COSEL, or Kosel, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, at the junction of the Klodnitz and the Oder, 29 m. S.E. of Oppeln by rail. Pop. (1905) 7085. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, an old château and a grammar-school (Progymnasium). Its industries are of some importance, including a manufactory of cellulose (employing 1200 hands), steam saw- and flour-mills and a petroleum refinery. There is a lively trade by river.
The first record of Cosel dates from 1286. From 1306 to 1359 it was the seat of an independent duchy held by a cadet line of the dukes of Teschen. In 1532 it fell to the emperor, was several times besieged during the Thirty Years’ War, and came into Prussian possession by the treaty of Breslau in 1742. Frederick II. converted it into a fortress, which was besieged in vain by the Austrians in 1758, 1759, 1760 and 1762. In 1807 it withstood another siege, by the Bavarian allies of Napoleon. The fortifications were razed and their site converted into promenades in 1874.
COSENZ, ENRICO (1812–1898), Italian soldier, was born at
Gaeta, on the 12th of January 1812. As captain of artillery in
the Neapolitan army he took part in the expedition sent by
Ferdinand II. against the Austrians in 1848; but after the
coup d’état at Naples he followed General Guglielmo Pepe in
disobeying Ferdinand’s order for the withdrawal of the troops,
and proceeded to Venice to aid in defending that city. As
commandant of the fort of Marghera, Cosenz displayed distinguished
valour, and after the fall of the fort assumed the
defence of the Piazzale, where he was twice wounded. Upon the
fall of Venice he fled to Piedmont, where he remained until, in
1859, he assumed the command of a Garibaldian regiment. In
1860 he conducted the third Garibaldian expedition to Sicily,
defeated two Neapolitan brigades at Piale (August 23), and
marched victoriously upon Naples, where he was appointed
minister of war, and took part in organizing the plébiscite.
During the war of 1866 his division saw but little active service.
After the war he repeatedly declined the portfolio of war. In
1881, however, he became chief of the general staff, and held that
position until a short time before his death at Rome on the 7th of
August 1898.
COSENZA (anc. Consentia), a town and archiepiscopal see of
Calabria, Italy, the capital of the province of Cosenza, 755 ft.
above sea-level, 43 m. by rail S. by W. of Sibari, which is a station
on the E. coast railway between Metaponto and Reggio. Pop.
(1901) town, 13,841; commune, 20,857. It is situated on the
slope of a hill between the Crati and Busento, just above the
junction, and is commanded by a castle (1250 ft.). The Gothic
cathedral, consecrated in 1222, on the site of another ruined by an
earthquake in 1184, goes back to French models in Champagne,
and is indeed unique in Italy. It contains the Gothic tomb of
Isabella of Aragon, wife of Philip III. of France, and also the
tomb of Louis III., duke of Anjou; but it has been spoilt by
restoration both inside and out. S. Domenico has a fine rose
window. The Palazzo del Tribunale (law courts) is a fine
building, and the upper town contains several good houses of
rich proprietors of the province; while the lower portion is
unhealthy. Earthquakes, and a fire in 1901, have done considerable
damage to the town.
The ancient Consentia is first named as the burial place of Alexander of Epirus in about 330 B.C. In 204 it became Roman, though it was more under the influence of Greek culture. It is mentioned by Strabo as the chief town of the Bruttii, and frequently spoken of in classical authors as an important place. It lay on the Via Popillia. Varro speaks of its apple trees which gave fruit twice in the year and Pliny praises its wine also. It is the more surprising that in the whole of its territory no inscriptions, either Greek or Latin, have ever been found, those that are recorded by some writers being fabrications. in A.D. 410 Alaric fell in battle here and was buried, it is said, in the bed of the Busento, which was temporarily diverted and then allowed to resume its natural course. Cosenza became an archbishopric in the 11th century. In 1461 it was taken by Roberto Orsini, and suffered severely. It was the home of a scientific academy founded by the philosopher Bernardino Telesio (1509–1588). In 1555–1561 it was the centre of the persecution by the Inquisition of the Waldenses who had settled there towards the end of the 14th century. (T. As.)
COSHOCTON, a city and the county-seat of Coshocton county, Ohio, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Tuscarawas and the Walhonding rivers, with the Muskingum river, and about 70 m. E.N.E.
of Columbus. Pop. (1890) 3672; (1900) 6473 (364 foreign-born); (1910) 9603. It is served by the Pennsylvania, the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis (controlled by the Pennsylvania),
and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railways. The city is
built on a series of four broad terraces, the upper one of which has an elevation of 824 ft. above sea-level, and commands pleasant views of the river and the valley. It has a public library.
Coshocton is the commercial centre of an extensive agricultural district and has manufactories of paper, glass, flour, china-ware,
cast-iron pipes and especially of advertising specialities. The
municipality owns and operates its water-works. Coshocton
occupies the site of a former Indian village of the same name—the
chief village of the Turtle tribe of the Delawares. This
village was destroyed by the whites in 1781. The first settlement
by whites was begun in 1801; and in 1802 the place was laid
out as a town and named Tuscarawas. In 1811, when it was
made the county-seat, the present name was adopted. Coshocton was first incorporated in 1833.
COSIN, JOHN (1594–1672), English divine, was born at Norwich on the 30th of November 1594. He was educated at Norwich grammar school and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was scholar and afterwards fellow. On taking orders
he was appointed secretary to Bishop Overall of Lichfield, and
then domestic chaplain to Bishop Neile of Durham. In December
1624 he was made a prebendary of Durham, and in the following
year archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire. In 1628 he
took his degree of D.D. He first became known as an author in
1627, when he published his Collection of Private Devotions, a
manual stated to have been prepared by command of Charles I.,
for the use of the queen’s maids of honour.[1] This book, together
with his insistence on points of ritual in his cathedral church and
his friendship with Laud, exposed him to the suspicions and
hostility of the Puritans; and the book was rudely handled by
William Prynne and Henry Burton. In 1628 Cosin took part
in the prosecution of a brother prebendary, Peter Smart, for a
sermon against high church practices; and the prebendary was
deprived. In 1634 Cosin was appointed master of Peterhouse,
Cambridge; and in 1640 he became vice-chancellor of the university.
In October of this year he was promoted to the deanery
of Peterborough. A few days before his installation the Long
Parliament had met; and among the complainants who hastened
to appeal to it for redress was the ex-prebendary, Smart. His
petition against the new dean was considered; and early in 1641
Cosin was sequestered from his benefices. Articles of impeachment,
were, two months later, presented against him, but he
was dismissed on bail, and was not again called for. For sending
the university plate to the king, he was deprived of the mastership
of Peterhouse (1642). He thereupon withdrew to France, preached
at Paris, and served as chaplain to some members of the household
of the exiled royal family. At the Restoration he returned
to England, was reinstated in the mastership, restored to all his benefices, and in a few months raised to the see of Durham (December 1660). At the convocation in 1661 he played a prominent part in the revision of the prayer-book, and endeavoured with some success to bring both prayers and rubrics into completer agreement with ancient liturgies. He administered his diocese with conspicuous ability and success for about eleven years; and applied a large share of his revenues to the promotion of the interests of the Church, of schools and of charitable institutions. He died in London on the 15th of January 1672.
Cosin occupies an interesting and peculiar position among the churchmen of his time. Though a ritualist and a rigorous enforcer of outward conformity, he was uncompromisingly hostile to Roman Catholicism, and most of his writings illustrate this antagonism. In France he was on friendly terms with
- ↑ See John Evelyn’s Diary (Oct. 12, 1651).