in one of the squares. The industries include iron-working and the manufacture of nails, boots and shoes, embroidery and hosiery. The town has trade in cattle, grain and wood, and is well known for its cakes (madeleines). Commercy dates back to the 9th century, and at that time its lords were dependent on the bishop of Metz. In 1544 it was besieged by Charles V. in person. For some time the lordship was in the hands of François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, who lived in the town for a number of years, and there composed his memoirs. From him it was purchased by Charles IV., duke of Lorraine. In 1744 it became the residence of Stanislas, king of Poland, who spent a great deal of care on the embellishment of the town, castle and neighbourhood.
COMMERS (from Lat. commercium), the German term for the
German students’ social gatherings held annually on occasions
such as the breaking-up of term and the anniversary of the
university’s founding. A Commers consists of speeches and
songs and the drinking of unlimited quantities of beer. The
arrangements are governed by officials (Chargierte) elected by the
students from among themselves. Strict rules as to drinking
exist, and the chairman after each speech calls for what is called
a salamander (ad exercitium Salamandris bibite, tergite). All rise
and having emptied their glasses hammer three times on the
table with them. On the death of a student, his memory is
honoured with a salamander, the glasses being broken to atoms
at the close.
COMMINES, PHILIPPE DE (c. 1445–c. 1511), French historian, called the father of modern history, was born at the castle of
Renescure, near Hazebrouck in Flanders, a little earlier than
1447. He lost both father and mother in his earliest years. In
1463 his godfather, Philip V., duke of Burgundy, summoned him
to his court, and soon after transferred him to the household of his
son, afterwards known as Charles the Bold. He speedily acquired
considerable influence over Charles, and in 1468 was appointed
chamberlain and councillor; consequently when in the same
year Louis XI. was entrapped at Péronne, Commines was able
both to soften the passion of Charles and to give useful advice to
the king, whose life he did much to save. Three years later he was
charged with an embassy to Louis, who gained him over to
himself by many brilliant promises, and in 1472 he left Burgundy
for the court of France. He was at once made chamberlain and
councillor; a pension of 6000 livres was bestowed on him; he
received the principality of Talmont, the confiscated property of
the Amboise family, over which the family of La Trémoille
claimed to have rights. The king arranged his marriage with
Hélène de Chambes, who brought him the fine lordship of
Argenton, and Commines took the name d’Argenton from then
(27th of January 1473). He was employed to carry out the
intrigues of Louis in Burgundy, and spent several months as
envoy in Italy. On his return he was received with the utmost
favour, and in 1479 obtained a decree confirming him in possession
of his principality.
On the death of Louis in 1483 a suit was commenced against Commines by the family of La Trémoille, and he was cast in heavy damages. He plotted against the regent, Anne of Beaujeu, and joined the party of the duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis XII. Having attempted to carry off the king, Charles VIII., and so free him from the tutelage of his sister, he was arrested, and put in one of his old master’s iron cages at Loches. In 1489 he was banished to one of his own estates for ten years, and made to give bail to the amount of 10,000 crowns of gold for his good behaviour. Recalled to the council in 1492, he strenuously opposed the Italian expedition of Charles VIII., in which, however, he took part, notably as representing the king in the negotiations which resulted in the treaty of Vercelli. During the rest of his life, notwithstanding the accession of Louis XII., whom he had served as duke of Orleans, he held no position of importance; and his last days were disturbed by lawsuits. He died at Argenton on the 18th of October, probably in 1511. His wife Hélène de Chambes survived him till 1532; their tomb is now in the Louvre.
The Memoirs, to which Commines owes his reputation as a statesman and man of letters, were written during his latter years. The graphic style of his narrative and above all the keenness of his insight into the motives of his contemporaries, an insight undimmed by undue regard for principles of right and wrong, make this work one of the great classics of history. His portrait of Louis XI. remains unique, in that to such a writer was given such a subject. Scott in Quentin Durward gives an interesting picture of Commines, from whom he largely draws. Sainte-Beuve, after speaking of Commines as being in date the first truly modern writer, and comparing him with Montaigne, says that his history remains the definitive history of his time, and that from it all political history took its rise. None of this applause is undeserved, for the pages of Commines abound with excellences. He analyses motives and pictures manners; he delineates men and describes events; his reflections are pregnant with suggestiveness, his conclusions strong with the logic of facts.
The Memoirs divided themselves into two parts, the first from the reign of Louis XI., 1464–1483, the second on the Italian expedition and the negotiations at Venice leading to the Vercelli treaty, 1494–1495. The first part was written between 1489 and 1491, while Commines was at the château of Dreux, the second from 1495 to 1498. Seven MSS. are known, derived from a single holograph, and as this was undoubtedly badly written, the copies were inaccurate; the best is that which belonged to Anne de Polignac, niece of Commines, and it is the only one containing books vii. and viii.
The best edition of Commines is the one edited by B. de Mandrot and published at Paris in 1901–1903. For this edition the author used a manuscript hitherto unknown and more complete than the others, and in his introduction he gives an account of the life of Commines.
Bibliography.—The Memoirs remained in MS. till 1524, when part of them were printed by Galliot du Pré, the remainder first seeing light in 1525. Subsequent editions were put forth by Denys Sauvage in 1552, by Denys Godefroy in 1649, and by Lenglet Dufresnoy in 1747. Those of Mademoiselle Dupont (1841–1848) and of M. de Chantelauze (1881) have many merits, but the best was given by Bernard de Mandrot: Memoirs de Philippe de Commynes, from the MS. of Anne de Polignac (1901). Various translations of Commines into English have appeared, from that of T. Danett in 1596 to that, based on the Dupont edition, which was printed in Bohn’s series in 1855. (C. B.*)
COMMISSARIAT, the department of an army charged with the
provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The
supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in
the duties of a commissariat. In almost every army the duties of
transport and supply are performed by the same corps of departmental
troops.
COMMISSARY (from Med. Lat. commissarius, one to whom a charge or trust is committed), generally, a representative; e.g.,
the emperor’s representative who presided in his absence over
the imperial diet; and especially, an ecclesiastical official who
exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop
(q.v.); in the Church of England this jurisdiction is exercised in a
Consistory Court (q.v.), except in Canterbury, where the court of
the diocesan as opposed to the metropolitan jurisdiction of the
archbishop is called a commissary court, and the judge is the
commissary general of the city and diocese of Canterbury. When
a see is vacant the jurisdiction is exercised by a “special commissary” of the metropolitan. Commissary is also a general
military term for an official charged with the duties of supply,
transport and finance of an army. In the 17th and 18th centuries
the commissaire des guerres, or Kriegskommissär was an important
official in continental armies, by whose agency the troops, in
their relation to the civil inhabitants, were placed upon semi-political
control. In French military law, commissaires du gouvernement
represent the ministry of war on military tribunals,
and more or less correspond to the British judge-advocate (see
Court-Martial).
COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere), the action of committing or entrusting any charge or duty to a person, and the charge or trust thus committed, and so particularly an authority, or the document embodying such authority, given to some person to act in a particular capacity. The term is thus applied to the
