COIR (from Malay Kāyar, cord, Kāyaru, to be twisted), a rough, strong, fibrous substance obtained from the outer husk of the coco-nut. (See Coco-Nut Palm.)
COIRE (Ger. Chur or Cur, Ital. Coira, Lat. Curia Raetorum,
Romonsch Cuera), the capital of the Swiss canton of the Grisons.
It is built, at a height of 1949 ft. above the sea-level, on the right
bank of the Plessur torrent, just as it issues from the Schanfigg
valley, and about a mile above its junction with the Rhine. It
is overshadowed by the Mittenberg (east) and Pizokel (south),
hills that guard the entrance to the deep-cut Schanfigg valley.
In 1900 it contained 11,532 inhabitants, of whom 9288 were
German-speaking, 1466 Romonsch-speaking, and 677 Italian-speaking;
while 7561 were Protestants, 3962 Romanists and
one a Jew. The modern part of the city is to the west, but the
old portion, with all the historical buildings, is to the east. Here
is the cathedral church of St Lucius (who is the patron of Coire,
and is supposed to be a 2nd-century British king, though really
the name has probably arisen from a confusion between Lucius
of Cyrene—miswritten “curiensis”—with the Roman general
Lucius Munatius Plancus, who conquered Raetia). Built between
1178 and 1282, on the site of an older church, it contains many
curious medieval antiquities (especially in the sacristy), as well
as a picture by Angelica Kaufmann, and the tomb of the great
Grisons political leader (d. 1637) Jenatsch (q.v.). Opposite is
the Bishop’s Palace, and not far off is the Episcopal Seminary
(built on the ruins of a 6th-century monastic foundation). Not
far from these ancient monuments is the new Raetian Museum,
which contains a great collection of objects relating to Raetia
(including the geological collections of the Benedictine monk of
Disentis, Placidus a Spescha (1752–1833), who explored the high
snowy regions around the sources of the Rhine). One of the
hospitals was founded by the famous Capuchin philanthropist,
Father Theodosius Florentini (1808–1865), who was long the
Romanist curé of Coire, and whose remains were in 1906 transferred
from the cathedral here to Ingenbohl (near Schwyz), his
chief foundation. Coire is 74 m. by rail from Zürich, and is the
meeting-point of the routes from Italy over many Alpine passes
(the Lukmanier, the Splügen, the San Bernardino) as well as
from the Engadine (Albula, Julier), so that it is the centre of an
active trade (particularly in wine from the Valtelline), though
it possesses also a few local factories.
The episcopal see is first mentioned in 452, but probably existed a century earlier. The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after his dominions were made, in 831, dependent on the Empire alone, of which he became a prince in 1170. In 1392 he became head of the league of God’s House (originally formed against him in 1367), one of the three Raetian leagues, but, in 1526, after the Reformation, lost his temporal powers, having fulfilled his historical mission (see Grisons). The bishopric still exists, with jurisdiction over the Cantons of the Grisons, Glarus, Zürich, and the three Forest Cantons, as well as the Austrian principality of Liechtenstein. The gild constitution of the city of Chur lasted from 1465 to 1839, while in 1874 the Burgergemeinde was replaced by an Einwohnergemeinde.
Authorities.—A. Eichhorn, Episcopatus Curiensis (St Blasien, 1797); W. von Juvalt, Forschungen über die Feudalzeit im Curischen Raetien, 2 parts (Zürich, 1871); C. Kind, Die Reformation in den Bisthümern Chur und Como (Coire, 1858); Conradin von Moor, Geschichte von Curraetien (2 vols., Coire, 1870–1874); P. C. von Planta, Das alte Raetien (Berlin, 1872); Idem, Die Curraetischen Herrschaften in der Feudalzeit (Bern, 1881); Idem, Verfassungsgeschichte der Stadt Cur im Mittelalter (Coire, 1879); Idem, Geschichte von Graubünden (Bern, 1892). (W. A. B. C.)
COKE, SIR EDWARD (1552–1634), English lawyer, was born at Mileham, in Norfolk, on the 1st of February 1552. From the
grammar school of Norwich he passed to Trinity College, Cambridge;
and in 1572 he entered Lincoln’s Inn. In 1578 he was
called to the bar, and in the next year he was chosen reader at
Lyon’s Inn. His extensive and exact legal erudition, and the
skill with which he argued the intricate libel case of Lord Cromwell
(4 Rep. 13), and the celebrated real property case of Shelley
(1 Rep. 94, 104), soon brought him a practice never before
equalled, and caused him to be universally recognized as the
greatest lawyer of his day. In 1586 he was made recorder of
Norwich, and in 1592 recorder of London, solicitor-general, and
reader in the Inner Temple. In 1593 he was returned as member
of parliament for his native county, and also chosen speaker
of the House of Commons. In 1594 he was promoted to the
office of attorney-general, despite the claims of Bacon, who was
warmly supported by the earl of Essex. As crown lawyer his
treatment of the accused was marked by more than the harshness
and violence common in his time; and the fame of the victim
has caused his behaviour in the trial of Raleigh to be lastingly
remembered against him. While the prisoner defended himself
with the calmest dignity and self-possession, Coke burst into the
bitterest invective, brutally addressing the great courtier as
if he had been a servant, in the phrase, long remembered for its
insolence and its utter injustice—“Thou hast an English face,
but a Spanish heart!”
In 1582 Coke married the daughter of John Paston, a gentleman of Suffolk, receiving with her a fortune of £30,000; but in six months he was left a widower. Shortly after he sought the hand of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, daughter of Thomas, second Lord Burghley, and granddaughter of the great Cecil. Bacon was again his rival, and again unsuccessfully; the wealthy young widow became—not, it is said, to his future comfort—Coke’s second wife.
In 1606 Coke was made chief justice of the common pleas, but in 1613 he was removed to the office of chief justice of the king’s bench, which gave him less opportunity of interfering with the court. The change, though it brought promotion in dignity, caused a diminution of income as well as of power; but Coke received some compensation in being appointed a member of the privy council. The independence of his conduct as a judge, though not unmixed with the baser elements of prejudice and vulgar love of authority, has partly earned forgiveness for the harshness which was so prominent in his sturdy character. Full of an extreme reverence for the common law which he knew so well, he defended it alike against the court of chancery, the ecclesiastical courts, and the royal prerogative. In a narrow spirit, and strongly influenced, no doubt, by his enmity to the chancellor, Thomas Egerton (Lord Brackley), he sought to prevent the interference of the court of chancery with even the unjust decisions of the other courts. In the case of an appeal from a sentence given in the king’s bench, he advised the victorious, but guilty, party to bring an action of praemunire against all those who had been concerned in the appeal, and his authority was stretched to the utmost to obtain the verdict he desired. On the other hand, Coke has the credit of having repeatedly braved the anger of the king. He freely gave his opinion that the royal proclamation cannot make that an offence which was not an offence before. An equally famous but less satisfactory instance occurred during the trial of Edmund Peacham, a divine in whose study a sermon had been found containing libellous accusations against the king and the government. There was nothing to give colour to the charge of high treason with which he was charged, and the sermon had never been preached or published; yet Peacham was put to the torture, and Bacon was ordered to confer with the judges individually concerning the matter. Coke declared such conference to be illegal, and refused to give an opinion, except in writing, and even then he seems to have said nothing decided. But the most remarkable case of all occurred in the next year (1616). A trial was held before Coke in which one of the counsel denied the validity of a grant made by the king to the bishop of Lichfield of a benefice to be held in commendam. James, through Bacon, who was then attorney-general, commanded the chief justice to delay judgment till he himself should discuss the question with the judges. At Coke’s request Bacon sent a letter containing the same command to each of the judges, and Coke then obtained their signatures to a paper declaring that the attorney-general’s instructions were illegal, and that they were bound to proceed with the case. His Majesty expressed his displeasure, and summoned them before him in the council-chamber, where he insisted on his supreme prerogative, which,
