chapter 2 and 4_.

See, also, PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.

ALOD.--ALODIAL

"It may be questioned whether any etymological connexion exists between the words odal and alod, but their signification applied to land is the same: the alod is the hereditary estate derived from primitive occupation; for which the owner owes no service except the personal obligation to appear in the host and in the council. ... The land held in full ownership might be either an ethel, an inherited or otherwise acquired portion of original allotment; or an estate created by legal process out of public land. Both these are included in the more common term alod; but the former looks for its evidence in the pedigree of its owner or in the witness of the community, while the latter can produce the charter or· book by which it is created, and is called bocland. As the primitive allotments gradually lost their historical character, as the primitive modes of transfer became obsolete, and the use of written records took their place, the ethel is lost sight of in the bookland. All the land that is not so accounted for is folcland, or public land."

_William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, c hapter 3, section 24, and chapter 5, section 36._

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"Alodial lands are commonly opposed to beneficiary or feudal; the former being strictly proprietary, while the latter depended upon a superior. In this sense the word is of continual recurrence in ancient histories, laws and instruments. It sometimes, however, bears the sense of inheritance. . . . Hence, in the charters of the eleventh century, hereditary fiefs are frequently termed alodia."

_H. Hallam, Middle Ages, chapter 2, part 1, note._

ALSO IN _J. M. Kemble, The Saxon in England, book 1, chapter 11._

See, also, FOLCLAND.

ALP ARSLAN, Seljouk Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1063-1073.

ALPHONSO.

See ALFONSO.

ALSACE.--ALSATIA: The Name.

See ALEMANNI: A. D. 213.

ALSACE: A. D. 843-870. Included in the Kingdom of Lorraine.

See LORRAINE: A. D. 843-870.

ALSACE: 10th Century. Joined to the Empire.

See LORRAINE: A. D. 911-980.

ALSACE: 10th Century. Origin of the House of Hapsburg.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1246--1282.

ALSACE: A. D. 1525. Revolt of the Peasants.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1524-1525.

ALSACE: A. D. 1621-1622. Invasions by Mansfeld and his predatory army.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623.

ALSACE: A. D. 1636-1639. Invasion and conquest by Duke Bernhard of Weimar. Richelieu's appropriation of the conquest for France.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

ALSACE: A. D. 1648. Cession to France in the Peace of Westphalia.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

ALSACE: A. D. 1659. Renunciation of the claims of the King of Spain.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.

ALSACE: A. D. 1674-1678. Ravaged in the Campaigns of Turenne and Condé.

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

ALSACE: A. D. 1679-1681. Complete Absorption in France. Assumption of entire Sovereignty by Louis XIV. Encroachments of the Chamber of Reannexation. Seizure of Strasburg. Overthrow of its independence as an Imperial City.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1679-1681.

ALSACE: A. D. 1744. Invasion by the Austrians.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743-1744.

ALSACE: A. D. 1871. Ceded to the German Empire by France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (JANUARY-MAY).

ALSACE: 1871-1879. Organization of government as a German Impanel Province.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1871-1879.

ALSACE: End----------

ALTA CALIFORNIA.--Upper California.

See CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1543-1781.

ALTENHElM, Battle of (A. D. 1675).

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

ALTENHOVEN, Battle of (1793).

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

ALTHING, The.

See THING;

Also, NORMANS.--NORTHMEN: A. D. 860-1100;

And SCANDINAVIAN STATES (DENMARK-ICELAND): A. D. 1849-1874.

ALTIS, The.

See OLYMPIC FESTIVAL.

ALTMARCK.

See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1142-1152.

ALTONA: A. D. 1713. Burned by the Swedes.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1707-1718.

ALTOPASCIO, Battle of (1325).

See ITALY: A. D. 1313-1330.

ALVA IN THE NETHERLANDS.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1566-1568 to 1573-1574.

AMADEO, King of Spain, A. D. 1871-1873.

AMAHUACA, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.

AMALASONTHA, Queen of the Ostrogoths.

See ROME: A. D. 535-553.

AMALEKITES, The.

"The Amalekites were usually regarded as a branch of the Edomites or 'Red-skins'. Amalek, like Kenaz, the father of the Kenizzites or 'Hunters,' was the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36: 12, 16). He thus belonged to the group of nations,--Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites,--who stood in a relation of close kinship to Israel. But they had preceded the Israelites in dispossessing the older inhabitants of the land, and establishing themselves in their place. The Edomites had partly destroyed, partly amalgamated the Horites of Mount Seir (Deuteronomy 2: 12); the Moabites had done the same to the Emim, 'a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim' (Deuteronomy 2: 10), while the Ammonites had extirpated and succeeded to the Rephaim or 'Giants,' who in that part of the country were termed Zamzummim (Deuteronomy 2: 20; Gen. 14: 5). Edom however stood in a closer relation to Israel than its two more northerly neighbours. ... Separate from the Edomites or Amalekites were the Kenites or wandering 'smiths.' They formed an important Guild in an age when the art of metallurgy was confined to a few. In the time of Saul we hear of them as camping among the Amalekites (1. Samuel 15: 6.) ... The Kenites ... did not constitute a race, or even a tribe. They were, at most, a caste. But they had originally come, like the Israelites or the Edomites, from those barren regions of Northern Arabia which were peopled by the Menti of the Egyptian inscriptions. Racially, therefore, we may regard them as allied to the descendants of Abraham. While the Kenites and Amalekites were thus Semitic in their origin, the Hivites or 'Villagers' are specially associated with Amorites."

_A. H. Sayce, Races of the Old Testament, chapter 6._

ALSO IN _H. Ewald, History of Israel, book 1, section 4._

See, also, ARABIA.

AMALFI.

"It was the singular fate of this city to have filled up the interval between two periods of civilization, in neither of which she was destined to be distinguished. Scarcely known before the end of the sixth century, Amalfi ran a brilliant career, as a free and trading republic [see ROME: A. D. 554-800], which was checked by the arms of a conqueror in the middle of the twelfth. ... There must be, I suspect, some exaggeration about the commerce and opulence of Amalfi, in the only age when she possessed any at all."

_H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 9, part 1, with note._

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"Amalfi and Atrani lie close together in two ... ravines, the mountains almost arching over them, and the sea washing their very house-walls. ... It is not easy to imagine the time when Amalfi and Atrani were one town, with docks and arsenals and harbourage for their associated fleets, and when these little communities were second in importance to no naval power of Christian Europe. The Byzantine Empire lost its hold on Italy during the eighth century; and after this time the history of Calabria is mainly concerned with the republics of Naples and Amalfi, their conflict with the Lombard dukes of Benevento, their opposition to the Saracens, and their final subjugation by the Norman conquerors of Sicily. Between the year 839 A. D., when Amalfi freed itself from the control of Naples and the yoke of Benevento, and the year 1131, when Roger of Hauteville incorporated the republic in his kingdom of the Two Sicilies, this city was the foremost naval and commercial port of Italy. The burghers of Amalfi elected their own doge; founded the Hospital of Jerusalem, whence sprang the knightly order of S. John; gave their name to the richest quarter in Palermo; and owned trading establishments or factories in all the chief cities of the Levant. Their gold coinage of 'tari' formed the standard of currency before the Florentines had stamped the lily and S. John upon the Tuscan florin. Their shipping regulations supplied Europe with a code of maritime laws. Their scholars, in the darkest depths of the dark ages, prized and conned a famous copy of the Pandects of Justinian, and their seamen deserved the fame of having first used, if they did not actually invent, the compass. ... The republic had grown and flourished on the decay of the Greek Empire. When the hard-handed race of Hauteville absorbed the heritage of Greeks and Lombards and Saracens in Southern Italy [see ITALY (Southern): A. D. 1000-1090], these adventurers succeeded in annexing Amalfi. But it was not their interest to extinguish the state. On the contrary, they relied for assistance upon the navies and the armies of the little commonwealth. New powers had meanwhile arisen in the North of Italy, who were jealous of rivalry upon the open seas; and when the Neapolitans resisted King Roger in 1135, they called Pisa to their aid, and sent her fleet to destroy Amalfi. The ships of Amalfi were on guard with Roger's navy in the Bay of Naples. The armed citizens were, under Roger's orders, at Aversa. Meanwhile the home of the republic lay defenceless on its mountain-girdled seaboard. The Pisans sailed into the harbour, sacked the city and carried off the famous Pandects of Justinian as a trophy. Two years later they returned, to complete the work of devastation. Amalfi never recovered from the injuries and the humiliation of these two attacks. It was ever thus that the Italians, like the children of the dragon's teeth which Cadmus sowed, consumed each other."

_J. A. Symonds, Sketches and Studies in Italy, pages 2-4._

AMALINGS, OR AMALS.

The royal race of the ancient Ostragoths, as the Balthi or Balthings were of the Visigoths, both claiming a descent from the gods.

AMAZIGH, The.

See LIBYANS.

AMAZONS.

"The Amazons, daughters of Arês and Harmonia, are both early creations, and frequent reproductions, of the ancient epic. ... A nation of courageous, hardy and indefatigable women, dwelling apart from men, permitting only a short temporary intercourse for the purpose of renovating their numbers, and burning out their right breast with a view of enabling themselves to draw the bow freely,--this was at once a general type stimulating to the fancy of the poet, and a theme eminently popular with his hearers. Nor was it at all repugnant to the faith of the latter--who had no recorded facts to guide them, and no other standard of credibility as to the past except such poetical narratives themselves--to conceive communities of Amazons as having actually existed in anterior time. Accordingly we find these warlike females constantly reappearing in the ancient poems, and universally accepted as past realities. In the Iliad, when Priam wishes to illustrate emphatically the most numerous host in which he ever found himself included, he tells us that it was assembled in Phrygia, on the banks of the Sangarius, for the purpose of resisting the formidable Amazons. When Bellerophon is to be employed on a deadly and perilous undertaking, by those who indirectly wish to procure his death, he is despatched against the Amazons. ... The Argonautic heroes find the Amazons on the river Thermôdon in their expedition along the southern coast of the Euxine. To the same spot Hêrakles goes to attack them, in the performance of the ninth labour imposed upon him by Eurystheus, for the purpose of procuring the girdle of the Amazonian queen, Hippolyte; and we are told that they had not yet recovered from the losses sustained in this severe aggression when Theseus also assaulted and defeated them, carrying off their queen Antiopê. This injury they avenged by invading Attica ... and penetrated even into Athens itself: where the final battle, hard-fought and at one time doubtful, by which Thêseus crushed them, was fought--in the very heart of the city. Attic antiquaries confidently pointed out the exact position of the two contending armies. ... No portion of the ante-historical epic appears to have been more deeply worked into the national mind of Greece than this invasion and defeat of the Amazons. ... Their proper territory was asserted to be the town and plain of Themiskyra, near the Grecian colony of Amisus, on the river Thermôdon [northern Asia Minor], a region called after their name by Roman historians and geographers. ... Some authors placed them in Libya or Ethiopia."

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 1, chapter 11._

AMAZONS RIVER, Discovery and Naming of the.

The mouth of the great river of South America was discovered in 1500 by Pinzon, or Pinçon (see AMERICA: A. D. 1499-1500), who called it 'Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce' (Saint Mary of the Fresh-Water Sea). "This was the first name given to the river, except that older and better one of the Indians, 'Parana,' the Sea; afterwards it was Marañon and Rio das Amazonas, from the female warriors that were supposed to live near its banks. ... After Pinçon's time, there were others who saw the fresh-water sea, but no one was hardy enough to venture into it. The honor of its real discovery was reserved for Francisco de Orellana; and he explored it, not from the east, but from the west, in one of the most daring voyages that was ever recorded. It was accident rather than design that led him to it. After ... Pizarro had conquered Peru, he sent his brother Gonzalo, with 340 Spanish soldiers, and 4,000 Indians, to explore the great forest east of Quito, 'where there were cinnamon trees.' The expedition started late in 1539, and it was two years before the starved and ragged survivors returned to Quito. In the course of their wanderings they had struck the river Coco; building here a brigantine, they followed down the current, a part of them in the vessel, a part on shore. {45} After a while they met some Indians, who told them of a rich country ten days' journey beyond--a country of gold, and with plenty of provisions. Gonzalo placed Orellana in command of the brigantine, and ordered him, with 50 soldiers, to go on to this gold-land, and return with a load of provisions. Orellana arrived at the mouth of the Coco in three days, but found no provisions; 'and he considered that if he should return with this news to Pizarro, he would not reach him in a year, on account of the strong current, and that if he remained where he was, he would be of no use to the one or to the other. Not knowing how long Gonzalo Pizarro would take to reach the place, without consulting anyone he set sail and prosecuted his voyage onward, intending to ignore Gonzalo, to reach Spain, and obtain that government for himself.' Down the Napo and the Amazons, for seven months, these Spaniards floated to the Atlantic. At times they suffered terribly from hunger: 'There was nothing to eat but the skins which formed their girdles, and the leather of their shoes, boiled with a few herbs.' When they did get food they were often obliged to fight hard for it; and again they were attacked by thousands of naked Indians, who came in canoes against the Spanish vessel. At some Indian villages, however, they were kindly received and well fed, so they could rest while building a new and stronger vessel. ... On the 26th of August, 1541, Orellana and his men sailed out to the blue water 'without either pilot, compass, or anything useful for navigation; nor did they know what direction they should take.' Following the coast, they passed inside of the island of Trinidad, and so at length reached Cubagua in September. From the king of Spain Orellana received a grant of the land he had discovered; but he died while returning to it, and his company was dispersed. It was not a very reliable account of the river that was given by Orellana and his chronicler, Padre Carbajal. So Herrera tells their story of the warrior females, and very properly adds: 'Every reader may believe as much as he likes.'"

_H. H. Smith, Brazil, the Amazons, and the Coast, chapter 1._

In chapter 18 of this same work "The Amazon Myth" is discussed at length, with the reports and opinions of numerous travellers, both early and recent, concerning it.--Mr. Southey had so much respect for the memory of Orellana that he made an effort to restore that bold but unprincipled discoverer's name to the great river. "He discarded Maranon, as having too much resemblance to Maranham, and Amazon, as being founded upon fiction and at the same time inconvenient. Accordingly, in his map, and in all his references to the great river he denominates it Orellana. This decision of the poet-laureate of Great Britain has not proved authoritative in Brazil. O Amazonas is the universal appellation of the great river among those who float upon its waters and who live upon its banks. ... Pará, the aboriginal name of this river, was more appropriate than any other. It signifies 'the father of waters.' ... The origin of the name and mystery concerning the female warriors, I think, has been solved within the last few years by the intrepid Mr. Wallace. ... Mr. Wallace, I think, shows conclusively that Friar Gaspar [Carbajal] and his companions saw Indian male warriors who were attired in habiliments such as Europeans would attribute to women. ... I am strongly of the opinion that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these feminine-looking warriors encountered by the early voyagers."

_J. C. Fletcher and D. P. Kidder, Brazil and the Brazilians, chapter 27._

ALSO IN _A. R. Wallace, Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,