chapter 14._

OSTMEN.

See NORMANS: 10-13TH CENTURIES.

OSTRACH, Battle of (1799).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799.(AUGUST-APRIL).

OSTRACISM.

"The state [Athens] required means of legally removing persons who, by an excess of influence and adherents, virtually put an end to the equality among the citizens established by law, and thus threatened the state with a revival of party-rule. For this purpose, in the days of Clisthenes, and probably under his influence, the institution of ostracism, or judgment by potsherds, was established. By virtue of it the people were themselves to protect civic equality, and by a public vote remove from among them whoever seemed dangerous to them. For such a sentence, however, besides a public preliminary discussion, the unanimous vote of six thousand citizens was required. The honour and property of the exile remained untouched, and the banishment itself was only pronounced for a term of ten years."

_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 2, chapter 2 (volume 1)._

"The procedure (in ostracism] was as follows: —Every year, in the sixth or seventh Prytany, the question was put to the people whether it desired ostracism to be put in force or not. Hereupon of course orators came forward to support or oppose the proposal. The former they could only do by designating particular persons as sources of impending danger to freedom, or of confusion and injury to the commonwealth; in opposition to them, on the other side, the persons thus designated, and anyone besides who desired it, were of course free to deny the danger, and to show that the anxiety was unfounded. If the people decided in favour of putting the ostracism in force, a day was appointed on which it was to take place. On this day the people assembled at the market, where an enclosure was erected with ten different entrances and accordingly, it is probable, the same number of divisions for the several Phylæ. Every citizen entitled to a vote wrote the name of the person he desired to have banished from the state upon a potsherd. … At one of the ten entrances the potsherds were put into the hands of the magistrates posted there, the Prytanes and the nine Archons, and when the voting was completed were counted one by one. The man whose name was found written on at least six thousand potsherds was obliged to leave the country within ten days at latest."

_G. F. Schömann, Antiquities of Greece, part 3, chapter 3._

{2405}

OSTROGOTHS.

See GOTHS.

OSTROLENKA, Battle of (1831).

See POLAND: A. D. 1830-1832.

OSTROVNO, Battle of.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

OSWALD, King of Northumbria, A. D. 635-642.

----------OSWEGO: Start--------

OSWEGO: A. D. 1722. Fort built by the English.

See CANADA: A. D. 1700-1735.

OSWEGO: A. D. 1755. English position strengthened.

See CANADA: A. D. 1755 (AUGUST-OCTOBER).

OSWEGO: A. D. 1756. The three forts taken by the French.

See CANADA: A. D. 1756-1757.

OSWEGO: A. D. 1759. Reoccupied by the English.

See CANADA: A. D. 1759.

OSWEGO: A. D. 1783-1796. Retained by the English after peace with the United States. Final surrender.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1783-1796; and 1794-1795.

----------OSWEGO: End--------

OSWI, King of Northumbria, A. D. 655-670.

OTADENI, OTTEDENI, The.

One of the tribes in Britain whose territory lay between the Roman wall and the Firth of Forth. Mr. Skene thinks they were the same people who are mentioned in the 4th century as the "Attacotti."

_W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, volume l._

See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.

OTCHAKOF, Siege of (1737).

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1725-1739.

OTFORD, Battle of.

Won by Edmund Ironsides, A. D. 1016, over Cnut, or Canute, the Danish claimant of the English crown.

OTHMAN, Caliph, A. D. 643-655.

Othman, or Osman, founder of the Ottoman or Osmanli dynasty of Turkish Sultans, 1307-1325.

Othman II., Turkish Sultan, 1618-1622.

Othman III., Turkish Sultan, 1754-1757.

OTHO, Roman Emperor, A. D. 69.

Otho (of Bavaria), King of Hungary, 1305-1307.

Otho, or Otto I. (called the Great), King of the East Franks (Germany), 936-973; King of Lombardy, and Emperor, 962-973.

Otho II., King of the East Franks (Germany), King of Italy, and Emperor, 967-983.

Otho Ill., King of the East Franks (Germany), 983-1002; King of Italy and Emperor, 996-1002.

Otho IV., King of Germany, 1208-1212; Emperor, 1209-1212.

OTHRYS.

See THESSALY.

OTIS, James, The speech of, against Writs of Assistance.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1761.

OTOES, OTTOES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY, and SIOUAN FAMILY.

OTOMIS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: OTOMIS.

OTRANTO: Taken by the Turks (1480).

See TURKS: A. D. 1451-1481.

OTTAWA, Canada: The founding of the City.

"In 1826 the village of Bytown, now Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion of Canada, was founded. The origin of this beautiful city was this: Colonel By, an officer of the Royal Engineers, came to survey the country with a view of making a canal to connect the tidal waters of the St. Lawrence with the great lakes of Canada. After various explorations, an inland route up the Ottawa to the Rideau affluent, and thence by a ship canal to Kingston on Lake Ontario, was chosen. Colonel By made his headquarters where the proposed canal was to descend, by eight locks, a steep declivity of 90 feet to the Ottawa River. 'The spot itself was wonderfully beautiful.' … It was the centre of a vast lumber-trade, and had expanded by 1858 to a large town."

_W. P. Greswell, History of the Dominion of Canada, page 168._

OTTAWAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, and OJIBWAS; also PONTIAC'S WAR.

OTTERBURN, Battle of.

This famous battle was fought, August 19, 1388, between a small force of Scots, harrying the border, under Earl Douglas and a hastily assembled body of English led by Sir Henry Percy, the famous Hotspur. The English, making a night attack on the Scottish camp, not far from Newcastle, were terribly beaten, and Hotspur was taken prisoner; but Douglas fell mortally wounded. The battle was a renowned encounter of knightly warriors, and greatly interested the historians of the age. It is narrated in Froissart's chronicles (volume 3, chapter 126), and is believed to be the action sung of in the famous old ballad of Chevy Chase, or the "Hunting of the Cheviot."

_J. H. Burton, History of Scotland,