Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/808

Rh 776 M E D M E D ance of about 250 students. In 1880-81 only 0-56 per cent, of the recruits in Mecklenburg-Schwerin were unable to read and write their names, while all the recruits in Mecklenburg-Strelitz were able to do both. The pre dominant confession in Mecklenburg is the Lutheran, which is professed by both the grand-dukes. The propor tion of lloman Catholics, Jews, and members of the Re formed Church is insignificant. The ultimate spiritual authority is exercised by consistories at Schwerin and Strelitz. Mecklenburg also contains a fair share of learned societies and benevolent institutions. The supreme court of appeal for both duchies, in all criminal and civil cases, 13 at Ixostock. The population of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1861 was 548,449; in 1871, 557,707; in 1875, 553,785; and in 1880, 577,055. The capital is Schwerin (30,146 inhabi tants), but the most important town is Rostock (36,967 inhabitants). The population of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1861 was 99,060; in 1871, 96,982; in 1875, 95,673; in 1880,100,269. The chief town is Neu-Strelitz. About 71 per cent, of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits. The proportion of the rural to the urban popu lation is as 3 to 1, or exactly the reverse ratio to that in the neighbouring Prussia. The peasantry of Mecklenburg still retain numerous traces of their Slavonic origin, especially in their speech, but thsir peculiarities have been much modified by amalgamation with the German colonists who settled within this district at various times. The townspeople and nobility are almost wholly of Saxon strain. The slow rate of increase in the population of Mecklenburg is chiefly accounted for by the constant stream of emigration. Between 1870 and 1880 the two duchies contributed in the highest proportion to the emigration from Germany. Out of 595,151 German emigrants who sailed from Bremen, Hamburg, Stettin, and Antwerp within that period, 24,870 came from Mecklenburg- Schwerin and 2481 from Mecklenburg-Strelitz, represent ing respectively 4 38 and 2 52 per 1000 inhabitants as the yearly average. Probably another cause of the slow growth of population is to be sought for in the difficulties thrown in the way of the marriage of the peasants by the semi- feudal character of their tenure. It is a significant fact that in 1880 the proportion of illegitimate births in the two duchies amounted to 14 per cent, as compared with 9 per cent, in the entire German empire. History. The Vandals, who in the time of Tacitus occupied the region now known as Mecklenburg, were succeeded in the 6th cen tury by a Slavonic race. Though partly conquered by Charlemagne in 789, this people soon regained their independence, and long offered a successful resistance to all attempts on the part of the German emperors to overcome and Christianize them. At last, in 1160, Duke Henry of Saxony made himself master of the country. The native prince was, however, permitted to retain las sovereignty, and lias transmitted to his descendants and successors of the present day the distinction of being the only ruling princes of Slavonic origin in Germany. In 1160 he was raised by the emperor Frederick I. to the dignity of a prince of the empire. From 1202 till 1227 Mecklenburg was under Danish supremacy ; and in 1229, two years after its restoration to Germany, there occurred the first of a long series of divisions of the territory, which, with subsequent reunions, constitute so much of its complicated history. In 1348 Charles IV. made Mecklenburg a duchy. In 1523 the trials and commotions springing from the rivalry and jealousy of two joint rulers incited the prelates, nobility, and burghers to form a union among them selves, the effects of which are visible to the present day, most prominently in the existence of the common Landes-Union. The Reformation was welcomed by the inhabitants of Mecklenburg in 1524 ; and about 1555 nearly all the monasteries were suppressed. In 1621, when a new partition took place, the town of Rostock &quot;with its university and high court&quot; was declared to be held in common. The diet also retained its joint character, and henceforth alternated between Sternberg and Malchin. In the Thirty Years War both Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Giistrow as the parts were then called incurred the suspicion of the emperor, who secretly sold them to Wallenstein, and expelled the dukes in his behalf. They were reinstated, how ever, by Gustavus Adolphus, and at the peace of Prague in 1635 they both made their peace with the emperor. At the peace of Westphalia Rostock and some other parts of Mecklenburg terri tory were given in pledge to Sweden, and they were not redeemed till 1803. The sufferings of the Mecklenburg peasantry during the Thirty Years War were exceeded in no other part of sorely-tried Germany. Most were reduced to serfdom through poverty ; in some cases whole villages utterly vanished. In 1695 the Mecklenburg- Giistrow line became extinct ; and, after some contention betsveen the brother and the nephew of the last duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin for the vacant succession, the &quot;Hamburg Division&quot; (March 8, 1701) apportioned to each shares that are represented by the present duchies. The affixes Schwerin and Strelitz are derived from the capital towns of the two dukes. Mecklenburg-Schwerin began its new independent existence by a series of constitutional struggles between its nobility and its rulers. The heavy debt incurred by Charles Leopold, who had joined Russia in a war against Sweden, brought matters to such a pitch that in 1728 the emperor Charles VI. deposed the duke in favour of his, brother Christian Louis. Under this prince, the &quot;Rostock Con tract, &quot; which is still the basis of the constitution, was framed in 1755. During the Seven Years War Mecklenburg-Schwerin assumed a hostile attitude towards Frederick the Great, and was in conse quence occupied by Prussian troops. In 1806 it was overrun by the French, and in 1808 it joined the confederation of the Rhine, The duke, however, though he assisted Napoleon in 1812, was the first member of the confederation to renounce it, and in the following year his troops fought against France and Denmark. On joining the Germanic confederation he assumed the title of grand- duke, with the style of royal highness. In and after 1848 the duchy witnessed a considerable agitation in favour of a new and more liberal constitution, but the subsequent reaction rescinded all the concessions that had been made, and reduced matters to their former feudal condition. In 1819 and 1820 serfdom and personal bondage were abolished, and various slight ameliorations of the state of the peasantry have since been introduced. Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy by an &quot; Agnitions-Act&quot; in 1755. In 1806 it was spared the inflic tion of a French occupation through the interest of the king of Bavaria ; but in 1813 it was mulcted in the sum of two million thalers for the French army. In 1808 it entered the Rhenish con federation, but repudiated it in 1813 and joined the alliance against Napoleon. In 1815 the duke assumed the title of grand-duke. Authorities. Boll, Geschiclite Mecklenburg*, 1855 ; Kizze, Yolksuirthschciftliche- Zustande in Mecklenburg, 1861; Boll, Abriss der Mickletiburgvr Landeskunde ; Boger, Topographisches Handbuch f.d, Grossherzogthiimer Mecklenburg-Schwerin und Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Kiel, 1881 ; the official Staatskulender, published annually; the JSeitrtige zur Statistik Meckltnburgs, published by the Statistical Office at Schwerin; Jahrbiicher def Vereins fiir Mick.enburgische Qeschirhte, 18:j(&amp;gt;-1882. For the recent constitutional struggles seethe ariousvorksofil_ Wiggers, the most prominent leader of the democratic parly. (J. F. M.) MEDALS. See NUMISMATICS. MEDEA, the daughter of JEetes, king of the Colcliians, who were believed to be of Egyptian descent (Herod., ii. 104), and are said to have found a settlement on the east of the Euxine and to the south of the Caucasus. Medea was one of the &quot; wise women &quot; (witches or sorceresses) of antiquity, and perhaps, like Helen, was a human embodi ment of some goddess connected with Eastern element- worship, possibly with Hera. For the story of her love for Jason the Argonaut, and of the revenge she took for his desertion of her for another bride, a Corinthian princess, Glauce, daughter of Creon, see ARGOXAUTS and JASON. A more interesting inquiry is the origin of the tale, and its. connexion with solar myths. The legend of the Argonautic expedition is a very ancient one. It is alluded to in the Odyssey (xii. 70), in more than one passage of ^Eschylus, 1 and is given at some length in the fourth Pythian ode of Pindar, the close agreement of which with the Alexandrine compilation by Apolloniua PJiodius, entitled Argonaufica, in four books, shows that, according to the general law of mythology, the main features of the legend differed but little. The- original story, it is probable, was contained in a still older epic poem called 17 Miwas 71-01770-19, the authorship of hich was ascribed to Prodicus of Phocsea. 2 The &quot;Golden Fleece,&quot; in quest of which the adventurers 1 HP alludes to Phineus and the Lemnia facinora (Eum. 50 ; Cho. 620), and there were plays composed by him on both these subjects. 2 Pausan., iv. 33, 7. He quotes from it two hexameter verses in x. 2S, 2.