Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/842

 826 GISORS according to the earliest records (1846) ; a Da- nish-Icelandic dictionary, the first ever pub- lished (1851) ; and an unfinished work on early Norse inflections (1858). GISORS, a town of Normandy, France, in the department of Eure, in a fertile plain on the banks of the Epte, 33 m. E. S. E. of Rouen; pop. in 1866, 3,753. It is surrounded by gar- dens and beautiful promenades formed upon the remains of its ancient ramparts. Its castle, most of which is. still standing, was very strong, and one of the chief fortresses of Norman- dy. It was built about the llth century, but the donjon, an enclosed octagonal structure crowning a high artificial mound, was con- structed in the 12th century by Henry II. of England. Under one of the towers is a dun- geon, the walls of which are covered with carvings executed with a nail by some unknown prisoner. The parish church is filled with gro- tesque sculptures. The choir is said to have been built by Blanche of Castile. GITSCHIN, a town of Bohemia, on the Cyd- lina, 50 m. N. E. of Prague; pop, in 1869, 6,570. It is walled, and has three gates and four suburbs. The parish church is built after the model of that of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. "The former Jesuit college is used as barracks. It was a collection of wretched hov- els before "Wallenstein made it the capital of the duchy of Fried land in 1627", and the seat of a magnificent palace in 1630. The storming of Gitschin by the Prussians, June 29, 1866, ended the campaign in the territory of the Iser; and the overwhelming defeat of the Austrians here paved the way for the junction of the first and second Prussian armies and for the victory of Sadowa (July 3). GIULIO ROMANO, an Italian painter and ar- chitect, whose family name was PIPPI, born in Rome in 1492, died in Mantua in 1546. He was the most distinguished pupil of Raphael, whom he assisted in many of his paintings, and who made him his chief heir and appointed him to complete his unfinished works. After the death of his master, Leo X. and Clement VII. employed him, together with Gian Penni, to finish the history of Constantine in the Vatican ; and he executed several works for the public edifices at Rome, was also employed there as architect, and painted his celebrated picture of the " Stoning of St. Stephen " for the church of San Stefano at Genoa. He was afterward invited to Mantua, and engaged both as archi- tect and painter on the palazzo del Te. The "Defeat of the Titans," in one of the halls of the palace, is one of the best examples of his style. He worked with his pupils on many other edifices at Mantua, and just before his death was appointed to succeed Sansovino as architect of St. Peter's. Gll'RGEYO, a town and river port of Rou- mania, in Wallachia, on the left bank of the Danube, opposite Rustchuk, and 34 m. S. by W. of Bucharest; pop. about 15,000. Its cit- adel, the only one of its fortifications remain- i GIUSTINIANI ing, stands on an island in the Danube called Slobodze, and is connected with the town by a bridge. Next to Braila it is the most impor- tant port on the Wallachian bank of the Dan- ube, and carries on a considerable trade with Germany and Hungary. Giurgevo has figured in almost all the Turkish wars on the lower Danube, from the 15th century down to the war of 1853. GIUDICI, Paolo Emiliani, an Italian author, born at Mussomelli, Sicily, June 13, 1812. He re- moved to Florence in 1840, and in 1844 pub- lished Storia della letteratura italiana (2 vols., 2d ed., 1853). He was professor at the university of Pisa from 1849 to 1852, and of aesthetics at the royal academy of fine arts in Florence from 1859 to 1862, of which he became secretary. In 1867 he was returned to the Italian parlia- ment as a deputy for Sicily. His Storia del comuni (3 vols., 1853-'4), a remarkable work, with new documentary evidence relating to the Italian communes, was followed in 1856 by his translation into Italian of Macaulay's "History of England," and in 1860 by his Storia del tea- tro italiano ; and he has long been engaged upon a history of the Florentine democracy. GIFSTI, Giuseppe, an Italian poet, born at Monsummano, in Tuscany, in May, 1809, died in Florence, March 31, 1850. He graduated as an advocate at the university of Pisa, and entered the law office of the future minister of justice, Capoquadri. But on account of a deli- cate constitution and disappointment in love, he abandoned the practice of his profession. He was in full sympathy with Manzoni, D'Aze- glio, and other opponents of Austrian domina- tion in Italy, and his poem II Lies Irce, on the death of the emperor Francis I. in 1835, at- tracted considerable attention. As a champion of moderate liberalism he was twice elected in 1848 to the Tuscan chamber of deputies; but after spending the summer of 1849 at the springs of Viareggio, he ended his life in the Florentine palace of his devoted friend Cap- pom. Though published anonymously, his writings had acquired a wide popularity all over Italy, when the appearance of a spurious edition in 1845 impelled him to have one pre- pared in his own name. But the most authen- tic and complete edition was published after his death, under the title of Versi editi ed inediti (Florence, 1852). GIFSTINIANI, Agostino Pantaleone, an Italian prelate and philologist, born in Genoa in 1470, died at sea in 1536. Educated by the Domini- cans of Florence, he became a professed mem- ber of that order in 1488, studied oriental lan- guages, taught in several colleges, and in 1513 published his Precatio Pietatis Plena (8vo, (Venice), in Hebrew and Latin. About this time he was appointed against his will bishop of Neb- bio in Corsica, was present in 1516 at the fifth Lateran council, and solicited in vain his remo- val from the episcopal office. He then withdrew to the retirement offered him by the bishop of Ivrea, continuing his linguistic labors, and