VOLUME 



ORGAN IZ 

 KNOWLEDGE 



STORY 

 PICTURE 



EIGHT 



PETER'S PENCE, the name applied in the 

 Roman Catholic Church to voluntary offerings 

 for the support of the Pope. It is of medieval 

 origin, said to luive originated in England, from 

 which it spread to the Continent. The Seventh 

 Provincial Council (Baltimore, 1849) approved 

 the collection of Peter's pence in the United 



PETER THE HERMIT (about 1050-1115), a 

 monk of Amiens, the. famous preacher of the 

 fn>t of the Crusades, primarily responsible for 

 one of the most gigantic religious movements 

 the world ever saw (see illustration, page 1651). 

 1 1 was born in the diocese of Amiens, but lit- 

 tle is known of his life from that time until 

 1095, when he began in his preaching to declare 

 th- necessity of a crusade to wrest the Holy 

 Land from the infidel. 



Convince 1 that it was his mission to inspire 

 men to regain possession of Palestine, he rode 

 about France on mule back, dressed in a monk's 

 cloak of rough cloth and bearing in his hand a 

 crucifix. In 1096 he set out toward Palestine 

 with about 30,000 undisciplined followers, 

 mostly from the poorer classes. They straggled 

 on through Europe, but after crossing the Bos- 

 porus into Asia Minor proved so unruly that 

 Peter left them and joined the army of Godfrey 

 de Bouillon. He had a part in the capture of 

 Jerusalem, and in July, 1099, preached on the 

 Mount of Olives. 



Consult Goodsell's Peter the Hermit. 



PETITION, pctish'un, a formal written re- 

 quest soliciting some right, grant or favor, made 

 to a legislative body or to an official who has 

 r to grant such request. Petitions were 

 first presented to secure purely private ends, 

 but such requests are now frequently presented 

 to t he courts to bring attention to special mat- 



In such cases it is a rule that an nffi.i 

 1 also be made that the facts presented 

 as far as known to the petition, r. The 

 unlit nf petition is one of the fundam- 

 privilrires of a freo people, and is regarded by 

 "ii. il nuht. It lies within tin- dis- 

 >m of the executive or legislative body to 



decide how such petitions shall be received, as 

 no formal method has ever been provided for 

 their reception. 



PETITION OF RIGHT, a petition presented 

 by the English Parliament in 1628 to Charles I, 

 demanding that the king cease the practices of 

 taxing the people without consent of Parlia- 

 ment, quartering soldiers in private houses, es- 

 tablishing martial law and imprisoning citizens 

 without legal proceedings. Accustomed as all 

 citizens of the United States and Canada are 

 to-day to constitutional government, the great 

 importance of this petition is not realized un- 

 less one calls to mind the long conflict between 

 Charles I and Parliament, which ended with 

 the execution of the king in 1649. Imbued with 

 ideas of absolutism and the divine right of 

 kings, Charles endeavored to make Parliament 

 an instrument to accomplish his autocratic pur- 

 poses. Had he succeeded, constitutional gov- 

 ernment, as now known, might not exist to-day. 

 He dissolved one Parliament and adjourned 

 another because of their refusal to vote supplies 

 unless he would promise to consider their griev- 

 ances and grant redress. 



In the meantime, he attempted to impose his 

 own will in government matters, commanded 

 Parliament not to meddle in affairs of state, 

 and asserted that parliaments existed only at 

 the pleasure of the king. But the king needed 

 money to conduct affairs, and the only way he 

 could raise the necessary funds was to get the 

 Commons to vote appropriations. Accordingly, 

 Parliament met in adjourned session early in 

 1628. Again there was refusal to vote supplies 

 until the king would promise redress of gr 

 ances. To make its position clear the Parlia- 

 ment drew up a petition to the king. It was a 

 restatement of official and public rights, the 

 name principles that had been set forth in 

 Magna Chart a. that had received the sanction 

 of centuries of use and found expression in nu- 

 merous acts of Parliament . The necessities of 

 the king were so great that he ultimately ac- 

 d and signed the petition, but he had no 

 UK to its provisions. This 

 petition served to solidify sentiment in Eng- 



1600 



