GEORGE
457
GEORGE
and were defeated, during the absence of the emperor
and his army; (3) " Heraclias" or "De extremo Chos-
roa" Pcrsarum regis excidio" — written after the death
of Chosroes, who was assassinated by his mutinous
soldiery at Ctesiphon, in 628; this poem treats mostly
of the deeds of the emperor and contains but little
concerning Chosroes; it is valued not so much for any
literarj' merit, as for toeing the principal source for the
history of the reign of Heraelius; (4) " In sanctam
Jesu t'hristi, Dei nostri resurrectionem", in which the
poet exhorts Flavins Constantinus to follow in the
footstepsof his father, Heraelius; (5) " Hexaemeron",
or "Opus sex dierum seu Mundi opificium", this is
his longest and most elaborate poem and is dedicated
to Sergius; (6) "De vanitate vitie"; (7) "Contra im-
pium Severum Antiochiie", WTitten against the Mono-
physite heresy; (8) "In templum Deipara; Constanti-
nopoli, in Blachemissitum"; and finally (9) one piece
in prose, "Encomium in S. Anastasium martyrera".
From references in Theophanus, Suidas, and Isaac
Tzetzcs, we linow he wrote other works which have
not reached us. George's verse is considered correct
and elegant, but he is sometimes dull and frigid. He
was greatly admired by his countrymen in succeeding
ages and preferred even to Euripides. But later
critics are not so laudatory. Finlay in his History of
Greece, I (Oxford, 1S77) says, " It would be difficult
in the whole range of literature to point to poetry
which conveys less information on the subject which
he pretends to treat than that of George the Pisidian.
In taste and poetical inspiration he is as deficient as in
judgment and he displays no trace of any national
characteristics." But to be just we must remember
that he was a courtier and WTote with the intention of
winning the favour of the emperor and the patriarch.
Literature, if we except the production of rehgious
controversy, was practically extinct in Europe and
tieorge stands forth as its sole exponent, the only poet
of his century.
Davidsox in Diet. Christ, biof/., s. v.; Stern'b.\ch, Georgii Pisida: carmina inedHa in Wien. Stud. (Vienna. 1892). XIV, .51- 6S; HiLBERG, Textkritische Beilrage zu Georffins Pisides in Wien. Stud. rVienna, 1887), IX, 207-22; Teza, Essaemeru di Giorgio Piside (Rome, 1893).
A. A. MacErlean.
George Scholarius. See Gennadius II.
George the Bearded, also called the Rich, Duke of Saxony, b. at Dresden, 27 Avigust, 1471; d. in the same city, 17 April, 1539. His father was Albert the Brave of Saxony, founder of the .\lbertLne line of the Wettin family, still the ruling line of Saxony; his mother was Sidonia, daughter of (jeorge of Podiebrad, King of Bohemia. Elector Frederick the Wise, a member of the Ernestine branch of the same family, known for his protection of Luther, was a cousin of Duke George. Albert the Brave had a large family and George, a younger son, was originally intended for the Church; consequently he received an excellent training in theology and other branches of learning, and was thus much better educated than most of the princes of his day. The death of his elder brother opened to George the way to the ducal power. As early as 1488, when his father was in Friesland fighting on' behalf of the emperor, George was regent of the ducal posses- sions, which included the Margravate of Meissen with the cities of Dresden and Leipzig. George was mar- ried at Dresden, 21 November, 1496, to Barbara of Poland, daughter of King Casimir IV of that country. George and his wife had a large family of children, all of whom, with the exception of a daughter, died before their father. In 1498, the emperor granted Albert the Brave the hereditary governorship of Friesland. At Maastricht, 14 February, 1499, .\lbert settled the suc- cession to his possessions, and endeavoured by this arrangement to prevent further partition of his do- main. He died 12 Septemlxr, 1.500, and was suc- ceeded in his German territories by George as the head
of the Albertine line, while George's brother Heinrich
became hcreditarv governor of Friesland. The Saxon
occupation of Friesland, however, was by no means
secure and was the source of constant revolts in that
province. Consequently Heinrich, who was of a
rather inert disposition, relinquished his claims to the
governorship, and in 1505 an agreement was made be-
tween the brothers by which Friesland was transferred
to George, while Heinrich received an annuity and the
districts of Freiberg and Wolkenstein. But this ar-
rangement did not restore peace in Friesland, which
continued to be an unceasing source of trouble to
Saxony, until finally the duke was obliged, in 1515, to
sell it to Burgundy for the very moderate price of
100,000 florins. These troubles outside of his Saxon
possessions did not prevent George from bestowing
much care on the government of the ducal territory
proper. When regent, during the lifetime of his father,
the difficulties arising from conflicting interests and
the large demands on his powers had often brought the
young prince to the verge of despair. In a short time,
however, he developed decided ability as a ruler; on
entering upon his inheritance he divided the duchy
into go\-ernmental districts, took measures to suppress
the rol)l>er-knights, and regulated the judicial system
by defining and readjusting the jurisdiction of the
various law courts. In his desire to achieve good
order, security, and the amelioration of the condition
of the people, he sometimes ventured to infringe even
on the rights of the cities. His court, was better regu-
lated than that of any other German prince, and he
bestowed a paternal care on the L^niversity of Leipzig,
where a number of reforms were introduced, and
Humanism, as opposed to Scholasticism, was encour-
aged.
From the beginning of the Reformation in 1517, Duke George directed his energies chiefly to ecclesiasti- cal affairs. Hardly one of the secular German princes held as firmly as he to the Church ; he defended its rights and vigorously condemned every innovation except those which were countenanced by the highest ecclesia.stical authorities. At first he w.as not opposed to Luther, but as time went on and Luther's aim be- came clear to him, he turned more and more from the Reformer, and was finally, in consequence of this change of attitude, drawn into an acrimonious corre- spondence in which Luther, without any justification, shamefully reviled the duke. The duke wa.s not blind to the undeniable abuses existing at that time in the Church. In 1519, despite the opposition of the theolog- ical faculty of the university, he originated the Dispu- tation of Leipzig, with the idea of helping forward the cavise of truth, and was present at all the discussions. In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, when the Cterman princes handed in a paper containing a list of "griev- ances" concerning the condition of the Church, George added for himself twelve specific complaints referring mainly to the abuse of Indulgences and the annates. In 1525 he combined with his Lutheran son-in-law, the Landgrave Phihp of Hesse, and his cousin, the Elector Frederick the WLse. to suppress the revolt of the peas- ants, who were defeated near Frankenhausen in Thu- ringia. Some years later, he v\Tote a forcible preface to a translation of the New Testament issued at his com- mand by his private secretary, Hieronymus Emser, as an offset to Luther's version. Lutheran books were confiscated by his order, wherever fovmd, though he refvuided the cost of the books. He proved himself in every way a vigorous opponent of the Lutherans, de- creeing that Christian burial was to be refused to apos- tates, and recreant ecclesiastics were to be delivered to the bishop of Merseburg. For those, however, who merely held anti-Cathohc opinions, the punishment was oidy expulsion from the duchy. The duke deeply regretted the constant postponement of the ardently desired council, from the action of which so much was expected. While awaiting its convocation, he thought
