EVERYBODY'S CYCLOPEDIA A concise and accurate compilation of the world's knowledge, Chronological History of the World graphically represented by colored charts, showing the most And a Treasury of Facts containing much valuable information often in demand, but not A Statistical Record of the World which includes latest figures from the recent United States Census. PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CHARLES LEONARD-STUART, B.A. of the New International, Americana, Britannica, Current Cyclopedia, etc. GEORGE J. HAGAR, M. A. Special Expert on the International, People's, Imperial, etc. EDITORS.IN-CHIEF Assisted by a corps of eminent editors, educators, scientists, New York SYNDICATE PUBLISHING COMPANY 12 and 14 West 32d Street Constance Constance, Council of, a general council of the Church of Rome, held between 1414 and 1418. After the death of Gregory XI. the French and Italian cardinals could not agree on a successor, and so each party chose its own candidate. This led to a schism which lasted 40 years. When the Emperor Sigismund ascended the throne in 1411, there were three Popes, each of whom had anathematized the two others. To put an end to these disorders and to stop the diffusion of the doctrines of Huss, Sigismund went in person to Italy, France, Spain, and England, and summoned a general council. In this council the teaching of Wyclif and Huss was condemned as heretical, and the latter was burned July 6, 1415; while his friend and companion, Jerome of Prague, met the same cruel fate May 30, 1416. After the ecclesiastical dignitaries supposed they had sufficiently checked the progress of heresy by these executions they proceeded to depose the three Popes John XXII., Gregory XII., and Benedict XIII. Martin V. was legally chosen to the papal chair. Sigismund now thought a complete reformation might be effected in the affairs of the Church; but the new Pope having retired to Italy against the emperor's will the assembly was dissolved, and his object was not attained. After the council had been convinced of the heresy of Huss, the Bishop of Concordia read the sentence that his books should first be burned, and that he, as a public and scandalous heretic, and an evil and obstinate man, should be disgracefully deprived of his priestly dignity, degraded, and excommunicated. The sentence was immediately executed, and began with the degradation. The Bishop of Milan and six other bishops led Huss to a table where lay the gari ents used in the mass, and the other raiment of the priests; they clothed him with them, and when he was in full dress, with the cup in his hand, the bishops once more called upon him to save his life and honor, and to abjure his opinions. Huss refused, and the bishops cried out to him "Descend from the scaffold." The Bishop of Milan and another bishop now took the cup, saying, "O Huss, we take from thee the cup in which was offered the blood of Constantine Christ; thou art not worthy of Him." Constance, Lake of, a lake of Central Europe, in which Switzerland, Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, and Austria meet; forming a reservoir in the course of the Rhine; length 42 miles, greatest breadth about 8 miles; area 207 square miles. The lake, which is of a dark green hue, is subject to sudden risings, caused by the melting of the mountain snows. freezes in severe winters only. It' Constant, Jean Joseph Benjamin, a French portrait painter; born His noble in Paris, June 10, 1845. picture of "Justinian" is in the Metropolitan Art Museum, New York. He died in Paris, May 26, 1902. Constantine, the ancient Cirta, a fortified city and bishopric, in Algeria; capital of the department of Constantine. The city has Roman remains, and a citadel on the site of the ancient Numidian fortress, rising 300 feet It was above the level of the rock. taken by the French, Oct. 13, 1837, two after memorable sieges. Pop. 46,581. Constantine, Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, called the Constantine GREAT; born A. D. 274; son of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus and of his wife Helena. When Constantine's father was associated in the government with Diocletian, the son was retained at court as a hostage, but was educated with the greatest care. After Diocletian and Maximian Hercules had laid down the reins of government, Constantine fled to Britain, to his father, to escape the machinations of Galerius. After the death of his father he was chosen emperor by the soldiery, in the year 306. He directed his arms against Maxentius, who had joined Maximian against him. In a campaign in Italy he saw, it is said, a flaming cross in the heavens, beneath the sun, bearing the inscription, "In hoc signo vinces." (Under this sign thou shalt conquer.) In the following night Christ himself appeared to him, and commanded him to take for his standard an imitation of the. fiery cross which he had seen. Some days after this (Oct. 27, 312) he vanquished the army of Maxentius, under the walls of Rome, and drove it into the Tiber. He then entered the city in triumph, set at liberty all whom Maxentius had unjustly imprisoned, and pardoned all who had taken up arms against him. He was declared by the senate, Augustus, and PontifexMaximus. In the year 313, together with Licinius, he published the memorable edict of toleration in favor of the Christians. By this every one was allowed to embrace the religion most agreeable to his own mode of thinking, and all the property was restored to the Christians that had been taken from them during the persecutions. They were also made eligible to public offices. This edict marks the period of the triumph of the cross and the downfall of paganism. Constantine himself became a Christian, and established many reforms. On Nov. 26, 329, he laid the foundations of a new capital of the empire, at Byzantium, on the Bosporus, in Thrace. The city of Byzantium had been almost entirely destroyed by Severus; it was rebuilt by Constantine, and called by his own name, now known as Constantinople. Highly favored by nature, it soon rivaled Rome. In the year 337 Constantine fell sick in the neighborhood of Nicomedia, was Constantinople baptized, and died after a reign of 31 years. Constantine XIII., the last of the Greek emperors, succeeded to the throne in 1448. He was killed in bravely defending Constantinople against Mahomet II., who in 1453 be sieged the city with 300,000 men. The city was taken by storm, and thus ended the Greek or Byzantine empire. Constantine, Pavlovitch, the second son of the Emperor Paul of Russia; born in 1779. In the wars against France he distinguished himself by his personal bravery, though not by his capacity for command. He was the elder brother of the Emperor Nicholas, to whom he ceded the crown on the death of Emperor Alexander I., their brother. Constantine was afterward made Viceroy of Poland. He died in 1831. Constantine, Nikolaevitch, the second son of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia, and brother of the Emperor Alexander II., grand-duke and great admiral of Russia: born in St. Petersburg, Sept. 21, 1837. In the war of 1854-1856 he had the defenses of the Baltic intrusted to his care. He was made Viceroy of Poland in 1862. He died in St. Petersburg, Jan. 24, 1892. Constantinople ("city of Constantine ") called by the Turks STAMBOUL; capital of the Turkish Empire; on a promontory jutting out into the Sea of Marmora, having the Golden Horn, an inlet of the latter, on the N. and the Bosporus on the E. The city is surrounded by water on all sides excepting the W., where is an ancient and lofty double wall, stretching across the promontory. On the opposite side of the Golden Horn are Galata, Pera, and other suburbs, while on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus entrance is Scutari. Occupying the extreme point of the promontory on which the city stands is the Seraglio or palace of the Sultan. At the principal entrance is a large and lofty gate, called Bab Humayum, "the high door" or "sublime porte," from which has been derived the well-known diplomatic phrase. Of the 300 mosques, the most re markable are the royal mosques, of which there are about 15, esteemed the finest in the world. First among Constantinople these is the Mosque of St. Sophia, the Christian ancient existing most Church, converted into a mosque in 1453 on the capture of the city by the Turks. The streets are mostly extremely narrow, dark, dirty, and ill paved, and exceedingly crooked and tortuous, but there has been an imThe railprovement in recent years. way to Adrianople, runs along the shore of the Sea of Marmora to the entrance of the Golden Horn. The harbor, the Golden Horn, which more resembles a large river than a harbor, is deep, well-sheltered, and capable of containing 1,200 large ships, which may load and unload It is about 6 miles along the quays. long, and a little more than half a mile broad at the widest part. The suburb Galata is the principal Pera occuseat of foreign commerce. pies the more elevated portion of the promontory of which Galata forms the Constantinople was maritime port. taken in 1204 by the Crusaders, who retained it until 1261. It was captured by the Turks under Mohammed II. in 1453 and made the capital of the Turkish empire, which it has since remained, though on several occasions threatened by the Russians, and saved from capture by them in 1878 only by the intervention of the powers of EuThe most notable event in its later history was the deposition, April 27, 1909, of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II., in consequence of his seeking to overthrow the constitutional government he had granted in 1908. Pop. estimated, 1,125,000. rope. Constantinople, General Councils of, these include the second, fifth, sixth, the Trullan, and the eighth. The second was convoked by Theodosius the Great, in 381, to put down the enemies of the Nicene Creed, who had already been restrained by his decrees. The fifth general council was held by the Emperor Justinian in 553, to decide the dispute of the three doctrines of the Bishops Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Ibas of Edessa, who were declared heretics by the council. The sixth council, held 680681, condemned the doctrines of the Monothelites, and declared their leaders heretics. As these two councils made no new ecclesiastical laws, the Emperor Justinian II., in 692, again Constitution summoned a general council, which Constipation, an undue retention Constitution, the organic law, written or unwritten, of a body politic, though the word is used popularly with great vagueness. Constitution, better known as a frigate of the "Old Ironsides,' United States navy, famous for the part she played in the War of 1812. She was built in Boston in 1797-1798, and carried an armament of 32 long 24-pounders, and 20 32-pounder carronades, and was first commanded by Capt. Isaac Hull. War was declared had a running fight 66 Constitution June 18, 1812, and on July 17 the with five of the enemy's vessels, which lasted three days, in an almost dead calm, but from which she escaped. 66 GuerThis was considered a remarkable feat of seamanship. On Aug. 19, 1812, she fought and conquered the riere," one of the five ships mentioned. Dec. 29, 1812, she defeated and captured the British frigate "Java," off the coast of Brazil; Feb. 14, 1814, she captured the "Picton." and Feb. 15, Cyane" and the 1814, she attacked and captured two British yessels, the “ |