Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/763

* MAGNA CHARTA. 681 MAGNA MATEK. for debts and services due to the Crown. The tines imposed are in all eases to be proportioned to the magnitude of the offense, and even the villein or rustic is not to be deprived of his necessary chattels. There are provisions regard- ing the forfeiture of lands for felony. Abuses connected with the royal forests were abolished by several provisions which were of so great importance as to lead to an incorrect statement by contemporary writers that a separate forest charter was granted. The independence of the Church is also provided for. These are the most important features of that charter which occupies so conspicuous a place in history, and which establishes the supremacy of the law of England over the will of the monarch. From a distinctly constitutional point of view-, however, the great importance of Magna Charta lay in its preserving the feudal idea of a con- tract between lord and vassals, between king and subjects, through the period of personal monarchy which was then already superseding the earlier Norman feudal monarchy, and thus making the development of the later parlia- mentary restrictions easy and natural. The terms dictated by the barons to .John included the surrender of London to their charge, and the Tower to the custody of the primate till August 1.5th following, or till the execution of the several articles of the Great Charter. Twenty- five barons, as conservators of the public lib- erties, were invested with extraordinary au- thority which empowered them to make war against the sovereign in case of his violation of the charter. Several solemn ratifications were required by the barons from Henrv III. and later rulers, and a copy of the Great Charter was sent to every cathedral and ordered to be read pub- licly twice a year. The copy preserved in Lin- coln Cathedral is regarded as the most accurate and complete. The Great Charter and charter of the forests as issued in the reign of Henry III. are printed with English translations, and prefixed to the edition of the statutes of the realm published by the Record Commission. Con- sult: Thomson. An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John (London, 1829) : Bemont, Ckartes des lihertes anglaises. 1100- 1305 (Paris, 1892) ; Stubbs, Consiitiitionnl His- tory of Enqland. vol. i.. Oth ed. (Oxford. 1897), and vol. ii.. 4th ed. (1896). MAG'NA GRiE'CIA (Lat., great Greece, Gk. f] fieydlrj 'EXArif, he megale Hellas). The name given in ancient times to that part of Southern Italy which was thickly planted with Greek colonies. The origin of the name is un- certain, though it has been plausibly conjec- tured that it was given by the Achsan colonists in remembrance of their former home in the little district which originally was called Hellas. The language of Polybius. in whose writings the term first occurs, implies that it was believed to have been in use as early as the sixth century B.C. Some later writers include under the term the Greek cities in Sicily; others restrict it to those situated on the Gulf of Tarentum. but in general it is used to denote all the Greek cities in the south of Italy, exclusive of those in Sicily. The oldest settlement is believed to have been Cum.'e — though it is doubtftil whether it and its colonies, Dicaearchia and Neapolis. were really embraced under the designation Magna Grsecia — which must have been founded near the end of the eighth century. The Greek colonization of Southern Italy seems to have begun a little later than that of Sicily, but the dates commonly given must not be considered as more than approximate. The earliest settlement, not reckoning Cumse, was said to be Sybaris- (founded by the Achjeans, B.C. 721) ; next, Cro- ton (by the Achaaans, B.C. 710) ; then Tarentum (probably by Laconian Dorians; the traditional (hite B.C. 707 is wholly uncertain) ; Locri (by the Locrians about B.C. 685) ; Rhegium (by the Chal- cidians; date of origin not known, but believed by some to be older than even Sybaris) ; Meta- pontum (by the Achieans, B.C. 700-080) ; and Siris (by lonians from Colophon, about B.C. 6.50; it seems to have been seized later by the Achaean colonies near by). Later Thurii was founded in B.C. 443 by Greeks from many cities under the leadership of Athens. These cities became, in their turn, the parents of many others. Of the earlier history of Magna Gra-cia we know almost nothing. It is noticeable that while the Sicilian cities were on the coast and essen- tially mercantile, the Italian Greeks pushed into the fertile plains of the interior, subdued the native tribes, and developed as great agricultural conunuuities. with a land-owning aristocracy. Xot that trade ^was neglected, for with the great development of these cities during the seventb- and especially the sixth century, they carried on an active commerce with the Greeks of the east, the Etruscans of the north, and the native races of the interior, exporting grain and other natural products, and importing the manufac- tures of Asia Minor and Hellas. The region was also the seat of an active intellectual life. P.ythagoreanism developed in Croton, and for a time exercised a powerful influence on the politi- cal life of that city. The Orphic theology seems also to have found here a favorable soil for its growth, and at Elea the philosophers Xenophanes and Parmenides foimded the Eleatic school. The cities never formed a permanent union, though from time to time we find several joined in temporary alliance. On the contrary, the wars between them were often bitter and bloody, and contributed laraely to the decline of the whole region. In the fSjrth century B.C. the tribes of the north began to press hard on the border cities, especially the Samnites and Lucanians, while at the same time Dionysius of Sj'racuse endeavored to make his influence supreme. From this time the history is simply a I'ecord of endeavors of one or another city to keep back the rising tide of invasion, often by calling in the aid of foreign leaders. The most famous example is the alli- ance between the Tarcntines an<l Pyrrhus of Epirus against Rome. The failure of this effort led to the capture of Tarentum in B.C. 272. and after that the Roman intlucnce in the peninsiila was supreme. The Second I'tinic War, when the presence of Hannibal induced most of the Greek cities again to seek their independence, com- pleted the ruin of the region, and the cities rapidlv sank into decay. Consult Lenormant, La drandc-Grccc (Paris', 1881-84). MAG'NA MA'TER (Lat., Great Mother). A name under which the Gr.Tco-Oriental goddess Cybele (q.v.) was worshiped at Rome. A sacred black stone was solemnly brought from Pessinus in Phrygia in B.C. 204, and a temple was built for it on the Palatine Hill, where its remains