armonica is an inferior production. He published a number of solos for the violin, three sets of violin concertos, twelve violin trios, The Art of Accompaniment on the Harpsichord, Organ, &c., Lessons for the Harpsichord and some other works.
GEMISTUS PLETHO [or Plethon], GEORGIUS (c. 1355–1450), Greek Platonic philosopher and scholar, one of the chief pioneers of the revival of learning in Western Europe, was a Byzantine by birth who settled at Mistra in the Peloponnese, the site of ancient Sparta. He changed his name from Gemistus to the equivalent Pletho (“the full”), perhaps owing to the similarity of sound between that name and that of his master Plato. He invented a religious system founded on the speculative mysticism of the Neoplatonists, and founded a sect, the members of which believed that the new creed would supersede all existing forms of belief. But he is chiefly memorable for having introduced Plato to the Western world. This took place upon his visit to Florence in 1439, as one of the deputies from Constantinople on occasion of the general council. Cardinal Bessarion became his disciple; he produced a great impression upon Cosimo de’ Medici; and though not himself making any very important contribution to the study of Plato, he effectually shook the exclusive domination which Aristotle had exercised over European thought for eight centuries. He promoted the union of the Greek and Latin Churches as far as possible, but his efforts in this direction bore no permanent fruit. He probably died before the capture of Constantinople. The most important of his published works are treatises on the distinction between Plato and Aristotle as philosophers (published at Venice in 1540); on the religion of Zoroaster (Paris, 1538); on the condition of the Peloponnese (ed. A. Ellissen in Analekten der mittel- und neugriechischen Literatur, iv.); and the Νόμοι (ed. C. Alexandre, Paris, 1858). In addition to these he compiled several volumes of excerpts from ancient authors, and wrote a number of works on geography, music and other subjects, many of which still exist in MS. in various European libraries.
See especially F. Schultze, Geschichte der Philosophie der Renaissance, i. (1874); also J.A. Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy (1877), ii. p. 198; H.F. Tozer, “A Byzantine Reformer,” in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vii. (1886), chiefly on Pletho’s scheme of political and social reform for the Peloponnese, as set forth in the pamphlets addressed to Manuel II. Palaeologus and his son Theodore, despot of the Morea; W. Gass, Gennadius und Pletho (1844). Most of Pletho’s works will be found in J.P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, clx.; for a complete list see Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed. Harles), xii.
GEMMI PASS, a pass (7641 ft.) leading from Frutigen in the Swiss canton of Bern to Leukerbad in the Swiss canton of the Valais. It is much frequented by travellers in summer. From Kandersteg (712 m. by road above Frutigen, which is 12 m. by rail from Spiez on the Berne-Interlaken line) a mule path leads to the summit of the pass, passing over the Spitalmatte plain, where in 1782 and again in 1895 a great avalanche fell from the Altels (11,930 ft.) to the S.E., causing on both occasions great loss of life and property. The mule path descends on the south side of the pass by an extraordinary series of zigzags, made accessible for mules (though no rider is now allowed to descend on mule-back) by a band of Tirolese workmen in 1740–1741. They are cut in a very steep wall of rock, about 1800 ft. in height, and lead down to the village of Leukerbad, which is 912 m. by carriage road past Leuk above the Susten station in the Rhône valley and on the Simplon line. (W. A. B. C.)
GENDARMERIE, originally a body of troops in France
composed of gendarmes or men-at-arms. In the days of chivalry
they were mounted and armed cap-à-pie, exactly as were the
lords and knights, with whom they constituted the most important
part of an army. They were attended each by five soldiers of
inferior rank and more lightly armed. In the later middle ages
the men-at-arms were furnished by owners of fiefs. But after
the Hundred Years’ War this feudal gendarmerie was replaced
by the compagnies d’ordonnance which Charles VII. formed when
the English were driven out of France, and which were distributed
throughout the whole extent of the kingdom for preserving order
and maintaining the king’s authority. These companies, fifteen
in number, were composed of 100 lances or gendarmes fully
equipped, each of whom was attended by at least three archers,
one coutillier (soldier armed with a cutlass) and one varlet (soldier’s
servant). The states-general of Orleans (1439) had voted a
yearly subsidy of 1,200,000 livres in perpetuity to keep up this
national soldiery, which replaced, and in fact was recruited
chiefly amongst, the bands of mercenaries who for about a
century had made France their prey. The number and composition
of the compagnies d’ordonnance were changed more than
once before the reign of Louis XIV. This sovereign on his
accession to the throne found only eight companies of gendarmes
surviving out of an original total of more than one hundred, but
after the victory of Fleurus (1690), which had been decided by
their courage, he increased their number to sixteen. The four
first companies (which were practically guard troops) were
designated by the names of Gendarmes écossais, Gendarmes
anglais, Gendarmes bourguignons and Gendarmes flamands, from
the nationality of the soldiers who had originally composed them;
but at that time they consisted entirely of French soldiers and
officers. These four companies had a captain-general, who was
the king. The fifth company was that of the queen; and the
others bore the name of the princes who respectively commanded
them. This organization was dissolved in 1788. The Revolution
swept away all these institutions of the monarchy, and, with
the exception of a short revival of the Gendarmes de la garde at
the Restoration, henceforward the word “gendarmerie”
possesses an altogether different significance—viz. military
police.
GENEALOGY (from the Gr. γένος, family, and λόγος, theory), a pedigree or list of ancestors, or the study of family history.
1. Biblical Genealogies.—The aims and methods of ancient genealogists require to be carefully considered before the value of the numerous ancestral lists in the Bible can be properly estimated. Many of the old “genealogies,” like those of Greece, have arisen from the desire to explain the origin of the various groups which they include. Information relating to the subdivision of tribes, their relation to each other, the intermingling of populations and the like are thus frequently represented in the form of genealogies. The “sons” of a “father” often stand merely for the branches of a family as they existed at some one period, and since in course of time tribal relations would vary, lists which have originated at different periods will present discrepancies. It is obvious that many of the Biblical names are nothing more than personifications of nations, tribes, towns, &c., which are grouped together to convey some idea of the bond by which they were believed to be connected.
For the personification of a people or tribe, cp. Gen. xxxiv. 30 (“Jacob said . . . I am a few men”), Josh. xvii. 14 (“the children of Joseph said . . . I am a numerous people”), Ex. xiv. 25 (“Egypt said, let me flee”), Jos. ix. 7, 1 Sam. v. 10, &c.; see G.B. Gray on Numbers, xx. 14 (Internat. Crit. Comm.). Thus we find among the “sons” of Japhet: (the nations) Gomer, Javan, Tubal; Canaan “begat” Sidon and Heth; the “sons” of Ishmael include the well-known tribes Kedar and Jetur; Jacob, or the synonym Israel, personifies the “children of Israel” (cf. use of “I,” “thou” of the Israelites in Deut., and in poetical passages). The recognition of this characteristic usage often furnishes an ethnological interpretation to those genealogical stories which obviously do not relate to persons, but to tribes or peoples personified. The Edomites and Israelites are regarded as “brothers” (cf. Num. xx. 14, Deut. ii. 4, Am. i. 11), and since Esau (Edom) was born before Jacob (Israel) it would appear that the Edomites were held to be the older nation. The union of two clans is expressed as a marriage, or the wife is the territory which is dominated by the husband (tribe); see Caleb. If the woman is not of noble blood, but is a handmaiden or concubine, her children are naturally not upon the same footing as those of the wife; consequently the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Hagar (Sarah’s maid), are inferior to Isaac and his descendants, whilst the children of Keturah (“incense”), Abraham’s concubine, are still lower—from the Israelite point of view. This application of the terms of relationship is characteristic of the Semites. The “father” of the Rechabites is their head or founder (cf. 1 Sam. x. 12: “who is their father?”), and a common bond, which is not necessarily physical, unites all “sons,” whether they are “sons of the prophets” (members of prophetic guilds) or “sons of Belial” (worthless men).
The interpretation of ethnological or statistical genealogies may easily be pushed too far. Every case has to be judged upon
