chapter 18._
ALSO IN: _G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, chapters 6-7._
See, also, LUSITANIA; and SPAIN: B. C. 218-25.
{2390}
NUMERIANUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 283-284.
----------NUMIDIA: Start--------
NUMIDIA: The Country and People.
See NUMIDIANS.
NUMIDIA: B. C. 204. Alliance with Carthage. Subjection to Rome.
See PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND.
NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104. The Jugurthine War.
The Numidian kingdom, over which the Romans, at the end of the second Punic War, had settled their friend Masinissa, passed at his death to his son Micipsa. In 118 B. C. Micipsa died, leaving two young sons, and also a bastard nephew, Jugurtha, whom he feared. He divided the kingdom between these three, hoping to secure the fidelity of Jugurtha to his sons. It was a policy that failed. Jugurtha made sure of what was given to him, and then grasped at the rest. One of his young cousins was soon cleared from his path by assassination; on the other he opened war. This latter, Adherbal by name, appealed to Rome, but Jugurtha despatched agents with money to bribe the senate, and a commission sent over to divide Numidia gave him the western and better half. The commissioners were no sooner out of Africa than he began war upon Adherbal afresh, shut him up in his strong capital, Cirta [B. C. 112], and placed the city under siege. The Romans again interfered, but, he captured Cirta, notwithstanding, and tortured Adherbal to death. The corrupt party at Rome which Jugurtha kept in his pay made every effort to stifle discussion of his nefarious doings; but one bold tribune, C. Memmius, roused the people on the subject and forced the senate to declare war against him. Jugurtha's gold, however, was still effectual, and it paralyzed the armies sent to Africa, by corrupting the venial officers who commanded them. Once, Jugurtha went to Rome, under a safe conduct, invited to testify as a witness against the men whom he had bribed, but really expecting to be able to further his own cause in the city. He found the people furious against him and he only saved himself from being forced to criminate his Roman senatorial mercenaries by buying a tribune, who brazenly vetoed the examination of the Numidian king. Jugurtha being, then, ordered out of Rome, the war proceeded again, and in 109 B. C. the command passed to an honest general, Q. Metellus, who took with him Caius Marius, the most capable soldier of Rome, whose capability was at that time not half understood. Under Metellus the Romans penetrated Numidia to Zama, but failed to take the town, and narrowly escaped a great disaster on the Muthul, where a serious battle was fought. In 107 B. C. Metellus was superseded by Marius, chosen consul for that year and now really beginning his remarkable career. Meantime Jugurtha had gained an ally in Bocchus, king of Mauretania, and Marius, after two campaigns of doubtful result, found more to hope from diplomacy than from war. With the help of Sulla,—his future great rival—who had lately been sent over to his army, in command of a troop of horse, he persuaded the Mauretanian king to betray Jugurtha into his hands. The dreaded Numidian was taken to Rome [B. C. 104], exhibited in the triumph of Marius, and then brutally thrust into the black dungeon called the Tullianum to die of slow starvation. Bocchus was rewarded for his treachery by the cession to him of part of Numidia; Marius, intoxicated with the plaudits of Rome, first saved it from the Cimbri and then stabbed it with his own sword; Sulla, inexplicable harbinger of the coming Cæsars, bided his time.
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 7, chapter 8._
ALSO IN: _G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 1, chapters 26-29._
_Sallust, Jugurthine War._
NUMIDIA: B. C. 46. The kingdom extinguished by Cæsar and annexed to Rome.
See ROME: B. C. 47-46.
NUMIDIA: A. D. 374-398. Revolts of Firmus and Gildo.
See ROME: A. D. 396-398.
----------NUMIDIA: End--------
NUMIDIANS AND MAURI, The.
"The union of the Aryan invaders [of North Africa] with the ancient populations of the coast sprung from Phut gave birth to the Mauri, or Maurusii, whose primitive name it has been asserted was Medes, probably an alteration of the word Amazigh. The alliance of the same invaders with the Getulians beyond the Atlas produced the Numidians. The Mauri were agriculturists, and of settled habits; the Numidians, as their Greek appellation indicates, led a nomadic life."
_F. Lenormant, Manual of Ancient History of the East, book 6, chapter 5 (volume 2)._
In northern Africa, "on the south and west of the immediate territory of the Carthaginian republic, lived various races of native Libyans who are commonly known by the name of Numidians. But these were in no way, as their Greek name ('Nomads') would seem to imply, exclusively pastoral races. Several districts in their possession, especially in the modern Algeria, were admirably suited for agriculture. Hence they had not only fixed and permanent abodes, but a number of not unimportant cities, of which Hippo and Cirta, the residences of the chief Numidian princes, were the most considerable."
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 1 (volume 2)._
The various peoples of North Africa known anciently and modernly as Libyans, Numidians, or Nomades, Mauri, Mauritanians or Moors, Gaetulians and Berbers, belong ethnographically to one family of men, distinguished alike from the negroes and the Egyptians.
_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 8, chapter 13._
See, also, LIBYANS; CARTHAGE: B. C. 146; PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND; and NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104.
NUNCOMAR AND WARREN HASTINGS.
See INDIA: A. D. 1773-1785.
NUR MAHAL, OR NUR JAHAN, Empress of India.
See INDIA: A. D. 1605-1658.
----------NUREMBERG: Start--------
NUREMBERG.
"Nuremberg (Nürnberg) (Norimberga) is situated on the Regnitz, in the centre of Middle Franconia, about 90 miles northwest of Munich, to which it is second in size and importance, with a population of about 90,000. The name is said to be derived from the ancient inhabitants of Noricum, who migrated hither about the year 451, on being driven from their early settlements on the Danube by the Huns. Here they distinguished themselves by their skill in the working of metals, which abound in the neighbouring mountains. Before the eleventh century the history of Nuremberg is enveloped in a mist of impenetrable obscurity, from which it does not emerge until the time of the Emperor Henry III., who issued an edict, dated July 16, 1050, 'ad castrum Noremberc,' a proof that it was a place of considerable importance even at this early period. Nuremberg afterwards became the favourite residence of the Emperor Henry IV."
_W. J. Wyatt, History of Prussia, volume 2, page 456._
{2391}
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1417. Office of Burgrave bought by the city.
See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1417-1640.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1522-1524. The two diets, and their recesses in favor of the Reformation.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1522-1525.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1525. Formal establishment of the Reformed Religion.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1522-1525.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1529. Joined in the Protest which gave rise to the name Protestants.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1525-1529.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1532. Pacification of Charles V. with the Protestants.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1530-1532.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1632. Welcome to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Siege by Wallenstein. Battle on the Fürth.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1801-1803. One of six free cities which survived the Peace of Luneville.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.
NUREMBERG: A. D. 1806. Loss of municipal freedom. Absorption in the kingdom of Bavaria.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806.
----------NUREMBERG: End--------
NUYS, The Siege of
In 1474 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, ambitious to extend his dominions along the left bank of the Rhine, down to the Netherlands, took advantage of a quarrel between the citizens of Cologne and their prince-archbishop, to ally himself with the latter. The citizens of Cologne had appointed Herman of Hesse to be protector of the see, and he had fortified himself at Nuys. Charles, with 60,000 men, laid siege to the place, expecting to reduce it speedily. On the contrary, he wasted months in the fruitless endeavor, and became involved in the quarrel with the Swiss which brought about his downfall. The abortive siege of Nuys was the beginning of his disasters.
_C. M. Davies, History of Holland, part 2, chapter 2._
See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1476-1477.
NYANTICS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
NYSTAD, Peace of. See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1719-1721.
O.
O. S. Old Style.
See GREGORIAN CALENDAR.
OAK BOYS.
See. IRELAND: A. D. 1760-1798.
OATES, Titus, and the "Popish Plot."
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1678-1679.
OBELISKS, Egyptian.
See EGYPT: ABOUT B. C. 1700-1400.
OBERPFALZ.
See FRANCONIA: THE DUCHY AND THE CIRCLE.
OBES, The.
See GERUSIA; and SPARTA: THE CONSTITUTION, &c.
OBLATES, The.
"The Oblates, or Volunteers, established by St. Charles Borromeo in 1578, are a congregation of secular priests. … Their special aim was to give edification to the diocese, and to maintain the integrity of religion by the purity of their lives, by teaching, and by zealously discharging the duties committed to them by their bishop. These devoted ecclesiastics were much loved by St. Charles. … Strange to say, they do not seem to have been much appreciated elsewhere."
_J. Alzog, Manual of Universal Church History, volume 3, page 456._
OBNUNTIATIO.
See ÆLIAN AND FUFIAN LAWS.
OBOLLA.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-651.
OBOLUS.
See TALENT.
OBOTRITES, The.
See SAXONY: A. D. 1178-1183.
OBRENOVITCH DYNASTY, The.
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14-19TH CENTURIES (SERVIA).
OC, Langue d'.
See LANGUE D'OC.
OCANA, Battle of.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (AUGUST-NOVEMBER).
OCCASIONAL CONFORMITY BILL.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1711-1714.
OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION, The beginnings of.
See STEAM NAVIGATION: ON THE OCEAN.
OCHLOCRACY.
This term was applied by the Greeks to an unlimited democracy, where rights were made conditional on no gradations of property, and where "provisions were made, not so much that only a proved and worthy citizen should be elected, as that everyone, without distinction, should be eligible for everything."
_G. Schömann, Antiquity of Greece: The State, part 1, chapter 3._
O'CONNELL, Daniel, The political agitations of.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1811-1829, to 1841-1848.
OCTAETËRIS, The.
See METON, THE YEAR OF.
OCTAVIUS, Caius (afterwards called Augustus), and the founding of the Roman Empire.
See ROME: B. C. 44, after Cæsar's death, to B. C. 31-A. D. 14.
OCTOBER CLUB, The.
See CLUBS: THE OCTOBER.
ODAL.
See ADEL.
ODELSRET.
See CONSTITUTION OF NORWAY, TITLE V., ARTICLE 16.
ODELSTHING.
See CONSTITUTION OF NORWAY.
ODENATHUS, The rule at Palmyra of.
See PALMYRA: THE RISE AND THE FALL.
ODEUM AT ATHENS, The.
"Pericles built, at the south-eastern base of the citadel, the Odeum, which differed from the neighbouring theatre in this, that the former was a covered space, in which musical performances took place before a less numerous public. The roof, shaped like a tent, was accounted an imitation of the gorgeous tent pitched of old by Xerxes upon the soil of Attica."
_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 3, chapter 3._
ODOACER, and the end of the line of Roman Emperors in the West.
See ROME: A. D. 455-476; and 488-526.
ODYSSEY, The.
See HOMER.
ŒA.
See LEPTIS MAGNA.
ŒCUMENICAL, OR ECUMENICAL, COUNCIL.
A general or universal council of the entire Christian Church. Twenty such councils are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.
See COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH.
{2392}
ŒKIST.
The chief-founder of a Greek colonial city,—the leader of a colonizing settlement, —was so entitled.
_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 47._
OELAND, Naval battle of (1713).
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1707-1718.
ŒNOË, Battle of.
A battle of some importance in the Corinthian War, fought about B. C. 388, in the valley of the Charander, on the road from Argos to Mantinea. The Lacedæmonians were defeated by the Argives and Athenians.
_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 5, chapter 4._
ŒNOPHYTA, Battle of (B. C. 456).
See GREECE: B. C. 458-456.
ŒNOTRIANS, The.
"The territory [in Italy] known to Greek writers of the fifth century B. C. by the names of Œnotria on the coast of the Mediterranean, and Italia on that of the Gulfs of Tarentum and Squillace, included all that lies south of a line drawn across the breadth of the country, from the Gulf of Poseidonia (Pæstum) and the river Silarus on the Mediterranean Sea, to the north-west corner of the Gulf of Tarentum. It was bounded northwards by the Iapygians and Messapians, who occupied the Salentine peninsula and the country immediately adjoining to Tarentum, and by the Peuketians on the Ionic Gulf. … This Œnotrian or Pelasgian race were the population whom the Greek colonists found there on their arrival. They were known apparently under other names, such as the Sikels [Sicels], (mentioned even in the Odyssey, though their exact locality in that poem cannot be ascertained) the Italians, or Itali, properly so called—the Morgetes,—and the Chaones,—all of them names of tribes either cognate or subdivisional. The Chaones or Chaonians are also found, not only in Italy, but in Epirus, as one of the most considerable of the Epirotic tribes. … From hence, and from some other similarities of name, it has been imagined that Epirots, Œnotrians, Sikels, &c., were all names of cognate people, and all entitled to be comprehended under the generic appellation of Pelasgi. That they belonged to the same ethnical kindred there seems fair reason to presume, and also that in point of language, manners, and character, they were not very widely separated from the ruder branches of the Hellenic race. It would appear, too (as far as any judgment can be formed on a point essentially obscure) that the Œnotrians were ethnically akin to the primitive population of Rome and Latium on one side, as they were to the Epirots on the other; and that tribes of this race, comprising Sikels and Itali properly so called, as sections, had at one time occupied most of the territory from the left bank of the river Tiber southward between the Appenines and the Mediterranean."
_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 22._
OESTERREICH.
See AUSTRIA.
ŒTA.
See THESSALY.
OFEN, Sieges and capture of (1684-1686).
See HUNGARY: A. D. 1683-1699.
OFFA, King of Mercia, A. D. 758-794.
OFFA'S DYKE.
An earthen rampart which King Offa, of Mercia, in the eighth century, built from the mouth of the Wye to the mouth of the Tee, to divide his kingdom from Wales and protect it from Welsh incursions. A few remains of it are still to be seen.
_J. Rhys, Celtic Britain._
OGALALAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.
OGAM.
See OGHAM.
OGDEN TRACT, The.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1786-1799.
OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS.
"In the south and south-western counties of Ireland are to be found, in considerable numbers, a class of inscribed monuments, to which the attention of Irish archæologists has been from time to time directed, but with comparatively little result. … They [the inscriptions] are found engraved on pillar stones in that archaic character known to Irish philologists as the Ogham, properly pronounced Oum, and in an ancient dialect of the Gaedhelic (Gaelic). These monuments are almost exclusively found in the counties of Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, numbering, as far as I have been able to ascertain, 147; the rest of Ireland supplies 13. … Again it is worthy of remark, that while 29 Irish counties cannot boast of an Ogham monument, they have been found in England, Wales, and Scotland. In Devonshire, at Fardel, a stone has been discovered bearing not only a fine and well-preserved Ogham inscription, but also one in Romano-British letters. It is now deposited in the British Museum. … The Ogham letters, as found on Megalithic monuments, are formed by certain combinations of a simple short line, placed in reference to one continuous line, called the fleasg, or stem line; these combinations range from one to five, and their values depend upon their being placed above, across, or below the stem line; there are five consonants above, five consonants below, and five consonants across the line, two of which, NG and ST are double, and scarcely ever used. The vowels are represented by oval dots, or very short lines across the stem line. … The characters in general use on the monuments are 18 in number. … It may be expected from me that I should offer some conjecture as to the probable age of this mode of writing. This, I honestly acknowledge, I am unable to do, even approximately. … I am however decided in one view, and it is this, that the Ogham was introduced into Ireland long anterior to Christianity, by a powerful colony who landed on the south-west coast, who spread themselves along the southern and round the eastern shores, who ultimately conquered or settled the whole island, imposing their language upon the aborigines, if such preceded them."
_R. R. Brash, Trans. Int. Cong. of Prehistoric Archæology, 1868._
ALSO IN: _R. R. Brash, Ogam Inscribed Monuments._
OGLETHORPE'S GEORGIA COLONY.
See GEORGIA: A. D. 1732-1739.
OGULNIAN LAW, The.
See ROME: B. C. 300.
OGYGIA.
See IRELAND: THE NAME.
----------OHIO: Start--------
OHIO: The Name.
"The words Ohio, Ontario, and Onontio (or Yonnondio)—which should properly be pronounced as if written 'Oheeyo,' 'Ontareeyo,' and 'Ononteeyo'—are commonly rendered 'Beautiful River,' 'Beautiful Lake,' 'Beautiful Mountain.' This, doubtless, is the meaning which each of the words conveys to an Iroquois of the present day, unless he belongs to the Tuscarora tribe. But there can be no doubt that the termination 'īo' (otherwise written 'iyo,' 'iio,' 'eeyo,' etc.) had originally the sense, not of 'beautiful,' but of 'great.' … Ontario is derived from the Huron 'yontare,' or 'ontare,' lake (Iroquois, 'oniatare'), with this termination. … Ohio, in like manner, is derived, as M. Cuoq in the valuable notes to his Lexicon (p. 159) informs us, from the obsolete 'ohia,' river, now only used in the compound form 'ohionha.'"
_H. Hale, The Iroquois Book of Rites, appendix, note B._
{2393}
OHIO: (Valley): The aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICA, PREHISTORIC; AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, ALLEGHANS, DELAWARES, SHAWANESE.
OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1700-1735. The beginnings of French Occupation.
See CANADA: A. D. 1700-1735.
OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1748-1754. The first movements of the struggle of French and English for possession.
"The close of King George's War was marked by an extraordinary development of interest in the Western country. The Pennsylvanians and Virginians had worked their way well up to the eastern foot-hills of the last range of mountains separating them from the interior. Even the Connecticut men were ready to overleap the province of New York and take possession of the Susquehanna. The time for the English colonists to attempt the Great Mountains in force had been long in coming, but it had plainly arrived. In 1748 the Ingles-Draper settlement, the first regular settlement of English-speaking men on the Western waters, was made at 'Draper's Meadow,' on the New River, a branch of the Kanawha. The same year Dr. Thomas Walker, accompanied by a number of Virginia gentlemen and a party of hunters, made their way by Southwestern Virginia into Kentucky and Tennessee. … The same year the Ohio company, consisting of thirteen prominent Virginians and Marylanders, and one London merchant, was formed. Its avowed objects were to speculate in Western lands, and to carry on trade on an extensive scale with the Indians. It does not appear to have contemplated the settlement of a new colony. The company obtained from the crown a conditional grant of 500,000 acres of land in the Ohio Valley, to be located mainly between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers, and it ordered large shipments of goods for the Indian trade from London. … In 1750 the company sent Christopher Gist, a veteran woodsman and trader living on the Yadkin, down the northern side of the Ohio, with instructions, as Mr. Bancroft summarizes them, 'to examine the Western country as far as the Falls of the Ohio; to look for a large tract of good level land; to mark the passes in the mountains; to trace the courses of the rivers; to count the falls; to observe the strength of the Indian nations.' Under these instructions, Gist made the first English exploration of Southern Ohio of which we have any report. The next year he made a similar exploration of the country south of the Ohio, as far as the Great Kanawha. … Gist's reports of his explorations added to the growing interest in the over-mountain country. At that time the Ohio Valley was waste and unoccupied, save by the savages, but adventurous traders, mostly Scotch-Irish, and commonly men of reckless character and loose morals, made trading excursions as far as the River Miami. The Indian town of Pickawillany, on the upper waters of that stream, became a great centre of English trade and influence. Another evidence of the growing interest in the West is the fact that the colonial authorities, in every direction, were seeking to obtain Indian titles to the Western lands, and to bind the Indians to the English by treaties. The Iroquois had long claimed, by right of conquest, the country from the Cumberland Mountains to the Lower Lakes and the Mississippi, and for many years the authorities of New York had been steadily seeking to gain a firm treaty-hold of that country. In 1684, the Iroquois, at Albany, placed themselves under the protection of King Charles and the Duke of York [see NEW YORK: A. D. 1684]; in 1726, they conveyed all their lands in trust to England [see NEW YORK: A. D. 1726], to be protected and defended by his Majesty to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs, which was an acknowledgment by the Indians of what the French had acknowledged thirteen years before at Utrecht. In 1744, the very year that King George's War began, the deputies of the Iroquois at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, confirmed to Maryland the lands within that province, and made to Virginia a deed that covered the whole West as effectually as the Virginian interpretation of the charter of 1609 [see VIRGINIA: A. D. 1744]. … This treaty is of the greatest importance in subsequent history; it is the starting-point of later negotiations with the Indians concerning Western lands. It gave the English their first real treaty-hold upon the West; and it stands in all the statements of the English claim to the Western country, side by side with the Cabot voyages. … There was, indeed, no small amount of dissension among the colonies, and it must not be supposed that they were all working together to effect a common purpose, The royal governors could not agree. There were bitter dissensions between governors and assemblies. Colony was jealous of colony. … Fortunately, the cause of England and the colonies was not abandoned to politicians. The time had come for the Anglo-Saxon column, that had been so long in reaching them, to pass the Endless Mountains; and the logic of events swept everything into the Westward current. In the years following the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle the French were not idle. Galissonière, the governor of Canada, thoroughly comprehended what was at stake. In 1749 he sent Cèloron de Bienville into the Ohio Valley, with a suitable escort of whites and savages, to take formal possession of the valley in the name of the King of France, to propitiate the Indians, and in all ways short of actual warfare to thwart the English plans. Bienville crossed the portage from Lake Erie to Lake Chautauqua, the easternmost of the portages from the Lakes to the southern streams ever used by the French, and made his way by the Alleghany River and the Ohio as far as the Miami, and returned by the Maumee and Lake Erie to Montreal. His report to the governor was anything but reassuring. He found the English traders swarming in the valley, and the Indians generally well disposed to the English. Nor did French interests improve the two or three succeeding years. The Marquis Duquesne, who succeeded Galissonière, soon discovered the drift of events. He saw the necessity of action; he was clothed with power to act, and he was a man of action, And so, early in the year 1753, while the English governors and assemblies were still hesitating and disputing, he sent a strong force by Lake Ontario and Niagara to seize and hold the northeastern branches of the Ohio. This was a master stroke: unless recalled, it would lead to war; and Duquesne was not the man to recall it. {2394} This force, passing over the portage between Presque Isle and French Creek, constructed Forts Le Bœuf and Venango, the second at the confluence of French Creek and the Alleghany River."
_B. A. Hinsdale, The Old Northwest,
ALSO IN: _J. H. Perkins, Annals of the West,
_B. Fernow The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days,