derived directly from the Athenian example, or mediately from this through
structures of the same kind erected in the later Greek cities, is hard to
say. We should naturally look in that direction for the prototypes of the
Roman basilicas, but as a fact we are not informed of any very early
basilicas in these cities. The earliest we know of is the existing basilica
at Pompeii, that may date back into the 2nd century B.C., whereas basilicas
made their appearance at Rome nearly at the beginning of that century. The
first was erected by M. Porcius Cato, the censor, in 184 B.C., and was
called after his name Basilica Porcia. Cato had recently visited Athens and
had been struck by the beauty of the city, so that it is quite possible
that the importation was direct.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Plan of Basilica Julia, Rome.
(From Baedeker's _Central Italy_, by permission of Karl Baedeker.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Plan of Basilica Ulpia, from Capitoline plan of
Rome.]
Rome soon obtained other basilicas, of which the important Basilica
Fulvia-Aemilia came next in point of time, till by the age of Augustus
there were at least five in the immediate neighbourhood of the forum, the
latest and most extensive being the Basilica Julia, which ran parallel to
its southern side, and is shown in plan in fig. 2. The great Basilica Ulpia
was built by Trajan in connexion with his forum about A.D. 112, and a
fragment of the Capitoline plan of Rome gives the scheme of it (fig. 3),
while an attempted restoration of the interior by Canina is shown in fig.
4. The vaulted basilica of Maxentius or Constantine on the Via Sacra dates
from the beginning of the 4th century, and fig. 5 gives the section of it.
The number of public basilicas we read of at Rome alone amounts to about a
score, while many private basilicas, for business or recreation, must also
have existed, that in the palace of Domitian on the Palatine being the best
known. In provincial cities in Italy, and indeed all over the empire,
basilicas were almost universal, and in the case of Italy we have proof of
this as early as the date of the death of Augustus, for Suetonius (_Aug_.
100) tells us that the body of that emperor, when it was brought from Nola
in Campania to Rome, rested "_in basilica cujusque oppidi._"
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Interior view of Trajan's Basilica (_Basilica
Ulpia_), as restored by Canina.]
As regards existing examples, neither in the peninsula nor the provinces
can it be said that these give any adequate idea of the former abundance
and wide distribution of basilicas. Northern Africa contributes one or two
examples, and a plan is given of that at Timgad (fig. 6). The Gallic
basilicas, which must have been very numerous, are represented only by the
noble structure at Trier (Treves), which is now a single vast hall 180 ft.
long, 90 ft. wide and 100 ft. high, commanded at one end by a spacious
apse. There is reason to conjecture that this is the basilica erected by
Constantine, and some authorities believe that originally it had internal
colonnades. In England basilicas remain in part at Silchester (fig. 7),
Uriconium (Wroxeter), [v.03 p.0472] Chester (?) and Lincoln, while three
others are mentioned in inscriptions (_C.I.L._ vii. 287, 445, 965).
A comparison of the plans of existing basilicas shows considerable variety
in form. Some basilicas (Julia, Ulpia, Pompeii) have the central space
surrounded by galleries supported on columns or piers, according to the
normal scheme, and the newly excavated Basilica Aemilia, north of the Roman
forum, agrees with these. In some North African examples, in the palace
basilica of Domitian, and at Silchester, there are colonnades down the long
sides but not across the ends. Others (Trier [?], Timgad) have no interior
divisions. One (Maxentius) is entirely a vaulted structure and in form
resembles the great halls of the Roman Thermae. At Pompeii, Timgad and
Silchester, there are fixed tribunals, while vaulted apses that may have
contained tribunals occur in the basilica of Maxentius. In the Basilica
Julia there was no tribunal at all, though we know that the building was
regularly used for the centumviral court (Quint. xii. 5. 6), and the same
was the case in the Ulpia, for the semicircular projection at the end shown
on the Capitoline-plan, was not a vaulted apse and was evidently distinct
from the basilica.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Section of the Basilica of Maxentius or Constantine
(Temple of Peace).]
In view of the above it might be questioned whether it is safe to speak of
a normal form of the basilica, but when we consider the vast number of
basilicas that have perished compared to the few that have survived, and
the fact that the origins and traditions of the building show it to have
been, as Vitruvius describes it, essentially a columned structure, there is
ample justification for the view expressed earlier in this article. There
can be little doubt that the earlier basilicas, and the majority of
basilicas taken as a whole, had a central space with galleries, generally
in two stories, round it, and some arrangement for clerestory lighting.
Later basilicas might vary in architectural scheme, while affording the
same sort of accommodation as the older ones.
The relation of the civil basilica of the Romans to the Christian church
has been extensively discussed, and the reader will find the controversy
ably summarized in Kraus's _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, bk. 5.
There is nothing remarkable in the fact that a large church was called a
basilica, for the term was applied, as we have seen, to structures of many
kinds, and we even find "basilica" used for the meeting-place of a pagan
religious association (_Roem. Mitt._ 1891, p. 109). The similarity in some
respects of the early Christian churches to the normal form of the columned
basilica is so striking, that we can understand how the theory was once
held that Christian churches were the actual civil basilicas turned over
from secular to religious uses. There is no evidence for this in the case
of public basilicas, and it stands to reason that the demands on these for
secular purposes would remain the same whether Christianity were the
religion of the empire or not. Moreover, though there are one or two civil
basilicas that resemble churches, the latter differ in some most important
respects from the form of the basilica that we have recognized as normal.
The early Christian basilicas, at any rate in the west, had very seldom, if
ever, galleries over the side aisles, and their interior is always
dominated by the semi-dome of an apse that terminates the central nave,
whereas, with the doubtful exception of Silchester (_Archaeologia_, liii.
549), there is no instance known of a vaulted apse in a columned civil
basilica of the normal kind.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Plan of Basilica adjoining the Forum of the Roman
city of Timgad, in North Africa.
(From Gsell's _Monuments antiques de l'Algerie_, by permission of A.
Fontemoing.) ]
When buildings were first expressly erected for Christian worship, in the
3rd or perhaps already in the 2nd century A.D. (Leclercq, _Manuel_, ch.
iii. "Les edifices chretiens avant la paix de l'eglise"), they probably
took the form of an oblong interior [v.03 p.0473] terminated by an apse.
After the time of Constantine, when the numbers of the faithful were
enormously increased, side aisles were added, and in this way the structure
came to assume an appearance similar to that of the civil basilica. A
striking confirmation of this view has recently come to light at S. Saba on
the Aventine at Rome, where a small and very early church, without aisles,
has been discovered beneath the floor of the present basilica.
There are, on the other hand, instances in which private basilicas in
palaces and mansions were handed over to the Christians for sacred uses. We
know that to have been the case with the basilicas of S. Croce in
Gerusalemme and S. Maria Maggiore at Rome, which originated in the halls of
the Sessorian and Liberian palaces respectively, granted by Constantine to
the Christians. We may adduce also as evidence of the same practice a
passage in bk. x. ch. 71 of the theological romance known as _The
Recognitions of Clement_, probably dating from the early half of the 3rd
century, in which we are told that Theophilus of Antioch, on his conversion
by St Peter, made over "the basilica of his house" for a church. But
however this may have been, with, perhaps, the single exception of S.
Croce, the existing Christian basilicas were erected from the ground for
their sacred purpose. At Rome the columns, friezes and other materials of
the desecrated temples and public buildings furnished abundant materials
for their construction. The decadence of art is plainly shown by the
absence of rudimentary architectural knowledge in these reconstructions.
Not only are columns of various heights and diameters made to do duty in
the same colonnade, but even different orders stand side by side (_e.g._
Ionic, Corinthian and Composite at S. Maria in Trastevere); while pilasters
assume a horizontal position and serve as entablatures, as at S. Lorenzo
fuori le Mura. There being no such quarry of ready-worked materials at
Ravenna, the noble basilicas of that city are free from these defects, and
exhibit greater unity of design and harmony of proportions.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Plan of Basilica adjoining the Forum of the Roman
city at Silchester, Hants. (From _Archaeologia,_ vol. liii.)]
An early Christian basilica may be thus described in its main features:--A
porch supported on pillars (as at S. Clemente) gave admission into an open
court or _atrium_, surrounded by a colonnaded cloister (S. Clemente, Old St
Peter's, S. Ambrogio at Milan, Parenzo). In the centre of the court stood a
cistern or fountain (_cantharus_, _phiale_), for drinking and ablutions. In
close contiguity to the atrium, often to the west, was the baptistery,
usually octagonal (Parenzo). The church was entered through a long narrow
porch (_narthex_), beyond which penitents, or those under ecclesiastical
censure, were forbidden to pass. Three or more lofty doorways, according to
the number of the aisles, set in marble cases, gave admission to the
church. The doors themselves were of rich wood, elaborately carved with
scriptural subjects (S. Sabina on the Aventine), or of bronze similarly
adorned and often gilt. Magnificent curtains, frequently embroidered with
sacred figures or scenes, closed the entrance, keeping out the heat of
summer and the cold of winter.
The interior consisted of a long and wide nave, sometimes as much as 80 ft.
across, terminating in a semicircular apse, with one or sometimes (St
Paul's, Old St Peter's, St John Lateran) two aisles on each side, separated
by colonnades of marble pillars supporting horizontal entablatures (Old St
Peter's, S. Maria Maggiore, S. Lorenzo) or arches (St Paul's, S. Agnese, S.
Clemente, the two basilicas of S. Apollinare at Ravenna). Above the pillars
the clerestory wall rose to a great height, pierced in its upper part by a
range of plain round-headed windows. The space between the windows and the
colonnade (the later triforium-space) was usually decorated with a series
of mosaic pictures in panels. The colonnades sometimes extended quite to
the end of the church (the Ravenna basilicas), sometimes ceased some little
distance from the end, thus admitting the formation of a transverse aisle
or transept (St Paul's, Old St Peter's, St John Lateran). Where this
transept occurred it was divided from the nave by a wide arch, the face and
soffit of which were richly decorated with mosaics. Over the crown of the
arch we often find a bust of Christ or the holy lamb lying upon the altar,
and, on either side, the evangelistic symbols, the seven candlesticks and
the twenty-four elders. Another arch spanned the semicircular apse, in
which the church always terminated. From Carolingian times this was
designated the _arch of triumph_, because a cross was suspended from it.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna.]
The conch or semi-dome that covered the apse was always covered with mosaic
pictures, usually paintings of our Lord, either seated or standing, with St
Peter and St Paul, and other apostles and saints, on either hand. The beams
of the roof were sometimes concealed by a flat ceiling, richly carved and
gilt. The altar, standing in the centre of the chord of the apse on a
raised platform reached by flights of steps, was rendered conspicuous by a
lofty canopy supported by marble pillars (_ciborium_, _baldacchino_), from
which depended curtains of the richest materials. Beneath the altar was the
_confessio_, a subterranean chapel, containing the body of the patron
saint, and relics of other holy persons. This was approached by descending
flights of steps from the nave or aisles. The _confessio_ in some cases
reproduced the original place of interment of the patron saint, either in a
catacomb-chapel or in an ordinary grave, and thus formed the sacred nucleus
round which the church arose. We have good examples of this arrangement at
St Peter's and St Paul's at Rome, and S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. It
was copied in the original cathedral of Canterbury. The bishop or
officiating presbyter advanced from his seat in the centre of the
semicircle of the apse to the altar, and celebrated the Eucharist with his
face to the congregation below. At the foot of the altar steps a raised
platform, occupying the upper portion of the nave, formed a choir for the
singers, readers and other inferior clergy. This oblong space was separated
from the aisles and from the western portion of the nave by low marble
walls or railings (_cancelli_). From these walls projected _ambones_ or
pulpits with desks, also of marble, ascended by steps.
The exterior of the basilicas was usually of an extreme plainness. The vast
brick walls were unrelieved by ornament, save occasionally by arcading as
at S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, and had no compensating grace of
outline or beauty of proportion. An exception was made for the entrance
front, which was sometimes covered with plates of marble mosaics or painted
stucco (Old St Peter's, S. Lorenzo). But in spite of any decorations the
external effect of a basilica must always have been heavy and unattractive.
S. Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna (fig. 8) affords a typical [v.03 p.0474]
example. The campanile is a later addition. Within, apart from the
beautiful mosaic decoration, a fine effect was produced by the arch of
triumph and the apse, which terminated the nave and dominated the whole
vast space of the interior.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Facade of old St Peter's, Rome.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Ground-Plan of the original Basilica of St Peter's
at Rome.
_a_, Porch. _b_, Atrium. _c_, Cloisters. _d_, Narthex. _e_, Nave. _f_, _f_,
Aisles, _g_, Bema. _h_, Altar, protected by a double screen. _i_, Bishop's
throne in centre of the apse. _k_, Sacristy. _l_, Tomb of Honorius. _m_,
Church of St Andrew. ]
To pass from general description to individual churches, the first place
must be given, as the earliest and grandest examples of the type, to the
world-famous Roman basilicas; those of St Peter, St Paul and St John
Lateran, _"omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput."_ It is true
that no one of these exists in its original form, Old St Peter's having
been entirely removed in the 16th century to make room for its magnificent
successor; and both St Paul's and St John Lateran having been greatly
injured by fire, and the last named being so completely modernized as to
have lost all interest. Of the two former, however, we possess drawings and
plans and minute descriptions, which give an accurate conception of the
original buildings. To commence with St Peter's, from the illustrations
annexed (figs. 9, 10, 11) it will be seen that the church was entered
through a vast colonnaded _atrium_, 212 ft. by 235 ft., with a fountain in
the centre,--the atrium being preceded by a porch mounted by a noble flight
of steps. The church was 212 ft. wide by 380 ft. long; the nave, 80 ft. in
width, was six steps lower than the side aisles, of which there were two on
each side. The four dividing colonnades were each of twenty-two Corinthian
columns. Those next the nave supported horizontal entablatures. The inner
colonnades bore arches, with a second clerestory. The main clerestory walls
were divided into two rows of square panels containing mosaics, and had
windows above. The transept projected beyond the body of the church,--a
very unusual arrangement. The apse, of remarkably small dimensions, was
screened off by a double row of twelve wreathed columns of Parian marble.
The pontifical chair was placed in the centre of the curve of the apse, on
a platform raised several steps above the presbytery. To the right and left
the seats of the cardinals followed the line of the apse. At the centre of
the chord stood the high altar beneath a ciborium, resting on four pillars
of porphyry. Beneath the altar was the subterranean chapel, the centre of
the devotion of so large a portion of the Christian world, believed to
contain the remains of St Peter; a vaulted crypt ran round the foundation
wall of the apse in which many of the popes were buried. The roof showed
its naked beams and rafters.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Sectional view of the old Basilica of St Peter,
before its destruction in the 16th century.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Ground-Plan of St Paul's, Rome, before its
destruction by fire.
_a_, Narthex. _b_, Nave. _c_, _c_, Side aisles. _d_, Altar. _e_, Bema. _f_,
Apse.]
The basilica of St Paul without the walls, dedicated 324 A.D., rebuilt
388-423, remained in a sadly neglected state, but substantially unaltered,
till the disastrous fire of 1823, which reduced the nave to a calcined
ruin. Its plan and dimensions (figs. 12, 13) were almost identical with
those of St Peter's.
The only parts of the modernized five-aisled basilica of St John Lateran
(of which we have a plan in its original state, Agincourt, pl. lxxiii. No.
22) which retain any interest, are the double-vaulted aisle which runs
round the apse, a most unusual arrangement, and the baptistery. The latter
is an octagonal building standing some little distance from the basilica to
the south. Its roof is supported by a double range of columns, one above
the other, encircling the baptismal basin sunk below the floor.
Of the three-aisled basilicas the best example is the Liberian or S. Maria
Maggiore dedicated 365, and reconstructed 432 A.D. Its internal length to
the chord of the apse is 250 ft. by 100 ft. in breadth. The Ionic pillars
of grey granite, uniform in style, twenty on each side, form a colonnade of
great dignity and beauty, unfortunately broken towards the east by
intrusive arches opening into chapels. The clerestory, though modern, is
excellent in style and arrangement. Corinthian pilasters divide the
windows, beneath which are very remarkable mosaic pictures of subjects from
Old Testament history, generally supposed to [v.03 p.0475] date from the
pontificate of Sixtus III., 432-440. The face of the arch of triumph
presents also a series of mosaics illustrative of the infancy of our Lord,
of great value in the history of art. The apse is of later date,
reconstructed by Paschal I. in 818.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Section of the Basilica of St Paul, Rome.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Section of Basilica of S. Agnese at Rome.]
Of the remaining Roman basilicas that of S. Sabina on the Aventine is of
special interest as its interior, dating from about A.D. 430, has preserved
more of the primitive aspect than any other. Its carved wooden doors of
early Christian date are of unique value, and in the spandrils of its inner
arcades, upborne by splendid antique Corinthian columns, are some good
specimens of _opus sectile_ or mosaic of cut marble. The ancient roof is an
open one. The basilicas of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura and S. Agnese deserve
particular notice, as exhibiting galleries corresponding to those of the
civil basilicas and to the later triforium, carried above the aisles and
returned across the entrance end. It is doubtful, however, whether these
galleries are part of the original schemes. The architectural history of S.
Lorenzo's is curious. When originally constructed in A.D. 432, it consisted
of a short nave of six bays, with an internal narthex the whole height of
the building. In the 13th century Honorius III. disorientated the church by
pulling down the apse and erecting a nave of twelve bays on its site and
beyond it, thus converting the original nave into a square-ended choir, the
level being much raised, and the magnificent Corinthian columns half
buried. As a consequence of the church being thus shifted completely round,
the face of the arch of triumph, turned away from the present entrance, but
towards the original one, is invested with the usual mosaics (Agincourt,
pl. xxviii. Nos. 29, 30, 31). The basilica of S. Agnese, of which we give a
section (fig. 14), is a small but interesting building, much like what S.
Lorenzo must have been before it was altered.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Plan of Basilica of S. Clemente in Rome.
1. Porch. 2. Atrium. 3. Nave. 4. Aisle for men. 5. Aisle for women. 6.
Chorus cantorum. 7. Altar. 8. Gospel-ambo. 9. Epistle-ambo. 10. Confessio.
11. Bishop's throne.]
Though inferior in size, and later in date than most of the basilicas
already mentioned, that of S. Clemente is not surpassed in interest by any
one of them. This is due to its having retained its original ritual
arrangements and church-fittings more perfectly than any other. These
fittings have been removed from the earlier church, lying below the
existing building, which at some unknown date and for some unrecorded
reason was abandoned and filled up with earth, while a new building was
erected upon it as a foundation. The most probable account is that the
earlier church was so completely overwhelmed in the ruin of the city in
1084, when Robert Guiscard burnt all the public buildings from the Lateran
to the Capitol, that it was found simpler and more convenient to build a
new edifice at a higher level than to repair the old one. The annexed plan
(fig. 15) and view (fig. 16) show the peculiarities of the existing
building. The church is preceded by an _atrium_, the only perfect example
remaining in Rome, in the centre of which is the _cantharus_ or fountain
for ablutions. The atrium is entered by a portico made up of earlier
fragments very carelessly put together. The _chorus cantorum_, which
occupies about one-third of the nave, is enclosed by a low marble screen,
about 3 ft. high, a work of the 9th century, preserved from the old church
but newly arranged. The white marble slabs are covered with patterns in low
relief, and are decorated with ribbons of glass mosaic of the 13th century.
These screen-walls stand quite free of the pillars, leaving a passage
between. On the ritual north stands the gospel-ambo, of octagonal form,
with a double flight of steps westwards and eastwards. To the west of it
stands the great Paschal candlestick, with a spiral shaft, decorated with
mosaic. Opposite, to the south, is the epistle-ambo, square in plan, with
two marble reading-desks facing east and west, for the reading of the
epistle and the gradual respectively. The sanctuary is raised two steps
above the choir, from which it is divided by another portion of the same
marble screen. The altar stands beneath a lofty _ciborium_, supported by
marble columns, with a canopy on smaller shafts above. It retains the rods
and rings for the curtains to run on. Behind the altar, in the centre of
the curved line of the apse, is a marble episcopal throne, bearing the
monogram of Anastasius who was titular cardinal of this church in 1108. The
conch of the apse is inlaid with mosaics of quite the end of the 13th
century. The subterranean church, disinterred by the zeal of Father
Mullooly, the prior of the adjacent Irish Dominican convent, is supported
by columns of very rich marble of various kinds. The aisle walls, as well
as those of the narthex, are covered with fresco-paintings of various dates
from the 7th to the 11th century, in a marvellous state of preservation
(See _St Clement, Pope and Martyr, and his Basilica in Rome_, by Joseph
Mullooly, O.P., Rome, 1873.)
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Interior of S. Clemente in Rome.]
The fullest lists of early Christian basilicas outside Rome are given in
Kraus's _Realencyklopaedie der christlichen Alterthuemer_, Freiburg i. B.,
1882, art. "Basilica," and more recently in Leclercq's _Manuel
d'archeologie chretienne_, Paris 1907, vol. i. App. i., "Essai de
Classement des Principaux Monuments." Only a few characteristic specimens
in different regions can here be noticed. In Italy, apart from Rome, the
most remarkable basilican churches are the two dedicated to S. Apollinare
at Ravenna. They are of smaller dimensions than those of Rome, but the
design and proportions are better. The cathedral of this city, a noble
basilica with double aisles, erected by Archbishop Ursus, A.D. 400
(Agincourt, pl. xxiii. No. 21), was unfortunately destroyed on the erection
of the present tasteless building. Of the two basilicas of S. Apollinare,
the earlier, S. Apollinare Nuovo, originally an Arian church erected by
Theodoric, 493-525, measuring 315 ft. in length by 115 ft. in breadth, has
a nave 51 ft. wide, separated from the single aisles by colonnades of
twenty-two pillars, supporting arches, a small prismatic block bearing a
sculptured cross intervening with very happy effect between the capital and
the arch. Below the windows a continuous band of saintly figures, male on
one side and female on the other, advancing in stately procession towards
Our Lord and the Virgin Mother respectively, affords one of the most
beautiful examples of mosaic ornamentation to be found [v.03 p.0476] in any
church (fig. 17). The design of the somewhat later and smaller church of S.
Apollinare in Classe, A.D. 538-549, measuring 216 ft. by 104 ft., is so
similar that they must have proceeded from the same architect (Agincourt,
pl lxxiii. No. 35).
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Arches of S Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.]
The cathedral on the island of Torcello near Venice, originally built in
the 7th century, but largely repaired c. A.D. 1000, deserves special
attention from the fact that it preserves, in a more perfect state than can
be seen elsewhere, the arrangements of the seats in the apse (fig. 18). The
bishop's throne occupies the centre of the arc, approached by a steep
flight of steps. Six rows of stone benches for the presbyters, rising one
above another like the seats in a theatre, follow the curve on either
side--the whole being singularly plain and almost rude. The altar stands on
a platform; the sanctuary is divided from the nave by a screen of six
pillars. The walls of the apse are inlaid with plates of marble. The church
is 125 ft. by 75 ft. The narrow aisles are only 7 ft. in width.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Apse of Basilica, Torcello, with Bishop's throne
and seats for the clergy. (From a drawing by Lady Palgrave.)]
Another very remarkable basilica, less known than it deserves to be, is
that of Parenzo in Istria, _c._ A.D. 542. Few basilicas have sustained so
little alteration. From the annexed ground-plan (fig. 19) it will be seen
that it retains its _atrium_ and a baptistery, square without, octagonal
within, to the west of it. Nine pillars divide each aisle from the nave,
some of them borrowed from earlier buildings. The capitals are Byzantine.
The choir occupies the three easternmost bays. The apse, as at Torcello,
retains the bishop's throne and the bench for the presbyters apparently
unaltered. The mosaics are singularly gorgeous, and the apse walls, as at
Torcello, are inlaid with rich marble and mother-of-pearl. The dimensions
are small--121 ft. by 32 ft. (See _Kunstdenkmale des oesterreichischen
Kaiserreichs_, by Dr G. Heider and others.)
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Ground-Plan of Cathedral of Parenzo, Istria.
_a_, Cloistered atrium. +, Narthex. _b_, Nave. _c_, _c_, Aisles. _d_,
Chorus cantorum. _e_, Altar. _f_, Bishop's throne. _g_, Baptistery. _h_,
Belfry. _i_, Chapel of St Andrew.]
In the Eastern church, though the erection of St Sophia at Constantinople
introduced a new type which almost entirely superseded the old one, the
basilican form, or as it was then termed _dromical_, from its shape being
that of a race-course (_dromos_), was originally as much the rule as in the
West. The earliest church of which we have any clear account, that of
Paulinus at Tyre, A.D. 313-322, described by Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._ x. 4
s. 37), was evidently basilican, with galleries over the aisles, and had an
atrium in front. That erected by Constantine at Jerusalem, on the side of
the Holy Sepulchre, 333, followed the same plan (Euseb., _Vit. Const._ iii.
c. 29), as did the original churches of St Sophia and of the Apostles at
Constantinople. Both these buildings have entirely passed away, but we have
an excellent example of an oriental basilica of the same date still
standing in the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, rebuilt by Justinian
in the 6th century (fig. 20). Here we find an oblong atrium, a vestibule or
narthex, double aisles with Corinthian columns, and a transept, each end of
which terminates in an apse, in addition to that in the usual position.
Beneath the centre of the transept is the subterranean church of the
Nativity (Vogue, _Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte_, p. 46).
Constantinople preserved till recently a basilican church of the 5th
century, that of St John Studios, 463, now a ruin. It had a nave and side
aisles divided by columns supporting a horizontal entablature, with another
order supporting arches forming a gallery above. There was the usual
apsidal termination. The chief difference between the Eastern and Roman
basilicas is in the galleries. This feature is very rare in the West, and
only occurs in some few examples, the antiquity of which is questioned at
Rome but never at Ravenna. It is, on the other hand, a characteristic
feature of Eastern churches, the galleries being intended for women, for
whom privacy was more studied than in the West (Salzenberg, _Altchrist.
Baudenkmale von Constantinople_).
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Plan of church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. 1,
Narthex; 2, nave; 3, 3, aisles.]
Other basilican churches in the East which deserve notice are those of the
monastery of St Catherine on Mt. Sinai built by Justinian, that of Dana
between Antioch and Bir of the same date, St Philip at Athens, Bosra in
Arabia, Xanthus in Lycia, and the very noble church of St Demetrius at
Thessalonica. Views and descriptions of most of these may be found in
Texier and Pullan's _Byzantine Architecture_, Couchaud's _Choix d'eglises
byzantines_, and the works of the count de Vogue. In the Roman province of
North Africa there are abundant remains of early Christian churches, and S.
Gsell, _Les Monuments antiques de l'Algerie_, has noticed more than 130
examples. Basilicas of strictly early Christian date are not now to be met
with in France, Spain or Germany, but the interesting though very plain
"Basse Oeuvre" at Beauvais may date from Carolingian times, while Germany
can show at Michelstadt in the Odenwald an unaltered basilica of the time
of Charles the Great. The fine-columned basilica of St Mauritius, near
Hildesheim, dates from the 11th century, and the basilican form has been
revived in the noble modern basilica at Munich.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Plan of early Christian Basilica of about the 4th
century at Silchester, Hants.
(From _Archaeologia_, liii.)]
England can show more early Christian survivals than France or Germany. In
the course of the excavation of the Roman city of Silchester, there was
brought to light in 1892 the remains of a small early Christian basilica
dating from the 4th century of which fig. 21 gives the plan
(_Archaeologia_, vol. liii.). It will be [v.03 p.0477] noted that the apse
is flanked by two chambers, of the nature of sacristies, cut off from the
rest of the church, and known in ecclesiastical terminology as _prothesis_
and _diaconicon_. These features, rare in Italy, are almost universal in
the churches of North Africa and Syria. Another existing English basilica
of early date is that of Brixworth in Northamptonshire, probably erected by
Saxulphus, abbot of Peterborough, _c._ A.D. 680. It consisted of a nave
divided from its aisles by quadrangular piers supporting arches turned in
Roman brick, with clerestory windows above, and a short chancel terminating
in an apse, outside which, as at St Peter's at Rome, ran a circumscribing
crypt entered by steps from the chancel. At the west end was a square
porch, the walls of which were carried up later in the form of a tower.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Ground-Plan of the original Cathedral at
Canterbury, as restored by Willis.
A, High altar. B, Altar of our Lord. C, C, Steps to crypt. D, Crypt. E, F,
Chorus cantorum. G, Our Lady's altar. H, Bishop's throne. K, South porch
with altar. L, North porch containing school. M, Archbishop Odo's tomb.]
The first church built in England under Roman influence was the original
Saxon cathedral of Canterbury. From the annexed ground-plan (fig. 22), as
conjecturally restored from Eadmer's description, we see that it was an
aisled basilica, with an apse at either end, containing altars standing on
raised platforms approached by steps. Beneath the eastern platform was a
crypt, or _confessio_, containing relics, "fabricated in the likeness of
the confessionary of St Peter at Rome" (Eadmer). The western apse,
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, contained the bishop's throne. From this
and other indications Willis thinks that this was the original altar end,
the eastern apse being a subsequent addition of Archbishop Odo, _c._ 950,
the church having been thus turned from west to east, as at the
already-described basilica of S. Lorenzo at Rome. The choir, as at S.
Clemente's, occupied the eastern part of the nave, and like it was probably
enclosed by breast-high partitions. There were attached porches to the
north and south of the nave. The main entrance of the church was through
that to the south. At this _suthdure_, according to Eadmer, "all disputes
from the whole kingdom, which could not legally be referred to the king's
court, or to the hundreds and counties, received judgment." The northern
porch contained a school for the younger clergy.
AUTHORITIES.--Vitruvius, _De Architectura_, v. 1, vi. 3, 9; Huelsen, _The
Roman Forum_ (1906); Mau, _Pompeii: its Life and Art_; C. Lange, _Haus und
Halle_; Canina, _Edifizii di Roma Antica_; Ciampini, _Vetera Monimenta_;
Seroux d'Agincourt, _L'Histoire de l'art par les monumens_; Bunsen and
Plattner, _Beschreibung der Stadt Rom_; Gutensohn and Knapp, _Basiliken des
christlichen Roms_; Zestermann, _Die antiken u. die christlichen
Basiliken_; Huebsch, _Die altchristlichen Kirchen_; Messmer, _Ueber den
Ursprung, &c., der Basilica_; Letarouilly, _Edifices de Rome moderne_; Von
Quast, _Altchristliche Bauwerke von Ravenna_; Texier and Pullan, _Byzantine
Architecture_; Vogue, _Eglises de la Terre Sainte; Syrie Centrale,
Architecture, &c._; Couchaud, _Choix d'eglises byzantines_; Dehio und von
Bezold, _Die kirchliche Baukunst des Abendlandes_; Holtzinger, _Die
altchristliche Architectur in systematischer Darstellung_; Kraus,
_Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_; Leclercq, _Manuel d'archeologie
chretienne_ (Paris, 1907).
(E. V.; G. B. B.)
BASILICA, a code of law, drawn up in the Greek language, with a view to
putting an end to the uncertainty which prevailed throughout the East Roman
empire in the 9th century as to the authorized sources of law. This
uncertainty had been brought about by the conflicting opinions of the
jurists of the 6th century as to the proper interpretation to be given to
the legislation of the emperor Justinian, from which had resulted a system
of teaching which had deprived that legislation of all authority, and the
imperial judges at last were at a loss to know by what rules of law they
were to regulate their decisions. An endeavour had been made by the emperor
Leo the Isaurian to remedy this evil, but his attempted reform of the law
had been rather calculated to increase its uncertainty; and it was reserved
for Basil the Macedonian to show himself worthy of the throne, which he had
usurped, by purifying the administration of justice and once more reducing
the law into an intelligible code. There has been considerable controversy
as to the part which the emperor Basil took in framing the new code. There
is, however, no doubt that he abrogated in a formal manner the ancient
laws, which had fallen into desuetude, and the more probable opinion would
seem to be, that he caused a revision to be made of the ancient laws which
were to continue in force, and divided them into forty books, and that this
code of laws was subsequently enlarged and distributed into sixty books by
his son Leo the Philosopher. A further revision of this code is stated to
have been made by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the son and successor of
Leo, but this statement rests only on the authority of Theodorus Balsamon,
a very learned canonist of the 12th century, who, in his preface to the
_Nomocanon_ of Patriarch Photius, cites passages from the Basilica which
differ from the text of the code as revised by the emperor Leo. The weight
of authority, however, is against any further revision of the code having
been made after the formal revision which it underwent in the reign of the
emperor Leo, who appointed a commission of jurists under the presidency of
Sympathius, the captain of the body-guard, to revise the work of his
father, to which he makes allusion in the first of his _Novellae_. This
latter conclusion is the more probable from the circumstance, that the text
of the code, as revised by the emperor Leo, agrees with the citations from
the Basilica which occur in the works of Michael Psellus and Michael
Attaliates, both of them high dignitaries of the court of Constantinople,
who lived a century before Balsamon, and who are silent as to any second
revision of the code having taken place in the reign of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, as well as with other citations from the Basilica, which
are found in the writings of Mathaeus Blastares and of Constantine
Harmenopulus, both of whom wrote shortly after Balsamon, and the latter of
whom was far too learned a jurist and too accurate a lawyer to cite any but
the official text of the code.
Authors are not agreed as to the origin of the term Basilica, by which the
code of the emperor Leo is now distinguished. The code itself appears to
have been originally entitled _The Revision of the Ancient Laws_ ([Greek:
he anakatharsis ton palaion nomon]); next there came into use the title
[Greek: he hexekontabiblos], derived from the division of the work into
sixty books; and finally, before the conclusion of the 10th century, the
code came to be designated [Greek: ho basilikos], or [Greek: ta basilika],
being elliptical forms of [Greek: ho basilikos nomos] and [Greek: ta
basilika nomima], namely the Imperial Law or the Imperial Constitutions.
This explanation of the term "Basilica" is more probable than the
derivation of it from the name of the father of the emperor Leo, inasmuch
as the Byzantine jurists of the 11th and 12th centuries ignored altogether
the part which the emperor Basil had taken in initiating the legal reforms,
which were completed by his son; besides the name of the father of the
emperor Leo was written [Greek: basileios], from which substantive,
according to the genius of [v.03 p.0478] the ancient Greek language, the
adjective [Greek: basilikos] could not well be derived.
No perfect MS. has been preserved of the text of the Basilica, and the
existence of any portion of the code seems to have been ignored by the
jurists of western Europe, until the important bearing of it upon the study
of the Roman law was brought to their attention by Viglius Zuichemus, in
his preface to his edition of the Greek _Paraphrase of Theophilus_,
published in 1533. A century, however, elapsed before an edition of the
sixty books of the Basilica, as far as the MSS. then known to exist
supplied materials, was published in seven volumes, by Charles Annibal
Fabrot, under the patronage of Louis XIII. of France, who assigned an
annual stipend of two thousand livres to the editor during its publication,
and placed at his disposal the royal printing-press. This edition, although
it was a great undertaking and a work of considerable merit, was a very
imperfect representation of the original code. A newly-restored and far
more complete text of the sixty books of the Basilica was published at
Leipzig in six volumes (1833-1870), edited by K. W. E. Heimbach and G. E.
Heimbach. It may seem strange that so important a body of law as the
Basilica should not have come down to us in its integrity, but a letter has
been preserved, which was addressed by Mark the patriarch of Alexandria to
Theodoras Balsamon, from which it appears that copies of the Basilica were
in the 12th century very scarce, as the patriarch was unable to procure a
copy of the work. The great bulk of the code was an obstacle to the
multiplication of copies of it, whilst the necessity for them was in a
great degree superseded by the publication from time to time of synopses
and encheiridia of its contents, composed by the most eminent jurists, of
which a very full account will be found in the _Histoire au droit
byzantin_, by the advocate Mortreuil, published in Paris in 1846.
BASILICATA, a territorial division of Italy, now known as the province of
Potenza, which formed a part of the ancient Lucania (_q.v._). It is bounded
N. by the province of Foggia, N E. by those of Bari and Lecce, E. by the
Gulf of Taranto (for a distance of 24 m.), S. by the province of Cosenza,
and W. by the Mediterranean (for a distance of 10 m. only), and by the
provinces of Salerno and Avellino. It has an area of 3845 sq. m. The
province is as a whole mountainous, the highest point being the Monte
Pollino (7325 ft.) on the boundary of the province of Cosenza, while the
Monte Vulture, at the N.W. extremity, is an extinct volcano (4365 ft.). It
is traversed by five rivers, the Bradano, Basento, Cavone or Salandrella,
Agri and Sinni. The longest, the Bradano, is 104 m. in length; all run S.E.
or E. into the Gulf of Taranto. The province is traversed from W. to E. by
the railway from Naples to Taranto and Brindisi, which passes through
Potenza and reaches at Metaponto the line along the E. coast from Taranto
to Reggio di Calabria. A branch line runs N. from Potenza via Melfi to
Rocchetta S. Antonio, a junction for Foggia, Gioia del Colle and Avellino
(the second of these lines runs through the province of Potenza as far as
Palazzo S. Gervasio), while a branch S. from the Naples and Taranto line at
Sicignano terminates at Lagonegro, on the W. edge of the province.
Communications are rendered difficult by the mountainous character of the
interior. The mountains are still to some extent clothed with forests; in
places the soil is fertile, especially along the Gulf of Taranto, though
here malaria is the cause of inefficient cultivation. Olive-oil is the most
important product. The total population of the province was 490,705 in
1901. The chief towns are Potenza (pop. 1901, 16,186), Avigliana (18,313),
Matera (17,237), Melfi (14,649), Rionero in Vulture (11,809), Lauria
(10,099).
BASILIDES, one of the most conspicuous exponents of Gnosticism, was living
at Alexandria probably as early as the first decades of the 2nd century. It
is true that Eusebius, in his _Chronicle_, dates his first appearance from
A.D. 133, but according to Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ iv. 7 ss. 6-8, Agrippa
Castor, who lived under Hadrian (117-138), already wrote a polemic against
him, so that his activity may perhaps be set back to a date earlier than
138. Basilides wrote an exegetical work in twenty-four books on "his"
gospel, but which this was is not known. In addition to this there are
certain writings by his son Isidorus [Greek: Peri prosphuous psuches];
[Greek: Exegetika] on the prophet Parchor ([Greek: Parchor]); [Greek:
Ethika]. The surviving fragments of these works are collected and commented
on in Hilgenfeld's _Ketzergeschichte_, 207-218. The most important fragment
published by Hilgenfeld (p. 207), part of the 13th book of the _Exegetica_,
in the _Acta Archelai et Manetis_ c. 55, only became known in its complete
form later, and was published by L. Traube in the _Sitzungsbericht der
Muenchener Akad._, phil. histor. Kl. (1903), pp. 533-549. Irenaeus (_Adv.
Haer._ i. 24 ss. 3-7) gives a sketch of Basilides' school of thought,
perhaps derived from Justin's _Syntagma_. Closely related to this is the
account in the _Syntagma_ of Hippolytus, which is preserved in Epiphanius,
_Haer._ 24, Philaster, _Haer._ 32, and Pseudo-Tertullian, _Haer._ 4. These
are completed and confirmed by a number of scattered notices in the
_Stromateis_ of Clemens Alexandrinus. An essentially different account,
with a pronounced monistic tendency, is presented by the so-called
_Philosophumena_ of Hippolytus (vii. 20-27; x. 14). Whether this last
account, or that given by Irenaeus and in the _Syntagma_ of Hippolytus,
represents the original system of Basilides, has been the subject of a long
controversy. (See Hilgenfeld p. 205, note 337.) The most recent opinion
tends to decide against the _Philosophumena_; for, in its composition,
Hippolytus appears to have used as his principal source the compendium of a
Gnostic author who has introduced into most of the systems treated by him,
in addition to the employment of older sources, his own opinions or those
of his sect. The _Philosophumena_, therefore, cannot be taken into account
in describing the teaching of Basilides (see also H. Stachelin, "Die
gnostischen Quellen Hippolyts" in _Texte und Untersuchungen_, vi. 3; and
the article GNOSTICISM). A comparison of the surviving fragments of
Basilides, moreover, with the outline of his system in Irenaeus-Hippolytus
(_Syntagma_) shows that the account given by the Fathers of the Church is
also in the highest degree untrustworthy. The principal and most
characteristic points are not noticed by them. If we assume, as we must
needs do, that the opinions which Basilides promulgates as the teaching of
the "barbari" (_Acta Archelai_ c. 55) were in fact his own, the fragments
prove him to have been a decided dualist, and his teaching an interesting
further development of oriental (Iranian) dualism. Entirely consistent with
this is the information given by the _Acta Archelai_ that Basilides, before
he came to Alexandria, had appeared publicly among the Persians (_fuit
praedicator apud Persas_); and the allusion to his having appealed to
prophets with oriental names, Barkabbas and Barkoph (Agrippa in Eusebius
_Hist. Eccl._ iv. 7 s. 7). So too his son Isidorus explained the prophecies
of a certain Parchor ( = Barkoph) and appealed to the prophecies of Cham[1]
(Clemens Alexandrinus, _Stromat._ vi. 6 s. 53). Thus Basilides assumed the
existence of two principles, not derivable from each other: Light and
Darkness. These had existed for a long time side by side, without knowing
anything of each other, but when they perceived each other, the Light had
only looked and then turned away; but the Darkness, seized with desire for
the Light, had made itself master, not indeed of the Light itself, but only
of its reflection (_species_, _color_). Thus they had been in a position to
form this world: _unde nec perfectum bonum est in hoc mundo, et quod est,
valde est exiguum_. This speculation is clearly a development of that which
the Iranian cosmology has to tell about the battles between Ahura-Mazda and
Angro-Mainyu (Ormuzd and Ahriman). The Iranian optimism has been replaced
here by a strong pessimism. This material world is no longer, as in
Zoroastrianism, essentially a creation of the good God, but the powers of
evil have created it with the aid of some stolen portions of light. This is
practically the transference of Iranian dualism to the more Greek
antithesis of soul and body, spirit and matter (cf. Irenaeus i. 24 s. 5:
_animae autem eorum solam esse salutem, corpus enim natura corruptibile
existit_). The fundamental dualism of Basilides is confirmed also by one or
two other passages. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Basilides
saw the proof of _naturam sine radice et sine loco rebus supervenientem_
(_Acta Archelai_). According to Clemens, _Strom._ iv. 12 s. 83, &c.,
Basilides taught that even those who have not sinned in act, even Jesus
himself, possess a sinful nature. It is possibly also in connexion with the
dualism of his fundamental [v.03 p.0479] views that he taught the
transmigration of souls (Origen in _Ep. ad Rom_. lib. v.; Opp. de la Rue
iv. 549; cf. Clemens, _Excerpta ex Theodoto_, s. 28). Isidorus set up
celibacy, though in a modified form, as the ideal of the perfect (Clemens,
_Strom_. iii. 1 s. 1, &c.) Clemens accuses Basilides of a deification of
the Devil ([Greek: theiazein ton diabolon]), and regards as his two dogmas
that of the Devil and that of the transmigration of souls (_Strom_. iv. 12
s. 85: cf. v. 11 s. 75). It is remarkable too that Isidorus held the
existence of two souls in man, a good and a bad (Clemens, _Strom_. ii. 20
113); with which may be compared the teaching of Mani about the two souls,
which it is impossible to follow F, Ch. Baur in excluding,[2] and also the
teaching of the _Pistis Sophia_ (translated by C. Schmidt, p. 182, &c.).
According to Clemens (_Strom_. ii. 20 s. 112), the followers of Basilides
spoke of [Greek: pneumata tina prosertemena tei logikei phuchei kata tina
tarachon kai sunchusin archiken]: that is to say, here also is assumed an
original confusion and intermingling. Epiphanius too tells us that the
teaching of Basilides had its beginning in the question as to the origin of
evil (_Haer_. xxiv. 6).
Now, of this sharply-defined dualism there is scarcely a trace in the
system described by the Fathers of the Church. It is therefore only with
caution that we can use them to supplement our knowledge of the true
Basilides. The doctrine described by them that from the supreme God (the
_innatus pater_) had emanated 365 heavens with their spirits, answers
originally to the astronomical conception of the heavens with their 365
daily aspects (Irenaeus i. 24. 7; _Trecentorum autem sexaginta quinque
caelorum locales positiones distribuunt similiter ut mathematici_). When,
therefore, the supreme God is called by the name [Greek: Abrasax] or
[Greek: Abraxas], which contains the numerical value 365, it is worthy of
remark that the name of the Persian god Mithras ([Greek: Meithras]) also
was known in antiquity to contain this numerical value (Jerome in _Amos_ 3;
Opp. Vallarsi VI. i. 257). Speculations about the Perso-Hellenistic Mithras
appear to have been transferred to the Gnostic Abraxas. Further, if the
_Pater innatus_ be surrounded by a series of (from five to seven)
Hypostases (according to Irenaeus i. 24. 3; [Greek: Nous, Logos, Phronesis,
Sophia, Dunamis]; according to Clemens, _Strom_. iv. 25 s. 164, [Greek:
Dikaiosune] and [Greek: Eirene] may perhaps be added), we are reminded of
the _Ameshas-spentas_ which surround Ahura-Mazda. Finally, in the system of
Basilides, the (seven ?) powers from whom this world originates are
accepted as the lowest emanations of the supreme God. This conception which
is repeated in nearly every Gnostic system, of (seven) world-creating
angels, is a specifically oriental speculation. The seven powers which
create and rule the world are without doubt the seven planetary deities of
the later Babylonian religion. If, in the Gnostic systems, these become
daemonic or semi-daemonic forces, this points to the fact that a stronger
monotheistic religion (the Iranian) had gained the upper hand over the
Babylonian, and had degraded its gods to daemons. The syncretism of the
Babylonian and the Persian religion was also the nursing-ground of
Gnosticism. When, then, Basilides identified the highest angel of the
seven, the creator of the worlds, with the God of the Jews, this is a
development of the idea which did not occur until late, possibly first in
the specifically Christian circles of the Gnostics. We may note in this
connexion that the system of Basilides ascribes the many battles and
quarrels in the world to the privileged position given to his people by the
God of the Jews.[3]
It is at this point that the idea of salvation is introduced into the
system. The confusion in the world has meanwhile risen to such a pitch that
the supreme God sends his _Nous_, who is also called Christ, into the world
(Irenaeus i. 24. 4). According to Clemens, the Saviour is termed [Greek:
pneuma diakonoumenon] (_Strom_. ii. 8 s. 36) or [Greek: diakonos]
(_Excerpta ex Theodoto_, s. 16). It is impossible certainly to determine
how Basilides conceived the relation of this Saviour to Jesus of Nazareth.
Basilides himself (_Strom_. iv. 12 s. 83) knows of an earthly Jesus and
denies the principle of his sinlessness (see above). According to the
account given by Irenaeus, the Saviour is said to have appeared only as a
phantasm; according to the _Excerpta ex Theodoto_, 17, the Diakonos
descended upon Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove, for which reason
the followers of Basilides celebrated the day of the baptism of Jesus, the
day of the [Greek: epiphaneia]. as a high festival (Clemens, _Strom_. i. 21
s. 18). The various attempts at combination probably point to the fact that
the purely mythical figure of a god-saviour (Heros) was connected first by
Basilides with Jesus of Nazareth. As to what the conception of Basilides
was of the completion of the process of redemption, the available sources
tell us next to nothing. According to an allusion in Clemens, _Strom_. ii.
8 s. 36, with the mission of the Saviour begins the great separation of the
sexes, the fulfilment and the restoration of all things. This agrees with
the beginning of the speculation of Basilides. Salvation consists in this,
that that which was combined for evil is once more separated.
Among the later followers of Basilides, actual magic played a determining
part. They hand down the names of the rulers of the several heavens as a
weighty secret. This was a result of the belief, that whoever knew the
names of these rulers would after death pass through all the heavens to the
supreme God. In accordance with this, Christ also, in the opinion of these
followers of Basilides, was in the possession of a mystic name (Caulacau =
[Hebrew: QAW LAQAW] Jes. xxviii. 10) by the power of which he had descended
through all the heavens to earth, and had then again ascended to the
Father. Redemption, accordingly, could be conceived as simply the
revelation of mystic names. In this connexion the name Abraxas and the
Abraxas gems must be remembered. Whether Basilides himself had already
given this magic tendency to Gnosticism cannot be decided.
Basilides, then, represents that form of Gnosticism that is closest to
Persian dualism in its final form. His doctrine is most closely related to
that of Satornil (Saturninus). From most of the other Gnostic sects, with
the exception perhaps of the Jewish-Christian Gnosticism, he is
distinguished by the fact that with him the figure of the fallen female god
(Sophia Achamoth), and, in general, the idea of a fall within the godhead
is entirely wanting. So far as we can see, on the other hand, Basilides
appears actually to represent a further development of Iranian dualism,
which later produced the religious system of Mani.
Accounts of the teaching of Basilides are to be found in all the more
complete works on Gnosticism (see bibliography to the article GNOSTICISM).
The original sources are best reproduced in Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte
des Urchristentums_ (1884), pp. 195-230. See also Krueger, article
"Basilides," in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_, ed. 3.
(W. BO.)
[1] = Nimrod = Zoroaster, cf. Pseudo-Clement, _Homil._ ix. 3; _Recogn._ iv.
27.
[2] The materials are in Baur, _Das manichaeische Religionssystem_ (1831),
p. 162, &c.
[3] Whether the myth of the creation of the first man by the angels, which
recurs in many Gnostic systems, found a place also in the system of
Basilides, cannot be determined with any certainty. Philastrius, however,
says: _hominem autem ab angelis factum asserit_, while according to
Epiphanus xxiv. 2, men are created by the God of the Jews.
BASILISK (the [Greek: Basiliskos] of the Greeks, and _Tsepha_ (cockatrice)
of the Hebrews), a name given by the ancients to a horrid monster of their
own imagination, to which they attributed the most malignant powers and an
equally fiendish appearance. The term is now applied, owing to a certain
fanciful resemblance, to a genus of lizards belonging to the family
_Iguanidae_, the species of which are characterized by the presence, in the
males, of an erectile crest on the head, and a still higher, likewise
erectile crest--beset with scales--on the back, and another on the long
tail. _Basiliscus americanus_ reaches the length of one yard; its colour is
green and brown, with dark crossbars, while the crest is reddish. This
beautiful, strictly herbivorous creature is rather common amidst the
luxuriant vegetation on the banks of rivers and streams of the Atlantic hot
lands of Mexico and Guatemala. The lizards lie upon the branches of trees
overhanging the water, into which they plunge at the slightest alarm. Then
they propel themselves by rapid strokes of the hind limbs, beating the
water in a semi-erect position and letting the long rudder-like tail drag
behind. They are universally known as _pasa-rios_, _i.e._ ferrymen.
BASIM, a town of India, in the Akola district, Berar, 52 m. S.S.E. from
Akola station of the Great Indian Peninsula railway. Pop. (1901) 13,823.
Until 1905 it was the headquarters of the district of Basim, which had an
area of 2949 sq. m.; but in that [v.03 p.0480] year the district was
abolished, its component _taluks_ being divided between the districts of
Akola and Yeotmal. Its western portion, the Basim _taluk_, consists of a
fertile tableland, about 1000 ft. above sea-level, sloping down westward
and southward to the rich valley of the Penganga; its eastern portion, the
_taluks_ of Mangrul and Pasud, mainly of a succession of low hills covered
with poor grass. In the Pasud _taluk_, however, there are wide stretches of
woodland, while some of the peaks rise to a height of 2000 ft., the scenery
(especially during the rains) being very beautiful. The climate of the
locality is better than that of the other districts of Berar; the hot wind
which blows during the day in the summer months being succeeded at night by
a cool breeze. The principal crops are millet, wheat, other food grains,
pulse, oilseeds and cotton; there is some manufacture of cotton-cloth and
blankets, and there are ginning factories in the town. In 1901 the
population was 353,410, showing a decrease of 11% in the decade, due to the
famine of 1899-1900, which was severely felt in the district.
BASIN, THOMAS (1412-1491), bishop of Lisieux and historian, was born
probably at Caudebec in Normandy, but owing to the devastation caused by
the Hundred Years' War, his childhood was mainly spent in moving from one
place to another. In 1424 he went to the university of Paris, where he
became a master of arts in 1429, and afterwards studied law at Louvain and
Pavia. He attended the council of Ferrara, and was soon made canon of the
church at Rouen, professor of canon law in the new university of Caen and
vicar-general for the bishop of Bayeux. In 1447 he became bishop of
Lisieux. He was much involved in the wars between the English and French
and was employed by Charles VII. of France, and by his successor Louis XI.,
at whose request Basin drew up a memorandum setting forth the misery of the
people and suggesting measures for alleviating their condition. In 1464 the
bishop joined the league of the Public Weal, and fell into disfavour with
the king, who seized the temporalities of his see. After exile in various
places Basin proceeded to Rome and renounced his bishopric. At this time
(1474) Pope Sixtus IV. bestowed upon him the title of archbishop of
Caesarea. Occupied with his writings Basin then passed some years at Trier,
and afterwards transferred his residence to Utrecht, where he died on the
3rd of December 1491. He was buried in the church of St John, Utrecht.
Basin's principal work is his _Historiae de rebus a Carolo VII. et Ludovico
XI. Francorum regibus eorumque in tempore in Gallia gestis_. This is of
considerable historical value, but is marred to some extent by the author's
dislike for Louis XI. At one time it was regarded as the work of a priest
of Liege, named Amelgard, but it is now practically certain that Basin was
the writer. He also wrote a suggestion for reform in the administration of
justice entitled _Libellus de optimo ordine forenses lites audiendi et
deferendi_; an _Apologia_, written to answer the charges brought against
him by Louis XI; a _Breviloquium_, or allegorical account of his own
misfortunes; a _Peregrinatio_; a defence of Joan of Arc entitled _Opinio et
consilium super processu et condemnatione Johanne, dicte Puelle_, and other
miscellaneous writings. He wrote in French, _Advis de Monseigneur de
Lysieux au roi_ (Paris, 1677).
See the edition of the _Historiae_, by J. E. J. Quicherat (Paris,
1855-1859); also G. du F. de Beaucourt, _Charles VII et Louis XI d'apres
Thomas Basin_ (Paris, 1858).
BASIN, or BASON (the older form _bacin_ is found in many of the Romanic
languages, from the Late Lat. _baccinus_ or _bacchinus_, probably derived
from _bacca_, a bowl), a round vessel for holding liquids. Hence the term
has various technical uses, as of a dock constructed with flood-gates in a
tidal-river, or of a widening in a canal for unloading barges; also, in
physical geography, of the drainage area of a river and its tributaries.
In geology, "basin" is equivalent to a broad shallow syncline, _i.e._ it is
a structure proper to the bed rock of the district covered by the term; it
must not be confused with the physiographic river basin, although it
occasionally happens that the two coincide to some extent. Some of the
better known geological basins in England are, the _London basin_, a
shallow trough or syncline of Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks; the
_Hampshire basin_, of similar formations; and the numerous _coal basins_,
_e.g._ the S. Wales coalfield, the Forest of Dean, N. Staffordshire
coalfield, &c. The _Paris basin_ is made of strata similar to those in the
London and Hampshire basins. Strictly speaking, a structural basin is
formed of rock beds which exhibit a _centroclinal_ dip; an elongated narrow
syncline or trough is not a basin. "Rock-basins" are comparatively small,
steep-sided depressions that have been scooped out of the solid rock in
mountainous regions, mainly through the agency of glaciers (see CIRQUE).
Lakes sometimes occupy basins that have been caused by the removal in
solution of some of the more soluble constituents (rock salt, &c.) in the
underlying strata; occasionally lake basins have been formed directly by
crustal movements.
BASINET (a diminutive of "basin"), a form of helmet or headpiece. The
original small basinet was a light open cap, with a peaked crown. This was
used alternately to, and even in conjunction with, the large heavy heaume.
But in the latter half of the 13th century the basinet was developed into a
complete war head-dress and replaced the heaume. In this form it was larger
and heavier, had a vizor (though not always a pivoted vizor like that of
the later armet), and was connected with the gorget by a "camail" or mail
hood, the head and neck thus being entirely covered. It is always to be
recognized by its peaked crown. The word is spelt in various forms,
"bassinet," "bascinet," "bacinet," or "basnet." The form "bassinet" is used
for the hooded wicker cradle or perambulator for babies.
BASINGSTOKE, a market-town and municipal borough of Hampshire, England, 48
m. W.S.W. from London by the London & South-Western railway; served also by
a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 9793. The church of St
Michael and All Angels is a fine specimen of a late Perpendicular building
(principally of the time of Henry VIII.). The chapel of the Holy Ghost is a
picturesque ruin, standing in an ancient cemetery, built for the use of the
local gild of the Holy Ghost which was founded in 1525, but flourished for
less than a century. Close to the neighbouring village of Old Basing are
remains of Basing House, remarkable as the scene of the stubborn opposition
of John, fifth marquess of Winchester, to Cromwell, by whom it was taken
after a protracted siege in 1645. A castle occupied its site from Norman
times. Numerous prehistoric relics have been discovered in the district,
and a large circular encampment is seen at Winklebury Hill. Basingstoke has
considerable agricultural trade, and brewing, and the manufacture of
agricultural implements, and of clothing, are carried on. The Basingstoke
canal, which connects the town with the river Wey and so with the Thames,
was opened about 1794, but lost its trade owing to railway competition. It
was offered for sale by auction unsuccessfully in 1904, but was bought in
1905. The municipal borough is under a mayor, four aldermen and twelve
councillors. Area, 4195 acres.
Basingstoke is a town of great antiquity, and excavations have brought to
light undoubted traces of Roman occupation. The first recorded historical
event relating to the town is a victory won here by Aethelred and Alfred
over the Danes in 871. According to the Domesday survey it had always been
a royal manor, and comprised three mills and a market. A charter from Henry
III. in 1256 granted to the men of Basingstoke the manor and hundred of
that name and certain other privileges, which were confirmed by Edward
III., Henry V. and Henry VI. As compensation for loss sustained by a
serious fire, Richard II. in 1392 granted to the men of Basingstoke the
rights of a corporation and a common seal. A charter from James I. dated
1622 instituted two bailiffs, fourteen capital burgesses, four justices of
the peace, a high steward and under steward, two serjeants-at-mace and a
court of record. Charles I. in 1641 changed the corporation to a mayor,
seven aldermen and seven burgesses. Basingstoke returned two members to
parliament in 1295, 1302 and 1306, but no writs are extant after this date.
In 1202-1203 the market day was changed from Sunday to Monday, but in 1214
was transferred to Wednesday, and has not since been [v.03 p.0481] changed.
Henry VI. granted a fair at Whitsun to be held near the chapel of the Holy
Ghost. The charter from James I. confirmed another fair at the feast of St
Michael the Archangel, and that of Charles I. granted two fairs on
Basingstoke Down at Easter and on the 10th and 11th of September. The wool
trade flourished in Basingstoke at an early date, but later appears to have
declined, and in 1631 the clothiers of Basingstoke were complaining of the
loss of trade and consequent distress.
See _Victoria County History--Hants_; F. G. Baigent and J. E. Millard,
_History of Basingstoke_ (Basingstoke, 1889).
BASIN-STAND, a piece of furniture consisting of a small stand, usually
supported on three legs, and most commonly made of mahogany or rosewood,
for holding a wash-hand basin. The smaller varieties were used for
rose-water ablutions, or for the operation of hair-powdering. The larger
ones, which possessed sockets for soap-dishes, were the predecessors of the
ample modern wash-hand stand. Both varieties, often of very elegant form,
were in extensive use throughout a large part of the 18th century.
BASKERVILLE, JOHN (1706-1775), English printer, was born at Wolverley in
Worcestershire on the 28th of January 1706. About 1726 he became a writing
master at Birmingham, and he seems to have had a great talent for
calligraphy and for cutting inscriptions in stone. While at Birmingham he
made some important improvements in the process of japanning, and gained a
considerable fortune. About the year 1750 he began to make experiments in
type-founding, producing types much superior in distinctness and elegance
to any that had hitherto been employed. He set up a printing-house, and in
1757 published his first work, a _Virgil_ in royal quarto, followed, in
1758, by his famous edition of Milton. In that year he was appointed
printer to the university of Cambridge, and undertook editions of the Bible
and the Book of Common Prayer. The _Horace_, published in 1762, is
distinguished even among the productions of the Baskerville press for its
correctness and for the beauty of the paper and type. A second _Horace_
appeared in 1770 in quarto, and its success encouraged Baskerville to
publish a series of quarto editions of Latin authors, which included
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Lucretius, Terence, Sallust and Florus.
This list of books issued by Baskerville from his press lends some irony to
the allegation that he was a person of no education. These books are
admirable specimens of typography; and Baskerville is deservedly ranked
among the foremost of those who have advanced the art of printing. His
contemporaries asserted that his books owed more to the quality of the
paper and ink than to the type itself, but the difficulty in obtaining
specimens from the Baskerville press shows the estimation in which they are
now held. His wife, Sarah Baskerville, carried on the business for some
time after his death, which took place on the 8th of January 1775.
BASKET, a vessel made of twigs, cane or rushes, as well as of a variety of
other materials, interwoven together, and used for holding, protecting or
carrying any commodity. The process of interweaving twigs, rushes or
leaves, is practised among the rudest nations of the world; and as it is
one of the most universal of arts, so also does it rank among the most
ancient industries, being probably the origin of all the textile arts of
the world. Decorative designs in old ceramic ware are derived from the
marks left by the basket mould used before the invention of the potter's
wheel, and in the willow pattern on old china, and the basket capitals or
mouldings of Byzantine architecture, the influence of the basketmaker's art
is clearly traceable. Essentially a primitive craft, its relative
importance is in inverse ratio to the industrial development of a people.
The word "basket" has been generally identified with the Latin _bascauda_,
as in Martial (xiv. 99):--
"Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis:
Sed me iam mavult dicere Roma suam."
But its etymology is unknown, and the _New English Dictionary_ states that
there is no evidence to connect basket with _bascauda_, which denotes
rather a tub, tray or brazen vessel.
Among many uncivilized tribes, baskets of a superior order are made and
applied to various useful purposes. The North American Indians prepare
strong water-tight _Wattape_ baskets from the roots of a species of
_abies_, and these they frequently adorn with very pretty patterns made
from the dyed quills of their native porcupine, _Erethizon dorsatum_.
Wealthy Americans have formed collections of the beautiful ware treasured
as heirlooms in Indian families, and large prices have been paid for
baskets made by the few squaws who have inherited the traditions and
practice of the art, as much as L300 having been given for one specimen. It
has been computed that baskets to the value of L1,000,000 were recently
drawn from California and Arizona within two years. The Indians of South
America weave baskets equally useful from the fronds of the Carnahuba and
other palms. The Kaffirs and Hottentots of South Africa are similarly
skilful in using the Ilala reed and the roots of plants; while the
Abyssinians and the tribes of Central Africa display great adroitness in
the art of basket-weaving.
Basket-making, however, has by no means been confined to the fabrication of
those simple and useful utensils from which its name is derived. Of old,
the shields of soldiers were fashioned of wicker-work, either plain or
covered with hides. Xenophon, in his story of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens,
relates that the exiled Greeks who had seized on the Peiraeus made
themselves shields of whitened osiers; and similar weapons of defence are
still constructed by modern savages. The huts of the earliest settlers in
Rome and in western Europe generally were made of osier work plastered with
clay. Some interesting remains of British dwellings of this nature found
near Lewes in 1877 were described by Major-General H. L. F. Pitt-Rivers in
_Archaeologia_, vol. xlvi. pp. 456-458. Boats of the same material, covered
with the skins of animals, attracted the notice of the Romans in Britain;
they seem to have been of the ordinary boat-shape. The basketwork boats
mentioned by Herodotus as being used on the Tigris and Euphrates were round
and covered with bitumen. Boats of this shape are still used on these
rivers, and boats of analogous construction are employed in crossing the
rivers of India, in which the current is not rapid. Nor have methods of
making much changed. The strokes employed in the construction of
basket-work found in Etruscan tombs and now exhibited in the Museo Etrusco
at Florence, and in similar articles discovered in Egyptian tombs, are the
same as those used by the English basket-maker to-day. General Pitt-Rivers,
on comparing the remains excavated near Lewes with a modern hamper in his
possession, found the method to be identical.
Since about the middle of the 19th century the character of basket-work in
England has been greatly modified. The old English cradle, reticule, and
other small domestic wares, have been driven out of the market by cheap
goods made on the continent of Europe, and the coarse brown osier packing
and hampers have been largely superseded by rough casks and cases made from
cheap imported timber. This loss has, however, been more than
counterbalanced by the production of work of a higher class, such as finely
made chairs, tables, lounges and other articles of furniture; luncheon and
tea-baskets and similar requisites of travel. In addition to the foregoing
the chief categories of English manufacture are: vegetable and fruit
baskets, transit and travelling hampers, laundry and linen baskets,
partition baskets for wine, and protective wicker cases for fragile ware
such as glass carboys, stone and other bottles. Wicker shields or cases
made from cane pith, for the protection of shells, have been introduced by
the English military authorities. Some evidence of the above-mentioned
developments is afforded by a comparison of the wages lists of the London
Union of Journeymen Basketmakers issued in 1865 and in 1896. The former
consists of 87 printed pages; the latter of 144 pages, and these more
closely set.
No machinery is used in basket-making. A considerable training and natural
aptitude go to form the expert workman, for the ultimate perfection of
shape and beauty of texture depend upon the more or less perfect conception
of form in the [v.03 p.0482] craftsman's mind and on his power to impress
it on a recalcitrant material. In England at least, he rarely uses a mould;
every stroke made has a permanent effect on the symmetry of the whole work
and no subsequent pressure will alter it. Wages in London vary from 25s. to
50s. per week according to aptitude. The Basketmakers' Company is one of
the oldest craft gilds of the city of London and still exists.
Employment is given by the London Association for the Welfare of the Blind
to a number of partially or wholly blind workpeople, who are engaged in the
making of some of the coarser kinds of baskets; but the work, which bears
obvious traces of its origin, is not commercially remunerative, and the
association depends for partial support on the contributions of the
charitable, and on supplementary sales of fine or fancy work produced under
ordinary conditions and largely imported. Similar associations exist in
some English provincial towns, in Edinburgh, in Dublin and Belfast, and in
certain European cities.
The materials which are actually employed in the construction of
basket-work are numerous and varied, but it is from certain species of
willow that the largest supply of basket-making materials is produced.
Willows for basket-work are extensively grown on the continent of Europe,
whence large quantities are exported to Great Britain and the United
States; but no rods surpass those of English growth for their tough and
leathery texture, and the finest of basket-making willows are now
cultivated in England--in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and the valleys
of the Thames and the Trent. In the early part of the 19th century,
considerable attention was given in Britain to the cultivation of willows
suitable for basket-making, and the industry was first stimulated by
premiums offered by the Society of Arts. Mr William Scaling of Basford,
Notts, was a most successful grower and published some admirable pamphlets
on the cultivation of willows. The most extensive English willow plantation
or salicetum (Lat. _salix_, willow) of the present day is that planted by
Mr W. P. Ellmore at Thurmaston near Leicester, and consists of about 100
acres of the finest qualities. Mr Ellmore, a practical basket-maker,
successfully introduced some valuable continental varieties (see OSIER).
Willows are roughly classed by the basket-maker into "osier" and "fine."
The former consists of varieties of the true osier, _Salix viminalis_; the
latter of varieties of _Salix triandra_, _S. purpurea_ and some other
species and hybrids of tougher texture. For the coarsest work, dried
unpeeled osiers, known as "brown stuff," are used; for finer work, "white
(peeled) stuff" and "buff" (willows stained a tawny hue by boiling them
previous to peeling). Brown stuff is sorted, before it reaches the workman,
into lengths varying from 3 1/2 ft. to 8 or 10 ft., the smallest being
known in London and the home counties as "luke," the largest as "great,"
and the intermediate sizes as "long small," "threepenny" and "middleboro."
White and buff rods are more carefully sorted, the smallest, about 2 ft. or
less, being known as "small tack," and rising sizes as "tack," "short
small," "small," "long small," "threepenny," "middleboro" and "great." Rods
of two to three years' growth, known as "sticks," are used to form the
rigid framework of the bottoms and lids of square work. In every case,
except the last, the stuff is soaked in tanks to render it pliable before
use--brown from three to seven days, white and buff from half-an-hour to
half a day. The rods are used whole for ordinary work, but for baskets of
slight and finer texture each is divided into "skains" of different degrees
of size. "Skains" are osiers cleft into three or four parts, by means of an
implement called a "cleaver," which is a wedge-shaped tool of boxwood
inserted at the point or top end of the rod and run down through its entire
length. They are next drawn through an implement resembling the common
spokeshave, keeping the grain of the split next the iron or stock of the
shave, while the pith is presented to the steel edge of the instrument, and
in order to bring the split into a shape still more regular, it is passed
through another implement called an upright, consisting of a flat piece of
steel, each end of which is fashioned into a cutting edge, like that of an
ordinary chisel and adjusted to the required width by means of a
thumb-screw.
The tools required by a basket-maker are few and simple. They consist,
besides the foregoing, of a shop-knife for cutting out material; a picking
knife for cutting off the protruding butts and tops of the rods after the
work is completed; two or three bodkins of varying sizes; a flat piece of
iron somewhat narrowly triangular in shape for driving the work closely
together; a stout pair of shears and a "dog" or "commander" for
straightening sticks. The employer supplies a screw block or vice for
gripping the bottom and cover sticks of square work, and a lapboard on
which the workman fixes the upsetted bottom while siding up the basket.
This is the full kit. A common round or oval basket may, however, be made
with no other tools than a shop-knife and a bodkin. On the continent of
Europe shapes or blocks are in use on which the fabric is in some cases
woven.
[Illustration]
The technicalities of basket-making may be easily followed by a glance at
the illustration here reproduced by the courtesy of the Society of Arts.[1]
It will be seen that the "bye-stakes" are merely inserted in the "upsett,"
whereas the stakes are driven in at each side of the "bottom-sticks" and
pricked up to form the rigid framework of the side. When the "bottom-stick"
and "stake" are formed of one and the same continuous rod, it is termed a
"league." If the bottom is made on a hoop the butts of the stakes are
"sliped," _i.e._ cut away with a long cut of the shop-knife, and turned
tightly round the hoop; they are then said to be "scallomed" on. The chief
strokes used in constructing an ordinary basket are:--the "slew"--two or
more rods woven together; the "rand," rods woven in singly; the "fitch,"
two rods tightly worked alternately one under the other, employed for
skeleton work such as cages and waste-paper baskets; the "pair," two rods
worked alternately one over the other, used for filling up bottoms and
covers of round and oval baskets; and the "wale," three or more rods worked
alternately, forming a string or binding course. Various forms of plaiting,
roping and tracking are used for bordering off or finishing.
An ordinary oval basket is made by preparing the requisite number of bottom
sticks, preserving their length greater than the required width of the
bottom. They are ranged in pairs on the floor parallel to each other at
small intervals, in the direction of the longer diameter of the basket,
thus forming what may be called the "woof," for basket-work is literally a
web. These parallel rods are then crossed at right angles by two pairs of
the largest osiers, on the butt ends of which the workman places his feet;
and they are confined in their places by being each woven alternately over
and under the parallel pieces first laid down and their own butts which
form the end bottom sticks. The whole now forms what is technically called
the "slath," which is the foundation of the basket. Next other rods are
taken and [v.03 p.0483] woven under and over the sticks all round the
bottom until it be of sufficient size, and the woof be occupied by them.
Thus the bottom or foundation on which the superstructure is to be raised
is finished. This latter part is accomplished by sharpening the large ends
of as many long and stout osiers as may be necessary to form the stakes or
skeleton. These are forced between the bottom sticks from the edge towards
the centre, and are turned up or "upset" in the direction of the sides;
then other rods are woven in and out between each of them, until the basket
is raised to the intended height, or, more correctly speaking, the depth it
is to receive. The edge or border is finished by turning down the ends of
the stakes, now standing up, behind and in front of each other, whereby the
whole is firmly and compactly united, and it is technically known as the
"belly." A lid is constructed on the same plan as that of the bottom, and
tied on with hinges formed of twisted rods; simple handles may be made by
inserting similar rods by the sides of two opposite stakes and looping them
under the border to form rope-like handles of three strands. This is the
most simple kind of basket, from which others differ only in being made
with finer materials and in being more nicely executed; but in these there
is considerable scope for taste and fancy, and articles are produced of
extreme neatness and ingenuity in construction.
In addition to willows many other materials are employed in the fabrication
of wicker-work. Among the more important of these is the stem of _Calamus
viminalis_ or other allied species--the cane or rattan of commerce--which
is used whole or made into skains. Since 1880 the central pith of this
material, known as "cane-pulp" or "cane-pith," has been largely used in
Great Britain and on the continent of Europe in the manufacture of
furniture and other finer classes of work. About the same period plaited
rush and straw, often coloured, came into use together with enamelled
skains of cane. It must be admitted, however, that basket-work in these
developments has encroached somewhat on the domain of cabinet-making; for
wood and nails are now much used in constructing basket-work chairs, tables
and other furniture.
With splits of various species of bamboo the Japanese and Chinese
manufacture baskets of unequalled beauty and finish. The bamboo wicker-work
with which the Japanese sometimes encase their delicate egg-shell porcelain
is a marvellous example of manipulation, and they and the Chinese excel in
the application of bamboo wicker-work to furniture. In India "Cajan"
baskets are extensively made from the fronds of the Palmyra palm, _Borassus
flabelliformis_, and this manufacture has been established in the Black
Forest of Germany, where it is now an important and characteristic staple.
Among the other materials may be enumerated the odorous roots of the
khus-khus grass, _Anatherum muricatum_, and the leaves of various species
of screw pine, used in India and the East generally. The fronds of the palm
of the Seychelles, _Lodoicea sechellarum_, are used for very delicate
basket-work in those islands. Strips of the New Zealand flax plant,
_Phormium tenax_, are made into baskets in New Zealand. Esparto fibre is
used in Spain and Algeria for rude fruit baskets. Various species of
_Maranta_ yield basket materials in the West Indies and South America; and
the _Tirite_, a species of _Calathea_, a member of the order
_Zingiberaceae_, is also employed similarly in Trinidad. Baskets are also
frequently made from straw, from various sedges (_Cyperus_), and from
shavings and splints of many kinds of wood.
The chief centres of English basket manufacture outside London are
Thurmaston near Leicester, Basford near Nottingham, and Grantham. Large but
decreasing quantities of light basket-work are made for the English market
in Verdun, in the department of the Aisne, and in other parts of France;
and great quantities of fancy and other work are produced in Belgium, in
the Netherlands and in Germany, notably at Lichtenfels in Bavaria, at
Sonnefeld in Saxony and in the Black Forest.
The import and export values of baskets and basket-ware, and of willows and
rods for basket-making, have been enumerated in the Board of Trade returns
for the United Kingdom since 1900, in which year basket-ware from foreign
countries was imported to the value of L239,402. In 1901 the imports
increased to L264,183; then they declined to L227,070 in 1905. The main
sources of supply are shown in this comparison of 1900 and 1905:
+----------+---------+---------+---------+
| | 1900. | 1905. | |
+----------+---------+---------+---------+
| Belgium | L72,031 | L77,766 | +L5,735 |
| Holland | 58,214 | 54,407 | - 3,807 |
| France | 55,870 | 27,910 | -27,960 |
| Germany | 33,155 | 22,892 | -10,263 |
| Japan | 8,140 | 25,536 | +17,396 |
| Portugal | 5,066 | 3,971 | - 1,095 |
+----------+---------+---------+---------+
The increase from Japan (for 1904 the value was L52,377) and the decrease
from France are remarkable.
The import values of foreign willows increased from L52,219 in 1900 to
L62,286 in 1905, the most important exporting countries being:--
1900. 1905.
Germany L22,594 L34,752 +L12,158
Belgium 18,800 11,864 - 6,936
Holland 9,771 12,750 + 2,979
Small British re-exports of willows (L1808 in 1900 and L371 in 1905) and of
baskets (L3785 in 1900 and L6633 in 1905) to foreign parts and British
possessions are tabulated. No particulars of exports of British produce and
manufacture are specified in the returns.
(T. O.)
[1] See the report of a paper by T. Okey, published in the _Journal_ of the
Society of Arts, January 11th, 1907.
BASKET-BALL, a game adapted to the open air, but usually played upon the
floor of a gymnasium and in the cold season. It was the invention, in 1891,
of James Naismith, an instructor in the gymnasium of the Young Men's
Christian Association training-school at Springfield, Massachusetts. A
demand had arisen for a game for the gymnasium class, which would break the
monotony and take the place, during the winter months, of football and
baseball, and which was not too rough to be played indoors. The idea of the
game was first published in the _Triangle_, the school paper. It soon
became one of the most popular indoor games of America, for girls as well
as for men, and spread to England and elsewhere.
Basket-ball is played on a marked-off space 60 ft. by 40 ft. in extent,
though in the open air the dimensions may be greater. In the middle of each
short side and 10 ft. above the floor or ground, is placed a basket
consisting of a net suspended from a metal ring 18 in. in diameter, backed,
at a distance of 6 in., by a back-board 6 ft. long and 4 ft. high. The
object of the game is to propel an inflated, leather-covered ball, 30 in.
in circumference, into the opponents' basket, which is the goal, by
striking it with the open hands. The side wins that scores most goals
during two periods of play divided by an interval of rest. Although there
is practically no limit to the number of players on each side, all indoor
matches are played by teams of five, in positions opposing one another as
in lacrosse, centre, right and left forwards and right and left guards (or
backs). A referee has the general supervision of the game and decides when
goals have been properly scored, and an umpire watches for infringements of
the rules, which constitute _fouls_. There are also a scorer and
timekeeper.
The game is started with the two opposing centres standing within a 4-foot
ring in the middle of the floor. The referee puts the ball in play by
tossing it into the air over the heads of the centres, who jump into the
air for its possession or endeavour to bat it towards the opposing goal.
From this moment the ball is in play until it falls into a basket, or
passes the boundary-lines, or a foul is made. After a goal has been scored,
the ball is again put in play by the referee in the centre. Should it be
thrown across the boundary, a player of the opposing side, standing on the
line at the point where the ball went over, puts it in play by passing or
throwing it to one of his own side in any direction, there being no
off-side rule--another point of similarity to lacrosse. His opponents, of
course, try to prevent the pass or intercept the throw, thus securing the
ball themselves. When a foul has been called, a player of the opposing side
is allowed a "free throw" for his opponents' basket from a mark 15 ft.
distant from it and without interference. A goal scored from a [v.03
p.0484] free throw counts one point; one scored while the ball is in play
counts two. Hacking, striking, holding and kicking are foul, but a player
may interfere with an opponent who has the ball so long as he uses one arm
only and does not hold. A player must throw the ball from where he gets it,
no running with it being allowed excepting when continuously bounding it on
the floor. Basket-ball is an extremely fast game and admits of a high
degree of combination or team-play. The principal qualifications of a good
player are quickness of movement and of judgment, coolness, endurance,
accuracy and self-control. Good dodging, throwing, passing and team-play
are the important requisites of the game, which is looked upon as excellent
winter training for outdoor games. Basket-ball, with somewhat modified
rules, is extremely popular with young women.
See _Spalding's Basket-Ball Guide_; and George T. Hepbron, _How to Play
Basket-Ball_; and _Spalding's Basket-Ball Guide for Women_.
BASNAGE, JACQUES (1653-1723), French Protestant divine, was the eldest son
of the eminent lawyer Henri Basnage, sieur de Franquenay (1615-1695), and
was born at Rouen in Normandy in 1653. He studied classical languages at
Saumur and afterwards theology at Geneva. He was pastor at Rouen (his
native place) from 1676 till 1685, when, on the revocation of the edict of
Nantes, he obtained leave of the king to retire to Holland. He settled at
Rotterdam as a minister pensionary till 1691, when he was chosen pastor of
the Walloon church. In 1709 the grand pensionary A. Heinsius (1641-1720)
secured his election as one of the pastors of the Walloon church at the
Hague, intending to employ him mainly in civil affairs. Accordingly he was
engaged in a secret negotiation with Marshal d'Uxelles, plenipotentiary of
France at the congress of Utrecht--a service which he executed with so much
success that he was entrusted with several important commissions, all of
which he discharged with great ability. In 1716 Dubois, who was at the
Hague at the instance of the regent Orleans, for the purpose of negotiating
the Triple Alliance between France, Great Britain and Holland, sought the
advice of Basnage, who, in spite of the fact that he had failed to receive
permission to return to France on a short visit the year before, did his
best to further the negotiations. The French government also turned to him
for help in view of the threatened rising in the Cevennes. Basnage had
welcomed the revival of the Protestant church due to the zeal of Antoine
Court; but he assured the regent that no danger of active resistance was to
be feared from it, and, true to the principles of Calvin, he denounced the
rebellion of the Camisards (_q.v._) in his _Instructions pastorales aux
Reformes de France sur l'obeissance due aux souverains_ (Paris, 1720),
which was printed by order of the court and scattered broadcast in the
south of France. Basnage died on the 22nd of September 1723.
Basnage was a good preacher and a prolific writer. His works include
several dogmatic and polemical treatises, but the most important are the
historical. Of these may be mentioned _Histoire de la religion des eglises
reformees_ (Rotterdam, 1690), the _Histoire de l'eglise depuis Jesus-Christ
jusqu'a present_ (_ib_. 1699)--both of them written from the point of view
of Protestant polemics--and, of greater scientific value, the _Histoire des
Juifs_ (Rotterdam, 1706, Eng. trans. 1708) and the _Antiquites judaiques ou
remarques critiques sur la republique des Hebreux_ (1713). He also wrote
short explanatory introductions and notes to a collection of copper-plate
engravings, much valued by connoisseurs, called _Histoires du Vieux et du
Nouveau Testament, representees par des figures gravees en taille-douce par
R. de Hooge_ (Amsterdam, 1704).
BASOCHE, or BAZOCHE, with the analogous forms BASOQUE, BASOGUE and
BAZOUGES; from the Lat. _basilica_, in the sense of law courts, a French
gild of clerks, from among whom legal representatives (_procureurs_) were
recruited. This gild was very ancient, even older than the gild of the
_procureurs_, with which it was often at variance. It dated, no doubt, from
the time when the profession of _procureur_ (procurator, advocate or legal
representative) was still free in the sense that persons rendering that
service to others when so permitted by the law were not yet public and
ministerial officers. For this purpose there was established near each
important juridical centre a group of clerks, that is to say, of men
skilled in law (or reputed to be so), who at first would probably fill
indifferently the roles of representative or advocate. Such was the origin
of the Basoche of the parlement of Paris; which naturally formed itself
into a gild, like other professions and trades in the middle ages. But this
organization eventually became disintegrated, dividing up into more
specialized bodies: that of the advocates, whose history then begins; and
that of legal representatives, whose profession was regularized in 1344,
and speedily became a saleable charge. The remnant of the original clerks
constituted the new Basoche, which thenceforward consisted only of those
who worked as clerks for the procureurs, the richer ones among them
aspiring themselves to attain the position of procureur. They all, however,
retained some traces of their original conditions. "They are admitted,"
writes an 18th-century author, "to plead before M. le lieutenant civil _sur
les referes_[1] and before M. le juge auditeur; so that the procureurs of
these days are but the former clerks of the Basoche, admitted to officiate
in important cases in preference to other clerks and to their exclusion."
From its ancient past the Basoche had also preserved certain picturesque
forms and names. It was called the "kingdom of the _Basoche_," and for a
long time its chief, elected each year in general assembly, bore the title
of "king." This he had to give up towards the end of the 16th century, by
order, it is said, of Henry III., and was thenceforth called the
"chancellor." The Basoche had besides its _maitres des requetes_, a grand
court-crier, a referendary, an advocate-general, a _procureur-general_, a
chaplain, &c. In early days, and until the first half of the 16th century,
it was organized in companies in a military manner and held periodical
reviews or parades (_montres_), sometimes taking up arms in the king's
service in time of war. Of this there survived later only an annual
_cavalcade_, when the members of the Basoche went to the royal forest of
Bondy to cut the maypole, which they afterwards set up in the court-yard of
the Palais. We hear also of satirical and literary entertainments given by
clerks of the Palais de Justice, and of the moralities played by them in
public, which form an important element in the history of the national
theatre; but at the end of the 16th century these performances were
restricted to the great hall of the Palais.
To the last the Basoche retained two principal prerogatives. (1) In order
to be recognized as a qualified procureur it was necessary to have gone
through one's "stage" in the Basoche, to have been entered by name for ten
years on its register. It was not sufficient to have been merely clerk to a
procureur during the period and to have been registered at his office. This
rule was the occasion of frequent conflicts during the 17th and 18th
centuries between the members of the Basoche and the procureurs, and on the
whole, despite certain decisions favouring the latter, the parlement
maintained the rights of the Basoche. Opinion was favourable to it because
the _certificats de complaisance_ issued by the procureurs were dreaded.
These _certificats_ held good, moreover, in places where there was no
Basoche. (2) The Basoche had judiciary powers recognized by the law. It had
disciplinary jurisdiction over its members and decided personal actions in
civil law brought by one clerk against another or by an outsider against a
clerk. The judgment, at any rate if delivered by a _maitre des requetes_,
was authoritative, and could only be contested by a civil petition before
the ancient council of the Basoche. The Chatelet of Paris had its special
basoche, which claimed to be older even than that of the Palais de Justice,
and there was contention between them as to certain rights. The clerks of
the procureurs at the _cour des comptes_ of Paris had their own Basoche of
great antiquity, called the "empire de Galilee." The Basoche of the Palais
de Justice had in its ancient days the right to create provostships in
localities within the jurisdiction of the parlement of Paris, and thus
there sprang up a certain number of local basoches. Others were independent
in origin; among such being the "regency" of Rouen and the Basoche of the
parlement of Toulouse.
[v.03 p.0485] See also _Repertoire de jurisprudence des Guyot; Recueil des
Statuts du royaume de la basoche_ (Paris, 1654); L. A. Fabre, _Etudes
historiques sur les clercs de la basoche_ (Paris, 1856).
(J. P. E.)
[1] A procedure for obtaining a provisional judgment on urgent cases.
BASQUE PROVINCES (_Provincias Vascongadas_), a division of north-eastern
Spain, comprising the three provinces of Alava, Biscay or Vizcaya and
Guipuzcoa. Pop. (1900) 603,596; area 2739 sq. m., the third in density in
Spain. The territory occupied by the Basque Provinces forms a triangle
bounded on the west and south by the provinces of Santander, Burgos and
Logrono, on the east by Navarre, on the north by France and the Bay of
Biscay. The French Pays Basque forms part of the arrondissements of Bayonne
and Mauleon. For an account of the people, their origin, customs and
language, see BASQUES. Of the Provinces, Guipuzcoa is the only one which is
wholly Basque, Alava is the least so. Its capital, Vitoria, is said to have
been founded by the Gothic king Leovigild (581). Older than these
divisions, the date of which is uncertain, the ancient limits of the
dioceses of Pamplona, Bayonne and Calahorra, probably corresponded more
nearly to the boundaries of the ancient tribes, the Autrigones, the
Caristi, the Varduli and the Vascones, with their still differing dialects,
than do these civil provinces.
Leaving aside the legendary and uncertain portion of their history, we find
the Provinces in some districts dependent allies of Navarre, in others of
Castile. In Biscay the counts of Haro were lords of Biscay from 1093 to
1350. There was a short union with Castile under Pedro the Cruel, but the
definitive union did not take place till 1370. In Alava the ruling power
was the confederation of Arriaga (so called after its meeting place), which
united the province to the crown of Castile in 1332. Guipuzcoa, which had
been dependent sometimes on Navarre, sometimes on Castile, was definitively
united to Castile in 1200. From the year 1425 the provinces were desolated
by party wars among the lesser nobles (_parientes mayores_) but these came
to an end in 1460-1498, when Henry IV. and Ferdinand the Catholic
strengthened the power of the towns and forbade the erection of any
fortified house in the country. Though the three Basque Provinces were thus
united to the crown of Spain, they still remained a land apart (_tierra
apartada_). Their juntas acted to some extent in common; and although no
written federal pact is known to have existed, they employed, as the symbol
of their unity, a seal with the word _Iruracbat_, "The Three One," engraved
upon it. They preserved their own laws, customs, _fueros_ (see BASQUES),
which the Spanish kings swore to observe and maintain. Unless countersigned
by the juntas the decrees of Cortes and Spanish legislation or royal orders
had no force in the Provinces. In the junta of 1481 Guipuzcoa alone
proposed a treaty of friendship, peace and free trade for ten years with
England, and this was signed in Westminster, on the 9th of March 1482 (see
Rymer, _Foedera_). The Basques still made their own treaties with England
and France and are mentioned apart from Spain in the treaty of Utrecht
(1713). They still preserved in their municipal institutions the old style
of _republicas_ derived from the _civitates_ and _respublicae_ of ancient
Rome. This kind of independence and autonomy lasted unchallenged until the
death of Ferdinand VII. in 1833, when, in default of male heirs, his
brother Don Carlos claimed the throne, confirmed the Basque _fueros_, and
raised the standard of revolt against his niece, Isabel II. A seven years'
war followed, in which an English legion under Sir George de Lacy Evans and
a naval force under Lord John Hay took part. It was ended by the Convenio
de Vergara (August 31st, 1839) in which the concession and modification of
the _fueros_ was demanded. The troubled period which followed the expulsion
of Isabel II. in 1868 gave opportunity for a second Carlist war from 1872
to 1876. This ended, unlike the former one, in the utter defeat of the
Carlist forces, and left the Provinces at the mercy of the government,
without terms or agreement. In general government and legislation the
Provinces were then assimilated to the rest of the nation. After 1876, the
Provincial parliaments (_diputaciones_) were elected like the other
provincial councils of Spain, deprived of many privileges and subjected to
the ordinary interference of the civil governors. But their
representatives, assisted by the senators and deputies of the Basque
Provinces in the Cortes, negotiated successive pacts, each lasting several
years, securing for the three Provinces their municipal and provincial
self-government, and the assessment, distribution and collection of their
principal taxes and octroi duties, on the understanding that an agreed sum
should be paid annually to the state, subject to an increase whenever the
national taxation of other provinces was augmented. In December 1906, after
long discussion, the contribution of the Basque Provinces to the state,
according to the law of the 21st of July 1876, was fixed for the next
twenty years; for the first ten years at 8,500,000 pesetas, for the next
ten an additional 500,000 pesetas, from 31st December 1916 to 31st December
1926, the province of Guipuzcoa paying in addition 700,000 pesetas to the
treasury. These pacts have hitherto been scrupulously observed, and as the
local authorities levy the contribution after their own local customs,
landed property and the industrial and commercial classes are less heavily
taxed in these territories than in the rest of Spain. Enough is raised,
however, besides the amount handed over to the government, to enable the
schools, roads, harbours and public works of every kind to be maintained at
a standard which compares very favourably with other parts of Spain. When
the three provinces sent in their first contingent of conscripts in 1877,
it was found that all but about sixty knew how to read and write, and
succeeding contingents have kept up this high standard.
In agriculture the Basque Provinces and the Pays Basque were great cider
countries, but during the 19th century this was gradually replaced by
wine-growing. The chief industries of the Basque Provinces are the sea
fisheries and iron mining. Some of the mines round Bilbao have been worked
from prehistoric times. In 1905 the Basque Provinces produced 5,302,344
tons of iron, over five millions of which came from Biscay, out of a total
of 9,395,314 tons for the whole of Spain. More than the half of this total
5,845,895 tons, was exported to England. The swords of Mondragon in
Guipuzcoa were renowned before those of Toledo. Eibar in the same province
has long been a small-arms factory. There in the 19th century Senor Zuloaga
successfully revived the artistic inlaying of gold and silver in steel and
iron.