HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 



297 



in the names Lerwick, Berwick, etc.), and this class of 

 marauders were so called because their ships put off 

 from the bays and fiords. 



Visigoths, The, or Western Goths, were the descend- 

 ants ot that branch of the Gothic race established by 

 Aurelian in Dacia (270). The descendants of the other 

 branch of the race, which remained in Southern Russia, 

 were called Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). On the death 

 of Theodosius, the Visigoths, under Alaric, overran 

 Greece (39i>) and Italy (400). After Alaric's death (410) 

 they established a kingdom at Toulouse (418) which 

 eventually comprised the whole of Gaul south of the 

 Loire and west of the Rhone, as well as Provence and 

 the greater part of Spain. With the defeat (and death) 

 of Alaric II. by Clovis, on the field of Vougle' (or Vouill4 

 or Voclad) near Poitiers (507), the kingdom of Toulouse 

 came to an end, and the Visigoths abandoned to the 

 conqueror all their territories north of the Pyrenees, 

 with the exception of a small tract of country in Gaul, 

 including the cities of Carcassone, Narbonne, and 

 Nimes. 



Virginia, first settled at Jamestown by the English, 

 1607. Ranks first in peanuts ; second in tobacco ; eighth 

 in salt and iron ore; sixteenth in weal tli. Agriculture 

 is the leading industry ; tobacco, wheat, corn, and pota- 

 toes being the great staples. The mineral resources are 

 vast; the mountains containing rich deposits of coal 

 and iron, valuable marble, slate, and stone quarries with 

 important salt springs. 



Wales. The first king was Edwawl, 690 ; it was con- 

 quered and divided by William I., 1091 ; Griffith, the last 

 king, died 1137 ; the sovereign from that time forward 

 was the prince ; completely conquered and annexed to 

 the crown of England, 1283. 



"Walloons, The, are the inhabitants of the southeast- 

 ern division of Belgium, their country comprising the 

 provinces of Hainault, Namur, Liege, and Luxemburg, 

 with part of Brabant. The Walloons are Romanized 

 Gauls, lineal representatives of the ancient Belgse, dis- 

 tinguished from their Flemish (Teutonic) neighbors by 

 their Romance language, their stronger physique, and 

 their darker complexion. The Walloon language, how- 

 ever, a strongly marked dialect of Northern France (the 

 Langue d'Oil), is now merely a provincial patois, French j 

 being the written standard and official language of the 

 whole kingdom. 



Warsaw, after two days' hard fighting, capitulated 

 and was taken possession of by the Russians, September 

 7, 1831. 



Washington ranks eighth in gold, seventeenth in 

 square miles, forty-first in population, forty-second in 

 miles of railway. Population, according to' territorial 

 census in 1885, 127,292 ; United States Census, 1890,349,390. 

 First settlement, by Americans, at Astoria, 1811. Organ- 

 ized as a territory, 1853. Admitted to the Union, 1889. 



Wat Tyler's insurrection occurred November 5, 1380, 

 a peasant's revolt, immediately due to the imposition 

 of a poll-tax on all persons above fifteen. Almost the 

 whole of the peasantry of the southern and eastern 

 counties of England rose in arms, murdering and plun- 

 dering, under the leadership of Wat Tyler, said to have 

 been a soldier in the French wars. On June 12, 1381, 

 they gathered on Blackheath. On June 14, Richard II., 

 then a lad of fifteen, met the Essex contingent at Mile 



End, and, promising the abolition of villenage, induced 

 them to return home. On June 15, he met the Kentish 

 men at Smithfield, and in the parley Wat Tyler was 

 killed by William Walworth, mayor of London, and 

 others. The peasants were about to avenge his death, 

 when Richard, with great presence of mind, rode for- 

 ward alone, and induced them to follow him to Isling- 

 ton, when, a body of troops coming to the king's aid, 

 and Richard being profuse of promises, they dispersed. 



Waterloo, Battle of, in which Napoleon with 69,000 

 men attacked a combined army of 89,000 English, Dutch, 

 Belgian, and Hanoverian troops ; a dreadful slaughter 

 continued until four o'clock, when two Prussian corps 

 of 30,000 and 40,000, under Bulow and Blucher, succes- 

 sively arrived, and, turning his right wing, the whole 

 army fled in confusion at half past nine o'clock, June 

 18, 1815. 



West Virginia. The first settlors were English, 

 Wheeling, 1774. Agriculture is the leading industry, 

 and the principal staples are tobacco, wheat, and corn. 

 The mountain pastures are well adapted to stock raising. 

 Its mineral resources are rich deposits of coal, iron, and 

 numerous oil wells, and salt springs. 



Westminster Abbey, built by Sebert, king of Essex, 

 on the spot where the Temple of Apollo had once stood ; 

 its monastery, consecrated by Edward the Confessor, 

 10G5; rebuilt and consecrated, 1269; turned into a colle- 

 giate church,. 1560. 



Wills are of a very high antiquity ; Solon intro- 

 duced them at Athens ; there are many regulations re- 

 specting wills in the Koran ; the Roman had this power ; 

 so had the native Mexican, so that it prevailed at least 

 in three parts of the globe ; lands were devisable by will 

 before the conquest ; privilege of making wills granted 

 by Henry I. in 1100. 



Wisconsin (Badger State). First settlement, by the 

 French, Green Bay, 1660. Admitted to the Union, 1848. 

 Ranks second in hops, third in barley and potatoes, 

 fourth in rye and buckwheat, fifth in oats and agricul- 

 tural implements, seventh in iron, steel, and wool, eighth 

 in hay and milch cows, ninth in copper, tenth in wealth, 

 eleventh in miles of railway, sixteenth in population, 

 and twenty-third in square miles. The chief industry is 

 agriculture, with large crops of corn, wheat, oats, bar- 

 ley, hay, potatoes, and hops, as the staple productions. 

 Live stock is largely raised. In the production of wool 

 and cheese it is among the leading states. The manu- 

 facturing interests are large and increasing. The great 

 pine forests in abundance, and the most valuable timber, 

 lead, iron, zinc, and marble mines are extensively worked. 

 Lakes Michigan and Superior, and the Mississippi, afford 

 great natural highways for commerce. 



Witchcraft. Six "hundred condemne'd as wizards, 

 and most of them burned in France, 1609; Grandier, 

 parish priest of Loudan, burned on the supposition of 

 having bewitched a whole convent of nuns, 1634 ; nine 

 old women were burned at Kalish, in Poland, charged 

 with having bewitched and rendered unfruitful the 

 lands belonging to a gentleman in that palatinate ; the 

 last punished in England for witchcraft, was October 

 29, 1808. 



Wyoming. Ranks ninth in square miles, twelfth in 

 cattle, fourteenth in gold, sixteenth in coal, forty-fourth 

 in miles of railway, forty-sixth in population. First 

 settlement, by Americans, 1867. Organized as a terri- 

 tory, 1868. Admitted to the Union in 1890. 



HISTORIC TREATIES. 



843. Contract of Verdun. This treaty concluded the 

 war between Lothar, Louis the German, and Charles the 

 Bald, over their respective shares of the imperial domin- 

 ions on the death of their father. Louis the Pious. 



911. Treaty of St.-Clair-sur-Epte : concluded the war 

 between the invading Norsemen under Rollo and the 

 French king, Charles the Simple. 



1122. Concordat of Worms : an agreement between the 

 emperor and the pope, closing the long strife known as 

 the war of investitures. 



1183. Treaty of Constance: between the emperor, 

 Frederick Barbarossa, and the Lombard cities. 



1360. Peace of Bretigny : a treaty that interrupted the 

 Hundred Years' war between France and England. 



1397. Union of Calmar : the treaty by which Denmark, 

 Sweden, and Norway were united under Queen Mar- 

 garet of Denmark. 



1420. Treaty of Troyes : interrupted the Hundred 

 Years' war on terms most favorable to England. 



1436. Treaty of Arras : a compact between Burgundy 

 aud France. 



1466. Treaty o* Thorn : settled the terms of the Polish 

 conquest of West Prussia. 



1482. Treaty of Arras : settled the dispute between 

 Louis XI. of France, and Maximilian of Austria. 



149.3. Bull of Pope Alexander VI. : arranged the con- 

 flicting claims of Spain and Portugal to newly discov- 

 ered lands. 



1508. League of Cambray : a union formed by Louis 

 XII. of France and the Emperor Maximilian, which the 

 pope and others were invited to join. 



1526. Treaty of Madrid : formed between Charles V. 

 of Germany and Francis I. of France. 



1529. Treaty of Cambray : between Francis I. and 

 Charles V. 



1544. Treaty of Crespy : concluded the fourth and 

 last war between Francis" I. and Charles V. 



1579. Union of Utrecht : laid the foundations of the 

 Dutch Republic. 



1648. Peace of Westphalia: concluded the Thirty 

 Years' War. 



1659. Peace of the Pyrenees : closed the long war be- 

 tween France and Spain. 



