Part 157

"Under the original constitution of Rome, the patricians alone … enjoyed political rights in the state, but at the same time they were forced to bear the whole burden of political duties. In these last were included, for example, the tilling of the king's fields, the construction of public works and buildings; … citizens alone, also, were liable to service in the army. … The political burdens, especially those connected with the army, grew heavier, naturally, as the power of Rome increased, and it was seen to be an injustice that one part of the people, and that, too, the smaller part, should alone feel their weight. This led to the first important modification of the Roman constitution, which was made even before the close of the regal period. According to tradition, its author was the king Servius Tullius, and its general object was to make all men who held land in the state liable to military service. It thus conferred no political rights on the plebeians, but assigned to them their share of political duties. … According to tradition, all the freeholders in the city between the ages of 17 and 60, with some exceptions, were divided, without distinction as to birth, into five classes ('classis,' 'a summoning,' 'calo') for service in the infantry according to the size of their estates. Those who were excepted served as horsemen. These were selected from among the very richest men in the state. … Of the five classes of infantry, the first contained the richest men. … The members of the first class were required to come to the battle array in complete armor, while less was demanded of the other four. Each class was subdivided into centuries or bodies of a hundred men each, for convenience in arranging the army. There were in all 193 centuries. … This absolute number and this apportionment were continued, as the population increased and the distribution of wealth altered, until the name century came to have a purely conventional meaning, even if it had any other in the beginning. Henceforth a careful census was taken every fourth year, and all freeholders were made subject to the 'tributum.' The arrangement of the people thus described was primarily made simply for military purposes. … Gradually, however, this organization came to have political significance, until finally these men, got together for what is the chief political duty in a primitive state, enjoyed what political privileges there were. … In the end, this 'exercitus' of Servius Tullius formed another popular assembly, the Comitia Centuriata, which supplanted the comitia curiata entirely, except in matters connected with the religion of the family and very soon of purely formal significance. This organization, therefore, became of the highest civil importance, and was continued for civil purposes long after the army was marshalled on quite another plan."

_A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Constitution, chapter 4._

ALSO IN: _W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 1_

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 4._

{491}

COMITIA CURIATA.

"In the beginning, any member of any one of the clans which were included in the three original Roman tribes, was a Roman citizen. So, too, were his children born in lawful wedlock, and those who were adopted by him according to the forms of law. Illegitimate children, on the other hand, were excluded from the number of citizens. These earliest Romans called themselves patricians (patricii, children of their fathers'), for some reason about which we cannot be sure. Perhaps it was in order to distinguish themselves from their illegitimate kinsmen and from such other people as lived about, having no pretense of blood connection with them, and who were, therefore, incapable of contracting lawful marriages, according to the patrician's view of this religious ceremony. The patricians … were grouped together in families, clans and tribes, partly on the basis of blood relationship, but chiefly on the basis of common religious worship. Besides these groups, there was still another in the state, the curia, or 'ward,' which stood between the clan and the tribe. In the earliest times, tradition said, ten families formed a clan, ten clans a curia and ten curiæ a tribe. These numbers, if they ever had any historical existence, could not have sustained themselves for any length of time in the case of the clans and families, for such organisms of necessity would increase and decrease quite irregularly. About the nature of the curia we have practically no direct information. The organization had become a mere name at an early period in the city's history. Whether the members of a curia thought of themselves as having closer kinship with one another than with members of other curiæ is not clear. We know, however, that the curiæ were definite political sub-divisions of the city, perhaps like modern wards, and that each curia had a common religious worship for its members' participation. Thus much, at any rate, is significant, because it has to do with the form of Rome's primitive popular assembly. When the king wanted to harangue the people ('populus,' cf. 'populor,' 'to devastate') he called them to a 'contio' (compounded of 'co' and 'venio'). But if he wanted to propose to them action which implied a change in the organic law of the state, he summoned them to a comitia (compounded of 'con' and 'eo'). To this the name comitia curiata was given, because its members voted by curiæ. Each curia had one vote, the character of which was determined by a majority of its members, and a majority of the curiæ decided the matter for the comitia."

_A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Constitution, chapter 3._

ALSO IN: _T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 1, chapter 5._

_F. De Coulanges, The Ancient City, book 3, chapter 1, and book 4 chapter 1._

See, also, COMITIA CENTURIATA, and CONTIONES.

COMITIA TRIBUTA, The.

See ROME: B. C. 472-471.

COMMAGENE, Kingdom of.

A district of northern Syria, between Cilicia and the Euphrates, which acquired independence during the disorders which broke up the empire of the Seleucidæ, and was a separate kingdom during the last century B. C. It was afterwards made a Roman province. Its capital was Samosata.

COMMENDATION.

See BENEFICIUM

COMMERCIUM.

See MUNICIPIUM.

COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY, The French Revolutionary.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-JUNE), and (JUNE-OCTOBER).

COMMITTEE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861-1862 (DECEMBER-MATCH: VIRGINIA).

COMMODUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 180-192.

COMMON LAW, English.

"The municipal law of England, or the rule of civil conduct prescribed to the inhabitants of this kingdom, may with sufficient propriety be divided into two kinds; the 'lex non scripta,' the unwritten or common law; and the 'lex scripta,' the written or statute law. The 'lex non scripta,' or unwritten law, includes not only general customs, or the common law properly so called, but also the particular customs of certain parts of the kingdom; and likewise those particular laws that are by custom observed only in certain courts and jurisdictions. When I call these parts of our law 'leges non scriptre,' I would not be understood as if all those laws were at present merely oral, or communicated from the former ages to the present solely by word of mouth. … But, with us at present, the monuments and evidences of our legal customs are contained in the records of the several courts of justice, in books of reports and judicial decisions, and in the treatises of learned sages of the profession, preserved and handed down to us from the times of highest antiquity. However, I therefore style these parts of our law 'leges non scriptre,' because their original institution and authority are not set down in writing, as Acts of Parliament are, but they receive their binding power, and the force of laws, by long and immemorial usage, and by their universal reception throughout the kingdom."

_Sir W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England. introduction, section 3._

ALSO IN: _H. S. Maine, Ancient Law, chapter 1._

_J. N. Pomeroy, Introduction to Municipal Law, sections 37-42._

COMMON LOT, OR COMMON LIFE, Brethren of the.

See BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT.

"COMMON SENSE" (Paine's Pamphlet), The influence of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JANUARY-JUNE).

COMMONS, The.

See ESTATES, THE THREE.

COMMONS, House of.

See PARLIAMENT, THE ENGLISH, and KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE.

COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, Establishment of the.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1649 (FEBRUARY).

COMMUNE, The.

The commonalty; the commons. In feudal usage, the term signified, as defined by Littré, the body of the bourgeois or burghers of a town who had received a charter which gave them rights of self-government. "In France the communal constitution was during this period (12th century) encouraged, although not very heartily, by Lewis VI., who saw in it one means of fettering the action of the barons and bishops and securing to himself the support of a strong portion of his people. In some cases the commune of France is, like the guild, a voluntary association, but its objects are from the first more distinctly political. In some parts of the kingdom the towns had risen against their lords in the latter half of the eleventh century, and had retained the fruits of their hard-won victories. {492} In others, they possessed, in the remaining fragments of the Karolingian constitution, some organisation that formed a basis for new liberties. The great number of charters granted in the twelfth century shows that the policy of encouraging the third estate was in full sway in the royal councils, and the king by ready recognition of the popular rights gained the affections of the people to an extent which has few parallels in French history. The French charters are in both style and substance very different from the English. The liberties which are bestowed are for the most part the same, exemption from arbitrary taxation, the right to local jurisdiction, the privilege of enfranchising the villein who has been for a year and a day received within the walls, and the power of electing the officers. But whilst all the English charters contain a confirmation of free and good customs, the French are filled with an enumeration of bad ones. … The English have an ancient local constitution the members of which are the recipients of the new grant, and guilds of at least sufficient antiquity to render their confirmation typical of the freedom now guaranteed; French communia is a new body which, by the action of a sworn confederacy, has wrung from its oppressors a deliverance from hereditary bondage. … The commune lacks too the ancient element of festive religious or mercantile association which is so conspicuous in the history of the guild. The idea of the latter is English, that of the former is French or Gallic. Yet notwithstanding these differences, the substantial identity of the privileges secured by these charters seems to prove the existence of much international sympathy. The ancient liberties of the English were not unintelligible to the townsmen of Normandy; the rising freedom of the German cities roused a corresponding ambition in the towns of Flanders; and the struggles of the Italian municipalities awoke the energies of the cities of Provence. All took different ways to win the same liberties. … The German Hansa may have been derived from England; the communa of London was certainly derived from France. … The communa of London, and of those other English towns which in the twelfth century aimed at such a constitution, was the old English guild in a new French garb: it was the ancient association, but directed to the attainment of municipal rather than mercantile privileges."

_William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 11._

"Oppression and insurrection were not the sole origin of the communes. … Two causes, quite distinct from feudal oppression, viz., Roman traditions and Christian sentiments, had their share in the formation of the communes and in the beneficial results thereof. The Roman municipal regimen, which is described in M. Guizot's 'Essais sur l'Histoire de France' (1st Essay, pages 1-44), [also in 'History of Civilization,' volume 2, lecture 2] did not every where perish with the Empire; it kept its footing in a great number of towns, especially in those of Southern Gaul."

_F. P. Guizot, Popular History of France, chapter 19._

ALSO IN: _Sir J. Stephen, Lectures on the History of France, lecture 5._

See FRANCE: A. D. 1070-1125; also, CURIA, MUNICIPAL, and GUILDS OF FLANDERS.

COMMUNE, The Flemish.

See GUILDS OF FLANDERS.

COMMUNE OF PARIS, The Revolutionary, of 1792.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST).

The rebellion of the.

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

COMMUNE OF PARIS: End----------

COMMUNE, The Russian.

See MIR.

COMMUNE, The Swiss.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1848-1890.

COMMUNEROS, The.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1814-1827.

COMNENIAN DYNASTY.

The dynasty of Byzantine emperors founded, A. D. 1081, by Alexius Comnenos, and consisting of Alexius I., John II., Manuel 1., Alexius II., and Andronicus I., who was murdered A. D. 1185.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1081.

COMPAGNACCI, The.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1490-1498.

COMPASS, Introduction of the Mariner's.

"It is perhaps impossible to ascertain the epoch when the polarity of the magnet was first known in Europe. The common opinion which ascribes its discovery to a citizen of Amalfi in the 14th century, is undoubtedly erroneous. Guiot de Provins, a French poet who lived about the year 1200, or, at the latest, under St. Louis, describes it in the most unequivocal language. James de Vitry, a bishop in Palestine, before the middle of the 13th century, and Guido Guinizzelli, an Italian poet of the same time, are equally explicit. The French, as well as Italians, claim the discovery as their own; but whether it were due to either of these nations, or rather learned from their intercourse with the Saracens, is not easily to be ascertained. … It is a singular circumstance, and only to be explained by the obstinacy with which men are apt to reject improvements, that the magnetic needle was not generally adopted in navigation till very long after the discovery of its properties, and even after their peculiar importance had been perceived. The writers of the 13th century, who mention the polarity of the needle, mention also its use in navigation; yet Capmany has found no distinct proof of its employment till 1403, and does not believe that it was frequently on board Mediterranean ships at the latter part of the preceding age."

_H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 9, part 2, with note._

"Both Chaucer, the English, and Barbour, the Scottish, poet, allude familiarly to the compass in the latter part of the 14th century."

_G. L. Craik, History of British Commerce, volume 1, page 138._

"We have no certain information of the directive tendency of the natural magnet being known earlier than the middle or end of the 11th century (in Europe, of course). … That it was known at this date and its practical value recognized, is shown by a passage from an Icelandic historian, quoted by Hanstien in his treatise of Terrestrial Magnetism. In this extract an expedition from Norway to Iceland in the year 868 is described; and it is stated that three ravens were taken as guides, for, adds the historian, 'in those times seamen had no loadstone in the northern countries.' This history was written about the year A. D. 1068, and the allusion I have quoted obviously shows that the author was aware of natural magnets having been employed as a compass. At the same time it fixes a limit of the discovery in northern countries. We find no mention of artificial magnets being so employed till about a century later."

_Sir W. Thompson, quoted by R. F. Burton in Ultima Thule, volume 1, page 312._

{493}

COMPIEGNE: Capture of the Maid of Orleans (1430).

See FRANCE. A. D. 1429-1431.

COMPOUND HOUSEHOLDER, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1865-1868.

COMPROMISE, The Crittenden.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (DECEMBER).

COMPROMISE, The Flemish, of 1565.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1562-1566.

COMPROMISE, The Missouri.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1818-1821.

COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.

COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.

COMPURGATION.

Among the Teutonic and other peoples, in early times, one accused of a crime might clear himself by his own oath, supported by the oaths of certain compurgators, who bore witness to his trustworthiness.

See WAGER OF LAW.

COMSTOCK LODE, Discovery of the.

See NEVADA: A. D. 1848-1864.

COMUM, Battle of (B. C. 196).

See ROME: B. C. 295-191.

CONCIONES, The Roman.

See CONTIONES, THE.

CONCON, Battle of (1891).

See CHILE: A. D. 1885-1891.

CONCORD. Beginning of the War of the American Revolution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (APRIL).

CONCORDAT OF BOLOGNA, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1515-1518.

CONCORDAT OF NAPOLEON, The.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1804.

CONCORDAT OF 1813, The.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.

CONDÉ, The first Prince Louis de, and the French wars of religion.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563, and 1563-1570.

CONDÉ, The Second Prince Louis de (called The Great). Campaigns in the Thirty Years War, and the war with Spain.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1642-1643; 1643; GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645; 1643-1644.

In the wars of the Fronde.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1647-1648; 1649; 1650-1651; 1651-1653.

Campaigns against France in the service of Spain.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1656, and 1655-1658.

Last campaigns.

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674 and 1674-1678.

CONDÉ, The House of.

See BOURBON, THE HOUSE OF.

CONDÉ: A. D. 1793.-Siege and capture by the Austrians.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY-DECEMBER).

CONDÉ: A. D. 1794. Recovery by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1794 (MARCH-JULY).

CONDÉ: End----------

CONDORE, OR KONDUR, Battle of (1758).

See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.

CONDOTTIERE.

In the general meaning of the word, a conductor or leader; applied specially, in Italian history, to the professional military leaders of the 13th and 14th centuries, who made a business of war very much as a modern contractor makes a business of railroad construction, and who were open to engagement, with the troops at their command, by any prince, or any free city whose offers were satisfactory.

CONDRUSI, The.

See BELGÆ.

CONESTOGAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SUSQUEHANNAS.

CONFEDERACY OF DELOS, OR THE DELIAN.

See GREECE: B. C. 478-477, and ATHENS: B. C. 466-454, and after.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. Constitution and organization of the government.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (FEBRUARY).

CONFEDERATION, Articles of (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1781.

CONFEDERATION, Australian.

See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1885-1892.

CONFEDERATION, The Germanic, of 1814.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1814-1820.

Of 1870.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1870 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

CONFEDERATION, The North German.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.

CONFEDERATION, The Swiss.

See SWITZERLAND.

CONFEDERATION OF THE BRITISH AMERICAN PROVINCES.

See CANADA: A. D. 1867.

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE, The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806; 1806 (JANUARY-AUGUST); and 1813 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER); also, FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).

CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1530-1531.

CONFLANS, Treaty of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1461-1468.

CONFUCIANISM.

See CHINA: THE RELIGIONS.

CONGO FREE STATE, The Founding of the.