A council is an assembly met for deliberation, or to give advice. The term specially applies to an assembly of the representatives of independent churches, convened for deliberation and the enactment of canons or ecclesiastical laws. The four general or oecumenical councils recognized by all churches are: 1, the Council of Nice, in 325, by which the dogma respecting the Son of God was settled; 2, that of Constantinople, 381, by which the doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost was decided; 3, that of Ephesus, 431; and 4, that of Chalcedon, 451; in which two last the doctrine of the union of the divine and human nature in Christ was more precisely determined.
Among the principal Latin councils are that of Clermont (1096), in the reign of Urban II, in which the first crusade was resolved upon; the Council of Constance, the most numerous of all the councils, held in 1414, which pronounced the condemnation of John Huss (1415), and of Jerome of Prague (1416); the Council of Basel, in 1431, which intended a reformation, if not in the doctrines, yet in the constitution and discipline of the church; and the Council of Trent, which began its session in 1545, and laboured chiefly to confirm the doctrines of the Catholic Church against the Protestants. On the 8th of December, 1869, an oecumenical council, summoned by a bull of Pope Pius IX, assembled at Rome. This council adopted a dogmatic Decree or Constitutio de Fide, and a Constitutio de Ecolesia, the most important article of which latter declares the infallibility of the pope when speaking ex cathedra.
The Council of Constance was a general council of the Church of Rome, held between 1414 and 1418. The German emperor, the pope, 33 cardinals, 3 patriarchs, 47 archbishops, 145 bishops, 124 abbots, 750 doctors, and about 18,000 priests and monks, besides many princes and counts, were present at this assembly, which condemned to deathHuss and Jerome of Prague, expelled the rival popes John XXIII, Gregory XII, and Benedict XIII, and elected Martin V to the papal chair. Research Council of Constance
Albert Durer was a German painter, designer, sculptor, and engraver on wood and metal. He was born in 1471 at Nurnberg and died in 1528. His father was a skilful goldsmith of Hungary. In 1486 he left his father's trade and became an apprentice of Michael Wohlgemuth, then the best painter in Nurnberg. Having finished his studies he entered upon his 'wanderjahre,' the usual course of travels of a German youth. On his return to Nurnberg he married the daughter of Hans Frey, a mechanic, who has been falsely accused for centuries of embittering his life and bringing him to his grave. In 1505 he went to Venice to improve himself in his art.
His abilities excited envy and admiration. He painted the Martyrdom of Bartholomew for St. Mark's church, which painting was purchased by the Emperor Rudolph and removed to Prague. He also travelled to Bologna, to improve bisknowledge of perspective. On his return to Nurnberg his fame spread far and wide. Maximilian I appointed him his court-painter, and Charles V confirmed him in this office.
All the artists and learned men of his time honoured and loved him, and for many years he was one of the chief burghers of his native town. Profound application and great facility in the mechanical part of his art were the characteristics of Albert Durer, and enabled him to exert a great influence on German art. He was the first in Germany who taught the rules of perspective, and of the proportions of the human figure. He not only made use of the burin, like his predecessors, but was also among the first to practice etching and invented the method of printing woodcuts with two colours.
Among his masterpieces in painting are a Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, an Adoration of the Magi, and portraits of Raphael, Erasmus, and Melanchthon, who were his friends. Among his best engravings on copper are his Fortune, Melancholy, Adam and Eve in Paradise, St. Hubert, St. Jerome, and the Smaller Passion (so called), in sixteen plates. Among his best engravings on wood are the Greater Passion (so called), in thirteen plates; the Smaller Passion, with the frontispiece, thirty-seven pieces; the Revelation of St. John, with the frontispiece, fifteen plates; the Life of Mary, two prints, with the frontispiece. Albert Durer has also much merit as a writer, and published works on Human Proportion, Fortification, and the Use of the Compass and Square. Research Albert Durer
Aloys Senefelder (Alois Senefelder) was a German writer and the inventor of lithography. He was born in 1771 at Prague, Austria and died in 1834. As a writer, he printed and published his own books and it while was while experimenting with a means of printing engravings that he discovered a method of printing using a slab of Kelheim stone, which he improved and established as a commercial undertaking. Research Aloys Senefelder
Antonin Dvorak (Anton Dvorak) was a Czech composer. He was born in 1841 at Kralup and died in 1904. He studied at the Prague Conservatoire and became a member of the orchestra in the Bohemian Theatre at Prague, and in 1873 was appointed organist of Saint Aldbert's Church in Prague. From 1892 to 1899 he was director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, and in 1901 was appointed director of the PragueConservatory. He composed several operas on national Bohemian subjects, songs, orchestral arrangements of Bohemian dances, several symphonies, a Stabat Mater, a cantata (The Spectre Bride), and an oratorio (St. Ludmilla). Research Antonin Dvorak
The apostles were the twelve men whom Jesus supposedly selected to attend him during his ministry, and to promulgate his religion. Their names were as follows: Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother; James, and John his brother, sons of Zebedee; Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew; James, the son of Alpheus; Lebbeus his brother, called Judas or Jude; Simon, the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot. To these were subsequently added Matthias (chosen by lot in place of Judas Iscariot) and Paul. The Bible gives the name of apostle to Barnabas also, who accompanied Paul on his missions. In a wider sense those preachers who first taught Christianity in heathen countries are sometimes termed apostles; for example, St Denis, the apostle of the Gauls; St Boniface, the apostle of Germany; St Augustin, the apostle of England; Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies; Adalbert of Prague, apostle of Prussia Proper. Their subsequent history is only imperfectly known. According to one interpretation of Matthew XVI 18 Christ seems to appoint St Peter the first of the apostles; and the pope claims supreme authority from the power which Christ thus gave to St Peter, of whom all the popes, according to the Catholic dogma, are successors in an uninterrupted line. Research Apostles
The Bathori were a Hungarian family, which gave Transylvania five princes, and Poland one of its greatest kings. The more important members were: Stephen born in 1532, elected Prince of Transylvania in 1571, on the death of Zapolya, and in 1575 king of Poland. He accomplished many internal reforms, recovered the Polish territories in possession of the Czar of Muscovy, and reigned prosperously until his death in 1586.
Sigismund, nephew of Stephen, educated by the Jesuits, became waiwode or prince of Transylvania in 1581, shook off the Ottoman yoke, and had begun to give hopes of reigning gloriously when he resigned his dominions to the emperor Rudolph II, in return for two principalities in Silesia, a cardinal's hat, and a pension. Availing himself, however, of an invitation by the Transylvanians, he returned, and placed himself under the protection of the Porte, but was defeated by the Imperialists in every battle, and finally sent to Prague, where he died almost forgotten in 1613.
Elizabeth, niece of Stephen, king of Poland, and wife of Count Nadasdy, of Hungary. She is said to have bathed in the blood of 300 young girls in the hope of renewing her youth, and to have committed other attrocities. She was latterly seized and confined until her death in 1614. Research Bathori
Charles IV was King of Spain. He was born in 1748 at Naples and died in 1819. He succeeded his brother Ferdinand VI to the throne in 1788, was all his life completely under the influence of his wife and her paramour Godoy. In 1808 Charles IV abdicated in favour of Napoleon.
Charles IV was Emperor of Germany. He was born in 1316 and died in 1378. Of the house of Luxemburg, he was the son of King John of Bohemia. In 1346 he was elected emperor by five of the electoral princes, while the actual emperor Louis the Bavarian was still alive. On the death of the latter a part of the electors elected Count Gunther of Schwarzburg, who soon after died; and Charles IV at length won over his enemies, and was elected and consecrated emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1354 he went to Italy and was crowned king of Italy at Milan, and emperor at Rome the year following. On his return to Germany in 1356 Charles issued his Golden Bull regulating the election of the German emperors.
Charles IV was artful, but vacillating, and careless of all interests but those of his own family and his hereditary kingdom of Bohemia. In Germany bands of robbers plundered the country, and the fiefs of the empire were alienated. In Italy Charles IV sold states and cities to the highest bidder, or if they themselves offered most, made them independent republics. But Bohemia flourished during his reign. He encouraged trade, industry, and agriculture, made Prague a great city, and established there the first German university in 1348. Research Charles IV
Charles VII (Charles The Victorious) was king of France. He was born in 1403 and died in 1461. He was crowned in 1422 after the death of his father, Charles VI, in spite of the treaty of Troyes which gave Henry V of England claim to the throne following his conquest of the country. He made little progress against the English until the advent of Joan of Arc in 1429.
Charles VII was Emperor of Germany. He was born in 1697 and died in 1745. He was the son of Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria. On the death of Charles VI of Germany he refused to acknowledge Maria Theresa as heiress and in support of his own claims he invaded Austria with an army, took Prague and was crowned King of Bohemia and in 1742 was elected Emperor. But fortune soon deserted him. The armies of Maria Theresa reconquered all Upper Austria, and overwhelmed Bavaria. Charles fled to Frankfurt, and returning to Munich in 1744, died there the following year. Research Charles VII
Christoph Willibald Ritter Von Gluck was a German composer of operas. He was born in 1714 at Bavaria and died in 1787. When a boy he became a chorister, and acquired some skill on the harpsichord and organ. At eighteen years of age he went to Prague to enter the university, where he maintained himself by the exercise of his musical gifts.
By degrees he attracted the attention of several Bohemian nobles, and Prince Lobkowitz assisted him when he went to Vienna to pursue his musical studies, The Lombardian prince di Melzi then took him to Milan, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Sammartini, a famous organist and composer.
In 1740 he was employed to compose an opera for the court theatre of Milan. The text chosen for him was the Artaxerxes of Metastasio, and the opera was a triumph, in spite of the innovations of style which the author introduced.
In 1742 he wrote Demofoonte for Milan; Demetrio and Ipermnestra for Venice; in 1743 Artamene for Cremona, and Siface for Milan; in 1744 Fedra for the same theatre;
and in 1745 Allessandro nell' Indie for Turin, all founded on classical subjects. Invited to London, he produced La Caduta de Giganti (Fall of the Giants), which was not a success. In London Gluck became deeply impressed with the majestic character of Handel's airs and choruses, and with the simple but natural dramatic style of Dr. Arne. This visit to London, and a short trip to Paris, helped to develop that lyric genius which was destined to create a new order of musical composition.
After producing many pieces of the usual class of opera at Paris, Vienna, Rome, and Naples, he returned to Vienna. The Trionfo di Glelia (1762) was the last of his operas in his first style. However well pleased the public was with his music, he was not so. He felt himself continually cramped by the character of the libretti of Metastasio, who had hitherto furnished him with texts, which were rather lyrical dramatic poems than genuine dramas. The composer at last found a poet in the person of Raniero Calzabigi, who sympathized with him in his ideas, and the result of their co-operation was the Orfeo ed Euridice, performed publicly for the first time in 1762. This opera marked a new era. The fame it acquired at once it never lost. Various works of lighter character filled up the interval between this year and 1766, when his second great opera of Alceste was produced, which raised public feeling to the point of enthusiasm.
In his dedication of this work to the Grand-duke Leopold of Tuscany he enunciates the principles of the new school, which shortly were that the opera should be a musical drama, not a concert in costume; that the text must be descriptive of real passion; that the music must voice fully the spirit of the text; that in accompaniments the instruments must be used to strengthen the expression of the vocal parts by their peculiar characters, or to heighten the general dramatic effect by employing them in contrast to the voice. Gluck now became convinced that his system must be tested on a wider field, and believed that the Royal Opera in Paris offered all a composer could demand. A Frenchman of culture and genius, Bailly du Rollet, adapted Racine's Iphigenie en Aulide for musical treatment, and after a considerable amount of opposition from the musical critics of the old Italian and French school, at that time represented in Paris by Piccini, the piece was brought out in 1774. The intensest excitement prevailed; all Paris took sides, and for a long time the Gluckists and Piccinists contended with much bitterness, but ultimately the victory remained with the Gluckists.
Shortly after the production of the Iphigenie, the Orfeo was adapted for and put on the French stage, and was followed by the Armide in 1777, by the Iphigenie en Tauride in 1779, Gluck's last important work, and by many considered his greatest. It ends the series of works which gave a direction to the operatic genius of Mehul and Cherubini in France, and of Mozart and Beethoven in Germany. Research Christoph Von Gluck
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Council of Constance
