Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/611

Rh These forms, when materialized, are called formce substantialcs or formre nalizvm ; they are the essences of things, and in themselves have no relation to the acci- dents 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.

1em  GILBERT, undefined (c.–), founder of the order of Gilbertines (Ordo Gilbertinorum Canoni- corum, Ordo Sempringensis), was born about at Sempringham, Lincolnshire, where his father, Jocelyn de Sempringhmn, a Norman noble who had taken part in the Conquest, had settled. On the completion of a liberal education, received partly in England and partly in France, Gilbert was ordained a priest in, having been presented by his father to the united livings of Sempringham and 'l‘irington. About he established in the immediate vicinity of his parish church a religious house for the reception of some destitute girls; the rule he prescribed was substantially that of St Benedict, but the restrictions laid upon the communication of the inmates with the outer world were unusually severe. Subsequently the labourers who tilled the lands with which this establishment had been endowed were also formed into a religious community, under a rule resem- bling that of the Austin Friars, their house being placed close beside that of the nuns. Similar institutions elsewhere were encouraged by various English proprietors, and placed under the superintendence of Gilbert, who at last made application to Pope Eugenius III. to have them all merged in the Cistercian order. This request, however, was refused, and Gilbert continued to act as superior of the monasteries he had founded for many years; although at the time of his death, on the 3d of February, that dignity was held by toger, one of his disciples. In the Gilbertines are said to have possessed thirteen monasteries, with almshouses, hospitals, and orphanages attached; and the community numbered in all upwards of 700 male and 1100 female members. At the time of their suppression the total number of Gilbertine houses in England and Wales had increased to about twenty-ﬁve. Gilbert, who had sided and suffered with the church in the quarrels between Henry II. and Thomas a Becket, was canonized by Innocent III. in ; and his name is commemorated in the martyrologies on the 4th of February. The Gilbertinorum Statute and a series of Ex/zortalioncs ad Fratres are attributed to him (see the Bollandist -lcla Srmclormn, Feb. 4).  GILBERT ISLANDS. See.  GILDAS, or (c.–), the earliest of British historians, surnamed by some Sapiens, and by others Badonicus, seems to have been born in. Regarding him little certain is known, beyond some isolated particulars that maybe 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 and ; 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 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 eoclesiastic of some order or other. In addition, we learn that he went abroad, probably to France, in his thirty-fourth, where, after 10 of hesitation and preparation, he composed, about, 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 as the year of his death. The writings of Gildas have come down to us under the title of Giltlw Sapz'cnlis cle ExcidioL’rilannice Liber Querulus. Though at ﬁrst written consecutively, the work is now usually divided into three portions,—a preface, the history preper, 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 incur- sions 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 iuortigern (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 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 by the despairing Britons, commencing :—“ To Agitius (Aetius), consul for the third time, the groans of the Britons.”

1em  GILDING. the art of spreading or covering gold, either by mechanical or by chemical means, over the surface of a body for the purpose of ornament. The art of gilding was not unknown among 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 books of 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, \aults, and other parts of their dwellings. Owing to the compara-