came into the possession of Prussia. In 1807 it was joined to Westphalia, in 1816 to Hanover and in 1866 it was, along with Hanover, re-united to Prussia.
See T. Erdmann, Die alte Kaiserstadt Goslar und ihre Umgebung in Geschichte, Sage und Bild (Goslar, 1892); Crusius, Geschichte der vormals kaiserlichen freien Reichstadt Goslar (1842–1843); A. Wolfstieg, Verfassungsgeschichte von Goslar (Berlin, 1885); T. Asche, Die Kaiserpfalz zu Goslar (1892); Neuburg, Goslars Bergbau bis 1552 (Hanover, 1892); and the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Goslar, edited by G. Bode (Halle, 1893–1900). For the Goslarische Statuten see the edition published by Göschen (Berlin, 1840).
GOSLICKI, WAWRZYNIEC (? 1533–1607), Polish bishop,
better known under his Latinized name of Laurentius Grimalius Goslicius, was born about 1533. After having studied at Cracow and Padua, he entered the church, and was successively appointed bishop of Kaminietz and of Posen. Goslicki was an active man of business, was held in high estimation by his contemporaries and was frequently engaged in political affairs. It was chiefly through his influence, and through the letter he wrote to the pope against the Jesuits, that they were prevented from establishing their schools at Cracow. He was also a strenuous advocate of religious toleration in Poland. He died on the 31st of October 1607.
His principal work is De optimo senatore, &c. (Venice, 1568). There are two English translations published respectively under the titles A commonwealth of good counsaile, &c. (1607), and The Accomplished Senator, done into English by Mr Oldisworth (1733).
GOSLIN, or Gauzlinus (d. c. 886), bishop of Paris and defender
of the city against the Northmen (885), was, according to some
authorities, the son of Roricon II., count of Maine, according
to others the natural son of the emperor Louis I. In 848 he
became a monk, and entered a monastery at Reims, later he
became abbot of St Denis. Like most of the prelates of his
time he took a prominent part in the struggle against the
Northmen, by whom he and his brother Louis were taken
prisoners (858), and he was released only after paying a heavy
ransom (Prudentii Trecensis episcopi Annales, ann. 858). From
855 to 867 he held intermittently, and from 867 to 881 regularly,
the office of chancellor to Charles the Bald and his successors.
In 883 or 884 he was elected bishop of Paris, and foreseeing the
dangers to which the city was to be exposed from the attacks
of the Northmen, he planned and directed the strengthening
of the defences, though he also relied for security on the merits
of the relics of St Germain and St Geneviève. When the attack
finally came (885), the defence of the city was entrusted to him
and to Odo, count of Paris, and Hugh, abbot of St Germain
l’Auxerrois. The city was attacked on the 26th of November,
and the struggle for the possession of the bridge (now the Pont-au-Change)
lasted for two days; but Goslin repaired the destruction
of the wooden tower overnight, and the Normans were
obliged to give up the attempt to take the city by storm. The
siege lasted for about a year longer, while the emperor Charles
the Fat was in Italy. Goslin died soon after the preliminaries
of the peace had been agreed on, worn out by his exertions, or
killed by a pestilence which raged in the city.
See Amaury Duval, L’Évêque Gozlin ou le siège de Paris par les Normands, chronique du IX e siècle (2 vols., Paris, 1832, 3rd ed. ib. 1835).
GOSNOLD, BARTHOLOMEW (d. 1607), English navigator.
Nothing is known of his birth, parentage or early life. In 1602,
in command of the “Concord,” chartered by Sir Walter Raleigh
and others, he crossed the Atlantic; coasted from what is now
Maine to Martha’s Vineyard, landing at and naming Cape Cod
and Elizabeth Island (now Cuttyhunk) and giving the name
Martha’s Vineyard to the island now called No Man’s Land;
and returned to England with a cargo of furs, sassafras and other
commodities obtained in trade with the Indians about Buzzard’s
Bay. In London he actively promoted the colonization of
the regions he had visited and, by arousing the interest of Sir
Ferdinando Gorges and other influential persons, contributed
toward securing the grants of the charters to the London and
Plymouth Companies in 1606. In 1606–1607 he was associated
with Christopher Newport in command of the three vessels
by which the first Jamestown colonists were carried to Virginia.
As a member of the council he took an active share in the affairs
of the colony, ably seconding the efforts of John Smith to introduce
order, industry and system among the motley array of
adventurers and idle “gentlemen” of which the little band was
composed. He died from swamp fever on the 22nd of August 1607.
See The Works of John Smith (Arber’s Edition, London, 1884); and J. M. Brereton, Brief and True Relation of the North Part of Virginia (reprinted by B. F. Stevens, London, 1901), an account of Gosnold’s voyage of 1602.
GOSPATRIC (fl. 1067), earl of Northumberland, belonged to
a family which had connexions with the royal houses both of
Wessex and Scotland. Before the Conquest he accompanied
Tostig on a pilgrimage to Rome (1061); and at that time
was a landholder in Cumberland. About 1067 he bought the
earldom of Northumberland from William the Conqueror; but,
repenting of his submission, fled with other Englishmen to the
court of Scotland (1068). He joined the Danish army of invasion
in the next year; but was afterwards able, from his
possession of Bamburgh castle, to make terms with the conqueror,
who left him undisturbed till 1072. The peace concluded
in that year with Scotland left him at William’s mercy. He
lost his earldom and took refuge in Scotland, where Malcolm
seems to have provided for him.
See E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. i. (Oxford, 1877), and the English Hist. Review, vol. xix. (London, 1904).
GOSPEL (O. Eng. godspel, i.e. good news, a translation of Lat. bona annuntiatio, or evangelium, Gr. εὐαγγέλιον; cf. Goth. iu spillon, “to announce good news,” Ulfilas’ translation of the Greek, from iu, that which is good, and spellon to announce), primarily the “glad tidings” announced to the world by Jesus Christ. The word thus came to be applied to the whole body of
doctrine taught by Christ and his disciples, and so to the Christian
revelation generally (see Christianity); by analogy the term
“gospel” is also used in other connexions as equivalent to
“authoritative teaching.” In a narrower sense each of the
records of the life and teaching of Christ preserved in the writings
of the four “evangelists” is described as a Gospel. The many
more or less imaginative lives of Christ which are not accepted
by the Christian Church as canonical are known as “apocryphal
gospels” (see Apocryphal Literature). The present article
is concerned solely with general considerations affecting the
four canonical Gospels; see for details of each, the articles under Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Four Gospels.—The disciples of Jesus proclaimed the Gospel that He was the Christ. Those to whom this message was first delivered in Jerusalem and Palestine had seen and heard Jesus, or had heard much about Him. They did not require to be told who He was. But more and more as the work of preaching and teaching extended to such as had not this knowledge, it became necessary to include in the Gospel delivered some account of the ministry of Jesus. Moreover, alike those who had followed Him during His life on earth, and all who joined themselves to them, must have felt the need of dwelling on His precepts, so that these must have been often repeated, and also in all probability from an early time grouped together according to their subjects, and so taught. For some time, probably for upwards of thirty years, both the facts of the life of Jesus and His words were only related orally. This would be in accordance with the habits of mind of the early preachers of the Gospel. Moreover, they were so absorbed in the expectation of the speedy return of Christ that they did not feel called to make provision for the instruction of subsequent generations. The Epistles of the New Testament contain no indications of the existence of any written record of the life and teaching of Christ. Tradition indicates A.D. 60–70 as the period when written accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus began to be made (see Mark, Gospel of, and Matthew, Gospel of). This may be accepted as highly probable. We cannot but suppose that at a time when the number of the original band of disciples of Jesus who survived must have been becoming noticeably smaller, and all these were advanced in life, the importance of writing down that which had been orally delivered concerning the Gospel-history must have been realized. We also
