CORIPPUS, FLAVIUS CRESCONIUS, Roman epic poet of the 6th century A.D. He was a native of Africa, and in one of the MSS. is called grammaticus (teacher). He has been identified, but on insufficient grounds, with Cresconius, an African bishop (7th century), author of a Concordia Canonum, or collection of the laws of the church. Nothing is known of Corippus beyond what is contained in his own poems. He appears to have held the office of tribune or notary (scriniarius) under Anastasius, imperial treasurer and chamberlain of Justinian, at the end of whose reign he left Africa for Constantinople, in consequence of having lost his property during the Moorish and Vandal wars. He was the author of two poems, of considerable importance for the history of the times, one of which was not discovered till the beginning of the 19th century. The latter poem, dedicated to the nobles of Carthage, which comes first in point of time, is called Johannis or De bellis Libycis, and relates the overthrow of the Moors by a certain Johannes, magister militum in 546; it is in eight books (the last is unfinished) and contains about 5000 hexameters. The narrative commences with the despatch of Johannes to the theatre of war by Justinian, and ends with the decisive victory near Carthage (548). The other poem (In laudem Justini minoris), in four books, contains the death of Justinian, the coronation of his successor Justin II. (14th of November 565), and the early events of his reign. It is preceded by a preface, and a short and fulsome panegyric on Anastasius, the poet’s patron. The Laus was published at Antwerp in 1581 by Michael Ruyz Azagra, secretary to the emperor Rudolf II., from a 9th or 10th century MS. The preface contains a reference to a previous work by the author on the wars in Africa, and although Johannes Cuspinianus (1473–1529) in his De Caesaribus et Imperatoribus professed to have seen a MS. of it in the library at Buda (destroyed by Suleiman II. in 1527), it was not till 1814 that it was discovered at Milan by Cardinal Mazzucchelli, librarian of the Ambrosian library, from the codex Trivultianus (in the library of the marquis Trivulzi), the only MS. of the Johannis still extant.
The Johannis is of great value, not only from a purely historical point of view, but also as giving a description of the land and people of Africa, which conscientiously records the impressions of an intelligent native observer; many of his statements as to manners and customs are confirmed both by independent ancient authorities (such as Procopius) and by our knowledge of the modern Berbers. Virgil, Lucan, and Claudian were the poet’s chief models. The Laus, which was written when he was advanced in years, although marred by Byzantine servility and gross flattery of a by no means worthy object, throws much light upon Byzantine court ceremony, as in the account of the accession of Justin and the reception of the embassy of the Avars. On the whole the language and metre of Corippus, considering the age in which he lived and the fact that he was not a native Italian, is remarkably pure. That he was a Christian is rendered probable by negative indications, such as the absence of all the usual mythological accessories of an epic poem, positive allusions to texts of Scripture, and the highly orthodox passage Laus iv. 294 ff.
The editions of the Johannis by P. Mazzucchelli (1820) and of the Laus by P. F. Foggini (1777) are still valuable for their commentaries. They are both included in the 28th volume of the Bonn Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae. The best modern editions are by J. Partsch (in Monumenta Germaniae historica, 1879), with very valuable prolegomena, and M. Petschenig (Berliner Studien für klassische Philologie, iv., 1886); see also Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xlv.
CORISCO, the name of a bay and an island on the Guinea Coast, West Africa. The bay is bounded N. by Cape San Juan (1° 10′ N.) and S. by Cape Esterias (0° 36′ N.), and is about 31 m. across, while it extends inland some 15 m. The bay is much encumbered with sandbanks, which impair its value as a harbour.
Whereas the Muni
river or estuary, which enters the bay on its
northern side, has a maximum depth of over 100 ft., vessels
entering it have to come by a channel with an average depth of
six fathoms. The entrance to the southern part of the bay is
obstructed by the Bana Bank, which extends for 9 m., rendering
navigation dangerous. The bay encloses many small islands
and islets, some hardly distinguishable from sandbanks and
submerged at high water, giving rise to a native saying that
“half the islands live under water.” The principal islands
are four, Bana, Great and Little Elobey, and Corisco, the last-named
lying farthest to seaward and giving its name to the
bay.
Corisco Island, the largest of the group, is some 3 m. long by 1¾ m. in breadth and has an area of about 5½ sq. m. The surface of the island is very diversified. On a miniature scale it possesses mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, forests and swamps, grassland and bushland, moorland and parkland. The forests supply ebony and logwood for export. The natives are a Bantu-Negro tribe called Benga. There are among them many converts to Roman Catholicism and a few Protestants. Corisco and the other islands named are Spanish possessions and are governed as dependencies of Fernando Po.
See Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, ch. xvii. (London, 1897); E. L. Perea, “Guinea española: La isla de Corisco,” in Revista de geog. colon. y mercantil (Madrid, 1906).
CORK, RICHARD BOYLE, 1st Earl of (1566–1643), Irish
statesman, second son of Roger Boyle of Faversham in Kent,
a descendant of an ancient Herefordshire family, and of Joan,
daughter of Robert Naylor of Canterbury, was born at Canterbury
on the 3rd of October 1566, and was educated at the King’s
school and at Bennet (Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge,
where he was admitted in 1583. He afterwards studied law at the
Middle Temple and became clerk to Sir Richard Manwood, chief
baron of the exchequer; but finding his position
offered little
opportunity for advancement he determined to
make a new
start in Ireland. He landed in Dublin on the 23rd
of June 1588,
as he relates himself, with £27, 3s. in money, a
gold bracelet
worth £10, and a diamond ring, besides some fine wearing
apparel. He began to make his fortune almost immediately.
In 1590 he obtained the appointment of deputy escheator to
John Crofton, the escheator-general, and in 1595 he married
Joan, daughter and co-heiress of William Appsley of Limerick,
who died in 1599, having brought him an estate of £500 a year.
Meanwhile he had been the object of the attacks of Sir Henry Wallop and others, incited, according to his own account, by envy at his success and increasing prosperity, and was apprehended on various charges of fraud in his office, being more than once thrown into prison. He was on the point of leaving for England to justify himself to the queen, when the rebellion in Munster in October 1598 again reduced him to poverty and obliged him to return to London to his chambers at the Temple. He was, however, almost immediately taken by Essex into his service, when Sir Henry Wallop again renewed his prosecution, with the result that Boyle was summoned before the star chamber. His enemies appear to have failed in substantiating their accusations, and in the course of the inquiry, at which he had secured the presence of the queen herself, he was able to expose several instances of malversation on the part of his opponent, who was dismissed in consequence from his office of treasurer, while Boyle himself, who had favourably impressed the queen, was declared by her as “a man fit to be employed by ourselves” and was at once made clerk of the council of Munster. He brought to Elizabeth the news of the victory near Kingsale in December 1601, and in October 1602 was again sent over by Sir George Carew, the president of Munster, on Irish affairs; and on this occasion, at the instance of Carew, he bought for £1000 the whole of Sir Walter Raleigh’s lands in Cork, Waterford and Tipperary, consisting of 12,000 acres with immense capabilities of development. This offered a splendid opportunity for the exercise of his genius for business and administration. Manufactures were established, the breeding of cattle and fish introduced, mines opened, colonists from England encouraged to come over, the natural resources of the land developed, bridges, harbours and roads constructed, and towns settled, order being maintained by 13 castles garrisoned by retainers.
While himself quickly accumulating vast riches, the services
