to speak its own necessity, without the help of any express law to countenance it: because among two persons only there cannot be, in fact, a major part; and then if any disagreement should happen to arise between them it cannot be, in fact, brought to a conclusion by such a number alone in case both the parties should firmly adhere to their dissenting opinions; and thus it is declared by the civil law. But by the canon law it is known to be otherwise; for by that law two persons in number may make and constitute a college, forasmuch as according to this law two persons make and constitute an assembly or congregation. The common law of England, or rather the constant usage of our princes in erecting aggregate bodies, which has established this rule among us as a law, has been herein agreeable to the method and doctrine of the civil law, for that in all their grants and charters of incorporation of colleges they have not framed any aggregate body consisting of less than three in number.” Another principle, apparently derived from the civil law, is that a man cannot be a fellow in two colleges at the same time. The law of England steadily resisted any attempt to introduce the principle of inequality into colleges. An act of 1542, reciting that divers founders of colleges have given in their statutes a power of veto to individual members, enacts that every statute made by any such founder, whereby the grant or election of the governor or ruler with the assent of the most part of such corporation should be in any wise hindered by any one or more being the lesser number (contrary to the common law), shall be void.
The corporation consists of a head or master, fellows and scholars. Students, not being on the foundation, residing in the college, are not considered to be members of the corporation. The governing body in all cases is the head and fellows.
It is considered essential to corporations of an ecclesiastical or educational character that they should have a Visitor whose duty it is to see that the statutes of the founder are obeyed. The duties of this officer have been ascertained by the courts of law in a great variety of decided cases. Subject to such restrictions as may be imposed on him by the statutes of the college, his duties are generally to interpret the statutes of the college in disputed cases, and to enforce them where they have been violated. For this purpose he is empowered to “visit” the society—usually at certain stated intervals. In questions within his jurisdiction his judgment is conclusive, but his jurisdiction does not extend to any cases under the common laws of the country, or to trusts attached to the college. Generally the visitorship resides in the founder and his heirs unless he has otherwise appointed, and in default of him in the crown.
The fellowships, scholarships, &c., of colleges were until a comparatively recent date subject to various restrictions. Birth in a particular county, education at a particular school, relationship to the founder and holy orders, are amongst the most usual of the conditions giving a preferential or conclusive claim to the emoluments. Most of these restrictions have been or are being swept away. (See Universities; Oxford; Cambridge; &c.)
The term “college” (like “academy”) is also applied to various institutions, e.g. to colleges of physicians and surgeons, and to the electoral college in the United States presidential elections, &c. For the Sacred College see Cardinal.
COLLEONI, BARTOLOMMEO (1400–1475), Italian soldier of fortune, was born at Bergamo. While he was still a child his father was attacked and murdered in his castle of Trezzo by Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan. After wandering about Italy he entered the service of various condottieri, such as Braccio da Montone and Carmagnola. At the age of thirty-two he was
serving the Venetian republic, and although Francesco Maria Gonzaga was commander-in-chief, Colleoni was the life and soul
of the army. He recaptured many towns and districts for
Venice from the Milanese, and when Gonzaga went over to the
enemy he continued to serve the Venetians under Erasmo da
Narni (known as Gattamelata) and Francesco A. Sforza, winning
battles at Brescia, Verona and on the lake of Garda. When
peace was made between Milan and Venice in 1441 Colleoni went
over to the Milanese, together with Sforza in 1443. But although
well treated at first, he soon fell under the suspicion of the
treacherous Visconti and was imprisoned at Monza, where he
remained until the duke’s death in 1447. Milan then fell under
the lordship of Sforza, whom Colleoni served for a time, but in
1448 he took leave of Sforza and returned to the Venetians.
Disgusted at not having been elected captain-general, he went
over to Sforza once more, but Venice could not do without him
and by offering him increased emoluments induced him to return,
and in 1455 he was appointed captain-general of the republic
for life. Although he occasionally fought on his own account,
when Venice was at peace, he remained at the disposal of the
republic in time of war until his death.
Colleoni was perhaps the most respectable of all the Italian condottieri, and although he often changed sides, no act of treachery is imputed to him, nor did he subject the territories he passed through to the rapine and exactions practised by other soldiers of fortune. When not fighting he devoted his time to introducing agricultural improvements on the vast estates with which the Venetians had endowed him, and to charitable works. At his death in 1475 he left a large sum to the republic for the Turkish war, with a request that an equestrian statue of himself should be erected in the Piazza San Marco. The statue was made by Verrocchio, but as no monument was permitted in the famous Piazza it was placed opposite the hospital of St Mark by way of compromise.
See G. M. Bonomi, Il Castello di Cavernago e i conti Martinengo Colleoni (Bergamo, 1884); for an account of his wars see S. Romanin, Storia documentata di Venezia, vol. iv. (Venice, 1855), and other histories of Venice. (L. V.*)
COLLETER (Gr. κόλλος, glue), a botanical term for the
gum-secreting hairs on the buds of certain plants.
COLLETTA, PIETRO (1775–1831), Neapolitan general and
historian, entered the Neapolitan artillery in 1796 and took part
in the campaign against the French in 1798. On the entry of
the French into Naples and the establishment of the Parthenopean
republic (1799) he adhered to the new government, and
when the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV. (q.v.) reconquered the
city Colletta was thrown into prison and only escaped the death
penalty by means of judiciously administered bribes. Turned
out of the army he became a civil engineer, but when the
Bourbons were expelled a second time in 1806 and Joseph Bonaparte
seized the throne of Naples, he was reinstated in his rank
and served in the expedition against the brigands and rebels of
Calabria. In 1812 he was promoted general, and made director
of roads and bridges. He served under Joachim Murat and
fought the Austrians on the Panaro in 1815. On the restoration
of Ferdinand Colletta was permitted to retain his rank in the
army, and given command of the Salerno division. At the outbreak
of the revolution of 1820 the king called him to his councils,
and when the constitution had been granted Colletta was sent
to put down the separatist rising in Sicily, which he did with
great severity. He fought in the constitutionalist army against
the Austrians at Rieti (7th of March 1821), and on the re-establishment
of autocracy he was arrested and imprisoned for three
months by order of the prince of Canosa, the chief of police, his
particular enemy. He would have been executed had not
the Austrians intervened in his favour, and he was exiled instead
to Brünn in Moravia; in 1823 he was permitted to settle in
Florence, where he spent the rest of his days engaged on his
Storia del reame di Napoli. He died in 1831. His history
(1st ed., Capolago, 1834), which deals with the reigns of Charles
III. and Ferdinand IV. (1734–1825), is still the standard work
for that period; but its value is somewhat diminished by the
author’s bitterness against his opponents and the fact that he
does not give chapter and verse for his statements, many of
which are based on his recollection of documents seen, but not
available at the time of writing. Still, having been an actor in
many of the events recorded, he is on the whole accurate and
trustworthy.
See Gino Capponi’s memoir of him published in the Storia del reame di Napoli (2nd ed., Florence, 1848). (L. V.*)
COLLEY, SIR GEORGE POMEROY (1835–1881), British general, third son of George Pomeroy Colley, of Rathangan,
