THIETMAR
636
THIJM
was seeking assistance for defeated France. On 8
Feb., 1S71, he was elected deputy by twenty-six
departments, and nine days later the National Assem-
bly almost unanimously elected him chief executive.
He negotiated the Treaty of Frankfort and induced
the Assembly of Bordeaux (1 March, 1871) to ratify
the peace preliminaries. The rigorous measures by
which he overcame the Commune of Paris made many
enemies for him. It is still a debated question whether
he might have saved the Ufe of Mgr Darboy by
consenting to release the revolutionist Blanquil.
Several episcopal nominations made under Thiers by
the philosopher Jules Simon, minister of public wor-
ship, redounded to the glory of the French episcopate.
After the treaty with Germany (15 March, 1873) for
the evacuation of French territory the National
Assembly declared that Thiers deserved well of his
country. But the defeat at Paris of his friend Re-
musat by the Radical Barodet and the subsequent
disturbances among the Monarchists in the Assembly
induced Thiers to resign his office 24 May, 1873. He
was succeeded by MacMahon. Having thus given
up power Thiers took his seat in the Left Centre of
the Assembly amid the applause of the Left; and
although the'advanced members of the Left, because
of his severity during the Commune, deliberately
treated him as "a sinister old man", he upheld with
all his strength and prestige during his last years
a policy designed to Ijring about the defeat of the
Right and of MacMahon. His long career sometimes
seems inconsistent. After having contributed by his
historical works to the prestige of Napoleon I and by
his vote to the election of the future Napoleon III
to the presidency of the Republic, he became the
adversary of the Empire. After having supported
anti-rehgiousLiberahsm under the Rest oration and the
monarchy of July, he supported the Catholic claims
under the Second Republic, and during his old age
under the Third Republic he assisted the anti-clerical
parties. But the unity of his life consisted in his
always being the defender of a certain category of
ideas, aspirations, and interests proper to a social
class — the bourgeoisie; and his book on the right of
ownership (1S48), besides being very interesting as a
document, is the expression of an individualistic con-
ception, more pagan than Christian, of the right of
ownership, one which is the very antithesis of social
Christianity. He was buried with the rites of
the church.
Calmon, Discours parlemenlaires de M. Thiers (16 vols., Pans, 1878-89); Thiers, .Vofcs et Souvenirs, 1870-1S73 (Paris, 1893); I.EGOFF, Life of L. Ad Thiers (New York. 1897) ; Jules Simon. Le Gouvemement de M. Thiers (Paris. 1876, tr. New Yoik, 1829); Hanotaux, Hist, de la France contemporaine: Le Gouvernement de M. Thiers (Paris, 1903) ; de Mabceke, L'Assemblee juitionale de 1S71, gouvernement de M. Thiers (Paris, 1904); Gautherot, L'Ezchange des olages. Thiers et Mgr Darboy (Paris, 1910); Pierre Simon. Thiers chef du pouvoir execulif (Paris. 1911).
Georges Goyau.
Thietmar of Merseburg. See Dithmar.
Thignica, titular see in Numidia. The Roman Curia's official li.st of titular sees places Thignica in Numidia. It belonged to Proconsular Africa. Its ruins are called ALn Tounga, south-west of Test our, Tunisia. They are very extensive and cover the summit and slopes of a series of hills. One inscription calls it "CivitasThignicensis" and states that it was divided into three parts, another that it became a municipium at the beginning of the third century under the name of " municiphim Septimium .\urelium Antonini- anuin Hcrculovun Fnigifenmi Thignica". Towards the centre of the ruins is a Byzantine fortress, trape- zoid;d in shajie, flanked by five .square towers. Here an insi liptidii in:ikos mention of the proconsul Do- mitiuB Zeuophilus (.'32ti-32), famous in the ;mnals of Christian Africa. Among the otiier ruins are :i small triumphal .arch, a temple, a Christian cliunh. the re- mains of the enclosure, etc. Despite the si)lcndoin- and
importance of this town we know only one bishop,
Aufidius, who assisted in 411 at the Conference of
Carthage where he had a Donatist rival.
Toulotte. Geographie de VAfrique chrelienne. Proconsulaire (Paris, 1892). 269-271; Diehl, U Afrique byzantine (Paris. 1896), passim.
S. Petrides.
Thijm, Joseph Albert Alberdingk, b. at Amster- dam, 8 July, 1820; d. there, 17 March, 1889. After finishing his studies in his native city, he took up a commercial career. But this prosaic occupation did not smother his talents. Art and literature had a great attraction for him. He made his entry into the literarj- world as an art critic in the "Spectator" in 1S42, and immediately attracted great attention by his views and his style. The following year he pub- lished an essay on the spelling of hybrid words, in which he came out as a philologist. In his poems, which are numerous and take rank with what is best in the Dutch poetiy of the nineteenth century, he shows that he is a disciple of Bilderdijk. This he him- self declares in his celebrated poem "U min ik, Oude met uw St roef geplooide trckken" (I love you, old one, with your rugged features). In his triple capacity of art critic, philologist, and poet, Thijm did so much from 1842 to 1889 that he not only led the way for Catholics and laid the foundation of CathoUc htera- ture, but became one of the foremost writers of the Netherlands of the nineteenth century.
His whole activity, all his writings, bear the stamp of Catholicity. No one attacked Catholic art or Catholic histoiy without ha^■ing to reckon with Thijm. " Nil nisi per Christum" was his motto. By his WTit- ings and the earnest character of his Catholicism Thijm played one of the most influential roles in the Catholic revival. To him is due no less than to Dr. W. Cramer and Mgr. J. Smits, first editor-in-chief of "DeTyd, " the restoration of the hierarchy in the Netherlands. In 1852 Thijm sent a memorial to Rome setting forth the historic rea,sons for consider- ing LItrecht to be the traditional archiepiscopal see of Holland, and the anxiety of the Catholics at that time that the historic tradition be not broken. Besides the periocUcal "Dietsche Warande" which he edited from 1855 to 1886, the people's almanac for the Cath- olics of the Netherlantls (lS.52-89), and numberless brochures in defence of the Church and church his- tory, his most important works are: "Het Voorge- borchte", "Palet en Harj)", "Portretten van Joost van den Vondel", "Verspreide Verhalen", "Kerst- liederen", "De la Literature Neerlandaise", "Karol- ingische Veihalen", "De Heilige Linie". His last ef- forts were devoted to the preparation of a complete edition of the works of van den Vondel.
Katholieke Illuslratie (1889). 377 sq.; Dietsche Warande (1889). p. 239 sii.; VAN DER DCYS (Amsterdam. 1889); Kalh. Alherd. Thijm (Amsterdam. 1896); Busken Huet, Litterarische Fantasieen en Kritieken (Harlem. 1881) ; Levensgeschiedenissen van de leden der Maatschappij van Lelterkunde van Leiden (Leyden. 1889).
P. Albers.
Thijm, Peter Paul Maria ALBERDiNnK. brother of the foregoing, b. .at .Amsterdam, 21 Oct., 1827, d. at Louvain, 1 Feb., 1904. He made his studies in his home city, at first at the Gymnasium and later at the Athcna-um, from which he was graduated in letters and history in 1S57. For some years he was instructor in history in Marstricht. After being called to a jirofessorship in the University of Louvain in 1870, he .succeeded in establishing a chair for the special study of the history of Holland's literature. Ahhough not as gifted as his elder brother, he had a great deal of the hitter's enthusiasm for liter.ature and art and W!is an ever ready champion of the Chris- tian ideal in art. This .savant of artistic tempera- ment and zeal contributed not a little to the revival of the Flemish spirit in the University of I.ouv.-iin. lie was President of the A.ssociati(m Tijd en Vlijt and of Constant ius Buter. He was also a member
