Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/477

 GENOA

419

GENOA

into the Church, he entered Douai College, was or- dained priest in 1607, and the following year was sent upon the English mission. Here he conceived a de- sire for the restoration of the English province of Franciscans, and sought out Father William Staney, the commissary of the English friars, and from him received the habit, either in 1610 or 1614 (the date is uncertain). After this, he went for a time to a con- vent of the order at Ypres, in Flanders, where he was joined by several English companions, amongst whom was Christopher Davenport, known in religion as Franciscus a Sancta Clara, afterwards a famous con- troversialist. Thus was the foundation of a new English province laid, and Father William Staney, recognizing the zeal of John Gennings, now gave into his hands the seal of the old province of the English Observants.

Gennings next proceeded to procure a house for the English friars at Gravelines, but in 1618 he obtained leave from the minister general to establish a settle- ment at Douai. As a matter of fact, most of the friars who had joined Gennings were alumni of Douai College, and in transferring their residence to that town he hopetl to obtain a continuous supply of re- cruits. The work of restoring the English province was definitely confided to him by the general chapter of 161S, and he was nominated "Vicar of England". To assist him in the work of restoration, the commis- sary general of the Belgian nation was empowered to gather together all the English and Scotch friars from any province in the order. A decree of the same gen- eral chapter placed the English Poor Clares of Grave- lines under the jurisdiction of the English friars. In 1625, the number of English friars having greatly in- creased, Gennings sent Father Franciscus a Sancta Clara to Rome to plead that the English province be canonically established. The request was granted with the simple restriction that the superior of the province should not assume the title of provincial, but that of custos; but, in 1629, this restriction was taken away and Friar John Gennings was appointed minister provincial. The first chapter of the new province was held at Brussels in Advent of the same year, in the convent of the English sisters of the third order, which Gennings had himself founded in 1619. This com- munity of tertiary sisters has continued to the present time, and is now established at Taunton, in England, with a branch house at Woodchester. Father John Gennings was re-elected provincial in 1634, and again in 1643.

Mason, Certamen Seraphicum Provincice Anglice (Douai, 1649; Quaracchi, 1S85); Ch.\lloner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests: A.P., Collectanea Anglo- Minoritica (London, 1726); Th.iddeus, The Franciscans in England (London, 1898).

Father Cuthbert.

Genoa, Archdiocese of (Januensis),, in Liguria, Northern Italy. The city is situated on the gulf of the same name, extends along the lowest ridges of the Ligurian .\pennines, which sweep around the gulf, be- tween the mouths of the Polcevera and the Bisagno, and is protected from the inroads of these waters by the Punta della Lanterna and t he Punta del Carignano. The bay forms a natural harbour secured against storms by the promontory of Portofino, which acts as a breakwater. Two piers (the smaller one begun in 1133) were necessary to break the force of the tide during storms. Its favourable position has made Genoa the largest trade centre on the Mediterranean. It is also a naval fortress with a chain of defences about ten miles in length.

In 20.5 B. c, Mago the Carthaginian landed there with a large army, and sacked the town for its sym- pathy with Rome, the rest of Liguria supporting" the Carthaginians. From the end of the Second Punic War, Genoa belonged to Rome. After the Lombard invasion, it remained subject to Byzantium, like nearly all the maritime towns of Italy. In a. d. 641 King

Rotari, in his expedition along the coast of Liguria, sacked Genoa, and carried off immense booty. It was later incorporated in the Lombard kingdom, probably under Charlemagne, becoming part of the March of Obertenga. In 935, it was surprised and sacked by the Saracens, but the Genoese fleet followed up the enemy and defeated them near the island of Asinara. In lOOS, the Saracens came for the third time. Mean- while the trade and enterprise of Genoa had steadily increased, and now rivalled that of Pisa, in those early times its friendly neighbour. In 1016, they drove the Arab chief Mogalied from Sardinia. In 1052, the town organized itself into a commune, and was gov- erned by consuls and a podesta (mayor) ; in 1258, how- ever, the control was divided between the podesta and a "captain of the people", a condition which lasted till 1310. From 1339 to 1797, except when the rule was in the hands of foreigners, the city was governed by doges chosen from the principal families, at first for lite, but after 1528 for periods of two years.

In 10S7, the Genoese and Pisans captured Almadia and Subeila in Africa. In the First Crusade their fleet transported the crusading armies to the Holy Land, secured many ports in Syria and Palestine for the Christians, and, in return for their services, they were granted important commercial privileges among the Christian principalities of the East. Together with the Pisans they aided Innocent II to put down the schism of Anacletus, and, as a reward, the pope divided between the two municipalities the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, retaining, however, his own overlordship. In 1147, they took .\lmeria and Tor- tosa, in Spain, from the Moors. The threatening atti- tude of Genoa forced Frederick Barbarossa to recognize all its liberties and possessions; hence, until the reign of Frederick II, it remained friendly to the imperial cause, and even assisted in the attack on Sicily. In 1240, however, the Genoese refused to do homage to Frederick II, and, in 1241, they lent their fleet to trans- port the northern prelates to the council convened by Gregory IX, but were pursued and defeated between the islands of II Giglio and Monte Cristo by the Pisans, the allies of the emperor. In 1244, Innocent IV took refuge in Genoa. The commercial favour shown by the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-60) to- wards the Venetians enabled the latter to defeat the Genoese at St-Jean d'Acre and on the high .seas, in 1257 and 1258 respectively. In 1261, the Genoese took their revenge by assisting Michael Palseologus to reconquer Constantinople, and obtained from him Smyrna and Pera, and the monopoly of trade in the Black Sea. They developed markets rapidly on the shores of this sea, the principal one being Caffa, and carried on a brisk trade, exporting mainly wine, oil, woollens, and silks, and importing skins, furs, corn, Persian stuffs, etc. For the government of these colo- nies, a general consulate of the empire of Gazaria was established.

A bitter war now began between the rival cities of Genoa and Pisa. From 1262 to 1267, five naval bat- tles (Settepozzi, Durazzo, Trapani, Tyre, and St-Jean d'Acre) were fought, in which Genoa was generally the loser. St. Louis IX of France sought to establish peace on a firm footing (Cremona, 1270) ; but a revolt in Corsica, stirred up by the Pisans, soon led to another war (1282-1284), which ended in the utter defeat of the Pisans near the island of Meloria. Soon the old rivalry with Venice was renewed, and the scene of the conflict shifted to the East. At Laiazzo, on the coast of Armenia, the Genoese were victorious (1294); the Venetians retaliated by destroying the Genoese quar- ter of Galato (1296), but in 1298 Lamba Doria (founder of the Doria family, famous in the annals of Genoa) totally destroyed the Venetian fleet at Curzola. Both rivals being now weakened, Henry VII (1311) easily obtained from the Genoese the right to govern them for twenty years, and a promise of help against