Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/50

* GONSALVO DE CORDOVA. 30 GONZAGA. vanquished the French at Cerignola, April 28, 1503, took possession of Calabria, the Abruzzi, Apulia, and the city of Naples itself, and then laid siege to Gaeta, but was compelled to retreat before a superior force of the enemy. On Decem- ber 27th of the same year, however, he fell ujion them unexpectedly near the Garigliano, and ob- tained a complete victory. The French army was almost annihilated, the fortress of Gaeta fell, and the possession of Naples was secured to the Spaniards. King Ferdinand bestowed the Duchy of Sesa upon the conqueror, and appointed him vice- roy of Naples with unlimited authority. His good fortune, liowever, made him many powerful ene- mies, and his popularity with the Neapolitans awoke the King's jealousy. Gonsalvo was recalled to Spain, where the King treated him with marked neglect. He now betook himself to his estates in Granada; but after the defeat of the new viceroy in Naples by Gaston de Foix, he was again ap- pointed to the command of the Spanish army in Italy. Mental suffering, liowever, had under- mined his health, and on December 2, 1515, he died at Granada. GONTARD. gon't-irt, Karl von (1731-91). A German architect, bom at Mannheim. He studied under Semper and Richter at Bayreuth, and the eminent architect Francois Blon- de! at Paris. Afterwards he became a favorite with Frederick the Great, who intrusted him with several architectural commissions. His struc- tures include the two beautiful church towers, designed in the style of Louis XVI. (Gendarmen- markt, Berlin) ; the colonnades of several fine bridges at Berlin ; and the marble palace at Potsdam, completed by Langhans. GONTAtrXT, goN'to', Charles de. See BiHON, CHARI.E.S DE GONTAULT, DuC de. GONTCHABOFF, gOn'cha-rfif, Ivan Alex- ANDROVITCH ( 1S12-01 ). A Russian novelist. He was born at Simbiesk, of a very wealthy family. At ten he was sent to school at Moscow, and visited his native place only during vacations. In 18.31-34 he finished his philological studies at the university, spent a year at his native town, and in 1835 accepted a position in the Ministry of Finance. His transformation from romanti- cism to realism was embodied in his A Common Sloi-y ( 1847 ), which had a great success. In 1856- 57 he published the Frujatc PiiUns. a collection of letters describing his two and one-half years' journey around the world in the capacity of sec- retary to Admiral Putyatin, who had been sent to Japan to conclude a commercial treaty. In 1858 he wrote Ohlomoff, and a little later was appointed to a position in the Department of Censorship; then he became editor of the official organ, the Northern Pout, and retired in 1873 with a pension. In 1SC8 his Precipice appeared in the Messenger of Europe, and greatly aroused the public and critics by the caricature of Young Russia in the dissolute VolokhofT. His later short sketches and critical essays, the most strik- ing of which is A Million Tortures — a power- ful analysis of The Misfortune of Beinp Too Clever by Griboyedoff (q.v.) — added little to the fame of the author of Ohlomoff. Oblomo- visyn, or Ohlomovshtina, has become a byword for the pan-Russian inertia which renders the hero incapable of any action. The power of generalization reached here by the author sur- passes everything of the kind in Russian litera- ture. Gontcharoff's work The Precipice has been published in German, under the title Der Ab- stiirz, in Reclam's Vniversalbibliothck. GON'VILLE AND CAITTS (kez) COL- LEGE. A college of Cambridge Univer^.lty, which is usually called Caius College. It was founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, some- time Vicar-General of the Diot'ese of Ely; but the sudden death of the founder and the insuffi- cient provision for support of the scholars led Gonville's executor, William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, to remodel the statutes, rechristen the house as the College of the Annunciation, and divert the students to the special study of the- ology and canon and civil law. Soon after, the college was moved from its original site to the place it now occupies. It was then of little im- portance, and seems to have consisted only of a master and three or four fellows. In 1558 Dr. John Caius, who was physician to the Court, re- founded the college, altering the name to its present fonn ; added much to the college build- ings, as well as to the endowment; and became ma.ster of the college, which office he held till his death in 1573. Owing to his influence, the col- lege has since been famous for its attention to medical studies, and some of the greatest of Englisli physicians have been among its mem- bers, of whom HaiTey, the discoverer of the meth- od of the circulation of the blood, is the most distinguished. Gonville and Caius College con- sists of a master and twenty-two fellows. It has thirty-six scholarships and exhibitions, besides several studentships in medicine and natural science. Among its great names are those of Sir Thomas Gresham, Jan Gruter, Jeremy Taylor, and Lord Chancellor Thurlow, GONZAGA, gon-zii'ga, Hou.se of. A princely Italian family whose members for a number of centuries ruled over Mantua and Montferrat. It claimed descent from the German Emperor Lothair. The rale of the Gonzaga in Mantua was established in 1328 by the final defeat of the Bonacossi family and the murder of their chief. Passerino de' Bonacossi. In 1433 the cap- taincy was changed to a marquisate, and in 1530 to a" dukedom. In 1536 the Gonzaga became marquises of Montferrat, in 1539 they acquired the Duchy of Guastalla, and in 1505 that of Nevers. Other important possessions of the family at various times were the ducliies of Sol- ferino, Rethel, and Sabbionetta, the Principality of Bozzolo. the ]Iarquisate of Jledola, the count- ships of Torelli and Novellara, and the Princi- pality of Castiglione. The members of the House of Gonzaga were the faithful champions of Im- perial interests in Italy, and waged war with the Visconti, dukes of Milan. They produced many men who became famous soldiers, state.smen, churchmen, and patrons of art and letters. The most illustrious of these were: Giovanni Fran- cesco (died 1444). in whose favor Mantua was created a marquisate by the Emperor Sigismund, in return for services to the Empire. — (3iovanni Francesco II. (reigned 1484-1519), who was defeated by Charles VIII. of France at the battle of Fornov'o, on the banks of the Taro, in 1495, and who took part in the engagement of Atella (1496), which led to the capitulation of the French forces in Naples. His son. FEUEBino II. (reigned 1519-40), was invested by the Emperor Charles V. with the ducal dignity in 1530, and