recaptured without bloodshed by a Federal force, and was held by the Federals until the close of the Civil War.
See George R. Fairbanks, The History and Antiquities of the City of St Augustine (New York, 1858); Charles B. Reynolds, Old St Augustine (St Augustine, 1885); and D. Y. Thomas, “Report upon the Historic Buildings, Monuments and Local Archives of St Augustine,” in vol. i. pp. 333-352 of the Annual Report (1905) of the American Historical Association.
ST AUSTELL, a market town in the St Austell parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 14 m. N.E. of Truro, on the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3340. It is pleasantly situated on a steep slope 2 m. inland from St Austell bay on the south coast. To the north the high ground culminates at 1034 ft. above the sea in Hensbarrow Downs, so called from a barrow standing at the loftiest point. The church of the Holy Trinity is Perpendicular, with Decorated chancel, richly ornamented in a manner unusual in the county. The town is the centre of a district productive of china clay (kaolin), about 400,000 tons being annually exported by sea to the potteries of Staffordshire and to Lancashire, when it is used in the calico works for sizing. The deposits of clay became important about 1763, and Josiah Wedgwood acquired mines in the neighbourhood. Mines were previously worked for tin and copper, and in some cases after being exhausted of ore continued to be worked for clay. The Carclaze mine to the north-east is notably rich; it is a shallow excavation of great superficial extent, which appears to have been worked from very early times. Close to St Austell is a good example of an ancient baptistery, called Menacuddle Well, the little chapel being Early English.
ST BARTHOLOMEW, or St Barthélemy, an island in the French West Indies. It lies in 17° 55' N. and 63° 60' W., about 130 m. N.W. of Guadeloupe, of which it is a dependency. It is shaped like an irregular crescent, the horns, enclosing the bay of St Jean, pointing to the N.; its surface is hilly, culminating near the centre in a limestone hill 1003 ft. high. It is 8 sq. m. in area, and devoid of forests, and water has often to be imported from the neighbouring island of St Kitts. The surrounding rocks and shallows make the island difficult of access. Despite the lack of water, sugar, cotton, cocoa, manioc and tobacco are grown. The capital, Gustavia, on the S.W. coast, possesses a small but safe harbour. Lorient is the only other town. The inhabitants, mainly of French and negro descent, are English-speaking, and number about 3000. St Bartholomew was occupied by France in 1648 and ceded to Sweden in 1784. In 1877 it was again acquired by France at the cost of £11,000.
ST BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE OF, the name given to the massacre of the Huguenots, which began in Paris on St Bartholomew's day, the 24th of August 1572. The initiative for the crime rests with Catherine de' Medici. Irritated and disquieted by the growing influence of Admiral Coligny, who against her wishes was endeavouring to draw Charles IX. into a war with Spain, she resolved at first to have him assassinated. The blow failed, and the admiral was only wounded. The attempt, however, infuriated the Huguenots, who had flocked to Paris for the wedding of Henry of Navarre and Marguerite de Valois. Charles IX. declared that the assassin should receive condign punishment. Catherine then conceived the idea of killing at a blow all the Huguenot leaders, and of definitely ruining the Protestant party. After holding a council with the Catholic leaders, including the duke of Anjou, Henry of Guise, the marshal de Tavannes, the duke of Nevers, and René de Birague, the keeper of the seals, she persuaded the king that the massacre was a measure of public safety, and on the evening of the 23rd of August succeeded in wringing his authorization from him. The king himself arranged the manner of its execution, but it is scarcely probable that he fired upon the Huguenots from a window of the Louvre. The massacre began on Sunday at daybreak, and continued in Paris till the 17th of September. Once let loose, it was impossible to restrain the Catholic populace. From Paris the massacre spread to the provinces till the 3rd of October. The duc de Longueville in Picardy, Chabot-Charny (son of Admiral Chabot) at Dijon, the comte de Matignon (1525–1597) in Normandy, and other provincial governors, refused to authorize the massacres. François Hotman estimates the number killed in the whole of France at 50,000. There were many illustrious victims, among them being Admiral Coligny, his son-in-law Charles de Téligny and the logician Peter Ramus. Catherine de' Medici received the congratulations of all the Catholic powers, and Pope Gregory XIII. commanded bonfires to be lighted and a medal to be struck.
See H. Bordier, La St Barthélemy et la critique moderne (Paris, 1879); H. Baumgarten, Vor der Bartkolomausnackt (Strassburg, 1882); and H. Mariéjol, “La Réforme et la Ligue” (Paris, 1904), in vol. vi. of the Histoire de France, by E. Lavisee, which contains a more complete bibliography of the subject.
ST BENOÎT-SUR-LOIRE, a village of north-central France, in the department of Loiret, on the right bank of the Loire, 22 m. E.S.E. of Orléans by road. St Benoît (Lat. Floriacum) possesses a huge basilica, the only survival of a famous monastery founded in the 7th century to which the relics of St Benedict were brought from Monte Cassino. Of great importance during the middle ages, owing partly to its school, the establishment began to decline in the 16th century. In 1562 it was pillaged by the Protestants and, though the buildings were restored by Richelieu, the abbey did not recover its former position. The basilica was built between c. 1025 and 1218. Its narthex has a second storey supported on columns with remarkable carved capitals; there are two sets of transepts, above which rises a square central tower. In the interior are the tomb of Philip I., stalls of the 15th century, and, in the crypt, a modern shrine containing the remains of St Benedict, which still attract many pilgrims.
ST BERNARD PASSES, two of the best-known passes across the main chain of the Alps, both traversed by carriage roads. The Great St Bernard (8111 ft.) leads (53 m.) from Martigny (anc. Octodurus) in the Rhone valley (Switzerland) to Aosta (anc. Augusta Praetoria) in Italy. It was known in Roman times. The hospice on the pass was founded (or perhaps refounded) by St Bernard of Menthon (d. about 1081), and since the 12th or early 13th century has been in charge of a community of Austin canons, the mother-house being at Martigny. Annually the servants of the canons, and the famous dogs, save many lives, especially of Italian workmen crossing the pass. In May 1800 Napoleon led his army over the pass, which was then traversed by a bridle road only. The Little St Bernard (7179 ft.) also was known in Roman times, and the hospice re founded by St Bernard of Menthon, though it is now in charge of the military and religious order of SS. Maurice and Lazarus. The pass leads (39 m.) from Bourg St Maurice in the Isère valley (French department of Savoie) to Aosta, but is much less frequented by travellers than its neighbour opposite. (W. A. B. C.)
There is no certain mention of the road over the pass of the Great St Bernard (Alpis Poenina, Poeninus Mons) before 57 B.C. when Julius Caesar sent Servius Galba over it, “because he wished that the pass, by which traders had been accustomed to go at great risk and with very high transport charges, should be opened.” But even in Strabo's time it was impassable for wheeled traffic; and we find that Augusta Praetoria originally had but two gates, one opening on the road towards the Little St Bernard (Alpis Graia), the other towards Eporedia (Ivrea), but none towards the Alpis Poenina. But the military arrangement of the German provinces rendered the construction of the road necessary, and it is mentioned as existing in A.D. 69. Remains of it cut in the rock, some 12½ ft. in width, still exist near the lake at the top of the pass. On the plain at the top of the pass is the temple of Jupiter Poeninus (Penninus), remains of which were excavated in 1890–1893, though objects connected with it had long ago been found. The oldest of the votive-tablets which can be dated belongs to the time of Tiberius, and the temple may be attributed to the beginning of the empire; objects, however, of the first Iron age (4th or 5th century B.C.) were also found[1] and many Gaulish coins. Other buildings, probably belonging to the post station at the top of the pass, were also discovered. Many of the objects found then and in previous years, including
- ↑ So Not. degli scavi (1891), 81; but the statement is contradicted, ibid. (1894), 44.
