Part 88

"A camp was established on the Taafna in April 1836, and an action took place there on the 25th, when the Tableau states that 3,000 French engaged 10,000 natives; and some of the enemies being troops of Morocco, an explanation was required of Muley-Abd-er-Rachman, the emperor, who said that the assistance was given to the Algerines without his knowledge. On July 6th, 1836, Abd-el-Kader suffered a disastrous defeat on the river Sikkak, near Tlemsen, at the hands of Marshal Bugeaud. November 1836, the first expedition was formed against Constantina. …After the failure of Clauzel, General Damrémont was appointed governor, February 12th, 1837; and on the 30th of May the treaty of the Taafna between General Bugeaud and Abd-el-Kader left the French government at liberty to direct an their attention against Constantina, a camp being formed at Medjoy-el-Ahmar in that direction. An army of 10,000 men set out thence on the 1st of October, 1837, for Constantina. On the 6th it arrived before Constantina; and on the 13th the town was taken with a severe loss, including Damrémont. Marshal Vallée succeeded Damrémont as governor. The fall of Constantina destroyed the last relic of the old Turkish government. … By the 27th January, 1838, 100 tribes had submitted to the French. A road was cleared in April by General Negrier from Constantina to Stora on the sea. This road, passing by the camps of Smendou and the Arrouch, was 22 leagues in length. The coast of the Bay of Stora, on the site of the ancient Rusicada, became covered with French settlers: and Philippeville was founded Oct. 1838, threatening to supplant Bona. Abd-el-Kader advancing in December 1837 to the province of Constantina, the French advanced also to observe him; then both retired, without coming to blows. A misunderstanding which arose respecting the second article of the treaty of Taafna was settled in the beginning of 1838. … When Abd-el-Kader assumed the royal title of Sultan and the command of a numerous army, the French, with republican charity and fraternal sympathy, sought to infringe the Taafna treaty, and embroil the Arab hero, in order to ruin his rising empire, and found their own on its ashes. The Emir had been recognised by the whole country, from the gates of Ouchda to the river Mijerda. … The war was resumed, and many French razzias took place. They once marched a large force from Algiers on Milianah to surprise the sultan's camp. They failed in their chief object, but nearly captured the sultan himself. He was surrounded in the middle of a French square, which thought itself sure of the reward of 100,000 francs (£4,000) offered for him; but uttering his favourite 'en-shallah' (with the will of God), he gave his white horse the spur, and came over their bayonets unwounded. He lost, however, thirty of his bodyguard and friends, but killed six Frenchmen with his own hand. Still, notwithstanding his successes, Abd-el-Kader had been losing all his former power, as his Arabs, though brave, could not match 80,000 French troops, with artillery and all the other ornaments of civilised warfare. Seven actions were fought at the Col de Mouzaia, where the Arabs were overthrown by the royal dukes, in 1841; and at the Oued Foddha, where Changarnier, with a handful of troops, defeated a whole population in a frightful gorge. It was on this occasion that, having no guns, he launched his Chasseurs d'Afrique against the fort, saying, 'Voilà mon artillerie!' Abd-el·Kader had then only two chances,—the support of Muley-Abd-er-Rahman, Emperor of Morocco; or the peace that the latter might conclude with France for him. General Bugeaud, who had replaced Marshal Vallée, organised a plan of campaign by movable columns radiating from Algiers, Oran, and Constantina; and having 100,000 excellent soldiers at his disposal, the results as against the Emir were slowly but surely effective. {268} General Negrier at Constantina, Changarnier amongst the Hadjouts about Medeah and Milianah, Cavaignae and Lamoricière in Oran,—carried out the commander-in-chiefs instructions with untiring energy and perseverance; and in the spring of 1843 the Duc d'Aumale, in company with General Changarnier, surprised the Emir's camp in the absence of the greatest part of his force, and it was with difficulty that he himself escaped. Not long afterwards he took refuge in Morocco, excited the fanatical passions of the populace of that empire, and thereby forced its ruler, Muley-Abd-er-Rahman, much against his own inclination, into a war with France; a war very speedily terminated by General Bugeaud's victory of Isly, with some slight assistance from the bombardment of Tangier and Mogador by the Prince de Joinville. In 1845 the struggle was maintained amidst the hills by the partisans of Abd-el-Kader; but our limits prevent us from dwelling on its particulars, save in one instance. … On the night of the 12th of June, 1845, about three months before Marshal Bugeaud left Algeria, Colonels Pelissier and St. Arnaud, at the head of a considerable force, attempted a razzia upon the tribe of the Beni-Oulell-Hiah, numbering, in men, women, and children, about 700 persons. This was in the Dahra. The Arabs escaped the first clutch of their pursuers; and when hard pressed, as they soon were, took refuge in the cave of Khartani, which had some odour of sanctity about it: some holy man or marabout had lived and died there, we believe. The French troops came up quickly to the entrance, and the Arabs were summoned to surrender. They made no reply. Possibly they did not hear the summons. … As there was no other outlet from the cave than that by which the Arabs entered, a few hours' patience must have been rewarded by the unconditional surrender of the imprisoned tribe. Colonels Pelissier and St. Arnaud were desirous of a speedier result; and by their order an immense fire was kindled at the mouth of the cave, and fed sedulously during the summer night with wood, grass, reeds, anything that would help to keep up the volume of smoke and flame which the wind drove, in roaring, whirling eddies, into the mouth of the cavern. It was too late now for the unfortunate Arabs to offer to surrender; the discharge of a cannon would not have been heard in the roar of that huge blast-furnace, much less smoke-strangled cries of human agony. The fire was kept up throughout the night; and when the day had fully dawned, the then expiring embers were kicked aside, and as soon as a sufficient time had elapsed to render the air of the silent cave breathable, some soldiers were directed to ascertain how matters were, within. They were gone but a few minutes; and they came back, we are told, pale, trembling, terrified, hardly daring, it seemed, to confront the light of day. No wonder they trembled and looked pale. They had found all the Arabs dead—men, women, children. … St. Arnaud and Pelissier were rewarded by the French minister; and Marshal Soult observed, that 'what would be a crime against civilisation in Europe might be a justifiable necessity in Africa.' … A taste of French bayonets at Isly, and the booming of French guns at Mogador, had brought Morocco to reason. … Morocco sided with France, and threatened Abel-el-Kader, who cut one of their corps to pieces, and was in June on the point of coming to blows with Muley-Abd-el-Rahman, the emperor. But the Emperor of Morocco took vigorous measures to oppose him, nearly exterminating the tribes friendly to him; which drew off many partisans from the Emir, who tried to pacify the emperor, but unsuccessfully." In December, 1846, "he asked to negotiate, offered to surrender; and after 24 hours' discussion he came to Sidi Brahim, the scene of his last exploits against the French, where he was received with military honours, and conducted to the Duke of Aumale at Nemours. France has been severely abused for the detention of Abd-el-Kader in Ham."

_J. R. Morell, Algeria, chapter 22._

BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1881. Tunis brought under the protectorate of France.

See FRANCE: A. D.1875-1889.

BARBARY STATES: End----------

BARBES. BARBETS.

The elders among the early Waldenses were called barbes, which signified "Uncle." Whence came the nickname Barbets, applied to the Waldensian people generally.

_E. Comba, History of the Waldenses of Italy, page 147._

BARCA.

See CYRENE.

BARCELONA: A. D. 713. Surrender to the Arab-Moors.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1151. The County joined to Aragon.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1035-1258.

BARCELONA: 12th-16th Centuries. Commercial prosperity and municipal freedom.

"The city of Barcelona, which originally gave its name to the county of which it was the capital, was distinguished from a very early period by ample municipal privileges. After the union with Aragon in the 12th century, the monarchs of the latter kingdom extended towards it the same liberal legislation; so that, by the 13th, Barcelona had reached a degree of commercial prosperity rivalling that of any of the Italian republics. She divided with them the lucrative commerce with Alexandria; and her port, thronged with foreigners from every nation, became a principal emporium in the Mediterranean for the spices, drugs, perfumes, and other rich commodities of the East, whence they were diffused over the interior of Spain and the European continent. Her consuls, and her commercial factories, were established in every considerable port in the Mediterranean and in the north of Europe. The natural products of her soil, and her various domestic fabrics, supplied her with abundant articles of export. Fine wool was imported by her in considerable quantities from England in the 14th and 15th centuries, and returned there manufactured into cloth; an exchange of commodities the reverse of that existing between the two nations at the present day. Barcelona claims the merit of having established the first bank of exchange and deposit in Europe, in 1401; it was devoted to the accommodation of foreigners as well as of her own citizens. She claims the glory, too, of having compiled the most ancient written code, among the moderns, of maritime law now extant, digested from the usages of commercial nations, and which formed the basis of the mercantile jurisprudence of Europe during the Middle Ages. The wealth which flowed in upon Barcelona, as the result of her activity and enterprise, was evinced by her numerous public works, her docks, arsenal, warehouses, exchange, hospitals, and other constructions of general utility. Strangers, who visited Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries, expatiate on the magnificence of this city, its commodious private edifices, the cleanliness of its streets and public squares (a virtue by no means usual in that day), and on the amenity of its gardens and cultivated environs. {269} But the peculiar glory of Barcelona was the freedom of her municipal institutions. Her government consisted of a senate or council of one hundred, and a body of regidores or counsellors, as they were styled, varying at times from four to six in number; the former intrusted with the legislative, the latter with the executive functions of administration. A large proportion of these bodies were selected from the merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics of the city. They were invested not merely with municipal authority, but with many of the rights of sovereignty. They entered into commercial treaties with foreign powers; superintended the defence of the city in time of war; provided for the security of trade; granted letters of reprisal against any nation who might violate it; and raised and appropriated the public moneys for the construction of useful works, or the encouragement of such commercial adventures as were too hazardous or expensive for individual enterprise. The counsellors, who presided over the municipality, were complimented with certain honorary privileges, not even accorded to the nobility. They were addressed by the title of magnificos; were seated, with their heads covered, in the presence of royalty; were preceded by mace-bearers, or lictors, in their progress through the country; and deputies from their body to the court were admitted on the footing and received the honors of foreign ambassadors. These, it will be recollected, were plebeians,—merchants and mechanics. Trade never was esteemed a degradation in Catalonia, as it came to be in Castile."

_W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, introduction, section 2._

BARCELONA: A. D. 1640. Insurrection.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1640-1642.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1651-1652. Siege and capture by the Spaniards.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1648-1652.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1705. Capture by the Earl of Peterborough.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1705.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1706. Unsuccessful siege by the French and Spaniards.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1706.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1713-1714. Betrayal and desertion by the Allies. Siege, capture and massacre by French and Spaniards.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1713-1714.

BARCELONA: A. D. 1842. Rebellion and bombardment.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1833-1846.

BARCELONA: End----------

BARCELONA, Treaty of.

See ITALY: A.D. 1527-1529.

BARCIDES, OR BARCINE FAMILY, The.

The family of the great Carthaginian, Hamilcar Barca, father of the more famous Hannibal. The surname Barca, or Barcas, given to Hamilcar, is equivalent to the Hebrew Barak and signified lightning.

_R. B. Smith, Carthage and the Carthagenians, chapter 7._

BARDS.

See FILI.

BARDULIA, Ancient Cantabria.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1026-1230.

BARÉ, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

BAREBONES PARLIAMENT, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1653 (JUNE-DECEMBER).

BARERE AND THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-JUNE); (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER); TO 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).

BARKIAROK, Seljouk Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1092-1104.

BARMECIDES, OR BARMEKIDES, The.

The Barmecides, or Barmekides, famous in the history of the Caliphate at Bagdad, and made familiar to all the world by the stories of the "Arabian Nights," were a family which rose to great power and wealth under the Caliph Haroun Alraschid. It took its name from one Khaled ibn Barmek, a Persian, whose father had been the "Barmek" or custodian of one of the most celebrated temples of the Zoroastrian faith. Khaled accepted Mahometanism and became one of the ablest agents of the conspiracy which overthrew the Ommiad Caliphs and raised the Abbasides to the throne. The first of the Abbaside Caliphs recognized his ability and made him vizier. His son Yahya succeeded to his power and was the first vizier of the famous Haroun Alraschid. But it was Jaafar, one of the sons of Yahya, who became the prime favorite of Haroun and who raised the family of the Barmecides to its acme of splendor. So much greatness in a Persian house excited wide jealousy, however, among the Arabs, and, in the end, the capricious lord and master of the all powerful vizier Jaafar turned his heart against him, and against all his house. The fall of the Barmecides was made as cruel as their advancement had been unscrupulous. Jaafar was beheaded without a moment's warning; his father and brother were imprisoned, and a thousand members of the family are said to have been slain.

_R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad, part 2, chapter 2._

ALSO IN: _E. H. Palmer, Haroun Alraschid, chapter 3._

BARNABITES. PAULINES.

"The clerks-regular of St. Paul (Panlines), whose congregation was founded by Antonio Maria Zacharia of Cremona and two Milanese associates in 1532, approved by Clement VII. in 1533, and confirmed as independent by Paul III. in 1534, in 1545 took the name of Barnabites, from the church of St. Barnabas, which was given up to them at Milan. The Barnabites, who have been described as the democratic wing of the Theatines, actively engaged in the conversion of heretics, both in Italy and in France and in that home of heresy, Bohemia."

_A. W. Ward, The Counter Reformation, page 29._

BARNBURNERS.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.

BARNET, Battle of (A. D. 1471).

The decisive battle, and the last but one fought, in the "Wars of the Roses." Edward IV., having been driven out of England and Henry VI. reinstated by Warwick, "the King-maker," the former returned before six months had passed and made his way to London. Warwick hastened to meet him with an army of Lancastrians and the two forces came together on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1471, near Barnet, only ten miles from London. The victory, long doubtful, was won for the white rose of York and it was very bloodily achieved. The Earl of Warwick was among the slain.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.

BARNEVELDT, John of, The religious persecution and death of.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1603-1619.

{270}

BARON.

"The title of baron, unlike that of Earl, is a creation of the [Norman] Conquest. The word, in its origin equivalent to 'homo,' receives under feudal institutions, like 'homo' itself, the meaning of vassal. Homage (hominium) is the ceremony by which the vassal becomes the man of his lord; and the homines of the king are barons. Possibly the king's thegn of Anglo-Saxon times may answer to the Norman baron."

_William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, chapter 11, section 124._

BARON, Court.

See MANORS.

BARONET.

"One approaches with reluctance the modern title of baronet. … Grammatically, the term is clear enough; it is the diminutive of baron: but baron is emphatically a man, the liege vassal of the king; and baronet, therefore, etymologically would seem to imply a a doubt. Degrees of honor admit of no diminution: a 'damoisel' and a 'donzello' are grammatical diminutives, but they do not lessen the rank of the bearer; for, on the contrary, they denote the heir to the larger honor, being attributed to none but the sons of the prince or nobleman, who bore the paramount title. They did not degrade, even in their etymological signification, which baronet appears to do, and no act of parliament can remove this radical defect. … Independently of these considerations, the title arose from the expedient of a needy monarch [James I.] to raise money, and was offered for sale. Any man, provided he were of good birth, might, 'for a consideration,' canton his family shield with the red hand of Ulster."

_R. T. Hampson, Origines Patriciæ, pages 368-369._

BARONS' WAR, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1216-1274.

BARONY OF LAND.

"Fifteen acres, but in some places twenty acres."

_N. H. Nicolas, Notitia Historica, page 134._

BARRIER FORTRESSES, The razing of the.

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1746-1787.

BARRIER TREATIES, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1709, and NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1713-1715.

BARROW.

A mound raised over the buried dead. "This form of memorial, … as ancient as it has been lasting, is found in almost all parts of the globe. Barrows, under diverse names, line the coasts of the Mediterranean, the seats of ancient empires and civilisations. … They abound in Great Britain and Ireland, differing in shape and size and made of various materials; and are known as barrows (mounds of earth) and cairns (mounds of stone) and popularly in some parts of England as lows, houes, and tumps."

_W. Greenwell, British Barrows, pages 1-2._

ALSO IN: _Sir J. Lubbock, Prehistoric TIMES, chapter 5._

BARTENSTEIN, Treaty of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1807 (FEBRUARY-JUNE).

BARWALDE, Treaty of.

See GERMANY. A. D. 1631 (JANUARY).

BASHAN.

See JEWS: ISRAEL UNDER THE JUDGES.

BASHI BOZOUK, OR BAZOUKS.

For the suppression of the revolt of 1875-77 in the Christian provinces of the Turkish dominions (see TURKS: 1861-1876), "besides the regular forces engaged against the Bulgarians, great numbers of the Moslem part of the local population had been armed by the Government and turned loose to fight the insurgents in their own way. These irregular warriors are called Bashi Bozouks, or Rottenheads. The term alludes to their being sent out without regular organization and without officers at their head."

_H. O. Dwight, Turkish Life in War Time, page 15._

BASIL I. (called the Macedonian), Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 867-886.

Basil, or Vassili, I., Grand Duke of Volodomir, A. D. 1272-1276

Basil II., Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 963-1025.

Basil, or Vassili, II., Grand Prince of Moscow, A. D. 1389-1425.

Basil III. (The Blind), Grand Prince of Moscow, A. D. 1425-1462.

Basil IV., Czar of Russia, A. D. 1505-1533.

BASILEUS.

"From the earliest period of history, the sovereigns of Asia had been celebrated in the Greek language by the title of Basileus, or King: and since it was considered as the first distinction among men, it was soon employed by the servile provincials of the east in their humble address to the Roman throne."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 13. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

BASILIAN DYNASTY, The.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 820-1057.

BASILICÆ.

"Among the buildings appropriated to the public service at Rome, none were more important than the Basilicæ. Although their name is Greek, yet they were essentially a Roman creation, and were used for practical purposes peculiarly Roman,—the administration of law and the transaction of merchants' business. Historically, considerable interest attaches to them from their connection with the first Christian churches. The name of Basilica was applied by the Romans equally to all large buildings intended for the special needs of public business. … Generally, however, they took the form most adapted to their purposes—a semi-circular apse or tribunal for legal trials and a central nave, with arcades and galleries on each side for the transaction of business. They existed not only as separate buildings, but, also as reception rooms attached to the great mansions of Rome. … It is the opinion of some writers that these private basilicæ, and not the public edifices, served as the model for the Christian Basilica."

_R. Burn, Rome and the Campagna, introduction._

ALSO IN: _A. P. Stanley, Christian Institutions, chapter 9._

BASILIKA, The.

A compilation or codification of the imperial laws of the Byzantine Empire promulgated A. D. 884, in the reign of Basil I. and afterwards revised and amplified by his son, Leo VI.

_G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire, from 716 to 1057, book 2, chapter 1, section 1._

BASING HOUSE, The Storming and Destruction of.