the city joined the Städtebund, or league of Swabian towns, and about a century later it rendered efficient aid to the Swiss confederates at Granson and Nancy. The reformed doctrines were readily accepted in Strassburg about 1523, its foremost champion here being Martin Bucer, and the city was skilfully piloted through the ensuing period of religious dissensions by Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, who secured for it very favourable terms at the end of the war of the league of Schmalkalden. In the Thirty Years' War Strassburg escaped without molestation by observing a prudent neutrality. In 1681, during a time of peace, it was suddenly seized by Louis XIV., and this unjustifiable action received formal recognition at the peace of Ryswick in 1697. The immediate effect of this change was a partial reaction in favour of Roman Catholicism, but the city remained essentially German until the French Revolution, when it was deprived of its privileges as a free town and sank to the level of a French provincial capital. In the war of 1870-71 Strassburg, with its garrison of 17,000 men, surrendered to the Germans on the 28th of September 1871 after a siege of seven weeks. The city and the cathedral suffered considerably from the bombardment, but all traces of the havoc have now disappeared. Before the war more than half of the inhabitants spoke German, and this proportion has increased greatly of recent years, owing to the large influx of pure German elements into the city and the almost complete reconciliation of the older inhabitants to the rule of Germany.
The bishopric of Strassburg existed in the days of the Merovingian kings, being probably founded in the 4th century, and embraced a large territory on both banks of the Rhine, which was afterwards diminished by the creation of the bishoprics of Spires and Basel. The bishopric was in the archdiocese of Mainz and the bishop was a prince of the empire. The episcopal lands were annexed by France in 1789 and the subsequent Roman Catholic bishops of Strassburg discharged spiritual duties only.
For the history of the bishopric see Grandidier, Histoire de l'église et des évêques-princes de Strasbourg (Strassburg, 1775–1778); Glöckler, Geschichte des Bistums Strasburg (Strassburg, 1879–1880); and J. Fritz, Das Territorium des Bistums Strasburg (Strassburg, 1885).
For the city see the Strassburger Chroniken, edited by Hegel (Leipzig, 1870–1871); the Urkunden und Akten der Stadt Strassburg (Strassburg, 1879 seq.); G. Schmoller, Strassburgs Blüte im 13. Jahrhundert (Strassburg, 1875); Schricker, Zur Geschichte der Universität Strassburg (Strassburg, 1872); J. Kindler, Das goldene Buch von Strassburg (Vienna, 1885–1886); H. Ludwig, Deutsche Kaiser und Könige in Strassburg (Strassburg, 1889); A. Seyboth, Strasbourg historique (Strassburg, 1894); and C. Stahling, Histoire contemporaine de Strasbourg (Nice, 1884 seq.).
STRATA-FLORIDA (Ystradflur), the ruins of a celebrated Cistercian abbey of Cardiganshire, Wales, situated amidst wild and beautiful scenery near the source of the river Teifi. The abbey is 2 m. distant from the village of Pontrhydfendigaid (bridge of the blessed ford) on the Teifi, and about 4 m. from the station of Strata-Florida on the so-called Manchester and Milford branch line of the Great Western railway. The existing remains are not extensive, but the dimensions of the church, 213 ft. long by 61 ft. broad, are easily traceable, and excavations made at different times during recent years have brought to light encaustic tiles and other objects of interest. The most prominent feature of the ruined abbey is the elaborate western portal of the church, which is regarded as a unique specimen of the transitional Norman-English architecture of the 12th century. A fine silver seal of the abbey is preserved in the British Museum.
Founded and generously endowed in 1164 by Rhys ap Griffith, prince of South Wales, the Cistercian abbey of St Mary at Strata-Florida (which was probably a revival of an older monastic house on or near the same site) continued for over a century to be reckoned one of the wealthiest and most influential of the Welsh religious houses. It was much favoured by Welsh bards, nobles and princes, several of whom were buried in the adjoining cemetery; and in its library were deposited many official documents and records of the native princes. In 1138 Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, “the Great,” summoned all his vassals to this spot to do homage to his heir, afterwards Prince David II. The abbey suffered severely during the Edwardian wars, and in or about 1294 a large portion of its buildings was destroyed by fire, though whether as the result of accident or design remains unknown; in any case Edward I. gave a donation of £75 towards the restoration of the fabric. During Owen Glendower's rebellion in Henry IV. 's reign, the abbey was held for some months by Harry of Monmouth (Henry V.) with a body of troopers. With the extinction of Welsh independence the abbey lost much of its wealth and influence, and at the dissolution of the monasteries its gross revenue was returned at only £122, 6s. 8d. a year, one Richard Talley being its last abbot. The fabric of the abbey and its surrounding lands came into the possession of the Stedman family, whose 17th-century mansion, built out of materials from the monastic buildings, has long been used as a farmhouse. By marriage the abbey and the estate of the Stedmans passed into the possession of the family of Powell of Nanteos.
STRATEGUS (στρατηγός), strictly the Greek word for a general, or officer in command of an army, but frequently the name of a state officer with much wider functions. Such an officer is found in many Greek states, the best known being the Athenian strategus, originally a military official, whose functions gradually developed until, in the latter half of the 5th century B.C., he became the most important magistrate in the state. According to Aristotle's Constitution of Athens iv., the office existed in the time of Draco and the qualification was property to the value of 100 minae (i.e. ten times as high as that for the archonship); but it is certain that until the end of the 6th century the archon (q.v.) was the most important state official. If, as is probable, the chapter in the Constitution is a forgery (see Draco), we may conclude that the Strategia (board of ten generals) was a result of the tribal system of Cleisthenes, and that the college is to be ascribed to the year 501 B.C. Some maintain that Cleisthenes himself created it, but the evidence (Ath. Pol. xxii.) is against this. At all events, as late as the battle of Marathon the head of the army was the Polemarch (see Archon). It follows that the strategus was, until 487 B.C., subordinate to the Polemarch. The tribal unit was represented in the army by the taxis, and each taxis was led by a strategus. After the Persian Wars the command of the taxis passed to officers called taxiarchs, who acted as colonels under the strategi. If Herodotus may be trusted, the command of the army, at the time of the battle of Marathon, passed to the strategi in turn from day to day. No trace of this system, however, is to be found in the subsequent history. It was the customary practice in the 5th century to appoint a certain number of the generals, usually three or five, for a particular field of operations, and to assign the chief command to one of them. Exceptions to this rule are found in the well-known instances of the Sicilian expedition (when the three commanders, Nicias, Alcibiades and Lamachus were given co-ordinate powers), and of the battle of Arginusae, when the command was divided among the whole board. In crises such as the Samian revolt, the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War or that which led to the recall of Alcibiades, we find the whole board subordinated to a single member (e.g. Pericles or Alcibiades). Originally each strategus was elected by and out of the tribe he commanded (Ath. Pol. lxi.), and it may probably be inferred from Plutarch (Cimon, viii.) that this system prevailed as late as the archonship of Apsephion (469 B.C.). In the 4th century, however, the strategi were elected out of all the citizen body irrespective of tribes; the change must have occurred between 470 and 440 B.C., because in the latter year, and again in 433, one of Pericles' colleagues was Diotimus, a member of his own tribe (cf. Alcibiades and Adeimantus in 408 B.C.). But from Xenophon (Memorab. iii. 4) we learn that one strategus was still elected by each tribe, i.e. each strategus represented a tribe, though he might not be a member of it. Though the strategi were the nominal heads of the army, it is important to notice that they had no power to choose their taxiarchs, who, like the strategi, were elected by the tribes they were to command. It was only
