Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

accompanied to Italy (1844-1845). On his return he exhibited
"The Cock-fight," which gained him a third-class medal in the
Salon of 1847. "The Virgin with Christ and St John" and
Anacreon, Bacchus and Cupid" took a second-class medal in
1848. He exhibited "Bacchus and Love, Drunk," a Greek
Interior" and "Souvenir d'Italie," in 1851; "Paestum" (1852);
and "An Idyll" (1853). In 1854 Gérôme made a journey to
Turkey and the shores of the Danube, and in 1857 visited Egypt.
To the exhibition of 1855 he contributed a Pifferaro," a
"Shepherd," "A Russian Concert" and a large historical
canvas, "The Age of Augustus and the Birth of Christ." The
last was somewhat confused in effect, but in recognition of its
consummate ability the State purchased it. Gérôme's reputation
was greatly enhanced at the Salon of 1857 by a collection of
works of a more popular kind: the "Duel: after a Masquerade,"
Egyptian Recruits crossing the Desert," "Memnon and
Sesostris and "Camels Watering," the drawing of which
was criticized by Edmond About. In " Caesar" (1859) Gérôme
tried to return to a severer class of work, but the picture failed
to interest the public. Phryne before the Areopagus," "Le
Roi Candaule" and "Socrates finding Alcibiades in the House of
Aspasia" (1861) gave rise to some scandal by reason of the
subjects selected by the painter, and brought down on him the
bitter attacks of Paul de Saint-Victor and Maxime Ducamp.
At the same Salon he exhibited the "Egyptian chopping Straw,"
and "Rembrandt biting an Etching," two very minutely
finished works. Gérôme's best paintings are of Eastern subjects;
among these may be named the " Turkish Prisoner and
"Turkish Butcher" (1863); "Prayer" (1865); "The Slave
Market" (1867); and "The Harem out Driving" (1869).
He often illustrated history, as in "Louis XIV. and Molière "
(1863); "The Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at
Fontainebleau" (1865); and the "Death of Marshal Ney
(1868). Gérôme was also successful as a sculptor; he executed,
among other works, "Omphale" (1887), and the statue of the
duc d'Aumale which stands in front of the château of Chantilly
(1899). His Bellona (1892), in ivory, metal, and precious
stones, which was also exhibited in the Royal Academy of London,
attracted great attention. The artist then began an interesting
series of "Conquerors," wrought in gold, silver and gems-
"Bonaparte entering Cairo " (1897); "Tamerlane" (1898);
and "Frederick the Great" (1899). Gérôme was elected
member of the Institut in 1865. He died in 1904.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

coal, copper, lead, iron and other ores, was valued at less than £7000. There are also important hydraulic cement and ochre works, and no fewer than twenty-two of the towns are centres of manufactures of linen, cotton, woollen stuffs, paper, cloth, leather, steel and furniture. The commerce of the province is | important, Port Bou (or Portbou) being, after Irun, the most active outlet for the trade by railway not only with France but with the rest of the continent. The main railway from Barcelona to France runs through the province, and several branch railways, besides steam and electric tramways, connect the principal towns. Gerona, the capital (pop. 1900, 15,787), and Figueras (10,714), long a most important frontier fortress, are described in separate articles; the only other towns with more than 7000 inhabitants are San Feliu de Guixols (11,333), Olot (7938) and Palafrugell (7087). The inhabitants of the province are, like most Catalans, distinguished for their enterprise, hardiness and keen local patriotism; but emigration, chiefly to Barcelona, kept their numbers almost stationary during the years 1875-1905. The percentage of illegitimate births (1.5) is lower than in any other part of Spain. (See also CATALONIA.) GERONA, the capital of the province of Gerona, in northeastern Spain, on the railway from Barcelona to Perpignan in France, and on the right bank of the river Ter, at its confluence with the Oña, a small right-hand tributary. Pop. (1900) 15,787. The older part of the town occupies the steep slope of the Montjuich, or Hill of the Capuchins, and with its old-fashioned buildings presents a picturesque appearance against a background of loftier heights; the newer portion stretches down into the plain and beyond the Оña, which is here crossed by a bridge of three arches. The old city walls and their bastions still remain, though in a dilapidated state; and the hill is crowned by what were at one time very strong fortifications, now used as a prison. Gerona is the seat of a bishop, has a seminary, a public library and a theatre, and carries on the manufacture of paper and cotton and woollen goods. Its churches are of exceptional interest. The cathedral is one of the grandest specimens of Gothic architecture in Spain, the nave being the widest pointed vault in Christendom, as it measures no less than 73 ft. from side to side, while Albi, the next in size, is only 58 ft., and Westminster Abbey is only 38. The old cathedral on the same site was used as a mosque by the Moors, and on their expulsion in 1015 it appears to have been very greatly modified, if not entirely rebuilt During the 14th century new works were again north-carried out on an extensive scale, but it was not till the beginning of the 15th that the proposal to erect the present magnificent nave was originated by the master of the works, Guillermo Boffiy. The general appearance of the exterior is rather ungainly, but there is'a fine approach by a flight of 86 steps to the façade, which rises in tiers and terminates in an oval rose-window. Among the tombs may be mentioned those of Bishop Berenger or Berenguer (d. 1408), Count Ramon Berenger II. (d. 1082) and the countess Ermesinda (d. 1057). The collegiate church of San Felíu (St Felix) is mainly of the 14th century, but it was considerably modified in the 16th, and its façade dates from the 18th. It is one of the few Spanish churches that can boast of a genuine spire, and it thus forms a striking feature in the general view of the town. The Benedictine church of San Pedro de Galligans (or de los Gallos) is an interesting Romanesque building of early date. It is named from the small river Galligans, an affluent of the Oña, which flows through the city. In the same neighbourhood is a small church worthy of notice as a rare Spanish example of a transverse triapsal plan.

[ocr errors]

GERONA, a maritime frontier province in the extreme east of Spain, formed in 1833 of districts taken from Catalonia, and bounded on the N. by France, E. and S.E. by the Mediterranean Sea, S.W. and W. by Barcelona, and N.W. by Lérida. Pop. (1900) 299,287; area, 2264 sq. m. In the north-west a small section of the province, with the town of Llivía, is entirely isolated and surrounded by French territory; otherwise Gerona is separated from France by the great range of the Pyrenees. Its general aspect is mountainous, especially in the western districts. Most of the lower chains are covered with splendid forests of oak, pine and chestnut. There are comparatively level tracts of arable land along the lower course of the three main rivers-the Ter, Muga and Fluvia, which rise in the Pyrenees and flow in a south-easterly direction to the sea. The coast-line is not deeply indented, but includes one large bay, the Gulf of Rosas. Its two most conspicuous promontories, Capes Creus and Bagur, are the easternmost points of the Iberian Peninsula. The climate is generally temperate and rainy during several months in the valleys and near the coast, but cold in the Cerdaña district and other mountainous regions during eight months, while Gerona, La Bisbal and Santa Coloma are quite Mediterranean in their hot summers and mild winters. Agriculture is backward, but there are profitable fisheries and fish-curing establishments along the whole seaboard, notably at the ports of Llansá, Rosas, Palamós, San Feliu de Guixols and Blanes. Next in importance is the cork industry at San Feliu de Guixols, Palafrugell and Cassa. More than one hundred mineral springs are scattered over the province, and in 1903 twenty mines were at work, although their total output, which included antimony,

Gerona is the ancient Gerunda, a city of the Auscetani. It claims to be the place in which St Paul and St James first rested when they came to Spain; and it became the see of a bishop about 247. For a considerable period it was in the hands of the Moors, and their emir, Suleiman, was in alliance with Pippin the Short, king of the Franks, about 759. It was taken by Charlemagne in 785; but the Moors regained and sacked it in 795, and it was not till 1015 that they were finally expelled. At a later date it gave the title of count to the king of Aragon's eldest son. It has been besieged no fewer than twenty-five times in all, and only four

of the sieges have resulted in its capture. The investment by the French under Marshal Hocquincourt in 1653, that of 1684 by the French under Marshal Bellefonds, and the successful enterprise of Marshal Noailles in 1694 are the three great events of its history in the 17th century. Surrendered by the French at the peace of Ryswick, it was again captured by the younger Marshal Noailles in 1706, after a brilliant defence; and in 1717 it held out against the Austrians. But its noblest resistance was yet to be made. In May 1809 it was besieged by the French, with 35,000 troops, under J. A. Verdier, P. F. Augereau and Gouvion St Cyr; forty batteries were erected against it and a heavy bombardment maintained; but under the leadership of Mariano Alvarez de Castro it held out till famine and fever compelled a capitulation on the 12th of December. The French, it is said, had spent 20,000 bombs and 60,000 cannon balls, and their loss was estimated at 15,000 men.

about 4000 and post and telegraph offices. The province is
fief of the chief of the Gerrús Kurds, pays a yearly revenue of
about £3000, and supplies a battalion of infantry (the 34th) to
the army.
GERRY, ELBRIDGE (1744-1814), American statesman, was
born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on the 17th of July 1744,
the son of Thomas Gerry (d. 1774), a native of Newton, England,
who emigrated to America in 1730, and became a prosperous
Marblehead merchant. The son graduated at Harvard in 1762
and entered his father's business. In 1772 and 1773 he was a
member of the Massachusetts General Court, in which he identified
himself with Samuel Adams and the patriot party, and in 1773
he served on the Committee of Correspondence, which became
one of the great instruments of intercolonial resistance. In
1774-1775 he was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial
Congress. The passage of a bill proposed by him (November
1775) to arm and equip ships to prey upon British commerce,
and for the establishment of a prize court, was, according to his
biographer, Austin," the first actual avowal of offensive hostility
against the mother country, which is to be found in the annals of
the Revolution." It is also noteworthy, says Austin, as "the
1776 to 1781 Gerry was a member of the Continental Congress,
first effort to establish an American naval armament." From
where he early advocated independence, and was one of those who
signed the Declaration after its formal signing on the 2nd of
August 1776, at which time he was absent. He was active in
debates and committee work, and for some time held the chair-
manship of the important standing committee for the superin-
tendence of the treasury, in which capacity he exercised a pre-
dominating influence on congressional expenditures. In February
1780 he withdrew from Congress because of its refusal to respond
to his call for the yeas and nays. Subsequently he laid his protest
before the Massachusetts General Court which voted its approval
of his action. On his return to Massachusetts, and while he was
still a member of Congress, he was elected under the new state
constitution (1780) to both branches of the state legislature,
but accepted only his election to the House of Representatives.
On the expiration of his congressional term, he was again chosen
delegate by the Massachusetts legislature, but it was not until
1783 that he resumed his seat. During the second period of his
of the committee to consider the treaty of peace with Great
service in Congress, which lasted until 1785, he was a member
Britain, and chairman of two committees appointed to select a
permanent seat of government. In 1784 he bitterly attacked the
establishment of the order of the Cincinnati on the ground that
it was a dangerous menace to democratic institutions. In 1786
he served in the state House of Representatives. Not favouring
the creation of a strong national government he declined to
attend the Annapolis Convention in 1786, but in the following
year, when the assembling of the Constitutional Convention was
an assured fact, although he opposed the purpose for which it was
called, he accepted an appointment as one of the Massachusetts
delegates, with the idea that he might personally help to check too
strong a tendency toward centralization. His exertions in the
convention were ceaseless in opposition to what he believed to be
the wholly undemocratic character of the instrument, and eventu-
ally he refused to sign the completed constitution. Returning to
Massachusetts, he spoke and wrote in opposition to its ratifica-
tion, and although not a member of the convention called to
pass upon it, he laid before this convention, by request, his
reasons for opposing it, among them being that the constitution
contained no bill of rights, that the executive would unduly
influence the legislative branch of the government, and that the
judiciary would be oppressive. Subsequently he served as an
Anti-Federalist in the national House of Representatives in 1789-
1793, taking, as always, a prominent part in debates and other
legislative concerns. In 1797 he was sent by President John
Adams, together with John Marshall and Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, on a mission to France to obtain from the govern-
ment of the Directory a treaty embodying a settlement of
several long-standing disputes. The discourteous and under-
handed treatment of this embassy by Talleyrand and his agents.

See Juan Gaspar Roig y Jalpi, Resumen de las Grandezas, &c. (Barcelona, 1678); J. A. Nieto y Samaniego, Memorias (Tarragona, 1810); G. E. Street, Gothic Architecture in Spain (London, 1869). GEROUSIA (Gr. Yepovala, Doric yepwta), the ancient council of elders at Sparta, corresponding in some of its functions to the Athenian Boule. In historical times it numbered twenty-eight members, to whom were added ex officio the two kings and, later, the five ephors. Candidates must have passed their sixtieth year, i.e. they must no longer be liable to military service, and they were possibly restricted to the nobility. Vacancies were filled by the Apella, that candidate being declared elected whom the assembly acclaimed with the loudest shouts a method which Aristotle censures as childish (Polit. ii. 9, p. 1271 a 9). Once elected, the gerontes held office for life and were irresponsible. The functions of the council were among the most important in the state. It prepared the business which was to be submitted to the Apella, and was empowered to set aside, in conjunction with the kings, any " crooked "decision of the people. Together with the kings and ephors it formed the supreme executive committee of the state, and it exercised also a considerable criminal and political jurisdiction, including the trial of kings; its competence extended to the infliction of a sentence of exile or even of death. These powers, or at least the greater part of them, were transferred by Cleomenes III. to a board of patronomia (Pausanias ii. 9. 1); the gerousia, however, continued to exist at least down to Hadrian's reign, consisting of twenty-three members annually elected, but eligible for re-election (Sparla Museum Catalogue, Nos. 210, 612 and Introduction § 17). Fuller discussions of the gerousia will be found in Aristotle, Politics, ii. 9, 17-19; Plutarch, Lycurgus, 5, 26; G. F. Schömann, Antiquities of Greece; The State (Eng. trans.), p. 230 ff.; G. Gilbert, Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens (Eng. trans.), p. 47 ff.; C. O. Müller, History and Antiquities of the Doric Race (Eng. trans.), iii. c. 6, 88 1-3; G. Busolt, Die griechischen Staats- und Rechtsalter tumer (Iwan Müller's Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv. 1), § 89; Griechische Geschichte, 2te Auflage i. 550 ff.; A. H. J. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, 100 ff.; H. Gabriel, De magistratibus Lacedaemoniorum, 31 ff. (M. N. T.) GERRESHEIM, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 6 m. by rail E. of Düsseldorf. It contains a fine Romanesque church, dating from the 13th century, which forms a portion of an ancient nunnery (founded in the 10th century and secularized in 1806), and has extensive glass manufactures and wire factories. Pop. (1905) 14,434.

GERRHA (Arab. al-Jar'a), an ancient city of Arabia, on the west side of the Persian Gulf, described by Strabo (Bk. xvi.) as inhabited by Chaldean exiles from. Babylon, who built their houses of salt and repaired them by the application of salt water. Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi. 32) says it was 5 m. in circumference with towers built of square blocks of salt. Various identifications of the site have been attempted, J. P. B. D'Anville choosing El Katif, C. Niebuhr preferring Kuwet and C. Forster suggesting the ruins at the head of the bay behind the islands of Bahrein. See A. Sprenger, Die alle Geographie Arabiens (Bern, 1875), pp. GERRÚS, a small province of Persia, situated between Khamsch and Azerbaijan in the N., Kurdistan in the W. and Hamadan in the S. Its population is estimated at 80,000, and its capital, Bíjár, 180 m. from Hamadan, has a population of

135-137.

See also Elmer C. Griffith, The Rise and Development of the Gerry. mander (Chicago, 1907); John W. Dean, "History of the Gerrymander," in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. xlvi. (Boston, 1892).

GERS, a department of south-western France, composed of the whole or parts of certain districts of Gascony, viz. Armagnac, Astarac, Fezensac, Pardiac, Pays de Gaure, Lomagne, Comminges, Condomois and of a small portion of Agenais. It is bounded N. by the department of Lot-et-Garonne, N.E. by Tarn-et-Garonne, E. and S.E. by Haute-Garonne, S. by HautesPyrénées, S.W. by Basses-Pyrénées and W. by Landes. Pop. (1906) 231,088. Area, 2428 sq. m. The department consists of a plateau sloping from south to north and traversed by numerous rivers, most of them having their source close together in the Plateau de Lannemezan (Hautes-Pyrénées), from which point they diverge in the shape of a fan to the north-west, north and north-east. In the south several summits exceed 1100 ft. in height. Thence the descent towards the north is gradual till on the northern, limit of the department the lowest point (less than

who attempted to obtain their ends by bribery, threats and duplicity, resulted in the speedy retirement of Marshall and Pinckney. The episode is known in American history as the "X Y Z Affair." Gerry, although despairing of any good results, remained in Paris for some time in the vain hope that Talleyrand might offer to a known friend of France terms that had been refused to envoys whose anti-French views were more than suspected. This action of Gerry's brought down upon him from Federalist partisans a storm of abuse and censure, from which he never wholly cleared himself. In 1810-1812 he was governor of Massachusetts. His administration, which was marked by extreme partisanship, was especially notable for the enactment of a law by which the state was divided into new senatorial districts in such a manner as to consolidate the Federalist vote in a few districts, thus giving the Democratic-Republicans an undue advantage. The outline of one of these districts, which was thought to resemble a salamander, gave rise in 1812, through a popular application of the governor's name, to the term "Gerrymander" (q.v.). In 1812, Gerry, who was an ardent advocate of the war with Great Britain, was elected vice-presi-200 ft.) is reached. The greater part of the department belongs dent of the United States, on the ticket with James Madison. He died in office at Washington on the 23rd of November 1814. See J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, with Contemporary Letters (2 vols., Boston, 1828-1829).

GERRYMANDER (usually pronounced "jerrymander," but the g was originally pronounced hard), an American expression which has taken root in the English language, meaning to arrange election districts so as to give an unfair advantage to the party in power by means of a redistribution act, and so to manipulate constituencies generally, or arrange any political measure, with a view to an unfair party advantage. The word is derived from the name of the American politician Elbridge Gerry (q.v.). John Fiske, in his Civil Government in the United States (1890), says that in 1812, when Gerry was governor of Massachusetts, the Democratic state legislature (in order, according to Winsor, to secure an increased representation of the Democratic party in the state senate) "redistributed the districts in such wise that the shapes of the towns forming a single district in Essex county gave to the district a somewhat dragon-like contour. This was indicated upon a map of Massachusetts which Benjamin Russell, an ardent Federalist and editor of the Centinel, hung up over the desk in his office. The painter, Gilbert Stuart, coming into the office one day and observing the uncouth figure, added with his pencil a head, wings and claws, and exclaimed, That will do for a salamander!' Better say a Gerrymander,' growled the editor; and the outlandish name, thus duly coined, soon came into general currency." It was, however, only the name that was new. Fiske (who also refers to Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, iii. 212, and Bryce's American Commonwealth, i. 121) says that gerrymandering, as a political dodge, seems to have been first devised in 1788, by the enemies of the Federal constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent the election of James Madison to the first Congress, and fortunately it was unsuccessful." But it was really earlier than that, and in the American colonial period political advantage was often obtained by changing county lines. In 1709 the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia formed a combination for preventing the city of Philadelphia from securing its proportionate representation; and in 1732 George Burrington, royal governor of North Carolina, divided the voting precincts of the province for his own advantage. Gerry was not the originator of the Massachusetts law of 1812, which was probably drafted by Samuel Dana or by Judge Story. The law resulted in 29 seats being secured in Massachusetts by 50,164 Democratic votes, while 51,766 Federalist votes only returned 11 members; and Essex county, which, undivided, sent 5 Federalists to the Senate, returned 3 Democrats and 2 Federalists after being gerrymandered," Stuart's drawing (reproduced in Fiske's book) was contrived so as to make the back line of the creature's body form a caricature of Gerry's profile. The law of 1812 was repealed in 1813, when the Federalists had again gained control of the Massachusetts legislature.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

to the basin of the Garonne, while a small portion in the west is drained by the Adour. The chief affluents of the former are the Save, Gimone, Arrats, Gers and Baïse, which derive their waters in great part from the Canal de la Neste in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées; and of the latter, the Arros, Midou and Douze, the last two uniting and taking the name of Midouze before joining the Adour.. The climate is temperate; its drawbacks are the unwholesome south-cast wind and the destructive hail-storms which sometimes occur in spring. There is seldom any snow or frost. Over the greater portion of the department the annual rainfall varies between 28 and 32 in. Gers is primarily agricultural. The south-western district is the most productive, but the valleys generally are fertile and the grain produced is more than sufficient for local consumption. Wheat, maize and oats are the principal cereals. About onethird of the wine produced is used for home consumption, and the remainder is chiefly manufactured into brandy, known by the name of Armagnac, second only to Cognac in reputation. The natural pastures are supplemented chiefly by crops of sainfoin and clover; horses, cattle, sheep and swine are reared in considerable numbers; turkeys, geese and other poultry are abundant. There are mineral springs at Aurenson, Barbotan and several other places in the department. The mineral production and manufactures are unimportant. Building stone and clay are obtained. Flour-mills, saw-mills, tanneries, brickworks and cask-works are the chief industrial establishments.

Gers is divided into the arrondissements of Auch, Lectoure, Mirande, Condom and Lombez, with 29 cantons and 466 communes. The chief town is Auch, the seat of an archbishopric. The department falls within the circumscription of the appealcourt of Agen, and the region of the XVII. army corps. It forms part of the académie (educational circumscription) of Toulouse. Auch, Condom, Lectoure and Mirande are the principal towns. The following are also of interest: Lombez, with its church of Sainte-Marie, once a cathedral, dating from the 14th century, when the bishopric was created; Flaran, with an abbey-church of the last half of the 12th century; La Romieu, with a church of the same period and a beautiful cloister; Simorre, with a fortified abbey-church of the 14th century; and Fleurance, with a handsome church, also of the 14th century, containing stained glass of the 16th century.

GERSON, JOHN (1363-1429), otherwise JEAN CHARrlier de GERSON, French scholar and divine, chancellor of the university of Paris, and the ruling spirit in the occumenical councils of Pisa and Constance, was born at the village of Gerson, in the bishopric of Reims and department of Ardennes, on the 14th of December 1363. His parents, Arnulph Charlier and Elizabeth de la Chardenière," a second Monica," were pious peasants, and seven of their twelve children, four daughters and three sons, devoted themselves to a religious life. Young Gerson was sent to Paris to the famous college of Navarre when fourteen years of age. After a five years' course he obtained the degree of licentiate of

arts, and then began his theological studies under two very celebrated teachers, Gilles des Champs (Aegidius Campensis) and Pierre d'Ailly (Petrus de Alliaco), rector of the college of Navarre, chancellor of the university, and afterwards bishop of Puy, archbishop of Cambrai and cardinal. Pierre d'Ailly remained his life-long friend, and in later life the pupil seems to have become the teacher (see pref. to Liber de vita Spir. Animae). Gerson very soon attracted the notice of the university. He was elected procurator for the French "nation" in 1383, and again in 1384, in which year he graduated bachelor of theology. Three years later a still higher honour was bestowed upon him; he was sent along with the chancellor and others to represent the university in a case of appeal taken to the pope. John of Montson (Monzon de Montesono), an Aragonese Dominican who had recently graduated as doctor of theology at Paris, had in 1387 been condemned by the faculty of theology because he had taught that the Virgin Mary, like other ordinary descendants of Adam, was born in original sin; and the Dominicans, who were fierce opponents of the doctrine of the immaculate conception, were expelled the university. John of Montson appealed to Pope Clement VII. at Avignon, and Pierre d'Ailly, Gerson and the other university delegates, while they personally supported the doctrine of the immaculate conception, were content to rest their case upon the legal rights of the university to test in its own way its theological teachers. Gerson's biographers have compared his journey to Avignon with Luther's visit to Rome. It is certain that from this time onwards he was zealous in his endeavours to spiritualize the universities, to reform the morals of the clergy, and to put an end to the schism which then divided the church. In 1392 Gerson became doctor of theology, and in 1395, when Pierre d'Ailly was made bishop of Puy, he was, at the early age of thirty-two, elected chancellor of the university of Paris, and made a canon of Notre Dame. The university was then at the height of its fame, and its chancellor was necessarily a man prominent not only in France but in Europe, sworn to maintain the rights of his university against both king and pope, and entrusted with the conduct and studies of a vast crowd of students attracted from almost every country in Europe. Gerson's writings bear witness to his deep sense of the responsibilities, anxieties and troubles of his position. He was all his days a man of letters, and an analysis of his writings is his best biography. His work has three periods, in which he was engaged in reforming the university studies, maturing plans for overcoming the schism (a task which after 1404 absorbed all his energies), and in the evening of his life writing books of devotion.

Gerson wished to banish scholastic subtleties from the studies of the university, and at the same time to put some evangelical warmth into them. He was called at this period of his life Doctor Christianissimus; later his devotional works brought him the title Doctor Consolatorius. His plan was to make theology plain and simple by founding it on the philosophical principles of nominalism. His method was a clear exposition of the principles of theology where clearness was possible, with a due recognition of the place of mystery in the Christian system of doctrine. Like the great nominalist William of Occam, he saved himself from rationalism by laying hold on mysticism-the Christian mysticism of the school of St Victor. He thought that in this way he would equally guard against the folly of the old scholasticism, and the seductions of such Averroistic pantheism as was preached by heretics like Amalric of Bena. His plans for the reformation of university studies may be learned from his Tract. de examinatione doctrinarum (Opp. i. 7), Epistolae de reform. theol. (i. 121), Epistolae ad studentes Collegii Navarrae, quid et qualiter studere debeat novus theologiae auditor, et contra curiositatem studentium (i. 106), and Lectiones duae contra vanam curiositatem in negotio fidei (i. 86). The study of the Bible and of the fathers was to supersede the idle questions of the schools, and in his Tract, contra romantiam de rosa (iii. 297) he warns young men against the evil consequences of romance-reading. He was oftentimes weary of the chancellorship,-it involved him in strife and in money difficulties; he grew tired of public life, and

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

longed for learned leisure. To obtain it he accepted the deanery of Bruges from the duke of Burgundy, but after a short sojourn he returned to Paris and to the chancellorship.

Gerson's chief work was what he did to destroy the great schism. Gregory XI. had died in 1378, one year after Gerson went to the college of Navarre, and since his death the church had had two popes, which to the medieval mind meant two churches and a divided Christ. The schism had practically been brought about by France. The popes had been under French influence so long that it appeared to France a political necessity to have her own pope, and pious Frenchmen felt themselves somewhat responsible for the sins and scandals of the schism. Hence the melancholy piety of Gerson, Pierre d'Ailly and their companions, and the energy with which they strove to bring the schism to an end. During the lifetime of Clement VII. the university of Paris, led by Pierre d' Ailly, Gerson and Nicolas of Clamenges,' met in deliberation about the state of Christendom, and resolved that the schism could be ended in three ways,-by cession, if both popes renounced the tiara unconditionally, by arbitration or by a general council. Clement died. The king of France, urged by the university, sent orders that no new pope should be elected. The cardinals first elected, and then opened the letter. In the new elections, however, both at Rome and Avignon, the influence of Paris was so much felt that each of the new popes swore to "cede" if his rival would do so also.

Meanwhile in 1395 the national assembly of France and the French clergy adopted the programme of the university-cession or a general council. The movement gathered strength. In 1398 most of the cardinals and most of the crowned heads in Europe had given their adhesion to the plan. During this period Gerson's literary activity was untiring, and the throb of public expectancy, of hope and fear, is revealed in his multitude of pamphlets. At first there were hopes of a settlement by way of cession. These come out in Protest. super statum ecclesiae (ii. 1), Tract. de modo habendi se tempore schismatis, De schismate, &c. But soon the conduct of the popes made Europe impatient, and the desire for a general council grew strong-see De concilip generali unius obedientiae (ii. 24). The council was resolved upon. It was to meet at Pisa, and Gerson poured forth tract after tract for its guidance. The most important are-Trilogus in materia schismatis (ii. 83), and De unitate Ecclesiae (ii. 113), in which, following Pierre d' Ailly (see Tschackert's Peter v. Ailli, p. 153), Gerson demonstrates that the ideal unity of the church, based upon Christ, destroyed by the popes, can only be restored by a general council, supreme and legitimate, though unsummoned by a pope. The council met, deposed both antipopes, and elected Alexander V. Gerson was chosen to address the new pope on the duties of his office. He did so in his Sermo coram Alexandro Papa in die ascensionis in concilio Pisano (ii. 131). All hopes of reformation, however, were quenched by the conduct of the new pope. He had been a Franciscan, and loved his order above measure. He issued a bull which laid the parish clergy and the universities at the mercy of the mendicants. The great university of Paris rose in revolt, headed by her chancellor, who wrote a fierce pamphlet-Censura professorum in theologia circa bullam Alexandri V. (ii. 442). The pope died soon after, and one of the most profligate men of that time, Pope John XXIII. (Baldassare Cossa), was elected his successor. The council of Pisa had not brought peace; it had only added a third pope. Pierre d'Ailly despaired of general councils (see his De difficultate reformationis in concilio universali), but Gerson struggled on. Another matter too had roused him. The feuds between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy had long distracted France. The duke of Orleans had been treacherously murdered by the followers of the duke of Burgundy, and a theologian, Jean Petit (c. 1360-1411), had publicly and unambiguously justified the murder. His eight verities, as he called them-his apologies for the murder-had been, mainly through the influence of Gerson, condemned by the university of Paris, and by the 1 Born c. 1360; rector of the university of Paris 1393; afterwards treasurer of Langres and archdeacon of Bayeux; died at Paris in 1437.

archbishop and grand inquisitor, and his book had been publicly burned before the cathedral of Notre Dame. Gerson wished a council to confirm this sentence. His literary labours were as untiring as ever. He maintained in a series of tracts that a general council could depose a pope; he drew up indictments against the reigning pontiffs, reiterated the charges against Jean Petit, and exposed the sin of schism-in short, he did all he could to direct the public mind towards the evils in the church and the way to heal them. His efforts were powerfully seconded by the emperor Sigismund, and the result was the council of Constance (see CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF). Gerson's influence at the council was supreme up to the election of a new pope. It was he who dictated the form of submission and cession made by John XXIII., and directed the process against Huss. Many of Gerson's biographers have found it difficult to reconcile his proceedings against Huss with his own opinions upon the supremacy of the pope; but the difficulty has arisen partly from misunderstanding Gerson's position; partly from supposing him to be the author of a famous tract-De modis uniendi ac refor-philosophy, the Moreh Nebuhim of Moses Maimonides, and mandi Ecclesiam in concilio universali. All Gerson's high-sounding phrases about the supremacy of a council were meant to apply to some time of emergency. He was essentially a trimmer, and can scarcely be called a reformer, and he hated Huss with all the hatred the trimmer has of the reformer. The three bold treatises, De necessitate reformationis Ecclesiae, De modis uniendi ac reformandi Ecclesiam, and De difficultate reformationis in concilio universali, long ascribed to Gerson, were proved by Schwab in his Johannes Gerson not to be his work, and have since been ascribed to Abbot Andreas of Randuf, and with more reason to Dietrich of Nieheim (see NIEM, DIETRICH OF).

of his life. His family had been distinguished for piety and munity by commentaries on certain books of the Bible, he never exegetical skill, but though he was known in the Jewish com. seems to have accepted any rabbinical post. Possibly the freedom of his opinions may have put obstacles in the way of his preferment. He is known to have been at Avignon and Orange during his life, and is believed to have died in 1344, though Zacuto asserts that he died at Perpignan in 1370. Part of his writings consist of commentaries on the portions of Aristotle then known, or rather of commentaries on the commentaries of of Aristotle's works. His most important treatise, that by which Averroes. Some of these are printed in the early Latin editions he has a place in the history of philosophy, is entitled Milḥamoth 'Adonai (The Wars of God), and occupied twelve years in composition (1317-1329). A portion of it, containing an elaborate survey of astronomy as known to the Arabs, was translated into Latin in 1342 at the request of Clement VI. The Milḥamoth is throughout modelled after the plan of the great work of Jewish may be regarded as an elaborate criticism from the more philosophical point of view (mainly Averroistic) of the syncretism of Aristotelianism and Jewish orthodoxy as presented in that work. The six books pass in review (1) the doctrine of the soul, in which Gersonides defends the theory of impersonal reason as mediating between God and man, and explains the formation of the higher reason (or acquired intellect, as it was called) in humanity,-his view being thoroughly realist and resembling that of Avicebron; (2) prophecy; (3) and (4) God's knowledge of facts and providence, in which is advanced the curious theory general providence for all, special providence only extends to that God does not know individual facts, and that, while there is those whose reason has been enlightened; (5) celestial substances, treating of the strange spiritual hierarchy which the Jewish philosophers of the middle ages accepted from the Neoplatonists and the pseudo-Dionysius, and also giving, along with astronomimiracles, in respect to which Gerson deviates widely from the cal details, much of astrological theory; (6) creation and position of Maimonides. Gersonides was also the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch and other exegetical and scientific works.

The council of Constance, which revealed the eminence of Gerson, became in the end the cause of his downfall. He was the prosecutor in the case of Jean Petit, and the council, overawed by the duke of Burgundy, would not affirm the censure of the university and archbishop of Paris. Petit's justification of murder was declared to be only a moral and philosophical opinion, not of faith. The utmost length the council would go was to condemn one proposition, and even this censure was annulled by the new pope, Martin V., on a formal pretext. Gerson dared not return to France, where, in the disturbed state of the kingdom, the duke of Burgundy was in power. He lay hid for a time at Constance and then at Rattenberg in Tirol, where he wrote his A careful analysis of the Milhamoth is given in Rabbi Isidore famous book De consolatione theologiae. On returning to France philosophie d. L. Ben-Gerson (1862). The Milḥamoth was pub Weil's Philosophie religieuse de Lévi-Ben-Gerson (Paris, 1868). See he went to Lyons, where his brother was prior of the Celestines.lished in 1560 at Riva di Trento, and has been published at Leipzig, also Munk, Mélanges de phil. juive et arabe; and Joel, ReligionsIt is said that he taught a school of boys and girls in Lyons, and 1866. that the only fee he exacted was to make the children promise to repeat the prayer; "Lord, have mercy on thy poor servantGERSOPPA, FALLS OF, a cataract on the Sharavati river in (I. Á.) Gerson." His later years were spent in writing books of mystical the finest in India. The river descends in four separate cascades the North Kanara district of Bombay. The falls are considered devotion and hymns. He died at Lyons on the 12th of July 1429. Tradition declares that during his sojourn there he translated called the Raja or Horseshoe, the Roarer, the Rocket and the or adapted from the Latin a work upon eternal consolation, high, and the pool at the base of the Raja Fall is 132 ft. deep. Dame Blanche. The cliff over which the river plunges is 830 ft. which afterwards became very famous under the title of The The falls are reached by boat from Honavar, or by road from Imitation of Christ, and was attributed to Thomas à Kempis. It has. however, been proved beyond a doubt that the famous ruins (the finest of which is a cruciform temple) of Nagarbastikere, Gersoppa village, 18 m. distant. Near the village are extensive Imitatio Christi was really written by Thomas, and not by the capital of the Jain chiefs of Gersoppa. Their family was John Gerson or the abbot Gerson. subsequently became practically independent. The chieftaincy established in power in 1409 by the Vijayanagar kings, but was several times held by women, and on the death of the last Bednur. Among the Portuguese the district was celebrated queen (1608) it collapsed, having been attacked by the chief of (queen of pepper). for its pepper, and they called its queen "Regina da pimenta "

The literature on Gerson is very abundant. See Dupin, Gersoniana, including Vita Gersoni, prefixed to the edition of Gerson's works in 5 vols. fol., from which quotations have here been made; Charles Schmidt, Essai sur Jean Gerson, chancelier de l'Université de Paris (Strassburg, 1839); J. B. Schwab, Johannes Gerson (Würzburg, 1859); H. Jadart, Jean Gerson, son origine, son village natal et sa familie (Reims, 1882). On the relations between Gerson and D'Ailly see Paul Tschackert, Peter von Ailli (Gotha, 1877). On Gerson's public life see also histories of the councils of Pisa and Constance, especially Herm. v. der Hardt, Con. Constantiensis libri iv. (1695-1699). The best editions of his works are those of Paris (3 vols., 1606) and Antwerp (5 vols., 1706). See also Ulysse Chevalier, Repertoire des sources hist. Bio-bibliographie (Paris, 1905, &c.), s.v. GERSONIDES, or BEN GERSON (Gershon), LEVI, known also. (T. M. L.; X.) As RALBAG (1288-1344), Jewish philosopher and commentator, was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, probably in 1288. As in the

Gerson.

"

and writer of travels, was born at Hamburg on the 10th of May GERSTÄCKER, FRIEDRICH (1816-1872), German novelist 1816, the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790-1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house he learnt farming in Saxony. In 1837, however, having imbibed and wandered over a large part of the United States, supporting from Robinson Crusoe a taste for adventure, he went to America himself by whatever work came to hand. In 1843 he returned case of the other medieval Jewish philosophers little is known author. His mother had shown his diary, which he regularly to Germany, to find himself, to his great surprise, famous as an

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »