Page:EB1911 - Volume 08.djvu/287

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270
DIKE—DILAPIDATION
  

Sambin (fl. c. 1540), a native of Dijon, and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, but the sculpture of the portals, including “The Last Judgment” on the tympanum of the main portal, is probably from his hand. St Jean (15th century) and St Étienne (15th, 16th and 17th centuries), now used as the exchange, are the other chief churches. Of the ancient palace of the dukes of Burgundy there remain two towers, the Tour de la Terrasse and the Tour de Bar, the guard-room and the kitchens; these now form part of the hôtel de ville, the rest of which belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries. This building contains an archaeological museum with a collection of Roman stone monuments; the archives of the town; and the principal museum, which, besides valuable paintings and other works of art, contains the magnificent tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, dukes of Burgundy. These were transferred from the Chartreuse of Dijon (or of Champmol), built by Philip the Bold as a mausoleum, now replaced by a lunatic asylum. Relics of it survive in the old Gothic entrance, the portal of the church, a tower and the well of Moses, which is adorned with statues of Moses and the prophets by Claux Sluter (fl. end of 14th century), the Dutch sculptor, who also designed the tomb of Philip the Bold. The Palais de Justice, which belongs to the reign of Louis XII., is of interest as the former seat of the parlement of Burgundy. Dijon possesses several houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, notably the Maison Richard in the Gothic, and the Hôtel Vogüé in the Renaissance style. St Bernard, the composer J. P. Rameau and the sculptor François Rude have statues in the town, of which they were natives. There are also monuments to those inhabitants of Dijon who fell in the engagement before the town in 1870, and to President Carnot and Garibaldi.

The town is important as the seat of a prefecture, a bishopric, a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and as centre of an académie (educational district). There are tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, an exchange (occupying the former cathedral of St Étienne), and an important branch of the Bank of France. Its educational establishments include faculties of law, of science and of letters, a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy, a higher school of commerce, a school of fine art, a conservatoire of music, lycées and training colleges, and there is a public library with about 100,000 volumes.

Dijon is well known for its mustard, and for the black currant liqueur called cassis de Dijon; its industries include the manufacture of machinery, automobiles, bicycles, soap, biscuits, brandy, leather, boots and shoes, candles and hosiery. There are also flour mills, breweries, important printing works, vinegar works and, in the vicinity, nursery gardens. The state has a large tobacco manufactory in the town. Dijon has considerable trade in cereals and wool, and is the second market for the wines of Burgundy.

Under the Romans Dijon (Divonense castrum) was a vicus in the civitas of Langres. In the 2nd century it was the scene of the martyrdom of St Benignus (Bénigne, vulg. Berin, Berain), the apostle of Burgundy. About 274 the emperor Aurelian surrounded it with ramparts. Gregory of Tours, in the 6th century, comments on the strength and pleasant situation of the place, expressing surprise that it does not rank as a civitas. During the middle ages the fortunes of Dijon followed those of Burgundy, the dukes of which acquired it early in the 11th century. The communal privileges, conferred on the town in 1182 by Hugh III., duke of Burgundy, were confirmed by Philip Augustus in 1183, and in the 13th century the dukes took up their residence there. For the decoration of the palace and other monuments built by them, eminent artists were gathered from northern France and Flanders, and during this period the town became one of the great intellectual centres of France. The union of the duchy with the crown in 1477 deprived Dijon of the splendour of the ducal court; but to counterbalance this loss it was made the capital of the province and seat of a parlement. Its fidelity to the monarchy was tested in 1513, when the citizens were besieged by 50,000 Swiss and Germans, and forced to agree to a treaty so disadvantageous that Louis XII. refused to ratify it. In the wars of religion Dijon sided with the League, and only opened its gates to Henry IV. in 1595. The 18th century was a brilliant period for the city; it became the seat of a bishopric, its streets were improved, its commerce developed, and an academy of science and letters founded; while its literary salons were hardly less celebrated than those of Paris. The neighbourhood was the scene of considerable fighting during the Franco-German War, which was, however, indirectly of some advantage to the city owing to the impetus given to its industries by the immigrants from Alsace.

See H. Chabeuf, Dijon à travers les âges (Dijon, 1897), and Dijon, monuments et souvenirs (Dijon, 1894).


DIKE, or Dyke (Old Eng. dic, a word which appears in various forms in many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch dijk, German Teich, Danish dige, and in French, derived from Teutonic, digue; it is the same word as “ditch” and is ultimately connected with the root of “dig”), properly a trench dug out of the earth for defensive and other purposes. Water naturally collects in such trenches, and hence the word is applied to natural and artificial channels filled with water, as appears in the proverbial expression “February fill-dyke,” and in the names of many narrow waterways in East Anglia. “Dike” also is naturally used of the bank of earth thrown up out of the ditch, and so of any embankment, dam or causeway, particularly the defensive works in Holland, the Fen district of England, and other low-lying districts which are liable to flooding by the sea or rivers (see Holland and Fens). In Scotland any wall, fence or even hedge, used as a boundary is called a dyke. In geology the term is applied to wall-like masses of rock (sometimes projecting beyond the surrounding surface) which fill up vertical or highly inclined fissures in the strata.


DIKKA, a term in Mahommedan architecture for the tribune raised upon columns, from which the Koran is recited and the prayers intoned by the Imam of the mosque.


DILAPIDATION (Lat. for “scattering the stones,” lapides, of a building), a term meaning in general a falling into decay, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for (1) the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living; (2) the disrepair for which a tenant is usually liable when he has agreed to give up his premises in good repair (see Easement; Flat; Landlord and Tenant). By the general law a tenant for life has no power to cut down timber, destroy buildings, &c., (voluntary waste), or to let buildings fall into disrepair (permissive waste). In the eye of the law an incumbent of a living is a tenant for life of his benefice, and any waste, voluntary or permissive, on his part must be made good by his administrators to his successor in office. The principles on which such dilapidations are to be ascertained, and the application of the money payable in respect thereof, depend partly on old ecclesiastical law and partly on acts of parliament. Questions as to ecclesiastical dilapidations usually arise in respect of the residence house and other buildings belonging to the living. Inclosures, hedges, ditches and the like are included in things “of which the beneficed person hath the burden and charge of reparation.” In a leading case (Ross v. Adcock, 1868, L.R. 3 C.P. 657) it was said that the court was acquainted with no precedent or decision extending the liability of the executors of a deceased incumbent to any species of waste beyond dilapidation of the house, chancel or other buildings or fences of the benefice. And it has been held that the mere mismanagement or miscultivation of the ecclesiastical lands will not give rise to an action for dilapidations. To place the law relating to dilapidations on a more satisfactory footing, the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act 1871 was passed. The buildings to which the act applies are defined to be such houses of residence, chancels, walls, fences and other buildings and things as the incumbent of the benefice is by law and custom bound to maintain in repair. In each diocese a surveyor is appointed by the archdeacons and rural deans subject to the approval of the bishop; and such surveyor shall by the direction of the bishop examine the buildings on the following occasions—viz. (1) when the benefice is sequestrated; (2) when it is vacant; (3) at the request of the incumbent or on complaint by the archdeacon, rural dean or patron. The surveyor specifies the works required, and gives an