OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gervase of Canterbury

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​GERVASE OF CANTERBURY (d. c. 1210), English monk and chronicler, entered the house of Christchurch, Canterbury, at an early age. He made his profession and received holy orders in 1163; but we have no further clue to the date of his birth. We know nothing of his life beyond what may be gathered from his own writings. Their evidence suggests that he died in or shortly after 1210, and that he had resided almost continuously at Canterbury from the time of his admission. The only office which we know him to have held is that of sacrist, which he received after 1190 and laid down before 1197. He took a keen interest in the secular quarrels of the Canterbury monks with their archbishops, and his earliest literary efforts were controversial tracts upon this subject. But from 1188 he applied his mind to historical composition. About that year he began the compilation of his Chronica, a work intended for the private reading of his brethren. Beginning with the accession of Stephen he continued his narrative to the death of Richard I. Up to 1188 he relies almost entirely upon extant sources; but from that date onwards is usually an independent authority. A second history, the Gesta Regum, is planned on a smaller scale and traces the fortunes of Britain from the days of Brutus to the year 1209. The latter part of this work, covering the years 1199–1209, is perhaps an attempt to redeem the promise, which he had made in the epilogue to the Chronica, of a continuation dealing with the reign of John. This is the only part of the Gesta which deserves much attention. The work was continued by various hands to the year 1328. From the Gesta the indefatigable Gervase turned to a third project, the history of the see of Canterbury from the arrival of Augustine to the death of Hubert Walter (1205). A topographical work, with the somewhat misleading title Mappa mundi, completes the list of his more important writings. The Mappa mundi contains a useful description of England shire by shire, giving in particular a list of the castles and religious houses to be found in each. The industry of Gervase was greater than his insight. He took a narrow and monastic view of current politics; he was seldom in touch with the leading statesmen of his day. But he appears to be tolerably accurate when dealing with the years 1188–1209; and sometimes he supplements the information provided by the more important chronicles.
See the introductions and notes in W. Stubbs’s edition of the Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls edition, 2 vols., 1879–1880). (H. W. C. D.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gerstenberg, Heinrich Wilhelm von

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​GERSTENBERG, HEINRICH WILHELM VON (1737–1823), German poet and critic, was born at Tondern in Schleswig on the 3rd of January 1737. After studying law at Jena he entered the Danish military service and took part in the Russian campaign of 1762. He spent the next twelve years in Copenhagen, where he was intimate with Klopstock. From 1775 to 1783 he represented Denmark’s interests as “Danish Resident” at Lübeck, and in 1786 received a judicial appointment at Altona, where he died on the 1st of November 1823. In the course of his long life Gerstenberg passed through many phases of his nation’s literature. He began as an imitator of the Anacreontic school (Tändeleien, 1759); then wrote, in imitation of Gleim, Kriegslieder eines dänischen Grenadiers (1762); with his Gedicht eines Skalden (1766) he joined the group of “bards” led by Klopstock. His Ariadne auf Naxos (1767) is the best cantata of the 18th century; he translated Beaumont and Fletcher’s Maid’s Tragedy (1767), and helped to usher in the Sturm und Drang period with a gruesome but powerful tragedy, Ugolino (1768). But he did perhaps even better service to the new literary movement with his Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur (1766–1770), in which the critical principles of the Sturm und Drang—and especially its enthusiasm for Shakespeare,—were first definitely formulated. In later life Gerstenberg lost touch with literature, and occupied himself mainly with Kant’s philosophy.
His Vermischte Schriften appeared in 3 vols. (1815). The Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur were republished by A. von Weilen (1888), and a selection of his poetry, including Ugolino, by R. Hamel, will be found in Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol. 48 (1884).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gerstäcker, Friedrich

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​GERSTÄCKER, FRIEDRICH (1816–1872), German novelist and writer of travels, was born at Hamburg on the 10th of May 1816, the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house he learnt farming in Saxony. In 1837, however, having imbibed from Robinson Crusoe a taste for adventure, he went to America and wandered over a large part of the United States, supporting himself by whatever work came to hand. In 1843 he returned to Germany, to find himself, to his great surprise, famous as an author. His mother had shown his diary, which he regularly ​sent home, and which contained descriptions of his adventures in the New World, to the editor of the Rosen, who published them in that periodical. These sketches having found favour with the public, Gerstäcker issued them in 1844 under the title Streif- und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten Nordamerikas. In 1845 his first novel, Die Regulatoren in Arkansas, appeared, and henceforth the stream of his productiveness flowed on uninterruptedly. From 1849 to 1852 Gerstäcker travelled round the world, visiting North and South America, Polynesia and Australia, and on his return settled in Leipzig. In 1860 he again went to South America, chiefly with a view to inspecting the German colonies there and reporting on the possibility of diverting the stream of German emigration in this direction. The result of his observations and experiences he recorded in Achtzehn Monate in Südamerika (1862). In 1862 he accompanied Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Egypt and Abyssinia, and on his return settled at Coburg, where he wrote a number of novels descriptive of the scenes he had visited. In 1867–1868 Gerstäcker again undertook a long journey, visiting North America, Venezuela and the West Indies, and on his return lived first at Dresden and then at Brunswick, where he died on the 31st of May 1872. His genial and straightforward character made him personally beloved; and his works, dealing as they did with the great world hitherto hidden from the narrow “parochialism” of German life, obtained an immense popularity. This was not due to any graces of style, in which they are singularly lacking; but the unstudied freshness of the author’s descriptions, and his sturdy humour, appealed to the wholesome instincts of the public. Many of his books were translated into foreign languages, notably into English, and became widely known on both sides of the Atlantic. His best works, from a literary point of view, are, besides the above-mentioned Regulatoren, his Flusspiraten des Mississippi (1848); the novel Tahiti (1854); his Australian romance Die beiden Sträflinge (1857); Aus dem Matrosenleben (1857); and Blau Wasser (1858). His Travels exist in an English translation.
Gerstäcker’s Gesammelte Schriften were published at Jena in 44 vols. (1872–1879); a selection, edited by D. Theden in 24 vols. (1889–1890). See A. Karl, Friedrich Gerstäcker, der Weitgereiste. Ein Lebensbild (1873).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gersonides, Levi

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​GERSONIDES, or Ben Gerson (Gershon), LEVI, known also as Ralbag (1288–1344), Jewish philosopher and commentator, was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, probably in 1288. As in the case of the other medieval Jewish philosophers little is known of his life. His family had been distinguished for piety and exegetical skill, but though he was known in the Jewish community by commentaries on certain books of the Bible, he never seems to have accepted any rabbinical post. Possibly the freedom of his opinions may have put obstacles in the way of his preferment. He is known to have been at Avignon and Orange during his life, and is believed to have died in 1344, though Zacuto asserts that he died at Perpignan in 1370. Part of his writings consist of commentaries on the portions of Aristotle then known, or rather of commentaries on the commentaries of Averroes. Some of these are printed in the early Latin editions of Aristotle’s works. His most important treatise, that by which he has a place in the history of philosophy, is entitled Milḥamoth ’Adonai (The Wars of God), and occupied twelve years in composition (1317–1329). A portion of it, containing an elaborate survey of astronomy as known to the Arabs, was translated into Latin in 1342 at the request of Clement VI. The Milḥamoth is throughout modelled after the plan of the great work of Jewish philosophy, the Moreh Nebuhīm of Moses Maimonides, and may be regarded as an elaborate criticism from the more philosophical point of view (mainly Averroistic) of the syncretism of Aristotelianism and Jewish orthodoxy as presented in that work. The six books pass in review (1) the doctrine of the soul, in which Gersonides defends the theory of impersonal reason as mediating between God and man, and explains the formation of the higher reason (or acquired intellect, as it was called) in humanity,—his view being thoroughly realist and resembling that of Avicebron; (2) prophecy; (3) and (4) God’s knowledge of facts and providence, in which is advanced the curious theory that God does not know individual facts, and that, while there is general providence for all, special providence only extends to those whose reason has been enlightened; (5) celestial substances, treating of the strange spiritual hierarchy which the Jewish philosophers of the middle ages accepted from the Neoplatonists and the pseudo-Dionysius, and also giving, along with astronomical details, much of astrological theory; (6) creation and miracles, in respect to which Gerson deviates widely from the position of Maimonides. Gersonides was also the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch and other exegetical and scientific works.
A careful analysis of the Milḥamoth is given in Rabbi Isidore Weil’s Philosophie religieuse de Lévi-Ben-Gerson (Paris, 1868). See also Munk, Mélanges de phil. juive et arabe; and Joel, Religionsphilosophie d. L. Ben-Gerson (1862). The Milḥamoth was published in 1560 at Riva di Trento, and has been published at Leipzig, 1866. (I. A.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gersoppa, Falls of

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​GERSOPPA, FALLS OF, a cataract on the Sharavati river in the North Kanara district of Bombay. The falls are considered the finest in India. The river descends in four separate cascades called the Raja or Horseshoe, the Roarer, the Rocket and the Dame Blanche. The cliff over which the river plunges is 830 ft. high, and the pool at the base of the Raja Fall is 132 ft. deep. The falls are reached by boat from Honavar, or by road from Gersoppa village, 18 m. distant. Near the village are extensive ruins (the finest of which is a cruciform temple) of Nagarbastikere, the capital of the Jain chiefs of Gersoppa. Their family was established in power in 1409 by the Vijayanagar kings, but subsequently became practically independent. The chieftaincy was several times held by women, and on the death of the last queen (1608) it collapsed, having been attacked by the chief of Bednur. Among the Portuguese the district was celebrated for its pepper, and they called its queen “Regina da pimenta” (queen of pepper).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Harbinger

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​HARBINGER, originally one who provides a shelter or lodging for an army. The word is derived from the M.E. and O.Fr. herbergere, through the Late Lat. heribergator, formed from the O.H.Ger. heri, mod. Ger. Heer, an army, and bergen, shelter or defence, cf. “harbour.” The meaning was soon enlarged to include any place where travellers could be lodged or entertained, and also by transference the person who provided lodgings, and so one who goes on before a party to secure suitable lodgings in advance. A herald sent forward to announce the coming of a king. A Knight Harbinger was an officer in the royal household till 1846. In these senses the word is now obsolete. It is used chiefly in poetry and literature for one who announces the immediate approach of something, a forerunner. This is illustrated in the “harbinger of spring,” a name given to a small plant belonging to the Umbelliferae, which has a tuberous root, and small white flowers; it is found in the central states of North America, and blossoms in March.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Haptara

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​HAPTARA (lit. conclusion), the Hebrew title given to the prophetic lessons with which the ancient Synagogue service concluded. In the time of Christ these prophetic lessons were already in vogue, and Christ himself read the lessons and discoursed on them in the synagogues of Galilee. In the modern synagogue these readings from the prophets are regularly included in the ritual of Sabbaths, festivals and some other occasions.
A list of the current lessons is given in the Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. vi. pp. 136-137. (I. A.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Haparanda

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​HAPARANDA (Finnish Haaparanta, “Aspen Shore”), a town of Sweden in the district (län) of Norbotten, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia. Pop. (1900) 1568. It lies about 11/2 m. from the mouth of the Torne river, on the frontier with Russia (Finland), opposite the town of Torneå which has belonged to Russia since 1809. The towns are divided by a marshy channel, formerly the bed of the Torne, but the main stream is now east of the Russian town. Haparanda was founded in 1812, and at first bore the name of Karljohannstad. It received its municipal constitution in 1842. Shipbuilding is prosecuted. Sea-going vessels load and unload at Salmio, 7 m. from Haparanda. Since 1859 the town has been the seat of an important meteorological station. Annual mean temperature, 32.4° Fahr.; February 10.5°; July 58.8°. Rainfall, 16.5 in. annually. Up the Torne valley (54 m.) is the hill Avasaxa, whither pilgrimages were formerly made in order to stand in the light of the sun at midnight on St John’s day (June 24).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hanwell

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​HANWELL, an urban district in the Brentford parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, 101/2 m. W. of St Paul’s cathedral, London, on the river Brent and the Great Western railway. Pop. (1891) 6139; (1901) 10,438. It ranks as an outer residential suburb of London. The Hanwell lunatic asylum of the county of London has been greatly extended since its erection 1831, and can accommodate over 2500 inmates. The extensive cemeteries of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, and St George, Hanover Square, London, are here. In the churchyard of St Mary’s church was buried Jonas Hanway (d. 1786), traveller, philanthropist, and by repute, introducer of the umbrella into England. The Roman Catholic Convalescent Home for women and children was erected in 1865. Before the Norman period the manor of Hanwell belonged to Westminster Abbey.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Harbin

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​HARBIN, or Kharbin, town of Manchuria, on the right bank of the river Sungari. Pop. about 20,000. Till 1896 there was only a small village here, but in that year the town was founded in connexion with surveys for the Chinese Eastern railway company, at a point which subsequently became the junction of the main line of the Manchurian railway with the branch line southward to Port Arthur. Occupying such a position, Harbin became an important Russian military centre during the Russo-Japanese War. The portion of the town founded in 1896 is called Old Harbin, but the centre has shifted to New Harbin, where the chief public buildings and offices of the railway administration are situated. The river-port forms a third division of the town, industrially the most important; here are railway workshops, factories and mercantile establishments. Trade is chiefly in the hands of the Chinese.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hapur

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​HAPUR, a town of British India in the Meerut district of the United Provinces, 18 m. S. of Meerut. Pop. (1901) 17,796. It is said to have been founded in the 10th century, and was granted by Sindhia to his French general Perron at the end of the 18th century. Several fine groves surround the town, but the wall and ditch have fallen out of repair, and only the names of the five gates remain. Considerable trade is carried on in sugar, grain, cotton, timber, bamboos and brass utensils.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Confessor

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​CONFESSOR, in the Christian Church, a word used in the two senses of (1) a person the holy character of whose life and death entitle him or her, in the judgment of the Church, to a peculiar reputation for sanctity, (2) a priest empowered to hear confessions.
(1) In the first sense the word confessor was in the early Church sometimes applied loosely to all martyrs, but more properly to those who, having suffered persecution and torture for the faith, were afterwards allowed to die in peace. The present sense of the word, as defined above, developed after the ages of persecution had passed. It came to be applied by custom, as did the predicate “Saint,” to the holy men of the past; e.g. Ecgberht, archbishop of York (Excerpt. cap. xxviii), speaks of “the holy fathers whom we have styled confessors, i.e. bishops and priests who have served God in chastity.” But, as in the case of “saint,” the right of declaring the holy dead to be “confessors” was ultimately reserved to the Holy See. The most celebrated instance of the formal bestowal of the style is that of King Edward of England, who was made a “Confessor” on his canonization by Pope Alexander III. in 1161, and has since been commonly known as Edward the Confessor.
(2) The confessor in the second sense is now termed in ecclesiastical Latin confessarius (med. Lat. confessare, to confess), to distinguish him from the “confessor” described above. The functions of the confessor are dealt with in the article Confession (q.v.). Here it need only be pointed out that though, in the Roman Catholic Church, the potestas ordinis of every priest includes the power of granting absolution, according to the established discipline of the Church, no priest can be a confessor, i.e. hear confessions, without a special faculty from his bishop. .
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Confiscation

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​CONFISCATION (from Lat. confiscare, to consign to the fiscus, or imperial treasury), in Roman law the seizure and transfer of private property to the fiscus by the emperor; hence the appropriation, under legal authority, of private property to the state; in English law the term embraces forfeiture (q.v.) in the case of goods, and escheat (q.v.) in the case of lands, for crime or in default of heirs (see also Eminent Domain). Goods may also be confiscated by the state for breaches of statutes relating to customs, excise or explosives. In the United States among the “war measures” during the Civil War, acts were passed in 1861 and 1862 confiscating, respectively, property used for “insurrectionary purposes” and the property generally of those engaged in rebellion. The word is used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, or of any seizure of property without adequate compensation.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Confolens

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​CONFOLENS, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Charente, 44 m. N .E. of Angoulême by rail. Pop. (1906) 2546. Confolens is situated on the banks of the Vienne at its confluence with the Goire. It is an ancient town, with steep narrow streets bordered by old houses. It possesses two bridges of the 15th century, remains of a castle of the 12th century, and two churches, one of the 11th, another of the 14th and 15th centuries. The subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance, and a communal college are among the public institutions. Flour, leather, laces and paper are its industrial products, and there is trade in timber and cattle.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Confession and Avoidance

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​CONFESSION AND AVOIDANCE, in pleading, the plea admitting that facts alleged in a declaration are true, but showing new facts by which it is hoped to destroy the effect of the allegations admitted. A plea in confession and avoidance neither simply admits nor merely denies; it admits that the facts alleged by the opposite party make out a good prima facie case or defence, but it proceeds to destroy the effect of these allegations either by showing some justification or excuse of the matter charged, or some discharge or release from it. All matter in confession and avoidance must be stated clearly and distinctly, and must be specific. If intended to apply to part only of a statement of claim, it must be so stated.