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GOTTERD AMME RUNG

785

GOUGH

organized into a highly paid, separate army. These Goths, who became part of the Roman empire, had for the most part become Christians, probably because of the 40 years' labor among them of the apostle Wulfila, himself a Goth. After the death of the able Emperor Theodosius (395), the Visigoths rose in rebellion under their young king, Alaric. Though held somewhat in check by Stilicho, on the death of that great general Rome was three times besieged. Twice the city was saved by agreeing to Alaric's terms, but the third time it was given up to plunder. The whole nation, not merely the army, had followed Alaric in his wars, and, when his death made the conquest of Italy seem impracticable, they migrated to southern Gaul and soon spread over nearly the whole of Spain. The Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse, as it was called, was founded in 418, and came to include the greater part of Spain, Provence and all of Gaul south of the Loire and west of the Rhone. The most noteworthy happening in the history of this kingdom was the great battle in 451 near Troyes, often called the battle of Chalons, in which the Visigoths, under their king, Theodoric I, joined with the Romans and Franks in crushing the Huns under Attila. This battle destroyed the Hunnish empire and kept Europe from being overrun by these savage hordes. In 507 the battle of Voclad was won by the Franks under Clovis, and the Visigoths were forced beyond the Pyrenees. The great Ostro-gothic emperor, Theodoric, and his general, Theudis, for a time really ruled the Visigoths, and afterward the only king of importance was Leovigild, who made Toledo ids capital, and conquered Portugal and the northeastern part of Spain. All we know of Rpderic, "the last of the Goths," so famous in story, is that he was defeated in 711 on the banks of the Guadalete by the Moorish invaders. Under the pressure of the Moorish yoke all the Christians on the peninsula became united into one nation, when the Goths were no longer heard cf as a people; but the Spanish nobles have always claimed to be descendants of the Goths. The Ostrogoths, who had been overthrown by the Huns in the 4th century, adopted the wandering life of their conquerors and formed part of the vast horde which followed Attila the Hun to Gaul. When the Hunnish empire fell, they became independent and Fettled near Vienna. They soon became xhe mercenaries or hired soldiers of the ^eastern empire. But later, driven by famine, they migrated to the southeast, ravaging Mcesia and Thrace. In 474 the young Theodoric, who when a boy, had been sent to Constantinople as a hostage and had there been educated as a Roman noble, became king of the Ostrogoths. After 14 years of warring, he was given per-

mission to conquer Italy from the usurper Odoacer. The whole nation, numbering probably a quarter of a million, followed him on his five years' conquest. Theodorie's long reign as ruler of Rome till his death in 526 was one of the ablest and best in Roman history. But under the eastern emperor, Justinian, the generals, Belisarius and Narses, reconquered Italy. The Goths fought their last battle at Mons Lactarius, near Vesuvius, in 552. Narses allowed the defeated army to march out of Italy, and what became of it is unknown. The Ostrogoths had ceased to be a nation.

The Gothic language belongs to the east Germanic group, which includes the Scandinavian, while the west Germanic group includes Old English and Low and High German. As the Bible translated by Bishop Wulfila is several centuries older than the earliest writing which we have of any other Teutonic language, the value of Gothic in the study of the early Teutonic languages is very great. For. Gothic architecture see ARCHITECTURE. See Henry Bradley's The Goths to the End of the Dominion in Spain and Gibbon's Rome.

G©t"terdam"merimg. The concluding piece in Wagner's Der Ring den Niebelungen. First performed at Bayreuth, Aug. 17, 1876. Der Ring is a complete exposition of Wagner's artistic principles. The other parts of this tetralogy are Das Rheingold, Die Walkure and Siegfried. As in Wagner's other works, the poetical text was written by himself.

Gottingen (get'ting-en), a city in the former kingdom of Hannover, Prussia, containing a few ancient buildings, one, the Jacobikirche, having a steeple 320 feet in height. It was made a town in 1210, and suffered much in the Thirty Years' War. Its famous university was founded in 1734, and now has 149 professors. 1,149 students and a library of 500,000 volumes and 6,000 MSS. Longfellow, Bancroft and many other illustrious Americans studied here. Population 35,000.

Qottschalk (got'shdlk), Louis Moreau, American pianist and composer, was born at New Orleans, La., May 8, 1829, and died at Tijuca, Brazil, Dec. 18, 1869. In his youth he manifested marked musical ability, and was sent to Paris to pursue his studies. His first appearance in public as a pianist was in 1845 in Paris, where he gave promise of the distinction and favor with which he was later regarded. He then returned to the United States, where he made the round of the chief cities, giving piano recitals. He also wrote many compositions for the piano, including a cantata, and a symphony entitled Night in the Tropics,

Qough (gof), John Bartholomew, lecturer, was born in Kent, England, Aug. 22, 1817, was sent to America at the age of 12, and found work on a farm. He after-