Part 16

The conquest of Constantinople by the Venetians and the Crusaders, in 1204, broke the Byzantine Empire into many fragments, some of which were secured by the conquerors and loosely bound together in the feudal empire of Romania, while others were snatched from the ruin and preserved by the Greeks, themselves. For the sovereignty of these latter numerous claimants made haste to contend. Three fugitive emperors were wandering in the outer territories of the shattered realm. One was that Alexius III., whose deposition of Isaac Angelos had afforded a pretext for the crusading conquest, and who had fled when Isaac was restored. A second was Alexius V. (Murtzuphlos), who pushed Isaac Angelos and his son Alexius IV. from the shaking throne when Constantinople resolved to defend itself against the Christians of the West, but who abandoned the city in the last hours of the siege. The third was Theodore Lascaris, son-in-law of Alexius III., who was elected to the imperial office as soon as the flight of Alexius V. became known—even after the besiegers had entered the city—and who, then, could do nothing but follow his fugitive predecessors. This last was the only one of the three who found a piece of defensible territory on which to set up his throne. He established himself in Bithynia, associating his claims with those of his worthless father-in-law, and contenting himself with the title of Despot, at first. But the convenient though objectionable father-in-law was not permitted to enjoy any share of the sovereignty which he acquired. Theodore, in fact, managed his affairs with great vigor and skill. The district in which his authority was recognized widened rapidly and the city of Nicæa became his capital. There, in 1206, he received the imperial crown, more formally and solemnly, anew, and rallied the Greek resistance which was destined to triumph, a little more than half a century later, over the insolent aggression of the Latin West. {1612} The small empire of Nicæa had to contend, not merely with the Latins in Constantinople and Greece, and with the Turkish Sultan of Iconium, but also with another ambitious fragment of Greek empire at Trebizond, which showed itself persistently hostile. His successors, moreover, were in conflict with a third such fragment in Europe, at Thessalonica. But, ten years after the flight of Theodore from Constantinople, his empire of Nicæa "extended from Heracleia on the Black Sea to the head of the Gulf of Nicomedia; from thence it embraced the coast of the Opsikian theme as far as Cyzicus; and then descending to the south, included Pergamus, and joined the coast of the Ægean. Theodore had already extended his power over the valleys of the Hermus, the Caister, and the Mæander." Theodore Lascaris died in 1222, leaving no son, and John Dukas Vatatzes, or Vataces as his name is written by some historians, a man of eminent abilities and high qualities, who had married Theodore's daughter, was elected to the vacant throne. He was saluted as John III.—assuming a continuity from the Byzantine to the Nicæan series of emperors. In a reign of thirty-three years, this prudent and capable emperor, as Gibbon expresses the fact, "rescued the provinces from national and foreign usurpers, till he pressed on all sides the imperial city [Constantinople], a leafless and sapless trunk, which must fall at the first stroke of the axe." He did not live to apply that blow nor to witness the fall of the coveted capital of the East. But the event occurred only six years after his death, and owed nothing to the energy or the capability of his successors. His son, Theodore II., reigned but four years, and left at his death, in 1258, a son, John IV., only eight years old. The appointed regent and tutor of this youth was soon assassinated, and Michael Paleologos, an able officer, who had some of the blood of the imperial Angelos family in his veins, was made in the first instance tutor to the young emperor, and soon afterwards raised to the throne with him as a colleague. In 1260 the new emperor made an attack on Constantinople and was repulsed. But on the 25th of July in the next year the city was taken by a sudden surprise, while 6,000 soldiers of its garrison were absent on an expedition against Daphnusia in the Black Sea. It was acquired almost without resistance, the Latin emperor, Baldwin II., taking promptly to flight. The destruction of life was slight; but the surprising party fired a considerable part of the city, to cover the smallness of its numbers, and Constantinople suffered once more from a disastrous conflagration. On the recovery of its ancient capital, the Greek empire ceased to bear the name of Nicæa, and its history is continued under the more imposing appellation of the Greek empire of Constantinople.

_G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires, from 716 to 1453, book 4, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN: _E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 62._

GREEK EMPIRE OF TREBIZOND.

See TREBIZOND: A. D. 1204-1461.

GREEK FIRE.

"The important secret of compounding and directing this artificial flame was imparted [in the later part of the seventh century to the Greeks, or Byzantines, at Constantinople] by Callinicus, a native of Heliopolis, in Syria, who deserted from the service of the caliph to that of the emperor. The skill of a chemist and engineer was equivalent to the succour of fleets and armies; and this discovery or improvement of the military art was fortunately reserved for the distressful period when the degenerate Romans of the East were incapable of contending with the warlike enthusiasm and youthful vigour of the Saracens. The historian who presumes to analyze this extraordinary composition should suspect his own ignorance and that of his Byzantine guides, so prone to the marvellous, so careless, and, in this instance, so jealous of the truth. From their obscure, and perhaps fallacious hints, it should seem that the principal ingredient of the Greek fire was the naphtha, or liquid bitumen, a light, tenacious, and inflammable oil, which springs from the earth. … The naphtha was mingled, I know not by what methods or in what proportions, with sulphur and with the pitch that is extracted from evergreen firs. From this mixture, which produced a thick smoke and a loud explosion, proceeded a fierce and obstinate flame … ; instead of being extinguished it was nourished and quickened by the element of water; and sand, urine, or vinegar were the only remedies that could damp the fury of this powerful agent. … It was either poured from the ramparts [of a besieged town] in large boilers, or launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil; sometimes it was deposited in fire-ships … and was most commonly blown through long tubes of copper, which were planted on the prow of a galley, and fancifully shaped into the mouths of savage monsters, that seemed to vomit a stream of liquid and consuming fire. This important art was preserved at Constantinople, as the palladium of the state. … The secret was confined, above 400 years, to the Romans of the East. … It was at length either discovered or stolen by the Mahometans; and, in the holy wars of Syria and Egypt, they retorted an invention, contrived against themselves, on the heads of the Christians. … The use of the Greek, or, as it might now be called, the Saracen fire, was continued to the middle of the fourteenth century."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 52._

GREEK GENIUS AND INFLUENCE.

See HELLENIC GENIUS, &c.

GREELEY, Horace, The Peace Conference at Niagara.

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

Presidential candidacy and defeat.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1872.

GREEN, Duff, in the "Kitchen Cabinet" of President Jackson.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1829.

GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS.

See VERMONT: A. D. 1749-1774.

GREENBACK PARTY, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1880.

GREENE, General Nathaniel, and the American Revolution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY-AUGUST); 1780-1781; and 1781 (JANUARY-MAY).

GREENLAND: Start--------

GREENLAND: A D.876-984. Discovery and settlement by the Northmen.

See NORMANS.—NORTHMEN: A. D. 876-984.

GREENLAND: A. D. 1450-1585. The lost Icelandic colony, absorbed by Eskimo. Rediscovery of the country.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ESKIMAUAN FAMILY.

GREENLAND: End----------

{1613}

GREENS, Roman Faction of the.

See CIRCUS, FACTIONS OF THE ROMAN.

GREENVILLE TREATY WITH THE INDIAN TRIBES.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1790-1795.

GREGORIAN CALENDAR.—GREGORIAN ERA.

See CALENDAR, GREGORIAN.

GREGORY I. (called The Great), Pope, A. D. 590-604. Gregory II., Pope, 715-731. Gregory III., Pope, 731-741. Gregory IV., Pope, 827-844. Gregory V., Pope, 996-999. Gregory VI., Pope, 1044-1046. Gregory VII., Pope, 1075-1085. Gregory VIII., Pope, 1187, October to December. Gregory IX., Pope, 1227-1241. Gregory X., Pope, 1271-1276. Gregory XI., Pope, 1371-1378. Gregory XII., Pope, 1406-1415. Gregory XIII., Pope, 1572-1585. Gregory XIV., Pope, 1590-1591. Gregory XV., Pope, 1621-162. Gregory XVI., Pope, 1831-1846.

GRENVILLE MINISTRY, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1760-1763; and 1765-1768.

GRÉVY, Jules, President of the French Republic, 1879-1887.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1875-1889.

GREY, Earl, The Ministry of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1830-1832; and 1834-1837.

GREY FRIARS.

See MENDICANT ORDERS.

GREY LEAGUES, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1396-1499.

GREYS, OR BIGI, of Florence, The.

See BIGI.

GRIERSON'S RAID.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (APRIL-MAY: MISSISSIPPI).

GRIQUAS.—GRIQUALAND.

"The Griquas or Baastards, a mixed race sprung from the intercourse of the 'Boers' [of South Africa] with their Hottentot slaves," migrated from Cape Colony after the Emancipation Act of 1833, "and, under the chiefs Waterboer and Adam Kok, settled in the country north of the confluence of the Orange and Vaal, the present Griqualand West. Subsequently, in 1852, Adam Kok's section of the Griquas again migrated to the territory then called No Man's Land, between Kafraria and southern Natal, now known as Griqualand East, or New Griqualand. … In consequence of the discovery of diamonds in the Griqua country in 1867, and the rush thither of thousands of Europeans from all the surrounding states, as well as from Europe, America, and Australia, the chief Waterboer ceded his rights to the British Government, and this region was annexed to the Cape Colony as the Lieutenant-Governorship of Griqualand West in 1871."

_Hellwald-Johnston, Africa (Stanford's Compendium), chapter 23, section 5._

GRISONS: Start--------

GRISONS, The. Achievement of democratic independence.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1396-1499.

GRISONS: The Valtelline revolt and war.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1624-1626.

GRISONS: End----------

GROCHOW, Battles of (1831).

See POLAND: A. D. 1830-1832.

GROL, Capture of (1627).

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1621-1633.

GRONENBURG: A. D. 1593. Capture by Prince Maurice.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1588-1593.

GROS VENTRE INDIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: HIDATSA, and ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

GROSS BEEREN, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (AUGUST).

GROSS GÖRSCHEN, OR LUTZEN, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (APRIL-MAY).

GROSSE RATH, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1848-1890.

GROSSWARDEIN, Treaty of.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1526-1567.

GROTIUS, HUGO, Imprisonment and escape of.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1603-1619.

GROVETON, Battle of.

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

GRUTHUNGI, The.

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 376.

GRÜTLI, OR RÜTLI, The Meadow of.

See SWITZERLAND: THE THREE FOREST CANTONS.

GRYNEUM, The Oracle of.

See ORACLES OF THE GREEKS.

GUADACELITO OR SALADO, Battle of (1340).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460.

GUADALETE, Battle of the.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

GUADALOUPE HIDALGO, Treaty of.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1848.

GUADALUPES.

See GACHUPINES.

GUAICARUS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.

GUAJIRA, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: COAJIRO.

GUANAJUATO, Battles of.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1810-1819.

GUANAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.

GUANCHES, The.

See LIBYANS.

GUARANI, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: TUPI.

GUASTALLA, Battle of (1734).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1733-1735.

GUATEMALA: Start--------

GUATEMALA: The name.

"According to Fuentes y Guzman, derived from 'Coctecmalan' —that is to say 'Palo de leche,' milk-tree, commonly called 'Yerba mala,' found in the neighborhood of Antigua Guatemala. … In the Mexican tongue, if we may believe Vasquez, it was called 'Quauhtimali,' rotten-tree. … Others derive it from 'Uhatezmalha,' signifying 'the hill which discharges water'; and Juarros suggests that it may be from Juitemal, the first king of Guatemala."

_H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 1, page 620, foot-note._

GUATEMALA: Aboriginal inhabitants, and ruins of Ancient Civilization.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS, and QUICHES; also, MEXICO, ANCIENT.

GUATEMALA: A. D. 1524. Conquest by Alvarado, the lieutenant of Cortes.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1521-1524.

GUATEMALA: A. D. 1821-1871. Separation from Spain. Brief annexation to Mexico. Resistance to Central American Federation. The wars of the states.

See CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1821-1871.

GUATEMALA: End----------

GUAYANAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.

{1614}

GUCK OR COCO TRIBES.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

GUELDERLAND: Start--------

GUELDERLAND: A. D. 1079-1473. Under the House of Nassau. Acquisition by the Duke of Burgundy.

"The arable extent of Guelderland, its central position, and the number of its ancient towns, rendered it at all times of great importance. The men of Zutphen and Arnheim were foremost among the claimants of civic freedom; and at Tiel and Bommel industry struck early root, and struggled bravely to maturity through countless storms of feudal violence and rapine. Guelderland was constituted a county, or earldom, by Henry III. [Emperor, A. D. 1079], and bestowed on Otho, count of Nassau; and thus originated the influence of that celebrated family in the affairs of the Netherlands. Three centuries later the province was created a duchy of the empire. Vigour and ability continued to distinguish the house of Nassau, and they were destined to become eventually the most popular and powerful family in the nation. Apart from their influence, however, Guelderland hardly occupies as important a place in the general history of the country as Utrecht or Holland." In 1473, when the House of Burgundy had acquired sovereignty over most of the Netherland states, Charles the Bold availed himself of a domestic quarrel between the reigning prince of Guelderland and his heir "to purchase the duchy from the former for 92,000 crowns of gold. The old duke died before the pecuniary portion of the bargain was actually completed; and, the rightful heir being detained in prison, the grasping lord of Burgundy entered into possession of his purchase, for which no part of the price was ever paid."

_W. T. McCullagh, Industrial History of Free Nations, chapters 8 and 10 (volume 2)._

GUELDERLAND: A. D. 1713. The Spanish province ceded to Prussia.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

GUELDERLAND: End----------

GUELF PARTY, Captains of the.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1358.

GUELF PARTY: Guelfic origin of the House of Hanover, or Brunswick-Lüneburg.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1714; also, GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES; and ESTE, HOUSE OF.

GUELFS: Start--------

GUELFS, OR GUELPHS, AND GHIBELLINES: German origin of these Factions and their feuds.

On the death (A. D. 1125) of Henry V., the last of the Franconian dynasty of Germanic emperors, Lothaire, Duke of Saxony, was elected emperor, in rather a tumultuous and irregular manner. Lothaire, and the Saxons generally, were embittered in enmity against the house of Franconia, and against the new family—the Suabiau or Hohenstauffen—which succeeded by inheritance, through the female line, to the Franconian claims. It was the object of his reign, moreover, to pass the imperial crown from his own head to that of his son-in-law, Henry the Proud. Hence arose a persecution of the Suabian family, under Lothaire, which stirred deep passions. Henry the Proud, for whose succession Lothaire labored, but vainly, united in himself several ancient streams of noble blood. He "was fourth in descent from Welf [or Guelf], son of Azon marquis of Este, by Cunegonda, heiress of a distinguished family, the Welfs of Altorf in Suabia." His ancestor, Welf, had been invested with the duchy of Bavaria. He himself represented, by right of his mother, the ancient ducal house of Saxony; and, by favor of his imperial father-in-law, the two powerful duchies, Bavaria and Saxony, were both conferred on him. He also received Hanover and Brunswick as the dowry of his wife. "On the death of Lothaire in 1138 the partisans of the house of Suabia made a hasty and irregular election of Conrad [one of the Hohenstauffen princes], in which the Saxon faction found itself obliged to acquiesce. The new emperor availed himself of the jealousy which Henry the Proud's aggrandizement had excited. Under pretence that two duchies could not legally be held by the same person, Henry was summoned to resign one of them, and on his refusal, the diet pronounced that he had incurred a forfeiture of both. Henry made but little resistance, and before his death, which happened soon afterwards, saw himself stripped of all his hereditary as well as acquired possessions. Upon this occasion the famous names of Guelf [or Guelph] and Ghibelin were first heard, which were destined to keep alive the flame of civil dissension in far distant countries, and after their meaning had been forgotten. The Guelfs, or Welfs, were, as I have said, the ancestors of Henry, and the name has become a sort of patronymic in his family. The word Ghibelin is derived from Wibelung, a town in Franconia, whence the emperors of that line are said to have sprung. The house of Suabia were considered in Germany as representing that of Franconia; as the Guelfs may, without much impropriety, be deemed to represent the Saxon line."

_H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 5 (volume 2)._

Sir Andrew Halliday, in his "Annals of the House of Hanover," traces the genealogy of the Guelfs with great minuteness and precision—with more minuteness, perhaps, in some remote particulars, and more precision, than seems consistent with entire credibility. He carries the line back to Edico, king or prince of the Heruli, or Rugii, or Scyrii,—the stock from which came Odoacer, who overturned the Western Roman Empire and made himself the first king of Italy. Edico, who was subject to Attila, and the favorite adviser of the king of the Huns, is thought to have had a son or brother named Guelf or Welf, who fell in battle with the Ostrogoths. It is to him that Sir Andrew is disposed to assign the honor of being the historical chief of the great family of the Guelfs. If not from this shadowy Guelf, it is from another of like name in the next generation—a brother of Odoacer—that he sees the family spring, and the story of its wide-branching and many-rooted growth, in Friuli, Altdorf, Bavaria, old Saxony, Brunswick, Hanover,—and thence, more royally than ever, in England,—is as interesting as a narrative of highly complicated genealogy can be.

_Sir A. Halliday, Annals of the House of Hanover._

From the Guelf uncertainly indicated above were descended two Marquesses of Este, "successively known in German and Italian story as the first and second of that name. … Azo, the second Marquess of Este in Italy (born A. D. 995, died 1097), the head of the Italian (junior) branch of Guelphs [see ESTE], married Cunigunda, the sole heiress of the German Guelphs of Altdorf, thus uniting in his family the blood, wealth, and power of both branches of the old Guelphs, and becoming the common father of the later German and Italian princes of the name of Guelph. {1615} No wonder, then, that he was elected by the Emperor, Henry III., as his representative in Italy. … Cunigunda, the first wife of Azo II., bore him one son, Guelph, who was known in German history as Guelph VI. He succeeded to his mother's titles and vast estates on her death, A. D. 1055, and to those of his father, A. D. 1097. … Henry IV. invested him with the Duchy of Bavaria, A. D. 1071—a title first assumed 170 years before (A. D. 900) by his almost mythological ancestor, Henry of the Golden Chariot." This Guelph VI. was the grandfather of Henry the Proud, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, referred to above.

_P. M. Thornton, The Brunswick Accession, chapter 1._

ALSO IN: _O. Browning, Guelfs and Ghibellines._

See, also, SAXONY: A. D. 1178-1183; and GERMANY: A. D. 1138-1268; and, also, ESTE, HOUSE OF.

GUELFS: The outcrop of the contention in Italy. Its beginnings, causes, course and meaning.

See ITALY: A. D. 1215; and FLORENCE: A. D. 1248-1278.

GUELFS: End----------

GUÉLFS. White and Black (Bianchi and Neri).

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1295-1300; and 1301-1313.

GUELPHS OF HANOVER, The Order of the.

"The Hanoverian troops having much distinguished themselves at the battle of Waterloo, George IV. (then prince regent) determined to found an order of merit which might, with especial propriety, be conferred upon such of them as deserved the distinction, and the 12th of August, 1815, was fixed upon as the date of its foundation. By the second statute, the Order is inseparably annexed to the possession of the Hanoverian crown, by vesting the grand-mastership in the sovereign of that country for the time being."

_C. R. Dodd, Manual of Dignities, part 3._

GUERANDE. Treaty of.

See BRITTANY: A. D. 1341-1365.

GUERNSEY, The Isle of.

See JERSEY AND GUERNSEY.

GUERRA DOS CABANOS.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1825-1865.

GUERRILLAS.

A term of Spanish origin, derived from 'guerilla', signifying little or petty warfare, and applied to small, irregular bands of troops, carrying on war against an enemy by harassing, destructive raids.

GUEUX OF THE NETHERLAND REVOLT.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1562-1566.

GUIANA: Start--------

GUIANA: The aboriginal inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CARIBS.

GUIANA: 16th Century. The search for El Dorado.

See EL DORADO.

GUIANA: A. D. 1580-1814. Dutch, French and English settlements and conquests.