[1] So called from the badge worn by the knights (_Lowenritter_) who
composed it.
[2] The best account, in English, of the development of the
Zollverein is in Percy Ashley's _Modern Tariff History_ (London,
1904).
[3] The only formal change is that the duchy of Lauenburg, which
since 1865 had been governed by the king of Prussia as a separate
principality (but without a vote in the Bundesrat), was in 1876
incorporated in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.
[4] See _Annual Register_ (1908), pp. 289 et seq.
[5] The whole question is exhaustively treated from the Danish point
of view in _La Question de Slesvig_ (Copenhagen, 1906), a collective
work edited by F. de Jessens.
[6] Reinhard Karl Friedrich von Dalwigk (1802-1880). Though a
Lutheran, he had been accused in 1854 of an excessive subserviency to
the Roman Catholic Church. He was responsible for the policy which
threatened to involve the grand-duchy of Hesse in the fate of the
Electorate in 1866. But it was due to his diplomatic skill that Upper
Hesse was saved for the grand-duke.
[7] In 1899, following the Spanish-American War, Germany purchased
the Caroline, Pelew and Marianne Islands from Spain; in 1899-1900 by
agreement with Great Britain and America she acquired the two largest
of the Samoan islands, renouncing in favour of Britain her
protectorate over certain of the Solomon islands.
[8] The elevation of Count Bulow to the rank of prince immediately
after the crisis was significantly compared with the same honour
bestowed on Bismarck at Versailles in 1871.
[9] He was born on November 29, 1856, the son of a wealthy Rhenish
landowner, and grandson of Moritz August von Bethmann-Hollweg
(1795-1877), professor of law at Bonn, ennobled in 1840, and from
1858 to 1862 minister of education and religion at Berlin. Herr von
Bethmann-Hollweg studied law at Strassburg, Leipzig and Berlin,
entered the Prussian civil service in 1882, and, passing successfully
through the various stages of a German administrative career, became
governor (Oberprasident) of the province of Brandenburg in 1899. In
1905 he became Prussian minister of the interior. Two years later he
succeeded Count Posadowsky as imperial secretary of state for the
interior and representative of the imperial chancellor, and was at
the same time made vice-president of the council of Prussian
ministers, an office and title which had been in abeyance for some
years and were now again suppressed.
GERMERSHEIM, a fortified town of Germany in Rhenish Bavaria, at the
confluence of the Queich and the Rhine, 8 m. S.W. of Speyer. Pop. (1905)
5914. It possesses a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical church, a
synagogue, a progymnasium and a hospital. The industries include
fishing, shipbuilding and brewing. Germersheim existed as a Roman
stronghold under the name of _Vicus Julius_. The citadel was rebuilt by
the emperor Conrad II., but the town itself was founded in 1276 by the
emperor Rudolph I., who granted it the rights of a free imperial city.
From 1330 to 1622, when it was conquered by Austria, the town formed
part of the Palatinate of the Rhine. From 1644 to 1650 it was in the
possession of France; but on the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia
it was again joined to the Palatinate. In 1674 it was captured and
devastated by the French under Turenne, and after the death of the
elector Charles (1685) it was claimed by the French as a dependency of
Alsace. As a consequence there ensued the disastrous Germersheim war of
succession, which lasted till the peace of Ryswick in 1697. Through the
intervention of the pope in 1702, the French, on payment of a large sum,
agreed to vacate the town, and in 1715 its fortifications were rebuilt.
On the 3rd of July 1744 the French were defeated there by the imperial
troops, and on the 19th and 22nd of July 1793 by the Austrians. In 1835
the new town was built, and the present fortifications begun.
See Probst, _Geschichte der Stadt und Festung Germersheim_ (Speyer,
1898).
GERMISTON, a town of the Transvaal, 9 m. E. of Johannesburg. Pop. of the
municipality (1904) 29,477, of whom 9123 were whites. It lies 5478 ft.
above the sea, in the heart of the Witwatersrand gold-mining district,
and is an important railway junction. The station, formerly called
Elandsfontein Junction, is the meeting-point of lines from the ports of
the Cape and Natal, and from Johannesburg, Pretoria and Delagoa Bay.
Though possessing a separate municipality, Germiston is practically a
suburb of Johannesburg (q.v.).
GERMONIUS, ANASTASIUS [ANASTASE GERMON] (1551-1627), canon lawyer,
diplomatist and archbishop of Tarantaise, belonged to the family of the
marquises of Ceve, in Piedmont, where he was born. As archdeacon at
Turin he was a member of the commission appointed by Pope Clement VIII.
to edit the _Liber septimus decretalium_; and he also wrote _Paratitla_
on the five books of the _Decretals of Gregory IX._ He represented the
duke of Savoy at the court of Rome under Clement VIII. and Paul V., and
was ambassador to Spain under Kings Philip III. and IV. He died on the
4th of August 1627. Germonius is best known for his treatise on
ambassadors, _De legatis principum et populorum libri tres_ (Rome,
1627). The book is diffuse, pedantic and somewhat heavy in style, but
valuable historically as written by a theorist who was also an expert
man of affairs. (See DIPLOMACY.)
GERO (c. 900-965), margrave of the Saxon east mark, was probably a
member of an influential Saxon family. In 937 he was entrusted by the
German king Otto, afterwards the emperor Otto the Great, with the
defence of the eastern frontier of Saxony against the Wends and other
Slavonic tribes; a duty which he discharged with such ability and
success that in a few years he extended the Saxon frontier almost to the
Oder, and gained the chief credit for the suppression of a rising of the
conquered peoples in a great victory on the 16th of October 955. In 963
he defeated the Lusatians, compelled the king of the Poles to recognize
the supremacy of the German king, and extended the area of his mark so
considerably that after his death it was partitioned into three, and
later into five marks. Gero, who is said to have made a journey to Rome,
died on the 20th of May 965, and was buried in the convent of Gernrode
which he had founded on his Saxon estates. He is referred to by the
historian Widukind as a _preses_, and is sometimes called the "great
margrave." He has been accused of treachery and cruelty, is celebrated
in song and story, and is mentioned as the "marcgrave Gere" in the
_Nibelungenlied_.
See Widukind, "Res gestae Saxonicae," in the _Monumenta Germaniae
historica_. _Scriptores_, Band iii.; O. von Heinemann, _Markgraf Gero_
(Brunswick, 1860).
GEROLSTEIN, a village and climatic health resort of Germany, in the
Prussian Rhine Province, attractively situated on the Kyll, in the Eifel
range, 1100 ft. above the sea, 58 m. W. of Andernach by rail, and at the
junction of lines to Treves and St Vith. The castle of Gerolstein, built
in 1115 and now in ruins, affords a fine view of the Kyllthal.
Gerolstein is celebrated for its lithia waters, which are largely
exported. Pop. (1900) 1308.
GEROME, JEAN LEON (1824-1904), French painter, was born on the 11th of
May 1824 at Vesoul (Haute-Saone). He went to Paris in 1841 and worked
under Paul Delaroche, whom he accompanied to Italy (1844-1845). On his
return he exhibited "The Cock-fight," which gained him a third-class
medal in the Salon of 1847. "The Virgin with Christ and St John" and
"Anacreon, Bacchus and Cupid" took a second-class medal in 1848. He
exhibited "Bacchus and Love, Drunk," a "Greek Interior" and "Souvenir
d'Italie," in 1851; "Paestum" (1852); and "An Idyll" (1853). In 1854
Gerome made a journey to Turkey and the shores of the Danube, and in
1857 visited Egypt. To the exhibition of 1855 he contributed a
"Pifferaro," a "Shepherd," "A Russian Concert" and a large historical
canvas, "The Age of Augustus and the Birth of Christ." The last was
somewhat confused in effect, but in recognition of its consummate
ability the State purchased it. Gerome's reputation was greatly enhanced
at the Salon of 1857 by a collection of works of a more popular kind:
the "Duel: after a Masquerade," "Egyptian Recruits crossing the Desert,"
"Memnon and Sesostris" and "Camels Watering," the drawing of which was
criticized by Edmond About. In "Caesar" (1859) Gerome tried to return to
a severer class of work, but the picture failed to interest the public.
"Phryne before the Areopagus," "Le Roi Candaule" and "Socrates finding
Alcibiades in the House of Aspasia" (1861) gave rise to some scandal by
reason of the subjects selected by the painter, and brought down on him
the bitter attacks of Paul de Saint-Victor and Maxime Ducamp. At the
same Salon he exhibited the "Egyptian chopping Straw," and "Rembrandt
biting an Etching," two very minutely finished works. Gerome's best
paintings are of Eastern subjects; among these may be named the "Turkish
Prisoner" and "Turkish Butcher" (1863); "Prayer" (1865); "The Slave
Market" (1867); and "The Harem out Driving" (1869). He often illustrated
history, as in "Louis XIV. and Moliere" (1863); "The Reception of the
Siamese Ambassadors at Fontainebleau" (1865); and the "Death of Marshal
Ney" (1868). Gerome was also successful as a sculptor; he executed,
among other works, "Omphale" (1887), and the statue of the duc d'Aumale
which stands in front of the chateau of Chantilly (1899). His "Bellona"
(1892), in ivory, metal, and precious stones, which was also exhibited
in the Royal Academy of London, attracted great attention. The artist
then began an interesting series of "Conquerors," wrought in gold,
silver and gems--"Bonaparte entering Cairo" (1897); "Tamerlane" (1898);
and "Frederick the Great" (1899). Gerome was elected member of the
Institut in 1865. He died in 1904.
GERONA, a maritime frontier province in the extreme north-east of Spain,
formed in 1833 of districts taken from Catalonia, and bounded on the N.
by France, E. and S.E. by the Mediterranean Sea, S.W. and W. by
Barcelona, and N.W. by Lerida. Pop. (1900) 299,287; area, 2264 sq. m. In
the north-west a small section of the province, with the town of Llivia,
is entirely isolated and surrounded by French territory; otherwise
Gerona is separated from France by the great range of the Pyrenees. Its
general aspect is mountainous, especially in the western districts. Most
of the lower chains are covered with splendid forests of oak, pine and
chestnut. There are comparatively level tracts of arable land along the
lower course of the three main rivers--the Ter, Muga and Fluvia, which
rise in the Pyrenees and flow in a south-easterly direction to the sea.
The coast-line is not deeply indented, but includes one large bay, the
Gulf of Rosas. Its two most conspicuous promontories, Capes Creus and
Bagur, are the easternmost points of the Iberian Peninsula. The climate
is generally temperate and rainy during several months in the valleys
and near the coast, but cold in the Cerdana district and other
mountainous regions during eight months, while Gerona, La Bisbal and
Santa Coloma are quite Mediterranean in their hot summers and mild
winters. Agriculture is backward, but there are profitable fisheries and
fish-curing establishments along the whole seaboard, notably at the
ports of Llansa, Rosas, Palamos, San Feliu de Guixols and Blanes. Next
in importance is the cork industry at San Feliu de Guixols, Palafrugell
and Cassa. More than one hundred mineral springs are scattered over the
province, and in 1903 twenty mines were at work, although their total
output, which included antimony, coal, copper, lead, iron and other
ores, was valued at less than L7000. There are also important hydraulic
cement and ochre works, and no fewer than twenty-two of the towns are
centres of manufactures of linen, cotton, woollen stuffs, paper, cloth,
leather, steel and furniture. The commerce of the province is important,
Port Bou (or Portbou) being, after Irun, the most active outlet for the
trade by railway not only with France but with the rest of the
continent. The main railway from Barcelona to France runs through the
province, and several branch railways, besides steam and electric
tramways, connect the principal towns. Gerona, the capital (pop. 1900,
15,787), and Figueras (10,714), long a most important frontier fortress,
are described in separate articles; the only other towns with more than
7000 inhabitants are San Feliu de Guixols (11,333), Olot (7938) and
Palafrugell (7087). The inhabitants of the province are, like most
Catalans, distinguished for their enterprise, hardiness and keen local
patriotism; but emigration, chiefly to Barcelona, kept their numbers
almost stationary during the years 1875-1905. The percentage of
illegitimate births (1.5) is lower than in any other part of Spain. (See
also CATALONIA.)
GERONA, the capital of the province of Gerona, in north-eastern Spain,
on the railway from Barcelona to Perpignan in France, and on the right
bank of the river Ter, at its confluence with the Ona, a small
right-hand tributary. Pop. (1900) 15,787. The older part of the town
occupies the steep slope of the Montjuich, or Hill of the Capuchins, and
with its old-fashioned buildings presents a picturesque appearance
against a background of loftier heights; the newer portion stretches
down into the plain and beyond the Ona, which is here crossed by a
bridge of three arches. The old city walls and their bastions still
remain, though in a dilapidated state; and the hill is crowned by what
were at one time very strong fortifications, now used as a prison.
Gerona is the seat of a bishop, has a seminary, a public library and a
theatre, and carries on the manufacture of paper and cotton and woollen
goods. Its churches are of exceptional interest. The cathedral is one of
the grandest specimens of Gothic architecture in Spain, the nave being
the widest pointed vault in Christendom, as it measures no less than 73
ft. from side to side, while Albi, the next in size, is only 58 ft., and
Westminster Abbey is only 38. The old cathedral on the same site was
used as a mosque by the Moors, and on their expulsion in 1015 it appears
to have been very greatly modified, if not entirely rebuilt. During the
14th century new works were again carried out on an extensive scale, but
it was not till the beginning of the 15th that the proposal to erect the
present magnificent nave was originated by the master of the works,
Guillermo Boffiy. The general appearance of the exterior is rather
ungainly, but there is a fine approach by a flight of 86 steps to the
facade, which rises in tiers and terminates in an oval rose-window.
Among the tombs may be mentioned those of Bishop Berenger or Berenguer
(d. 1408), Count Ramon Berenger II. (d. 1082) and the countess Ermesinda
(d. 1057). The collegiate church of San Feliu (St Felix) is mainly of
the 14th century, but it was considerably modified in the 16th, and its
facade dates from the 18th. It is one of the few Spanish churches that
can boast of a genuine spire, and it thus forms a striking feature in
the general view of the town. The Benedictine church of San Pedro de
Galligans (or de los Gallos) is an interesting Romanesque building of
early date. It is named from the small river Galligans, an affluent of
the Ona, which flows through the city. In the same neighbourhood is a
small church worthy of notice as a rare Spanish example of a transverse
triapsal plan.
Gerona is the ancient Gerunda, a city of the Auscetani. It claims to be
the place in which St Paul and St James first rested when they came to
Spain; and it became the see of a bishop about 247. For a considerable
period it was in the hands of the Moors, and their emir, Suleiman, was
in alliance with Pippin the Short, king of the Franks, about 759. It was
taken by Charlemagne in 785; but the Moors regained and sacked it in
795, and it was not till 1015 that they were finally expelled. At a
later date it gave the title of count to the king of Aragon's eldest
son. It has been besieged no fewer than twenty-five times in all, and
only four of the sieges have resulted in its capture. The investment by
the French under Marshal Hocquincourt in 1653, that of 1684 by the
French under Marshal Bellefonds, and the successful enterprise of
Marshal Noailles in 1694 are the three great events of its history in
the 17th century. Surrendered by the French at the peace of Ryswick, it
was again captured by the younger Marshal Noailles in 1706, after a
brilliant defence; and in 1717 it held out against the Austrians. But
its noblest resistance was yet to be made. In May 1809 it was besieged
by the French, with 35,000 troops, under J. A. Verdier, P. F. Augereau
and Gouvion St Cyr; forty batteries were erected against it and a heavy
bombardment maintained; but under the leadership of Mariano Alvarez de
Castro it held out till famine and fever compelled a capitulation on the
12th of December. The French, it is said, had spent 20,000 bombs and
60,000 cannon balls, and their loss was estimated at 15,000 men.
See Juan Gaspar Roig y Jalpi, _Resumen de las Grandezas_, &c.
(Barcelona, 1678); J. A. Nieto y Samaniego, _Memorias_ (Tarragona,
1810); G. E. Street, _Gothic Architecture in Spain_ (London, 1869).
GEROUSIA ([Greek: gerousia], Doric [Greek: geroia]), the ancient council
of elders at Sparta, corresponding in some of its functions to the
Athenian Boule. In historical times it numbered twenty-eight members, to
whom were added _ex officio_ the two kings and, later, the five ephors.
Candidates must have passed their sixtieth year, i.e. they must no
longer be liable to military service, and they were possibly restricted
to the nobility. Vacancies were filled by the Apella, that candidate
being declared elected whom the assembly acclaimed with the loudest
shouts--a method which Aristotle censures as childish (_Polit._ ii. 9,
p. 1271 a 9). Once elected, the _gerontes_ held office for life and were
irresponsible. The functions of the council were among the most
important in the state. It prepared the business which was to be
submitted to the Apella, and was empowered to set aside, in conjunction
with the kings, any "crooked" decision of the people. Together with the
kings and ephors it formed the supreme executive committee of the state,
and it exercised also a considerable criminal and political
jurisdiction, including the trial of kings; its competence extended to
the infliction of a sentence of exile or even of death. These powers, or
at least the greater part of them, were transferred by Cleomenes III. to
a board of _patronomi_ (Pausanias ii. 9. 1); the gerousia, however,
continued to exist at least down to Hadrian's reign, consisting of
twenty-three members annually elected, but eligible for re-election
(_Sparta Museum Catalogue_, Nos. 210, 612 and Introduction S 17).
Fuller discussions of the gerousia will be found in Aristotle,
_Politics_, ii. 9, 17-19: Plutarch, _Lycurgus_, 5, 26; G. F. Schomann,
_Antiquities of Greece; The State_ (Eng. trans.), p. 230 ff.; G.
Gilbert, _Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens_ (Eng.
trans.), p. 47 ff.; C. O. Muller, _History and Antiquities of the
Doric Race_ (Eng. trans.), iii. c. 6, SS 1-3; G. Busolt, _Die
griechischen Staats- und Rechtsaltertumer_ (Iwan Muller's _Handbuch
der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, iv. 1), S 89; _Griechische
Geschichte_, 2te Auflage i. 550 ff.; A. H. J. Greenidge, _Handbook of
Greek Constitutional History_, 100 ff.; H. Gabriel, _De magistratibus
Lacedaemoniorum_, 31 ff. (M. N. T.)
GERRESHEIM, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 6 m. by
rail E. of Dusseldorf. It contains a fine Romanesque church, dating from
the 13th century, which forms a portion of an ancient nunnery (founded
in the 10th century and secularized in 1806), and has extensive glass
manufactures and wire factories. Pop. (1905) 14,434.
GERRHA (Arab. _al-Jar`a_), an ancient city of Arabia, on the west side
of the Persian Gulf, described by Strabo (Bk. xvi.) as inhabited by
Chaldean exiles from Babylon, who built their houses of salt and
repaired them by the application of salt water. Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ vi.
32) says it was 5 m. in circumference with towers built of square blocks
of salt. Various identifications of the site have been attempted, J. P.
B. D'Anville choosing El Katif, C. Niebuhr preferring Kuwet and C.
Forster suggesting the ruins at the head of the bay behind the islands
of Bahrein.
See A. Sprenger, _Die alte Geographie Arabiens_ (Bern, 1875), pp.
135-137.
GERRUS, a small province of Persia, situated between Khamseh and
Azerbaijan in the N., Kurdistan in the W. and Hamadan in the S. Its
population is estimated at 80,000, and its capital, Bijar, 180 m. from
Hamadan, has a population of about 4000 and post and telegraph offices.
The province is fief of the chief of the Gerrus Kurds, pays a yearly
revenue of about L3000, and supplies a battalion of infantry (the 34th)
to the army.
GERRY, ELBRIDGE (1744-1814), American statesman, was born in Marblehead,
Massachusetts, on the 17th of July 1744, the son of Thomas Gerry (d.
1774), a native of Newton, England, who emigrated to America in 1730, and
became a prosperous Marblehead merchant. The son graduated at Harvard in
1762 and entered his father's business. In 1772 and 1773 he was a member
of the Massachusetts General Court, in which he identified himself with
Samuel Adams and the patriot party, and in 1773 he served on the Committee
of Correspondence, which became one of the great instruments of
intercolonial resistance. In 1774-1775 he was a member of the
Massachusetts Provincial Congress. The passage of a bill proposed by him
(November 1775) to arm and equip ships to prey upon British commerce, and
for the establishment of a prize court, was, according to his biographer,
Austin, "the first actual avowal of offensive hostility against the mother
country, which is to be found in the annals of the Revolution." It is also
noteworthy, says Austin, as "the first effort to establish an American
naval armament." From 1776 to 1781 Gerry was a member of the Continental
Congress, where he early advocated independence, and was one of those who
signed the Declaration after its formal signing on the 2nd of August 1776,
at which time he was absent. He was active in debates and committee work,
and for some time held the chairmanship of the important standing
committee for the superintendence of the treasury, in which capacity he
exercised a predominating influence on congressional expenditures. In
February 1780 he withdrew from Congress because of its refusal to respond
to his call for the yeas and nays. Subsequently he laid his protest before
the Massachusetts General Court which voted its approval of his action. On
his return to Massachusetts, and while he was still a member of Congress,
he was elected under the new state constitution (1780) to both branches of
the state legislature, but accepted only his election to the House of
Representatives. On the expiration of his congressional term, he was again
chosen a delegate by the Massachusetts legislature, but it was not until
1783 that he resumed his seat. During the second period of his service in
Congress, which lasted until 1785, he was a member of the committee to
consider the treaty of peace with Great Britain, and chairman of two
committees appointed to select a permanent seat of government. In 1784 he
bitterly attacked the establishment of the order of the Cincinnati on the
ground that it was a dangerous menace to democratic institutions. In 1786
he served in the state House of Representatives. Not favouring the
creation of a strong national government he declined to attend the
Annapolis Convention in 1786, but in the following year, when the
assembling of the Constitutional Convention was an assured fact, although
he opposed the purpose for which it was called, he accepted an appointment
as one of the Massachusetts delegates, with the idea that he might
personally help to check too strong a tendency toward centralization. His
exertions in the convention were ceaseless in opposition to what he
believed to be the wholly undemocratic character of the instrument, and
eventually he refused to sign the completed constitution. Returning to
Massachusetts, he spoke and wrote in opposition to its ratification, and
although not a member of the convention called to pass upon it, he laid
before this convention, by request, his reasons for opposing it, among
them being that the constitution contained no bill of rights, that the
executive would unduly influence the legislative branch of the government,
and that the judiciary would be oppressive. Subsequently he served as an
Anti-Federalist in the national House of Representatives in 1789-1793,
taking, as always, a prominent part in debates and other legislative
concerns. In 1797 he was sent by President John Adams, together with John
Marshall and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, on a mission to France to obtain
from the government of the Directory a treaty embodying a settlement of
several long-standing disputes. The discourteous and underhanded treatment
of this embassy by Talleyrand and his agents, who attempted to obtain
their ends by bribery, threats and duplicity, resulted in the speedy
retirement of Marshall and Pinckney. The episode is known in American
history as the "X Y Z Affair." Gerry, although despairing of any good
results, remained in Paris for some time in the vain hope that Talleyrand
might offer to a known friend of France terms that had been refused to
envoys whose anti-French views were more than suspected. This action of
Gerry's brought down upon him from Federalist partisans a storm of abuse
and censure, from which he never wholly cleared himself. In 1810-1812 he
was governor of Massachusetts. His administration, which was marked by
extreme partisanship, was especially notable for the enactment of a law by
which the state was divided into new senatorial districts in such a manner
as to consolidate the Federalist vote in a few districts, thus giving the
Democratic-Republicans an undue advantage. The outline of one of these
districts, which was thought to resemble a salamander, gave rise in 1812,
through a popular application of the governor's name, to the term
"Gerrymander" (q.v.). In 1812, Gerry, who was an ardent advocate of the
war with Great Britain, was elected vice-president of the United States,
on the ticket with James Madison. He died in office at Washington on the
23rd of November 1814.
See J. T. Austin, _Life of Elbridge Gerry, with Contemporary Letters_
(2 vols., Boston, 1828-1829).
GERRYMANDER (usually pronounced "jerrymander," but the _g_ was
originally pronounced hard), an American expression which has taken root
in the English language, meaning to arrange election districts so as to
give an unfair advantage to the party in power by means of a
redistribution act, and so to manipulate constituencies generally, or
arrange any political measure, with a view to an unfair party advantage.
The word is derived from the name of the American politician Elbridge
Gerry (q.v.). John Fiske, in his _Civil Government in the United States_
(1890), says that in 1812, when Gerry was governor of Massachusetts, the
Democratic state legislature (in order, according to Winsor, to secure
an increased representation of the Democratic party in the state senate)
"redistributed the districts in such wise that the shapes of the towns
forming a single district in Essex county gave to the district a
somewhat dragon-like contour. This was indicated upon a map of
Massachusetts which Benjamin Russell, an ardent Federalist and editor of
the _Centinel_, hung up over the desk in his office. The painter,
Gilbert Stuart, coming into the office one day and observing the uncouth
figure, added with his pencil a head, wings and claws, and exclaimed,
'That will do for a salamander!' 'Better say a Gerrymander,' growled the
editor; and the outlandish name, thus duly coined, soon came into
general currency." It was, however, only the name that was new. Fiske
(who also refers to Winsor's _Memorial History of Boston_, iii. 212, and
Bryce's _American Commonwealth_, i. 121) says that gerrymandering, as a
political dodge, "seems to have been first devised in 1788, by the
enemies of the Federal constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent the
election of James Madison to the first Congress, and fortunately it was
unsuccessful." But it was really earlier than that, and in the American
colonial period political advantage was often obtained by changing
county lines. In 1709 the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester and
Philadelphia formed a combination for preventing the city of
Philadelphia from securing its proportionate representation; and in 1732
George Burrington, royal governor of North Carolina, divided the voting
precincts of the province for his own advantage. Gerry was not the
originator of the Massachusetts law of 1812, which was probably drafted
by Samuel Dana or by Judge Story. The law resulted in 29 seats being
secured in Massachusetts by 50,164 Democratic votes, while 51,766
Federalist votes only returned 11 members; and Essex county, which,
undivided, sent 5 Federalists to the Senate, returned 3 Democrats and 2
Federalists after being "gerrymandered," Stuart's drawing (reproduced in
Fiske's book) was contrived so as to make the back line of the
creature's body form a caricature of Gerry's profile. The law of 1812
was repealed in 1813, when the Federalists had again gained control of
the Massachusetts legislature.
See also Elmer C. Griffith, _The Rise and Development of the
Gerrymander_ (Chicago, 1907); John W. Dean, "History of the
Gerrymander," in _New England Historical and Genealogical Register_,
vol. xlvi. (Boston, 1892).
GERS, a department of south-western France, composed of the whole or
parts of certain districts of Gascony, viz. Armagnac, Astarac, Fezensac,
Pardiac, Pays de Gaure, Lomagne, Comminges, Condomois and of a small
portion of Agenais. It is bounded N. by the department of
Lot-et-Garonne, N.E. by Tarn-et-Garonne, E. and S.E. by Haute-Garonne,
S. by Hautes-Pyrenees, S.W. by Basses-Pyrenees and W. by Landes. Pop.
(1906) 231,088. Area, 2428 sq. m. The department consists of a plateau
sloping from south to north and traversed by numerous rivers, most of
them having their source close together in the Plateau de Lannemezan
(Hautes-Pyrenees), from which point they diverge in the shape of a fan
to the north-west, north and north-east. In the south several summits
exceed 1100 ft. in height. Thence the descent towards the north is
gradual till on the northern limit of the department the lowest point
(less than 200 ft.) is reached. The greater part of the department
belongs to the basin of the Garonne, while a small portion in the west
is drained by the Adour. The chief affluents of the former are the Save,
Gimone, Arrats, Gers and Baise, which derive their waters in great part
from the Canal de la Neste in the department of Hautes-Pyrenees; and of
the latter, the Arros, Midou and Douze, the last two uniting and taking
the name of Midouze before joining the Adour. The climate is temperate;
its drawbacks are the unwholesome south-east wind and the destructive
hail-storms which sometimes occur in spring. There is seldom any snow or
frost. Over the greater portion of the department the annual rainfall
varies between 28 and 32 in. Gers is primarily agricultural. The
south-western district is the most productive, but the valleys generally
are fertile and the grain produced is more than sufficient for local
consumption. Wheat, maize and oats are the principal cereals. About
one-third of the wine produced is used for home consumption, and the
remainder is chiefly manufactured into brandy, known by the name of
Armagnac, second only to Cognac in reputation. The natural pastures are
supplemented chiefly by crops of sainfoin and clover; horses, cattle,
sheep and swine are reared in considerable numbers; turkeys, geese and
other poultry are abundant. There are mineral springs at Aurenson,
Barbotan and several other places in the department. The mineral
production and manufactures are unimportant. Building stone and clay are
obtained. Flour-mills, saw-mills, tanneries, brickworks and cask-works
are the chief industrial establishments.
Gers is divided into the arrondissements of Auch, Lectoure, Mirande,
Condom and Lombez, with 29 cantons and 466 communes. The chief town is
Auch, the seat of an archbishopric. The department falls within the
circumscription of the appeal-court of Agen, and the region of the XVII.
army corps. It forms part of the academie (educational circumscription)
of Toulouse. Auch, Condom, Lectoure and Mirande are the principal towns.
The following are also of interest: Lombez, with its church of
Sainte-Marie, once a cathedral, dating from the 14th century, when the
bishopric was created; Flaran, with an abbey-church of the last half of
the 12th century; La Romieu, with a church of the same period and a
beautiful cloister; Simorre, with a fortified abbey-church of the 14th
century; and Fleurance, with a handsome church, also of the 14th
century, containing stained glass of the 16th century.
GERSON, JOHN (1363-1429), otherwise JEAN CHARLIER DE GERSON, French
scholar and divine, chancellor of the university of Paris, and the
ruling spirit in the oecumenical councils of Pisa and Constance, was
born at the village of Gerson, in the bishopric of Reims and department
of Ardennes, on the 14th of December 1363. His parents, Arnulph Charlier
and Elizabeth de la Chardeniere, "a second Monica," were pious peasants,
and seven of their twelve children, four daughters and three sons,
devoted themselves to a religious life. Young Gerson was sent to Paris
to the famous college of Navarre when fourteen years of age. After a
five years' course he obtained the degree of licentiate of arts, and
then began his theological studies under two very celebrated teachers,
Gilles des Champs (Aegidius Campensis) and Pierre d'Ailly (Petrus de
Alliaco), rector of the college of Navarre, chancellor of the
university, and afterwards bishop of Puy, archbishop of Cambrai and
cardinal. Pierre d'Ailly remained his life-long friend, and in later
life the pupil seems to have become the teacher (see pref. to _Liber de
vita Spir. Animae_).
Gerson very soon attracted the notice of the university. He was elected
procurator for the French "nation" in 1383, and again in 1384, in which
year he graduated bachelor of theology. Three years later a still higher
honour was bestowed upon him; he was sent along with the chancellor and
others to represent the university in a case of appeal taken to the
pope. John of Montson (Monzon de Montesono), an Aragonese Dominican who
had recently graduated as doctor of theology at Paris, had in 1387 been
condemned by the faculty of theology because he had taught that the
Virgin Mary, like other ordinary descendants of Adam, was born in
original sin; and the Dominicans, who were fierce opponents of the
doctrine of the immaculate conception, were expelled the university.
John of Montson appealed to Pope Clement VII. at Avignon, and Pierre
d'Ailly, Gerson and the other university delegates, while they
personally supported the doctrine of the immaculate conception, were
content to rest their case upon the legal rights of the university to
test in its own way its theological teachers. Gerson's biographers have
compared his journey to Avignon with Luther's visit to Rome. It is
certain that from this time onwards he was zealous in his endeavours to
spiritualize the universities, to reform the morals of the clergy, and
to put an end to the schism which then divided the church. In 1392
Gerson became doctor of theology, and in 1395, when Pierre d'Ailly was
made bishop of Puy, he was, at the early age of thirty-two, elected
chancellor of the university of Paris, and made a canon of Notre Dame.
The university was then at the height of its fame, and its chancellor
was necessarily a man prominent not only in France but in Europe, sworn
to maintain the rights of his university against both king and pope, and
entrusted with the conduct and studies of a vast crowd of students
attracted from almost every country in Europe. Gerson's writings bear
witness to his deep sense of the responsibilities, anxieties and
troubles of his position. He was all his days a man of letters, and an
analysis of his writings is his best biography. His work has three
periods, in which he was engaged in reforming the university studies,
maturing plans for overcoming the schism (a task which after 1404
absorbed all his energies), and in the evening of his life writing books
of devotion.
Gerson wished to banish scholastic subtleties from the studies of the
university, and at the same time to put some evangelical warmth into
them. He was called at this period of his life Doctor Christianissimus;
later his devotional works brought him the title Doctor Consolatorius.
His plan was to make theology plain and simple by founding it on the
philosophical principles of nominalism. His method was a clear
exposition of the principles of theology where clearness was possible,
with a due recognition of the place of mystery in the Christian system
of doctrine. Like the great nominalist William of Occam, he saved
himself from rationalism by laying hold on mysticism--the Christian
mysticism of the school of St Victor. He thought that in this way he
would equally guard against the folly of the old scholasticism, and the
seductions of such Averroistic pantheism as was preached by heretics
like Amalric of Bena. His plans for the reformation of university
studies may be learned from his _Tract. de examinatione doctrinarum_
(Opp. i. 7), _Epistolae de reform, theol._ (i. 121), _Epistolae ad
studentes Collegii Navarrae, quid et qualiter studere debeat novus
theologiae auditor, et contra curiositatem studentium_ (i. 106), and
_Lectiones duae contra vanam curiositatem in negotio fidei_ (i. 86). The
study of the Bible and of the fathers was to supersede the idle
questions of the schools, and in his _Tract. contra romantiam de rosa_
(iii. 297) he warns young men against the evil consequences of
romance-reading. He was oftentimes weary of the chancellorship,--it
involved him in strife and in money difficulties; he grew tired of
public life, and longed for learned leisure. To obtain it he accepted
the deanery of Bruges from the duke of Burgundy, but after a short
sojourn he returned to Paris and to the chancellorship.
Gerson's chief work was what he did to destroy the great schism. Gregory
XI. had died in 1378, one year after Gerson went to the college of
Navarre, and since his death the church had had two popes, which to the
medieval mind meant two churches and a divided Christ. The schism had
practically been brought about by France. The popes had been under
French influence so long that it appeared to France a political
necessity to have her own pope, and pious Frenchmen felt themselves
somewhat responsible for the sins and scandals of the schism. Hence the
melancholy piety of Gerson, Pierre d'Ailly and their companions, and the
energy with which they strove to bring the schism to an end. During the
lifetime of Clement VII. the university of Paris, led by Pierre d'Ailly,
Gerson and Nicolas of Clamenges,[1] met in deliberation about the state
of Christendom, and resolved that the schism could be ended in three
ways,--by cession, if both popes renounced the tiara unconditionally, by
arbitration or by a general council. Clement died. The king of France,
urged by the university, sent orders that no new pope should be elected.
The cardinals first elected, and then opened the letter. In the new
elections, however, both at Rome and Avignon, the influence of Paris was
so much felt that each of the new popes swore to "cede" if his rival
would do so also.
Meanwhile in 1395 the national assembly of France and the French clergy
adopted the programme of the university--cession or a general council.
The movement gathered strength. In 1398 most of the cardinals and most
of the crowned heads in Europe had given their adhesion to the plan.
During this period Gerson's literary activity was untiring, and the
throb of public expectancy, of hope and fear, is revealed in his
multitude of pamphlets. At first there were hopes of a settlement by way
of cession. These come out in _Protest, super statum ecclesiae_ (ii. 1),
_Tract. de modo habendi se tempore schismatis_, _De schismate_, &c. But
soon the conduct of the popes made Europe impatient, and the desire for
a general council grew strong--see _De concilio generali unius
obedientiae_ (ii. 24). The council was resolved upon. It was to meet at
Pisa, and Gerson poured forth tract after tract for its guidance. The
most important are--_Trilogus in materia schismatis_ (ii. 83), and _De
unitate Ecclesiae_ (ii. 113), in which, following Pierre d'Ailly (see
Tschackert's _Peter v. Ailli_, p. 153), Gerson demonstrates that the
ideal unity of the church, based upon Christ, destroyed by the popes,
can only be restored by a general council, supreme and legitimate,
though unsummoned by a pope. The council met, deposed both antipopes,
and elected Alexander V. Gerson was chosen to address the new pope on
the duties of his office. He did so in his _Sermo coram Alexandro Papa
in die ascensionis in concilio Pisano_ (ii. 131). All hopes of
reformation, however, were quenched by the conduct of the new pope. He
had been a Franciscan, and loved his order above measure. He issued a
bull which laid the parish clergy and the universities at the mercy of
the mendicants. The great university of Paris rose in revolt, headed by
her chancellor, who wrote a fierce pamphlet--_Censura professorum in
theologia circa bullam Alexandri V._ (ii. 442). The pope died soon
after, and one of the most profligate men of that time, Pope John XXIII.
(Baldassare Cossa), was elected his successor. The council of Pisa had
not brought peace; it had only added a third pope. Pierre d'Ailly
despaired of general councils (see his _De difficultate reformationis in
concilio universali_), but Gerson struggled on. Another matter too had
roused him. The feuds between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy had
long distracted France. The duke of Orleans had been treacherously
murdered by the followers of the duke of Burgundy, and a theologian,
Jean Petit (c. 1360-1411), had publicly and unambiguously justified the
murder. His eight verities, as he called them--his apologies for the
murder--had been, mainly through the influence of Gerson, condemned by
the university of Paris, and by the archbishop and grand inquisitor,
and his book had been publicly burned before the cathedral of Notre
Dame. Gerson wished a council to confirm this sentence. His literary
labours were as untiring as ever. He maintained in a series of tracts
that a general council could depose a pope; he drew up indictments
against the reigning pontiffs, reiterated the charges against Jean
Petit, and exposed the sin of schism--in short, he did all he could to
direct the public mind towards the evils in the church and the way to
heal them. His efforts were powerfully seconded by the emperor
Sigismund, and the result was the council of Constance (see CONSTANCE,
COUNCIL OF). Gerson's influence at the council was supreme up to the
election of a new pope. It was he who dictated the form of submission
and cession made by John XXIII., and directed the process against Huss.
Many of Gerson's biographers have found it difficult to reconcile his
proceedings against Huss with his own opinions upon the supremacy of the
pope; but the difficulty has arisen partly from misunderstanding
Gerson's position, partly from supposing him to be the author of a
famous tract--_De modis uniendi ac reformandi Ecclesiam in concilio
universali_. All Gerson's high-sounding phrases about the supremacy of a
council were meant to apply to some time of emergency. He was
essentially a trimmer, and can scarcely be called a reformer, and he
hated Huss with all the hatred the trimmer has of the reformer. The
three bold treatises, _De necessitate reformationis Ecclesiae_, _De
modis uniendi ac reformandi Ecclesiam_, and _De difficultate
reformationis in concilio universali_, long ascribed to Gerson, were
proved by Schwab in his _Johannes Gerson_ not to be his work, and have
since been ascribed to Abbot Andreas of Randuf, and with more reason to
Dietrich of Nieheim (see NIEM, DIETRICH OF).
The council of Constance, which revealed the eminence of Gerson, became
in the end the cause of his downfall. He was the prosecutor in the case
of Jean Petit, and the council, overawed by the duke of Burgundy, would
not affirm the censure of the university and archbishop of Paris.
Petit's justification of murder was declared to be only a moral and
philosophical opinion, not of faith. The utmost length the council would
go was to condemn one proposition, and even this censure was annulled by
the new pope, Martin V., on a formal pretext. Gerson dared not return to
France, where, in the disturbed state of the kingdom, the duke of
Burgundy was in power. He lay hid for a time at Constance and then at
Rattenberg in Tirol, where he wrote his famous book _De consolatione
theologiae_. On returning to France he went to Lyons, where his brother
was prior of the Celestines. It is said that he taught a school of boys
and girls in Lyons, and that the only fee he exacted was to make the
children promise to repeat the prayer, "Lord, have mercy on thy poor
servant Gerson." His later years were spent in writing books of mystical
devotion and hymns. He died at Lyons on the 12th of July 1429. Tradition
declares that during his sojourn there he translated or adapted from the
Latin a work upon eternal consolation, which afterwards became very
famous under the title of _The Imitation of Christ_, and was attributed
to Thomas a Kempis. It has, however, been proved beyond a doubt that the
famous _Imitatio Christi_ was really written by Thomas, and not by John
Gerson or the abbot Gerson.
The literature on Gerson is very abundant. See Dupin, _Gersoniana_,
including _Vita Gersoni_, prefixed to the edition of Gerson's works in
5 vols, fol., from which quotations have here been made; Charles
Schmidt, _Essai sur Jean Gerson, chancelier de l'Universite de Paris_
(Strassburg, 1839); J. B. Schwab, _Johannes Gerson_ (Wurzburg, 1859);
H. Jadart, _Jean Gerson, son origine, son village natal et sa familie_
(Reims, 1882). On the relations between Gerson and D'Ailly see Paul
Tschackert, _Peter von Ailli_ (Gotha, 1877). On Gerson's public life
see also histories of the councils of Pisa and Constance, especially
Herm. v. der Hardt, _Con. Constantiensis libri iv._ (1695-1699). The
best editions of his works are those of Paris (3 vols., 1606) and
Antwerp (5 vols., 1706). See also Ulysse Chevalier, _Repertoire des
sources hist. Bio-bibliographie_ (Paris, 1905, &c.), s.v. "Gerson."
(T. M. L.; X.)