere_, to take), the pursuit of wild animals for food or sport (see +HUNTING). The word is used of the pursuit of anything, and also of the +thing pursued, as, in naval warfare, of a ship. A transferred meaning is +that of park land reserved for the breeding and hunting of wild animals, +in which sense it appears in various place-names in England, as Cannock +Chase. It is also a term for a stroke in tennis (q.v.). (2) (Fr. +_chasse_, Lat. _capsa_, a box, cf. _caisse_, and "chest"), an enclosure, +such as the muzzle-end of a gun in front of the trunnions, a groove cut +to hold a pipe, and, in typography, the frame enclosing the "forme." + + + + +CHASING, or ENCHASING, the art of producing figures and ornamental +patterns, either raised or indented, on metallic surfaces by means of +steel tools or punches. It is practised extensively for the +ornamentation of goldsmith and silversmith work, electro-plate and +similar objects, being employed to produce bold flutings and bosses, and +in another manner utilized for imitating engraved surfaces. Minute work +can be produced by this method, perfect examples of which may be seen in +the watch-cases chased by G.M. Moser, R.A. (1704-1783). The chaser first +outlines the pattern on the surface he is to ornament, after which, if +the work involves bold or high embossments, these are blocked out by a +process termed "snarling." The snarling iron is a long iron tool turned +up at the end, and made so that when securely fastened in a vise the +upturned end can reach and press against any portion of the interior of +the vase or other object to be chased. The part to be raised being held +firmly against the upturned point of the snarling iron, the workman +gives the shoulder or opposite end of the iron a sharp blow, which +causes the point applied to the work to give it a percussive stroke, and +thus throw up the surface of the metal held against the tool. When the +blocking out from the interior is finished, or when no such embossing is +required, the object to be chased is filled with molten pitch, which is +allowed to harden. It is then fastened to a sandbag, and with hammer and +a multitude of small punches of different outline the whole details of +the pattern, lined, smooth or "matt," are worked out. Embossing and +stamping from steel dies and rolled ornaments have long since taken the +place of chased ornamentations in the cheaper kinds of plated works. +(See EMBOSSING.) + + + + +CHASLES, VICTOR EUPHEMIEN PHILARETE (1798-1873), French critic and man +of letters, was born at Mainvilliers (Eure et Loir) on the 8th of +October 1798. His father, Pierre Jacques Michel Chasles (1754-1826), was +a member of the Convention, and was one of those who voted the death of +Louis XVI. He brought up his son according to the principles of +Rousseau's _Emile_, and the boy, after a regime of outdoor life, +followed by some years' classical study, was apprenticed to a printer, +so that he might make acquaintance with manual labour. His master was +involved in one of the plots of 1815, and Philarete suffered two months' +imprisonment. On his release he was sent to London, where he worked for +the printer Valpy on editions of classical authors. He wrote articles +for the English reviews, and on his return to France did much to +popularize the study of English authors. He was also one of the earliest +to draw attention in France to Scandinavian and Russian literature. He +contributed to the _Revue des deux mondes_, until he had a violent +quarrel, terminating in a lawsuit, with Francois Buloz, who won his +case. He became librarian of the Bibliotheque Mazarine, and from 1841 +was professor of comparative literature at the College de France. During +his active life he produced some fifty volumes of literary history and +criticism, and of social history, much of which is extremely valuable. +He died at Venice on the 18th of July 1873. His son, Emile Chasles (b. +1827), was a philologist of some reputation. + + Among his best critical works is _Dix-huitieme Siecle en Angleterre_ + ... (1846), one of a series of 20 vols. of _Etudes de litterature + comparee_ (1846-1875), which he called later _Trente ans de critique_. + An account of his strenuous boyhood is given in his _Maison de mon + pere_. His _Memoires_ (1876-1877) did not fulfil the expectations + based on his brilliant talk. + + + + +CHASSE (from the Fr., in full _chasse-cafe_, or "coffee-chaser"), a +draught of spirit or liqueur, taken with or after coffee, &c. + + + + +CHASSE (Fr. for "chased"), a gliding step in dancing, so called since +one foot is brought up behind or chases the other. The _chasse croise_ +is a double variety of the step. + + + + +CHASSELOUP-LAUBAT, FRANCOIS, MARQUIS DE (1754-1833), French general and +military engineer, was born at St Sernin (Lower Charente) on the 18th of +August 1754, of a noble family, and entered the French engineers in +1774. He was still a subaltern at the outbreak of the Revolution, +becoming captain in 1791. His ability as a military engineer was +recognized in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793. In the following year he +won distinction in various actions and was promoted successively _chef +de bataillon_ and colonel. He was chief of engineers at the siege of +Mainz in 1796, after which he was sent to Italy. He there conducted the +first siege of Mantua, and reconnoitred the positions and lines of +advance of the army of Bonaparte. He was promoted general of brigade +before the close of the campaign, and was subsequently employed in +fortifying the new Rhine frontier of France. His work as chief of +engineers in the army of Italy (1799) was conspicuously successful, and +after the battle of Novi he was made general of division. When Napoleon +took the field in 1800 to retrieve the disasters of 1799, he again +selected Chasseloup as his engineer general. During the peace of +1801-1805 he was chiefly employed in reconstructing the defences of +northern Italy, and in particular the afterwards famous Quadrilateral. +His _chef-d'oeuvre_ was the great fortress of Alessandria on the Tanaro. +In 1805 he remained in Italy with Massena, but at the end of 1806 +Napoleon, then engaged in the Polish campaign, called him to the _Grande +Armee_, with which he served in the campaign of 1806-07, directing the +sieges of Colberg, Danzig and Stralsund. During the Napoleonic +domination in Germany, Chasseloup reconstructed many fortresses, in +particular Magdeburg. In the campaign of 1809 he again served in Italy. +In 1810 Napoleon made him a councillor of state. His last campaign was +that of 1812 in Russia. He retired from active service soon afterwards, +though in 1814 he was occasionally engaged in the inspection and +construction of fortifications. Louis XVIII. made him a peer of France +and a knight of St Louis. He refused to join Napoleon in the Hundred +Days, but after the second Restoration he voted in the chamber of peers +against the condemnation of Marshal Ney. In politics he belonged to the +constitutional party. The king created him a marquis. Chasseloup's later +years were employed chiefly in putting in order his manuscripts, a task +which he had to abandon owing to the failure of his sight. His only +published work was _Correspondence d'un general francais, &c. sur divers +sujets_ (Paris, 1801, republished Milan, 1805 and 1811, under the title +_Correspondance de deux generals, &c., essais sur quelques parties +d'artillerie et de fortification_). The most important of his papers are +in manuscript in the Depot of Fortifications, Paris. + +As an engineer Chasseloup was an adherent, though of advanced views, of +the old bastioned system. He followed in many respects the engineer +Bousmard, whose work was published in 1797 and who fell, as a Prussian +officer, in the defence of Danzig in 1807 against Chasseloup's own +attack. His front was applied to Alessandria, as has been stated, and +contains many elaborations of the bastion trace, with, in particular, +masked flanks in the tenaille, which served as extra flanks of the +bastions. The bastion itself was carefully and minutely retrenched. The +ordinary ravelin he replaced by a heavy casemated caponier after the +example of Montalembert, and, like Bousmard's, his own ravelin was a +large and powerful work pushed out beyond the glacis. + + + + +CHASSEPOT, officially "fusil modele 1866," a military breech-loading +rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-German War +of 1870-71. It was so called after its inventor, Antoine Alphonse +Chassepot (1833-1905), who, from 1857 onwards, had constructed various +experimental forms of breech-loader, and it became the French service +weapon in 1866. In the following year it made its first appearance on +the battle-field at Mentana (November 3rd, 1867), where it inflicted +severe losses upon Garibaldi's troops. In the war of 1870 it proved very +greatly superior to the German needle-gun. The breech was closed by a +bolt very similar to those of more modern rifles, and amongst the +technical features of interest were the method of obturation, which was +similar in principle to the de Bange obturator for heavy guns (see +ORDNANCE), and the retention of the paper cartridge. The principal +details of the chassepot are:--weight of rifle, 9 lb. 5 oz.; length with +bayonet, 6 ft. 2 in.; calibre, .433 in.; weight of bullet (lead), 386 +grains; weight of charge (black powder), 86.4 grains; muzzle velocity, +1328 f.s.; sighted to 1312 yds. (1200 m.). The chassepot was replaced in +1874 by the Gras rifle, which had a metal cartridge, and all rifles of +the older model remaining in store were converted to take the same +ammunition (fusil modele 1866/74). + + + + +CHASSESRIAU, THEODORE (1819-1856), French painter, was born in the +Antilles, and studied under Ingres at Paris and at Rome, subsequently +falling under the influence of Paul Delaroche. He was a well-known +painter of portraits and historical pieces, his "Tepidarium at Pompeii" +(1853) being now in the Louvre. + + + + +CHASSIS (Fr. _chassis_, a frame, from the Late. Lat. _capsum_, an +enclosed space), properly a window-frame, from which is derived the word +"sash"; also the movable traversing frame of a gun, and more +particularly that part of a motor vehicle consisting of the wheels, +frame and machinery, on which the body or carriage part rests. + + + + +CHASTELARD, PIERRE DE BOCSOZEL DE (1540-1563), French poet, was born in +Dauphine, a scion of the house of Bayard. His name is inseparably +connected with Mary, queen of Scots. From the service of the Constable +Montmorency, Chastelard, then a page, passed to the household of Marshal +Damville, whom he accompanied in his journey to Scotland in escort of +Mary (1561). He returned to Paris in the marshal's train, but left for +Scotland again shortly afterward, bearing letters of recommendation to +Mary from his old protector, Montmorency, and the _Regrets_ addressed to +the ex-queen of France by Pierre Ronsard, his master in the art of song. +He undertook to transmit to the poet the service of plate with which +Mary rewarded him. But he had fallen in love with the queen, who is said +to have encouraged his passion. Copies of verse passed between them; she +lost no occasion of showing herself partial to his person and +conversation. The young man hid himself under her bed, where he was +discovered by her maids of honour. Mary pardoned the offence, and the +old familiar terms between them were resumed. Chastelard was so rash as +again to violate her privacy. He was discovered a second time, seized, +sentenced and hanged the next morning. He met his fate valiantly and +consistently, reading, on his way to the scaffold, his master's noble +_Hymne de la mort_, and turning at the instant of doom towards the +palace of Holyrood, to address to his unseen mistress the famous +farewell--"Adieu, toi si belle et si cruelle, qui me tues et que je ne +puis cesser d'aimer." This at least is the version of the _Memoires_ of +Brantome, who is, however, notoriously untrustworthy. But for his +madness of love, it is possible that Chastelard would have left no +shadow or shred of himself behind. As it is, his life and death are of +interest as illustrating the wild days in which his lot was cast. + + + + +CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES (d. 1475), Burgundian chronicler, was a native of +Alost in Flanders. He derived his surname from the fact that his +ancestors were burgraves or chatelains of the town; his parents, who +belonged to illustrious Flemish families, were probably the Jean +Chastellain and his wife Marie de Masmines mentioned in the town records +in 1425 and 1432. A copy of an epitaph originally at Valenciennes states +that he died on the 20th of March 1474-5 aged seventy. But since he +states that he was so young a child in 1430 that he could not recollect +the details of events in that year, and since he was "_ecolier_" at +Louvain in 1430, his birth may probably be placed nearer 1415 than 1405. +He saw active service in the Anglo-French wars and probably elsewhere, +winning the surname of _L'adventureux_. In 1434 he received a gift from +Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, for his military services, but on the +conclusion of the peace of Arras in the next year he abandoned +soldiering for diplomacy. The next ten years were spent in France, where +he was connected with Georges de la Tremoille, and afterwards entered +the household of Pierre de Breze, at that time seneschal of Poitou, by +whom he was employed on missions to the duke of Burgundy, in an attempt +to establish better relations between Charles VII. and the duke. During +these years Chastellain had ample opportunity of obtaining an intimate +knowledge of French affairs, but on the further breach between the two +princes, Chastellain left the French service to enter Philip's +household. He was at first pantler, then carver, titles which are +misleading as to the nature of his services, which were those of a +diplomatist; and in 1457 he became a member of the ducal council. He was +continually employed on diplomatic errands until 1455, when, owing +apparently to ill-health, he received apartments in the palace of the +counts of Hainaut at Salle-le-Comte, Valenciennes, with a considerable +pension, on condition that the recipient should put in writing "_choses +nouvelles et morales_," and a chronicle of notable events. That is to +say, he was appointed Burgundian historiographer with a recommendation +to write also on other subjects not strictly within the scope of a +chronicler. From this time he worked hard at his _Chronique_, with +occasional interruptions in his retreat to fulfil missions in France, or +to visit the Burgundian court. He was assisted, from about 1463 onwards, +by his disciple and continuator, Jean Molinet, whose rhetorical and +redundant style may be fairly traced in some passages of the +_Chronique_. Charles the Bold maintained the traditions of his house as +a patron of literature, and showed special favour to Chastellain, who, +after being constituted _indiciaire_ or chronicler of the order of the +Golden Fleece, was himself made a knight of the order on the 2nd of May +1473. He died at Valenciennes on the 13th of February (according to the +treasury accounts), or on the 20th of March (according to his epitaph) +1475. He left an illegitimate son, to whom was paid in 1524 one hundred +and twenty livres for a copy of the _Chronique_ intended for Charles +V.'s sister Mary, queen of Hungary. Only about one-third of the whole +work, which extended from 1410 to 1474, is known to be in existence, but +MSS. carried by the Habsburgs to Vienna or Madrid may possibly yet be +discovered. + +Among his contemporaries Chastellain acquired a great reputation by his +poems and occasional pieces now little considered. The unfinished state +of his _Chronique_ at the time of his death, coupled with political +considerations, may possibly account for the fact that it remained +unprinted during the century that followed his death, and his historical +work was only disinterred from the libraries of Arras, Paris and +Brussels by the painstaking researches of M. Buchon in 1825. Chastellain +was constantly engaged during the earlier part of his career in +negotiations between the French and Burgundian courts, and thus had +personal knowledge of the persons and events dealt with in his history. +A partisan element in writing of French affairs was inevitable in a +Burgundian chronicle. This defect appears most strongly in his treatment +of Joan of Arc; and the attack on Agnes Sorel seems to have been +dictated by the dauphin (afterwards Louis XI.), then a refugee in +Burgundy, of whom he was afterwards to become a severe critic. He was +not, however, misled, as his more picturesque predecessor Froissart had +been, by feudal and chivalric tradition into misconception of the +radical injustice of the English cause in France; and except in isolated +instances where Burgundian interests were at stake, he did full justice +to the patriotism of Frenchmen. Among his most sympathetic portraits are +those of his friend Pierre de Breze and of Jacques Coeur. His French +style, based partly on his Latin reading, has, together with its +undeniable vigour and picturesqueness, the characteristic redundance and +rhetorical quality of the Burgundian school. Chastellain was no mere +annalist, but proposed to fuse and shape his vast material to his own +conclusions, in accordance with his political experience. The most +interesting feature of his work is the skill with which he pictures the +leading figures of his time. His "characters" are the fruit of acute and +experienced observation, and abound in satirical traits, although the +42nd chapter of his second book, devoted expressly to portraiture, is +headed "_Comment Georges escrit et mentionne les louanges vertueuses des +princes de son temps._" + + The known extant fragments of Chastellain's _Chroniques_ with his + other works were edited by Kervyn de Lettenhove for the Brussels + Academy in 1863-1866 (8 vols., Brussels) as _OEuvres de Georges + Chastellain_. This edition includes all that had been already + published by Buchon in his _Collection de chroniques_ and _Choix de + chroniques_ (material subsequently incorporated in the _Pantheon + litteraire_), and portions printed by Renard in his _Tresor national_, + vol. i. and by Quicherat in the _Proces de la Pucelle_ vol. iv. Kervyn + de Lettenhove's text includes the portions of the chronicle covering + the periods September 1419, October 1422, January 1430 to December + 1431, 1451-1452, July 1454 to October 1458, July 1461 to July 1463, + and, with omissions, June 1467 to September 1470; and three volumes of + minor pieces of considerable interest, especially _Le Temple de + Boccace_, dedicated to Margaret of Anjou, and the _Deprecation_ for + Pierre Breze, imprisoned by Louis XI. In the case of these minor works + the attribution to Chastellain is in some cases erroneous, notably in + the case of the _Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalain_, which is the + work of Lefebvre de Saint-Remi, herald of the Golden Fleece. In the + allegorical _Oultre d'amour_ it has been thought a real romance + between Breze and a lady of the royal house is concealed. + + See A. Molinier, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France_; as well as + notices by Kervyn de Lettenhove prefixed to the _OEuvres_ and in the + _Biographie nationale de Belgique_; and an article (three parts) by + Vallet de Viriville in the _Journal des savants_ (1867). + + + + +CHASUBLE (Fr. _chasuble_, Ger. _Kasel_, Span. _casulla_; Late Lat. +_casula_, a little house, hut, from _casa_), a liturgical vestment of +the Catholic Church. It is the outermost garment worn by bishops and +priests at the celebration of the Mass, forming with the alb (q.v.) the +most essential part of the eucharistic vestments. Since it is only used +at the Mass, or rarely for functions intimately connected with the +sacrament of the altar, it may be regarded as the Mass vestment _par +excellence_. The chasuble is thus in a special sense the sacerdotal +vestment, and at the ordination of priests, according to the Roman rite, +the bishop places on the candidate a chasuble rolled up at the back +(_planeta plicata_), with the words, "Take the sacerdotal robe, the +symbol of love," &c.; at the end of the ordination Mass the vestment is +unrolled. The chasuble or _planeta_ (as it is called in the Roman +missal), according to the prevailing model in the Roman Catholic Church, +is a scapular-like cloak, with a hole in the middle for the head, +falling down over breast and back, and leaving the arms uncovered at the +sides. Its shape and size, however, differ considerably in various +countries (see fig. 1), while some churches--e.g. those of certain +monastic orders--have retained or reverted to the earlier "Gothic" forms +to be described later. According to the decisions of the Congregation of +Rites chasubles must not be of linen, cotton or woollen stuffs, but of +silk; though a mixture of wool (or linen and cotton) and silk is allowed +if the silk completely cover the other material on the outer side; spun +glass thread, as a substitute for gold or silver thread, is also +forbidden, owing to the possible danger to the priest's health through +broken fragments falling into the chalice. + +[Illustration: From Braun's _Liturgische Gewandung_, by permission of +the publisher, B. Herder. + +FIG. 1.--Comparative shape and size of Chasubles as now in use in +various countries. + +a, b, German. c, Roman. d, Spanish.] + +The chasuble, like the kindred vestments (the [Greek: phelonion], &c.) +in the Eastern Churches, is derived from the Roman _paenula_ or +_planeta_, a cloak worn by all classes and both sexes in the +Graeco-Roman world (see VESTMENTS). Though early used in the celebration +of the liturgy it had for several centuries no specifically liturgical +character, the first clear instances of its ritual use being in a letter +of St Germanus of Paris (d. 576), and the next in the twenty-eighth +canon of the Council of Toledo (633). Much later than this, however, it +was still an article of everyday clerical dress, and as such was +prescribed by the German council convened by Carloman and presided over +by St Boniface in 742. Amalarius of Metz, in his _De ecclesiasticis +officiis_ (ii. 19), tells us in 816 that the _casula_ is the _generale +indumentum sacrorum ducum_ and "is proper generally to all the clergy." +It was not until the 11th century, when the cope (q.v.) had become +established as a liturgical vestment, that the chasuble began to be +reserved as special to the sacrifice of the Mass. As illustrating this +process Father Braun (p. 170) cites an interesting correspondence +between Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury and John of Avranches, +archbishop of Rouen, as to the propriety of a bishop wearing a chasuble +at the consecration of a church, Lanfranc maintaining as an established +principle that the vestment should be reserved for the Mass. By the 13th +century, with the final development of the ritual of the Mass, the +chasuble became definitely fixed as the vestment of the celebrating +priest; though to this day in the Roman Church relics of the earlier +general use of the chasuble survive in the _planeta plicata_ worn by +deacons and subdeacons in Lent and Advent, and other penitential +seasons. + +At the Reformation the chasuble was rejected with the other vestments by +the more extreme Protestants. Its use, however, survived in the Lutheran +churches; and though in those of Germany it is no longer worn, it still +forms part of the liturgical costume of the Scandinavian Evangelical +churches. In the Church of England, though it was prescribed +alternatively with the cope in the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI., it +was ultimately discarded, with the other "Mass vestments," the cope +being substituted for it at the celebration of the Holy Communion in +cathedral and collegiate churches; its use has, however, during the last +fifty years been widely revived in connexion with the reactionary +movement in the direction of the pre-Reformation doctrine of the +eucharist. The difficult question of its legality is discussed in the +article VESTMENTS. + +_Form._--The chasuble was originally a tent-like robe which fell in +loose folds below the knee (see Plate I. fig. 4). Its obvious +inconvenience for celebrating the holy mysteries, however, caused its +gradual modification. The object of the change was primarily to leave +the hands of the celebrant freer for the careful performance of the +manual acts, and to this end a process of cutting away at the sides of +the vestment began, which continued until the tent-shaped chasuble of +the 12th century had developed in the 16th into the scapular-like +vestment at present in use. This process was, moreover, hastened by the +substitution of costly and elaborately embroidered materials for the +simple stuffs of which the vestment had originally been composed; for, +as it became heavier and stiffer, it necessarily had to be made smaller. +For the extremely exiguous proportions of some chasubles actually in +use, which have been robbed of all the beauty of form they ever +possessed, less respectable motives have sometimes been responsible, +viz. the desire of their makers to save on the materials. The most +beautiful form of the chasuble is undoubtedly the "Gothic" (see the +figure of Bishop Johannes of Lubeck in the article VESTMENTS), which is +the form most affected by the Anglican clergy, as being that worn in the +English Church before the Reformation. + +_Decoration._--Though _planetae_ decorated with narrow orphreys are +occasionally met with in the monuments of the early centuries, these +vestments were until the 10th century generally quite plain, and even at +the close of this century, when the custom of decorating the chasuble +with orphreys had become common, there was no definite rule as to their +disposition; sometimes they were merely embroidered borders to the +neck-opening or hem, sometimes a vertical strip down the back, less +often a forked cross, the arms of which turned upwards over the +shoulders. From this time onward, however, the embroidery became ever +more and more elaborate, and with this tendency the orphreys were +broadened to allow of their being decorated with figures. About the +middle of the 13th century, the cross with horizontal arms begins to +appear on the back of the vestment, and by the 15th this had become the +most usual form, though the forked cross also survived--e.g. in England, +where it is now considered distinctive of the chasuble as worn in the +Anglican Church. Where the forked cross is used it is placed both on the +back and front of the vestment; the horizontal-armed cross, on the other +hand, is placed only on the back, the front being decorated with a +vertical strip extending to the lower hem (fig. 1, b, d). Sometimes +the back of the chasuble has no cross, but only a vertical orphrey, and +in this case the front, besides the vertical stripe, has a horizontal +orphrey just below the neck opening (see Plate I. fig. 2). This latter +is the type used in the local Roman Church, which has been adopted in +certain dioceses in South Germany and Switzerland, and of late years in +the Roman Catholic churches in England, e.g. Westminster cathedral (see +Plate I. figs. 3 and 5). + +[Illustration PLATE I. + + FIG. 2.--Chasuble of Pope Calixtus III. (15th century) preserved at + Valencia. + + From a photograph by Father J.L. Braun in _Die liturg Gewandung_, by + permission of the publisher, B. Herder. + + FIG. 3.--Chasuble of Pope Pius V. (late 15th century) at S. Maria + Maggiore at Rome. + + From a photograph by Father J.L. Braun in _Die liturg Gewandung_. + + FIG. 4.--Chasuble dedicated by Stephen of Hungary (997-1038) and his + wife Gisela, used as the Hungarian Coronation Robe. + + (From Braun, _Die liturg. Gewandung_.) + + FIG. 5.--Modern Roman Chasuble of Archbishop Bourne of Westminster. + + FIG. 6.--Modern English Chasuble, used at St Paul's Church, + Knightsbridge, London.] + +[Illustration PLATE II. + + FIG. 7.--Back of a Chasuble of Italian Brocaded Damask (Red) with + Embroidered Orphreys. The Vestment is of the early 16th century, the + Orphreys of the late 14th century. (English. In the Victoria and + Albert Museum.)] + +It has been widely held that the forked cross was a conscious imitation +of the archiepiscopal pallium (F. Bock, _Gesch. der liturg. Gewander_, +ii. 107), and that the chasuble so decorated is proper to archbishops. +Father Braun, however, makes it quite clear that this was not the case, +and gives proof that this decoration was not even originally conceived +as a cross at all, citing early instances of its having been worn by +laymen and even by non-Christians (p. 210). It was not until the 13th +century that the symbolical meaning of the cross began to be elaborated, +and this was still further accentuated from the 14th century onward by +the increasingly widespread custom of adding to it the figure of the +crucified Christ and other symbols of the Passion. This, however, did +not represent any definite rule; and the orphreys of chasubles were +decorated with a great variety of pictorial subjects, scriptural or +drawn from the stories of the saints, while the rest of the vestment was +either left plain or, if embroidered, most usually decorated with +arabesque patterns of foliage or animals. The local Roman Church, true +to its ancient traditions, adhered to the simpler forms. The modern +Roman chasuble pictured in Plate I. fig. 5, besides the conventional +arabesque pattern, is decorated, according to rule, with the arms of the +archbishop and his see. + +_The Eastern Church._--The original equivalent of the chasuble is the +phelonion ([Greek: phelonion, phelones, phainolion], from _paenula_). It +is a full vestment of the type of the Western bell chasuble; but, +instead of being cut away at the sides, it is for convenience' sake +either gathered up or cut short in front. In the Armenian, Syrian, +Chaldaean and Coptic rites it is cope-shaped. There is some difference +of opinion as to the derivation of the vestment in the latter case; the +Five Bishops (Report to Convocation, 1908) deriving it, like the cope, +from the _birrus_, while Father Braun considers it, as well as the cope, +to be a modification of the _paenula_.[1] The phelonion (Arm. +_shurtshar_, Syr. _phaina_, Chald. _maaphra_ or _phaina_, Copt, _burnos, +felonion, kuklion_) is confined to the priests in the Armenian, Syrian, +Chaldaean and Coptic rites; in the Greek rite it is worn also by the +lectors. It is not in the East so specifically a eucharistic vestment as +in the West, but is worn at other solemn functions besides the liturgy, +e.g. marriages, processions, &c. + +Until the 11th century the phelonion is always pictured as a perfectly +plain dark robe, but at this period the custom arose of decorating the +patriarchal phelonion with a number of crosses, whence its name of +[Greek: polystaurion]. By the 14th century the use of these polystauria +had been extended to metropolitans and later still to all bishops. The +purple or black phelonion, however, remained plain in all cases. The +Greeks and Greek Melchite metropolitans now wear the _sakkos_ instead of +the phelonion; and in the Russian, Ruthenian, Bulgarian and Italo-Greek +churches this vestment has superseded the phelonion in the case of all +bishops (see DALMATIC and VESTMENTS). + + See J. Braun, S.J., _Die liturgische Gewandung_ (Freiburg im Breisgau, + 1907), pp. 149-247, and the bibliography to the article VESTMENTS. + (W. A. P.) + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] The writer is indebted to the courtesy of Father Braun for the + following note:--"That the Syrian _phaina_ was formerly a closed + mantle of the type of the bell chasuble is clearly proved by the + evidence of the miniatures of a Syrian pontifical (dated 1239) in the + Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (cf. Bild 16, 112, 284, in _Die + liturgische Gewandung_). The liturgical vestments of the Armenians + are derived, like their rite, from the Greek rite; so that in this + case also there can be no doubt that the _shurtshar_ was originally + closed. The Coptic rite is in the same relation to the Syrian. + Moreover, it would be further necessary to prove that the _birrus_, + in contradistinction to the _paenula_, was always open in front; + whereas, _per contra_, the _paenula_, both as worn by soldiers and in + ordinary life, was, like the modern Arab _burnus_, often slit up the + front to the neck. For the rest, it is obvious that if the Syrian + _phaina_ was still quite closed in the 13th century, and was only + provided with a slit since that time, the same is very probable in + the case of the Armenian chasuble. The absence of the hood might also + be taken as additional proof of the derivation of the _phaina_ from + the _paenula_, but I should not lay particular stress upon it. The + question is settled by the above-mentioned miniatures." + + + + +CHATEAU (from Lat. _castellum_, fortress, through O. Fr. _chastel, +chasteau_), the French word for castle (q.v.). The development of the +medieval castle, in the 15th and 16th centuries, into houses arranged +rather for residence than defence led to a corresponding widening of the +meaning of the term _chateau_, which came to be applied to any +seigniorial residence and so generally to all houses, especially country +houses, of any pretensions (cf. the Ger. _Schloss_). The French +distinguish the fortified castle from the residential mansion by +describing the former as the _chateau fort_, the latter as the _chateau +de plaisance_. The development of the one into the other is admirably +illustrated by surviving buildings in France, especially in the +_chateaux_ scattered along the Loire. Of these Langeais, still in +perfect preservation, is a fine type of the _chateau fort_, with its +10th-century keep and 13th-century walls. Amboise (1490), Blois +(1500-1540), Chambord (begun 1526), Chenonceaux (1515-1560), +Azay-le-Rideau (1521), may be taken as typical examples of the _chateau +de plaisance_ of the transition period, all retaining in greater or less +degree some of the architectural characteristics of the medieval castle. +Some description of these is given under their several headings. In +English the word _chateau_ is often used to translate foreign words +(e.g. _Schloss_) meaning country house or mansion. + + For the Loire chateaux see Theodore Andrea Cook, _Old Touraine_ + (1892). + + + + +CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANCOIS RENE, VICOMTE DE (1768-1848), French author, +youngest son of Rene Auguste de Chateaubriand, comte de Combourg,[1] was +born at St Malo on the 4th of September 1768. He was a brilliant +representative of the reaction against the ideas of the French +Revolution, and the most conspicuous figure in French literature during +the First Empire. His naturally poetical temperament was fostered in +childhood by picturesque influences, the mysterious reserve of his +morose father, the ardent piety of his mother, the traditions of his +ancient family, the legends and antiquated customs of the sequestered +Breton district, above all, the vagueness and solemnity of the +neighbouring ocean. His closest friend was his sister Lucile,[2] a +passionate-hearted girl, divided between her devotion to him and to +religion. Francois received his education at Dol and Rennes, where Jean +Victor Moreau was among his fellow-students. From Rennes he proceeded to +the College of Dinan, and passed some years in desultory study in +preparation for the priesthood. He finally decided, after a year's +holiday at the family chateau of Combourg, that he had no vocation for +the Church, and was on the point of proceeding to try his fortune in +India when he received (1786) a commission in the army. After a short +visit to Paris he joined his regiment at Cambrai, and early in the +following year was presented at court. In 1788 he received the tonsure +in order to enter the order of the Knights of Malta. In Paris +(1787-1789) he made acquaintance with the Parisian men of letters. He +met la Harpe, Evariste Parny, "Pindare" Lebrun, Nicolas Chamfort, Pierre +Louis Ginguene, and others, of whom he has left portraits in his +memoirs. + +Chateaubriand was not unfavourable to the Revolution in its first +stages, but he was disturbed by its early excesses; moreover, his +regiment was disbanded, and his family belonged to the party of +reaction. His political impartiality, he says, pleased no one. These +causes and the restlessness of his spirit induced him to take part in a +romantic scheme for the discovery of the North-West Passage, in +pursuance of which he departed for America in the spring of 1791. The +passage was not found or even attempted, but the adventurer returned +enriched with the--to him--more important discovery of his own powers +and vocation, conscious of his marvellous faculty for the delineation of +nature, and stored with the new ideas and new imagery, derived from +the virgin forests and magnificent scenery of the western continent. +That he actually lived among the Indians, however, is shown by Bedier to +be doubtful, and the same critic has exposed the untrustworthiness of +the autobiographical details of his American trip. His knowledge of +America was mainly derived from the books of Charlevoix and others. + +The news of the arrest of Louis XVI. at Varennes in June 1791 recalled +him to France. In 1792 he married Mlle Celeste Buisson de Lavigne, a +girl of seventeen, who brought him a small fortune. This enabled him to +join the ranks of the emigrants, a course practically imposed on him by +his birth and his profession as a soldier. After the failure of the duke +of Brunswick's invasion he contrived to reach Brussels, where he was +left wounded and apparently dying in the street. His brother succeeded +in obtaining some shelter for him, and sent him to Jersey. The captain +of the boat in which he travelled left him on the beach in Guernsey. He +was once more rescued from death, this time by some fishermen. After +spending some time in the Channel Islands under the care of an emigrant +uncle, the comte de Bedee, he made his way to London. In England he +lived obscurely for several years, gaining an intimate acquaintance with +English literature and a practical acquaintance with poverty. His own +account of this period has been exposed by A. le Braz, _Au pays d'exil +de Chateaubriand_ (1909), and by E. Dick, _Revue d'histoire litteraire +de la France_ (1908), i. From his English exile dates the _Natchez_ +(first printed in his _OEuvres completes_, 1826-1831), a prose epic +designed to portray the life of the Red Indians. Two brilliant episodes +originally designed for this work, _Atala_ and _Rene_, are among his +most famous productions. Chateaubriand's first publication, however, was +the _Essai historique, politique et moral sur les revolutions_ ... +(London, 1797), which the author subsequently retracted, but took care +not to suppress. In this volume he appears as a mediator between +royalist and revolutionary ideas, a free-thinker in religion, and a +philosopher imbued with the spirit of Rousseau. A great change in his +views was, however, at hand, induced, according to his own statement, by +a letter from his sister Julie (Mme de Farcy), telling him of the grief +his views had caused his mother, who had died soon after her release +from the Conciergerie in the same year. His brother had perished on the +scaffold in April 1794, and both his sisters, Lucile and Julie, and his +wife had been imprisoned at Rennes. Mme de Farcy did not long survive +her imprisonment. + +Chateaubriand's thoughts turned to religion, and on his return to France +in 1800 the _Genie du christianisme_ was already in an advanced state. +Louis de Fontanes had been a fellow-exile with Chateaubriand in London, +and he now introduced him to the society of Mme de Stael, Mme Recamier, +Benjamin Constant, Lucien Bonaparte and others. But Chateaubriand's +favourite resort was the salon of Pauline de Beaumont, who was destined +to fill a great place in his life, and gave him some help in the +preparation of his work on Christianity, part of the book being written +at her house at Savigny. _Atala, ou les amours de deux sauvages dans le +desert_, used as an episode in the _Genie du christianisme_, appeared +separately in 1801 and immediately made his reputation. Exquisite style, +impassioned eloquence and glowing descriptions of nature gained +indulgence for the incongruity between the rudeness of the personages +and the refinement of the sentiments, and for the distasteful blending +of prudery with sensuousness. Alike in its merits and defects the piece +is a more emphatic and highly coloured _Paul et Virginie_; it has been +justly said that Bernardin Saint-Pierre models in marble and +Chateaubriand in bronze. Encouraged by his success the author resumed +his _Genie du christianisme, ou beautes de la religion chretienne_, +which appeared in 1802, just upon the eve of Napoleon's re-establishment +of the Catholic religion in France, for which it thus seemed almost to +have prepared the way. No coincidence could have been more opportune, +and Chateaubriand came to esteem himself the counterpart of Napoleon in +the intellectual order. In composing his work he had borne in mind the +admonition of his friend Joseph Joubert, that the public would care very +little for his erudition and very much for his eloquence. It is +consequently an inefficient production from the point of view of serious +argument. The considerations derived from natural theology are but +commonplaces rendered dazzling by the magic of style; and the parallels +between Christianity and antiquity, especially in arts and letters, are +at best ingenious sophistries. The less polemical passages, however, +where the author depicts the glories of the Catholic liturgy and its +accessories, or expounds its symbolical significance, are splendid +instances of the effect produced by the accumulation and judicious +distribution of particulars gorgeous in the mass, and treated with the +utmost refinement of detail. The work is a masterpiece of literary art, +and its influence in French literature was immense. The _Eloa_ of Alfred +de Vigny, the _Harmonies_ of Lamartine and even the _Legende des +siecles_ of Victor Hugo may be said to have been inspired by the _Genie +du christianisme_. Its immediate effect was very considerable. It +admirably subserved the statecraft of Napoleon, and Talleyrand in 1803 +appointed the writer _attache_ to the French legation at Rome, whither +he was followed by Mme de Beaumont, who died there. + +When his insubordinate and intriguing spirit compelled his recall he was +transferred as envoy to the canton of the Valais. The murder of the duke +of Enghien (21st of March 1804) took place before he took up this +appointment. Chateaubriand, who was in Paris at the time, showed his +courage and independence by immediately resigning his post. In 1807 he +gave great offence to Napoleon by an article in the _Mercure de France_ +(4th of July), containing allusions to Nero which were rightly taken to +refer to the emperor. The _Mercure_, of which he had become proprietor, +was temporarily suppressed, and was in the next year amalgamated with +the _Decade_. Chateaubriand states in his _Memoires_ that his life was +threatened, but it is more than possible that he exaggerated the danger. +Before this, in 1806, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, undertaken, as +he subsequently acknowledged, less in a devotional spirit than in quest +of new imagery. He returned by way of Tunis, Carthage, Cadiz and +Granada. At Granada he met Mme de Mouchy, and the place and the meeting +apparently suggested the romantic tale of _Le Dernier Abencerage_, +which, for political reasons, remained unprinted until the publication +of the _OEuvres completes_ (1826-1831). The journey also produced +_L'Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem_ ... (3 vols., 1811), a record of +travel distinguished by the writer's habitual picturesqueness; and +inspired his prose epic, _Les Martyrs, ou le triomphe de la religion +chretienne_ (2 vols., 1809). This work may be regarded as the argument +of the _Genie du christianisme_ thrown into an objective form. As in the +_Epicurean_ of Thomas Moore, the professed design is the contrast +between Paganism and Christianity, which fails of its purpose partly +from the absence of real insight into the genius of antiquity, and +partly because the heathen are the most interesting characters after +all. _Rene_ had appeared in 1802 as an episode of the _Genie du +christianisme_, and was published separately at Leipzig without its +author's consent in the same year. It was perhaps Chateaubriand's most +characteristic production. The connecting link in European literature +between _Werther_ and _Childe Harold_, it paints the misery of a morbid +and dissatisfied soul. The representation is mainly from the life. +Chateaubriand betrayed amazing egotism in describing his sister Lucile +in the Amelie of the story, and much is obviously descriptive of his own +early surroundings. With _Les Natchez_ his career as an imaginative +writer is closed. In 1831 he published his _Etudes ou discours +historiques_ ... (4 vols.) dealing with the fall of the Roman Empire. + +As a politician Chateaubriand was equally formidable to his antagonists +when in opposition and to his friends when in office. His poetical +receptivity and impressionableness rendered him no doubt honestly +inconsistent with himself; his vanity and ambition, too morbidly acute +to be restrained by the ties of party allegiance, made him dangerous and +untrustworthy as a political associate. He was forbidden to deliver the +address he had prepared (1811) for his reception to the Academy on M.J. +Chenier on account of the bitter allusions to Napoleon contained in it. +From this date until 1814 Chateaubriand lived in seclusion at the +Vallee-aux-loups, an estate he had bought in 1807 at Aulnay. His +pamphlet _De Bonaparte, des Bourbons, et de la necessite de se rattier a +nos princes legitimes_, published on the 31st of March 1814, the day of +the entrance of the allies into Paris, was as opportune in the moment of +its appearance as the _Genie du christianisme_, and produced a hardly +less signal effect. Louis XVIII. declared that it had been worth a +hundred thousand men to him. Chateaubriand, as minister of the interior, +accompanied him to Ghent during the Hundred Days, and for a time +associated himself with the excesses of the royalist reaction. Political +bigotry, however, was not among his faults; he rapidly drifted into +liberalism and opposition, and was disgraced in September 1816 for his +pamphlet _De la monarchie selon la charte_. He had to sell his library +and his house of the Vallee-aux-loups. + +After the fall of his opponent, the due Decazes, Chateaubriand obtained +the Berlin embassy (1821), from which he was transferred to London +(1822), and he also acted as French plenipotentiary at the Congress of +Verona (1822). He here made himself mainly responsible for the +iniquitous invasion of Spain--an expedition undertaken, as he himself +admits, with the idea of restoring French prestige by a military parade. +He next received the portfolio of foreign affairs, which he soon lost by +his desertion of his colleagues on the question of a reduction of the +interest on the national debt. After another interlude of effective +pamphleteering in opposition, he accepted the embassy to Rome in 1827, +under the Martignac administration, but resigned it at Prince Polignac's +accession to office. On the downfall of the elder branch of the +Bourbons, he made a brilliant but inevitably fruitless protest from the +tribune in defence of the principle of legitimacy. During the first half +of Louis Philippe's reign he was still politically active with his pen, +and published a _Memoire sur la captivite de madame la duchesse de +Berry_ (1833) and other pamphlets in which he made himself the champion +of the exiled dynasty; but as years increased upon him, and the prospect +of his again performing a conspicuous part diminished, he relapsed into +an attitude of complete discouragement. His _Congres de Verone_ (1838), +_Vie de Rance_ (1844), and his translation of Milton, _Le Paradis perdu +de Milton_ (1836), belong to the writings of these later days. He died +on the 4th of July 1848, wholly exhausted and thoroughly discontented +with himself and the world, but affectionately tended by his old friend +Madame Recamier, herself deprived of sight. For the last fifteen years +of his life he had been engaged on his _Memoires_, and his chief +distraction had been his daily visit to Madame Recamier, at whose house +he met the European celebrities. He was buried in the Grand Be, an islet +in the bay of St Malo. Shortly after his death his memory was revived, +and at the same time exposed to much adverse criticism, by the +publication, with sundry mutilations as has been suspected, of his +celebrated _Memoires d'outre-tombe_ (12 vols., 1849-1850). These memoirs +undoubtedly reveal his vanity, his egotism, the frequent hollowness of +his professed convictions, and his incapacity for sincere attachment, +except, perhaps, in the case of Madame Recamier. Though the book must be +read with the greatest caution, especially in regard to persons with +whom Chateaubriand came into collision, it is perhaps now the most read +of all his works. + +Chateaubriand ranks rather as a great rhetorician than as a great poet. +Something of affectation or unreality commonly interferes with the +enjoyment of his finest works. The _Genie du christianisme_ is a +brilliant piece of special pleading; _Atala_ is marred by its +unfaithfulness to the truth of uncivilized human nature, _Rene_ by the +perversion of sentiment which solicits sympathy for a contemptible +character. Chateaubriand is chiefly significant as marking the +transition from the old classical to the modern romantic school. The +fertility of ideas, vehemence of expression and luxury of natural +description, which he shares with the romanticists, are controlled by a +discipline learnt in the school of their predecessors. His palette, +always brilliant, is never gaudy; he is not merely a painter but an +artist. He is also a master of epigrammatic and incisive sayings. +Perhaps, however, the most truly characteristic feature of his genius is +the peculiar magical touch which Matthew Arnold indicated as a note of +Celtic extraction, which reveals some occult quality in a familiar +object, or tinges it, one knows not how, with "the light that never was +on sea or land." This incommunicable gift supplies an element of +sincerity to Chateaubriand's writings which goes far to redeem the +artificial effect of his calculated sophistry and set declamation. It is +also fortunate for his fame that so large a part of his writings should +directly or indirectly refer to himself, for on this theme he always +writes well. Egotism was his master-passion, and beyond his intrepidity +and the loftiness of his intellectual carriage his character presents +little to admire. He is a signal instance of the compatibility of +genuine poetic emotion, of sympathy with the grander aspects both of man +and nature, and of munificence in pecuniary matters, with absorption in +self and general sterility of heart. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The _OEuvres completes_ of Chateaubriand were printed + in 28 vols., 1826-1831; in 20 vols., 1829-1831; and in many later + editions, notably in 1858-1861, in 20 volumes, with an introductory + study by Sainte-Beuve. The principal authority for Chateaubriand's + biography is the _Memoires d'outre-tombe_ (1849-1850), of which there + is an English translation, _The Memoirs of ... Chateaubriand_ (6 + vols., 1902), by A. Teixeira de Mattos, based on the admirable edition + (4 vols., 1899-1901) of Edmond Bire. This work should be supplemented + by the _Souvenirs et correspondances tires des papiers de Mme + Recamier_ (2 vols., 1859, ed. Mme Ch. Lenormant). See also Comte de + Marcellus, _Chateaubriand et son temps_ (1859); the same editor's + _Souvenirs diplomatiques; correspondance intime de Chateaubriand_ + (1858); C.A. Sainte-Beuve, _Chateaubriand et son groupe litteraire + sous l'empire_ (2 vols., 1861, new and revised ed., 3 vols., 1872); + other articles by Sainte-Beuve, who was in this case a somewhat + prejudiced critic, in the _Portraits contemporains_, vols. i. and ii.; + _Causeries du lundi_, vols. i., ii. and x.; _Nouveaux Lundis_, vol. + iii.; _Premiers Lundis_, vol. iii.; A. Vinet, _Etudes sur la litt. + francaise au XIXe siecle_ (1849); M. de Lescure, _Chateaubriand_ + (1892) in the _Grands ecrivains francais_; Emile Faguet, _Etudes + litteraires sur le XIXe siecle_ (1887); and _Essai d'une + bio-bibliographie de Chateaubriand et de sa famille_ (Vannes, 1896), + by Rene Kerviler. Joseph Bedier, in _Etudes critiques_ (1903), deals + with the American writings. Some correspondence with Sainte-Beuve was + edited by Louis Thomas in 1904, and some letters to Mme de Stael + appeared in the _Revue des deux mondes_ (Oct. 1903). + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] For full details of the Chateaubriand family see R. Kerviler, + _Essai d'une bio-bibliographie de Chateaubriand et de sa famille_ + (Vannes, 1895). + + [2] Her _OEuvres_ were edited in 1879, with a memoir, by Anatole + France. + + + + +CHATEAUBRIANT, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in +the department of Loire-Inferieure, on the left bank of the Chere, 40 m. +N.N.E. of Nantes by rail. Pop. (1906) 5969. Chateaubriant takes its name +from a castle founded in the 11th century by Brient, count of +Penthievre, remains of which, consisting of a square donjon and four +towers, still exist. Adjoining it is another castle, built in the first +half of the 16th century by Jean de Laval, and famous in history as the +residence of Francoise de Foix, mistress of Francis I. Of this the most +beautiful feature is the colonnade running at right angles to the main +building, and connecting it with a graceful pavilion. It is occupied by +a small museum and some of the public offices. There is also an +interesting Romanesque church dedicated to St Jean de Bere. +Chateaubriant is the seat of a subprefect and has a tribunal of first +instance. It is an important centre on the Ouest-Etat railway, and has +trade in agricultural products. The manufacture of leather, agricultural +implements and preserved angelica are carried on. In 1551 Henry II. +signed an edict against the reformed religion at Chateaubriant. + + + + +CHATEAUDUN, a town of north central France, capital of an arrondissement +in the department of Eure-et-Loir, 28 m. S.S.W. of Chartres by rail. +Pop. (1906) 5805. It stands on an eminence near the left bank of the +Loire. The streets, which are straight and regular, radiate from a +central square, a uniformity due to the reconstruction of the town after +fires in 1723 and 1870. The chateau, the most remarkable building in the +town, was built in great part by Jean, count of Dunois, and his +descendants. Founded in the 10th century, and rebuilt in the 12th and +15th centuries, it consists of a principal wing with a fine staircase of +the 16th century, and, at right angles, a smaller wing adjoined by a +chapel. To the left of the courtyard thus formed rises a lofty keep of +the 12th century. The fine apartments and huge kitchens of the chateau +are in keeping with its imposing exterior. The church of La Madeleine +dates from the 12th century; the buildings of the abbey to which it +belonged are occupied by the subprefecture, the law court and the +hospital. The medieval churches of St Valerien and St Jean and the +ruined chapel of Notre-Dame du Champde, of which the facade in the +Renaissance style now forms the entrance to the cemetery, are other +notable buildings. The public institutions include a tribunal of first +instance and a communal college. Flour-milling, tanning and +leather-dressing, and the manufacture of blankets, silver jewelry, nails +and machinery are the prominent industries. Trade is in cattle, grain, +wool and hemp. Chateaudun (_Castrodunum_), which dates from the +Gallo-Roman period, was in the middle ages the capital of the countship +of Dunois. + + + + +CHATEAU-GONTIER, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement +in the department of Mayenne, on the Mayenne, 18 m. S. by E. of Laval by +road. Pop. (1906) 6871. Of its churches, that of St Jean, a relic of the +castle, dates from the 11th century. Chateau-Gontier is the seat of a +subprefect and has a tribunal of first instance, a communal college for +boys and a small museum. It carries on wool- and cotton-spinning, the +manufacture of serge, flannel and oil, and is an agricultural market. +There are chalybeate springs close to the town. Chateau-Gontier owes its +origin and its name to a castle erected in the first half of the 11th +century by Gunther, the steward of Fulk Nerra of Anjou, on the site of a +farm belonging to the monks of St Aubin d'Angers. On the extinction of +the family, the lordship was assigned by Louis XI. to Philippe de +Comines. The town suffered severely during the wars of the League. In +1793 it was occupied by the Vendeans. + + + + +CHATEAUNEUF, LA BELLE, the name popularly given to RENEE DE RIEUX, +daughter of Jean de Rieux, seigneur de Chateauneuf, who was descended +from one of the greatest families of Brittany. The dates both of her +birth and death are not known. She was maid of honour to the +queen-mother Catherine de' Medici, and inspired an ardent passion in the +duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX. This intrigue deterred the duke +from the marriage which it was desired to arrange for him with Elizabeth +of England; but he soon abandoned La Belle Chateauneuf for Marie of +Cleves (1571). The court then wished to find a husband for Renee de +Rieux, whose singular beauty gave her an influence which the +queen-mother feared, and matches were in turn suggested with the voivode +of Transylvania, the earl of Leicester, with Du Prat, provost of Paris, +and with the count of Brienne, all of which came to nothing. Ultimately, +on the ground that she had been lacking in respect towards the queen, +Louise of Lorraine-Vaudemont, Renee was banished from the court. She +married a Florentine named Antinotti, whom she stabbed in a fit of +jealousy (1577); then she remarried, her husband being Philip Altoviti, +who in 1586 was killed in a duel by the Grand Prior Henry of Angouleme, +who was himself mortally wounded. + + + + +CHATEAU-RENAULT, FRANCOIS LOUIS DE ROUSSELET, MARQUIS DE (1637-1716), +French admiral, was the fourth son of the third marquis of +Chateau-Renault. The family was of Breton origin, but had been long +settled near Blois. He entered the army in 1658, but in 1661 was +transferred to the navy, which Louis XIV. was eager to raise to a high +level of strength. After a short apprenticeship he was made captain in +1666. His early services were mostly performed in cruises against the +Barbary pirates (1672). In 1673 he was named _chef d'escadre_, and he +was promoted _lieutenant general des armees navales_ in 1687. During the +wars up to this date he had few chances of distinction, but he had been +wounded in action with the pirates, and had been on a cruise to the West +Indies. When war broke out between England and France after the +revolution of 1688, he was in command at Brest, and was chosen to carry +the troops and stores sent by the French king to the aid of James II. in +Ireland. Although he was watched by Admiral Herbert (Lord Torrington, +q.v.), with whom he fought an indecisive action in Bantry Bay, he +executed his mission with success. Chateau-Renault commanded a squadron +under Tourville at the battle of Beachy Head in 1690. He was with +Tourville in the attack of the Smyrna convoy in 1693, and was named +grand cross of the order of Saint Louis in the same year. Though in +constant service, the reduced state of the French navy (owing to the +financial embarrassments of the treasury) gave him few openings for +fighting at sea during the rest of the war. + +On the death of Tourville in 1701 he was named to the vacant post of +vice-admiral of France. On the outbreak of the War of the Spanish +Succession he was named for the difficult task of protecting the Spanish +ships which were to bring the treasure from America. It was a duty of +extreme delicacy, for the Spaniards were unwilling to obey a foreigner, +and the French king was anxious that the bullion should be brought to +one of his own ports, a scheme which the Spanish officials were sure to +resent if they were allowed to discover what was meant. With the utmost +difficulty Chateau-Renault was able to bring the galleons as far as +Vigo, to which port he steered when he learnt that a powerful English +and Dutch armament was on the Spanish coast, and had to recognize that +the Spanish officers would not consent to make for a French harbour or +for Passages, which they thought too near France. His fleet of fifteen +French and three Spanish war-ships, having under their care twelve +galleons, had anchored on the 22nd of September in Vigo Bay. Obstacles, +some of an official character, and others due to the poverty of the +Spanish government in resources, arose to delay the landing of the +treasure. There was no adequate garrison in the town, and the local +militia was untrustworthy. Knowing that he would probably be attacked, +Chateau-Renault strove to protect his fleet by means of a boom. The +order to land the treasure was delayed, and until it came from Madrid +nothing could be done, since according to law it should have been landed +at Cadiz, which had a monopoly of the trade with America. At last the +order came, and the bullion was landed under the care of the Gallician +militia which was ordered to escort it to Lugo. A very large part, if +not the whole, was plundered by the militiamen and the farmers whose +carts had been commandeered for the service. But the bulk of the +merchandise was on board of the galleons when the allied fleet appeared +outside of the bay on the 22nd of October 1702. Sir George Rooke and his +colleagues resolved to attack. The fleet was carrying a body of troops +which had been sent out to make a landing at Cadiz, and had been beaten +off. The fortifications of Vigo were weak on the sea side, and on the +land side there were none. There was therefore nothing to offer a +serious resistance to the allies when they landed soldiers. The fleet of +twenty-four sail was steered at the boom and broke through it, while the +troops turned the forts and had no difficulty in scattering the +Gallician militia. In the bay the action was utterly disastrous to the +French and Spaniards. Their ships were all taken or destroyed. The booty +gained was far less than the allies hoped, but the damage done to the +French and Spanish governments was great. + +Chateau-Renault suffered no loss of his master's favour by his failure +to save the treasure. The king considered him free from blame, and must +indeed have known that the admiral had been trusted with too many +secrets to make it safe to inflict a public rebuke. The Spanish +government declined to give him the rank of grandee which was to have +been the reward for bringing home the bullion safe. But in 1703 he was +made a marshal of France, and shortly afterwards lieutenant-general of +Brittany. The fight in Vigo Bay was the last piece of active service +performed by Chateau-Renault. In 1708 on the death of his nephew he +inherited the marquisate, and on the 15th of November 1716 he died in +Paris. He married in 1684 Marie-Anne-Renee de la Porte, daughter and +heiress of the count of Crozon. His eldest son was killed at the battle +of Malaga 1704, and another, also a naval officer, was killed by +accident in 1708. A third son, who too was a naval officer, succeeded +him in the title. + + A life of Chateau-Renault was published in 1903 by M. Calmon-Maison. + There is a French as well as an English account of the part played by + him at Bantry Bay and Beachy Head, and the controversy still + continues. For the French history of the navy under Louis XIV. see + Leon Guerin, _Histoire maritime de la France_ (1863), vols. iii., iv.; + and his _Les Marins illustres_ (1861). Also the naval history by + Charles Bouzel de la Ronciere. (D. H.) + + + + +CHATEAUROUX, MARIE ANNE DE MAILLY-NESLE, DUCHESSE DE (1717-1744), +mistress of Louis XV. of France, was the fourth daughter of Louis, +marquis de Nesle, a descendant of a niece of Mazarin. In 1740, upon the +death of her husband, the marquis de la Tournelle, she attracted the +attention of Louis XV.; and by the aid of the duc de Richelieu, who, +dominated by Madame de Tencin, hoped to rule both the king and the +state, she supplanted her sister, Madame de Mailly, as titular mistress +in 1742. Directed by Richelieu, she tried to arouse the king, dragging +him off to the armies, and negotiated the alliance with Frederick II. of +Prussia, in 1744. Her political role, however, has been exaggerated. Her +triumph after the passing disgrace provoked by the king's illness at +Metz did not last long, for she died on the 8th of December 1744. + + See Ed. and J. de Goncourt, _La Duchesse de Chateauroux et ses soeurs_ + (Paris, 1879). + + + + +CHATEAUROUX, a town of central France, capital of the department of +Indre, situated in a plain on the left bank of the Indre, 88 m. S. of +Orleans on the main line of the Orleans railway. Pop. (1906) 21,048. The +old town, close to the river, forms a nucleus round which a newer and +more extensive quarter, bordered by boulevards, has grown up; the +suburbs of St Christophe and Deols (q.v.) lie on the right bank of the +Indre. The principal buildings of Chateauroux are the handsome modern +church of St Andre, in the Gothic style, and the Chateau Raoul, of the +14th and 15th centuries; the latter now forms part of the prefecture. +The hotel de ville contains a library and a museum which possesses a +collection of paintings of the Flemish school and some interesting +souvenirs of Napoleon I. A statue of General Henri Bertrand (1773-1844) +stands in one of the principal squares. Chateauroux is the seat of a +prefect and of a court of assizes. It has tribunals of first instance +and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a branch of the Bank of +France, a chamber of commerce, a lycee, a college for girls and training +colleges. The manufacture of coarse woollens for military clothing and +other purposes, and a state tobacco-factory, occupy large numbers of the +inhabitants. Wool-spinning, iron-founding, brewing, tanning, and the +manufacture of agricultural implements are also carried on. Trade is in +wool, iron, grain, sheep, lithographic stone and leather. The castle +from which Chateauroux takes its name was founded about the middle of +the 10th century by Raoul, prince of Deols, and during the middle ages +was the seat of a seigniory, which was raised to the rank of countship +in 1497, and in 1616, when it was held by Henry II., prince of Conde, to +that of duchy. In 1736 it returned to the crown, and was given by Louis +XV. in 1744 to his mistress, Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchess of +Chateauroux. + + + + +CHATEAU-THIERRY, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement +in the department of Aisne, 59 m. E.N.E. of Paris on the Eastern railway +to Nancy. Pop. (1906) 6872. Chateau-Thierry is built on rising ground on +the right bank of the Marne, over which a fine stone bridge leads to the +suburb of Marne. On the quay stands a marble statue erected to the +memory of La Fontaine, who was born in the town in 1621; his house is +still preserved in the street that bears his name. On the top of a hill +are the ruins of a castle, which is said to have been built by Charles +Martel for the Frankish king, Thierry IV., and is plainly the origin of +the name of the town. The chief relic is a gateway flanked by massive +round towers, known as the Porte Saint-Pierre. A belfry of the 15th +century and the church of St Crepin of the same period are of some +interest. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of +first instance and a communal college. The distinctive industry is the +manufacture of mathematical and musical instruments. There is trade in +the white wine of the neighbourhood, and in sheep, cattle and +agricultural products. Gypsum, millstone and paving-stone are quarried +in the vicinity. Chateau-Thierry was formerly the capital of the +district of Brie Pouilleuse, and received the title of duchy from +Charles IX. in 1566. It was captured by the English in 1421, by Charles +V. in 1544, and sacked by the Spanish in 1591. During the wars of the +Fronde it was pillaged in 1652; and in the campaign of 1814 it suffered +severely. On the 12th of February of the latter year the Russo-Prussian +forces were beaten by Napoleon in the neighbourhood. + + + + +CHATELAIN (Med. Lat. _castellanus_, from _castellum_, a castle), in +France originally merely the equivalent of the English castellan, i.e. +the commander of a castle. With the growth of the feudal system, +however, the title gained in France a special significance which it +never acquired in England, as implying the jurisdiction of which the +castle became the centre. The _chatelain_ was originally, in Carolingian +times, an official of the count; with the development of feudalism the +office became a fief, and so ultimately hereditary. In this as in other +respects the chatelain was the equivalent of the viscount (q.v.) +sometimes the two titles were combined, but more usually in those +provinces where there were chatelains there were no viscounts, and vice +versa. The title chatelain continued also to be applied to the inferior +officer, or _concierge chatelain_, who was merely a castellan in the +English sense. The power and status of chatelains necessarily varied +greatly at different periods and places. Usually their rank in the +feudal hierarchy was equivalent to that of the simple _sire_ +(_dominus_), between the baron and the _chevalier_; but occasionally +they were great nobles with an extensive jurisdiction, as in the Low +Countries (see BURGRAVE). This variation was most marked in the cities, +where in the struggle for power that of the chatelain depended on the +success with which he could assert himself against his feudal superior, +lay or ecclesiastical, or, from the 12th century onwards, against the +rising power of the communes. The _chatellenie_ (_castellania_), or +jurisdiction of the chatelain, as a territorial division for certain +judicial and administrative purposes, survived the disappearance of the +title and office of the chatelain in France, and continued till the +Revolution. + + See Achille Luchaire, _Manuel des institutions francaises_ (Paris, + 1892); Du Cange, _Glossarium, s._ "Castellanus." + + + + +CHATELAINE (Fr. _chatelaine_, the feminine form of _chatelain_, a keeper +of a castle), the mistress of a castle. From the custom of a chatelaine +to carry the keys of the castle suspended from her girdle, the word is +now applied to the collection of short chains, often worn by ladies, to +which are attached various small articles of domestic and toilet use, as +keys, penknife, needlecase, scissors, &c. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th +Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. 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