generation is his autobiography, _De Vita Propria_. In its clearness and
frankness of self-revelation this book stands almost alone among records
of its class. It may be compared with the autobiography of another
celebrated Italian of the age, Benvenuto Cellini, but is much more free
from vanity and self-consciousness, unless the extreme candour with
which Cardan reveals his own errors is to be regarded as vanity in a
more subtle form. The general impression is highly favourable to the
writer, whose impetuosity and fits of reckless dissipation appear as
mere exaggerations of the warmth of heart which imparted such strength
to his domestic affections, and in the region of science imparted that
passionate devotion to research which could alone have enabled him to
persevere so resolutely and effect such marked advances in such
multifarious fields of inquiry.
Cardan's autobiography has been most ably condensed, and at the same
time supplemented by information from the general body of his writings
and other sources, by Henry Morley (_Jerome Cardan_, 1854, 2 vols).
His capital treatises, _De Subtilitate_ and _De Varietate Rerum_, are
combined and fully analysed in vol. ii. of Rixner and Siber's _Leben
und Lehrmeinungen beruhmter Physiker am Ende des xvi. und am Anfange
des xvii. Jahrhunderts_ (Sulzbach, 1820). Cardan's works were edited
in ten volumes by Sponius (Lyons, 1663). A biography was prefixed by
Gabriel Naude, whose unreasonable depreciation has unduly lowered
Cardan's character with posterity. (R. G.)
CARDENAS (_San Juan de Dios de Cardenas_), a maritime town of Cuba, in
Matanzas province, about 75 m. E. of Havana, on the level and somewhat
marshy shore of a spacious bay of the northern coast of the island,
sheltered by a long promontory. Pop. (1907) 24,280. It has railway
communication with the trunk railway of the island, and communicates by
regular steamers with all the coast towns. The city lies between the sea
and hills. There are broad streets, various squares (including the Plaza
de Colon, with a bronze statue of Columbus given to the city by Queen
Isabel II. and erected in 1862) and substantial business buildings.
Cardenas is one of the principal sugar-exporting towns of Cuba. The
shallowness of the harbour necessitates lighterage and repeated loading
of cargoes. The surrounding region is famed for its fertility. A large
quantity of asphalt has been taken from the bed of the harbour. A flow
of fresh water from the bed of the harbour is another peculiar feature;
it comes presumably from the outlets of subterranean rivers. There is a
large United States business element, which has been, indeed, prominent
in the city ever since its foundation. At El Varadero, on a peninsula at
the mouth of the bay, there is fine sea-bathing on a long beach, and El
Varadero is a winter resort. Cardenas was founded in 1828, and in 1861
already had 12,910 inhabitants. In 1850 General Narciso Lopez landed
here on a filibustering expedition, and held the town for a few hours,
abandoning it when he saw that the people would not rise to support him
in his efforts to secure Cuban independence. On the 11th of May 1898 an
American torpedo-boat and revenue cutter here attacked three Spanish
gun-boats, and Ensign Worth Bagley (1874-1898) was killed--the first
American naval officer to lose his life in the Spanish-American War.
CARDIFF, a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough, seaport
and market-town, and the county town of Glamorganshire, South Wales,
situated on the Taff, 1 m. above its outflow, 145-1/4 m. from London by
the Great Western railway via Badminton, 40-1/2 m. W. of Bristol and
45-1/2 m. E.S.E. of Swansea. Cardiff is also the terminus of both the
Taff Vale and the Rhymney railways, the latter affording the London &
North-Western railway access to the town. The Barry line from Barry dock
joins the Great Western and Taff Vale railways at Cardiff, and the
Cardiff Railway Company (which owns all the docks) has a line from
Pontypridd via Llanishen to the docks. The Glamorganshire canal, opened
in 1794, runs from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil, with a branch to Aberdare.
The increase of the population of Cardiff during the 19th century was
phenomenal; from 1870 inhabitants in 1801, and 6187 in 1831 it grew to
32,954 in 1861. The borough, which originally comprised only the
parishes of St John's and St Mary's, was in 1875 and 1895 extended so as
to include Roath and a large part of Llandaff, known as Canton, on the
right of the Taff. The whole area was united as one civil parish in
1903, and the population in 1901 was 164,333, of whom only about 8%
spoke Welsh.
Probably no town in the kingdom has a nobler group of public buildings
than those in Cathays Park, which also commands a view of the castle
ramparts and the old keep. On opposite sides of a fine avenue are the
assize courts and new town hall (with municipal offices), which are both
in the Renaissance style. The Glamorgan county council has also a site
of one acre in the park for offices.
The University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, founded in
1883, under the principalship of J. Viriamu Jones, for some time carried
on its work in temporary buildings, pending the erection of the
commodious and imposing building from the plans of Mr W.D. Caroe, in
Cathays Park, where the registry of the university of Wales (of which
the college is a constituent) is also situated. The Drapers' Company has
given L15,500 towards building a library, in addition to previous
donations to the engineering department and the scholarship fund of the
college. The college has departments for arts, pure and applied science
and technology, medicine, public health, music, and for the training of
men and women teachers for elementary and secondary schools. Its library
includes the Salesbury collection of books relating to Wales. Aberdare
Hall is a hostel for the women students. The Baptist theological college
of Pontypool was removed to Cardiff in 1895.
The public library and museum were founded in 1863, but in 1882 were
removed to a new building which was enlarged in 1896. The library is
especially rich in books and MSS. relating to Wales and in Celtic
literature generally. These comprise the Welsh portion of the MSS. which
belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middlehill (including the Book of
Aneurin--one of the "Four ancient books of Wales"), purchased for L3500.
A catalogue of the printed books in the Welsh department, which soon
became a standard work of reference, was published in 1898, while a
calendar of the Welsh MSS. was issued by the Historical MSS. Commission
in 1903. There are six branch libraries, while a scheme of school
libraries has been in operation since 1899. The chief features of the
museum are collections of the fossils, birds and flora of Wales and of
obsolete Welsh domestic appliances, casts of the pre-Norman monuments of
Wales, and reproductions of metal and ivory work illustrating various
periods of art and civilization. There is also a unique collection of
Swansea and Nantgarw china. The fine arts department contains
twenty-seven oil paintings by modern English and continental artists
bequeathed by William Menelaus of Dowlais in 1883, the Pyke-Thompson
collection of about 100 water-colour paintings presented in 1899, and
some 3000 prints and drawings relating to Wales. In 1905 Cardiff was
selected by a privy council committee to be the site of a state-aided
national museum for Wales, the whole contents of the museum and art
gallery, together with a site in Cathays Park, having been offered by
the corporation for the purpose. A charter providing for its government
was granted on the 19th of March 1907. In Cathays Park there is also a
"gorsedd" or bardic circle of huge monoliths erected in connexion with
the eisteddfod of 1899.
The other public buildings of the town include the infirmary founded in
1837, the present buildings being erected in 1883, and subsequently
enlarged; the sanatorium, the seamen's hospital, the South Wales
Institute of Mining Engineers (which has a library) built in 1894, the
exchange, an institute for the blind, a school for the deaf and dumb,
and one of the two prisons for the county (the other being at Swansea).
There are a technical school, an intermediate school for boys and
another for girls, a "higher-grade" and a pupil teachers' school. A
musical festival is held triennially.
In the business part the buildings are also for the most part imposing
and the thoroughfares spacious, while the chief suburban streets are
planted with trees. The Taff is spanned by two bridges, one a
four-arched bridge rebuilt in 1858-1859 leading to Llandaff, and the
other a cantilever with a central swinging span of 190 ft. 8 in.
In virtue of its being the shire-town, Cardiff acquired in 1535 the
right to send one representative to parliament, which it did until 1832,
from which date Cowbridge and Llantrisant have been joined with it as
contributory boroughs returning one member. The great sessions for the
county were during their whole existence from 1542 to 1830 held at
Cardiff, but the assizes (which replaced them) have since then been held
at Swansea and Cardiff alternately, as also are the quarter sessions for
Glamorgan. The borough has a separate commission of the peace, having a
stipendiary magistrate since 1858. It was granted a separate court of
quarter sessions in 1890, it was constituted a county borough in 1888,
and, by letters patent dated the 28th of October 1905, it was created a
city and the dignity of lord mayor conferred on its chief magistrate.
The corporation consists of ten aldermen and thirty councillors, and the
area of the municipal borough is 8408 acres.
Under powers secured in 1884, the town obtains its chief water supply
from a gathering ground near the sources of the Taff on the old red
sandstone beyond the northern out-crop of the mineral basin and on the
southern slopes of the Brecknock Beacons. Here two reservoirs of a
combined capacity of 668 million gallons have been constructed, and a
conduit some 36 m. long laid to Cardiff at a total cost of about
L1,250,000. A third reservoir is authorized. A gas company, first
incorporated in 1837, supplies the city as well as Llandaff and Penarth
with gas, but the corporation also supplies electric power both for
lighting and working the tramways, which were purchased from a private
company in 1898. The city owned in 1905 about 290 acres of parks and
"open spaces," the chief being Roath Park of 100 acres (including a
botanical garden of 15 acres), Llandaff fields of 70 acres, and Cathays
Park of 60 acres, which was acquired in 1900 mainly with the view of
placing in it the chief public buildings of the town.
_Commerce and Industries._--Edward II.'s charter of 1324 indicates that
Cardiff had become even then a trading and shipping centre of some
importance. It enjoyed a brief existence as a staple town from 1327 to
1332. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. it was notorious as a
resort of pirates, while some of the ironfounders of the district were
suspected of secretly supplying Spain with ordnance. It was for
centuries a "head port," its limits extending from Chepstow to Llanelly;
in the 18th century it sank to the position of "a creek" of the port of
Bristol, but about 1840 it was made independent, its limits for customs'
purposes being defined as from the Rumney estuary to Nash Point, so that
technically the "port of Cardiff" includes Barry and Penarth as well as
Cardiff proper. Down to the end of the 18th century there was only a
primitive quay on the river side for shipping purposes. Coal was brought
down from the hills on the backs of mules, and iron carried in two-ton
wagons. In 1798 the first dock (12 acres in extent) was constructed at
the terminus of the Glamorgan canal from Merthyr. The commercial
greatness of Cardiff is due to the vast coal and iron deposits of the
country drained by the Taff and Rhymney, between whose outlets the town
is situated. But a great impetus to its development was given by the 2nd
marquess of Bute, who has often been described as the second founder of
Cardiff. In 1830 he obtained the first act for the construction of a
dock which (now known as the West Bute dock) was opened in 1839 and
measures (with its basin) 19-1/2 acres. The opening of the Taff Vale
railway in 1840 and of the South Wales railway to Cardiff in 1850
necessitated further accommodation, and the trustees of the marquess
(who died in 1848) began in 1851 and opened in 1855 the East Bute dock
and basin measuring 46-1/4 acres. The Rhymney railway to Cardiff was
completed in 1858 and the trade of the port so vastly increased that the
shipment of coal and coke went up from 4562 tons in 1839 to 1,796,000
tons in 1860. In 1864 the Bute trustees unsuccessfully sought powers for
constructing three additional docks to cost two millions sterling, but
under the more limited powers granted in 1866, the Roath basin (12
acres) was opened in 1874, and (under a substituted act of 1882) the
Roath dock (33 acres) was opened in 1887. All these docks were
constructed by the Bute family at a cost approaching three millions
sterling. Still they fell far short of the requirements of the district
for in 1865 the Taff Vale Railway Company opened a dock of 26 acres
under the headland at Penarth, while in 1884 a group of colliery owners,
dissatisfied with their treatment at Cardiff, obtained powers to
construct docks at Barry which are now 114 acres in extent. The Bute
trustees in 1885 acquired the Glamorgan canal and its dock, and in the
following year obtained an act for vesting their various docks and the
canal in a company now known as the Cardiff Railway Company. The South
Bute dock of 50-1/2 acres, authorized in 1894 and capable of
accommodating the largest vessels afloat, was opened in 1907, bringing
the whole dock area of Cardiff (including timber ponds) to about 210
acres. There are also ten private graving and floating docks and one
public graving dock. There is ample equipment of fixed and movable
staiths and cranes of various sizes up to 70 tons, the Lewis-Hunter
patent cranes being largely used for shipping coal owing to their
minimizing the breakage of coal and securing its even distribution. The
landing of foreign cattle is permitted by the Board of Trade, and there
are cattle lairs and abattoirs near the Cardiff wharf. The total exports
of the Cardiff docks in 1906 amounted to 8,767,502 tons, of which
8,433,629 tons were coal, coke and patent fuel, 151,912 were iron and
steel and their manufactures, and 181,076 tons of general merchandise.
What Cardiff lacks is a corresponding import trade, for its imports in
1906 amounted to only 2,108,133 tons, of which the chief items were iron
ore (895,610 tons), pit-wood (303,407), grain and flour (298,197).
Taking "the port of Cardiff" in its technical sense as including Barry
and Penarth, it is the first port in the kingdom for shipping cleared to
foreign countries and British possessions, second in the kingdom for its
timber imports, and first in the world for shipment of coal.
The east moors, stretching towards the outlet of the Rhymney river, have
become an important metallurgical quarter. Copper works were established
here in 1866, followed long after by tin-stamping and enamel works. In
1888 the Dowlais Iron Company (now Messrs Guest, Keen & Nettlefold,
Ltd.) acquired here some ninety acres on which were built four blast
furnaces and six Siemens' smelting furnaces. There are also in the city
several large grain mills and breweries, a biscuit factory, wire and
hemp roperies, fuel works, general foundries and engineering works. At
Ely, 3-1/2 m. out of Cardiff, there are also breweries, a small tin works
and large paper works. The newspapers of Cardiff include two weeklies,
the _Cardiff Times_ and _Weekly Mail_, founded in 1857 and 1870
respectively, two morning dailies, the _South Wales Daily News_ and
_Western Mail_, established in 1872 and 1869 respectively, and two
evening dailies.
_History and Historic Buildings._--In documents of the first half of the
12th century the name is variously spelt as _Kairdif_, _Cairti_ and
_Kardid_. The Welsh form of the name, Caerdydd (pronounced Caerdeeth,
with the accent on the second syllable) suggests that the name means
"the fort of (Aulus?) Didius," rather than Caer Daf ("the fortress on
the Taff"), which is nowhere found (except in Leland), though Caer Dyv
once existed as a variant. No traces have been found of any pre-Roman
settlement at Cardiff. Excavations carried out by the marquess of Bute
from 1889 onward furnished for the first time conclusive proof that
Cardiff had been a Roman station, and also revealed the sequence of
changes which it had subsequently undergone. There was first, on the
site occupied by the present castle, a camp of about ten acres, probably
constructed after the conquest of the Silures A.D. 75-77, so as to
command the passage of the Taff, which was here crossed by the Via
Maritima running from Gloucester to St David's. In later Roman times
there were added a series of polygonal bastions, of the type found at
Caerwent. To this period also belongs the massive rampart, over 10 ft.
thick, and the north gateway, one of the most perfect Roman gateways in
Great Britain. After the departure of the Romans the walls became
ruinous or were partly pulled down, perhaps by sea rovers from the
north. In this period of anarchy the native princes of Glamorgan had
their principal demesne, not at the camp but a mile to the north at
Llystalybont, now merely a thatched farmhouse, while some Saxon invaders
threw up within the camp a large moated mound on which the Normans about
the beginning of the 12th century built the great shell-keep which is
practically all that remains of their original castle. Its builder was
probably Robert, earl of Gloucester, who also built Bristol castle. Then
or possibly even earlier the old rampart was for two-thirds of its
circuit buried under enormous earthworks, the remainder being rebuilt.
It was in the keep, and not, as tradition says, in the much later "Black
Tower" (also called "Duke Robert's Tower"), that Robert, duke of
Normandy, was imprisoned by order of his brother Henry I. from 1108
until his death in 1134. Considerable additions of later date, in the
Decorated and Perpendicular styles, are due to the Despensers and to
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, while the present residential part is of
various dates ranging from the 15th century down to the last half of the
19th, when a thorough restoration, including the addition of a superbly
ornamented clock-tower, was carried out. The original ditch, about 20
yds. wide, still exists on three sides, but it is now converted into a
"feeder" for the docks and canal. Geoffrey of Monmouth was at one time
chaplain of the castle, where he probably wrote some of his works. The
scene of the "sparrow-hawk" tournament, described in _Geraint and Enid_,
one of the Arthurian romances, is laid at Cardiff.
On the conquest of the district by the Normans under Fitz Hamon, Cardiff
became the caput of the seigniory of Glamorgan, and the castle the
residence of its lords. The castle and lordship descended by heirship,
male and female, through the families of De Clare, Despenser, Beauchamp
and Neville to Richard III., on whose fall they escheated to the Crown,
and were granted later, first to Jasper Tudor, and finally by Edward VI.
in 1550 to Sir William Herbert, afterwards created Baron Herbert of
Cardiff and earl of Pembroke. Through the daughter and grand-daughter of
the 7th earl the castle and estates became the property of the 1st
marquess of Bute (who was created Baron Cardiff in 1776), to whose
direct descendant they now belong.
The town received its earliest known grant of municipal privileges
sometime before 1147 from Fitz Hamon's successor and son-in-law Robert,
earl of Gloucester. In 1284 the inhabitants petitioned the burgesses of
Hereford for a certified copy of the customs of the latter town, and
these furnished a model for the later demands of the growing community
at Cardiff from its lords, while Cardiff in turn furnished the model for
the Glamorgan towns such as Neath and Kenfig. In 1324 Edward II. granted
a number of exemptions to Cardiff and other towns in South Wales, and
this grant was confirmed by Edward III. in 1359, Henry IV. in 1400,
Henry VI. in 1452, and Edward IV. in 1465.
Its most important early charter was that granted in 1340 by Hugh le
Despenser, whereby the burgesses acquired the right to nominate persons
from whom the constable of the castle should select a bailiff and other
officers, two ancient fairs, held on the 29th of June and 19th of
September, were confirmed, and extensive trading privileges were
granted, including the right to form a merchant gild. A charter granted
in 1421 by Richard de Beauchamp provided that the town should be
governed by twelve elected aldermen, but that the constable of the
castle should be mayor. In 1581 Queen Elizabeth granted a confirmatory
charter to the mayor and bailiffs direct without reference to the lord
of the castle. The town was treated as a borough by prescription until
1608, when James I. confirmed its status by express incorporation,
adding also to its rights of self-government, and granting it a third
fair (on the 30th of November). In 1687 the town surrendered this
charter to James II., who in a substituted one, which, however, was
never acted upon, reserved to the Crown the right of removing any member
of the corporation from office. The first step towards the modern
improvement of the town was taken in 1774, when a special act was
obtained for the purpose. Nineteen private acts and provisional orders
were obtained during the 19th century.
Among the many early English kings who visited or passed through Cardiff
was Henry II., on whom in 1171, outside St Piran's chapel (which has
long since disappeared), was urged the duty of Sunday observance. About
1153, Ivor Bach (or the Little), a neighbouring Welsh chieftain, seized
the castle and for a time held William, earl of Gloucester, and the
countess prisoners in the hills. In 1404 Owen Glendower burnt the town,
except the quarters of the Friars Minors. In 1645, after the battle of
Naseby, Charles I. visited the town, which until then had been mainly
Royalist, but about a month later was taken by the Parliamentarians. In
1648, a week after the Royalists had been decisively defeated by Colonel
Horton at St Fagan's, 4 m. west of Cardiff, Cromwell passed through the
town on his way to Pembroke.
Outside the north-west angle of the castle, Richard de Clare in 1256
founded a Dominican priory, which was burnt by Glendower in 1404. Though
rebuilt, the building fell into decay after the Dissolution. The site
was excavated in 1887. Outside the north-east angle a Franciscan friary
was founded in 1280 by Gilbert de Clare, which at the Dissolution became
the residence of a branch of the Herbert family. Its site was explored
in 1896. The only other building of historic interest is the church of
St John the Baptist, which is in the Perpendicular style, its fine tower
having been built about 1443 by Hart, who also built the towers of
Wrexham and St Stephen's, Bristol. In the Herbert chapel is a fine altar
tomb of two brothers of the family. A sculptured stone reredos by W.
Goscombe John was erected in 1896. The original church of St Mary's, at
the mouth of the river, was swept away by a tidal wave in 1607:
Wordsworth took this as a subject for a sonnet.
In 1555 Rawlins White, a fisherman, was burnt at Cardiff for his
Protestantism, and in 1679 two Catholic priests were executed for
recusancy. Cardiff was the birthplace of Christopher Love (b. 1618),
Puritan author, and of William Erbury, sometime vicar of St Mary's in
the town, who, with his curate, Walter Cradock, were among the founders
of Welsh nonconformity.
As to Roman Cardiff see articles by J. Ward in the _Archaeologia_ for
1901 (vol. lvii.), and in _Archaeologia Cambrensis_ for 1908. As to
the castle and the Black and Gray Friars see _Archaeologia
Cambrensis_, 3rd series, viii. 251 (reprinted in Clark's _Medieval
Military Architecture_), 5th series, vi. 97; vii. 283; xvii. 55; 6th
series, i. 69. The charters of Cardiff and "Materials for a History of
the County Borough from the Earliest Times" were published by order of
the corporation in _Cardiff Records_ (5 vols., 1898, sqq.). See also a
_Handbook of Cardiff and District_, prepared for the use of the
British Association, 1891; _Cardiff, an Illustrated Handbook_, 1896;
the _Annual Report_ of the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce; the _Calendar_
of the University College. (D. Ll. T.)
CARDIGAN, JAMES THOMAS BRUDENELL, 7TH EARL OF (1797-1868), English
lieutenant-general, son of the 6th earl of Cardigan (the title dating
from 1661), was born at Hambleden, Bucks, on the 16th of October 1797.
He studied for several terms at Christ Church, Oxford; and in 1818
entered parliament. He entered the army in 1824 as cornet in the 8th
Hussars, and was promoted within eight years, by purchase, to be
lieutenant-colonel in the 15th Hussars. With this regiment he made
himself one of the most unpopular of commanding officers. He gave the
reins to his natural overbearing and quarrelsome temper, treating his
men with excessive rigour and indulging in unscrupulous licentiousness.
Within two years he held 105 courts-martial, and made more than 700
arrests, although the actual strength of his regiment was only 350 men.
In consequence of one of his numerous personal quarrels, he left the
regiment in 1834; but two years later, at the urgent entreaty of his
father, he was appointed to the command of the 11th Hussars. He played
the same part as before, and was censured for it; but he was allowed to
retain his post, and the discipline and equipment of his regiment, in
which he took great pride, and on which he spent large sums of money,
received high commendation from the duke of Wellington. He succeeded to
the peerage on the death of his father in August 1837. In September 1840
Lord Cardigan fought a duel, on Wimbledon common, with one of his own
officers. The latter was wounded, and Lord Cardigan was tried before
the House of Lords on a charge of feloniously shooting his adversary.
But the trial was a mere sham, and on a trivial technical ground he was
acquitted. In 1854, at the outbreak of the Crimean War, he was appointed
to the command of the light cavalry brigade, with the rank of
major-general, and he spent a very large sum in the purchase of horses
and on the equipment of his regiment. He took a prominent part in the
early actions of the campaign, and displayed throughout the greatest
personal courage and the greatest recklessness in exposing his men. In
the charge of the light brigade at Balaklava (q.v.) he was the first man
to reach the line of the Russian guns; and Cardigan and his men alike
have been credited by the bitterest critics of the charge with splendid
daring and unquestioning obedience to orders. At the close of the war he
was created K.C.B., and was appointed inspector-general of cavalry, and
this post he held till 1860. In 1863 he engaged without success in legal
proceedings against an officer who had published an account of Balaklava
which the earl held to contain a reflection on his military character.
He attained the rank of lieutenant-general in 1861. He was twice
married, in 1826 and 1858, but had no children. On his death, which took
place on the 28th of March 1868, the family titles (including the
English barony of Brudenell, cr. 1628) passed to his relative, the
second marquess of Ailesbury.
CARDIGAN (_Aberteifi_), a seaport, market-town and municipal borough,
and the county town of Cardiganshire, Wales, picturesquely situated on
the right bank of the Teifi about 3 m. above its mouth. Pop. (1901)
3511. It is connected by an ancient stone bridge with the suburb of
Bridgend on the southern or Pembroke bank of the river. It is the
terminal station of the Whitland-Cardigan branch of the Great Western
railway. Owing to the bar at the estuary of the Teifi, the shipping
trade is inconsiderable, but there are brick-works and foundries in the
town; and as the centre of a large agricultural district, Cardigan
market is well attended. There is a curious local custom of mixing
"culm," a compound of clay and small coal, in the streets. The town has
for the most part a modern and prosperous appearance. Two bastions with
some of the curtain wall of the ancient castle remain, whilst the
dwelling-house known as Castle Green contains part of a drum tower, and
some vaulted chambers of the 13th century. The chancel of the Priory
church of St Mary is an interesting specimen of early Perpendicular
work, and the elaborate tracery of its fine east window contains some
fragments of ancient stained glass. It is the only existing portion of a
Benedictine house which was originally founded by Prince Rhys ap
Griffith in the 12th century.
Although a Celtic settlement doubtless existed near the mouth of the
Teifi from an early period, it was not until Norman times that Cardigan
became a place of importance. Its castle was first erected by Roger de
Montgomery about the year 1091, and throughout the 12th and 13th
centuries this stronghold of Cardigan played no small part in the
constant warfare between Welsh and English, either side from time to
time gaining possession of the castle and the small town dependent on
it. In 1136 the English army under Randolf, earl of Chester, was
severely defeated by the Welsh at Crug Mawr, now called Bank-y-Warren, a
rounded hill 2 m. north-east of the town. During the latter part of the
12th century the castle became the residence of Rhys ap Griffith, prince
and justiciar of South Wales (d. 1196), who kept considerable state
within its walls, and entertained here in 1188 Archbishop Baldwin and
Giraldus Cambrensis during their preaching of the Third Crusade. In 1284
Edward I. spent a month in the castle, settling the affairs of South
Wales. This famous pile was finally taken and destroyed by the
Parliamentarian Major-General Laugharne in 1645. The lordship, castle
and town of Cardigan formed part of the dower bestowed on Queen
Catherine of Aragon by King Henry VII. Henry VIII.'s charter of 1542
confirmed earlier privileges granted by Edward I. and other monarchs,
and provided for the government of the town by a duly elected mayor, two
bailiffs and a coroner. In the assizes and quarter sessions were removed
hence to Lampeter, which has a more central position in the county.
Cardigan was declared a parliamentary borough in 1536, but in 1885 its
representation was merged in that of the county.
CARDIGANSHIRE (_Ceredigion, Sir Aberteifi_), a county of South Wales,
bounded N. by Merioneth, E. by Montgomery, Radnor and Brecon, S. by
Carmarthen and Pembroke, and W. by Cardigan Bay of the Irish Sea. It has
an area of 688 sq. m., so that it ranks fifth in size of the Welsh
countries. The whole of Cardiganshire is hilly or undulating, with the
exception of the great bogs of Borth and Tregaron, but the mountains
generally have little grandeur in their character; Plinlimmon itself, on
the boundary of the county with Montgomeryshire, in spite of its
elevation of 2463 ft., being singularly deficient in boldness of
outline. Of other hills, only Tregaron Mountain (1778 ft.) exceeds 1500
ft. in height. Of the rivers by far the most important is the Teifi, or
Tivy, which rises above Tregaron in Llyn Teifi, one of a group of tiny
lakes which are usually termed the Teifi Pools, and flows southward
through the county as far as Lampeter, forming from this point onwards
its southern boundary. A succession of deep pools and rushing shallows,
the Teifi has from the earliest times been celebrated for the quantity
and quality of its salmon, which are netted in great numbers on Cardigan
Bar. Trout and sewin (a local species of sea-trout) are also plentiful,
so that the Teifi is much frequented by anglers. This river is also
believed to have been the last British haunt of the beaver (_afangc,
lost-llydan_), for the slaying of which a very heavy penalty was exacted
by the old royal laws of Wales. Giraldus Cambrensis, Michael Drayton,
and other writers allude to this circumstance, though at what date the
beaver became extinct in these waters is quite uncertain. On the Teifi
may frequently be observed fishermen in coracles. Other rivers worthy of
mention are the Dovey (Dyfi), separating Cardigan from Merioneth in the
extreme north; the Rheidol and the Ystwyth, which rise in Plinlimmon;
and the Aeron, which has its source in Llyn Eiddwen, a pool in the hilly
district known as Mynydd Bach. All these streams flow westward into
Cardigan Bay.
The valley of the Teifi presents many points of great beauty and
interest between Llandyssul and the sea. The rapids of Henllan, the
falls of Cenarth and the wooded cliffs of Coedmore constitute some of
the finest scenery in South Wales. The valley of the Aeron is well
wooded and fertile, while the Rheidol contains amidst striking
surroundings the famous cascade spanned by the Devil's Bridge, which is
known to the Welsh as Pont-ar-Fynach (the Monks' Bridge).
_Geology._--The rocks of Cardiganshire consist of shales, slates and
grits which have been folded and uptilted so that nowhere do they
retain their original horizontality. They belong entirely to the
Ordovician and Silurian periods; they have yielded few fossils, and
much work remains to be done upon them before the stratigraphical
subdivisions can be clearly defined. Many metalliferous lodes occur in
the rocks, and the lead mines have long been famous; it was from the
profits of his mining speculations, carried on chiefly in this county,
that the celebrated Sir Hugh Myddleton was enabled to carry out his
gigantic project for supplying London with water by means of the New
River. Copper and zinc ores have also been obtained. Tregaron is the
centre of the mining district, and the Lisburne, Goginan and Cwm
Ystwyth mines are among the most important.
The slates have been worked at Devil's Bridge, Corris, Strata Florida,
Goginan, &c. Glacial drift occupies some of the lower ground, and
peaty bogs are common on the mountains. A small tract of blown sand
lies at the mouth of the river Dovey.
_Industries._--The climate on the coast is mild and salubrious, but that
of the hill country is cold, bleak and rainy. The cultivated crops
consist of oats, wheat, barley, turnips and potatoes; and in the lower
districts on the coast, especially in the neighbourhood of Cardigan,
Aberaeron and Llanrhystyd, good crops are raised. The uplands are mostly
covered by wild heathy pastures, which afford good grazing for Welsh
mountain sheep and ponies. The country has long been celebrated for its
breed of "Cardiganshire cobs," for which high prices are often obtained
from English dealers, who frequent the local horse fairs, especially
Dalis Fair at Lampeter. Cattle, sheep, pigs, butter, oats, wool, flannel
and coarse slates form the principal articles of export. Hand-looms are
by no means uncommon in the remote parts of the country, and clog-making
of alder wood meets a local demand. The North Cardiganshire lead-mines,
of which the Lisburne, Goginan and Cwm Ystwyth mines are the most noted,
have been famous, and are said to have been worked by the Romans. Some
of the lead raised is very rich in silver, and in the 17th century so
great was the amount of silver obtained that a mint for coining it was
erected by virtue of letters patent at Aberystwyth.
_Communications._--The railways within the county are the Cambrian, by
means of which access is given to Aberystwyth from all parts of the
kingdom; and the former Manchester & Milford line, which runs south from
Aberystwyth by Lampeter to Pencader, and has been acquired by the Great
Western railway. The lower valley of the Teifi, or Tivyside, is reached
by means of two branch lines of the Great Western railway--one from
Whitland to Cardigan, and the other from Pencader to Llandyssul and
Newcastle-Emlyn.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the administrative county
is 443,071 acres, with a population in 1891 of 63,467, and in 1901 of
60,237. The municipal boroughs are Aberystwyth (pop. 8013), Cardigan
(3511) and Lampeter (1722). Aberaeron and New Quay are urban districts.
Other towns are Tregaron (1509), an ancient but decayed market-town in a
wild boggy district; Aberaeron (1331), a small seaport, and Llandyssul
(2801,) a rising place on the Teifi with woollen factories. In modern
times several small watering-places have sprung up on the coast, notably
at Borth, New Quay, Tresaith, Aberporth and Gwbert. Quarter sessions are
held at Lampeter, and here also are held the assizes for the county,
which lies in the South Wales circuit. The county returns one member of
parliament, and has no parliamentary borough. Ecclesiastically it lies
wholly in the diocese of St David's, and contains sixty-six parishes.
_History._--In spite of its poverty and sparse population, Cardiganshire
has never ceased to play a prominent part in all Welsh political,
literary and educational movements. The early history of the district is
obscure, but at the time of the Roman invasion it was tenanted by the
Dimetae, a Celtic tribe, within whose limits was comprised the greater
portion of the south-west of Wales. After the departure of the Romans,
the whole basin of the Teifi eventually fell into the power of Ceredig,
son of Cunedda Wledig of North Wales; and the district, peopled with his
subjects and nearly co-extensive with the existing shire, obtained the
name of Ceredigion, later corrupted into Cardigan. During the 5th and
6th centuries Ceredigion was largely civilized by Celtic missionaries,
notably by St David and St Padarn, the latter of whom founded a
bishopric at Llanbadarn Fawr, which in the 8th century became merged in
the see of St David's. Two important local traditions, evidently based
on fact, are associated with this remote era:--the inundation of the
Cantref-y-Gwaelod and the synod of Llanddewi Brefi. The
Cantref-y-Gwaelod (the lowland Hundred), a large tract of flat
pasture-land containing sixteen townships, and protected from the inroad
of the sea by sluices, was suddenly submerged at an uncertain date about
the year 500. The legend of its destruction declares that Seithenyn, the
drunken keeper of the sluices, carelessly let in the waters of the bay,
with the result that the land was lost for ever, and Prince Gwyddno and
his son Elphin, with all their subjects, were forced to migrate to the
wild region of Snowdon. This tale has ever been a favourite theme with
Welsh bards, so that "the sigh of Gwyddno when the wave turned over his
land" remains a familiar figure of speech throughout Wales. In support
of this story it may be mentioned that there are indications of
submerged dwellings and roads (_e.g._ the Sarn Cynfelin and Sarn Badrig)
between the mouth of the Dovey and Cardigan Head. The famous synod of
Brefi, an historical fact clouded by miraculous details, probably took
place early in the 6th century, when at a largely attended meeting of
the Welsh clergy held at Brefi, near the source of the Teifi, St David's
eloquence for ever silenced the champions of the Pelagian heresy. In the
10th and 11th centuries the coast of Ceredigion suffered much from the
inroads of the Danes, and in later times of the Normans and Flemings;
but on the whole the native inhabitants seem to have maintained a
successful resistance. By the close of the 11th century most of
Ceredigion had been reduced by the Normans, and during the 12th and 13th
centuries it formed a favourite battle ground between the Welsh princes
and the English forces. By the Statutes of Rhuddlan (1284) Edward I.
constituted Ceredigion out of the former principality of Wales a shire
on the English model, dividing the new county into six hundreds and
fixing the assizes at Carmarthen. By the act of Union in the reign of
Henry VIII., the boundaries of the county were subsequently enlarged to
their present size by the addition of certain outlying portions of the
Marches round Tregaron and Cardigan, and the assizes were assigned to
the county town. During the rebellion of Owen Glendower in the opening
years of the 15th century, the county was again disturbed, and Owen for
a short time actually held a court in Aberystwyth Castle. In the year
1485, according to local tradition, Henry of Richmond marched through
South Cardiganshire on his way to Bosworth Field, and he is stated to
have raised recruits round Llanarth, where the old mansion of Wern,
still standing, is pointed out as his halting-place on this occasion.
Under Henry VIII. Cardiganshire was for the first time empowered to send
a representative member to parliament, and under Mary the same privilege
was extended to the boroughs. During the Great Rebellion the
county--which possessed at least three leading Parliamentarians in the
persons of Sir John Vaughan, of Crosswood, afterwards chief justice of
the common pleas; Sir Richard Pryse, of Gogerddan; and James Philipps,
of Cardigan Priory--seems to have been less Royalist in its sympathies
than other parts of Wales. At this time the castles of Cardigan and
Aberystwyth, both held in the name of King Charles, were reduced to
ruins by the Cromwellian army. In the 18th century the Methodist
movement found great support in the county; in fact, Daniel Rowland
(1713-1790), curate of Llangeitho, was one of the chief leaders of this
important revival. The 19th century witnessed the foundation of two
important educational centres in the county:--St David's College at
Lampeter (1827), and one of the three colleges of the university of
Wales at Aberystwyth (1872). In the years 1842-1843 the county was much
disturbed by the Rebecca Riots, during which a large number of turnpike
gates were destroyed by local mobs. Forty-five years later it was
affected by the Welsh agrarian agitation against payment of tithe, which
produced some scenes of violence against the distraining police,
especially in the district round Llangranog.
Chief amongst the county families of Cardigan is that of Lloyd,
descendants of the powerful Cadifor ap Dinawal, lord of Castle Howell,
in the 12th century. Certain branches of this family, such as the Lloyds
of Millfield (Maes-y-felin), the Lloyds of Llanlyr and the Lloyds of
Peterwell, are extinct, but others are still flourishing. The family of
Vaughan of Crosswood, or Trawscoed (now represented by the earl of
Lisburne), has held its family estates in the male line for many
centuries. A representative in the female line of the ancient house of
Pryse, long prominent in the annals of the county, still possesses the
old family seat of Gogerddan. Other families worthy of mention are Lloyd
of Bronwydd, Powell of Nanteos and Johnes of Hafod and Llanfair-Clydogau.
_Antiquities._--Scattered over all parts of the county are numerous
British or early medieval tumuli and camps. Traces of the ancient Roman
road, the _Via Occidentalis_--called by the Welsh _Sarn Helen_, a
corruption of _Sarn Lleon_, Road of the Legion--are to be found in the
eastern districts of the county; and at Llanio are to be seen what are
perhaps the remains of the Roman military station of Loventium. There
are also various inscribed and incised stones, of which good examples
exist in the churchyards of Llanbadarn Fawr and Llanddewi Brefi. In
buildings of interest Cardiganshire is singularly deficient. Besides the
ruins of Aberystwyth and Cardigan Castles, and of Strata Florida Abbey,
there is a large cruciform church of the 12th century at Llanbadarn
Fawr; whilst the massive parish church of Llanddewi Brefi once formed
part of the minster of a prebendal college founded by Bishop Beck of St
David's towards the close of the 13th century. Tregaron, Llanwenog,
Llandyssul and Llanarth own parish churches with western towers of early
date, but for the most part the ecclesiastical structures of
Cardiganshire are small in size and mean in appearance, and many of them
were entirely rebuilt during the latter half of the 19th century. The
little church of Eglwys Newydd, near the Devil's Bridge, contains one of
Sir Francis Chantrey's masterpieces, a white marble group in memory of
Mariamne Johnes (1818), the daughter of Thomas Johnes, of Hafod
(1748-1816), the translator of Froissart.
_Customs, etc._--The old Welsh costume, customs and superstitions are
fast disappearing, although they linger in remote districts such as the
neighbourhood of Llangeitho. The steeple-crowned beaver hat has
practically vanished, although it was in general use within living
memory; but the short petticoat and overskirt (_pais-a-gwn-bach_),
the frilled mob-cap, little check shawl and buckled shoes are still worn
by many of the older women. Of peculiarly Welsh customs, the bidding
(_gwahoddiad_) is not quite extinct in the county. The bidding was a
formal invitation sent by a betrothed pair through a bidder
(_gwahoddwr_) to request the presence and gifts of all their neighbours
at the forthcoming marriage. All presents sent were duly registered in a
book with a view to repayment, when a similar occasion should arise in
the case of the donors. When printing became cheap and common, the
services of the professional bidder were often dispensed with, and
instead printed leaflets were circulated. The curious horse wedding
(_priodas ceffylau_) at which the man and his friends pursued the future
bride to the church porch on horseback, and then returned home at full
gallop, became obsolete before the end of the 19th century. Of the
practices connected with death, the wake, or watching of the corpse,
alone remains; but the habit of attending funerals, even those of
strangers, is still popular with both sexes, so that a funeral
procession in Cardiganshire is often a very imposing sight. Nearly all
the old superstitions, once so prevalent, concerning the fairies
(_tylwyth teg_) and fairy rings, goblins (_bwbachod_), and the teulu, or
phantom funeral, are rapidly dying out; but in the corpse candle
(_canwll corph_), a mysterious light which acts as a death-portent and
is traditionally connected with St David, are still found many
believers.
AUTHORITIES.--Sir S.R. Meyrick, _History and Antiquities of
Cardiganshire_ (London, 1806); Rev. G. Eyre Evans, _Cardiganshire and
its Antiquities_ (Aberystwyth, 1903); E.R. Horsfall-Turner, _Walks and
Wanderings in County Cardigan_ (Bingley).
CARDINAL (Lat. _cardinalis_), in the Roman Church, the title of the
highest dignitaries next to the pope. The cardinals constitute the
council or senate of the sovereign pontiff, his auxiliaries in the
general government of the Church; it is they who act as administrators
of the Church during a vacancy of the Holy See and elect the new pope.
Together they constitute a spiritual body called the Sacred College. The
dignity of cardinal is not an essential part of the legal constitution
of the Church; it is a reflection of and participation in the sovereign
dignity of the Head of the Church, by the chief clergy of the Church of
Rome. The present position is the result of a long process of evolution,
of which there are several interesting survivals.
The name is derived from _cardo_, hinge; like many other words (the word
_pope_ in particular) it was originally of a more general application,
before it was reserved exclusively to the members of the Sacred College,
and the word is still used adjectivally in the sense of pre-eminent or
that on which everything else "hinges." As early as the 6th century we
find mentioned, in the letters of St Gregory, cardinal bishops and
priests. This expression signifies clergy who are attached to their
particular church in a stable relation, as a door is attached to a
building by its hinges (see Thomassin, _Vetus et nova discipl._ vol. 1,
lib. ii. cap. 113-115). Moreover, this sense is still preserved in the
present day in the expressions _incardinatio_, _excardinatio_, which
signify the act by which a bishop permanently attaches a foreign cleric
to his diocese, or allows one of his own clergy to leave his diocese in
order to belong to another. For a long time, too, the superior clergy,
and especially the canons of cathedrals or the heads of important
churches, were _cardinales_ (see examples in Du Cange, _Glossarium_,
s.v.). Gradually, however, this title was confined by usage to the Roman
cardinals, until Pius V., by his constitution of the 15th of February
1568, reserved it to them exclusively.
The Sacred College.
The grouping of the cardinals into a body called the Sacred College, the
College of Cardinals, is connected, in the case at least of cardinal
priests, with the ancient _presbyterium_, which existed in each church
from the earliest times. The Sacred College as such was not, however,
definitively constituted until the uniting of the three orders of
cardinals into a single body, the body which was to elect the pope; and
this only took place in the 12th century. Up till that time the elements
remained distinct, and there were separate classes: the "Roman" bishops,
i.e. bishops of sees near Rome, presbyters of the "titles" (_tituli_) of
Rome, and deacons of the Roman Church. Nowadays, the Sacred College is
still composed of three orders or categories: cardinal bishops, cardinal
priests, and cardinal deacons. But the process of evolution has not been
the same in the case of all these orders.
Cardinal bishops.
Cardinal bishops are the bishops of suburbicarian churches, situated in
the immediate neighbourhood of Rome. Very early we find them assisting
the pope in his ritual functions and in dealing with important business;
they formed a kind of permanent synod (cf. the [Greek: synodos
endemousa] of Constantinople): and they also took the place of the pope
in the ceremonies of the liturgy, excepting the most important ones, and
especially in the service of the cathedral at Rome, the Lateran. A
passage from the life of Stephen II. (A.D. 769), in the _Liber
Pontificalis_ (ed. Duchesne, i. p. 478), shows clearly that they were
seven in number and served for a week in turn: _Hic constituit ut omni
dominico die a septem Episcopis cardinalibus hebdomadariis, qui in
ecclesia Salvatoris_ (the Lateran) _observant, missarum solemnia super
altare Beati Petri celebrarentur_. They were called "cardinal bishops of
the Lateran church," as recorded by St Peter Damian in 1058 (Ep. 1, lib.
ii.). Their sees are the same to-day as they were then: Ostia, Porto,
Santa Rufina (Sylva Candida), Albano, Sabina, Tusculum (Frascati) and
Palestrina. From time immemorial the bishop of Ostia has had the
privilege of sacring the pope, and on this ground he enjoys the right of
wearing the "pallium"; he is _ex officio_ dean of the suburbicarian
bishops, and consequently dean of the Sacred College. His episcopal see
having been in ruins for a long time, that of Velletri has been joined
to it. The second rank belongs to the bishop of Porto, who is _ex
officio_ vice-dean of the Sacred College; his episcopal see being also
in ruins Calixtus II. added to it that of Santa Rufina, thus reducing
the number of suburbicarian bishoprics and cardinal bishops to six; this
number was adhered to by Sixtus V., and has not varied since.
Cardinal priests.
The second order of cardinals is that of the cardinal priests. It
represents and is a continuation of the ancient _presbyterium_; but in
Rome the process of evolution was different from that in the other
episcopal towns. In the latter, the division into parishes was but
slowly accomplished; there is no authority for their existence before
the year 1000; the bishop with the higher clergy, now developed into the
chapter, were in residence at the cathedral, which formed, as it were,
the one parish in the town. At Rome, on the contrary (and doubtless at
Alexandria), certain churches, to which were attached certain districts,
were at an early date entrusted to one or more priests. These churches,
in which the liturgy was celebrated, or certain sacraments administered,
were called _tituli_ (titles). According to the _Liber Pontificalis_
(ed. Duchesne, i. pp. 122, 126, 164), the titles of Rome, numbering
twenty-five, were already established as early as the 1st century; this
seems hardly probable, but it was certainly the case in the 5th century.
The priest serving one of these churches was the priest of that title,
and, similarly, the church which he served was that priest's title. When
several priests were attached to the same church, only the first, or
principal one, had the title; he alone was the _presbyter cardinalis_.
This practice explains how it is that the Roman presbyterium did not
give rise to a cathedral chapter, but to cardinal priests, each attached
to his title. As the higher clergy of Rome gradually acquired a more
important status, the relations between the cardinal priest and the
church of which he bore the title became more and more nominal; but they
have never entirely ceased. Even to-day every cardinal priest has his
title, a church in Rome of which he is the spiritual head, and the name
of which appears in his official signature, e.g. "Herbertus tituli
sanctorum Andreae et Gregorii sanctae romanae ecclesiae presbyter
cardinalis Vaughan." When the attachment of the cardinal priest to his
title had become no more than a tradition, the number of cardinal
titles, which in the 11th century had reached twenty-eight, was
increased according to need, and it was held an honour for a church to
be made titulary. The last general rearrangement of the titular churches
was begun by Clement VIII. and completed by Paul V.; Leo XIII. made a
title of the church of San Vitale. To-day, according to the _Gerarchia
Pontificia_ the cardinal titles number fifty-three; since the highest
possible number of cardinal priests is fifty, and this number is never
reached, it follows that there are always a certain number of vacant
titles. The first title is that of San Lorenzo in Lucina, and the
cardinal priest of the oldest standing takes the name of "first priest,"
_protopresbyter_.
Cardinal deacons.
The third order of cardinals is that of the cardinal deacons. For a long
time the Roman Church, faithful to the example of the primitive church
at Jerusalem (Acts vi.), had only seven deacons. Their special function
was the administration of her temporal property, and particularly works
of charity. Between them were divided at an early date the fourteen
districts (_regiones_) of Rome, grouped two by two so as to constitute
the seven ecclesiastical districts. Now the charitable works were
carried on in establishments called _diaconiae_, adjoining churches
which were specially appropriated to each _diaconia_. The connexion
between the names (_diaconus_) and (_diaconia_) and the presence of a
church in connexion with each diaconia gradually established for the
deacons a position analogous to that of priests. In the 8th century Pope
Adrian found sixteen diaconiae and founded two others (_Lib. Pont._ ed.
Duchesne, i. p. 509); in the 12th century the cardinal deacons, who then
numbered eighteen, were no longer distinguished by an ecclesiastical
district, as they had formerly been, but by the name of the church
connected with some diaconia (loc. cit. p. 364). By the time of Sixtus
V. the connexion between a cardinal deacon and his diaconia was merely
nominal. Sixtus reduced the number of cardinal deacons to fourteen; and
this is still the number to-day. Except that his church is called a
diaconia, and not a title, the cardinal deacon is in this respect
assimilated to the cardinal priest; but he does not mention his diaconia
in his official signature: e.g. "Joannes Henricus diaconus cardinalis
Newman." There are at present sixteen diaconiae, the chief being that of
Santa Maria in Via lata; the cardinal deacon of longest standing takes
the name of "first deacon," _protodiaconus_.
Cardinals can pass from one order, title or see to another, by a
process of "option." When a suburbicarian see falls vacant, the
cardinals resident at Rome have the right of "opting" for it in order
of rank,--that is to say, of claiming it in consistory and receiving
their promotion to it. In the same way cardinal deacons can pass after
ten years to the order of priests, while retaining after their passage
the rank in the Sacred College given them by the date of their
promotion.
With the exception of the classes resulting from the order to which
they belong, there are no distinctions between the rights of the
various cardinals. As to the ordination obligatory upon them, it is
that indicated in their title; cardinal bishops must naturally be
bishops; for cardinal priests it is enough to have received the
priesthood, though many of them are actually bishops; similarly, it is
enough for cardinal deacons to have received the diaconate, though
most of them are priests; cases have occurred, however, even in quite
recent times, of cardinals who have only received the diaconate, e.g.
Cardinal Mertel.
There is one cardinal chosen by the pope from among the Sacred College
to whom is entrusted the administration of the common property; this
is the cardinal camerlengo or chamberlain (_camerarius_). His office
is an important one, for during the vacancy of the Holy See it is he
who exercises all external authority, especially that connected with
the Conclave.
Number and distribution.
The number of the cardinals reaches a total of 70: six cardinal
bishops, fifty cardinal priests and fourteen cardinal deacons. This
number was definitively fixed by Sixtus V. (constit. _Postquam_, 5th
December 1586); but the Sacred College never reaches its full number,
and there are always ten or so "vacant hats," as the saying goes. Though
the rule laid down by Sixtus V. has not been modified since, before him
the number of cardinals was far from being constant. For a long time it
varied in the neighbourhood of twenty; in 1331 John XXII. said that
there were twenty cardinals; in 1378 they were reckoned at 23. Their
number increased during the Great Schism because there were several
rival obediences. The councils of Constance and Basel reduced the number
of cardinals to 24; but it did not rest at that for long, and in the
16th century was more than doubled. In 1517 Leo X., in order to
introduce strong supporters of himself into the Sacred College, created
31 cardinals at the same time. The highest number was reached under Pius
IV., when the cardinals numbered as many as 76.
The composition of the Sacred College is subject to no definite law; but
the necessity for giving a first representation to different interests,
especially in view of the election of the popes, has for a long time
past thrown open the Sacred College to representatives of the episcopate
of the Catholic nations. From the 11th century onwards are to be found
cases in which the pope summoned to its ranks persons who did not belong
to the Roman Church, particularly abbots, who were not even required to
give up the direction of their monasteries. In the following century
occur a few cases of bishops being created cardinals without having to
leave their see, and of cardinals upon whom were conferred foreign
bishoprics (cf. Thomassin, loc. cit. cap. 114, n. 9). Of the cardinals
created by the popes of Avignon the majority were French, and in 1331
John XXII. remarks that 17 cardinals were French out of the 20 who then
existed. The councils of Constance and Basel forbade that more than a
third of the cardinals should belong to the same country. After the
return of the popes to Rome and after the Great Schism, the ancient
customs were soon resumed; the cardinals were for the most part
Italians, the entire number of cardinals' hats conferred on the other
Catholic nations only amounting to a minority. The non-Italian
cardinals, with rare exceptions, are not resident in Rome; together with
the rank of cardinal they receive a dispensation from residing _in
curia_; they are none the less, as cardinals, priests or deacons of the
Roman Church.
Qualifications.
The reform of the College of Cardinals inaugurated by the councils of
Constance and Basel, though without much immediate success, was not only
concerned with the number and nationality of the cardinals; it also
dealt with conditions of age, learning and other qualifications: men of
the most honourable character, aged not less than thirty, were to be
chosen; at least a third were to be chosen from among the graduates of
the universities; persons of royal blood and princes were not to be
admitted in too great numbers, and lastly, relatives of the pope were to
be set aside. Moreover, in order to secure the effectiveness of these
reforms, selection of the new cardinals was to be made by the votes of
the members of the Sacred College given in writing. This mode of control
was perhaps excessive, and the reform consequently remained ineffective.
Up to the middle of the 16th century there were still instances of
unfortunate and even scandalous appointments to the cardinalate of very
young men, of relatives or favourites of the popes and of men whose
qualifications were by no means ecclesiastical. In the Sacred College as
elsewhere nepotism and an exaggerated estimate of temporal interests
were rife. At last a real reform was effected. The council of Trent
(sess. xxiv. cap. i. _de reform._) requires for cardinals all the
qualifications prescribed by law for bishops. Sixtus V. defined these
still more clearly, and his regulations are still in force: a cardinal
must, in the year of his promotion, be of the canonical age required for
his reception into the order demanded by his rank. i.e. 22 for the
diaconate, 23 for the priesthood and 30 for the episcopate, and if not
already ordained he must take orders in the year of his appointment. Men
of illegitimate birth are excluded, as well as near relatives of the
pope (with one exception) and of the cardinals; the personal qualities
to be most sought for are learning, holiness and an honourable life. All
these recommendations have been, on the whole, well observed, and are so
better than ever in the present day. We may add that the religious
orders have had a certain number of representatives, four, at least, in
the Sacred College, since Sixtus V., several of whom, as we know, became
popes. As to the cardinals' hats granted at the request of the heads of
Catholic states, they are subject to negotiations analogous to those
concerning nominations to the episcopate, though entailing no
concordatory agreement, strictly speaking, on the part of the popes.
Creation.
The _creation_ of cardinals (to use the official term) is in fact
nowadays the function of the pope alone. It is accomplished by the
publication of the persons chosen by the pope in secret consistory
(q.v.). No other formality is essential; and the provision of Eugenius
IV., which required the reception of the insignia of the cardinalate for
the promotion to be valid, was abrogated before long, and definitely
annulled by the declaration of Pius V. of the 26th of January 1571.
Similarly neither the consent nor the vote of the Sacred College is
required. It is true that a Roman _Ceremoniale_ of 1338 (Thomassin, loc.
cit. cap. 114, n. 12) still enjoins upon the pope to consult the Sacred
College, on the Wednesdays during Ember days, as to whether it is
necessary to nominate new cardinals, and if so, how many; but this is
only a survival of the ritual of the ancient form of ordination. The
injunctions of the councils of Constance and Basel as to the written
vote of the cardinals became before very long a dead letter, but there
still remains a relic of them. In the consistory, when the pope has
nominated those whom he desires to raise to the purple, he puts to the
cardinals present the question: "Quid vobis videtur?" The cardinals bend
the head as a sign of their consent, and the pope then continues:
"Itaque, auctoritate omnipotentis Dei, sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et
Pauli, et Nostra, creamus et publicamus sanctae romanae Ecclesiae
cardinales N. et N., etc."
The new dignitary, who has been warned of his nomination several weeks
in advance by "biglietto" (note) from the office of the secretary of
state, is then officially informed of it by a _ceremoniarius_ of the
pope; he at once waits upon the pope, to whom he is presented by one of
the cardinals. The pope first invests him with the rochet and red
biretta, but there is no formal ceremony. The conferring of the
cardinal's red hat takes place a few days later in a public consistory;
while placing the hat on his head the pope pronounces the following
words: "Ad laudem omnipotentis Dei et Sanctae Sedis ornamentum, accipe
galerum rubrum, insigne singularis dignitatis cardinalatus, per quod
designatur quod usque ad mortem et sanguinis effusionem inclusive pro
exaltatione sanctae fidei, pace et quiete populi christiani, augmento et
statu sacrosanctae romanae Ecclesiae, te intrepidum exhibere debeas, in
nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." While pronouncing the last
words the pope makes the sign of the cross three times over the new
cardinal. The public consistory is immediately followed by a secret
consistory, to accomplish the last ceremonies. The pope begins by
closing the mouth of the new cardinal, who is led before him, as a
symbol of the discretion he should observe; after this he bestows on him
the cardinal's ring, assigns him a title or diaconia; and finally, after
going through the formality of consulting the Sacred College, finishes
with the symbolic ceremony of the opening of the mouth, signifying the
right and duty of the new cardinal to express his opinion and vote in
the matters which it will fall to him to consider.
When the cardinals are resident abroad and appointed at the request of
the heads of their state, a member of the Noble Guard is sent on the
same day that the consistory is held to take the new dignitary the
cardinal's "calotte"; after a few days the red biretta is brought to him
by a Roman prelate, with the powers of an _ablegatus_; the biretta is
conferred on him with great pomp by the head of the state. But the
conferring of the red hat always takes place at the hands of the pope in
a public consistory.