Part 24

The Germans have produced some excellent historical atlases, among them K. von Spruner's _Historisch-geographischer Handatlas_ (Gotha, 1853); a new edition of this by T. Menke called _Handatlas fur die Geschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit_ (Gotha, 1880), and G. Droysen's _Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas_ (Leipzig, 1886). The historical geography of Germany is dealt with in B. Knull's _Historische Geographie Deutschlands im Mittelalter_ (Breslau, 1903); in F. H. Muller's _Die deutschen Stamme und ihre Fursten_ (Hamburg, 1852), and in many other works referring to the different parts of the country.

English books on the history of Germany are not very numerous. There is a short _History of Germany_ by James Sime (1874), another by E. F. Henderson (1902), and _A History of Germany 1715-1815_ by C. T. Atkinson (1909). H. A. L. Fisher's _Medieval Empire_ (1898) is very useful for the earlier period, and J. Bryce's _Holy Roman Empire_ is indispensable. There is a translation of Janssen's _Geschichte_ by M. A. Mitchell and A. M. Christie (1896, fol.), and there are useful chapters in the different volumes of the _Cambridge Modern History_. Two English historians have distinguished themselves by their work on special periods: Carlyle with his _History of Friedrich II., called the Great_ (1872-1873), and W. Robertson with his _History of the Reign of Charles V._ (1820). There is also E. Armstrong's Charles V. (London, 1902). Among German historical periodicals are the _Historische Zeitschrift_, long associated with the name of H. von Sybel, and the _Historisches Jahrbuch_.

In guides to the historical sources and to modern historical works Germany is well served. There is the _Quellenkunde der deutschen Geschichte_ (Leipzig, 1906) of Dahlmann-Waitz, a most compendious volume, and the learned _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter_ (Berlin, 1893-1894) of W. Wattenbach; A. Potthast's _Bibliotheca historica medii aevi_ (Berlin, 1896), and the _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen seit der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Berlin, 1886-1887) of O. Lorenz and A. Goldmann. (A. W. H.*)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] So called from the badge worn by the knights (_Lowenritter_) who composed it.

[2] The best account, in English, of the development of the Zollverein is in Percy Ashley's _Modern Tariff History_ (London, 1904).

[3] The only formal change is that the duchy of Lauenburg, which since 1865 had been governed by the king of Prussia as a separate principality (but without a vote in the Bundesrat), was in 1876 incorporated in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.

[4] See _Annual Register_ (1908), pp. 289 et seq.

[5] The whole question is exhaustively treated from the Danish point of view in _La Question de Slesvig_ (Copenhagen, 1906), a collective work edited by F. de Jessens.

[6] Reinhard Karl Friedrich von Dalwigk (1802-1880). Though a Lutheran, he had been accused in 1854 of an excessive subserviency to the Roman Catholic Church. He was responsible for the policy which threatened to involve the grand-duchy of Hesse in the fate of the Electorate in 1866. But it was due to his diplomatic skill that Upper Hesse was saved for the grand-duke.

[7] In 1899, following the Spanish-American War, Germany purchased the Caroline, Pelew and Marianne Islands from Spain; in 1899-1900 by agreement with Great Britain and America she acquired the two largest of the Samoan islands, renouncing in favour of Britain her protectorate over certain of the Solomon islands.

[8] The elevation of Count Bulow to the rank of prince immediately after the crisis was significantly compared with the same honour bestowed on Bismarck at Versailles in 1871.

[9] He was born on November 29, 1856, the son of a wealthy Rhenish landowner, and grandson of Moritz August von Bethmann-Hollweg (1795-1877), professor of law at Bonn, ennobled in 1840, and from 1858 to 1862 minister of education and religion at Berlin. Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg studied law at Strassburg, Leipzig and Berlin, entered the Prussian civil service in 1882, and, passing successfully through the various stages of a German administrative career, became governor (Oberprasident) of the province of Brandenburg in 1899. In 1905 he became Prussian minister of the interior. Two years later he succeeded Count Posadowsky as imperial secretary of state for the interior and representative of the imperial chancellor, and was at the same time made vice-president of the council of Prussian ministers, an office and title which had been in abeyance for some years and were now again suppressed.

GERMERSHEIM, a fortified town of Germany in Rhenish Bavaria, at the confluence of the Queich and the Rhine, 8 m. S.W. of Speyer. Pop. (1905) 5914. It possesses a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical church, a synagogue, a progymnasium and a hospital. The industries include fishing, shipbuilding and brewing. Germersheim existed as a Roman stronghold under the name of _Vicus Julius_. The citadel was rebuilt by the emperor Conrad II., but the town itself was founded in 1276 by the emperor Rudolph I., who granted it the rights of a free imperial city. From 1330 to 1622, when it was conquered by Austria, the town formed part of the Palatinate of the Rhine. From 1644 to 1650 it was in the possession of France; but on the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia it was again joined to the Palatinate. In 1674 it was captured and devastated by the French under Turenne, and after the death of the elector Charles (1685) it was claimed by the French as a dependency of Alsace. As a consequence there ensued the disastrous Germersheim war of succession, which lasted till the peace of Ryswick in 1697. Through the intervention of the pope in 1702, the French, on payment of a large sum, agreed to vacate the town, and in 1715 its fortifications were rebuilt. On the 3rd of July 1744 the French were defeated there by the imperial troops, and on the 19th and 22nd of July 1793 by the Austrians. In 1835 the new town was built, and the present fortifications begun.

See Probst, _Geschichte der Stadt und Festung Germersheim_ (Speyer, 1898).

GERMISTON, a town of the Transvaal, 9 m. E. of Johannesburg. Pop. of the municipality (1904) 29,477, of whom 9123 were whites. It lies 5478 ft. above the sea, in the heart of the Witwatersrand gold-mining district, and is an important railway junction. The station, formerly called Elandsfontein Junction, is the meeting-point of lines from the ports of the Cape and Natal, and from Johannesburg, Pretoria and Delagoa Bay. Though possessing a separate municipality, Germiston is practically a suburb of Johannesburg (q.v.).

GERMONIUS, ANASTASIUS [ANASTASE GERMON] (1551-1627), canon lawyer, diplomatist and archbishop of Tarantaise, belonged to the family of the marquises of Ceve, in Piedmont, where he was born. As archdeacon at Turin he was a member of the commission appointed by Pope Clement VIII. to edit the _Liber septimus decretalium_; and he also wrote _Paratitla_ on the five books of the _Decretals of Gregory IX._ He represented the duke of Savoy at the court of Rome under Clement VIII. and Paul V., and was ambassador to Spain under Kings Philip III. and IV. He died on the 4th of August 1627. Germonius is best known for his treatise on ambassadors, _De legatis principum et populorum libri tres_ (Rome, 1627). The book is diffuse, pedantic and somewhat heavy in style, but valuable historically as written by a theorist who was also an expert man of affairs. (See DIPLOMACY.)

GERO (c. 900-965), margrave of the Saxon east mark, was probably a member of an influential Saxon family. In 937 he was entrusted by the German king Otto, afterwards the emperor Otto the Great, with the defence of the eastern frontier of Saxony against the Wends and other Slavonic tribes; a duty which he discharged with such ability and success that in a few years he extended the Saxon frontier almost to the Oder, and gained the chief credit for the suppression of a rising of the conquered peoples in a great victory on the 16th of October 955. In 963 he defeated the Lusatians, compelled the king of the Poles to recognize the supremacy of the German king, and extended the area of his mark so considerably that after his death it was partitioned into three, and later into five marks. Gero, who is said to have made a journey to Rome, died on the 20th of May 965, and was buried in the convent of Gernrode which he had founded on his Saxon estates. He is referred to by the historian Widukind as a _preses_, and is sometimes called the "great margrave." He has been accused of treachery and cruelty, is celebrated in song and story, and is mentioned as the "marcgrave Gere" in the _Nibelungenlied_.

See Widukind, "Res gestae Saxonicae," in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_. _Scriptores_, Band iii.; O. von Heinemann, _Markgraf Gero_ (Brunswick, 1860).

GEROLSTEIN, a village and climatic health resort of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, attractively situated on the Kyll, in the Eifel range, 1100 ft. above the sea, 58 m. W. of Andernach by rail, and at the junction of lines to Treves and St Vith. The castle of Gerolstein, built in 1115 and now in ruins, affords a fine view of the Kyllthal. Gerolstein is celebrated for its lithia waters, which are largely exported. Pop. (1900) 1308.

GEROME, JEAN LEON (1824-1904), French painter, was born on the 11th of May 1824 at Vesoul (Haute-Saone). He went to Paris in 1841 and worked under Paul Delaroche, whom he 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 Gerome 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. Gerome'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) Gerome 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. Gerome'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 Moliere" (1863); "The Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontainebleau" (1865); and the "Death of Marshal Ney" (1868). Gerome 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 chateau 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). Gerome was elected member of the Institut in 1865. He died in 1904.

GERONA, a maritime frontier province in the extreme north-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 Lerida. Pop. (1900) 299,287; area, 2264 sq. m. In the north-west a small section of the province, with the town of Llivia, 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 Cerdana 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 Llansa, Rosas, Palamos, 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, coal, copper, lead, iron and other ores, was valued at less than L7000. 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 north-eastern Spain, on the railway from Barcelona to Perpignan in France, and on the right bank of the river Ter, at its confluence with the Ona, 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 Ona, 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 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 facade, 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 Feliu (St Felix) is mainly of the 14th century, but it was considerably modified in the 16th, and its facade 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 Ona, 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.

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.

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 ([Greek: gerousia], Doric [Greek: geroia]), 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 _patronomi_ (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 (_Sparta Museum Catalogue_, Nos. 210, 612 and Introduction S 17).

Fuller discussions of the gerousia will be found in Aristotle, _Politics_, ii. 9, 17-19: Plutarch, _Lycurgus_, 5, 26; G. F. Schomann, _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. Muller, _History and Antiquities of the Doric Race_ (Eng. trans.), iii. c. 6, SS 1-3; G. Busolt, _Die griechischen Staats- und Rechtsaltertumer_ (Iwan Muller's _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, iv. 1), S 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 Dusseldorf. 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 alte Geographie Arabiens_ (Bern, 1875), pp. 135-137.

GERRUS, a small province of Persia, situated between Khamseh and Azerbaijan in the N., Kurdistan in the W. and Hamadan in the S. Its population is estimated at 80,000, and its capital, Bijar, 180 m. from Hamadan, has a population of about 4000 and post and telegraph offices. The province is fief of the chief of the Gerrus Kurds, pays a yearly revenue of about L3000, and supplies a battalion of infantry (the 34th) to the army.