Scharnhorst’s intimates, and he was distinguished for his energetic and fearless character before the war of 1806, in which he served throughout, from Jena to the peace of Tilsit, as a staff officer, and won the rank of major for distinguished service in action. After the peace, and the downfall of Prussia, he was one of the most active of Scharnhorst’s assistants in the work of reorganization (1809), joined the Tugendbund and endeavoured to take part in Schill’s abortive expedition, after which he entered the Austrian service as a major on the general staff. Thereafter he journeyed to Cadiz to assist the Spaniards against Napoleon, and he led a corps of volunteers in the defence of that port against Marshal Victor in 1810. He was present at the battle of Albuera, at Saguntum, and at Valencia, becoming a prisoner of war at the surrender of the last-named place. Soon, however, he escaped to Switzerland, whence early in 1813 he returned to Prussia as a major on the general staff. He served successively under Colonel von Dolffs and General von Kleist, and as commissioner at the headquarters of the Russian general Barclay de Tolly. He took part with Kleist in the victory of Kulm, and recovered from a severe wound received at that action in time to be present at the battle of Leipzig. He played a conspicuous part in the campaign of 1814 in France, after which he was made a major-general. In this rank he was appointed quartermaster-general to Field Marshal Prince Blücher, and, after his chief and Gneisenau, Grolmann had the greatest share in directing the Prussian operations of 1815. In the decision, on the 18th of June 1815, to press forward to Wellington’s assistance (see Waterloo Campaign), Grolmann actively concurred, and as the troops approached the battle-field, he is said to have overcome the momentary hesitation of the commander-in-chief and the chief of staff by himself giving the order to advance. After the peace of 1815, Grolmann occupied important positions in the ministry of war and the general staff. His last public services were rendered in Poland as commander-in-chief, and practically as civil administrator of the province of Posen. He was promoted general of infantry in 1837 and died on the 1st of June 1843, at Posen. His two sons became generals in the Prussian army. The Prussian 18th infantry regiment bears his name.
General von Grolmann supervised and provided much of the material for von Damitz’s Gesch. des Feldzugs 1815 (Berlin, 1837–1838), and Gesch. des Feldzugs 1814 in Frankreich (Berlin, 1842–1843).
See v. Conrady, Leben und Wirken des Generals Karl von Grolmann (Berlin, 1894–1896).
GROMATICI (from groma or gruma, a surveyor’s pole), or Agrimensores, the name for land-surveyors amongst the Romans. The art of surveying was probably at first in the hands of the augurs, by whom it was exercised in all cases where the demarcation of a templum (any consecrated space) was necessary. Thus, the boundaries of Rome itself, of colonies and camps, were all marked out in accordance with the rules of augural procedure. The first professional surveyor mentioned is L. Decidius Saxa, who was employed by Antony in the measurement of camps (Cicero, Philippics, xi. 12, xiv. 10). During the empire their number and reputation increased. The distribution of land amongst the veterans, the increase in the number of military colonies, the settlement of Italian peasants in the provinces, the general survey of the empire under Augustus, the separation of private and state domains, led to the establishment of a recognized professional corporation of surveyors. During later times they were in receipt of large salaries, and in some cases were even honoured with the title clarissimus. Their duties were not merely geometrical or mathematical, but required legal knowledge for consultations or the settlement of disputes. This led to the institution of special schools for the training of surveyors and a special literature, which lasted from the 1st to the 6th century A.D. The earliest of the gromatic writers was Frontinus (q.v.), whose De agrorum qualitate, dealing with the legal aspect of the art, was the subject of a commentary by Aggenus Urbicus, a Christian schoolmaster. Under Trajan a certain Balbus, who had accompanied the emperor on his Dacian campaign, wrote a still extant manual of geometry for land surveyors (Expositio et ratio omnium formarum or mensurarum, probably after a Greek original by Hero), dedicated to a certain Celsus who had invented an improvement in a gromatic instrument (perhaps the dioptra, resembling the modern theodolite); for the treatises of Hyginus see that name. Somewhat later than Trajan was Siculus Flaccus (De condicionibus agrorum, extant), while the most curious treatise on the subject, written in barbarous Latin and entitled Casae litterarum (long a school text-book) is the work of a certain Innocentius (4th-5th century). It is doubtful whether Boëtius is the author of the treatises attributed to him. The Gromatici veteres also contains extracts from official registers (probably belonging to the 5th century) of colonial and other land surveys, lists and descriptions of boundary stones, and extracts from the Theodosian Codex. According to Mommsen, the collection had its origin during the 5th century in the office of a vicarius (diocesan governor) of Rome, who had a number of surveyors under him. The surveyors were known by various names: decempedator (with reference to the instrument used); finitor, metator or mensor castrorum in republican times; togati Augustorum as imperial civil officials; professor, auctor as professional instructors.
The best edition of the Gromatici is by C. Lachmann and others (1848) with supplementary volume, Die Schriften der römischen Feldmesser (1852); see also B. G. Niebuhr, Roman History, ii., appendix (Eng. trans.), who first revived interest in the subject; M. Cantor, Die römischen Agrimensoren (Leipzig, 1875); P. de Tissot, La Condition des Agrimensores dans l’ancienne Rome (1879); G. Rossi, Groma e squadro (Turin, 1877); articles by F. Hultsch in Ersch and Gruber’s Allgem. Encyklopädie, and by G. Humbert in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dictionnaire des antiquités; Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Literature, 58.
GRONINGEN, the most northerly province of Holland, bounded S. by Drente, W. by Friesland and the Lauwers Zee, N. and N.E. by the North Sea and the mouth of the Ems with the Dollart, and on the S.E. by the Prussian province of Hanover. It includes the islands of Boschplaat and Rottumeroog, belonging to the group of Frisian islands (q.v.). Area, 887 sq. m.; pop. (1900) 299,602. Groningen is connected with the Drente plateau by the sandy tongue of the Hondsrug which extends almost up to the capital. West, north and north-east of this the province is flat and consists of sea-clay or sand and clay mixed, except where patches of low and high fen occur on the Frisian borders. Low fen predominates to the east of the capital, between the Zuidlardermeer and the Schildmeer or lakes. The south-eastern portion of the province consists of high fen resting on diluvial sand. A large part of this has been reclaimed and the sandy soil laid bare, but on the Drente and Prussian borders areas of fen still remain. The so-called Boertanger Morass on the Prussian border was long considered as the natural protection of the eastern frontier, and with the view of preserving its impassable condition neither agriculture nor cattle-rearing might be practised here until 1824, and it was only in 1868 that the building of houses was sanctioned and the work of reclamation begun. The gradual extension of the seaward boundaries of the province owing to the process of littoral deposits may be easily traced, a triple line of sea-dikes in places marking the successive stages in this advance. The rivers of Groningen descending from the Drente plateau meet at the capital, whence they are continued by the Reitdiep to the Lauwers Zee (being discharged through a lock), and by the Ems canal (1876) to Delfzyl. The south-eastern corner of the province is traversed by the Westerwolde Aa, which discharges into the Dollart. The railway system belongs to the northern section of the State railways, and affords communication with Germany via Winschoten. Steam-tramways also serve many parts of the province. Agriculture is the main industry. The proportion of landowners is a very large one, and the prosperous condition of the Groningen farmer is attested by the style of his home, his dress and his gig. As a result, however, partly of the usual want of work on the grasslands in certain seasons, there has been a considerable emigration to America. The ancient custom called the beklem-recht, or
