SHIELDS 395 SHIITES while the spearmen had a large oblong convex shield of wood and leather strengthened with iron, which covered the Whole body. The early Germanic shields were also large, oblong, and convex. The shields of the Anglo-Saxon in- vaders of England and of the Scandina- vian Vikings were mostly circular. But the Norman shield of the 11th century was kite-shaped, and the triangular form continued to prevail till the 15th cen- tury, becoming gradually shorter and more obtusely pointed, or heart-shaped. After the 14th century the small round buckler came into fashion, and retained its place till the 16th century. By this time the use of firearms had made the shield practically useless in warfare. Many savage tribes still use shields of wood or hide. SHIELDS, JAMES, an American mili- tary officer; born in Dungannon, Ireland, in 1810; came to the United States in 1826; became a lawyer; served through the Mexican War, and was brevetted major-general for gallantry at Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec. He was elected to the United States Senate from Illinois in 1849, and from Minnesota in 1858. When the Civil War broke out, he volun- teered and entered the Federal service. He commanded the division which de- feated "Stonewall" Jackson near Win- chester, March 23, 1862; was defeated in an engagement with the Confederates at Port Republic, June 9, 1862 ; and resigned his commission in 1863. He died in Ot- tumwa, la., June 1, 1879. i SHIELDS, JOHN KNIGHT, an Ameri- can public official, born at Clinchdale, Tenn., in 1858. He was privately edu- cated and after studying law, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1879. From 1892 to 1894 he was chancellor of the 12th Chancery Division of Tennessee, and from 1902 to 1910 was associate justice of the Supreme Court. He acted as chief jus- tice from 1910 to 1913. In the latter year he entered the United States Senate. He was re-elected in 1918. SHIELDS, SOUTH, a municipal and parliamentary borough of England, in the county of Durham, near the mouth of the Tyne, opposite to North Shields, in Northumberland (pop. about 10,000), and communicating with it by steam ferry. The industries comprise glass, earthen- ware, alkali and chemicals, cordage, steam engine boilers, and chain cables and an- chors, besides shipbuilding. The ports of North Shields and South Shields, formed by an expansion of the river into a wide bay, have been greatly improved and deepened^ by dredging and the construc- tion of piers, and are capable of contain- ing vessels of any size at their quays. Pop. (1919) 116,152. SHIGATZE, or DIGARCHI, a town of Tibet; on the Sanpo or Brahmaputra river; 140 miles W. by S. of Lhassa, at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Nearby is the great monastery (3,500 monks) of the Tashilunpo, the residence of one of the Tibetan incarnations of Buddha. SHIITES (also Sheeahs; "sectaries," from the Arabian shiah, "a party"), the name given by orthodox Muslims or Sun- nites to Ali's followers, who call them- selves al-adeliyyah, "the right people." They were the champions of Ali's right to be Mohammed's successor as being his cousin and son-in-law; and after Ali's death they took the side of his sons Has- san (Hasan), Hussein (Hosain), and Mo- hammed ibn al-Hanafiyyah. The Per- sians, believers in the divine right and even in the divine nature of kings, took this side. All Shiites allegorize the Ko- ran; but the ultra Shiites, founded by Abdallah ibn Saba, a converted Jew of Yemen, differed from the moderate Shiites or Zaidites in believing in the transmi- gration of souls, and in calling Ali and his legitimate successors incarnations of God. By Shiite help the Abbasides in 750 wrested the caliphate from the Ora- miades. Yet, unsound as the Abbasides were, and decided as Persian ascendency was for 100 years, the Shiites gained little. They were the strength of the "veiled prophet" in 770-779 and of Balek in 817-837. Their disaffection was one chief reason for the introduction of Turks into the caliph's service (830-840). In 765 the death of Jaafar the Vera- cious, the Sixth Shiite Imam, developed the Ismaili sect of the Shiites. Those fol- lowed the eldest son Ismael; the majority, following Moosa, the second son, were afterward named Twelvers, the series of their Imams ending with the 12th. In Irak in 887 arose the Karmathian branch of the Ismailis. In 909 an Ismaili pro- claimed himself in north Africa as the first Fatimide caliph. The 6th caliph of this line, Hakim, was declared to be God's 10th and final incarnation by Darazi, who founded the sect of the Druses. In 1090 Hassan Sabbah, an Ismaili of Khorassan, as the Sheikh of the Mountains insti- tuted the order of Assassins, who gen- erally recognized the Fatimide caliphate. Ismailis are still found in Persia and Syria. The moderate Shiism, that has been the national religion of Persia since the native royal line of Safiides ascended the throne in 1499, is more Koranic than Sunnism. It has Hadith and Sunna, but not those of the orthodox Muslims. # It has its own modes of religious washing, and its own postures in prayer.
