Barbarian (from the Greek, barbaros), was a name given by the Greeks, and afterwards by the Romans, to every one who spoke an unintelligible language; and hence coming to connote the idea of rude, illiterate, uncivilized. This word, therefore, did not always convey the idea of something odious or savage; thus Plautus calls Naevius a barbarous poet, because he had not written in Greek; and Cicero terms illiterate persons without taste 'barbarians.' Research Barbarian
The dissolution of the monasteries in England was carried out by Henry VIII between 1535 and 1539. This was an attack on Church property for three reasons. First, the monks were the main supporters of the Papal authority in England, and they were members of orders which were spread over Europe. It had proved possible to separate the English bishops and clergy from allegiance to the Pope; this was not possible with the monastic orders, which were international, not insular, institutions. The second reason was the wealth of the monasteries, which was the result of the pious bequest of many centuries. The cry against monastic wealth had been raised many times previously in English history, particularly by John Wycliffe and others from the time of Edward III and Richard II. The courtiers of Henry VIII and the rising middle class were greedy for land, and Henry VIII saw that by ministering to their greed he could make his new nobility and their new property a firm support of his Reformation. The third reason for ending the monasteries was
the reason given to Parliament: that the monks had outlived their day of usefulness and were abandoned to idleness and vice. There were over 600 religious houses in England, and no doubt there was some truth in this charge. Zealous churchmen had long known that all was not well with these ancient institutions. In Henry VII's reign the Oxford Reformers had rebuked monkish follies, and CardinalMorton had noted the 'incurable uselessness' of many of the smaller houses where the monks were idle and ignorant. CardinalWolsey had obtained a Papal Bull to visit the monasteries, and had begun to suppress some, intending to use their revenues for the benefit of education and the New Learning and to found new bishoprics. One of them, St. Frideswide's Priory at Oxford, he converted into Cardinal College (later Christ Church).
In 1535 Henry VIII made Thomas Cromwell his Vicar-General, 'with power to visit any monastery in England'. The character of Cromwell was sufficient guarantee that the visitation would not be conducted fairly. He knew what was expected of him; he was to be 'The Hammer of the Monks'. His agents hurried through England, visited some of the monasteries, and drew up an evil report. This report unfortunately no longer exists. Our only information is derived from Cromwell's note-books and from the letters of his agents, from which we may gather something of their methods. For example, Dr. Layton, vicar of Harrow-on-the-Hill, dashed through southern England from Gloucestershire to Rent between August and October 1535. He condemned monasteries wholesale, on insufficient evidence, although at the same time he did not scruple to accept bribes from some, or to help himself to plate and jewels from others.
However, Parliament was satisfied, and the country squires, anxious for the 'goods of the Church', shouted ' Down with them!' The Act dissolving 276 of the lesser monasteries of England in 1536 was the last important Act of the Reformation Parliament. In dissolving the smaller monasteries first, Henry VIII had cautiously tested his power. But his violent measures had by 1536 caused grave discontent, especially in the west and north, and in Parliament itself. His wholesale destruction of the smaller monasteries was followed by two popular uprisings. The first occurred in Lincolnshire, where the rebels were crushed by a military force under the Duke of Suffolk. The second rising, in Yorkshire in 1536, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, was much more serious. The following year the famous shrine of Becket at Canterbury was attacked. Thomas Becket was declared in April 1538 'a false saint and a traitor to the Supreme Head of the Church'; his bones were burnt; his shrine pillaged and its offerings confiscated.
Then Henry VIII was ready to turn his attention to the greater monasteries, although Parliament had saved them earlier because of their good conduct. Cromwell and his agents in 1539 began a persecution of the abbots: many were induced to surrender their abbeys to the king; others could only be reduced by methods of terror. The Abbots of Reading and Colchester were tried for treason; the Abbot of Glastonbury for felony. All three were executed. The odious methods of Cromwell are well shown in some notes left in his own handwriting: 'To see that the evidence be well sorted and the indictments well drawn against the said abbots. The Abbot of Reading to be sent down to be tried and executed at Reading with his accomplices. The Abbot of Glaston to be tried at Glaston, and also executed there with his accomplices.' The last Abbot of Glastonbury, a pious, venerable man beloved in the countryside, was executed with two of his brethren on GlastonburyTor, after a mock trial in November 1539. These ferocities had the desired effect: many less brave spirits gave in, and soon there were no monasteries left. The dissolution of 616 religious houses was the greatest revolution in the ownership of land in England since the Norman Conquest. The monastic income has been variously estimated at between one-fifth and one-third of the total rental of England.
This newly acquired wealth the king might have used in developing public works, such as education. Some of it was spent in re-building the Navy; but the king's own greed and the greed of courtiers swallowed most of the spoil. A thousand newly enriched families became the nobility on which Henry in future relied for support. The 'Abbey' where the descendants or successors of these Tudor families now live is a name to be found in many an English village. But sad indeed was the fate of the original buildings. Some, like the great church at Tewkesbury, have been preserved in the form of parish churches; others have been partly preserved to form cathedrals. But the greater number were ruthlessly destroyed by their new possessors, their roofs despoiled for the valuable lead, their walls made quarries for new buildings, their treasures scattered, and their ruins left desolate. Whatever defence may be made for the suppression of the monastic orders, no excuse can be offered for this orgy of destruction, which deprived England of some of her noblest monuments.
It is probable that at least 15000 persons were cast adrift. These people went to swell the already large number of the unemployed, for whom Tudor statesmanship could find no better relief than the savage punishments inflicted on thieves and vagabonds. Some of the monks were given benefices or pensioned by the Government, but the pensions were not always paid; the occupants of the lesser houses fared worse than those of the greater. The hospitality which the monks had always given to the poor was now removed. There was nothing to take its place, and many monks and nuns joined the ranks of those who had formerly subsisted on their charity. Many gaps were left in national life, for the abbeys, said Aske 'were one of the beauties of this realm to all men and strangers passing through the same; all gentlemen much succoured in their needs with money, and in nunneries their daughters brought up in virtue. And such abbeys as were near the danger of seabanks were great maintainers of sea-walls and dykes, builders of bridges and highways, and such other things for the commonwealth.' Research Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dasyure or Dasyurus are the brush-tailed opossums, a genus of plantigrade marsupials found in Australia and Tasmania. They are so named in contrast to the opossums of the New World (Didelphys), which have naked tails somewhat like rats. The ursine dasyure (Dasyurus ursinus) of Tasmania is about the size of a badger, but of a sturdier form, of a dull black colour, carnivorous, and of so savage a temper as to have gained for itself the alternative name of Diabolus ursinus, or Tasmanian Devil. Formerly it was most destructive to flocks and poultry-yards, but by the start of the 20th century it was nearly extirpated in inhabited districts. The various species of the genus have much the same nature and habits as the European polecat. Research Dasyure
The salmon (Salmo salar) is a fish of the Salmonidae family. Salmon are hatched in fresh water, and make for the sea, where most of their food is found, usually in their third year. When first hatched the infant salmon are known by the name of 'alevin'. They soon attain the 'parr' stage, being then olive-brown in colour with dark transverse bands and red spots. When two years old the silvery 'smelt' stage is attained.
Salmon generally re-enter the river to spawn for the first time when some three and a half years old during the autumn months, when they are known as ' Grilse'. On the way up-stream the fishfeed scarcely at all, and so lose much in condition. Often the journey is arduous, necessitating the leaping of falls and other obstacles. At this time the fish lose their silvery tint, and the males are known as 'red fish', the females as 'black fish'. Savage fights may take place between the males, and their jaws undergo a strange modification, often assuming a hooked or beak-like form. Having reached the gravely shallows suitable for spawning, trough-shaped depressions known as 'redds' are excavated by the fish with their tails, and in these the hen- fish deposit their eggs, loosely covering them with silt. It is at this period that many eggs become fertilised by trout, which seize the opportunity to do so when the cock salmon is otherwise engaged repulsing rivals of his own species. It is doubtful if salmon spawn more than three or four times, as the procedure is very exhaustive, and an interval of some years may elapse between successive spawnings. In the River Tay in Scotland the salmon attains a weight of over eighty pounds. Research Salmon
James II was King of England from 1685 to 1688. He was born in 1633 and died in 1701. James II was named after his grandfatherJames I, and grew up in exile after the Civil War (he served in the armies of Louis XIV) and, after his brother's restoration, commanded the Royal Navy from 1660 to 1673. James converted to Catholicism in 1669. Despite his conversion, James II succeeded to the throne peacefully at the age of 51. His position was a strong one - there were standing armies of nearly 20,000 men in his kingdoms and he had a revenue of around 2 million pounds. Within days of his succession, James announced the summoning of Parliament in May but he sounded a warning note: 'the best way to engage me to meet you often is always to use me well'.
A rebellion led by Charles's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, was easily crushed after the battle of Sedgemoor in 1685, and savage punishments were imposed by the infamous Lord Chief Justice, Judge Jeffreys, at the 'Bloody Assizes'. James's reaction to the Monmouth rebellion was to plan the increase of the standing army and the appointment of loyal and experienced Roman Catholic officers. This, together with James's attempts to give civic equality to Roman Catholic and Protestant dissenters, led to conflict with Parliament, as it was seen as James showing favouritism towards Roman Catholics. Fear of Catholicism was widespread (in 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which gave protection to French Protestants), and the possibility of a standing army led by Roman Catholic officers produced protest in Parliament. As a result, James prorogued Parliament in 1685 and ruled without it. James attempted to promote the Roman Catholic cause by dismissing judges and Lord Lieutenants who refused to support the withdrawal of laws penalising religious dissidents, appointing Catholics to important academic posts, and to senior military and political positions. Within three years, the majority of James's subjects had been alienated.
In 1687 James II issued the Declaration of Indulgence aiming at religious toleration; seven bishops who asked James to reconsider were charged with seditious libel, but later acquitted to popular Anglican acclaim. When his second (Roman Catholic) wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth on the 10th of June 1688 to a son (James Stuart, later known as the 'Old Pretender' and father of Charles Edward Stuart, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' ), it seemed that a Roman Catholic dynasty would be established. William of Orange, the Protestant husband of James' elder daughter, Mary (by James' first and Protestant wife, AnneHyde), was therefore welcomed when he invaded on the 5th of November 1688. The Army and the Navy (disaffected despite James's investment in them) deserted to William, and James fled to France. James's attempt to regain the throne by taking a French army to Ireland failed when he was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and he spent the rest of his life in exile in France. Research James II
Jean Jacques Dessalines was Emperor of Haiti. He was born about 1760 in Africa and died in 1806. He was a slave in 1791, when the insurrection of the blacks occurred Haiti, but was set free along with the other slaves in St Domingo in 1794. His talents for war, his courage, and unscrupulous conduct raised him to command in the insurrections of the coloured people, and after the deportation of Toussaint-L'Ouverture, and the subsequent evacuation of the island by the French, Jean Dessalines was appointed governor-general for life with absolute power; and the year following (1804) was declared emperor with the title of Jacques I. But his rule was savage and oppressive, and both the troops and the people, sick of his atrocicties, entered into a conspiracy against him, and, on October the 17th, 1806, he was assassinated by one of his soldiers. Research Jean Dessalines
John Dryden was a British poet. He was born in 1631 at Aldwinkle All-Saints, Northamptonshire and died in 1700. He was was descended from an ancient family, his grandfather being Sir Erasmus Dryden of Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire. He was admitted a king's scholar at Westminster under the celebrated Dr. Busby, whence he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, being here elected to a scholarship.
After university he appears to have settled at London in 1657, where he acted as secretary to his cousin Sir Gilbert Pickering, a favourite of Oliver Cromwell; and on the death of the Protector he wrote his Heroic Stanzas on that event. At the Restoration, however, he hailed the return of Charle II in Astraea Redux, and from that time his devotion to the Stuarts knew no decay.
In 1661 he produced his first play, The Duke of Guise; but the first that was performed was The Wild Gallant, which appeared in 1663 and was not a success. This was followed by The Rival Ladies, and The Indian Queen, a tragedy on Montezuma in heroic verse, written in collaboration with Sir Robert Howard, whose sister, Lady Elizabeth Howard, John Dryden married in 1663. He followed up The Indian Queen with The Indian Emperor, which at once raised John Dryden to the highest pitch of public estimation, an elevation which he retained until his death.
The great fire of London put a stop for some time to theatrical exhibitions. In the interval John Dryden published the Annus Mirabilis, an historical account of the events of the year 1666, one of the most elaborate of his productions. In 1668 he also published his celebrated Essay on Dramatic Poesy - the first attempt to regulate dramatic writing. In 1668 the Maiden Queen, a tragi-comedy, was represented. This was followed in 1670 by the Tempest, an alteration from William Shakespeare, in which he was assisted by Sir William Davenant. It was received with general applause, notwithstanding the very questionable taste and propriety of the added characters.
John Dryden was shortly afterwards appointed to the offices of royal historiographer and poet-laureate, with a salary of 200 pounds a year. He now became professionally a writer for the stage, and produced many pieces, some of which have been strongly censured for their licentiousness and want of good taste. The first of his political and poetical satires, Absalom and Achitophel (Monmouth and Shaftesbury), was produced in 1681, and was followed by The Medal, a satire against sedition; and MacFlecknoe, a satire on the poet Shadwell.
On the accession of James in 1685 John Dryden became a Roman Catholic, a conversion the sincerity of which has been not unreasonably regarded with suspicion, considering the time at which it occurred. At court the new convert was received with open arms, a considerable addition was made to his pension, and he defended his new religion at the expense of the old one in a poem, The Hind and the Panther. Among his other services to the new king were a savage reply to an attack by Stillingfleet, and panegyrics on Charles and James under the title of Britannia Rediviva.
At the Revolution John Dryden was deprived of the offices of poet-laureate and historiographer, and of the certain income which these offices secured him. During the remaining ten years of his life he produced some of his best work, including his admirable translations from the classics. He published, in conjunction with Congreve, Creech, and others, a translation of Juvenal, and one of Persius entirely by himself. About a third part of Juvenal was translated by John Dryden, who wrote an essay on satire which was prefixed to the whole. His poetic translation of Virgil appeared in 1697, and, soon after that masterpiece of lyric poetry, Alexander's Feast, his Fables, etc.
He died on May the 1st, 1700, at the age of sixty-nine, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. John Dryden is unequalled as a satirist among English poets, and the best of his tragedies are unsurpassed by any since written. His poetry as a whole is more remarkable for vigour and energy than beauty, but he did much to improve English verse. He was also an admirableprosewriter. Personally he waa modest and kindly. The whole of his works, edited by Sir Walter Scott, were published in 1818 they were later re-published with additional notes, etc, by George Saintsbury. Research John Dryden
Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow was a German writer. He was born in 1811 at Berlin and died in 1878. After studying theology he took to journalism and politics, and became the leading spirit of a small body of reformers known as 'Young Germany.' In 1835 his novel Wally die Zweiflerin appeared. It was at once confiscated by the government as hostile to religion and society, and the author was imprisoned for three months. In spite of government prohibition Karl Gutzkow managed to publish a number of works from Hamburg, where he had settled. Amongst these are: Blasedow und seine Sohne (1838), a satire, and Borne's Leben (1840). He was active, also, in dramatic literature, his tragedies Richard Savage (1840), Patkul (1841), and Uriel Acosta (1847), and his comedies Zopf und Schwert (1844), and Das Urbild des Tartufe (1847), having been very popular. In 1842 he left Hamburg, and after a visit to Paris, described in Briefe aus Paris, settled at Frankfurt until 1847, when he became director of the Dresden theatre. Here he devoted himself to novel-writing, producing the romances Die Ritter vom Geist (1850), Der Zauberer von Rom (1858), and Hohenschwangau (1868). Research Karl Gutzkow
Abbreviations
Research Barbarian
