humorist, son of William Gilbert (a descendant of Sir Humphrey Gilbert),
was born in London on the 18th of November 1836. His father was the
author of a number of novels, the best-known of which were _Shirley Hall
Asylum_ (1863) and _Dr Austin's Guests_ (1866). Several of these
novels--which were characterized by a singular acuteness and lucidity of
style, by a dry, subacid humour, by a fund of humanitarian feeling and
by a considerable medical knowledge, especially in regard to the
psychology of lunatics and monomaniacs--were illustrated by his son, who
developed a talent for whimsical draughtsmanship. W. S. Gilbert was
educated at Boulogne, at Ealing and at King's College, graduating B.A.
from the university of London in 1856. The termination of the Crimean
War was fatal to his project of competing for a commission in the Royal
Artillery, but he obtained a post in the education department of the
privy council office (1857-1861). Disliking the routine work, he left
the Civil Service, entered the Inner Temple, was called to the bar in
November 1864, and joined the northern circuit. His practice was
inconsiderable, and his military and legal ambitions were eventually
satisfied by a captaincy in the volunteers and appointment as a
magistrate for Middlesex (June 1891). In 1861 the comic journal _Fun_
was started by H. J. Byron, and Gilbert became from the first a valued
contributor. Failing to obtain an _entree to Punch_, he continued
sending excellent comic verse to _Fun_, with humorous illustrations, the
work of his own pen, over the signature of "Bab." A collection of these
lyrics, in which deft craftsmanship unites a titillating satire on the
deceptiveness of appearances with the irrepressible nonsense of a Lewis
Carroll, was issued separately in 1869 under the title of _Bab Ballads_,
and was followed by _More Bab Ballads_. The two collections and _Songs
of a Savoyard_ were united in a volume issued in 1898, with many new
illustrations. The best of the old cuts, such as those depicting the
"Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo" and the "Discontented Sugar Broker," were
preserved intact.
While remaining a staunch supporter of _Fun_, Gilbert was soon immersed
in other journalistic work, and his position as dramatic critic to the
_Illustrated Times_ turned his attention to the stage. He had not to
wait long for an opportunity. Early in December 1866 T. W. Robertson was
asked by Miss Herbert, lessee of the St James's theatre, to find some
one who could turn out a bright Christmas piece in a fortnight, and
suggested Gilbert; the latter promptly produced _Dulcamara_, a burlesque
of _L'Elisire d'amore_, written in ten days, rehearsed in a week, and
duly performed at Christmas. He sold the piece outright for L30, a piece
of rashness which he had cause to regret, for it turned out a commercial
success. In 1870 he was commissioned by Buckstone to write a blank verse
fairy comedy, based upon _Le Palais de la verite_, the novel by Madame
de Genlis. The result was _The Palace of Truth_, a fairy drama, poor in
structure but clever in workmanship, which served the purpose of Mr and
Mrs Kendal in 1870 at the Haymarket. This was followed in 1871 by
_Pygmalion and Galatea_, another three-act "mythological comedy," a
clever and effective but artificial piece. Another fairy comedy, _The
Wicked World_, written for Buckstone and the Kendals, was followed in
March 1873 by a burlesque version, in collaboration with Gilbert a
Beckett, entitled _The Happy Land_. Gilbert's next dramatic ventures
inclined more to the conventional pattern, combining sentiment and a
cynical humour in a manner strongly reminiscent of his father's style.
Of these pieces, _Sweethearts_ was given at the Prince of Wales's
theatre, 7th November 1874; _Tom Cobb_ at the St James's, 24th April
1875; _Broken Hearts_ at the Court, 9th December 1875; _Dan'l Druce_ (a
drama in darker vein, suggested to some extent by _Silas Marner_) at the
Haymarket, 11th September 1876; and _Engaged_ at the Haymarket, 3rd
October 1877. The first and last of these proved decidedly popular.
_Gretchen_, a verse drama in four acts, appeared in 1879. A one-act
piece, called _Comedy and Tragedy_, was produced at the Lyceum, 26th
January, 1884. Two dramatic trifles of later date were _Foggerty's
Fairy_ and _Rozenkrantz and Guildenstern_, a travesty of _Hamlet_,
performed at the Vaudeville in June 1891. Several of these dramas were
based upon short stories by Gilbert, a number of which had appeared from
time to time in the Christmas numbers of various periodicals. The best
of them have been collected in the volume entitled _Foggerty's Fairy,
and other Stories_. In the autumn of 1871 Gilbert commenced his
memorable collaboration (which lasted over twenty years) with Sir Arthur
Sullivan. The first two comic operas, _Thespis; or The Gods grown Old_
(26th September 1871) and _Trial by Jury_ (Royalty, 25th March 1875)
were merely essays. Like one or two of their successors, they were, as
regards plot, little more than extended "Bab Ballads." Later (especially
in the _Yeomen of the Guard_), much more elaboration was attempted. The
next piece was produced at the Opera Comique (17th November 1877) as
_The Sorcerer_. At the same theatre were successfully given _H.M.S.
Pinafore_ (25th May 1878), _The Pirates of Penzance; or The Slave of
Duty_ (3rd April 1880), and _Patience; or Bunthorne's Bride_ (23rd April
1881). In October 1881 the successful _Patience_ was removed to a new
theatre, the Savoy, specially built for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas
by Richard D'Oyly Carte. _Patience_ was followed, on 25th November 1882,
by _Iolanthe; or The Peer and the Peri_; and then came, on 5th January
1884, _Princess Ida; or Castle Adamant_, a re-cast of a charming and
witty fantasia which Gilbert had written some years previously, and had
then described as a "respectful perversion of Mr. Tennyson's exquisite
poem." The impulse reached its fullest development in the operas that
followed next in order--_The Mikado; or The Town of Titipu_ (14th March
1885); _Ruddigore_ (22nd January 1887); _The Yeomen of the Guard_ (3rd
October 1888); and _The Gondoliers_ (7th December 1889). After the
appearance of _The Gondoliers_ a coolness occurred between the composer
and librettist, owing to Gilbert's considering that Sullivan had not
supported him in a business disagreement with D'Oyly Carte. But the
estrangement was only temporary. Gilbert wrote several more librettos,
and of these _Utopia Limited_ (1893) and the exceptionally witty _Grand
Duke_ (1896) were written in conjunction with Sullivan. As a master of
metre Gilbert had shown himself consummate, as a dealer in quips and
paradoxes and ludicrous dilemmas, unrivalled. Even for the music of the
operas he deserves some credit, for the rhythms were frequently his own
(as in "I have a Song to Sing, O"), and the metres were in many cases
invented by himself. One or two of his librettos, such as that of
_Patience_, are virtually flawless. Enthusiasts are divided only as to
the comparative merit of the operas. _Princess Ida_ and _Patience_ are
in some respects the daintiest. There is a genuine vein of poetry in
_The Yeomen of the Guard_. Some of the drollest songs are in _Pinafore_
and _Ruddigore_. _The Gondoliers_ shows the most charming lightness of
touch, while with the general public _The Mikado_ proved the favourite.
The enduring popularity of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas was
abundantly proved by later revivals. Among the birthday honours in June
1907 Gilbert was given a knighthood. In 1909 his _Fallen Fairies_ (music
by Edward German) was produced at the Savoy. (T. Se.)
GILBERT DE LA PORREE, frequently known as Gilbertus Porretanus or
Pictaviensis (1070-1154); scholastic logician and theologian, was born
at Poitiers. He was educated under Bernard of Chartres and Anselm of
Laon. After teaching for about twenty years in Chartres, he lectured on
dialectics and theology in Paris (from 1137), and in 1141 returned to
Poitiers, being elected bishop in the following year. His heterodox
opinions regarding the doctrine of the Trinity drew upon his works the
condemnation of the church. The synod of Reims in 1148 procured papal
sanction for four propositions opposed to certain of Gilbert's tenets,
and his works were condemned until they should be corrected in
accordance with the principles of the church. Gilbert seems to have
submitted quietly to this judgment; he yielded assent to the four
propositions, and remained on friendly terms with his antagonists till
his death on the 4th of September 1154. Gilbert is almost the only
logician of the 12th century who is quoted by the greater scholastics of
the succeeding age. His chief logical work, the treatise _De sex
principiis_, was regarded with a reverence almost equal to that paid to
Aristotle, and furnished matter for numerous commentators, amongst them
Albertus Magnus. Owing to the fame of this work, he is mentioned by
Dante as the _Magister sex principiorum_. The treatise itself is a
discussion of the Aristotelian categories, specially of the six
subordinate modes. Gilbert distinguishes in the ten categories two
classes, one essential, the other derivative. Essential or inhering
(_formae inhaerentes_) in the objects themselves are only _substance_,
_quantity_, _quality_ and _relation_ in the stricter sense of that term.
The remaining six, _when_, _where_, _action_, _passion_, _position_ and
_habit_, are relative and subordinate (_formae assistentes_). This
suggestion has some interest, but is of no great value, either in logic
or in the theory of knowledge. More important in the history of
scholasticism are the theological consequences to which Gilbert's
realism led him. In the commentary on the treatise _De Trinitate_
(erroneously attributed to Boetius) he proceeds from the metaphysical
notion that pure or abstract being is prior in nature to that which is.
This pure being is God, and must be distinguished from the triune God as
known to us. God is incomprehensible, and the categories cannot be
applied to determine his existence. In God there is no distinction or
difference, whereas in all substances or things there is duality,
arising from the element of matter. Between pure being and substances
stand the ideas or forms, which subsist, though they are not substances.
These forms, when materialized, are called _formae substantiales_ or
_formae nativae_; they are the essences of things, and in themselves
have no relation to the accidents of things. Things are temporal, the
ideas perpetual, God eternal. The pure form of existence, that by which
God is God, must be distinguished from the three persons who are God by
participation in this form. The form or essence is one, the persons or
substances three. It was this distinction between Deitas or Divinitas
and Deus that led to the condemnation of Gilbert's doctrine.
_De sex principiis_ and commentary on the _De Trinitate_ in Migne,
_Patrologia Latina_, lxiv. 1255 and clxxxviii. 1257; see also Abbe
Berthaud, _Gilbert de la Porree_ (Poitiers, 1892); B. Haureau, _De la
philosophie scolastique_, pp. 294-318; R. Schmid's article "Gilbert
Porretanus" in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyk. f. protest. Theol._ (vol. 6,
1899); Prantl, _Geschichte d. Logik_, ii. 215; Bach,
_Dogmengeschichte_, ii. 133; article SCHOLASTICISM.
GILBERT OF SEMPRINGHAM, ST, founder of the Gilbertines, the only
religious order of English origin, was born at Sempringham in
Lincolnshire, c. 1083-1089. He was educated in France, and ordained in
1123, being presented by his father to the living of Sempringham. About
1135 he established there a convent for nuns; and to perform the heavy
work and cultivate the fields he formed a number of labourers into a
society of lay brothers attached to the convent. Similar establishments
were founded elsewhere, and in 1147 Gilbert tried to get them
incorporated in the Cistercian order. Failing in this, he proceeded to
form communities of priests and clerics to perform the spiritual
ministrations needed by the nuns. The women lived according to the
Benedictine rule as interpreted by the Cistercians; the men according to
the rule of St Augustine, and were canons regular. The special
constitutions of the order were largely taken from those of the
Premonstratensian canons and of the Cistercians. Like Fontevrault (q.v.)
it was a double order, the communities of men and women living side by
side; but, though the property all belonged to the nuns, the superior of
the canons was the head of the whole establishment, and the general
superior was a canon, called "Master of Sempringham." The general
chapter was a mixed assembly composed of two canons and two nuns from
each house; the nuns had to travel to the chapter in closed carts. The
office was celebrated together in the church, a high stone screen
separating the two choirs of canons and nuns. The order received papal
approbation in 1148. By Gilbert's death (1189) there were nine double
monasteries and four of canons only, containing about 700 canons and
1000 nuns in all. At the dissolution there were some 25 monasteries,
whereof 4 ranked among the greater monasteries (see list in F. A.
Gasquet's _English Monastic Life_). The order never spread beyond
England. The habit of the Gilbertines was black, with a white cloak.
See Bollandists' _Acta Sanctorum_ (4th of Feb.); William Dugdale,
_Monasticon_ (1846); Helyot, _Hist. des ordres religieux_ (1714); ii.
c. 29. The best modern account is _St Gilbert of Sempringham, and the
Gilbertines_, by Rose Graham (1901). The art. in _Dictionary of
National Biography_ gives abundant information on St Gilbert, but is
unsatisfactory on the order, as it might easily convey the impression
that the canons and nuns lived together, whereas they were most
carefully separated; and altogether undue prominence is given to a
single scandal. Miss Graham declares that the reputation of the order
was good until the end. (E. C. B.)
GILBERT FOLIOT (d. 1187), bishop of Hereford, and of London, is first
mentioned as a monk of Cluny, whence he was called in 1136 to plead the
cause of the empress Matilda against Stephen at the Roman court. Shortly
afterwards he became prior of Cluny; then prior of Abbeville, a house
dependent upon Cluny. In 1139 he was elected abbot of Gloucester. The
appointment was confirmed by Stephen, and from the ecclesiastical point
of view was unexceptionable. But the new abbot proved himself a valuable
ally of the empress, and her ablest controversialist. Gilbert's
reputation grew rapidly. He was respected at Rome; and he acted as the
representative of the primate, Theobald, in the supervision of the Welsh
church. In 1148, on being nominated by the pope to the see of Hereford,
Gilbert with characteristic wariness sought confirmation both from Henry
of Anjou and from Stephen. But he was an Angevin at heart, and after
1154 was treated by Henry II. with every mark of consideration. He was
Becket's rival for the primacy, and the only bishop who protested
against the king's choice. Becket, with rare forbearance, endeavoured to
win his friendship by procuring for him the see of London (1163). But
Gilbert evaded the customary profession of obedience to the primate, and
apparently aspired to make his see independent of Canterbury. On the
questions raised by the Constitutions of Clarendon he sided with the
king, whose confessor he had now become. He urged Becket to yield, and,
when this advice was rejected, encouraged his fellow-bishops to
repudiate the authority of the archbishop. In the years of controversy
which followed Becket's flight the king depended much upon the bishop's
skill as a disputant and diplomatist. Gilbert was twice excommunicated
by Becket, but both on these and on other occasions he showed great
dexterity in detaching the pope from the cause of the exile. To him it
was chiefly due that Henry avoided an open conflict with Rome of the
kind which John afterwards provoked. Gilbert was one of the bishops
whose excommunication in 1170 provoked the king's knights to murder
Becket; but he cannot be reproached with any share in the crime. His
later years were uneventful, though he enjoyed great influence with the
king and among his fellow bishops. Scholarly, dignified, ascetic in his
private life, devoted to the service of the Church, he was nevertheless
more respected than loved. His nature was cold; he made few friends; and
the taint of a calculating ambition runs through his whole career. He
died in the spring of 1187.
See Gilbert's _Letters_, ed. J. A. Giles (Oxford, 1845); _Materials
for the History of Thomas Becket_, ed. J. C. Robertson (Rolls series,
1875-1885); and Miss K. Norgate's _England under the Angevin Kings_
(1887). (H. W. C. D.)
GILBERT (KINGSMILL) ISLANDS, an extensive archipelago belonging to Great
Britain in the mid-western Pacific Ocean, lying N. and S. of the
equator, and between 170 deg. and 180 deg. E. There are sixteen islands,
all coral reefs or atolls, extending in crescent form over about five
degrees of latitude. The principal is Taputenea or Drummond Island. The
soil, mostly of coral sand, is productive of little else than the
coco-nut palm, and the chief source of food supply is the sea. The
population of these islands presents a remarkable phenomenon; in spite
of adverse conditions of environment and complete barbarism it is
exceedingly dense, in strong contradistinction to that of many other
more favoured islands. The land area of the group is only 166 m., yet
the population is about 30,000. The Gilbert islanders are a dark and
coarse type of the Polynesian race, and show signs of much crossing.
They are tall and stout, with an average height of 5 ft. 8 in., and are
of a vigorous, energetic temperament. They are nearly always naked, but
wear a conical hat of pandanus leaf. In war they have an armour of
plaited coco-nut fibres. They are fierce fighters, their chief weapon
being a sword armed with sharks' teeth. Their canoes are well made of
coco-nut wood boards sewn neatly together and fastened on frames.
British and American missionary work has been prosecuted with some
success. The large population led to the introduction of natives from
these islands into Hawaii as labourers in 1878-1884, but they were not
found satisfactory. The islands were discovered by John Byron in 1765
(one of them bearing his name); Captains Gilbert and Marshall visited
them in 1788; and they were annexed by Great Britain in 1892.
GILBEY, SIR WALTER, 1ST BART. (1831- ), English wine-merchant, was
born at Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire, in 1831. His father, the owner
and frequently the driver of the daily coach between Bishop Stortford
and London, died when he was eleven years old, and young Gilbey was
shortly afterwards placed in the office of an estate agent at Tring,
subsequently obtaining a clerkship in a firm of parliamentary agents in
London. On the outbreak of the Crimean War, Walter Gilbey and his
younger brother, Alfred, volunteered for civilian service at the front,
and were employed at a convalescent hospital on the Dardanelles.
Returning to London on the declaration of peace, Walter and Alfred
Gilbey, on the advice of their eldest brother, Henry Gilbey, a wholesale
wine-merchant, started in the retail wine and spirit trade. The heavy
duty then levied by the British government on French, Portuguese and
Spanish wines was prohibitive of a sale among the English middle
classes, and especially lower middle classes, whose usual alcoholic
beverage was accordingly beer. Henry Gilbey was of opinion that these
classes would gladly drink wine if they could get it at a moderate
price, and by his advice Walter and Alfred determined to push the sales
of colonial, and particularly of Cape, wines, on which the duty was
comparatively light. Backed by capital obtained through Henry Gilbey,
they accordingly opened in 1857 a small retail business in a basement in
Oxford Street, London. The Cape wines proved popular, and within three
years the brothers had 20,000 customers on their books. The creation of
the off-licence system by Mr Gladstone, then chancellor of the
exchequer, in 1860, followed by the large reduction in the duty on
French wines effected by the commercial treaty between England and
France in 1861, revolutionized their trade and laid the foundation of
their fortunes. Three provincial grocers, who had been granted the new
off-licence, applied to be appointed the Gilbeys' agents in their
respective districts, and many similar applications followed. These were
granted, and before very long a leading local grocer was acting as the
firm's agents in every district in England. The grocer who dealt in the
Gilbeys' wines and spirits was not allowed to sell those of any other
firm, and the Gilbeys in return handed over to him all their existing
customers in his district. This arrangement was of mutual advantage, and
the Gilbeys' business increased so rapidly that in 1864 Henry Gilbey
abandoned his own undertaking to join his brothers. In 1867 the three
brothers secured the old Pantheon theatre and concert hall in Oxford
Street for their headquarters. In 1875 the firm purchased a large
claret-producing estate in Medoc, on the banks of the Gironde, and
became also the proprietors of two large whisky-distilleries in
Scotland. In 1893 the business was converted, for family reasons, into a
private limited liability company, of which Walter Gilbey, who in the
same year was created a baronet, was chairman. Sir Walter Gilbey also
became well known as a breeder of shire horses, and he did much to
improve the breed of English horses (other than race-horses) generally,
and wrote extensively on the subject. He became president of the Shire
Horse Society, of the Hackney Horse Society, and of the Hunters'
Improvement Society, and he was the founder and chairman of the London
Cart Horse Parade Society. He was also a practical agriculturist, and
president of the Royal Agricultural Society.
GILDAS, or GILDUS (c. 516-570), the earliest of British historians (see
CELT: _Literature_, "Welsh"), surnamed by some Sapiens, and by others
Badonicus, seems to have been born in the year 516. Regarding him little
certain is known, beyond some isolated particulars that may be gathered
from hints dropped in the course of his work. Two short treatises exist,
purporting to be lives of Gildas, and ascribed respectively to the 11th
and 12th centuries; but the writers of both are believed to have
confounded two, if not more, persons that had borne the name. It is from
an incidental remark of his own, namely, that the year of the siege of
Mount Badon--one of the battles fought between the Saxons and the
Britons--was also the year of his own nativity, that the date of his
birth has been derived; the place, however, is not mentioned. His
assertion that he was moved to undertake his task mainly by "zeal for
God's house and for His holy law," and the very free use he has made of
quotations from the Bible, leave scarcely a doubt that he was an
ecclesiastic of some order or other. In addition, we learn that he went
abroad, probably to France, in his thirty-fourth year, where, after 10
years of hesitation and preparation, he composed, about 560, the work
bearing his name. His materials, he tells us, were collected from
foreign rather than native sources, the latter of which had been put
beyond his reach by circumstances. The _Cambrian Annals_ give 570 as the
year of his death.
The writings of Gildas have come down to us under the title of _Gildae
Sapientis de excidio Britanniae liber querulus_. Though at first written
consecutively, the work is now usually divided into three portions,--a
preface, the history proper, and an epistle,--the last, which is largely
made up of passages and texts of Scripture brought together for the
purpose of condemning the vices of his countrymen and their rulers,
being the least important, though by far the longest of the three. In
the second he passes in brief review the history of Britain from its
invasion by the Romans till his own times. Among other matters reference
is made to the introduction of Christianity in the reign of Tiberius;
the persecution under Diocletian; the spread of the Arian heresy; the
election of Maximus as emperor by the legions in Britain, and his
subsequent death at Aquileia; the incursions of the Picts and Scots into
the southern part of the island; the temporary assistance rendered to
the harassed Britons by the Romans; the final abandonment of the island
by the latter; the coming of the Saxons and their reception by
Guortigern (Vortigern); and, finally, the conflicts between the Britons,
led by a noble Roman, Ambrosius Aurelianus, and the new invaders.
Unfortunately, on almost every point on which he touches, the statements
of Gildas are vague and obscure. With one exception already alluded to,
no dates are given, and events are not always taken up in the order of
their occurrence. These faults are of less importance during the period
when Greek and Roman writers notice the affairs of Britain; but they
become more serious when, as is the case from nearly the beginning of
the 5th century to the date of his death, Gildas's brief narrative is
our only authority for most of what passes current as the history of our
island during those years. Thus it is on his sole, though in this
instance perhaps trustworthy, testimony that the famous letter rests,
said to have been sent to Rome in 446 by the despairing Britons,
commencing:--"To Agitius (Aetius), consul for the third time, the groans
of the Britons."
Gildas's treatise was first published in 1525 by Polydore Vergil, but
with many avowed alterations and omissions. In 1568 John Josseline,
secretary to Archbishop Parker, issued a new edition of it more in
conformity with manuscript authority; and in 1691 a still more
carefully revised edition appeared at Oxford by Thomas Gale. It was
frequently reprinted on the Continent during the 16th century, and
once or twice since. The next English edition, described by Potthast
as _editio pessima_, was that published by the English Historical
Society in 1838, and edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson. The text of
Gildas founded on Gale's edition collated with two other MSS., with
elaborate introductions, is included in the _Monumenta historica
Britannica_, edited by Petrie and Sharpe (London, 1848). Another
edition is in A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, _Councils and Eccles.
Documents_ relating to Great Britain (Oxford, 1869); the latest
edition is that by Theodor Mommsen in _Monum. Germ. hist. auct.
antiq._ xiii. (Chronica min. iii.), 1894.
GILDER, RICHARD WATSON (1844-1909), American editor and poet, was born
in Bordentown, New Jersey, on the 8th of February 1844, a brother of
William Henry Gilder (1838-1900), the Arctic explorer. He was educated
at Bellevue Seminary, an institution conducted by his father, the Rev.
William Henry Gilder (1812-1864), in Flushing, Long Island. After three
years (1865-1868) on the Newark, New Jersey, _Daily Advertiser_, he
founded, with Newton Crane, the Newark _Morning Register_. In 1869 he
became editor of _Hours at Home_, and in 1870 assistant editor of
_Scribner's Monthly_ (eleven years later re-named _The Century
Magazine_), of which he became editor in 1881. He was one of the
founders of the Free Art League, of the International Copyright League,
and of the Authors' Club; was chairman of the New York Tenement House
Commission in 1894; and was a prominent member of the National Institute
of Arts and Letters, of the Council of the National Civil Service Reform
League, and of the executive committee of the Citizens' Union of New
York City. His poems, which are essentially lyrical, have been collected
in various volumes, including _Five Books of Song_ (1894), _In Palestine
and other Poems_ (1898), _Poems and Inscriptions_ (1901), and _In the
Heights_ (1905). A complete edition of his poems was published in 1908.
He also edited _"Sonnets from the Portuguese" and other Poems by
Elizabeth Barrett Browning_; _"One Word More" and other Poems by Robert
Browning_ (1905). He died in New York on the 18th of November 1909. His
wife, Helena de Kay, a grand-daughter of Joseph Rodman Drake, assisted,
with Saint Gaudens and others, in founding the Society of American
Artists, now merged in the National Academy, and the Art Students'
League of New York. She translated Sensier's biography of Millet, and
painted, before her marriage in 1874, studies in flowers and ideal
heads, much admired for their feeling and delicate colouring.
GILDERSLEEVE, BASIL LANNEAU (1831- ), American classical scholar, was
born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 23rd of October 1831, son of
Benjamin Gildersleeve (1791-1875), a Presbyterian evangelist, and editor
of the Charleston _Christian Observer_ in 1826-1845, of the Richmond
(Va.) _Watchman and Observer_ in 1845-1856, and of _The Central
Presbyterian_ in 1856-1860. The son graduated at Princeton in 1849,
studied under Franz in Berlin, under Friedrich Ritschl at Bonn and under
Schneidewin at Gottingen, where he received his doctor's degree in 1853.
From 1856 to 1876 he was professor of Greek in the University of
Virginia, holding the chair of Latin also in 1861-1866; and in 1876 he
became professor of Greek in the newly founded Johns Hopkins University.
In 1880 _The American Journal of Philology_, a quarterly published by
the Johns Hopkins University, was established under his editorial
charge, and his strong personality was expressed in the department of
the _Journal_ headed "Brief Report" or "Lanx Satura," and in the
earliest years of its publication every petty detail was in his hands.
His style in it, as elsewhere, is in striking contrast to that of the
typical classical scholar, and accords with his conviction that the true
aim of scholarship is "that which is." He published a _Latin Grammar_
(1867; revised with the co-operation of Gonzalez B. Lodge, 1894 and
1899) and a Latin Series for use in secondary schools (1875), both
marked by lucidity of order and mastery of grammatical theory and
methods. His edition of _Persius_ (1875) is of great value. But his bent
was rather toward Greek than Latin. His special interest in Christian
Greek was partly the cause of his editing in 1877 _The Apologies of
Justin Martyr_, "which" (to use his own words) "I used unblushingly as a
repository for my syntactical formulae." Gildersleeve's studies under
Franz had no doubt quickened his interest in Greek syntax, and his
logic, untrammelled by previous categories, and his marvellous sympathy
with the language were displayed in this most unlikely of places. His
_Syntax of Classic Greek_ (Part I., 1900, with C. W. E. Miller) collects
these formulae. Gildersleeve edited in 1885 _The Olympian and Pythian
Odes of Pindar_, with a brilliant and valuable introduction. His views
on the function of grammar were summarized in a paper on _The Spiritual
Rights of Minute Research_ delivered at Bryn Mawr on the 16th of June
1895. His collected contributions to literary periodicals appeared in
1890 under the title _Essays and Studies Educational and Literary_.
GILDING, the art of spreading gold, either by mechanical or by chemical
means, over the surface of a body for the purpose of ornament. The art
of gilding was known to the ancients. According to Herodotus, the
Egyptians were accustomed to gild wood and metals; and gilding by means
of gold plates is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. Pliny
informs us that the first gilding seen at Rome was after the destruction
of Carthage, under the censorship of Lucius Mummius, when the Romans
began to gild the ceilings of their temples and palaces, the Capitol
being the first place on which this enrichment was bestowed. But he adds
that luxury advanced on them so rapidly that in a little time you might
see all, even private and poor persons, gild the walls, vaults, and
other parts of their dwellings. Owing to the comparative thickness of
the gold-leaf used in ancient gilding, the traces of it which yet remain
are remarkably brilliant and solid. Gilding has in all times occupied an
important place in the ornamental arts of Oriental countries; and the
native processes pursued in India at the present day may be taken as
typical of the arts as practised from the earliest periods. For the
gilding of copper, employed in the decoration of temple domes and other
large works, the following is an outline of the processes employed. The
metal surface is thoroughly scraped, cleaned and polished, and next
heated in a fire sufficiently to remove any traces of grease or other
impurity which may remain from the operation of polishing. It is then
dipped in an acid solution prepared from dried unripe apricots, and
rubbed with pumice or brick powder. Next, the surface is rubbed over
with mercury which forms a superficial amalgam with the copper, after
which it is left some hours in clean water, again washed with the acid
solution, and dried. It is now ready for receiving the gold, which is
laid on in leaf, and, on adhering, assumes a grey appearance from
combining with the mercury, but on the application of heat the latter
metal volatilizes, leaving the gold a dull greyish hue. The colour is
brought up by means of rubbing with agate burnishers. The weight of
mercury used in this process is double that of the gold laid on, and
the thickness of the gilding is regulated by the circumstances or
necessities of the case. For the gilding of iron or steel, the surface
is first scratched over with chequered lines, then washed in a hot
solution of green apricots, dried and heated just short of red-heat. The
gold-leaf is then laid on, and rubbed in with agate burnishers, when it
adheres by catching into the prepared scratched surface.
Modern gilding is applied to numerous and diverse surfaces and by
various distinct processes, so that the art is prosecuted in many ways,
and is part of widely different ornamental and useful arts. It forms an
important and essential part of frame-making (see CARVING AND GILDING);
it is largely employed in connexion with cabinet-work, decorative
painting and house ornamentation; and it also bulks largely in
bookbinding and ornamental leather work. Further, gilding is much
employed for coating baser metals, as in button-making, in the gilt toy
trade, in electro-gilt reproductions and in electro-plating; and it is
also a characteristic feature in the decoration of pottery, porcelain
and glass. The various processes fall under one or other of two
heads--mechanical gilding and gilding by chemical agency.
_Mechanical Gilding_ embraces all the operations by which gold-leaf is
prepared (see GOLDBEATING), and the several processes by which it is
mechanically attached to the surfaces it is intended to cover. It thus
embraces the burnish or water-gilding and the oil-gilding of the
carver and gilder, and the gilding operations of the house decorator,
the sign-painter, the bookbinder, the paper-stainer and several
others. Polished iron, steel and other metals are gilt mechanically by
applying gold-leaf to the metallic surface at a temperature just under
red-heat, pressing the leaf on with a burnisher and reheating, when
additional leaf may be laid on. The process is completed by cold
burnishing.
_Chemical Gilding_ embraces those processes in which the gold used is
at some stage in a state of chemical combination. Of these the
following are the principal:--
_Cold Gilding._--In this process the gold is obtained in a state of
extremely fine division, and applied by mechanical means. Cold gilding
on silver is performed by a solution of gold in aqua-regia, applied by
dipping a linen rag into the solution, burning it, and rubbing the
black and heavy ashes on the silver with the finger or a piece of
leather or cork. _Wet gilding_ is effected by means of a dilute
solution of chloride of gold with twice its quantity of ether. The
liquids are agitated and allowed to rest, when the ether separates and
floats on the surface of the acid. The whole mixture is then poured
into a funnel with a small aperture, and allowed to rest for some
time, when the acid is run off and the ether separated. The ether will
be found to have taken up all the gold from the acid, and may be used
for gilding iron or steel, for which purpose the metal is polished
with the finest emery and spirits of wine. The ether is then applied
with a small brush, and as it evaporates it deposits the gold, which
can now be heated and polished. For small delicate figures a pen or a
fine brush may be used for laying on the ether solution.
_Fire-gilding_ or _Wash-gilding_ is a process by which an amalgam of
gold is applied to metallic surfaces, the mercury being subsequently
volatilized, leaving a film of gold or an amalgam containing from 13
to 16% of mercury. In the preparation of the amalgam the gold must
first be reduced to thin plates or grains, which are heated red hot,
and thrown into mercury previously heated, till it begins to smoke.
Upon stirring the mercury with an iron rod, the gold totally
disappears. The proportion of mercury to gold is generally as six or
eight to one. When the amalgam is cold it is squeezed through chamois
leather for the purpose of separating the superfluous mercury; the
gold, with about twice its weight of mercury, remains behind, forming
a yellowish silvery mass of the consistence of butter. When the metal
to be gilt is wrought or chased, it ought to be covered with mercury
before the amalgam is applied, that this may be more easily spread;
but when the surface of the metal is plain, the amalgam may be applied
to it direct. When no such preparation is applied, the surface to be
gilded is simply bitten and cleaned with nitric acid. A deposit of
mercury is obtained on a metallic surface by means of "quicksilver
water," a solution of nitrate of mercury,--the nitric acid attacking
the metal to which it is applied, and thus leaving a film of free
metallic mercury. The amalgam being equally spread over the prepared
surface of the metal, the mercury is then sublimed by a heat just
sufficient for that purpose; for, if it is too great, part of the gold
may be driven off, or it may run together and leave some of the
surface of the metal bare. When the mercury has evaporated, which is
known by the surface having entirely become of a dull yellow colour,
the metal must undergo other operations, by which the fine gold colour
is given to it. First, the gilded surface is rubbed with a scratch
brush of brass wire, until its surface be smooth; then it is covered
over with a composition called "gilding wax," and again exposed to the
fire until the wax is burnt off. This wax is composed of beeswax mixed
with some of the following substances, viz. red ochre, verdigris,
copper scales, alum, vitriol, borax. By this operation the colour of
the gilding is heightened; and the effect seems to be produced by a
perfect dissipation of some mercury remaining after the former
operation. The dissipation is well effected by this equable
application of heat. The gilt surface is then covered over with nitre,
alum or other salts, ground together, and mixed up into a paste with
water or weak ammonia. The piece of metal thus covered is exposed to a
certain degree of heat, and then quenched in water. By this method its
colour is further improved and brought nearer to that of gold,
probably by removing any particles of copper that may have been on the
gilt surface. This process, when skilfully carried out, produces
gilding of great solidity and beauty; but owing to the exposure of the
workmen to mercurial fumes, it is very unhealthy, and further there is
much loss of mercury. Numerous contrivances have been introduced to
obviate these serious evils. Gilt brass buttons used for uniforms are
gilt by this process, and there is an act of parliament (1796) yet
unrepealed which prescribes 5 grains of gold as the smallest quantity
that may be used for the gilding of 12 dozen of buttons 1 in. in
diameter.
_Gilding of Pottery and Porcelain._--The quantity of gold consumed for
these purposes is very large. The gold used is dissolved in aqua-regia,
and the acid is driven off by heat, or the gold may be precipitated by
means of sulphate of iron. In this pulverulent state the gold is mixed
with 1/12th of its weight of oxide of bismuth, together with a small
quantity of borax and gum water. The mixture is applied to the articles
with a camel's hair pencil, and after passing through the fire the gold
is of a dingy colour, but the lustre is brought out by burnishing with
agate and bloodstone, and afterwards cleaning with vinegar or
white-lead.
GILDS, or GUILDS. Medieval gilds were voluntary associations formed for
the mutual aid and protection of their members. Among the gildsmen there
was a strong spirit of fraternal co-operation or Christian brotherhood,
with a mixture of worldly and religious ideals--the support of the body
and the salvation of the soul. Early meanings of the root _gild_ or
_geld_ were expiation, penalty, sacrifice or worship, feast or banquet,
and contribution or payment; it is difficult to determine which is the
earliest meaning, and we are not certain whether the gildsmen were
originally those who contributed to a common fund or those who
worshipped or feasted together. Their fraternities or societies may be
divided into three classes: religious or benevolent, merchant and craft
gilds. The last two categories, which do not become prominent anywhere
in Europe until the 12th century, had, like all gilds, a religious
tinge, but their aims were primarily worldly, and their functions were
mainly of an economic character.
1. _Origin._--Various theories have been advanced concerning the origin
of gilds. Some writers regard them as a continuation of the Roman
_collegia_ and _sodalitates_, but there is little evidence to prove the
unbroken continuity of existence of the Roman and Germanic fraternities.
A more widely accepted theory derives gilds wholly or in part from the
early Germanic or Scandinavian sacrificial banquets. Much influence is
ascribed to this heathen element by Lujo Brentano, Karl Hegel, W. E.
Wilda and other writers. This view does not seem to be tenable, for the
old sacrificial carousals lack two of the essential elements of the
gilds, namely corporative solidarity or permanent association and the
spirit of Christian brotherhood. Dr Max Pappenheim has ascribed the
origin of Germanic gilds to the northern "foster-brotherhood" or
"sworn-brotherhood," which was an artificial bond of union between two
or more persons. After intermingling their blood in the earth and
performing other peculiar ceremonies, the two contracting parties with
grasped hands swore to avenge any injury done to either of them. The
objections to this theory are fully stated by Hegel (_Stadte und
Gilden_, i. 250-253). The foster-brotherhood seems to have been unknown
to the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, the nations in which medieval gilds
first appear; and hence Dr Pappenheim's conclusions, if tenable at all,
apply only to Denmark or Scandinavia.
No theory on this subject can be satisfactory which wholly ignores the
influence of the Christian church. Imbued with the idea of the
brotherhood of man, the church naturally fostered the early growth of
gilds and tried to make them displace the old heathen banquets. The work
of the church was, however, directive rather than creative. Gilds were a
natural manifestation of the associative spirit which is inherent in
mankind. The same needs produce in different ages associations which
have striking resemblances, but those of each age have peculiarities
which indicate a spontaneous growth. It is not necessary to seek the
germ of gilds in any antecedent age or institution. When the old
kin-bond or _maegth_ was beginning to weaken or dissolve, and the state
did not yet afford adequate protection to its citizens, individuals
naturally united for mutual help.
Gilds are first mentioned in the Carolingian capitularies of 779 and
789, and in the enactments made by the synod of Nantes early in the 9th
century, the text of which has been preserved in the ecclesiastical
ordinances of Hincmar of Rheims (A.D. 852). The capitularies of 805 and
821 also contain vague references to sworn unions of some sort, and a
capitulary of 884 prohibits villeins from forming associations "vulgarly
called gilds" against those who have despoiled them. The Carolingians
evidently regarded such "conjurations" as "conspirations" dangerous to
the state. The gilds of Norway, Denmark and Sweden are first mentioned
in the 11th, 12th and 14th centuries respectively; those of France and
the Netherlands in the 11th.
Many writers believe that the earliest references to gilds come from
England. The laws of Ine speak of _gegildan_ who help each other pay the
_wergeld_, but it is not entirely certain that they were members of gild
fraternities in the later sense. These are more clearly referred to in
England in the second half of the 9th century, though we have little
information concerning them before the 11th century. To the first half
of that century belong the statutes of the fraternities of Cambridge,
Abbotsbury and Exeter. They are important because they form the oldest
body of gild ordinances extant in Europe. The thanes' gild at Cambridge
afforded help in blood-feuds, and provided for the payment of the
_wergeld_ in case a member killed any one. The religious element was
more prominent in Orcy's gild at Abbotsbury and in the fraternity at
Exeter; their ordinances exhibit much solicitude for the salvation of
the brethren's souls. The Exeter gild also gave assistance when property
was destroyed by fire. Prayers for the dead, attendance at funerals of
gildsmen, periodical banquets, the solemn entrance oath, fines for
neglect of duty and for improper conduct, contributions to a common
purse, mutual assistance in distress, periodical meetings in the
gildhall,--in short, all the characteristic features of the later gilds
already appear in the statutes of these Anglo-Saxon fraternities. Some
continental writers, in dealing with the origin of municipal government
throughout western Europe, have, however, ascribed too much importance
to the Anglo-Saxon gilds, exaggerating their prevalence and contending
that they form the germ of medieval municipal government. This view
rests almost entirely on conjecture; there is no good evidence to show
that there was any organic connexion between gilds and municipal
government in England before the coming of the Normans. It should also
be noted that there is no trace of the existence of either craft or
merchant gilds in England before the Norman Conquest. Commerce and
industry were not yet sufficiently developed to call for the creation of
such associations.
2. _Religious Gilds after the Norman Conquest._--Though we have not much
information concerning the religious gilds in the 12th century, they
doubtless flourished under the Anglo-Norman kings, and we know that they
were numerous, especially in the boroughs, from the 13th century onward.
In 1388 parliament ordered that every sheriff in England should call
upon the masters and wardens of all gilds and brotherhoods to send to
the king's council in Chancery, before the 2nd of February 1389, full
returns regarding their foundation, ordinances and property. Many of
these returns were edited by J. Toulmin Smith (1816-1869), and they
throw much light on the functions of the gilds. Their ordinances are
similar to those of the above-mentioned Anglo-Saxon fraternities. Each
member took an oath of admission, paid an entrance-fee, and made a small
annual contribution to the common fund. The brethren were aided in old
age, sickness and poverty, often also in cases of loss by robbery,
shipwreck and conflagration; for example, any member of the gild of St
Catherine, Aldersgate, was to be assisted if he "fall into poverty or be
injured through age, or through fire or water, thieves or sickness."
Alms were often given even to non-gildsmen; lights were supported at
certain altars; feasts and processions were held periodically; the
funerals of brethren were attended; and masses for the dead were
provided from the common purse or from special contributions made by the
gildsmen. Some of the religious gilds supported schools, or helped to
maintain roads, bridges and town-walls, or even came, in course of time,
to be closely connected with the government of the borough; but, as a
rule, they were simply private societies with a limited sphere of
activity. They are important because they played a prominent role in the
social life of England, especially as eleemosynary institutions, down to
the time of their suppression in 1547. Religious gilds, closely
resembling those of England, also flourished on the continent during the
middle ages.
3. _The Gild Merchant._--The merchant and craft fraternities are
particularly interesting to students of economic and municipal history.
The gild merchant came into existence in England soon after the Norman
Conquest, as a result of the increasing importance of trade, and it may
have been transplanted from Normandy. Until clearer evidence of foreign
influence is found, it may, however, be safer to regard it simply as a
new application of the old gild principle, though this new application
may have been stimulated by continental example. The evidence seems to
indicate the pre-existence of the gild merchant in Normandy, but it is
not mentioned anywhere on the continent before the 11th century. It
spread rapidly in England, and from the reign of John onward we have
evidence of its existence in many English boroughs. But in some
prominent towns, notably London, Colchester, Norwich and the Cinque
Ports, it seems never to have been adopted. In fact it played a more
conspicuous role in the small boroughs than in the large ones. It was
regarded by the townsmen as one of their most important privileges. Its
chief function was to regulate the trade monopoly conveyed to the
borough by the royal grant of _gilda mercatoria_. A grant of this sort
implied that the gildsmen had the right to trade freely in the town, and
to impose payments and restrictions upon others who desired to exercise
that privilege. The ordinances of a gild merchant thus aim to protect
the brethren from the commercial competition of strangers or
non-gildsmen. More freedom of trade was allowed at all times in the
selling of wares by wholesale, and also in retail dealings during the
time of markets and fairs. The ordinances were enforced by an alderman
with the assistance of two or more deputies, or by one or two masters,
wardens or keepers. The _Morwenspeches_ were periodical meetings at
which the brethren feasted, revised their ordinances, admitted new
members, elected officers and transacted other business.
It has often been asserted that the gild merchant and the borough were
identical, and that the former was the basis of the whole municipal
constitution. But recent research has discredited this theory both in
England and on the continent. Much evidence has been produced to show
that gild and borough, gildsmen and burgesses, were originally distinct
conceptions, and that they continued to be discriminated in most towns
throughout the middle ages. Admission to the gild was not restricted to
burgesses; nor did the brethren form an aristocratic body having control
over the whole municipal polity. No good evidence has, moreover, been
advanced to prove that this or any other kind of gild was the germ of
the municipal constitution. On the other hand, the gild merchant was
certainly an official organ or department of the borough administration,
and it exerted considerable influence upon the economic and corporative
growth of the English municipalities.
Historians have expressed divergent views regarding the early relations
of the craftsmen and their fraternities to the gild merchant. One of the
main questions in dispute is whether artisans were excluded from the
gild merchant. Many of them seem to have been admitted to membership.
They were regarded as merchants, for they bought raw material and sold
the manufactured commodity; no sharp line of demarcation was drawn
between the two classes in the 12th and 13th centuries. Separate
societies of craftsmen were formed in England soon after the gild
merchant came into existence; but at first they were few in number. The
gild merchant did not give birth to craft fraternities or have anything
to do with their origin; nor did it delegate its authority to them. In
fact, there seems to have been little or no organic connexion between
the two classes of gilds. As has already been intimated, however, many
artisans probably belonged both to their own craft fraternity and to the
gild merchant, and the latter, owing to its great power in the town, may
have exercised some sort of supervision over the craftsmen and their
societies. When the king bestowed upon the tanners or weavers or any
other body of artisans the right to have a gild, they secured the
monopoly of working and trading in their branch of industry. Thus with
every creation of a craft fraternity the gild merchant was weakened and
its sphere of activity was diminished, though the new bodies were
subsidiary to the older and larger fraternity. The greater the
commercial and industrial prosperity of a town, the more rapid was the
multiplication of craft gilds, which was a natural result of the
ever-increasing division of labour. The old gild merchant remained
longest intact and powerful in the smaller boroughs, in which, owing to
the predominance of agriculture, few or no craft gilds were formed. In
some of the larger towns the crafts were prominent already in the 13th
century, but they became much more prominent in the first half of the
14th century. Their increase in number and power was particularly rapid
in the time of Edward III., whose reign marks an era of industrial
progress. Many master craftsmen now became wealthy employers of labour,
dealing extensively in the wares which they produced. The class of
dealers or merchants, as distinguished from trading artisans, also
greatly increased and established separate fraternities. When these
various unions of dealers and of craftsmen embraced all the trades and
branches of production in the town, little or no vitality remained in
the old gild merchant; it ceased to have an independent sphere of
activity. The tendency was for the single organization, with a general
monopoly of trade, to be replaced by a number of separate organizations
representing the various trades and handicrafts. In short, the function
of guarding and supervising the trade monopoly split up into various
fragments, the aggregate of the crafts superseding the old general gild
merchant. This transference of the authority of the latter to a number
of distinct bodies and the consequent disintegration of the old
organization was a gradual spontaneous movement,--a process of slow
displacement, or natural growth and decay, due to the play of economic
forces,--which, generally speaking, may be assigned to the 14th and 15th
centuries, the very period in which the craft gilds attained the zenith
of their power. While in most towns the name and the old organization of
the gild merchant thus disappeared and the institution was displaced by
the aggregate of the crafts towards the close of the middle ages, in
some places it survived long after the 15th century either as a
religious fraternity, shorn of its old functions, or as a periodical
feast, or as a vague term applied to the whole municipal corporation.
On the continent of Europe the medieval gild merchant played a less
important role than in England. In Germany, France and the Netherlands
it occupies a less prominent place in the town charters and in the
municipal polity, and often corresponds to the later fraternities of
English dealers established either to carry on foreign commerce or to
regulate a particular part of the local trade monopoly.
4. _Craft Gilds._--A craft gild usually comprised all the artisans in a
single branch of industry in a particular town. Such a fraternity was
commonly called a "mistery" or "company" in the 15th and 16th centuries,
though the old term "gild" was not yet obsolete. "Gild" was also a
common designation in north Germany, while the corresponding term in
south Germany was _Zunft_, and in France _metier_. These societies are
not clearly visible in England or on the continent before the early part
of the 12th century. With the expansion of trade and industry the number
of artisans increased, and they banded together for mutual protection.
Some German writers have maintained that these craft organizations
emanated from manorial groups of workmen, but strong arguments have
been advanced against the validity of this theory (notably by F.
Keutgen). It is unnecessary to elaborate any profound theory regarding
the origin of the craft gilds. The union of men of the same occupation
was a natural tendency of the age. In the 13th century the trade of
England continued to expand and the number of craft gilds increased. In
the 14th century they were fully developed and in a flourishing
condition; by that time each branch of industry in every large town had
its gild. The development of these societies was even more rapid on the
continent than in England.
Their organization and aims were in general the same throughout western
Europe. Officers, commonly called wardens in England, were elected by
the members, and their chief function was to supervise the quality of
the wares produced, so as to secure good and honest workmanship.
Therefore, ordinances were made regulating the hours of labour and the
terms of admission to the gild, including apprenticeship. Other
ordinances required members to make periodical payments to a common
fund, and to participate in certain common religious observances,
festivities and pageants. But the regulation of industry was always
paramount to social and religious aims; the chief object of the craft
gild was to supervise the processes of manufacture and to control the
monopoly of working and dealing in a particular branch of industry.
We have already called attention to the gradual displacement of the gild
merchant by the craft organizations. The relations of the former to the
latter must now be considered more in detail. There was at no time a
general struggle in England between the gild merchant and the craft
gilds, though in a few towns there seems to have been some friction
between merchants and artisans. There is no exact parallel in England to
the conflict between these two classes in Scotland in the 16th century,
or to the great continental revolution of the 13th and 14th centuries,
by which the crafts threw off the yoke of patrician government and
secured more independence in the management of their own affairs and
more participation in the civic administration. The main causes of these
conflicts on the continent were the monopoly of power by the patricians,
acts of violence committed by them, their bad management of the finances
and their partisan administration of justice. In some towns the victory
of the artisans in the 14th century was so complete that the whole civic
constitution was remodelled with the craft fraternities as a basis. A
widespread movement of this sort would scarcely be found in England,
where trade and industry were less developed than on the continent, and
where the motives of a class conflict between merchants and craftsmen
were less potent. Moreover, borough government in England seems to have
been mainly democratic until the 14th or 15th century; there was no
oligarchy to be depressed or suppressed. Even if there had been motives
for uprisings of artisans such as took place in Germany and the
Netherlands, the English kings would probably have intervened. True,
there were popular uprisings in England, but they were usually conflicts
between the poor and the rich; the crafts as such seldom took part in
these tumults. While many continental municipalities were becoming more
democratic in the 14th century, those of England were drifting towards
oligarchy, towards government by a close "select body." As a rule the
craft gilds secured no dominant influence in the boroughs of England,
but remained subordinate to the town government. Whatever power they did
secure, whether as potent subsidiary organs of the municipal polity for
the regulation of trade, or as the chief or sole medium for the
acquisition of citizenship, or as integral parts of the common council,
was, generally speaking, the logical sequence of a gradual economic
development, and not the outgrowth of a revolutionary movement by which
oppressed craftsmen endeavoured to throw off the yoke of an arrogant
patrician gild merchant.
Two new kinds of craft fraternities appear in the 14th century and
become more prominent In the 15th, namely, the merchants' and the
journeymen's companies. The misteries or companies of merchants traded
in one or more kinds of wares. They were pre-eminently dealers, who
sold what others produced. Hence they should not be confused with the
old gild merchant, which originally comprised both merchants and
artisans, and had the whole monopoly of the trade of the town. In most
cases, the company of merchants was merely one of the craft
organizations which superseded the gild merchant.
In the 14th century the journeymen or yeomen began to set up
fraternities in defence of their rights. The formation of these
societies marks a cleft within the ranks of some particular class of
artisans--a conflict between employers, or master artisans, and workmen.
The journeymen combined to protect their special interests, notably as
regards hours of work and rates of wages, and they fought with the
masters over the labour question in all its aspects. The resulting
struggle of organized bodies of masters and journeymen was widespread
throughout western Europe, but it was more prominent in Germany than in
France or England. This conflict was indeed one of the main features of
German industrial life in the 15th century. In England the fraternities
of journeymen, after struggling a while for complete independence, seem
to have fallen under the supervision and control of the masters' gilds;
in other words, they became subsidiary or affiliated organs of the older
craft fraternities.
An interesting phenomenon in connexion with the organization of crafts
is their tendency to amalgamate, which is occasionally visible in
England in the 15th century, and more frequently in the 16th and 17th. A
similar tendency is visible in the Netherlands and in some other parts
of the continent already in the 14th century. Several fraternities--old
gilds or new companies, with their respective cognate or heterogeneous
branches of industry and trade--were fused into one body. In some towns
all the crafts were thus consolidated into a single fraternity; in this
case a body was reproduced which regulated the whole trade monopoly of
the borough, and hence bore some resemblance to the old gild merchant.
In dealing briefly with the modern history of craft gilds, we may
confine our attention to England. In the Tudor period the policy of the
crown was to bring them under public or national control. Laws were
passed, for example in 1503, requiring that new ordinances of
"fellowships of crafts or misteries" should be approved by the royal
justices or by other crown officers; and the authority of the companies
to fix the price of wares was thus restricted. The statute of 5
Elizabeth, c. 4, also curtailed their jurisdiction over journeymen and
apprentices (see APPRENTICESHIP).
The craft fraternities were not suppressed by the statute of 1547 (1
Edward VI.). They were indeed expressly exempted from its general
operation. Such portions of their revenues as were devoted to definite
religious observances were, however, appropriated by the crown. The
revenues confiscated were those used for "the finding, maintaining or
sustentation of any priest or of any anniversary, or obit, lamp, light
or other such things." This has been aptly called "the disendowment of
the religion of the misteries." Edward VI.'s statute marks no break of
continuity in the life of the craft organizations. Even before the
Reformation, however, signs of decay had already begun to appear, and
these multiplied in the 16th and 17th centuries. The old gild system was
breaking down under the action of new economic forces. Its dissolution
was due especially to the introduction of new industries, organized on a
more modern basis, and to the extension of the domestic system of
manufacture. Thus the companies gradually lost control over the
regulation of industry, though they still retained their old monopoly in
the 17th century, and in many cases even in the 18th. In fact, many
craft fraternities still survived in the second half of the 18th
century, but their usefulness had disappeared. The medieval form of
association was incompatible with the new ideas of individual liberty
and free competition, with the greater separation of capital and
industry, employers and workmen, and with the introduction of the
factory system. Intent only on promoting their own interests and
disregarding the welfare of the community, the old companies had become
an unmitigated evil. Attempts have been made to find in them the
progenitors of the trades unions, but there seems to be no immediate
connexion between the latter and the craft gilds. The privileges of the
old fraternities were not formally abolished until 1835; and the
substantial remains or spectral forms of some are still visible in other
towns besides London.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--W. E. Wilda, _Das Gildenwesen im Mittelalter_ (Halle,
1831); E. Levasseur; _Histoire des classes ouvrieres en France_ (2
vols., Paris, 1859, new ed. 1900); Gustav von Schonberg, "Zur
wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung des deutschen Zunftwesens im Mittelalter,"
in _Jahrbucher fur Nationalokonomie und Statistik_, ed. B. Hildebrand,
vol. ix. pp. 1-72, 97-169 (Jena, 1867); Joshua Toulmin Smith, _English
Gilds_, with Lujo Brentano's introductory essay on the _History and
Development of Gilds_ (London, 1870); Max Pappenheim, _Die
altdanischen Schutzgilden_ (Breslau, 1885); W. J. Ashley,
_Introduction to English Economic History_ (2 vols., London,
1888-1893; 3rd ed. of vol. i., 1894); C. Gross, _The Gild Merchant_ (2
vols., Oxford, 1890); Karl Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden der germanischen
Volker_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1891); J. Malet Lambert, _Two Thousand
Years of Gild Life_ (Hull, 1891); Alfred Doren, _Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der Kaufmannsgilden_ (Leipzig, 1893); H. Vander Linden,
_Les Gildes marchandes dans les Pays-Bas au moyen age_ (Ghent, 1896);
E. Martin Saint-Leon, _Histoire des corporations de metiers_ (Paris,
1897); C. Nyrop, _Danmarks Gilde- og Lavsskraaer fra middelalderen_ (2
vols., Copenhagen, 1899-1904); F. Keutgen, _Amter und Zunfte_ (Jena,
1903); George Unwin, _Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries_ (Oxford, 1904). For bibliographies of gilds,
see H. Blanc, _Bibliographie des corporations ouvrieres_ (Paris,
1885); G. Gonetta, _Bibliografia delle corporazioni d' arti e
mestieri_ (Rome, 1891); C. Gross, _Bibliography of British Municipal
History_, including Gilds (New York, 1897); W. Stieda, in
_Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_, ed. J. Conrad (2nd ed.,
Jena, 1901, under "Zunftwesen"). (C. Gr.)
GILEAD (i.e. "hard" or "rugged," a name sometimes used, both in earlier
and in later writers, to denote the whole of the territory occupied by
the Israelites eastward of Jordan, extending from the Arnon to the
southern base of Hermon (Deut. xxxiv. 1; Judg. xx. 1; Jos. _Ant._ xii.
8. 3, 4). More precisely, however, it was the usual name of that
picturesque hill country which is bounded on the N. by the Hieromax
(Yarmuk), on the W. by the Jordan, on the S. by the Arnon, and on the E.
by a line which may be said to follow the meridian of Amman
(Philadelphia or Rabbath-Ammon). It thus lies wholly within 31 deg. 25'
and 32 deg. 42' N. lat. and 35 deg. 34' and 36 deg. E. long., and is cut
in two by the Jabbok. Excluding the narrow strip of low-lying plain
along the Jordan, it has an average elevation of 2500 ft. above the
Mediterranean; but, as seen from the west, the relative height is very
much increased by the depression of the Jordan valley. The range from
the same point of view presents a singularly uniform outline, having the
appearance of an unbroken wall; in reality, however, it is traversed by
a number of deep ravines (wadis), of which the most important are the
Yabis, the Ajlun, the Rajib, the Zerka (Jabbok), the Hesban, and the
Zerka Ma'in. The great mass of the Gilead range is formed of Jura
limestone, the base slopes being sandstone partly covered by white
marls. The eastern slopes are comparatively bare of trees; but the
western are well supplied with oak, terebinth and pine. The pastures are
everywhere luxuriant, and the wooded heights and winding glens, in which
the tangled shrubbery is here and there broken up by open glades and
flat meadows of green turf, exhibit a beauty of vegetation such as is
hardly to be seen in any other district of Palestine.
The first biblical mention of "Mount Gilead" occurs in connexion with
the reconcilement of Jacob and Laban (Genesis xxxi.). The composite
nature of the story makes an identification of the exact site difficult,
but one of the narrators (E) seems to have in mind the ridge of what is
now known as Jebel Ajlun, probably not far from Mahneh (Mahanaim), near
the head of the wadi Yabis. Some investigators incline to Suf, or to the
Jebel Kafkafa. At the period of the Israelite conquest the portion of
Gilead northward of the Jabbok (Zerka) belonged to the dominions of Og,
king of Bashan, while the southern half was ruled by Sihon, king of the
Amorites, having been at an earlier date wrested from Moab (Numb. xxi.
24; Deut. iii. 12-16). These two sections were allotted respectively to
Manasseh and to Reuben and Gad, both districts being peculiarly suited
to the pastoral and nomadic character of these tribes. A somewhat wild
Bedouin disposition, fostered by their surroundings, was retained by the
Israelite inhabitants of Gilead to a late period of their history, and
seems to be to some extent discernible in what we read alike of
Jephthah, of David's Gadites, and of the prophet Elijah. As the eastern
frontier of Palestine, Gilead bore the first brunt of Syrian and
Assyrian attacks.
After the close of the Old Testament history the word Gilead seldom
occurs. It seems to have soon passed out of use as a precise
geographical designation; for though occasionally mentioned by
Apocryphal writers, by Josephus, and by Eusebius, the allusions are all
vague, and show that those who made them had no definite knowledge of
Gilead proper. In Josephus and the New Testament the name Peraea or
[Greek: peran tou Iordanou] is most frequently used; and the country is
sometimes spoken of by Josephus as divided into small provinces called
after the capitals in which Greek colonists had established themselves
during the reign of the Seleucidae. At present Gilead south of the
Jabbok alone is known by the name of Jebel Jilad (Mount Gilead), the
northern portion between the Jabbok and the Yarmuk being called Jebel
Ajlun. Jebel Jilad includes Jebel Osha, and has for its capital the town
of Es-Salt. The cities of Gilead expressly mentioned in the Old
Testament are Ramoth, Jabesh and Jazer. The first of these has been
variously identified with Es-Salt, with Reimun, with Jerash or Gerasa,
with er-Remtha, and with Salhad. Opinions are also divided on the
question of its identity with Mizpeh-Gilead (see _Encyc. Biblica_, art.
"Ramoth-Gilead"). Jabesh is perhaps to be found at Meriamin, less
probably at ed-Deir; Jazer, at Yajuz near Jogbehah, rather than at Sar.
The city named Gilead (Judg. x. 17, xii. 7; Hos. vi. 8, xii. 11) has
hardly been satisfactorily explained; perhaps the text has suffered.
The "balm" (Heb. _sori_) for which Gilead was so noted (Gen. xlvii. 11;
Jer. viii. 22, xlvi. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 17), is probably to be identified
with mastic (Gen. xxxvii. 25, R.V. marg.) i.e. the resin yielded by the
_Pistachia Lentiscus_. The modern "balm of Gilead" or "Mecca balsam," an
aromatic gum produced by the _Balsamodendron opobalsamum_, is more
likely the Hebrew _mor_, which the English Bible wrongly renders
"myrrh."