Part 80

"The Hebrew word 'Nabi' is derived from the verb 'naba.' … The root of the verb is said to be a word signifying 'to boil or bubble over,' and is thus taken from the metaphor of a fountain bursting forth from the heart of man, into which God has poured it. Its actual meaning is 'to pour forth excited utterances,' as appears from its occasional use in the sense of 'raving.' Even to this day, in the East, the ideas of prophet and madman are closely connected. The religious sense, in which, with these exceptions, the word is always employed, is that of 'speaking' or 'singing under a divine afflatus or impulse,' to which the peculiar form of the word, as just observed, lends itself. … It is this word that the Seventy translated by a Greek term not of frequent usage in classical authors, but which, through their adoption of it, has passed into all modern European languages; namely, the word … Prophet. … The English words 'prophet,' 'prophecy,' 'prophesying,' originally kept tolerably close to the Biblical use of the word. The celebrated dispute about 'prophesyings,' in the sense of 'preachings,' in the reign of Elizabeth, and the treatise of Jeremy Taylor on 'The Liberty of Prophesying,' i. e. the liberty of preaching, show that even down to the seventeenth century the word was still used, as in the Bible, for 'preaching,' or 'speaking according to the will of God.' In the seventeenth century, however, the limitation of the word to the sense of 'prediction' had gradually begun to appear. … The Prophet then was 'the messenger or interpreter of the Divine will.'"

_Dean Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, lecture 19 (volume 1)._

PROPHETS, Schools of the.

See EDUCATION, ANCIENT; JUDÆA.

PROPONTIS, The.

The small sea which intervenes between the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and the Ægean. So-called by the Greeks; now called the Sea of Marmora.

PROPRÆTOR, Roman.

See PROCONSUL.

PROPYLÆA OF THE ACROPOLIS, The.

See ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.

PROTECTIVE TARIFFS.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION.

PROTECTORATE, Cromwell's.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1653 (DECEMBER); 1654-1658.

PROTESTANT, Origin of the name.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1525-1529.

PROTESTANT FLAIL, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1678-1679.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Start--------

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Bohemia.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1405-1415. and after.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1527-1534, to 1558-1588.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: France.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1521-1535; and FRANCE; A. D. 1532-1547, and after.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Germany.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1516-1517, 1517, 1517-1521, 1521-1522, 1522-1525, 1525-1529, 1530-1531, 1537-1563; also, GERMANY: A. D. 1517-1523, and 1530-1532, to 1552-1561;

also PALATINATE OF THE RHINE: A. D. 1518-1572.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Hungary.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1526-1567.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Ireland: its failure.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1535-1553.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1521-1555, and after.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Piedmont.

See SAVOY: A. D. 1559-1580.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Scotland.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1547-1557; 1557; 1558-1560; and 1561-1568.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Sweden and Denmark.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES; A. D. 1397-1527.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Switzerland.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1519-1524; SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1528-1531; and GENEVA: A. D. 1536-1564.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: End--------

PROTOSEVASTOS.

See SEVASTOS.

{2611}

PROVENCE: Roman origin.

"The colonization of Narbo [Narbonne, B. C. 118] may be considered as the epoch when the Romans finally settled the province of southern Gallia, which they generally named Gallia Provincia, and sometimes simply Provincia. From the time of Augustus it was named Narbonensis Provincia, and sometimes Gallia Braccata. It comprehended on the east all the country between the Rhone and the Alps. The most northeastern town in the Provincia was Geneva in the territory of the Allobroges. Massilia, the ally of Rome, remained a free city. On the west side of the Rhone, from the latitude of Lugdunum (Lyon), the Cevenna, or range of the Cévennes, was the boundary of the Provincia. … The limits of the Provincia were subsequently extended to Carcaso (Carcassone) and Tolosa (Toulouse); and it will appear afterwards that some additions were made to it even on the other side of the Cévennes. This country is a part of France which is separated by natural boundaries from the rest of that great empire, and in climate and products it is Italian rather than French. In the Provincia the Romans have left some of the noblest and most enduring of their great works."

_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 1, chapter 22._

The Provincia of the Romans became the Provence of mediæval times.

PROVENCE: Cession to the Visigoths.

"The fair region which we now call Provence, nearly the earliest formed and quite the latest lost 'Provincia' of Rome, that region in which the Latin spirit dwelt so strongly that the Roman nobles thought of migrating thither in 401, when Alaric first invaded Italy, refused to submit to the rule of the upstart barbarian [Odovacar, or Odoacer, who subverted the Western Empire in 476]. The Provençals sent an embassy to Constantinople to claim the protection of Zeno for the still loyal subjects of the Empire." But Zeno "inclined to the cause of Odovacar. The latter, however, who perhaps thought that he had enough upon his hands without forcing his yoke on the Provençals, made over his claim to Euric king of the Visigoths, whose influence was at this time predominant in Gaul."

_T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, book 4, chapter 4 (volume 3)._

See, also, ARLES: A. D. 508-510.

PROVENCE: A. D. 493-526. Embraced in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Theodoric.

See ROME: A. D. 488-526.

PROVENCE: A. D. 536. Cession to the Franks.

Out of the wreck of the Visigothic kingdom in Gaul, when it was overthrown by the Frank king, Clovis, the Ostrogothic king of Italy, Theodoric, seems to have secured Provence. Eleven years after the death of Theodoric, and on the eve of the subversion of his own proudly planted kingdom, in 536, his successor Witigis, or Vitigis, bought the neutrality of the Franks by the cession to them of all the Ostrogothic possessions in Gaul, which were Provence and part of Dauphiné.

_T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, book 4, chapter 3 (volume 3), and book 5, chapter 3 (volume 4)._

PROVENCE: A. D. 877-933. The Kingdom.

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 843-933.

PROVENCE: A. D. 943-1092. The Kings become Counts. The Spanish connection.

"Southern France, … after having been the inheritance of several of the successors of Charlemagne, was elevated in 870 to the rank of an independent kingdom, by Bozon, who was crowned at Mantes under the title of King of Arles, and who reduced under his dominion Provence, Dauphiny, Savoy, the Lyonnese, and some provinces of Burgundy. The sovereignty of this territory exchanged, in 943, the title of King for that of Count, under Bozon II.; but the kingdom of Provence was preserved entire, and continued in the house of Burgundy, of which Bozon I. was the founder. This noble house became extinct in 1092, in the person of Gilibert, who left only two daughters, between whom his possessions were divided. One of these, Faydide, married Alphonso, Count of Toulouse; and the other, Douce, became the wife of Raymond Berenger, Count of Barcelona. … The accession of Raymond Berenger, Count of Barcelona and husband of Douce, to the throne of Provence, gave a new direction to the national spirit, by the mixture of the Catalans with the Provençals. … Raymond Berenger and his successors introduced into Provence the spirit both of liberty and chivalry, and a taste for elegance and the arts, with all the sciences of the Arabians. The union of these noble sentiments gave birth to that poetical spirit which shone out, at once, over Provence and all the south of Europe, like an electric flash in the midst of the most palpable darkness, illuminating all things by the brightness of its flame."

_J. C. L. S. de Sismondi, Literature of the South of Europe, chapter 3 (volume l)._

See, also, BURGUNDY: A. D. 1032.

PROVENCE: A. D. 1179-1207. Before the Albigensian Crusade.

"At the accession of Philippe Auguste [crowned as joint-king of France, 1179, succeeded his father, 1180], the greater part of the south of France was holden, not of him, but of Pedro of Arragon, as the supreme suzerain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1035-1258.

To the Arragonese king belonged especially the counties of Provence, Forcalquier, Narbonne, Beziers, and Carcassonne. His supremacy was acknowledged by the Counts of Bearn, of Armagnac, of Bigorre, of Comminges, of Foix, of Roussillon, and of Montpellier; while the powerful Count of Toulouse, surrounded by his estates and vassals, maintained with difficulty his independence against him. To these extensive territories were given the names sometimes of Provence, in the larger and less exact use of that word, and sometimes of Languedoc, in allusion to the rich, harmonious, picturesque, and flexible language which was then vernacular there.

See LANGUE D'OC.

They who used it called themselves Provençaux or Aquitanians, to indicate that they were not Frenchmen, but members of a different and indeed of a hostile nation. Tracing their descent to the ancient Roman colonists and to the Gothic invaders of Southern Gaul, the Provençaux regarded with a mixture of contempt, of fear, and ill will, the inhabitants of the country north of the Loire, who had made far less progress than themselves, either in civil liberty, or in the arts and refinements of social life. … Toulouse, Marseilles, Arles, Beziers, and many other of their greater cities, emulous of the Italian republics, with whom they traded and formed alliances, were themselves living under a government which was virtually republican. Each of these free cities being, however, the capital of one of the greater lords among whom the whole of Aquitaine was parceled out, became the seat of a princely and luxurious court. {2612} A genial climate, a fertile soil, and an active commerce, rendered the means of subsistence abundant even to the poor, and gave to the rich ample resources for indulging in all the gratifications which wealth can purchase. … They lived as if life had been one protracted holiday. Theirs was the land of feasting, of gallantry, and of mirth. … They refined and enhanced the pleasures of appetite by the pleasures of the imagination. They played with the stern features of war in knightly tournaments. They parodied the severe toils of justice in their courts of love. They transferred the poet's sacred office and high vocation to the Troubadours, whose amatory and artificial effusions posterity has willingly let die, notwithstanding the recent labours of MM. Raynouard and Fauriel to revive them."

_Sir J. Stephen, Lectures on the History of France, lecture 7._

"In the south of France, more particularly, peace, riches, and a court life, had introduced, amongst the nobility, an extreme laxity of manners. Gallantry seems to have been the sole object of their existence. The ladies, who only appeared in society after marriage, were proud of the celebrity which their lovers conferred on their charms. They were delighted with becoming the objects of the songs of their Troubadour; nor were they offended at the poems composed in their praise, in which gallantry was often mingled with licentiousness. They even themselves professed the Gay Science, 'el Gai Saber,' for thus poetry was called; and, in their turn, they expressed their feelings in tender and impassioned verses. They instituted Courts of Love, where questions of gallantry were gravely debated and decided by their suffrages. They gave, in short, to the whole south of France the character of a carnival, affording a singular contrast to the ideas of reserve, virtue, and modesty, which we usually attribute to those good old times."

_J. C. L. S. de Sismondi, Literature of the South of Europe, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN: _C. C. Fauriel, History of Provençal Poetry._

See, also, TROUBADOURS.

PROVENCE: A. D. 1209-1242. The Albigensian Crusades.

See ALBIGENSES.

PROVENCE: A. D. 1246. The count becomes founder of the Third House of Anjou.

See ANJOU: A. D. 1206-1442.

PROVENCE: A. D. 1348. Sale and transfer of Avignon to the Pope.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1294-1348.

PROVENCE: A. D. 1536-1546. Invasion by Charles V. Defensive wasting of the country. Massacre of Waldenses.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.

PROVENCE: 16th Century. Strength of Protestantism.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1559-1561.

PROVENCE: End--------

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: The Plantation and the City.

See RHODE ISLAND.

PROVISIONS OF OXFORD AND WESTMINSTER.

See OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF.

PROVISORS, Statute of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1306-1393.

PROXENI.

In ancient Sparta, "the so-called Proxeni, whose number was fluctuating, served as the subordinates of the kings in their diplomatic communication with foreign States."

_G. Schömann, Antiquity of Greece: The State, part 3, chapter 1, section 9._

PRUSA: A. D. 1326. The first capital of the Ottomans.

See TURKS (OTTOMANS): A. D. 1240-1326.

PRUSSIA: Start--------

PRUSSIA: The original country and its name.

"Five–hundred miles, and more, to the east of Brandenburg, lies a Country then [10th century] as now called Preussen (Prussia Proper), inhabited by Heathens, where also endeavours at conversion are going on, though without success hitherto. … Part of the great plain or flat which stretches, sloping insensibly, continuously, in vast expanse, from the Silesian Mountains to the amber–regions of the Baltic; Preussen is the seaward, more alluvial part of this,—extending west and east, on both sides of the Weichsel (Vistula), from the regions of the Oder river to the main stream of the Memel. 'Bordering-on-Russia' its name signifies: Bor-Russia, B'russia, Prussia; or—some say it was only on a certain inconsiderable river in those parts, river Reussen, that it 'bordered,' and not on the great Country, or any part of it, which now in our days is conspicuously its next neighbour. Who knows?—In Henry the Fowler's time, and long afterwards, Preussen was a vehemently Heathen country; the natives a Miscellany of rough Serbic Wends, Letts, Swedish Goths, or Dryasdust knows not what;—very probably a sprinkling of Swedish Goths, from old time, chiefly along the coasts. Dryasdust knows only that these Preussen were a strong-boned, iracund herdsman-and-fisher people; highly averse to be interfered with, in their religion especially. Famous otherwise, through all the centuries, for the amber they had been used to fish, and sell in foreign parts. … Their knowledge of Christianity was trifling; their aversion to knowing anything of it was great."

_T. Carlyle, Frederick the Great, book 2, chapter 2._

PRUSSIA: 13th Century. Conquered and Christianized by the Teutonic Knights.

The first Christian missionary who ventured among the savage heathen of Prussia Proper was Adalbert, bishop of Prague, who fell a martyr to his zeal in 997. For two centuries after that tragedy they were little disturbed in their paganism; but early in the 13th century a Pomeranian monk named Christian succeeded in establishing among them many promising churches. The heathen party in the country, however, was enraged by the progress of the Christians and rose furiously against them, putting numerous converts to the sword. "Other agencies were now invoked by Bishop Christian, and the 'Order of Knights Brethren of Dobrin,' formed on the model of that which we have already encountered in Livonia, was bidden to coerce the people into the reception of Christianity. But they failed to achieve the task assigned them, and then it was that the famous 'Order of Teutonic Knights,' united with the 'Brethren of the Sword' in Livonia, concentrated their energies on this European crusade. Originally instituted for the purpose of succouring German pilgrims in the Holy Land, the 'Order of Teutonic Knights,' now that the old crusades had become unpopular, enrolled numbers of eager adventurers determined to expel the last remains of heathenism from the face of Europe. After the union of the two Orders had been duly solemnized at Rome, in the presence of the Pope, in the year A. D. 1238, they entered the Prussian territory, and for a space of nearly fifty years continued a series of remorseless wars against the wretched inhabitants. {2613} Slowly but surely they made their way into the very heart of the country, and secured their conquests by erecting castles, under the shadow of which rose the towns of Culm, Thorn, Marienwerder, and Elbing, which they peopled with German colonists. The authority of the Order knew scarcely any bounds. Themselves the faithful vassals of the Pope, they exacted the same implicit obedience, alike from the German immigrant, or colonist, and the converted Prussians. … In A. D. 1243 the conquered lands were divided by the Pope into three bishoprics, Culm, Pomerania, and Ermeland, each of which was again divided into three parts, one being subject to the bishop, and the other two to the brethren of the Order."

_G. F. Maclear, Apostles of Mediæval Europe, chapter 16._

"None of the Orders rose so high as the Teutonic in favour with mankind. It had by degrees landed possessions far and wide over Germany and beyond, … and was thought to deserve favour from above. Valiant servants, these; to whom Heaven had vouchsafed great labours and unspeakable blessings. In some fifty or fifty-three years they had got Prussian Heathenism brought to the ground; and they endeavoured to tie it well down there by bargain and arrangement. But it would not yet lie quiet, nor for a century to come; being still secretly Heathen; revolting, conspiring ever again, ever on weaker terms, till the Satanic element had burnt itself out, and conversion and composure could ensue."

_T. Carlyle, History of Frederick the Great, book 2, chapter 6 (volume l)._

See, also, LIVONIA: 12-13TH CENTURIES.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1466-1618. Conquest and annexation to the Polish crown. Surrender by the Teutonic Knights. Erection into a duchy. Union with the electorate of Brandenburg.

See POLAND: A. D. 1333-1572; and BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1417-1640.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1626-1629. Conquests of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in his war with Poland.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1611-1629.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1656-1688. Complete sovereignty of the duchy acquired by the Great Elector of Brandenburg. His curbing of the nobles.

See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1640-1688.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1700. The Dukedom erected into a Kingdom.

In the last year of the 17th century, Europe was on the verge of the great War of the Spanish Succession. The Emperor was making ready to contest the will by which Charles II. of Spain had bequeathed his crown to Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. of France.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1698-1700.

"He did not doubt that he would speedily involve England, Holland, and the Germanic diet in his quarrel. Already several German princes were pledged to him; he had gained the Duke of Hanover by an elector's hat, and a more powerful prince, the Elector of Brandenburg, by a royal crown. By a treaty of November 16, 1700, the Emperor had consented to the erection of ducal Prussia into a kingdom, on condition that the new King should furnish him an aid of 10,000 soldiers. The Elector Frederick III. apprised his courtiers of this important news at the close of a repast, by drinking 'to the health of Frederick I. King of Prussia'; then caused himself to be proclaimed King at Konigsberg, January 15, 1701."

_H. Martin, History of France: Age of Louis XIV. (translated by M. L. Booth), volume 2, chapter 5._

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1713. Neufchatel and Spanish Guelderland acquired. Orange relinquished.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1717-1809. Abolition of serfdom.

See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1720. Acquisition of territory from Sweden, including Stettin.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1719-1721.

PRUSSIA: A. D. 1720-1794. Reign of Frederick William I., and after.

The later history of Prussia, under Frederick William, Frederick the Great, and their successors, will be found included in that of GERMANY.

PRUSSIA: End--------

PRUSSIAN LANGUAGE, The Old.

"The Old Prussian, a member of the Lithuanic family of languages, was spoken here as late as the 16th century, remains of which, in the shape of a catechism, are extant. This is the language of the ancient Æstyi, or 'Men of the East,' which Tacitus says was akin to the British, an error arising from the similarity of name, since a Slavonian … would call the two languages by names so like as 'Prytskaia' and 'Brytskaia,' and a German … by names so like as 'Pryttisc' and 'Bryttisc.' The Guttones, too, of Pliny, whose locality is fixed from the fact of their having been collectors of the amber of East Prussia and Courland, were of the same stock."

_R. G. Latham, The Ethnology of Europe, chapter 8._

PRUTH, The Treaty of the (1711).

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

PRYDYN.

See SCOTLAND: THE PICTS AND SCOTS.

PRYTANES. PRYTANEUM.

The Council of Four Hundred, said to have been instituted at Athens by Solon, "was divided into sections, which, under the venerable name of prytanes, succeeded each other throughout the year as the representatives of the whole body. Each section during its term assembled daily in their session house, the prytaneum, to consult on the state of affairs, to receive intelligence, information, and suggestions, and instantly to take such measures as the public interest rendered it necessary to adopt without delay. … According to the theory of Solon's constitution, the assembly of the people was little more than the organ of the council, as it could only act upon the propositions laid before it by the latter."

_C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 11._

"Clisthenes … enlarged the number of the senate, 50 being now elected by lot from each tribe, so as to make in all 500. Each of these companies of 50 acted as presidents of both the senate and the assemblies, for a tenth part of the year, under the name of Prytanes: and each of these tenth parts, of 35 or 36 days, so as to complete a lunar year, was called a Prytany."

_G. F. Schömann, Dissertation on the Assemblies of the Athenians, page 14._

See, also, ATHENS: B. C. 594.

PRYTANIS.