Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/981

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954
ZAMORA—ZAMOYSKI
  

dawar contingent of tribesmen who so nearly defeated Sir Donald Stewart's force at Ahmad Khel previously. The control of Zamindawar may be regarded as the key to the position for safeguarding the route between Herat and Kandahar.

ZAMORA, an inland province of north-western Spain, one of the three into which the former province of Leon has since 1833 been divided; bounded on the W. by Portugal and Orense, N. by Leon, E. by Valladolid, and S. by Salamanca. Pop. (1900) 275,545; area, 4097 sq. m. Zamora is traversed from east to west by the river Duero or Douro (q.v.), which receives within the province the Valderaduey ancl the Esla on the right and the Guareña on the left; the Tormes also skirts the south-western boundary for some 25 m. Except in the north-west, where it is entered by two outlying ridges of the Cantabrian Mountains, the Sierra de la Culebra and Sierra de Peña Negra, the surface consists of a level or slightly undulating plateau; its lowest point is 1070 ft. above sea-level. Its plains, especially the valley of the Esla, yield large quantities of grain and pulse; wine and flax are also produced; and on the higher grounds large numbers of merino sheep and goats are reared, chiefly for export to Portugal. The manufactures of Zamora are unimportant. Three lines of railway, from Astorga on the N., Salamanca on the S., and Medina del Campo on the E., traverse the province and meet at the city of Zamora; there is a lack of good roads, and it is largely for this reason that the mines and extensive forests are neglected. The only towns with more than 5000 inhabitants are Zamora (pop., 1900, 16,287) and Toro (8379), which are described in separate articles. The people of the province are very poor, badly educated, and lacking in enterprise. (See also Leon.)

ZAMORA, an episcopal city, and the capital of the Spanish province of Zamora; on the right bank of the river Duero (Douro), and at the junction of railways from Salamanca, Medina del Campo and Astorga. Pop. (1900) 16,283. Zamora occupies a rocky height overlooking the Duero, a little below its confluence with the Valderaduey. The river is crossed by a fine 14th-century bridge of sixteen pointed arches. The citadel of Zamora dates from the 8th century. The small but beautiful cathedral, one of four 12th-century churches in the city, is a Romanesque building, with a square tower, a dome above the crossing, and an elaborately-decorated interior. It was completed about 1175, and contains some interesting medieval tombs, and paintings by Fernando Gallegos (1475–1550). The other principal buildings are the 17th-century town-hall, the palace of the provincial assembly, a hospital with curious Gothic windows, an ecclesiastical seminary, and a school of engineering. The trade is chiefly agricultural, but linen and woollen goods, pottery, hats, leather, and spirits are manufactured in small quantities.

In the early period of the Christian re-conquest Zamora, from its position on the north bank of the Duero, was a place of considerable strategic importance. It was taken from the Moors by Alphonso I. of Leon in 748, but was again held by them for short periods in 813, 939, 963, 984 and 986. It was entirely repaired by Ferdinand I. of Castile and Leon, who in 1061 gave it to his daughter Doña Urraca. After his death in 1065 his son Sancho II. disputed possession with Urraca and laid siege to the city, but without success, although the famous Ruy Diaz de Bivar was among his warriors, and indeed at this time received his title of “The Cid.” Zamora became subject to Alphonso VI. in 1073.

ZAMOYSKI, JAN (1541–1605), Polish statesman, was the son of Stanislaw, Castellan of Chelm, and Anna Herburtowna, who belonged to one of the most ancient and illustrious families in Poland. After completing his education at Paris, Strassburg, and at Padua, where as rector of the academy he composed his celebrated work De senatu romano (Venice, 1563), he returned home in 1565, one of the most consummate scholars and jurists in Europe. His essentially bold and practical genius sought at once the stormy political arena. He was mainly instrumental, after the death of Sigismund II., in remodelling the Polish constitution and procuring the election of Henry of Valois. After the flight of that prince Zamoyski seems to have aimed at the throne himself, but quickly changed his mind and threw all his abilities into the scale in favour of Stephen Báthory and against the Austrian influence. By his advice, at the beginning of January 1576 a diet was summoned to Jedrzejow to confirm the election of Báthory, and from the time of that monarch's arrival in Poland till his death ten years later Zamoyski was his foremost counsellor. Immediately after the coronation, on the 1st of May 1576, Zamoyski was appointed chancellor, and in 1580 wielki hetman, or commander-in-chief, so that he was now the second highest dignitary in the kingdom. He strenuously supported Stephen during his long struggle with Ivan the Terrible, despite the obstruction and parsimony of the diet. He also enabled the king in 1585 to bring the traitorous Samuel Zborowski to the scaffold in the face of a determined resistance from the nobility. On the death of Stephen, the Zborowski recovered their influence and did their utmost to keep Zamoyski in the background. Their violence prevented “the pasha,” as they called him, from attending the convention summoned to Warsaw on the death of Báthory; but at the subsequent election diet, which met at Warsaw on the 9th of July 1587, he appeared at the head of 6000 veterans and intrenched himself with his partisans in what was called “the Black Camp” in contradistinction to “the General Camp” of the Zborowski. Zamoyski was at first in favour of a member of the Báthory family, with which he was united by ties of amity and mutual interest; but on becoming convinced of the impossibility of any such candidature, he pronounced for a native Pole, or for whichever foreign prince might be found most profitable to Poland. The Habsburgs, already sure of the Zborowski, bid very high for the support of Zamoyski. But though he was offered the title of prince, with the Golden Fleece and 200,000 ducats, he steadily opposed the Austrian faction, even at the imminent risk of a civil war; and on the 19th of August procured the election of Sigismund of Sweden, whose mother was Catherine Jagiellonica. The opposite party immediately elected the Austrian Archduke Maximilian, who thereupon made an attempt upon Cracow. But Zamoyski traversed all the plans of the Austrian faction by routing the archduke at the battle of Byczyna (January 24, 1588) and taking him prisoner. From the first there was a certain coldness between the new king and the chancellor. Each had his own plan for coping with the difficulties of the situation; but while Zamoyski regarded the Habsburgs with suspicion, Sigismund III. was disposed to act in concert with them as being the natural and strongest possible allies for a Catholic power like Poland. Zamoyski feared their influence upon Poland, which he would have made the head of the Slavonic powers by its own endeavours. Zamoyski was undoubtedly most jealous of his dignity; his patriotism was seldom proof against private pique; and he was not always particular in his choice of means. Thus at the diet of 1589 he prevailed over the king by threatening to leave the country defenceless against the Turks, if the Austrians were not excluded from the succession. In general, however, his Turkish policy was sound, as he consistently adopted the Jagiellonic policy of being friendly with so dangerous a neighbour as the Porte. His views on this head are set out with great force in his pamphlet, La deffaicte des Tartares et Turcs (Lyons, 1590). The ill-will between the king and the chancellor reached an acute stage when Sigismund appointed an opponent of Zamoyski vice-chancellor, and made other ministerial changes which limited his authority; though ultimately, with the aid of his partisans and the adoption of such desperate expedients as the summoning of a confederation to annul the royal decrees in 1592, Zamoyski recovered his full authority. In 1595 Zamoyski, in his capacity of commander-in-chief, at the head of 8000 veterans dethroned the anti-Polish hospodar of Moldavia and installed in his stead a Catholic convert, George Mohila. On his return he successfully sustained in his camp at Cecora a siege by the Tatar khan. Five years later (October 20, 1600) he won his greatest victory at Tergoviste, when with a small well-disciplined army he routed