Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/949

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CAR
893
CAR

yet unsubdued rebels, but in 1603 he made his submission to the sultan, and received in recompense the government of Bosnia. He was afterwards put to death on a charge of treason.

CARA-YUSEF, the first prince of the Turcoman dynasty of the Black Sheep, born in the second half of the fourteenth century; died in 1420. He commenced his career as the chief of a horde of brigands, who, issuing from their retreat at the foot of the mountains of Armenia, ravaged the plains of Irak, plundered the caravans of Mecca, and rendered themselves formidable to the inhabitants of the banks of the Euphrates. After a variety of fortune, he succeeded in 1410 in rendering himself master of Diarbekir, Kurdistan, Aderbidjan, and a part of Armenia and Georgia.

CARACALLA, whose proper name was Marcus Antoninus Bassianus, received the sobriquet, which is now his common historical appellation, from the caracalla, a long Gallic tunic, which he brought into fashion at Rome. He was one of the sons of the Emperor Severus by his second wife, Julia Domna; and he seems to have inherited the haughty ambition without the wisdom of his father, and the loose morals which have been ascribed to his mother, without her generous disposition and literary tastes. Impatient and unscrupulous in his desire of power, he made more than one attempt to hasten the issue of the distemper which was carrying Severus to his grave; but when the throne at length became vacant in 211, he was compelled to share it with his brother Geta. Their discords soon destroyed the hope of their reigning amicably in concert; and a proposed partition of territory would have given him the guiltless possession of Europe and Asia, had not the murder of Geta by two of his partisans placed him in the undivided sovereignty under the brand of fratricide. This crime was followed by a pitiless massacre of all whom he feared or suspected; no fewer than 20,000 persons are said to have fallen victims, and among them the accomplished and upright jurist, Papinian. The power thus acquired was not of long continuance; and but for the favours which the tyrant heaped upon the army, probably a shorter period than the five years which elapsed between his brother's assassination and his own, would have terminated the excesses which he carried from Rome into the provinces of the empire. He met his fate on a pilgrimage to the temple of the moon at Carrhæ, being slain by a disappointed officer of his guards, at the instigation of the prefect Opilius Macrinus, who succeeded him in 217.—W. B.

CARACCIOLI, the name of a celebrated Neapolitan family, of which the following are the most distinguished members:—

Caraccioli, Gianni, who in 1416 obtained the office of secretary to Queen Joanna of Naples, and became so great a favourite that he was elevated to the dignity of constable and grand seneschal, with the title of duke of Vicenza. During sixteen years he exercised almost absolute authority; but his arrogance and ambition ultimately lost him the favour of the queen. With her knowledge and consent a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was assassinated in 1432, during the festival given on the occasion of his son's marriage.

Caraccioli, Gianni, prince of Melfi, grand seneschal of the kingdom of Naples, born in 1480; died in 1550. After the conquest of Charles VIII. of France, Caraccioli attached himself to the French; but on their expulsion he espoused the Spanish cause. In 1528 the prince of Orange intrusted to him the defence of Melfi against the army of De Lautrec; but after a desperate resistance the tower was taken, and the garrison, with the exception of the prince and a few of his officers, were put to the sword. Caraccioli was carried into France, and there set at liberty. Francis I. appointed him lieutenant-general, and bestowed upon him a grant of extensive estates. His services in the defence of Luxembourg in 1543 were rewarded with the rank of marshal, and in 1544 he was made governor of Piedmont.

Caraccioli, Domenico, Marquis, born in 1715; died in 1789. He commenced his diplomatic career as ambassador to Turin, and afterwards discharged the duties of the same office in England and France. In 1781 he was appointed to the government of Sicily, and in 1786 was nominated minister of foreign affairs. Marmontel has pronounced a high eulogium on his character and conduct.

Caraccioli, Francesco, a Neapolitan admiral, who was for some time in the British service, and commanded a Neapolitan squadron before Toulon. The cold reception which he met with on his return home alienated him from the Neapolitan court, which was at that period in a most deplorable state. When the royal family fled to Palermo, and Naples was abandoned to the French in January, 1796, Caraccioli entered the service of the new government, termed the Parthenopæan republic. A few months after, Cardinal Ruffo, at the head of what he called the Christian army, and assisted by Captain Foote of the Seahorse and some Neapolitan frigates, besieged Naples. The "patriots" who garrisoned the castles of Uovo and Nuovo capitulated on condition that their persons and property should be protected. But Nelson, who arrived soon after, annulled the treaty; and notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of Ruffo, delivered up the patriots to the vengeance of the court. Caraccioli was immediately tried by a court-martial of Neapolitan officers assembled on board the British flag-ship, found guilty, and condemned to be hanged. This sentence was, by Nelson's orders, carried into execution that same evening, and the body of the aged prince was cast into the sea. This transaction has left an ineffaceable stain on the character of the great admiral.—J. T.

CARACCIOLI, Louis Antoine, a French litterateur, born in 1721; died in 1803. He is chiefly remembered as the author of the "Interesting Letters of Pope Clement XIV.," which were for a long time a mystery to Europe. He is also the author of a "Life of Clement XIV.," of a "Dictionary Picturesque and Sententious," and of many other works.—J. T.

CARACTACUS, a famous king of the Silurians, the ancient British inhabitants of South Wales, who lived in the first century b.c. Having, with varied success, but with indomitable valour, resisted the Romans for nine years, he was at length defeated, after a desperate struggle, by the prætor Ostorius, and took refuge with Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes. But she treacherously delivered him up to the Romans, who carried him to Rome in 51. He bore his misfortunes with such patient dignity, and addressed the Emperor Claudius in such noble yet touching language, that he at once obtained a pardon for himself and his friends.—(Tac. Ann. xii. 33, 38; Hist. iii. 43.)—J. T.

CARADOC, a Welsh historian of the twelfth century. He wrote in Latin a history of the Welsh kings from Cadwalladyr to his own time. The original, which was long preserved in Christ college, Cambridge, is now lost, and only a Welsh translation remains. Caradoc wrote some other books.

CARADUC, author of the most ancient Welsh lay known. The time and place of his birth and death have not been discovered; but he must have lived at or after the time of King Arthur, as many of the incidents of the lay relate to his court.

CARAFFA. See Paul IV., Pope.

CARAFA, Michele, a musician, was born at Naples, November 28, 1785, according to M. Fétis, but other authorities state in 1787. He is the second son of the prince de Colobrano, and, though his musical education was assiduously prosecuted in his youth, he was designed for the military profession. He accordingly became an officer of hussars under Murat, in whose service he was appointed ecuyer du roi. He was engaged in the expedition against Sicily, and was created a chevalier of the order of the Two Sicilies. He served also as an officer in the French campaign in Russia in 1812; on his return from which he was created a chevalier of the legion of honour. His musical studies, at first undertaken as a source of amusement, were carried on for some years at the conservatorio of his native city, where Monte Oliveto was his instructor. He next had lessons from Francesco Ruggi; then from Feneroli; and lastly, when he was settled at Paris, from Cherubini. His first attempt at composition was an opera called "Il Fantasma," which was represented by amateurs. His next was in 1802, when he wrote two cantatas, "Il Natale di Giove," and "Achille e Deidamia," for performance on the birthday of his mother, who was then, by a second marriage, princess di Caramanica. He came before the public as a musician in 1814, when his opera, "Il Vascello d'Occidente," was produced at the Fondo theatre in Naples. This was followed in successive years by "La Gelosia Corretta;" "Gabriele di Vergi;" "Ifigenia in Taurida;" "Adele di Lusignano;" "Berenice," in Siria; and "Elisabetta," in Derbyshire (both in 1818); "Il Sacrifizio d'Epito," and "Le duc Figari." His next work, "Jeanne d'Arc," was written for and played in Paris in 1821; but had no success. He then spent some time in Rome, where he produced "La Capricciosa ed il Soldato;" and wrote also "Tamerlano," which was not performed; and "Le Solitaire," which was given at the Faydeau theatre in Paris in August, 1822, with great applause, and