[1] The Griquas, as a distinct tribe, numbered at the Cape census of
1904 but 6289. They have largely intermarried with Kaffir and
Bechuana tribes.
[2] The order of discovery of the chief mines was:--Dutoitspan, Sept.
1870; Bultfontein, Nov. 1870; De Beers, May 1871; Colesberg Kop
(Kimberley), July 1871.
[3] Sir Richard Southey (1809-1901) was the son of one of the
emigrants from the west of England to Cape Colony (1820). He
organized and commanded a corps of Guides in the Kaffir war of
1834-35, and was with Sir Harry Smith at Boomplaats (1848). From 1864
to 1872 he was colonial secretary at the Cape. He gave up his
appointment in Griqualand West in 1875, and lived thereafter in
retirement. In 1891 he was created a K.C.M.G.
GRISAILLE, a French term, derived from _gris_, grey, for painting in
monochrome in various shades of grey, particularly used in decoration to
represent objects in relief. The frescoes of the roof of the Sistine
chapel have portions of the design in _grisaille_. At Hampton Court the
lower part of the decoration of the great staircase by Verrio is in
_grisaille_. The term is also applied to monochrome painting in enamels,
and also to stained glass; a fine example of _grisaille_ glass is in the
window known as the Five Sisters, at the end of the north transept in
York cathedral.
GRISELDA, a heroine of romance. She is said to have been the wife of
Walter, marquis of Saluces or Saluzzo, in the 11th century, and her
misfortunes were considered to belong to history when they were handled
by Boccaccio and Petrarch, although the probability is that Boccaccio
borrowed his narrative from a Provencal _fabliau_. He included it in the
recitations of the tenth day (_Decamerone_), and must have written it
about 1350. Petrarch related it in a Latin letter in 1373, and his
translation formed the basis of much of the later literature. The letter
was printed by Ulrich Zel about 1470, and often subsequently. It was
translated into French as _La Patience de Griselidis_ and printed at
Brehan-Loudeac in 1484, and its popularity is shown by the number of
early editions quoted by Brunet (_Manuel du libraire, s.v._ Petrarca).
The story was dramatized in 1395, and a _Mystere de Griselidis, marquise
de Saluses par personnaiges_ was printed by Jehan Bonfons (no date).
Chaucer followed Petrarch's version in the _Canterbury Tales_. Ralph
Radcliffe, who flourished under Henry VIII., is said to have written a
play on the subject, and the story was dramatized by Thomas Dekker,
Henry Chettle and W. Haughton in 1603.
An example of the many ballads of Griselda is given in T. Deloney's
_Garland of Good Will_ (1685), and the 17th-century chap-book, _The
History of Patient Grisel_ (1619), was edited by H. B. Wheatley (1885)
for the Villon Society with a bibliographical and literary
introduction.
GRISI, GIULIA (1811-1869), Italian opera-singer, daughter of one of
Napoleon's Italian officers, was born in Milan. She came of a family of
musical gifts, her maternal aunt Josephina Grassini (1773-1850) being a
favourite opera-singer both on the continent and in London; her mother
had also been a singer, and her elder sister Giudetta and her cousin
Carlotta were both exceedingly talented. Giulia was trained to a musical
career, and made her stage debut in 1828. Rossini and Bellini both took
an interest in her, and at Milan she was the first Adalgisa in Bellini's
_Norma_, in which Pasta took the title-part. Grisi appeared in Paris in
1832, as Semiramide in Rossini's opera, and had a great success; and in
1834 she appeared in London. Her voice was a brilliant dramatic soprano,
and her established position as a prima donna continued for thirty
years. She was a particularly fine actress, and in London opera her
association with such singers as Lablache, Rubini, Tamburini and Mario
was long remembered as the palmy days of Italian opera. In 1854 she
toured with Mario In America. She had married Count de Melcy in 1836,
but this ended in a divorce; and in 1856 she married Mario (q.v.). She
died in Berlin on the 29th of November 1869.
GRISON (_Galictis vittata_), a carnivorous mammal, of the family
_Mustelidae_, common in Central and South America and Mexico. It is
about the size of a marten, and has the upper surface of a bluish-grey
tint, and the under surface is dark brown. The grison lives on small
mammals and birds, and in settled districts is destructive to poultry.
Allamand's grison (_G. allamandi_), with the same range, is somewhat
larger. Another member of the genus is the tayra or taira (_G.
barbara_), about as large as an otter, with a range from Mexico to
Argentina. This species hunts in companies (see CARNIVORA).
GRISONS (Ger. _Graubunden_), the most easterly of the Swiss cantons and
also the largest in extent, though relatively the most sparsely
populated. Its total area is 2753.2 sq. m., of which 1634.4 sq. m. are
classed as "productive" (forests covering 503.1 sq. m. and vineyards 1.3
sq. m.), but it has also 138.6 sq. m. of glaciers, ranking in this
respect next after the Valais and before Bern. The whole canton is
mountainous, the principal glacier groups being those of the Todi, N.
(11,887 ft.), of Medels, S.W. (Piz Medel, 10,509 ft.), of the Rheinwald
or the Adula Alps, S.W. (Rheinwaldhorn, 11,149 ft.), with the chief
source of the Rhine, of the Bernina, S.E. (Piz Bernina, 13,304 ft.), the
most extensive, of the Albula, E. (Piz Kesch, 11,228 ft.), and of the
Silvretta, N.E. (Piz Linard, 11,201 ft.). The principal valleys are
those of the upper Rhine and of the upper Inn (or Engadine, q.v.). The
three main sources of the Rhine are in the canton. The valley of the
Vorder Rhine is called the Bundner Oberland, that of the Mittel Rhine
the Val Medels, and that of the Hinter Rhine (the principal), in
different parts of its course, the Rheinwald, the Schams valley and the
Domleschg valley, while the upper valley of the Julia is named the
Oberhalbstein. The chief affluents of the Rhine in the canton are the
Glenner (flowing through the Lugnetz valley), the Avers Rhine, the
Albula (swollen by the Julia and the Landwasser), the Plessur (Schanfigg
valley) and the Landquart (coming from the Prattigau). The Rhine and the
Inn flow respectively into the North and the Black Seas. Of other
streams that of Val Mesocco joins the Ticino and so the Po, while the
Maira or Mera (Val Bregaglia) and the Poschiavino join the Adda, and the
Rambach (Munster valley) the Adige, all four thus ultimately reaching
the Adriatic Sea. The inner valleys are the highest in Central Europe,
and among the loftiest villages are Juf, 6998 ft. (the highest
permanently inhabited village in the Alps), at the head of the Avers
glen, and St Moritz, 6037 ft., in the Upper Engadine. The lower courses
of the various streams are rent by remarkable gorges, such as the Via
Mala, the Rofna, the Schyn, and those in the Avers, Medels and Lugnetz
glens, as well as that of the Zuge in the Landwasser glen. Below Coire,
near Malans, good wine is produced, while in the Val Mesocco, &c., maize
and chestnuts flourish. But the forests and the mountain pasturages are
the chief source of wealth. The lower pastures maintain a fine breed of
cows, while the upper are let out in summer to Bergamasque shepherds.
There are many mineral springs, such as those of St Moritz, Schuls,
Alvaneu, Fideris, Le Prese and San Bernardino. The climate and
vegetation, save on the southern slope of the Alps, are alpine and
severe. But yearly vast numbers of strangers visit different spots in
the canton, especially Davos (q.v.), Arosa and the Engadine. As yet
there are comparatively few railways. There is one from Maienfeld
(continued north to Constance and north-west to Zurich) to Coire (11
m.), which sends off a branch line from Landquart, E., past Klosters to
Davos (31 m.). From Coire the line bears west to Reichenau (6 m.),
whence one branch runs S.S.E. beneath the Albula Pass to St Moritz (50
m.), and another S.W. up the Hinter Rhine valley to Ilanz (20-1/2 m.).
There are, however, a number of fine carriage roads across the passes
leading to or towards Italy. Besides those leading to the Engadine may
be noted the roads from Ilanz past Disentis over the Oberalp Pass (6719
ft.) to Andermatt, from Disentis over the Lukmanier Pass (6289 ft.) to
Biasca, on the St Gotthard railway, from Reichenau past Thusis and
Splugen over the San Bernardino Pass (6769 ft.) to Bellinzona on the
same railway line, and from Splugen over the Splugen Pass (6946 ft.) to
Chiavenna. The Septimer Pass (7582 ft.) from the Julier route to the
Maloja route has now only a mule path, but was probably known in Roman
times (as was possibly the Splugen), and was much frequented in the
middle ages.
The population of the canton in 1900 was 104,520. Of this number 55,155
(mainly near Coire and Davos, in the Prattigau and in the Schanfigg
valley) were Protestants, while 49,142 (mainly in the Bundner Oberland,
the Val Mesocco and the Oberhalbstein) were Romanists, while there were
also 114 Jews (81 of whom lived in Davos). In point of language 48,762
(mainly near Coire and Davos, in the Prattigau and in the Schanfigg
valley) were German-speaking, while 17,539 (mostly in the Val Mesocco,
the Val Bregaglia and the valley of Poschiavo, but including a number of
Italian labourers engaged on the construction of the Albula railway)
were Italian-speaking. But the characteristic tongue of the Grisons is a
survival of an ancient Romance language (the _lingua rustica_ of the
Roman Empire), which has lagged behind its sisters. It has a scanty
printed literature, but is still widely spoken, so that, of the 38,651
persons in the Swiss Confederation who speak it, no fewer than 36,472
are in the Grisons. It is distinguished into two dialects: the Romonsch
(sometimes wrongly called Romansch), which prevails in the Bundner
Oberland and in the Hinter Rhine valley (Schams and Domleschg), and the
Ladin (closely related to the tongue spoken in parts of the South
Tyrol), that survives in the Engadine and in the neighbouring valleys of
Bergun, Oberhalbstein and Munster. (See F. Rausch's _Geschichte der
Literatur des rhaeto-romanischen Volkes_, Frankfort, 1870, and Mr
Coolidge's bibliography of this language, given on pp. 22-23 of Lorria
and Martel's _Le Massif de la Bernina_, Zurich, 1894.) Yet in the midst
of this Romance-speaking population are islets (mostly, if not entirely,
due to immigration in the 13th century from the German-speaking Upper
Valais) of German-speaking inhabitants, so in the Vals and Safien glens,
and at Obersaxen (all in the Bundner Oberland), in the Rheinwald (the
highest part of the Hinter Rhine valley), and in the Avers glen (middle
reach of the Hinter Rhine valley), as well as in and around Davos
itself.
There is not much industrial activity in the Grisons. A considerable
portion of the population is engaged in attending to the wants of the
foreign visitors, but there is a considerable trade with Italy,
particularly in the wines of the Valtellina, while many young men seek
their fortunes abroad (returning home after having accumulated a small
stock of money) as confectioners, pastry-cooks and coffee-house keepers.
A certain number of lead and silver mines were formerly worked, but are
now abandoned. The capital of the canton is Coire (q.v.).
The canton is divided into 14 administrative districts, and includes 224
communes. It sends 2 members (elected by a popular vote) to the Federal
_Standerath_, and 5 members (also elected by a popular vote) to the
Federal _Nationalrath_. The existing cantonal constitution was accepted
by the people in 1892, and came into force on 1st January 1894. The
legislature (_Grossrath_--no numbers fixed by the constitution) is
elected for 2 years by a popular vote, as are the 5 members of the
executive (_Kleinrath_) for 3 years. The "obligatory referendum" obtains
in the case of all laws and important matters of expenditure, while 3000
citizens can demand ("facultative referendum") a popular vote as to
resolutions and ordinances made by the legislature. Three thousand
citizens also have the right of "initiative" as to legislative projects,
but 5000 signatures are required for a proposed revision of the cantonal
constitution. In the revenue and expenditure of the canton the taxes are
never counted. This causes an apparent deficit which is carried to the
capital account, and is met by the land tax (art. 19 of the
constitution), so that there is never a real deficit, as the amount of
the land tax varies annually according to the amount that _must_ be
provided. In the pre-1799 constitution of the three Raetian Leagues the
system of the "referendum" was in working as early as the 16th century,
not merely as between the three Leagues themselves, but as between the
bailiwicks (_Hochgerichte_), the sovereign units within each League, and
sometimes (as in the Upper Engadine) between the villages composing each
bailiwick.
The greater part (excluding the three valleys where the inhabitants
speak Italian) of the modern canton of the Grisons formed the southern
part of the province of Raetia (probably the aboriginal inhabitants, the
Raeti, were Celts rather than, as was formerly believed, Etruscans), set
up by the Romans after their conquest of the region in 15 B.C. The
Romanized inhabitants were to a certain extent (The Romonsch or Ladin
tongue is a survival of the Roman dominion) Teutonized under the
Ostrogoths (A.D. 493-537) and under the Franks (from 537 onwards).
Governors called _Praesides_ are mentioned in the 7th and 8th centuries,
while members of the same family occupied the episcopal see of Coire
(founded 4th-5th centuries). About 806 Charles the Great made this
region into a county, but in 831 the bishop procured for his dominions
exemption ("immunity") from the jurisdiction of the counts, while before
847 his see was transferred from the Italian province of Milan to the
German province of Mainz (Mayence) and was thus cut off from Italy to be
joined to Germany. In 916 the region was united with the duchy of
Alamannia, but the bishop still retained practical independence, and his
wide-spread dominions placed him even above the abbots of Disentis and
Pfafers, who likewise enjoyed "immunity." In the 10th century the bishop
obtained fresh privileges from the emperors (besides the Val Bregaglia
in 960), and so became the chief of the many feudal nobles who struggled
for power in the region. He became a prince of the empire in 1170 and
later allied himself with the rising power (in the region) of the
Habsburgers. This led in 1367 to the foundation of the League of God's
House or the _Gotteshausbund_ (composed of the city and chapter of
Coire, and of the bishop's subjects, especially in the Engadine, Val
Bregaglia, Domleschg and Oberhalbstein) in order to stem his rising
power, the bishop entering it in 1392. In 1395 the abbot of Disentis,
the men of the Lugnetz valley, and the great feudal lords of Razuns and
Sax (in 1399 the counts of Werdenberg came in) formed another League,
called the _Ober Bund_ (as comprising the highlands in the Vorder Rhine
valley) and also wrongly the "Grey League" (as the word interpreted
"grey" is simply a misreading of _graven_ or counts, though the false
view has given rise to the name of Grisons or Graubunden for the whole
canton), their alliance being strengthened in 1424 when, too, the free
men of the Rheinwald and Schams came in, and in 1480 the Val Mesocco
also. Finally, in 1436, the third Raetian League was founded, that of
the _Zehngerichtenbund_ or League of the Ten Jurisdictions, by the
former subjects of the count of Toggenburg, whose dynasty then became
extinct; they include the inhabitants of the Prattigau, Davos,
Maienfeld, the Schanfigg valley, Churwalden, and the lordship of Belfort
(i.e. the region round Alvaneu), and formed ten bailiwicks, whence the
name of the League. In 1450 the _Zehngerichtenbund_ concluded an
alliance with the _Gotteshausbund_ and in 1471 with the _Ober Bund_; but
of the so-called perpetual alliance at Vazerol, near Tiefenkastels,
there exists no authentic evidence in the oldest chronicles, though
diets were held there. By a succession of purchases (1477-1496) nearly
all the possessions of the extinct dynasty of the counts of Toggenburg
in the Prattigau had come to the junior or Tyrolese line of the
Habsburgers. On its extinction (1496) in turn they passed to the elder
line, the head of which, Maximilian, was already emperor-elect and
desired to maintain the rights of his family there and in the Lower
Engadine. Hence in 1497 the Ober Bund and in 1498 the _Gotteshausbund_
became allies of the Swiss Confederation. War broke out in 1499, but was
ended by the great Swiss victory (22nd May 1499) at the battle of the
Calven gorge (above Mals) which, added to another Swiss victory at
Dornach (near Basel), compelled the emperor to recognize the _practical_
independence of the Swiss and their allies of the Empire. The religious
Reformation brought disunion into the three Leagues, as the _Ober Bund_
clung in the main to the old faith, and for this reason their connexion
with the Swiss Confederation was much weakened. In 1526, by the Articles
of Ilanz, the last remaining traces of the temporal jurisdiction of the
bishop of Coire was abolished. In 1486 Poschiavo had at last been
secured from Milan, and Maienfeld with Malans was bought in 1509, while
in 1549 the Val Mesocco (included in the _Ober Bund_ since 1480)
purchased its freedom of its lords, the Trivulzio family of Milan. In
1512 the three Leagues conquered from Milan the rich and fertile
Valtellina, with Bormio and Chiavenna, and held these districts as
subject lands till in 1797 they were annexed to the Cisalpine Republic.
The struggle for lucrative offices in these lands further sharpened the
long rivalry between the families of Planta (Engadine) and Salis (Val
Bregaglia), while in the 17th century this rivalry was complicated by
political enmities, as the Plantas favoured the Spanish side and the
Salis that of France during the long struggle (1620-1639) for the
Valtellina (see JENATSCH and VALTELLINA). Troubles arose (1622) also in
the Prattigau through the attempts of the Habsburgers to force the
inhabitants to give up Protestantism. Finally, after the emperor had
_formally_ recognized, by the treaty of Westphalia (1648), the
independence of the Swiss Confederation, the rights of the Habsburgers
in the Prattigau and the Lower Engadine were bought up (1649 and 1652).
But the Austrian _enclaves_ of Tarasp (Lower Engadine) and of Razuns
(near Reichenau) were only annexed to the Grisons in 1809 and 1815
respectively, in each case France holding the lordship for a short time
after its cession by Austria. In 1748 (finally in 1762) the three
Leagues secured the upper portion of the valley of Munster. In 1799 the
French invaded the canton, which became the scene of a fierce conflict
(1799-1800) between them and the united Russian and Austrian army, in
the course of which the French burnt (May 1799) the ancient convent of
Disentis with all its literary treasures. In April 1799 the provisional
government agreed to the incorporation of the three Leagues in the
Helvetic Republic, though it was not till June 1801 that the canton of
Raetia became formally part of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803, by
Napoleon's Act of Mediation, it entered, under the name of Canton of the
Grisons or Graubunden, the reconstituted Swiss Confederation, of which
it then first became a full member.
AUTHORITIES.--A. Andrea, Das Bergell (Frauenfeld, 1901);
_Bundnergeschichte in 11 Vortragen_, by various writers (Coire, 1902);
_Codex diplomaticus Raetiae_ (5 vols., Coire, 1848-1886); W. Coxe,
_Travels in Switzerland_, vol. ii. of the 1789 London edition; E.
Dunant, _La Reunion des Grisons a la Suisse_ (1798-1799) (Basel,
1899); G. Fient, _Das Prattigau_ (2nd ed., Davos, 1897); P. Foffa,
_Das bundnerische Munsterthal_ (Coire, 1864); F. Fossati, _Codice
diplomatico della Rezia_ (originally published in the _Periodico_ of
the _Societa storica a Comense_ at Como; separate reprint, Como,
1901); R. A. Ganzoni, _Beitrage zur Kenntnis d. bundnerischen
Referendums_ (Zurich, 1890); Mrs Henry Freshfield, _A Summer Tour in
the Grisons_ (London, 1862); C. and F. Jecklin, _Der Anteil
Graubundens am Schwabenkrieg_ (1499) (Davos, 1899); C. von Moor,
_Geschichte von Curraetien_ (2 vols., Coire, 1870-1874), and
_Wegweiser_ (Coire, 1873); E. Lechner, _Das Thal Bergell_ (2nd ed.,
Leipzig, 1874); G. Leonhardi, _Das Poschiavinothal_ (Leipzig, 1859);
A. Lorria and E. A. Martel, _Le Massif de la Bernina_ (Upper Engadine
and Val Bregaglia) (Zurich, 1894); P. C. von Planta, _Das alte
Raetien_ (Berlin, 1872); _Die curraetischen Herrschaften in d.
Feudalzeit_ (Bern, 1881); _Geschichte von Graubunden_ (Bern, 1892);
and _Chronik d. Familie von Planta_ (Zurich, 1892); W. Plattner, _Die
Entstehung d. Freistaates der 3 Bunde_ (Davos, 1895), R. von
Reding-Biberegg, _Der Zug Suworoffs durch die Schweiz in 1799_ (Stans,
1895); N. Salis-Soglio, _Die Familie von Salis_ (Lindau, 1891); G.
Theobald, _Das Bundner Oberland_ (Coire, 1861), and _Naturbilder aus
den rhatischen Alpen_ (3rd ed., Coire, 1893); N. Valaer, _Johannes von
Planta_ (d. 1572) (Zurich, 1888); R. Wagner and L. R. von Salis,
_Rechtsquellen d. Cant. Graubunden_ (Basel, 1877-1892); F. Jecklin,
_Materialen zur Standes- und Landesgeschichte Gem. iii. Bunde_
(Graubunden), _1464-1803_ (pt. i., _Regesten_, was published at Basel
in 1907). See also COIRE, ENGADINE, JENATSCH and VALTELLINA.
(W. A. B. C.)
GRISWOLD, RUFUS WILMOT (1815-1857), American editor and compiler, was
born in Benson, Vermont, on the 15th of February 1815. He travelled
extensively, worked in newspaper offices, was a Baptist clergyman for a
time, and finally became a journalist in New York City, where he was
successively a member of the staffs of _The Brother Jonathan_, _The New
World_ (1839-1840) and _The New Yorker_ (1840). From 1841 to 1843 he
edited _Graham's Magazine_ (Philadelphia), and added to its list of
contributors many leading American writers. From 1850 to 1852 he edited
the _International Magazine_ (New York), which in 1852 was merged into
_Harper's Magazine_. He died in New York City on the 27th of August
1857. He is best known as the compiler and editor of various anthologies
(with brief biographies and critiques), such as _Poets and Poetry of
America_ (1842), his most popular and valuable book; _Prose Writers of
America_ (1846); _Female Poets of America_ (1848); and _Sacred Poets of
England and America_ (1849). Of his own writings his _Republican Court:
or American Society in the Days of Washington_ (1854) is the only one of
permanent value. He edited the first American edition of Milton's prose
works (1845), and, as literary executor, edited, with James R. Lowell
and N. P. Willis, the works (1850) of Edgar Allan Poe. Griswold's great
contemporary reputation as a critic has not stood the test of time; but
he rendered a valuable service in making Americans better acquainted
with the poetry and prose of their own countrymen.
See _Passages from the Correspondence and Other Papers of Rufus W.
Griswold_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1898), edited by his son William
McCrillis Griswold (1853-1899).
GRIVET, a monkey, _Cercopithecus sabaeus_, of the guenon group, nearly
allied to the green monkey. It is common throughout equatorial Africa.
The chin, whiskers and a broad band across the forehead, as well as the
under-parts, are white, and the head and back olive-green. These monkeys
are very commonly seen in menageries.
GROAT (adapted from the Dutch _groot_, great, thick; cf. Ger.
_Groschen_; the Med. Lat. _grossus_ gives Ital. _grosso_, Fr. _gros_, as
names for the coin), a name applied as early as the 13th century on the
continent of Europe to any large or thick coin. The groat was almost
universally a silver coin, but its value varied considerably, as well at
different times as in different countries. The English groat was first
coined in 1351, of a value somewhat higher than a penny. The continuous
debasement of both the penny and the groat left the latter finally worth
four pennies. The issue of the groat was discontinued after 1662, but a
coin worth fourpence was again struck in 1836. Although frequently
referred to as a groat, it had no other official designation than a
"fourpenny piece." Its issue was again discontinued in 1856. The groat
was imitated in Scotland by a coin struck by David II. in 1358. In
Ireland it was first struck by Edward IV. in 1460.
GROCER, literally one who sells by the gross, a wholesale dealer; the
word is derived through the O. Fr. form, _grossia_, from the Med. Lat.
_grossarius_, defined by du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v. _Grossares_, as
_solidae mercis propola_. The name, as a general one for dealers by
wholesale, "engrossers" as opposed to "regrators," the retail dealers,
is found with the commodity attached; thus in the _Munimenta Gildhallae_
("Rolls" series) ii. 1.304 (quoted in the _New English Dictionary_) is
found an allusion to _grossours de vin_, cf. _groser of fysshe_,
_Surtees Misc._ (1888) 63, for the customs of Malton (quoted _ib._). The
specific application of the word to one who deals either by wholesale or
retail in tea, coffee, cocoa, dried fruits, spices, sugar and all kinds
of articles of use or consumption in a household is connected with the
history of the Grocers' Company of London, one of the twelve "great"
livery companies. In 1345 the pepperers and the spicers amalgamated and
were known as the Fraternity of St Anthony. The name "grocers" first
appears in 1373 in the records of the company. In 1386 the association
was granted a right of search over all "spicers" in London, and in 1394
they obtained the right to inspect or "garble" spices and other "subtil
wares." Their first charter was obtained in 1428; letters patent in 1447
granted an extension of the right of search over the whole county, but
removed the "liberties" of the city of London. They sold all kinds of
drugs, medicines, ointments, plasters, and medicated and other waters.
For the separation of the apothecaries from the grocers in 1617 see
APOTHECARY. (See further LIVERY COMPANIES.)
See _The Grocery Trade_, by J. Aubrey Rees (1910).
GROCYN, WILLIAM (1446?-1519), English scholar, was born at Colerne,
Wiltshire, about 1446. Intended by his parents for the church, he was
sent to Winchester College, and in 1465 was elected to a scholarship at
New College, Oxford. In 1467 he became a fellow, and had among his
pupils William Warham, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. In 1479 he
accepted the rectory of Newton Longville, in Buckinghamshire, but
continued to reside at Oxford. As reader in divinity in Magdalen College
in 1481, he held a disputation with John Taylor, professor of divinity,
in presence of King Richard III., and the king acknowledged his skill as
a debater by the present of a buck and five marks. In 1485 he became
prebendary of Lincoln cathedral. About 1488 Grocyn left England for
Italy, and before his return in 1491 he had visited Florence, Rome and
Padua, and studied Greek and Latin under Demetrius Chalchondyles and
Politian. As lecturer in Exeter College he found an opportunity of
indoctrinating his countrymen in the new Greek learning.
Erasmus says in one of his letters that Grocyn taught Greek at Oxford
before his visit to Italy. The Warden of New College, Thomas Chaundler,
invited Cornelius Vitelli, then on a visit to Oxford, to act as
praelector. This was about 1475, and as Vitelli was certainly familiar
with Greek literature, Grocyn may have learnt Greek from him. He seems
to have lived in Oxford until 1499, but when his friend Colet became
dean of St Paul's in 1504 he was settled in London. He was chosen by his
friend to deliver lectures in St Paul's; and in this connexion he gave a
singular proof of his honesty. He had at first denounced all who
impugned the authenticity of the _Hierarchia ecclesiastica_ ascribed to
Dionysius the Areopagite, but, being led to modify his views by further
investigation, he openly declared that he had been completely mistaken.
He also counted Linacre, William Lily, William Latimer and More among
his friends, and Erasmus writing in 1514 says that he was supported by
Grocyn in London, and calls him "the friend and preceptor of us all." He
held several preferments, but his generosity to his friends involved him
in continual difficulties, and though in 1506 he was appointed on
Archbishop Warham's recommendation master or warden of All Hallows
College at Maidstone in Kent, he was still obliged to borrow from his
friends, and even to pledge his plate as a security. He died in 1519,
and was buried in the collegiate church at Maidstone. Linacre acted as
his executor, and expended the money he received in gifts to the poor
and the purchase of books for poor scholars. With the exception of a few
lines of Latin verse on a lady who snowballed him, and a letter to Aldus
Manutius at the head of Linacre's translation of Proclus's _Sphaera_
(Venice, 1499), Grocyn has left no literary proof of his scholarship or
abilities. His proposal to execute a translation of Aristotle in company
with Linacre and Latimer was never carried out. Wood assigns some Latin
works to Grocyn, but on insufficient authority. By Erasmus he has been
described as "vir severissimae castissimae vitae, ecclesiasticarum
constitutionum observantissimus pene usque ad superstitionem,
scholasticae theologiae ad unguem doctus ac natura etiam acerrimi
judicii, demum in omni disciplinarum genere exacte versatus"
(_Declarationes ad censuras facultatis theologiae Parisianae_, 1522).
An account of Grocyn by Professor Burrows appeared in the Oxford
Historical Society's _Collectanea_ (1890).
GRODNO, one of the Lithuanian governments of western Russia, lying
between 51 deg. 40' and 52 deg. N. and between 22 deg. 12' and 26 deg.
E., and bounded N. by the government of Vilna, E. by Minsk, S. by
Volhynia, and W. by the Polish governments of Lomza and Siedlce. Area,
14,926 sq. m. Except for some hills (not exceeding 925 ft.) in the N.,
it is a uniform plain, and is drained chiefly by the Bug, Niemen, Narev
and Bobr, all navigable. There are also several canals, the most
important being the Augustowo and Oginsky. Granites and gneisses crop
out along the Bug, Cretaceous, and especially Tertiary, deposits
elsewhere. The soil is mostly sandy, and in the district of Grodno and
along the rivers is often drift-sand. Forests, principally of
_Coniferae_, cover more than one-fourth of the area. Amongst them are
some of vast extent, e.g. those of Grodno (410 sq. m.) and Byelovitsa
(Bialowice) (376 sq. m.), embracing wide areas of marshy ground. In the
last mentioned forest the wild ox survives, having been jealously
preserved since 1803. Peat bogs, sometimes as much as 4 to 7 ft. thick,
cover extensive districts. The climate is wet and cold; the annual mean
temperature being 44.5 deg. F., the January mean 22.5 deg. and the July
mean 64.5 deg. The rainfall amounts to 21-1/2 in.; hail is frequent.
Agriculture is the predominant industry. The peasants own 42-1/2% of the
land, that is, about 4,000,000 acres, and of these over 2-1/4 million
acres are arable. The crops principally grown are potatoes, rye, oats,
wheat, flax, hemp and some tobacco. Horses, cattle and sheep are bred in
fairly large numbers. There is, however, a certain amount of
manufacturing industry, especially in woollens, distilling and tobacco.
In woollens this government ranks second (after Moscow) in the empire,
the centre of the industry being Byelostok. Other factories produce
silk, shoddy and leather. The government is crossed by the main lines of
railway from Warsaw to St Petersburg and from Warsaw to Moscow. The
population numbered 1,008,521 in 1870 and 1,616,630 in 1897; of these
last 789,801 were women and 255,946 were urban. In 1906 it was estimated
at 1,826,600. White Russians predominate (54%), then follow Jews
(17.4%), Poles (10%), Lithuanians and Germans. The government is divided
into nine districts, the chief towns, with their populations in 1897,
being Grodno (q.v.), Brest-Litovsk (pop. 42,812 in 1901), Byelsk (7461),
Byelostok or Bialystok (65,781 in 1901), Kobrin (10,365), Pruzhany
(7634), Slonim (15,893), Sokolsk (7595) and Volkovysk (10,584). In 1795
Grodno, which had been Polish for ages, was annexed by Russia.
GRODNO, a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name in
53 deg. 40' N. and 23 deg. 50' E., on the right bank of the Niemen, 160
m. by rail N.E. of Warsaw and 98 m. S.W. of Vilna on the main line to St
Petersburg. Pop. (1901) 41,736, nearly two-thirds Jews. It is an
episcopal see of the Orthodox Greek church and the headquarters of the
II. Army Corps. It has two old castles, now converted to other uses, and
two churches (16th and 17th centuries). Tobacco factories and
distilleries are important; machinery, soap, candles, vehicles and
firearms are also made. Built in the 12th century, Grodno was almost
entirely destroyed by the Mongols (1241) and Teutonic knights (1284 and
1391). Stephen Bathory, king of Poland, made it his capital, and died
there in 1586. The Polish Estates frequently met at Grodno after 1673,
and there in 1793 they signed the second partition of Poland. It was at
Grodno that Stanislaus Poniatowski resigned the Polish crown in 1795.
GROEN VAN PRINSTERER, GUILLAUME (1801-1876), Dutch politician and
historian, was born at Voorburg, near the Hague, on the 21st of August
1801. He studied at Leiden university, and graduated in 1823 both as
doctor of literature and LL.D. From 1829 to 1833 he acted as secretary
to King William I. of Holland, afterwards took a prominent part in Dutch
home politics, and gradually became the leader of the so-called
anti-revolutionary party, both in the Second Chamber, of which he was
for many years a member, and outside. In Groen the doctrines of Guizot
and Stahl found an eloquent exponent. They permeate his controversial
and political writings and historical studies, of which his _Handbook of
Dutch History_ (in Dutch) and _Maurice et Barnevelt_ (in French, 1875, a
criticism of Motley's _Life of Van Olden-Barnevelt_) are the principal.
Groen was violently opposed to Thorbecke, whose principles he denounced
as ungodly and revolutionary. Although he lived to see these principles
triumph, he never ceased to oppose them until his death, which occurred
at the Hague on the 19th of May 1876. He is best known as the editor of
the _Archives et correspondance de la maison d'Orange_ (12 vols.,
1835-1845), a great work of patient erudition, which procured for him
the title of the "Dutch _Gachard_." J. L. Motley acknowledges his
indebtedness to Groen's Archives in the preface to his _Rise of the
Dutch Republic_, at a time when the American historian had not yet made
the acquaintance of King William's archivist, and also bore emphatic
testimony to Groen's worth as a writer of history in the correspondence
published after his death. At the first reception, in 1858, of Motley at
the royal palace at the Hague, the king presented him with a copy of
Groen's _Archives_ as a token of appreciation and admiration of the work
done by the "worthy vindicator of William I., prince of Orange." This
copy, bearing the king's autograph inscription, afterwards came into the
possession of Sir William Vernon Harcourt, Motley's son-in-law.
GROIN. (1) An obsolete word for the grunting of swine, from Lat.
_grunnire_, and so applied to the snout of a pig; it is probably the
origin of the word, more commonly spelled "groyne," for a small timber
framework or wall of masonry used on sea coasts as a breakwater to
prevent the encroachment of sand and shingle. (2) (Of uncertain origin;
from an older form _grynde_ or _grinde_; the derivation from "grain," an
obsolete word meaning "fork," cannot, according to the _New English
Dictionary_, be accepted), in anatomy the folds or grooves formed
between the lower part of the abdomen and the thighs, covering the
inguinal glands, and so applied in architecture to the angle or "arris"
formed by the intersection of two vaults crossing one another,
occasionally called by workmen "groin point." If the vaults are both of
the same radius and height, their intersections lie in a vertical plane,
in other cases they form winding curves for which it is difficult to
provide centering. In early medieval vaulting this was sometimes
arranged by a slight alteration in the geometrical curve of the vault,
but the problem was not satisfactorily solved until the introduction of
the rib which henceforth ruled the vaulting surface of the web or cell
(see VAULT). The name "Welsh groin" or "underpitch" is generally given
to the vaulting surface or web where the main longitudinal vault is
higher than the cross or transverse vaults; as the transverse rib (of
much greater radius than that of the wall rib), projected diagonally in
front of the latter, the filling-in or web has to be carried back from
the transverse to the wall rib. The term "groin centering" is used
where, in groining without ribs, the whole surface is supported by
centering during the erection of the vaulting. In ribbed work the stone
ribs only are supported by timber ribs during the progress of the work,
any light stuff being used while filling in the spandrils. (See VAULT.)
GROLMANN, KARL WILHELM GEORG VON (1777-1843), Prussian soldier, was born
in Berlin on the 30th of July 1777. He entered an infantry regiment when
scarcely thirteen, became an ensign in 1795, second lieutenant 1797,
first lieutenant 1804 and staff-captain in 1805. As a subaltern he had
become one of Scharnhorst's intimates, and he was distinguished for his
energetic and fearless character before the war of 1806, in which he
served throughout, from Jena to the peace of Tilsit, as a staff officer,
and won the rank of major for distinguished service in action. After the
peace, and the downfall of Prussia, he was one of the most active of
Scharnhorst's assistants in the work of reorganization (1809), joined the
_Tugendbund_ and endeavoured to take part in Schill's abortive
expedition, after which he entered the Austrian service as a major on the
general staff. Thereafter he journeyed to Cadiz to assist the Spaniards
against Napoleon, and he led a corps of volunteers in the defence of that
port against Marshal Victor in 1810. He was present at the battle of
Albuera, at Saguntum, and at Valencia, becoming a prisoner of war at the
surrender of the last-named place. Soon, however, he escaped to
Switzerland, whence early in 1813 he returned to Prussia as a major on
the general staff. He served successively under Colonel von Dolffs and
General von Kleist, and as commissioner at the headquarters of the
Russian general Barclay de Tolly. He took part with Kleist in the victory
of Kulm, and recovered from a severe wound received at that action in
time to be present at the battle of Leipzig. He played a conspicuous part
in the campaign of 1814 in France, after which he was made a
major-general. In this rank he was appointed quartermaster-general to
Field Marshal Prince Blucher, and, after his chief and Gneisenau,
Grolmann had the greatest share in directing the Prussian operations of
1815. In the decision, on the 18th of June 1815, to press forward to
Wellington's assistance (see WATERLOO CAMPAIGN), Grolmann actively
concurred, and as the troops approached the battle-field, he is said to
have overcome the momentary hesitation of the commander-in-chief and the
chief of staff by himself giving the order to advance. After the peace of
1815, Grolmann occupied important positions in the ministry of war and
the general staff. His last public services were rendered in Poland as
commander-in-chief, and practically as civil administrator of the
province of Posen. He was promoted general of infantry in 1837 and died
on the 1st of June 1843, at Posen. His two sons became generals in the
Prussian army. The Prussian 18th infantry regiment bears his name.
General von Grolmann supervised and provided much of the material for
von Damitz's _Gesch. des Feldzugs 1815_ (Berlin, 1837-1838), and _Gesch.
des Feldzugs 1814 in Frankreich_ (Berlin, 1842-1843).
See v. Conrady, _Leben und Wirken des Generals Karl von Grolmann_
(Berlin, 1894-1896).
GROMATICI (from _groma_ or _gruma_, a surveyor's pole), or
_Agrimensores_, the name for land-surveyors amongst the Romans. The art
of surveying was probably at first in the hands of the augurs, by whom
it was exercised in all cases where the demarcation of a _templum_ (any
consecrated space) was necessary. Thus, the boundaries of Rome itself,
of colonies and camps, were all marked out in accordance with the rules
of augural procedure. The first professional surveyor mentioned is L.
Decidius Saxa, who was employed by Antony in the measurement of camps
(Cicero, _Philippics_, xi. 12, xiv. 10). During the empire their number
and reputation increased. The distribution of land amongst the veterans,
the increase in the number of military colonies, the settlement of
Italian peasants in the provinces, the general survey of the empire
under Augustus, the separation of private and state domains, led to the
establishment of a recognized professional corporation of surveyors.
During later times they were in receipt of large salaries, and in some
cases were even honoured with the title _clarissimus_. Their duties were
not merely geometrical or mathematical, but required legal knowledge for
consultations or the settlement of disputes. This led to the institution
of special schools for the training of surveyors and a special
literature, which lasted from the 1st to the 6th century A.D. The
earliest of the gromatic writers was Frontinus (q.v.), whose _De agrorum
qualitate_, dealing with the legal aspect of the art, was the subject of
a commentary by Aggenus Urbicus, a Christian schoolmaster. Under Trajan
a certain Balbus, who had accompanied the emperor on his Dacian
campaign, wrote a still extant manual of geometry for land surveyors
(_Expositio et ratio omnium formarum_ or _mensurarum_, probably after a
Greek original by Hero), dedicated to a certain Celsus who had invented
an improvement in a gromatic instrument (perhaps the dioptra, resembling
the modern theodolite); for the treatises of Hyginus see that name.
Somewhat later than Trajan was Siculus Flaccus (_De condicionibus
agrorum_, extant), while the most curious treatise on the subject,
written in barbarous Latin and entitled _Casae litterarum_ (long a
school text-book) is the work of a certain Innocentius (4th-5th
century). It is doubtful whether Boetius is the author of the treatises
attributed to him. The _Gromatici veteres_ also contains extracts from
official registers (probably belonging to the 5th century) of colonial
and other land surveys, lists and descriptions of boundary stones, and
extracts from the Theodosian Codex. According to Mommsen, the collection
had its origin during the 5th century in the office of a vicarius
(diocesan governor) of Rome, who had a number of surveyors under him.
The surveyors were known by various names: _decempedator_ (with
reference to the instrument used); _finitor_, _metator_ or _mensor
castrorum_ in republican times; _togati Augustorum_ as imperial civil
officials; _professor_, _auctor_ as professional instructors.
The best edition of the Gromatici is by C. Lachmann and others (1848)
with supplementary volume, _Die Schriften der romischen Feldmesser_
(1852); see also B. G. Niebuhr, _Roman History_, ii., appendix (Eng.
trans.), who first revived interest in the subject; M. Cantor, _Die
romischen Agrimensoren_ (Leipzig, 1875); P. de Tissot, _La Condition
des Agrimensores dans l'ancienne Rome_ (1879); G. Rossi, _Groma e
squadro_ (Turin, 1877); articles by F. Hultsch in Ersch and Gruber's
_Allgem. Encyklopadie_, and by G. Humbert in Daremberg and Saglio's
_Dictionnaire des antiquites_; Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist. of Roman
Literature_, 58.
GRONINGEN, the most northerly province of Holland, bounded S. by Drente,
W. by Friesland and the Lauwers Zee, N. and N.E. by the North Sea and
the mouth of the Ems with the Dollart, and on the S.E. by the Prussian
province of Hanover. It includes the islands of Boschplaat and
Rottumeroog, belonging to the group of Frisian islands (q.v.). Area, 887
sq. m.; pop. (1900) 299,602. Groningen is connected with the Drente
plateau by the sandy tongue of the Hondsrug which extends almost up to
the capital. West, north and north-east of this the province is flat and
consists of sea-clay or sand and clay mixed, except where patches of low
and high fen occur on the Frisian borders. Low fen predominates to the
east of the capital, between the Zuidlardermeer and the Schildmeer or
lakes. The south-eastern portion of the province consists of high fen
resting on diluvial sand. A large part of this has been reclaimed and
the sandy soil laid bare, but on the Drente and Prussian borders areas
of fen still remain. The so-called Boertanger Morass on the Prussian
border was long considered as the natural protection of the eastern
frontier, and with the view of preserving its impassable condition
neither agriculture nor cattle-rearing might be practised here until
1824, and it was only in 1868 that the building of houses was sanctioned
and the work of reclamation begun. The gradual extension of the seaward
boundaries of the province owing to the process of littoral deposits may
be easily traced, a triple line of sea-dikes in places marking the
successive stages in this advance. The rivers of Groningen descending
from the Drente plateau meet at the capital, whence they are continued
by the Reitdiep to the Lauwers Zee (being discharged through a lock),
and by the Ems canal (1876) to Delfzyl. The south-eastern corner of the
province is traversed by the Westerwolde Aa, which discharges into the
Dollart. The railway system belongs to the northern section of the State
railways, and affords communication with Germany via Winschoten.
Steam-tramways also serve many parts of the province. Agriculture is the
main industry. The proportion of landowners is a very large one, and the
prosperous condition of the Groningen farmer is attested by the style of
his home, his dress and his gig. As a result, however, partly of the
usual want of work on the grasslands in certain seasons, there has been
a considerable emigration to America. The ancient custom called the
_beklem-recht_, or lease-right, doubtless accounts for the extended
ownership of the land. By this law a tenant-farmer is able to bequeath
his farm, that is to say, he holds his lease in perpetuity.
The chief agricultural products are barley, oats, wheat, and in the
north-east flax is also grown, and exported to South Holland and
Belgium. On the higher clay grounds cattle-rearing and horse-breeding
are also practised, together with butter and cheese making. The
cultivation of potatoes on the sandgrounds in the south and the fen
colonies along the Stads-Canal invite general comparison with the
industries of Drente (q.v.). Hoogezand and Sappemeer, Veendam and
Wildervank, New and Old Pekela, New and Old Stads-Canal are instances of
villages which have extended until they overlap one another and are
similar in this respect to the industrial villages of the Zaan Streek in
North Holland. The coast fisheries are considerable. Groningen (q.v.) is
the chief and only large town of the province. Delfzyl, which was
formerly an important fortress for the protection of the ancient sluices
on the little river Delf (hence its name), has greatly benefited by the
construction of the Ems (Eems) ship-canal connecting it with Groningen,
and has a good harbour with a considerable import trade in wood.
Appingedam and Winschoten are very old towns, having important cattle
and horse markets. The pretty wood at Winschoten was laid out by the
Society for Public Welfare (_Tot Nut van het Algemeen_) in 1826.
GRONINGEN, a town of Holland, capital of the province of the same name,
at the confluence of the two canalized rivers the Drentsche Aa and the
Hunse (which are continued to the Lauwers Zee as the Reit Diep), 16 m.
N. of Assen and 33 m. E. of Leeuwarden by rail. Pop. (1900) 67,563.
Groningen is the centre from which several important canals radiate.
Besides the Reit Diep, there are the Ems Canal and the Damster Diep,
connecting it with Delfzyl and the Dollart, the Kolonel's Diep with
Leeuwarden, the Nord Willem's Canal with Assen and the south and the
Stads-Canal south-east with the Ems. Hence steamers ply in all
directions, and there is a regular service to Emden and the island of
Borkum via Delfzyl, and via the Lauwers Zee to the island of
Schiermonnikoog. Groningen is the most important town in the north of
Holland, with its fine shops and houses and wide clean streets, while
brick houses of the 16th and 17th centuries help it to retain a certain
old-world air. The ancient part of the town is still surrounded by the
former moat, and in the centre lies a group of open places, of which the
Groote Markt is one of the largest market-squares in Holland. Pleasant
gardens and promenades extend on the north side of the town, together
with a botanical garden. The chief church is the Martini-kerk, with a
high tower (432 ft.) dating from 1477, and an organ constructed by the
famous scholar and musician Rudolph Agricolo, who was born near
Groningen in 1443. The Aa church dates from 1465, but was founded in
1253. The Roman Catholic Broederkerk (rebuilt at the end of the 19th
century) contains some remarkable pictures of the Passion by L. Hendricx
(1865). There is also a Jewish synagogue. The large town hall (in
classical style), one of the finest public buildings, was built at the
beginning of the 19th century and enlarged in 1873. The provincial
government offices also occupy a fine building which received a splendid
front in 1871. Other noteworthy buildings are the provincial museum of
antiquities, containing interesting Germanic antiquities, as well as
medieval and modern collections of porcelain, pictures, &c.; the courts
of justice (transformed in the middle of the 18th century); the old
Ommelanderhuis, formerly devoted to the administration of the
surrounding district, built in 1509 and restored in 1899; the
weigh-house (1874); the civil and military prison; the arsenal; the
military hospital; and the concert hall.
The university of Groningen, founded in 1614, received its present fine
buildings in classical style in 1850. Among its auxiliary establishments
are a good natural history museum, an observatory, a laboratory, and a
library which contains a copy of Erasmus' New Testament with marginal
annotations by Luther. Other educational institutions are the deaf and
dumb institution founded by Henri Daniel Guyot (d. 1828) in 1790, a
gymnasium, and schools of navigation, art and music. There are learned
societies for the study of law (1761) and natural science (1830); an
academy of fine arts (1830); an archaeological society; and a central
bureau for collecting information concerning the province.
As capital of the province, and on account of the advantages of its
natural position, Groningen maintains a very considerable trade, chiefly
in oil-seed, grain, wood, turf and cattle, with Great Britain, Germany,
Scandinavia and Russia. The chief industries are flax-spinning,
rope-making, sugar refining, book printing, wool combing and dyeing, and
it also manufactures beer, tobacco and cigars, cotton and woollen
stuffs, furniture, organs and pianos; besides which there are saw, oil
and grain mills, machine works, and numerous goldsmiths and
silversmiths.
_History._--The town of Groningen belonged originally to the _pagus_, or
_gouw_, of Triantha (Drente), the countship of which was bestowed by the
emperor Henry II. on the bishop and chapter of Utrecht in 1024. In 1040
Henry III. gave the church of Utrecht the royal domain of Groningen, and
in the deed of gift the "villa Cruoninga" is mentioned. Upon this
charter the bishops of Utrecht based their claim to the overlordship of
the town, a claim which the citizens hotly disputed. At the time of the
donation, indeed, the town can hardly be said to have existed, but the
royal "villa" rapidly developed into a community which strove to assert
the rights of a free imperial city. At first the bishops were too strong
for the townsmen; the defences built in 1110 were pulled down by the
bishop's order two years later; and during the 12th and 13th centuries
the see of Utrecht, in spite of frequent revolts, succeeded in
maintaining its authority. Down to the 15th century an episcopal
prefect, or burgrave, had his seat in the city, his authority extending
over the neighbouring districts known as the Gorecht. In 1143 Heribert
of Bierum, bishop of Utrecht, converted the office into an hereditary
fief in favour of his brother Liffert, on the extinction of whose male
line it was partitioned between the families of Koevorden (or Coevorden)
and van den Hove. Gradually, however, the burghers, aided by the
neighbouring Frisians, succeeded in freeing themselves from the
episcopal yoke. The city was again walled in 1255; before 1284 it had
become a member of the Hanseatic league; and by the end of the 14th
century it was practically a powerful independent republic, which
exercised an effective control over the Frisian Ommelande between the
Ems and the Lauwers Zee. At the close of the 14th century the heirs of
the Koevorden and van den Hove families sold their rights, first to the
town, and then to the bishop. A struggle followed, in which the city was
temporarily worsted; but in 1440 Bishop Dirk II. finally sold to the
city the rights of the see of Utrecht over the Gorecht.
The medieval constitution of Groningen, unlike that of Utrecht, was
aristocratic. Merchant gild there was none; and the craft gilds were
without direct influence on the city government, which held them in
subjection. Membership of the governing council, which selected from its
own body the four _rationales_ or burgomasters, was confined to men of
approved "wisdom," and wisdom was measured in terms of money. This
_Raad_ of wealthy burghers gradually monopolized all power. The bishop's
bailiff (_schout_), with his nominated assessors (_scabini_), continued
to exercise jurisdiction, but members of the Raad sat on the bench with
him, and an appeal lay from his court to the Raad itself. The council
was, in fact, supreme in the city, and not in the city only. In 1439 it
decreed that no one might trade in all the district between the Ems and
the Lauwers Zee except burghers, and those who had purchased the
_burwal_ (right of residence in the city) and the freedom of the gilds.
Maximilian I. assigned Groningen to Albert of Saxony, hereditary
podestat of Friesland, but the citizens preferred to accept the
protection of the bishop of Utrecht; and when Albert's son George
attempted in 1505 to seize the town, they recognized the lordship of
Edzart of East Frisia. On George's renewal of hostilities they
transferred their allegiance to Duke Charles of Gelderland, in 1515. In
1536 the city passed into the hands of Charles V., and in the great
wars of the 16th century suffered all the miseries of siege and military
occupation. From 1581 onwards, Groningen still held by the Spaniards,
was constantly at war with the "Ommelanden" which had declared against
the king of Spain. This feud continued, in spite of the capture of the
city in 1594 by Maurice of Nassau, and of a decree of the States in 1597
which was intended to set them at rest. In 1672 the town was besieged by
the bishop of Munster, but it was successfully defended, and in 1698 its
fortifications were improved under Coehoorn's direction. The French
Republicans planted their tree of liberty in the Great Market on the
14th of February 1795, and they continued in authority till the 16th of
November 1814. The fortifications of the city were doomed to destruction
by the law of the 18th of April 1874.
See C. Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden_ (Leipzig, 1891); Stokvis, _Manuel
d'histoire_, iii. 496 (Leiden, 1890-1893); also s.v. in Chevalier,
_Repertoire des sources hist. du moyen age_ (_Topo-bibliographie_).
GRONLUND, LAURENCE (1846-1899), American socialist, was born in
Copenhagen, Denmark, on the 13th of July 1846. He graduated from the
university of Copenhagen in 1865, began the study of law, removed to the
United States in 1867, taught German in Milwaukee, was admitted to the
bar in 1869, and practised in Chicago. He became a writer and lecturer
on socialism and was closely connected with the work of the Socialist
Labor party from 1874 to 1884, then devoted himself almost exclusively
to lecturing until his appointment to a post in the bureau of labour
statistics. He again returned to the lecture field, and was an editorial
writer for the New York and Chicago _American_ from 1898 until his death
in New York City on the 15th of October 1899. His principal works are:
_The Coming Revolution_ (1880); _The Co-operative Commonwealth in its
Outlines, An Exposition of Modern Socialism_ (1884); _Ca Ira, or Danton
in the French Revolution_ (1888), a rehabilitation of Danton; _Our
Destiny, The Influence of Socialism on Morals and Religion_ (1890); and
_The New Economy_ (1898).
GRONOVIUS (the latinized form of GRONOV), JOHANN FRIEDRICH (1611-1671),
German classical scholar and critic, was born at Hamburg on the 8th of
September 1611. Having studied at several universities, he travelled in
England, France and Italy. In 1643 he was appointed professor of
rhetoric and history at Deventer, and in 1658 to the Greek chair at
Leiden, where he died on the 28th of December 1671. (See also FABRETTI,
RAPHAEL.) Besides editing, with notes, Statius, Plautus, Livy, Tacitus,
Aulus Gellius and Seneca's tragedies, Gronovius was the author, amongst
numerous other works, of _Commentarius de sestertiis_ (1643) and of an
edition of Hugo Grotius' De jure belli et pacis (1660). His
_Observationes_ contain a number of brilliant emendations. His son,
JAKOB GRONOVIUS (1645-1716), is chiefly known as the editor of the
_Thesaurus antiquitatum Graecarum_ (1697-1702, in 13 volumes).
See J. E. Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ ii. (1908); F. A. Eckstein
in Ersch and Gruber's _Allgemeine Encyklopadie_.
GROOM, in modern usage a male servant attached to the stables, whose
duties are to attend to the cleaning, feeding, currying and care
generally of horses. The earliest meaning of the word appears to be that
of a boy, and in 16th and 17th century literature it frequently occurs,
in pastorals, for a shepherd lover. Later it is used for any male
attendant, and thus survives in the name for several officials in the
royal household, such as the grooms-in-waiting, and the grooms of the
great chamber. The groom-porter, whose office was abolished by George
III., saw to the preparation of the sovereign's apartment, and, during
the 16th and 17th centuries, provided cards and dice for playing, and
was the authority to whom were submitted all questions of gaming within
the court. The origin of the word is obscure. The O. Fr. _gromet_, shop
boy, is taken by French etymologists to be derived from the English.
From the application of this word to a wine-taster in a wine merchant's
shop, is derived _gourmet_, an epicure. According to the _New English
Dictionary_, though there are no instances of groom in other Teutonic
languages, the word may be ultimately connected with the root of "to
grow." In "bridegroom," a newly married man, "grom" in the 16th century
took the place of an older _gome_, a common old Teutonic word meaning
"man," and connected with the Latin _homo_. The Old English word was
_brydguma_, later _bridegome_. The word survives in the German
_Brautigam_.
GROOT, GERHARD (1340-1384), otherwise Gerrit or Geert Groet, in Latin
Gerardus Magnus, a preacher and founder of the society of Brothers of
Common Life (q.v.), was born in 1340 at Deventer in the diocese of
Utrecht, where his father held a good civic position. He went to the
university of Paris when only fifteen. Here he studied scholastic
philosophy and theology under a pupil of Occam's, from whom he imbibed
the nominalist conception of philosophy; in addition he studied canon
law, medicine, astronomy and even magic, and apparently some Hebrew.
After a brilliant course he graduated in 1358, and possibly became
master in 1363. He pursued his studies still further in Cologne, and
perhaps in Prague. In 1366 he visited the papal court at Avignon. About
this time he was appointed to a canonry in Utrecht and to another in
Aix-la-Chapelle, and the life of the brilliant young scholar was rapidly
becoming luxurious, secular and selfish, when a great spiritual change
passed over him which resulted in a final renunciation of every worldly
enjoyment. This conversion, which took place In 1374, appears to have
been due partly to the effects of a dangerous illness and partly to the
influence of Henry de Calcar, the learned and pious prior of the
Carthusian monastery at Munnikhuizen near Arnhem, who had remonstrated
with him on the vanity of his life. About 1376 Gerhard retired to this
monastery and there spent three years in meditation, prayer and study,
without, however, becoming a Carthusian. In 1379, having received
ordination as a deacon, he became missionary preacher throughout the
diocese of Utrecht. The success which followed his labours not only in
the town of Utrecht, but also in Zwolle, Deventer, Kampen, Amsterdam,
Haarlem, Gouda, Leiden, Delft, Zutphen and elsewhere, was immense;
according to Thomas a Kempis the people left their business and their
meals to hear his sermons, so that the churches could not hold the
crowds that flocked together wherever he came. The bishop of Utrecht
supported him warmly, and got him to preach against concubinage in the
presence of the clergy assembled in synod. The impartiality of his
censures, which he directed not only against the prevailing sins of the
laity, but also against heresy, simony, avarice, and impurity among the
secular and regular clergy, provoked the hostility of the clergy, and
accusations of heterodoxy were brought against him. It was in vain that
Groot emitted a _Publica Protestatio_, in which he declared that Jesus
Christ was the great subject of his discourses, that in all of them he
believed himself to be in harmony with Catholic doctrine, and that he
willingly subjected them to the candid judgment of the Roman Church. The
bishop was induced to issue an edict which prohibited from preaching all
who were not in priest's orders, and an appeal to Urban VI. was without
effect. There is a difficulty as to the date of this prohibition; either
it was only a few months before Groot's death, or else it must have been
removed by the bishop, for Groot seems to have preached in public in the
last year of his life. At some period (perhaps 1381, perhaps earlier) he
paid a visit of some days' duration to the famous mystic Johann
Ruysbroeck, prior of the Augustinian canons at Groenendael near
Brussels; at this visit was formed Groot's attraction for the rule and
life of the Augustinian canons which was destined to bear such notable
fruit. At the close of his life he was asked by some of the clerics who
attached themselves to him to form them into a religious order, and
Groot resolved that they should be canons regular of St Augustine. No
time was lost in the effort to carry out the project, but Groot died
before a foundation could be made. In 1387, however, a site was secured
at Windesheim, some 20 m. north of Deventer, and here was established
the monastery that became the cradle of the Windesheim congregation of
canons regular, embracing in course of time nearly one hundred houses,
and leading the way in the series of reforms undertaken during the 15th
century by all the religious orders in Germany. The initiation of this
movement was the great achievement of Groot's life; he lived to preside
over the birth and first days of his other creation, the society of
Brothers of Common Life. He died of the plague at Deventer in 1384, at
the age of 44.
The chief authority for Groot's life is Thomas a Kempis, _Vita Gerardi
Magni_ (translated into English by J. P. Arthur, _The Founders of the
New Devotion_, 1905); also the _Chronicon Windeshemense_ of Johann
Busch (ed. K. Grube, 1886). An account, based on these sources, will
be found in S. Kettlewell, _Thomas a Kempis and the Brothers of Common
Life_ (1882). i. c. 5; and a shorter account in F. R. Cruise, _Thomas
a Kempis_, 1887, pt. ii. An excellent sketch, with an account of
Groot's writings, is given by L. Schulze in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopadie_ (ed. 3); he insists on the fact that Groot's
theological and ecclesiastical ideas were those commonly current in
his day, and that the attempts to make him "a reformer before the
Reformation" are unhistorical. (E. C. B.)
GROOVE-TOOTHED SQUIRREL, a large and brilliantly coloured Bornean
squirrel, _Rhithrosciurus macrotis_, representing a genus by itself
distinguished from all other members of the family _Sciuridae_ by having
numerous longitudinal grooves on the front surface of the incisor teeth;
the molars being of a simpler type than in other members of the family.
The tail is large and fox-like, and the ears are tufted and the flanks
marked by black and white bands.
GROS, ANTOINE JEAN, BARON (1771-1835), French painter, was born at Paris
in 1771. His father, who was a miniature painter, began to teach him to
draw at the age of six, and showed himself from the first an exacting
master. Towards the close of 1785 Gros, by his own choice, entered the
studio of David, which he frequented assiduously, continuing at the same
time to follow the classes of the College Mazarin. The death of his
father, whose circumstances had been embarrassed by the Revolution,
threw Gros, in 1791, upon his own resources. He now devoted himself
wholly to his profession, and competed in 1792 for the _grand prix_, but
unsuccessfully. About this time, however, on the recommendation of the
Ecole des Beaux Arts, he was employed on the execution of portraits of
the members of the Convention, and when--disturbed by the development of
the Revolution--Gros in 1793 left France for Italy, he supported himself
at Genoa by the same means, producing a great quantity of miniatures and
_fixes_. He visited Florence, but returning to Genoa made the
acquaintance of Josephine, and followed her to Milan, where he was well
received by her husband. On November 15, 1796, Gros was present with the
army near Arcola when Bonaparte planted the tricolor on the bridge. Gros
seized on this incident, and showed by his treatment of it that he had
found his vocation. Bonaparte at once gave him the post of "inspecteur
aux revues," which enabled him to follow the army, and in 1797 nominated
him on the commission charged to select the spoils which should enrich
the Louvre. In 1799, having escaped from the besieged city of Genoa,
Gros made his way to Paris, and in the beginning of 1801 took up his
quarters in the Capucins. His "esquisse" (Musee de Nantes) of the
"Battle of Nazareth" gained the prize offered in 1802 by the consuls,
but was not carried out, owing it is said to the jealousy of Junot felt
by Napoleon; but he indemnified Gros by commissioning him to paint his
own visit to the pest-house of Jaffa. "Les Pestiferes de Jaffa" (Louvre)
was followed by the "Battle of Aboukir" 1806 (Versailles), and the
"Battle of Eylau," 1808 (Louvre). These three subjects--the popular
leader facing the pestilence unmoved, challenging the splendid instant
of victory, heart-sick with the bitter cost of a hard-won field--gave to
Gros his chief title to fame. As long as the military element remained
bound up with French national life, Gros received from it a fresh and
energetic inspiration which carried him to the very heart of the events
which he depicted; but as the army and its general separated from the
people, Gros, called on to illustrate episodes representative only of
the fulfilment of personal ambition, ceased to find the nourishment
necessary to his genius, and the defect of his artistic position became
evident. Trained in the sect of the Classicists, he was shackled by
their rules, even when--by his naturalistic treatment of types, and
appeal to picturesque effect in colour and tone--he seemed to run
counter to them. In 1810 his "Madrid" and "Napoleon at the Pyramids"
(Versailles) show that his star had deserted him. His "Francis I." and
"Charles V.," 1812 (Louvre), had considerable success; but the
decoration of the dome of St Genevieve (begun in 1811 and completed in
1824) is the only work of Gros's later years which shows his early force
and vigour, as well as his skill. The "Departure of Louis XVIII."
(Versailles), the "Embarkation of Madame d'Angouleme" (Bordeaux), the
plafond of the Egyptian room in the Louvre, and finally his "Hercules
and Diomedes," exhibited in 1835, testify only that Gros's efforts--in
accordance with the frequent counsels of his old master David--to stem
the rising tide of Romanticism, served but to damage his once brilliant
reputation. Exasperated by criticism and the consciousness of failure,
Gros sought refuge in the grosser pleasures of life. On the 25th of June
1835 he was found drowned on the shores of the Seine near Sevres. From a
paper which he had placed in his hat it became known that "las de la
vie, et trahi par les dernieres facultes qui la lui rendaient
supportable, il avait resolu de s'en defaire." The number of Gros's
pupils was very great, and was considerably augmented when, in 1815,
David quitted Paris and made over his own classes to him. Gros was
decorated and named baron of the empire by Napoleon, after the Salon of
1808, at which he had exhibited the "Battle of Eylau." Under the
Restoration he became a member of the Institute, professor at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts, and was named chevalier of the order of St Michel.
M. Delecluze gives a brief notice of his life in _Louis David et son
temps_, and Julius Meyer's _Geschichte der modernen franzosischen
Malerei_ contains an excellent criticism on his works.
GROSART, ALEXANDER BALLOCH (1827-1899), Scottish divine and literary
editor, the son of a building contractor, was born at Stirling on the
18th of June 1827. He was educated at Edinburgh University, and in 1856
became a Presbyterian minister at Kinross. In 1865 he went to Liverpool,
and three years later to Blackburn. He resigned from the ministry in
1892, and died at Dublin on the 16th of March 1899. Dr Grosart is
chiefly remembered for his exertions in reprinting much rare Elizabethan
literature, a work which he undertook in the first instance from his
strong interest in Puritan theology. Among the first writers whose works
he edited were the Puritan divines, Richard Sibbes, Thomas Brooks and
Herbert Palmer. Editions of Michael Bruce's _Poems_ (1865) and Richard
Gilpin's _Demonologia sacra_ (1867) followed. In 1868 he brought out a
bibliography of the writings of Richard Baxter, and from that year until
1876 he was occupied in reproducing for private subscribers the "Fuller
Worthies Library," a series of thirty-nine volumes which included the
works of Thomas Fuller, Sir John Davies, Fulke Greville, Henry Vaughan,
Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, John Donne and Sir
Philip Sidney. The last four volumes of the series were devoted to the
works of many little known and otherwise inaccessible authors. His
_Occasional Issues of Unique and Very Rare Books_ (1875-1881) is of the
utmost interest to the book-lover. It included among other things the
_Annalia Dubrensia_ of Robert Dover. In 1876 still another series, known
as the "Chertsey Worthies Library," was begun. It included editions of
the works of Nicholas Breton, Francis Quarles, Dr Joseph Beaumont,
Abraham Cowley, Henry More and John Davies of Hereford. Grosart was
untiring in his enthusiasm and energy for this kind of work. The two
last-named series were being produced simultaneously until 1881, and no
sooner had they been completed than Grosart began the "Huth Library," so
called from the bibliophile Henry Huth, who possessed the originals of
many of the reprints. It included the works of Robert Greene, Thomas
Nash, Gabriel Harvey, and the prose tracts of Thomas Dekker. He also
edited the complete works of Edmund Spenser and Samuel Daniel. From the
Townley Hall collection he reprinted several MSS. and edited Sir John
Eliot's works, Sir Richard Boyle's _Lismore Papers_, and various
publications for the Chetham Society, the Camden Society and the
Roxburghe Club. Dr Grosart's faults of style and occasional inaccuracy
do not seriously detract from the immense value of his work. He was
unwearied in searching for rare books, and he brought to light much
interesting literature, formerly almost inaccessible.
GROSBEAK (Fr. _Grosbec_), a name very indefinitely applied to many birds
belonging to the families _Fringillidae_ and _Ploceidae_ of modern
ornithologists, and perhaps to some members of the _Emberizidae_ and
_Tanagridae_, but always to birds distinguished by the great size of
their bill. Taken alone it is commonly a synonym of hawfinch (q.v.), but
a prefix is usually added to indicate the species, as pine-grosbeak,
cardinal-grosbeak and the like. By early writers the word was generally
given as an equivalent of the Linnaean _Loxia_, but that genus has been
found to include many forms not now placed in the same family.
The Pine-grosbeak (_Pinicola enucleator_) inhabits the conifer-zone of
both the Old and the New Worlds, seeking, in Europe and probably
elsewhere, a lower latitude as winter approaches--often journeying in
large flocks; stragglers have occasionally reached the British Islands
(Yarrell, _Br. Birds_, ed. 4, ii. 177-179). In structure and some of its
habits much resembling a bullfinch, but much exceeding that bird in
size, it has the plumage of a crossbill and appears to undergo the same
changes as do the members of the restricted genus _Loxia_--the young
being of a dull greenish-grey streaked with brownish-black, the adult
hens tinged with golden-green, and the cocks glowing with crimson-red on
nearly all the body-feathers, this last colour being replaced after
moulting in confinement by bright yellow. Nests of this species were
found in 1821 by Johana Wilhelm Zetterstedt near Juckasjarwi in Swedish
Lapland, but little was known concerning its nidification until 1855,
when John Wolley, after two years' ineffectual search, succeeded in
obtaining near the Finnish village Muonioniska, on the Swedish frontier,
well-authenticated specimens with the eggs, both of which are like
exaggerated bullfinches'. The food of this species seems to consist of
the seeds and buds of many sorts of trees, though the staple may very
possibly be those of some kind of pine.
Allied to the pine-grosbeak are a number of species of smaller size, but
its equals in beauty of plumage.[1] They have been referred to several
genera, such as _Carpodacus_, _Propasser_, _Bycanetes_, _Uragus_ and
others; but possibly _Carpodacus_ is sufficient to contain all. Most of
them are natives of the Old World, and chiefly of its eastern division,
but several inhabit the western portion of North America, and one, _C.
githagineus_ (of which there seem to be at least two local races), is an
especial native of the deserts, or their borders, of Arabia and North
Africa, extending even to some of the Canary Islands--a singular
modification in the _habitat_ of a form which one would be apt to
associate exclusively with forest trees, and especially conifers.
The cardinal grosbeak, or Virginian nightingale, _Cardinalis
virginianus_, claims notice here, though doubts may be entertained as to
the family to which it really belongs. It is no less remarkable for its
bright carmine attire, and an elongated crest of the same colour, than
for its fine song. Its ready adaptation to confinement has made it a
popular cage-bird on both sides of the Atlantic. The hen is not so good
a songster as the cock bird. Her plumage, with exception of the wings
and tail, which are of a dull red, is light-olive above and
brownish-yellow beneath. This species inhabits the eastern parts of the
United States southward of 40 deg. N. lat., and also occurs in the
Bermudas. It is represented in the south-west of North America by other
forms that by some writers are deemed species, and in the northern parts
of South America by the _C. phoeniceus_, which would really seem
entitled to distinction. Another kindred bird placed from its short and
broad bill in a different genus, and known as _Pyrrhuloxia sinuata_ or
the Texan cardinal, is found on the southern borders of the United
States and in Mexico; while among North American "grosbeaks" must also
be named the birds belonging to the genera _Guiraca_ and
_Hedymeles_--the former especially exemplified by the beautiful blue _G.
caerulea_, and the latter by the brilliant rose-breasted _H.
ludovicianus_, which last extends its range into Canada.
The species of the Old World which, though commonly called "grosbeaks,"
certainly belong to the family _Ploceidae_, are treated under
WEAVER-BIRD. (A. N.)