The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 118

(1738-1810).

CHANDOS, an English t.i.tle inherited by the Grenville family, of Norman origin.

CHANDOS, JOHN, a celebrated English general in the 14th century; was present at Crecy, governor of English provinces in France ceded by treaty of Bretigny; defeated and took prisoner Du Guesclin of Auray; served under the Black Prince, and was killed near Poitiers, 1369.

CHANGARNIER, NICOLAS, French general, born at Autun; distinguished himself in Algeria, was exiled after the _coup-d'etat_, returned in 1870, served in the Franco-German war; surrendered at Metz, at the close of the war came back, and a.s.sisted in reorganising the army (1793-1877).

CHANNEL, THE ENGLISH, an arm of the Atlantic between France and England, 280 m. long and 100 m. wide at the mouth; the French call it _La Manche_ (the sleeve) from its shape.

CHANNEL ISLANDS (92), a group of small islands off the NW. coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark; formerly part of the Duchy of Normandy, and now all that remains to Britain of her French dominions, being subject to it since 1066; have a delightful climate mild and bright, and varied and beautiful scenery; the soil is fertile; flowers and fruit are grown for export to Britain, also early potatoes for the London market; Guernsey pears and Jersey cows are famous; valuable quarries of granite are wrought; the language is Norman-French.

CHANNING, WILLIAM ELLERY, a Unitarian preacher and miscellaneous writer, born at Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.; a man of the most liberal sentiments, who shrank from being cla.s.sed with any sect; ranked high in point of moral character; was a vigorous thinker, and eloquent with the pen; "a man of faithful, long-continued striving towards what is Best"

(1780-1842).

CHANSON DE GESTES (i. e. Songs of Deeds), poems of a narrative kind much in favour in the Middle Ages, relating in a legendary style the history and exploits of some famous hero, such as the "Chanson de Roland," ascribed to Theroulde, a trouvere of the 9th century.

CHANTREY, SIR FRANCIS, an English sculptor, born in Derbys.h.i.+re; was apprenticed to a carver and gilder in Sheffield; displayed a talent for drawing and modelling; received a commission to execute a marble bust for the parish, church, which was so successful as to procure him further and further commissions; executed four colossal busts of admirals for Greenwich Hospital; being expert at portraiture, his busts were likenesses; executed busts of many of the most ill.u.s.trious men of the time, among them of Sir Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Southey, and Wellington, as well as of royal heads; made a large fortune, and left it for the encouragement of art (1781-1841).

CHANZY, a French general, born at Nouart, Ardennes; served in Algeria; commanded the army of the Loire in 1870-71; distinguished himself by his brilliant retreat from Mans to Laval; was afterwards Governor-General in Algeria; died suddenly, to the regret of his country (1823-1883).

CHAOS, a name in the ancient cosmogomy for the formless void out of which everything at first sprang into existence, or the wide-spread confusion that prevailed before it shaped itself into order under the breath of the spirit of life.

CHAPELAIN, a French poet, protege of Richelieu, born at Paris; composed a pretentious poem on Joan of Arc, ent.i.tled "Pucelle," which was laughed out of existence on the appearance of the first half, consisting of only 12 of the 24 books promised, the rest having never pa.s.sed beyond the MS. stage (1595-1674).

CHAPMAN, GEORGE, English dramatic poet, born at Hitchin, Hertfords.h.i.+re; wrote numerous plays, both in tragedy and comedy, as well as poems, of unequal merit, but his great achievement, and the one on which his fame rests, is his translation into verse of the works of Homer, which, though not always true to the letter, is instinct with somewhat of the freshness and fire of the original; his translation is reckoned the best yet done into English verse, and the best rendering into verse of any cla.s.sic, ancient or modern (1559-1634).

CHAPPELL, musical amateur, collector and editor of old English airs, and contributor to the history of English national music; was one of the founders of the Musical Hungarian Society, and the Percy Society (1809-1888).

CHAPTAL, a distinguished French chemist and statesman, born at Nogaret, Lozere; author of inventions in connection with the manufacture of alum and saltpetre, the bleaching and the dyeing of cotton; held office under Napoleon, and rendered great service to the arts and manufactures of his country (1756-1832).

CHARCOT, JEAN MARTIN, a French pathologist; made a special study of nervous diseases, including hypnotism, and was eminent for his works in connection therewith (1823-1893).

CHARDIN, SIR JOHN, traveller, born in Paris; author of "Travels in India and Persia," valuable for their accuracy (1643-1713).

CHARENTE (360), a dep. of France, W. of the Gironde, capital Angouleme; with vast chestnut forests; produces wines, mostly distilled into brandy.

CHARENTE-INFeRIEURE (456), a maritime dep. of France, W. of the former; includes the islands of Rhe, Oleron, Aix, and Madame; capital, La Roch.e.l.le.

CHARIVA'RI, a satirical journal, such as the English _Punch_; originally a discordant mock serenade.

CHARLEMAGNE i. e. Charles or Karl the Great, the first Carlovingian king of the Franks, son and successor of Pepin le Bref (the Short); became sole ruler on the death of his brother Carloman in 771; he subjugated by his arms the southern Gauls, the Lombards, the Saxons, and the Avares, and conducted a successful expedition against the Moors in Spain, with the result that his kingdom extended from the Ebro to the Elbe; having pa.s.sed over into Italy in support of the Pope, he was on Christmas Day 800 crowned Emperor of the West, after which he devoted himself to the welfare of his subjects, and proved himself as great in legislation as in arms; enacted laws for the empire called capitularies, reformed the judicial administration, patronised letters, and established schools; kept himself in touch and _au courant_ with everything over his vast domain; he died and was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle (742-814).

CHARLEROI (21), a manufacturing town in Hainault, Belgium, 35 m. SE.

of Brussels.

CHARLES II., surnamed THE BALD, son of Louis "le Debonnaire"; after conquering his brother Lothaire at Fontenoy in 841, became by the treaty of Verdun king of France, 843; was unable to defend his kingdom against the Normans; went to Italy, and had himself crowned emperor at Rome: _d_. 877.

CHARLES III., surnamed THE SIMPLE, became king of France in 893; his reign one long struggle against the Normans, which ended by conceding Normandy to Rollo; was conquered by Hugh Capet, a rival for the crown, at Soissons, and dethroned in 922; died in captivity, 929.

CHARLES IV., THE FAIR, third son of Philip the Fair, king of France from 1322 to 1328; lost to France Guienne, which was taken from him by the English; was the last of the Capetians; _d_. 1328.

CHARLES V., THE WISE, son of John II., king of France from 1361 to 1380; recovered from the English almost all the provinces they had conquered, successes due to his own prudent policy, and especially the heroism of Du Guesclin, De Clisson, and De Boucicaut; France owed to him important financial reforms, the extension of privileges to the universities, and the establishment of the first national library, into which were gathered together thousands of MSS.; the Bastille was founded in his reign.

CHARLES VI., THE WELL-BELOVED, king of France from 1380 to 1422, was son and successor of Charles V.; began his reign under the guardians.h.i.+p of his uncles, who rifled the public treasury and provoked rebellion by their exactions; gained a victory at Rossbach over the Flemings, then in revolt, and a little after dismissed his uncles and installed in their stead the wise councillors of his father, whose sage, upright, and beneficent administration procured for him the t.i.tle of "Well-Beloved," a state of things, however, which did not last long, for the hara.s.sments he had been subjected to drove him insane, and his kingdom, torn in pieces by rival factions, was given over to anarchy, and fell by treaty of Troyes almost entirely into the hands of the English conquerors at Agincourt (1368-1422).

CHARLES VII., THE VICTORIOUS, son of Charles VI., became king of France in 1422; at his accession the English held possession of almost the whole country, and he indolently made no attempt to expel them, but gave himself up to effeminate indulgences; was about to lose his whole patrimony when the patriotism of the nation woke up at the enthusiastic summons of Joan of Arc; her triumphs and those of her a.s.sociates weakened the English domination, and even after her death the impulse she gave continued to work, till at the end of 20 years the English were driven out of France, and lost all they held in it except the town of Calais, along with Havre, and Guines Castle (1403-1461).

CHARLES VIII., king of France, son and successor of Louis XI.; during his minority the kingdom suffered from the turbulence and revolts of the n.o.bles; married Anne of Brittany, heiress of the rich duchy of that name, by which it was added to the crown of France; sacrificed the interests of his kingdom by war with Italy to support the claims of French princes to the throne of Naples, which, though successful in a military point of view, proved politically unfruitful (1470-1498).

CHARLES IX., second son of Henry II. and Catharine de' Medici, became king of France in 1560; the civil wars of the Huguenots and Catholics fill up this reign; the first war concluded by the peace of Amboise, during which Francis of Guise was a.s.sa.s.sinated; the second concluded by the peace of Longjumeau, during which Montmorency fell; the third concluded by the peace of St. Germain, in which Conde and Moncontour fell, which peace was broken by the ma.s.sacre of St.

Bartholomew, into the perpetration of which Charles was inveigled by his mother and the Guises; incensed at this outrage the Huguenots commenced a fourth war, and were undertaking a fifth when Charles died, haunted by remorse and in dread of the infinite terror (1550-1574).

CHARLES X., brother of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII., the latter of whom he succeeded on the throne of France in 1824; was unpopular in France as Duc d'Artois in the time of the Revolution, and had to flee the country at the outbreak of it, and stayed for some time as an exile in Holyrood, Edinburgh; on his accession he became no less unpopular from his adherence to the old regime; at an evil hour in 1830 he issued ordinances in defiance of all freedom, and after an insurrection of three days in the July of that year had again to flee; abdicating in favour of his son, found refuge for a time again in Holyrood, and died at Gortz in his eightieth year (1757-1837).

CHARLES V., (I. of Spain), emperor of Germany, son of Philip, Archduke of Austria, born at Ghent; became king of Spain in 1516, on the death of his maternal grandfather Ferdinand, and emperor of Germany in 1519 on the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I., being crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1520; reigned during one of the most important periods in the history of Europe; the events of the reign are too numerous to detail; enough to mention his rivalry with Francis I. of France, his contention as a Catholic with the Protestants of Germany, the inroads of the Turks, revolts in Spain, and expeditions against the pirates of the Mediterranean; the ambition of his life was the suppression of the Protestant Reformation and the succession of his son Philip to the Imperial crown; he failed in both; resigned in favour of his son, and retired into the monastery of St. Yuste, in Estremadura, near which he built a magnificent retreat, where, it is understood, notwithstanding his apparent retirement, he continued to take interest in political affairs, and to advise in the management of them (1500-1558).

CHARLES VI., emperor of Germany from 1711 to 1740, as well as king of Spain from 1703, was son of the Emperor Leopold I., and father of Maria Theresa.