Pop. (1907), 11,197. There is a small local railway, not connected (in 1909) with the central trunk line of the island. The city lies on the slope of La Vigia hill (900 ft.) amid higher mountains, and on the banks of the Jayoba (San Juan) river. The streets are narrow, broken and tortuous, and the general aspect of the town is medieval. There are some attractive buildings and a very fine market square. The fine scenery in the neighbourhood, and the climate, which is possibly the healthiest in Cuba, make the place a favourite resort for natives and foreigners. Casilda (pop. in 1907, 1246) has a landlocked, shallow harbour; but Masio Bay, a trifle farther distant, accommodates larger craft; and there are excellent deep-water anchorages among the quays off the coast. The Manati river is navigable for about 7 m. inland, and is used as an outlet for sugar and molasses crops. These and honey are the chief exports; tobacco and various vegetables and fruits are of minor importance. Trinidad is one of the seven original cities of Cuba established by Diego Velasquez. It was founded in 1514 on the coast, but after being attacked by pirates was removed inland. It was thrice sacked by English buccaneers—in 1642, 1654 and 1702; and in the following years, up to and for a time after the peace of Utrecht (1713), it maintained ships and soldiers. Indeed, throughout the first half of the 18th century it was on a continuous war footing against English corsairs, making reprisals on British ships and thriving at the same time on a large contraband trade with Jamaica and other foreign colonies. In 1818 Casilda was opened to legal commerce under the national and foreign flags.
TRINITARIANS, a religious order founded in 1198 by St John of Matha and St Felix of Valois, for the liberation of Christian prisoners and slaves from captivity under the Moors and Saracens. The two founders went to Rome and there obtained the approbation of Innocent III., 1198. The rule was the Augustinian, supplemented by regulations of an austere character. The habit was white, with a red and blue cross on the breast. The Trinitarians are canons regular, but in England they were often spoken of as friars. The first monastery and head house of the order was at Cerfroy near Soissons. Among the earliest recruits were some Englishmen, and the first to go on the special mission of the order were two Englishmen, who in 1200 went to Morocco and returned thence to France with 186 liberated Christian captives. This success excited great enthusiasm and led to the diffusion of the order all over Western Christendom. At the beginning of the 18th century there were still 250 houses, and it is stated that there had been 800; this, however, includes 43 in England, where Dugdale says he could find traces only of a dozen: so that the high figures are probably apocryphal. The first house in England was at Mottenden, in Kent, founded in 1224. The ordinary method of freeing captives was by paying their ransom and for this purpose vast sums of money were collected by the Trinitarians; but they were called upon, if other means failed, to offer themselves in exchange for Christian captives. Many thousands were liberated by their efforts. In the 17th century a reform called the Barefooted Trinitarians was initiated, which became a distinct order and is the only one that survives. There are now less than 500 members. Their headquarters are at San Crisogono in Rome. They devote themselves to the ransoming of negro slaves, especially children, and a great district in Somaliland has been since 1904 entrusted to them as a field for missionary work. There were Trinitarian nuns and a Third Order.
The chief modern book on the Trinitarians is Deslandres, L'Ordre français des Trinitaires (2 vols. 1903). Sufficient information will be found in Helyot, Histoire des ordres religieux (1714), vol. ii. chs. 45-50; and in Max Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen (1907), ii. §57.
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TRINITY HOUSE, CORPORATION OF, an association of English mariners which originally had its headquarters at Deptford in Kent. In its first charter, received from Henry VIII. in 1514, it was described as the “guild or fraternity of the most glorious and undividable Trinity of St Clement.” The first master appointed was the founder of the corporation, Sir Thomas Spert, comptroller of the navy to the king, and commander of the “Harry Grace de Dieu.” Deptford having been made a royal dockyard by Henry VIII., and being the station where outgoing ships were supplied with pilots, the corporation rapidly developed its influence and usefulness. By Henry VIII. it was entrusted with the direction of the new naval dockyard. From Elizabeth, who conferred on it a grant of arms in 1573, it received authority to erect beacons and other marks for the guidance of navigators along the coasts of England. In 1604 a select class, was constituted called Elder Brethren, the other members being called Younger Brethren. By the charter of 1609 the sole management of affairs was conferred on the Elder Brethren; the Younger Brethren, however, having a vote in the election of master and wardens. The practical duties of the fraternity are discharged by the acting Elder Brethren, 13 in number, of whom 2 are elected from the royal navy and 11 from the merchant service; but as a mark of honour persons of rank and eminence are admitted as honorary Elder Brethren. In 1647 the corporation was dissolved by parliament, but it was reconstructed in 1660, and the charter was renewed by James II. in 1685. In 1687 a by-law of the Trinity House for the first time required an agreement in writing between the master and crew of a ship. A new hall and almshouses were erected at Deptford in 1765; but for some time the offices of the corporation had been transferred to London, where for a while they had a house in Water Lane, Lower Thames Street, and in 1795 their headquarters were removed to Trinity House, Tower Hill, built from the designs of Samuel Wyatt. By an act of 1836 they received powers to purchase from the Crown, as well as from private proprietors, all interests in coast lights. For the maintenance of lights, buoys, &c., they had power to raise money by tolls, the surplus being devoted to the relief of old and indigent mariners or their near relatives. In 1853 the control of the funds collected by the corporation was transferred to the board of trade, and the money over which the brethren were allowed independent control was ultimately reduced to the private income derived from funded and trust property. Their practical duties in erection and maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons remain as important as ever. Similar functions are carried out by the Northern Lighthouse Board and the Irish Lighthouse Board, for Scotland and Ireland respectively. They have also the care and supervision of pilots. Other Trinity Houses established under charter or act of parliament for the appointment and control of pilots are at Hull and Newcastle. The Elder Brethren of Trinity Masters also act as nautical assessors in the high court of admiralty. The corporation has a large wharf and repair shop at the mouth of the river Lea, where most of the work in connexion with buoying the Thames is carried out.
See W. H. Mayo, Trinity House, London, Past and Present (London, 1905); C. R. B. Barrett, The Trinity House of Deptford Strand (1893).
TRINITY SUNDAY, the Sunday next after Whitsunday. A festival in honour of the Trinity had been celebrated locally at various dates before Pope John XXII. in 1334 ordered its general observance on the octave of Whitsunday. According to Gervase of Canterbury, it had been introduced into England by Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1162. It has, however, never been reckoned among the great festivals of the Church. From Trinity Sunday onwards all Sundays until the close of the ecclesiastical year are reckoned as “after Trinity.” In the Roman Church these Sundays are also reckoned as “after Pentecost.” In the latter case they are described as dominicae trinitatis, not to be confused with dominicae post trinitatis; e.g. Dominica sexta post trinitatis is the same as Dominica septima trinitatis.
TRINODA NECESSITAS, the name used by modern historians to describe the threefold obligation of serving in the host (fyrd), repairing and constructing bridges (bryc-geweorc), and the construction and maintenance of fortresses (burhbot), to
