Part 84

The marquise de Rambouillet, who drew around herself, at Paris, the famous coterie which took its name from her hospitable house, was the daughter of a French nobleman, Jean de Vivonne, sieur de Saint-Gohard, afterwards first marquis de Pisani, who married a Roman lady of the noble family of the Strozzi. Catherine de Vivonne was born of this union in 1588, and in 1600, when less than twelve years old, became the wife of Charles d'Angennes, vidame du Mans afterwards marquis de Rambouillet. Her married life was more than half a century in duration; she was the mother of seven children, and she survived her husband thirteen years. {2624} During the minority of the husband the ancient residence of his family had been sold, and from 1610 to 1617 the marquis and marquise were engaged in building a new Hôtel de Rambouillet, which the latter is credited with having, in great part, designed. Her house being finished, she opened it "to her friends and acquaintances, and her receptions, which continued until the Fronde (1648), brought together every evening the choicest society of the capital, and produced a profound influence upon the manners and literature of the day. The marquise ceased attending court some years before the death of Henry IV., her refinement and pure character finding there an uncongenial atmosphere. The marquise was not alone a woman of society, but was carefully educated and fond of literature. Consequently the reunions at the Hôtel de Rambouillet were distinguished by a happy combination of rank and letters. Still more important was the new position assumed by the hostess and the ladies who frequented her house. Until the XVIIth century the crudest views prevailed as to the education and social position of woman. It was at the Hôtel de Rambouillet that her position as the intellectual companion of man was first recognized, find this position of equality, and the deferential respect which followed it, had a powerful influence in refining the rude manners of men of rank whose lives had been passed in camps, and of men of letters who had previously enjoyed few opportunities for social polish. The two classes met for the first time on a footing of equality, and it resulted in elevating the occupation of letters, and imbuing men of rank with a fondness for intellectual pursuits. The reunions at the Hôtel de Rambouillet began, as has been said, about 1617, and extend until the Fronde (1648) or a few years later. This period Larroumet ('Précieuses Ridicules,' page 14) divides into three parts: from 1617 to about 1629; from 1630 to 1640; and from 1640 to the death of the marquise in 1665. During the first period the habitués of the Hôtel de Rambouillet were": the marquis du Vigean, the maréchal de Souvré, the duke de la Tremoïlle, Richelieu (then bishop of Luçon), the cardinal de la Valette, the poets Malherbe, Racan, Gombauld, Chapelain, Marino, the preacher Cospeau, Godeau, the grammarian Vaugelas, Voiture, Balzac, Segrais, Mlle. Paulet, the princess de Montmorency, Mlle. du Vigean, and the daughters of the marquise de Rambouillet, "of whom the eldest, Julie d'Angennes, until her marriage in 1645 to the marquis de Montausier, was the soul of the reunions of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. The second period was that of its greatest brilliancy. To the illustrious names just mentioned must be added": the great Condé, the marquis de Montausier, Saint-Évremond, La Rochefoucald, Sarrasin, Costar, Patru, Conrart, Georges de Scudéry, Mairet, Colletet, Ménage, Benscrade, Cotin, Desmarets, Rotrou, Scarron, P. Corneille, Bossuet, Mlle. de Bourbon, later duchesse de Longueville, Mlle. de Coligny, Mme. Aubry, and Mlle. de Scudéry, "yet unknown as a writer. After 1640 the Hôtel de Rambouillet began to decline; but two names of importance belong to this period: Mme. de la Fayette, and Mme. de Sévigné. … Voiture died in 1648, the year which witnessed the outbreak of the Fronde, after which the reunions at the Hôtel de Rambouillet virtually ceased. … Until the time of Roederer ['Mémoire pour servir à l'histoire de la société polie en France'] it was generally supposed that the word 'Précieuse' was synonymous with Hôtel de Rambouillet, and that it was the marquise and her friends whom Molière intended to satirize. Roederer endeavored to show that it was not the marquise but her bourgeois imitators, the circle of Mlle. de Scudéry …; Victor Cousin attempts to prove that it was neither the marquise nor Mlle. de Scudéry, but the imitators of the latter. … The editor of Molière in the 'Grands Écrivains de la France,' M. Despois (volume 2, page 4) believes that the Hôtel de Rambouillet, including Mlle. de Scudéry, was the object of Moliere's satire, although he had no intention of attacking any particular person among the 'Précieuses,' but confined himself to ridiculing the eccentricities common to them all. It is with this last view that the editor of the present work unhesitatingly agrees, for reasons which he hopes some day to give in detail in an edition of the two plays of Molière mentioned above ['Precieuses Ridicules,' and 'Les Femmes Savantes']. From Paris the influence of the 'Précieuses' spread into the provinces, doubtless with all the exaggerations of an unskilful imitation."

_T. F. Crane, Introduction to "La Société Française au Dix-Septième Siècle."_

ALSO IN: _A. G. Mason, The Women of the French Salons, chapters 2-7._

RAMBOUILLET DECREE, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1810-1812.

RAMESES, RAAMSES, RAMSES, Treasure-city of.

See JEWS: THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS.

RAMESSIDS, The.

The nineteenth dynasty of Egyptian kings, sprung from Rameses I. [in the] fourteenth to twelfth centuries B. C.

See EGYPT: ABOUT B. C. 1400-1200.

RAMILLIES, Battle of (1706).

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1706-1707.

RAMIRO I.' King of Aragon, A. D. 1035-1063.

Ramiro I., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, 842-850.

Ramiro II., King of Aragon, 1134-1137.

Ramiro II., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, 930-950.

Ramiro III., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, 967-982.

RAMNES. RAMNIANS, The.

See ROME: BEGINNINGS AND NAME.

RAMOTH-GILEAD.

The strong fortress of Ramoth-Gilead, on the frontier of Samaria and Syria, was the object and the scene of frequent warfare between the Israelites and the Arameans of Damascus. It was there that king Ahab of Samaria, in alliance with Judah, was killed in battle, fighting against Ben-hadad of Damascus.

_1 Kings, xxii._

ALSO IN: _Dean Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, lecture 33._

RANAS OF UDAIPORE OR CHITTORE.

See RAJPOOTS.

RANDOLPH, Edmund, and the framing and adoption of the Federal Constitution.

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

In the Cabinet of President Washington.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1789-1792.

RANJIT SINGH, RUNJIT SINGH, The conquests of.

See SIKHS.

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RANTERS. MUGGLETONIANS.

"'These [the Ranters] made it their business,' says Baxter, 'to set up the Light of Nature under the name of Christ in Man, and to dishonour and cry down the Church, the Scripture, and the present Ministry, and our worship and ordinances; and called men to hearken to Christ within them. But withal they conjoined a cursed doctrine of Libertinism, which brought them to all abominable filthiness of life. They taught, as the Familists, that God regardeth not the actions of the outward man, but of the heart, and that to the pure all things are pure.' … Of no sect do we hear more in the pamphlets and newspapers between 1650 and 1655, though there are traces of them of earlier date. … Sometimes confounded with the Ranters, but really distinguishable, were some crazed men, whose crazes had taken a religious turn, and whose extravagances became contagious.—Such was a John Robins, first heard of about 1650, when he went about, sometimes as God Almighty, sometimes as Adam raised from the dead. … One heard next, in 1652, of two associates, called John Reeve and Ludovick Muggleton, who professed to be 'the two last Spiritual Witnesses (Revelation xi.) and alone true Prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ, God alone blessed to all eternity,' They believed in a real man-shaped God, existing from all eternity, who had come upon earth as Jesus Christ, leaving Moses and Elijah to represent him in Heaven." Muggleton died in 1698, "at the age of 90, leaving a sect called The Muggletonians, who are perhaps not extinct yet."

_D. Masson, Life of John Milton, volume 5, pages 17-20._

RAPALLO, Battle of (1425).

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.

Massacre at (1494).

See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496.

RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN, The.

See ROME: B. C. 753-510.

RAPES OF SUSSEX.

"The singular division of Sussex [England] into six 'rapes' [each of which is subdivided into hundreds] seems to have been made for military purposes. The old Norse 'hreppr' denoted a nearly similar territorial division."

_T. P. Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, chapter 1, foot-note._

"The 'reebning,' or mensuration by the rope or line, supplied the technical term of 'hrepp' to the glossary of Scandinavian legislation: archæologists have therefore pronounced an opinion that the 'Rapes' of Sussex, the divisions ranging from the Channel shore to the Suthrige border, were, according to Norwegian fashion, thus plotted out by the Conqueror."

_Sir F. Palgrave, History of Normandy and England, book 1, chapter 5._

RAPHIA, Battle of (B. C. 217).

See SELEUCIDÆ: B. C. 224-187.

RAPID INDIANS.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: RAPID INDIANS.

RAPIDAN, Campaign of Meade and Lee on the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA).

RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA).

RAPPAREES. TORIES.

"Ejected proprietors [in Ireland, 17th and 18th centuries] whose names might be traced in the annals of the Four Masters, or around the sculptured crosses of Clonmacnoise, might be found in abject poverty hanging around the land which had lately been their own, shrinking from servile labour as from an intolerable pollution, and still receiving a secret homage from their old tenants. In a country where the clan spirit was intensely strong, and where the new landlords were separated from their tenants by race, by religion, and by custom, these fallen and impoverished chiefs naturally found themselves at the head of the discontented classes; and for many years after the Commonwealth, and again after the Revolution, they and their followers, under the names of tories and rapparees, waged a kind of guerrilla war of depredations upon their successors. After the first years of the 18th century, however, this form of crime appears to have almost ceased; and although we find the names of tories and rapparees on every page of the judicial records, the old meaning was no longer attached to them, and they had become the designations of ordinary felons, at large in the country."

_W. E. H. Lecky, History of England, 18th Century, chapter 7 (volume 2)._

"The distinction between the Irish foot soldier and the Irish Rapparee had never been very strongly marked. It now disappeared [during the war in Ireland between James II. and William of Orange—A. D. 1691]. Great part of the army was turned loose to live by marauding."

_Lord Macaulay, History of England, chapter 17 (volume 4)._

"The Rapparee was the lowest of the low people. … The Rapparee knew little difference between friend and foe; receiving no mercy, they gave none."

_Sir J. Dalrymple, Memoirs or Great Britain and Ireland, part 2, book 5 (volume 3)._

"Political disaffection in Ireland has been the work, on the one hand, of the representatives of the old disinherited families—the Kernes, and Gallowglasses of one age, the Rapparees of the next, the houghers and ravishers of a third; on the other, of the restless aspirations of the Catholic clergy."

_J. A. Froude, The English in Ireland, book 9, chapter 1 (volume 3)._

RARITANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

RAS. RASENNA.

See ETRUSCANS.

RASCIA.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES, 7TH CENTURY (SERVIA, CROATIA, ETC.).

RASCOL. RASKOL. RASKOLNIKS.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1655-1659.

RASTA, The.

See LEUGA.

RASTADT, Congress of. Murder of French envoys.

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

RASTADT, The Treaty of (1714).

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

RATÆ, RAGÆ.

A Roman town in Britain—"one of the largest and most important of the midland cities, adorned with rich mansions and temples, and other public buildings. Its site is now occupied by the town of Leicester."

_T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5._

RATHMINES, Battle of (1649).

See IRELAND: A. D. 1646-1649.

RATHS.

"Of those ancient Raths, or Hill-fortresses, which formed the dwellings of the old Irish chiefs, and belonged evidently to a period when cities were not yet in existence, there are to be found numerous remains throughout the country. This species of earthen work is distinguished from the artificial mounds, or tumuli, by its being formed upon natural elevations, and always surrounded by a rampart,"

_T. Moore, History of Ireland, chapter 9._

RATHSMANN, RATHSMEISTER, etc.

See CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY.

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RATISBON: Taken by the Swedish-German forces (1633).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1632-1634.

RATISBON, Battle of.

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

RATISBON, Catholic League of.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1522-1525.

RAUCOUX, Battle of (1746).

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1746-1747.

RAUDINE PLAIN, Battle of the.

See CIMBRI AND TEUTONES: B. C. 113-102.

RAURACI, The.

An ancient tribe "whose origin is perhaps German, established on both banks of the Rhine, towards the elbow which that river forms at Bâle."

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2, foot–note._

RAVENIKA, The Parliament of.

Henry, the second emperor of the Latin empire of Romania, or empire of Constantinople, convened a general parliament or high-court of all his vassals, at Ravenika, in 1209, for the determining of the feudal relations of all the subjects of the empire. Ravenika is in ancient Chalkidike, some fifty miles from Thessalonica.

_G. Finlay, History of Greece from its Conquest by the Crusaders, chapter 4, section 4._

RAVENNA: Start--------

RAVENNA: B. C. 50. Cæsar's advance on Rome.

See ROME: B. C. 52-50.

RAVENNA: A. D. 404. Made the capital of the Western Empire.

"The houses of Ravenna, whose appearance may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many miles, was a deep and impassable morass; and the artificial causeway which connected Ravenna with the continent might be easily guarded, or destroyed, on the approach of a hostile army. These morasses were interspersed, however, with vineyards; and though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town enjoyed a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water. The air, instead of receiving the sickly and almost pestilential exhalations of low and marshy grounds, was distinguished, like the neighbourhood of Alexandria, as uncommonly pure and salubrious; and this singular advantage was ascribed to the regular tides of the Adriatic. … This advantageous situation was fortified by art and labour; and, in the twentieth year of his age, the Emperor of the West [Honorius, A. D. 395-423] anxious only for his personal safety, retired to the perpetual confinement of the walls and morasses of Ravenna. The example of Honorius was imitated by his feeble successors, the Gothic kings, and afterwards the exarchs, who occupied the throne and palace of the emperors; and till the middle of the eighth century Ravenna was considered as the seat of government and the capital of Italy."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 30._

ALSO IN: _T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, chapter 9._

See, also, ROME: A. D. 404-408.

RAVENNA: A. D. 490-493. Siege and capture by Theodoric. Murder of Odoacer. Capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom.

See ROME: A. D. 488-526.

RAVENNA: A. D. 493-525. The capital of Theodoric the Ostrogoth.

"The usual residence of Theodoric was Ravenna, with which city his name is linked as inseparably as those of Honorius or Placidia. The letters of Cassiodorus show his zeal for the architectural enrichment of this capital. Square blocks of stone were to be brought from Faenza, marble pillars to be transported from the palace on the Pincian Hill: the most skilful artists in mosaic were invited from Rome, to execute some of those very works which we still wonder at in the basilicas and baptisteries of the city by the Ronco. The chief memorials of his reign which Theodoric has left at Ravenna are a church, a palace, and a tomb."

_T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, book 4, chapter 8 (volume 3)._

RAVENNA: A. D. 540. Surrender to Belisarius.

See ROME: A. D. 535-553.

RAVENNA: A. D. 554-800. The Exarchate.

See ROME: A. D. 554-800.

RAVENNA: A. D. 728-751. Decline and fall of the Exarchate.

See PAPACY: A. D. 728-774.

RAVENNA: A. D. 1275. The Papal sovereignty confirmed by Rodolph of Hapsburg.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1273-1308.

RAVENNA: A. D. 1512. Taken by the French. Battle before the city. Defeat of the Spaniards.

See ITALY: A. D. 1510-1513.

RAVENNA: End--------

RAVENSPUR.

The landing place of Henry of Lancaster, July 4, 1399, when he came back from banishment to demand the crown of England from Richard II. It is on the coast of Yorkshire.

RAYMOND, of Toulouse, The Crusade of.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099; also, JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099; and 1099-1144.

RAYMOND, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (APRIL-JULY: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

REAL, Spanish.

See SPANISH COINS.

REAMS'S STATION, Battle of.

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

REASON, The Worship of.

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

REBECCAITES. DAUGHTERS OF REBECCA.

Between 1839 and 1844, a general outbreak occurred in Wales against what were thought to be the excessive tolls collected on the turnpike roads. Finding that peaceful agitation was of no avail the people determined to destroy the turnpike gates, and did so very extensively, the movement spreading from county to county. They applied to themselves the Bible promise given to the descendants of Isaac's wife, that they should possess the "gate" of their enemies, and were known as the Daughters, or Children of Rebecca, or Rebeccaites. Their proceedings assumed at last a generally riotous and lawless character, and were repressed by severe measures. At the same time Parliament removed the toll-gate grievance by an amended law.

_W. N. Molesworth, History of England, 1830-1874, volume 2, page 131._

RECESS.

Certain decrees of the Germanic diet were so called.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1530-1531.

RECHABITES, The.

An ascetic religious association, or order, formed among the Israelites, under the influence of the prophet Elijah, or after his death. Like the monks of a later time, they mostly withdrew into the desert. "The vow of their order was so strict that they were not allowed to possess either vineyards or corn-fields or houses, and they were consequently rigidly confined for means of subsistence to the products of the wilderness."

_H. Ewald, History of Israel, book 4, section 1 (volume 4)._

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RECIPROCITY TREATY, Canadian.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION, &C. (UNITED STATES AND CANADA): A. D. 1854-1866.

RECOLLECTS, RÉCOLLETS.

This name is borne by a branch of the Franciscan order of friars, to indicate that the aim of their lives is the recollection of God and the forgetfulness of worldly things.

RECONSTRUCTION: President Lincoln's Louisiana plan.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-JULY).

President Johnson's plan.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MAY-JULY).

The question in Congress.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865-1866 (DECEMBER-JUNE), 1866-1867 (OCTOBER-MARCH), 1867 (MARCH).

See, also: SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1865-1876; TENNESSEE: A. D. 1865-1866; LOUISIANA: A. D. 1865-1867.

RECULVER, Roman origin of.

See REGULBIUM.

RED CAP OF LIBERTY, The.

See LIBERTY CAP.

RED CROSS, The.

"A confederation of relief societies in different countries, acting under the Geneva Convention, carries on its work under the sign of the Red Cross. The aim of these societies is to ameliorate the condition of wounded soldiers in the armies in campaign on land or sea. The societies had their rise in the conviction of certain philanthropic men, that the official sanitary service in wars is usually insufficient, and that the charity of the people, which at such times exhibits itself munificently, should be organized for the best possible utilization. An international public conference was called at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1863, which, though it had not an official character, brought together representatives from a number of Governments. At this conference a treaty was drawn up, afterwards remodeled and improved, which twenty-five Governments have signed. The treaty provides for the neutrality of all sanitary supplies, ambulances, surgeons, nurses, attendants, and sick or wounded men, and their safe conduct, when they bear the sign of the organization, viz: the Red Cross. Although the Convention which originated the organization was necessarily international, the relief societies themselves are entirely national and independent; each one governing itself and making its own laws according to the genius of its nationality and needs. It was necessary for recognizance and safety, and for carrying out the general provisions of the treaty, that a uniform badge should be agreed upon. The Red Cross was chosen out of compliment to the Swiss Republic, where the first convention was held, and in which the Central Commission has its headquarters. The Swiss colors being a white cross on a red ground, the badge chosen was these colors reversed. There are no 'members of the Red Cross,' but only members of societies whose sign it is. There is no 'Order of the Red Cross.' The relief societies use, each according to its convenience, whatever methods seem best suited to prepare in times of peace for the necessities of sanitary service in times of war. They gather and store gifts of money and supplies; arrange hospitals, ambulances, methods of transportation of wounded men, bureaus of information, correspondence, &c. All that the most ingenious philanthropy could devise and execute has been attempted in this direction. In the Franco–Prussian war this was abundantly tested. … This society had its inception in the mind of Monsieur Henri Dunant, a Swiss gentleman, who was ably seconded in his views by Monsieur Gustave Moynier and Dr. Louis Appia, of Geneva."