Among the ancient Romans, auspices, were strictly omens or auguries derived from birds, though the term was also used in a wider sense. Nothing of importance was done without taking the auspices, which, however, simply showed whether the enterprise was likely to result successfully or not, without supplying any further information. Magistrates possessed the right of taking the auspices, in which they were usually assisted by an augur. Before a war or campaign a Roman general always took the auspices, and hence the operations were said to be carried out 'under his auspices.' Research Auspices
British Boroughs originated as Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman towns from the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxon invaders who arrived in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries were farmers, not interested in repairing the roads or maintaining the Roman towns which fell into partial disuse. The Angle-Saxons at first regarded towns as 'the defences of slavery and the graves of freedom... the work of giants seen from afar'. However, when the Vikings from Scandinavia overran the east and north of the country in the ninth century, they turned to town life in the area which they conquered, the Danelaw. The commercial life of York, their headquarters from 876, was revived by Vikingenterprise, the Roman walls of Chester were rebuilt by a Viking chief, and the East Midlands came under the jurisdiction of the five newly-created Scandinavian boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Stamford and Lincoln.
The Angle-Saxons, under their kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder, not to be outdone, also created boroughs similar to those of the Scandinavian invaders, at places such as Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford and Tamworth, and despite many setbacks, re-conquered all the territory which the Scandinavians had acquired. In 1066, the Normans in their turn came to Britain as conquering invaders, and also built new boroughs and enlarged old ones.
The Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman borough had varied functions. It was foremost a defended place or strong point surrounded by an earthen bank of oval or square shape, or by the patched-up wall of an older Roman town. In each new borough, the King settled a permanent garrison with ample reserves, sustained by landowners on whom was laid the obligation of defending the borough in time of need. In return for this, the borough and its burgesses were protected by the King's special peace. The borough was also a trading centre, with a market place and often a mint for coins. When King Edward the Elder ordained that all buying and selling should take place in a market town in the presence of a town-reeve, he ensured the concentration of trading in the growing boroughs. The borough was also an administrative centre. Indeed, many British modern counties came into being as the territories allocated by the King to the support of the defences and trading facilities of a borough, e.g. Nottinghamshire was the support for the county town of Nottingham, as its name shows. Research Boroughs
The British Technology Group (BTG) is a government-appointed organisation formed in 1981 by the merger of the National Enterprise Board (NEB) and the National Research and Development Corporation (NRDC). Its purpose is to encourage technological development by providing finance for new scientific and engineering products and processes discovered through research at UK universities, polytechnics, research councils, and government research establishments. Research British Technology Group
Ali Bey was a ruler of Egypt. He was born in 1728 in the Caucasus and died in 1773. He was taken to Cairo and sold as a slave, but having entered the force of the Mamelukes, and attained the first dignity among them, he succeeded in making himself virtual governor of Egypt. He now refused the customary tribute to the Porte, and coined money in his own name. In 1769 he took advantage of a war in which the Porte was then engaged with Russia, to endeavour to add Syria and Palestine to his Egyptian dominion, and in this he had almost succeeded, when the defection of his own adopted son Mohammed Bey drove him from Egypt. Joining his ally Sheikh Daher in Syria, he still pursued his plans of conquest with remarkable success, until in 1773 he was induced to make the attempt to recover Egypt with insufficient means. In a battle near Cairo his army was completely defeated and he himself taken prisoner, dying a few days afterwards either of his wounds or by poison.
*Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha was an Albanian chief. He was born in 1741 and died in 1822. A bold and able, but ferocious and unscrupulous Albanian, he was the son of an Albanian chief, who was deprived of his territories by rapacious neighbours. Ali by his enterprise and success, and by his entire want of scruple, got possession of more than his father had lost, and made himself master of a large part of Albania, including Yanma, which the Porte sanctioned his holding, with the title of pasha. He now as a ruler displayed excellent qualities, putting an end to brigandage and anarchy, making roads, and encouraging commerce. He still farther extended his sway by subduing the brave Suliotes of Epirus, whom he conquered in 1803, after a three years' war. He had long been aiming at independent sovereignty, and had intrigued alternately with England, France, and Russia. Latterly he was almost independent of the Porte, which at length determined to put an end to his power; and in 1820 Sultan Mahmoud pronounced his deposition. Ali resisted several pashas who were sent to carry out this decision, only surrendering at last in 1822, on receiving assurances that his life and property should be granted him. Faith was not kept with him, however; he was killed, and his head was cut off and conveyed to Constantinople, while his treasures were seized by the Porte. Research Ali Bey
Andrew Fletcher was a Scottish political writer. He was born in 1653 and died in 1716. The son of Sir Robert Fletcher, of Saltoun, he opposed the court in the Scottish parliament, and had to retire to Holland. In 1685 he joined the enterprise of the Duke of Monmouth. He afterwards took refuge in Spain and in Hungary, and returned to England at the Revolution. He brought forward measures to secure the religion and liberties of the nation on the death of the queen (Anne), and carried various limitations of the prerogative, forming part of the Act of Security, rendered nugatory by the Scottish union, which he vehemently opposed. Research Andrew Fletcher
The Carthaginians were a powerful Phoenician people based in the city of Carthage. Carthage was the most famous city of Africa in antiquity, capital of a rich and powerful commercial republic, situated in the territory now belonging to Libya. Carthage was the latest of the Phoenician colonies in this district, and is supposed to have been founded by settlers from Tyre and from the neighbouring Utica about the middle of the 9th century BC. The story of Dido and the foundation of Carthage is mere legend or invention.
The history of Carthage falls naturally into three epochs. The first, from the foundation to 410 BC, comprises the rise and culmination of Carthaginian power; the second, from 410 to 265 BC, is the period of the wars with the Sicilian Greeks; the third, from 265 to 146 BC, the period of the wars with Rome, ending with the fall of Carthage.
The rise of Carthage may be attributed to the superiority of her site for commercial purposes, and the enterprise of her inhabitants, which soon acquired for her an ascendency over the earlier Tyrian colonies in the district, Utica, Tunis, Hippo, Septis, and Hadrumetum, Her relations with the native populations, Libyans and nomads, were those of a superior with inferior races. Some of them were directly subject to Carthage, others contributed large sums as tribute, and Libyans formed the main body of infantry as nomads of cavalry in the Carthaginian army. Besides these there were native Carthaginian colonies, small centres and supports for her great commercial system, sprinkled along the whole northern coast of Africa, from Cyrenaica on the east to the Straits of Gibraltar on the west.
In extending her commerce Carthage was naturally led to the conquest of the various islands which from their position might serve as entrepots for traffic with the northern shores of the Mediterranean. Sardinia was the first conquest of the Carthaginians, and its capital, Caralis, now Cagliari, was founded by them. Soon after they occupied Corsica, the Balearic, and many smaller islands in the Mediterranean. When the Persians under Xerxes invaded Greece the Carthaginians, who had already several settlements in the west of Sicily, co-operated by organizing a great expedition of 300,000 men against the Greek cities in Sicily. But the defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera by the Greeks under Gelon of Syracuse effectually checked their further progress (480 BC).
The war with the Greeks in Sicily was not renewed until 410. Hannibal, the son of Gisco, invaded Sicily, reduced first Selinus and Himera, and then Agrigentum. Syracuse itself was only saved a little later by a pestilence which enfeebled the army of Himiico (396). The struggle between the Greeks and the Carthaginians continued at intervals with varying success, its most remarkable events being the military successes of the Corinthian Timoleon (345-340) at Syracuse, and the invasion of the Carthaginian territory in Africa by Agathocles in 310 BC. After the death of Agathocles the Greeks called in Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to their aid, but notwithstanding numerous defeats (277-275 BC), the Carthaginians seemed, after the departure of Pyrrhus, to have the conquest of all Sicily at length within their power. The intervention of the Romans was now invoked, and with their invasion in 264 BC, the third period of Carthaginian history begins.
The first Punic war in which Rome and Carthage contended for the dominion of Sicily, was prolonged for twenty-three years, from 264 to 241 BC, and ended, through the exhaustion of the resources of Carthage, in her expulsion from the island. The loss of Sicily led to the acquisition of Spain for Carthage, which was almost solely the work of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal. The second Punic war, arising out of incidents connected with the Carthaginian conquests in Spain, and conducted on the side of the Carthaginians by the genius of Hannibal, and distinguished by his great march on Rome and the victories of Lake Trasimene, Trebia, and Cannae, lasted seventeen years, from 218 to 201 BC, and after just missing the overthrow of Rome, ended in the complete humiliation of Carthage. The policy of Rome in encouraging the African enemies of Carthage occasioned the third Punic war, in which Rome was the aggressor. This war, begun in 150 BC, and ended in 146 BC, resulted in the total destruction of Carthage.
The constitution of Carthage, like her history, remains in many points obscure. The name of king occurs in the Greek accounts of it, but the monarchical constitution, as commonly understood, never appears to have existed in Carthage. The officers called kings by the Greeks were two in number, the heads of an oligarchical republic, and were otherwise called Suffetes, the original name being considered identical with the Hebrew Shofetim, judges. These officers were chosen from the principal families, and were elected annually. There was a senate of 300, and a smaller body of thirty chosen from the senate, sometimes another smaller council of ten. In its later ages the state was divided by bitter factions, and liable to violent popular tumults. After the destruction of Carthage her territory became the Roman province of Africa.
Twenty-four years after her fall an unsuccessful attempt was made to rebuild Carthage by Caius Gracchus. This was finally accomplished by Augustus, and Roman Carthage became one of the most important cities of the empire. It was taken and destroyed by the Arabs in 638. The religion of the Carthaginians was that of their Phoenician ancestors. They worshipped Moloch or Baal, to whom they supposedly offered human sacrifices; Melkart, the patron deity of Tyre; Astarte, the Phoenician Venus, and other deities, which were mostly propitiated by allegedly cruel or lascivious rites, though these accounts are most likely exagerated propaganda by enemies of the Carthaginians. Research Carthaginians
Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was king of France. He was born in 742 and died in 814. His father was Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, son of Charles Martel. On the death of his father, in 768, he was crowned king, and divided the kingdom of the Franks with his younger brother Carloman, at whose death in 771, Charlemagne made himself master of the whole empire, which embraced, besides France, a large part of Germany. His first great enterprise was the conquest of the Saxons, a heathen nation living between the Weser and the Elbe, which he undertook in 772; but it was not until 803 that they were finally subdued, and brought to embrace Christianity. While he was combating the Saxons, PopeAdrian implored his assistance against Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Charlemagne immediately marched with his army to Italy, took Pavia, overthrew Desiderius, and was crowned King of Lombardy with the iron crown.
In 778 he repaired to Spain to assist a Moorish prince, and while returning his troops were surprised in the valley of Roncesvalles by the Biscayans, and the rear-guard defeated; Roland, one of the most famous warriors of those times, fell in the battle. As his power increased, he meditated more seriously the accomplishment of the plan of his ancestor, Charles Martel, to restore the Western Empire. Having gone to Italy to assist the pope, on Christmas-day 800 he was crowned and proclaimed Caesar and Augustus by Leo III.
His son Pepin, who had been made king of Italy, died in 810, and his death was followed the next year by that of Charles, his eldest son. Thus of his legitimate sons one only remained, Louis, king of Aquitania, whom Charlemagne adopted as his colleague in 813.
Charlemagne was a friend of learning, and deserves the name of restorer of the sciences and teacher of his people. He attracted by his liberality the most distinguished scholars to his court (among others, Alcuin, from England), and established an academy in his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, the sittings of which he attended with all the scientific and literary men of his court. He invited teachers of language and mathematics from Italy to the principal cities of the empire, and founded schools of theology and the liberal sciences in the monasteries. He strove to cultivate his mind by intercourse with scholars; and, to the time of his death, this intercourse remained his favourite recreation. His mother-tongue was a form of German, but he spoke several languages readily, especially Latin, and was naturally eloquent. He sought to improve the liturgy and church music, and attempted unsuccessfully to introduce uniformity of measures and weights.
He built a lighthouse at Boulogne, constructed several ports, encouraged agriculture, and enacted wise laws. He convened councils and parliaments, published capitularies, wrote many letters (some of which are still in existence), a grammar, and several Latin poems. His empire comprehended France, most of Catalonia, Navarre, and Aragon; the Netherlands, Germany as far as the Elbe, Saale, and Eider, Upper and Middle Italy, Istria, and a part of Sclavonia. In private life Charlemagne was exceedingly amiable; a good father and generous friend. In dress and habits he was plain and economical. His only excess was his love of women. In person he was strong and of great stature. He was succeeded by his son Louis le Debonnaire. Research Charlemagne
Christopher Columbus (real name Cristoforo Colombo, known in Spanish as Christoval Colon) was an Italian navigator. He was born in 1451 at Genoa and died in 1506. His father, Domenico Colombo, a poor wool-comber, gave him a careful education. He appears to have gone to sea at an early age and to have navigated all parts of the Mediterranean and some of the coasts beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. In 1470 we find him at Lisbon, where he married the daughter of Bartolommeo de Palestrello, a distinguished navigator. He had gradually come to the conclusion that there were unknown lands belonging to Eastern Asia separated from Europe by the Atlantic: whilst the Portuguese were seeking to reach India by a south-east course round Africa he was convinced that there must be a shorter way by the west. He applied in vain to Genoa for assistance, and equally fruitless were his endeavours to interest John II of Portugal in the enterprise. He then determined to apply to the Spanish court; and after many disappointments he induced Ferdinand and Isabella to equip and man three vessels for a voyage of discovery.
It was early in the morning of Friday, on the 3rd of August, 1492, that Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos, and after sailing for two months the expedition narrowly escaped failure. The variation of the needle so alarmed the crews that they were on the point of breaking out into open mutiny, and he was obliged to promise that he would turn back if three more days brought no discovery. On the third day (the 12th of October 1492) the island of Guanahani or San Salvador was sighted, which Christopher Columbus believed to belong to Eastern Asia and to be connected with India - a belief which he carried with him to his grave. Hence the mistaken name of Indians applied to the natives of America, and that of West Indies applied to the group of islands of which Guanahani forms one.
On landing Christopher Columbus threw himself upon his knees and kissed the earth, returning thanks to God. The natives collected round him in silent astonishment, and his men, ashamed of their disobedience and distrust, threw themselves at his feet, begging his forgiveness. Christopher Columbus, drawing his sword, planted the royal standard, and in the name of his sovereigns took possession of the country, which, in memory of his preservation, he called San Salvador. He then sailed in search of other lands, and discovered Cuba, St Domingo, and some other of the West India islands. Being so far successful, he built a fort at Hispaniola, Haiti, left some of his men there, and set out on his return to Europe, where he was received with almost royal honours.
In 1493 he set out on his second great voyage from Cadiz, with three large ships of heavy burden and fourteen caravels, carrying 1500 men. He discovered .the island of Dominica, and afterwards Mariegalante, Guadeloupe, and Porto Rico, and at length arrived at Hispaniola. Finding the colony destroyed, he built a fortified town, which he called, in honour of the queen, Isabella. He then left the island in order to make new discoveries, visited Jamaica, and returning after a voyage of five months, worn down with fatigue, found to his great joy that his brother Bartolommeo had arrived at Isabella with provisions and other supplies for the colony.
Meanwhile a general dissatisfaction had broken out among his companions, who, instead of the expected treasures, had found hardships and labour. This and news of calumnies being set on foot against him at home induced him to return to Spain, where his presence, and probably also the treasure he brought, silenced his enemies.
In May, 1498, he sailed with six vessels on his third voyage. Three of his vessels he sent direct to Hispaniola; with the three others he took a more southerly direction, and having discovered Trinidad and the continent of America, returned to Hispaniola, His colony had now been removed from Isabella, according to his orders, to the other side of the island, and a new fortress erected called St Domingo. Christopher Columbus found the colony in a state of confusion, but soon restored tranquillity. His enemies, in the meantime, endeavoured to convince his sovereigns that his plan was to make himself independent, and Christopher Columbus was not only displaced, but Francisco de Bobadilla, a new governor who had come from Spain, even sent him to that country in chains.
On his arrival in 1500 orders were sent directing him to be set at liberty and inviting him to court, but for this injurious treatment he never got redress, though great promises were made. After some time he was able to set out on his fourth and last voyage, in 1502, in four slender vessels supplied by the court. In this expedition he was accompanied by his brother Bartolommeo and his son Hernando. He encountered every imaginable disaster from storms and shipwreck, and returned to Spain, sick and exhausted, in 1504. The death of the queen soon followed, and he urged in vain on Ferdinand the fulfilment of his promises; but after two years of illness, humiliations, and despondency, Christopher Columbus died at Valladolid. His remains were transported, according to his will, to St Domingo, but on the cession of Hispaniola to France they were removed to Havana in Cuba in 1796. In 1899 they were carried back to Spain. Research Christopher Columbus
Emily Faithfull was an English philanthropist and women's rights campaigner. She was born in 1835 and died in 1895. She devoted herself to the cause of working women and women's right to employment. In 1860 she founded a printing office in London where women compositors were employed and her enterprise attracted the interest of Queen Victoria who made her Queen's printer in ordinary. In 1863 she founded the Victoria Magazine, to advocate the claims of women to remunerative employment. Research Emily Faithfull
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Auspices
