chose Theoderic, "who seems to have been a Balthing, though
not related either to Wallia or to Atawulf. You must be
careful not to confound this Visigoth Theoderic, or his son of
the same name, with the great Theoderic the Amaling, who began
to reign over the Ostrogoths about the year 475. Theoderic the
Visigoth was not such a great man as his namesake, but he must
have been both a brave soldier and an able ruler, or he could
not have kept the affection and obedience of his people for
thirty-two years. His great object was to extend his kingdom,
which was hemmed in on the north by the Franks, ... and on the
west by another people of German invaders, the Burgunds; while
the Roman Empire still kept possession of some rich cities,
such as Arles and Narbonne [the first named of which Theoderic
besieged unsuccessfully in 425, the last named in 437], which
were temptingly close to the Gothic boundary on the south. ...
In the year 450 the Visigoths and the Romans were drawn more
closely together by the approach of a great common danger. ...
The Huns ... had, under their famous king, Attila, moved
westward, and were threatening to over-run both Gaul and
Italy."
_H. Bradley,
Story of the Goths,
chapter 12._
See HUNS: A. D. 451.
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths and Visigoths): A. D. 451.
At the battle of Chalons.
See HUNS: A. D. 451.
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 453.
Breaking the yoke of the Huns.
See HUNS: A. D. 453.
GOTHS: (Visigoths): A. D. 453-484.
Extension of the kingdom of Toulouse.
"The Visigoths were governed from 453 to 466 by Theodoric the
Second, son of Theodoric the First, and grandson of Alaric.
... The reign of Theodoric was distinguished by conquests. On
the one hand he drove the Suevians as far as the extremity of
Gallicia. ... On the other hand, in 462, he rendered himself
master of the town of Narbon, which was delivered up to him by
its count; he also carried his arms towards the Loire; but his
brother Frederic, whom he had charged with the conquest of the
Armorici, and who had taken possession of Chinon, was killed
in 463 near Orleans, in a battle which he gave to Count
Ægidius. Theodoric finally extended the dominion of the
Visigoths to the Rhone; he even attacked Arles and Marseille,
but he could not subjugate them. After a glorious reign of
thirteen years, he was killed in the month of August, 466, by
his brother Euric, by whom he was succeeded. ... Euric ...
attacked, in 473, the province of Auvergne. ... He conquered
it in 475 and caused his possession of it to be confirmed by
the emperor Nepos. He had at that period acquired the Loire
and the Rhone as frontiers; in Spain he subjected the whole of
the province of Taragon. ... He afterwards conquered Provence,
and was acknowledged a sovereign in Arles and at Marseille,
towards the year 480. No prince, whether civilized or
barbarian, was at that period so much feared as Euric; and,
had he lived longer, it would undoubtedly have been to the
Visigoths, and not to the Franks, that the honor would have
belonged of reconstituting the Gallic provinces; but he died
at Arles towards the end of the year 484, leaving an only son
of tender age, who was crowned under the name of Alaric the
Second."
_J. C. L. S. de Sismondi,
The French under the Merovingians;
translated by Bellingham, chapter 4._
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 473-474.
Invasions of Italy and Gaul.
"The Ostrogothic brother-kings, who served under Attila at the
battle in Champagne, on the overthrow of the Hunnish Empire
obtained for themselves a goodly settlement in Pannonia, on
the western bank of the Danube. For near twenty years they had
been engaged in desultory hostilities with their barbarian
neighbours, with Sueves and Rugians on the north, with Huns
and Sarmatians on the south. Now, as their countryman,
Jornandes, tells us with admirable frankness, 'the spoils of
these neighbouring nations were dwindling, and food and
clothing began to fail the Goths.' ... They clustered round
their kings, and clamoured to be led forth to war--whither
they cared not, but war must be. Theodemir, the elder king,
took counsel with his brother Widemir, and they resolved to
commence a campaign against the Roman Empire. Theodemir, as
the more powerful chieftain, was to attack the stronger Empire
of the East; Widemir, with his weaker forces, was to enter
Italy. He did so, but, like so many of the northern
conquerors, he soon found a grave in the beautiful but deathly
land. His son, the younger Widemir, succeeded to his designs
of conquest, but Glycerius [Roman emperor, for the moment]
approached him with presents and smooth words, and was not
ashamed to suggest that he should transfer his arms to Gaul,
which was still in theory, and partially in fact, a province
of the Empire. The sturdy bands of Widemir's Ostrogoths
descended accordingly into the valleys of the Rhone and the
Loire; they speedily renewed the ancient alliance with the
Visigothic members of their scattered nationality, and helped
to ruin yet more utterly the already desperate cause of
Gallo-Roman freedom."
_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
book 3, chapter 7 (volume 2)._
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 473-488.
Rise of Theodoric.
The greater mass of the Ostrogoth nation who followed
Theodemir (or Theudemer) the elder of the royal brothers, into
the territories of the Eastern Empire, were rapidly successful
in their adventures. The Court at Constantinople made little
attempt to oppose them with arms, but bribed them to peace by
gifts of money and a large cession of territory in Macedonia.
"Amongst the cities which were abandoned to them was Pella,
famous as the birthplace of Alexander the Great. Just after
the conclusion of this treaty (in the year 474) Theudemer
died, and his son Theoderic, at the age of twenty years, began
his long and glorious reign as king of the Ostrogoths."
Theodoric had been reared in the imperial court at
Constantinople, from his eighth to his eighteenth year, his
father having pledged him to the emperor as a hostage for the
fulfilment of a treaty of peace. He understood, therefore, the
corrupt politics of the empire and its weakness, and he made the
most of his knowledge.
{1561}
Sometimes at peace with the reigning powers and sometimes at
war; sometimes ravaging the country to the very gates of the
impregnable capital, and sometimes settled quietly on lands
along the southern bank of the Danube which he had taken in
exchange for the Maeedonian tract; sometimes in league and
sometimes in furious rivalry with another Gothic chieftain and
adventurer, called Theodoric Strabo, whose origin and whose
power are somewhat of a mystery--the seriousness to the
Eastern Empire of the position and the strength of Theodoric
and his Ostrogoths went on developing until the year 488. That
year, the statesmen at Constantinople were illuminated by an
idea. They proposed to Theodoric to migrate with his nation
into Italy and to conquer a kingdom there. The Emperor Zeno,
to whom the Roman senate had surrendered the sovereignty of
the Western Roman Empire, and into whose hands the barbarian
who extinguished it, Odoacer, or Odovacar, had delivered the
purple robes--the Emperor Zeno, in the exercise of his
imperial function, authorized the conquest to be made.
Theodoric did not hesitate to accept a commission so
scrupulously legal.
_H. Bradley,
Story of the Goths,
chapters 14-15._
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 488-526.
The kingdom of Theodoric in Italy.
See ROME: A. D. 488-526.
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 493-525.
Theodoric in German legend.
See VERONA: A. D. 493-525.
GOTHS: (Visigoths): A. D. 507-509.
The kingdom of Toulouse overthrown by the Franks.
"If the successors of Euric had been endowed with genius and
energy equal to his, it is possible that the Visigoths might
have made themselves masters of the whole Western world. But
there was in the kingdom one fatal element of weakness, which
perhaps not even a succession of rulers like Euric could have
long prevented from working the destruction of the State. The
Visigoth kings were Arians; the great mass of their subjects
in Gaul were Catholics, and the hatred between religious
parties was so great that it was almost impossible for a
sovereign to win the attachment of subjects who regarded him
as a heretic." After 496, when Clovis, the king of the Franks,
renounced his heathenism, professed Christianity, and was
baptized by a Catholic bishop, the Catholics of Southern Gaul
began almost openly to invite him to the conquest of their
country. In the year 507 he responded to the invitation, and
declared war against the Visigoth, giving simply as his ground
of war that it grieved him to see the fairest part of Gaul in
the hands of the Arians. "The rapidity of Clovis's advance was
something quite unexpected by the Visigoths. Alaric still
clung to the hope of being able to avoid a battle until the
arrival of Theodoric's Ostrogoths [from his great kinsman in
Italy] and wished to retreat," but the opinion of his officers
forced him to make a stand. "He drew up his army on 'the field
of Voclad' (the name still survives as Vouillé or Vouglé), on
the banks of the Clain, a few miles south of Poitiers, and
prepared to receive the attack of the Franks. The battle which
followed decided the fate of Gaul. The Visigoths were totally
defeated, and their king was killed. Alaric's son, Amalaric, a
child five years of age, was carried across the Pyrenees into
Spain. During the next two years Clovis conquered, with very
little resistance, almost all the Gaulish dominions of the
Visigoths, and added them to his own. The 'Kingdom of
Toulouse' was no more. ... But Clovis was not allowed to
fulfil his intention of thoroughly destroying their [the
Visigothic] power, for the great Theoderic of Italy took up
the cause of his grandson Amalaric. The final result of many
struggles between Theoderic and the Franks was that the
Visigoths were allowed to remain masters of Spain, and of a
strip of sea-coast bordering on the Gulf of Lyons. ... This
diminished kingdom ... lasted just 200 years."
_H. Bradley,
The Story of the Goths,
chapter 12._
ALSO IN:
_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
book 4, chapter 9._
_W. C. Perry,
The Franks,
chapter 2._
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 38._
See, also, ARLES: A. D. 508-510.
GOTHS: (Visigoths): A. D. 507-711.
The kingdom in Spain.
The conquests of Clovis, king of the Franks, reduced the
dominion of the Visigoths on the northern side of the Pyrenees
to a small strip of Roman Narbonensis, along the gulf of
Lyons; but most of Spain had come under their rule at that
time and remained so. Amalaric, son of Alaric II. (and
grandson, on the maternal side, of the great Ostrogothic king,
Theodoric, who ruled both Gothic kingdoms during the minority
of Amalaric), reigned after the death of Theodoric until 531,
when he was murdered. He had made Narbonne his capital, until
he was driven from it, in a war with one of the sons of
Clovis. It was recovered; but the seat of government became
fixed at Toledo. During the reign of his successor, the Franks
invaded Spain (A.D. 543), but were beaten back from the walls
of Cæsaraugusta (modern Saragossa), and retreated with
difficulty and disaster. The Visigoths were now able to hold
their ground against the conquerors of Gaul, and the limits of
their kingdom underwent little subsequent change, until the
coming of the Moors. "The Gothic kings, in spite of bloody
changes and fierce opposition from their nobility, succeeded
in identifying themselves with the land and the people whom
they had conquered. They guided the fortunes of the country
with a distinct purpose and vigorous hand. By Leovigild
(572-586) the power of the rebellious nobility was broken, and
the independence and name of the Sueves of Gallicia
extinguished. The still more dangerous religious conflict
between the Catholic population and the inherited Arianism of
the Goths was put down, but at the cost of the life of his
son, Herminigild, who had married a Frank and Catholic
princess, and who placed himself at the head of the Catholics.
But Leovigild was the last Arian king. This cause of
dissension was taken away by his son Reccared (568-601), who
solemnly abandoned Arianism, and embraced with zeal the
popular Catholic creed. He was followed by the greater part of
his Arian subjects, but the change throughout the land was not
accomplished without some fierce resistance. It led among
other things to the disappearance of the Gothic language, and
of all that recalled the Arian days, and to the destruction in
Spain of what there was of Gothic literature, such as the
translation of the Bible, supposed to be tainted with
Arianism. But it determined the complete fusion of the Gothic
and Latin population. After Reccared, two marked features of
the later Spanish character began to show themselves. One was
the great prominence in the state of the ecclesiastical
element. The Spanish kings sought in the clergy a counterpoise
to their turbulent nobility. The great church councils of
Toledo became the legislative assemblies of the nation; the
bishops in them took precedence of the nobles; laws were made
there as well as canons; and seventeen of these councils are
recorded between the end of the fourth century and the end of
the seventh.
{1562}
The other feature was that stern and systematic intolerance
which became characteristic of Spain. Under Sisebut (612-620),
took place the first expulsion of the Jews. ... The Gothic
realm of Spain was the most flourishing and the most advanced
of the new Teutonic kingdoms. ... But however the Goths in
Spain might have worked out their political career, their
course was rudely arrested. ... While the Goths had been
settling their laws, while their kings had been marshalling
their court after the order of Byzantium, the Saracens had
been drawing nearer and nearer."
_R. W. Church,
The Beginning of the Middle Ages,
chapter 5._
ALSO IN:
_H. Bradley,
Story of the Goths,
chapters 29-35._
_S. A. Dunham,
History of Spain and Portugal,
book 2._
_H. Coppée,
Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors,
book 2._
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 535-553.
Fall of the kingdom of Theodoric.
Recovery of Italy by Justinian.
See ROME: A. D. 535-553.
GOTHS: (Ostrogoths): A. D. 553.
Their disappearance from History.
"Totila and Teia, last of the race of Ostrogoth kings, fell as
became their heroic blood, sword in hand, upon the field of
battle. Then occurred a singular phenomenon,--the
annihilation and disappearance of a great and powerful people
from the world's history. ... A great people, which had
organized an enlightened government, and sent 200,000 fighting
men into the field of battle, is annihilated and forgotten. A
wretched remnant, transported by Narses to Constantinople,
were soon absorbed in the miserable proletariat of a
metropolitan city. The rest fell by the sword, or were
gradually amalgamated with the mixed population of the
peninsula. The Visigoth kingdom in Gaul and Spain, which had
been overshadowed by the glories of the great Theodoric,
emerges into independent renown, and takes up the traditions
of the Gothic name. In the annals of Europe, the Ostrogoth is
heard of no more."
_J. G. Sheppard,
The Fall of Rome,
lecture 6._
GOTHS: (Visigoths): A. D. 711-713.
Fall of the kingdom in Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.
----------GOTHS: End----------
GOURGUES, Dominic de, The vengeance of.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1567-1568.
GOWRIE PLOT, The.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1600.
GRACCHI, The.
See ROME: B. C. 133-121.
GRACES OF CHARLES I. TO THE IRISH.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1625.
GRAF.-GRAFIO.
"The highest official dignitary of which the Salic law [law of
the Sulian Franks] makes mention is the Grafio (Graf, Count),
who was appointed by the king, and therefore protected by a
triple ... leodis [weregild]. His authority and jurisdiction
extended over a district answering to the gau (canton) of
later times, in which he acted as the representative of the
king, and was civil and military governor of the people."
_W. C. Perry,
The Franks,
chapter 10._
See, also, MARGRAVE.
GRAFTON-CHATHAM MINISTRY, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D.1765-1768, and 1770.
GRAHAM'S DIKE.
See ROMAN WALLS IN BRITAIN.
GRAMPIANS, OR MONS GRANPIUS.
Victoriously fought by the Romans under Agricola with the
tribes of Caledonia, A. D. 86. Mr. Skene fixes the battle
ground at the junction of the Isla with the Tay.
See BRITAIN: A. D. 78-84.
GRAN CHACO, The.
"This tract of flat country, lying between the tropic and 29°
South, extends eastward to the Parana and Paraguay, and
westward to the province of Santiago del Estero. Its area is
180,000 square miles. About one-third belongs to Paraguay, and
a small part to Bolivia, but the bulk is in the Argentine
Republic. ... The Gran Chaco is no desert, but a rich alluvial
lowland, fitted for colonization, which is hindered by the
want of knowledge of the rivers and their shiftings."
_The American Naturalist,
volume 23, page 799._
"In the Quitchoane language, which is the original language of
Peru, they call 'chacu,' those great flocks of deer, goats,
and such other wild animals, which the inhabitants of this
part of America drive together when they hunt them; and this
name was given to the country we speak of, because at the time
Francis Pizarro made himself master of a great part of the
Peruvian empire, a great number of its inhabitants took refuge
there. Of 'Chacu', which the Spaniards pronounce 'Chacou"
custom has made 'Chaco.' It appears that, at first, they
comprehended nothing under this name but the country lying
between the mountains of the Cordilliere, the Pilco Mayo, and
the Red River; and that they extended it, in process of time,
in proportion as other nations joined the Peruvians, who had
taken refuge there to defend their liberties against the
Spaniards."
_Father Charlevoix,
History of Paraguay,
book 3 (volume l)._
For an account of the tribes of the Gran Chaco,
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAMPAS TRIBES.
GRANADA:
The rise of the city.
Granada "was small and unimportant until the year 1012. Before
that time, it was considered a dependency of Elvira [the
neighboring ancient Roman city of Illiberis]; but, little by
little, the people of Elvira migrated to it, and as it grew
Elvira dwindled into insignificance."
_H. Coppée,
Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors,
book 6, chapter 5, note (volume 2)._
GRANADA: A. D. 711.
Taken by the Arab-Moors.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.
GRANADA: A. D. 1238.
The founding of the Moorish kingdom.
Its vassalage to the King of Castile.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1212-1238.
GRANADA: A. D. 1238-1273.
The kingdom under its founder.
The building of the Alhambra.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1238-1273.
GRANADA: A. D. 1273-1460.
Slow decay and crumbling of the Moorish kingdom.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460.
GRANADA: A. D. 1476-1492.
The fall of the Moorish kingdom.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1492.
----------GRANADA: End----------
GRANADA, Treaty of.
See ITALY: A. D: 1501-1504.
GRANADINE CONFEDERATION, The.
See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1830-1886.
GRAND ALLIANCES against Louis XIV.
See
FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690, to 1695-1696;
SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 1701-1702.
{1563}
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
"The Grand Army of the Republic was organized April 6, 1866,
in Decatur, the county seat of Macon County, Illinois. Its
originator was Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, a physician of
Springfield, Illinois, who had served during the war as
surgeon of the 14th Illinois Infantry. He had spent many weeks
in study and plans so that the Order might be one that would
meet with the general approval of the surviving comrades of
the war, and thus insure their hearty co-operation. He made a
draft of a ritual, and sent it by Captain John S. Phelps to
Decatur, where two veterans, Messrs. Coltrin and Prior, had a
printing-office. These gentlemen, with their employees, who
had been in the service, were first obligated to secrecy, and
the ritual was then placed in type in their office. Captain
Phelps returned to Springfield with proofs of the ritual, but
the comrades in Decatur were so interested in the project,
that, with the active assistance of Captain M. F. Kanan and
Dr. J. W. Routh, a sufficient number of names were at once
secured to an application for charter, and these gentlemen
went to Springfield to request Dr. Stephenson to return with
them and organize a post at Decatur. The formation of a post
was under way in Springfield, but not being ready for muster,
Dr. Stephenson, accompanied by several comrades, proceeded to
Decatur, and, as stated, on April 6, 1866, mustered post No.1,
with General Isaac C. Pugh as post commander, and Captain
Kanan as adjutant. The latter gave material aid to Dr.
Stephenson in the work of organizing other posts, and Dr.
Routh served as chairman of a committee to revise the ritual.
The title, 'The Grand Army of the Republic, U. S.,' was
formally adopted that night. Soon after this, post No.2 was
organized at Springfield with General Jules C. Webber as
commander. ... Nothing was done in the Eastern States about
establishing posts until the opportunity was given for
consultation on this subject at a national soldiers' and
sailors' convention, held in Pittsburg in September, 1866,
when prominent representatives from Eastern States were
obligated and authorized to organize posts. The first posts so
established were posts Nos. 1 in Philadelphia, and 3 in
Pittsburg, by charters direct from the acting
commander-in-chief, Dr. Stephenson; and post 2, Philadelphia,
by charter received from General J. K. Proudfit, department
commander of Wisconsin. A department convention was held at
Springfield, Illinois, July 12, 1866, and adopted resolutions
declaring the objects of the G. A. R. General John W. Palmer
was elected the first Department Commander. ... The first
national convention was held at Indianapolis, Ind., November
20, 1866. ... General Stephen A. Hurlbut, of Illinois, was
elected Commander-in-Chief. General Thomas B. McKean, of New
York, Senior Vice-Commander-in-Chief; General Nathan Kimball,
of Indiana, Junior Vice-Commander-in-Chief; and Dr.
Stephenson, Adjutant-General. The objects of the Order cannot
be more briefly stated than from the articles and regulations.
1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and fraternal
feelings which bind together the Soldiers, Sailors, and
Marines who united to suppress the late Rebellion, and to
perpetuate the memory and history of the dead.
2. To assist such former comrades in arms as need help and
protection, and to extend needful aid to the widows and
orphans of those who have fallen.
3. To maintain true allegiance to the United States of
America, based upon a paramount respect for, and fidelity to,
its Constitution and laws, to discountenance whatever tends to
weaken loyalty, incites to insurrection, treason, or
rebellion, or in any manner impairs the efficiency and
permanency of our free institutions; and to encourage the
spread of universal liberty, equal rights, and justice to all
men.
Article IV. defines the qualifications of members in the
following terms: Soldiers and Sailors of the United States
Army, Navy, or Marine Corps who served between April 12, 1861,
and April 29, 1865, in the war for the suppression of the
Rebellion, and those having been honorably discharged
therefrom after such service, and of such State regiments as
were called into active service and subject to the orders of
United States general officers, between the dates mentioned,
shall be eligible to membership in the Grand Army of the
Republic. No person shall be eligible who has at any time
borne arms against the United States. ... The second national
encampment was held in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pa.,
January 15, 1868. ... General John A. Logan, of Illinois, was
elected Commander-in-Chief. ... That which tended most to
attract public attention to the organization was the issuance
of the order of General Logan early in his administration, in
1868, directing the observance of May 30th as Memorial Day.
... At the national encampment, held May 11, 1870, at
Washington, D. C., the following article was adopted as a part
of the rules and regulations: 'The national encampment hereby
establishes a Memorial Day, to be observed by the members of
the Grand Army of the Republic, on the 30th day of May
annually, in commemoration of the deeds of our fallen
comrades. When such day occurs on Sunday, the preceding day
shall be observed, except where, by legal enactment, the
succeeding day is made a legal holiday, when such day shall be
observed.' Memorial Day has been observed as such every year
since throughout the country wherever a post of the Grand Army
of the Republic has been established. In most of the States
the day has been designated as a holiday."