CUIRASS CULDEES. 



561 



most thorough judge of this department, having had 

 nt his disposal the collections of the imperial acade- 

 my, as well as those of private individuals, much ex- 

 ceeding in richness any to be found elsewhere. 



In connexion with these coins are to be considered 

 the small pieces of glass, which were introduced, 

 particularly in Sicily, under the dominion of the Mo- 

 hammedans, instead of money, or, perhaps, under the 

 sanction of public authority, obtained currency as 

 standards of the weight of coins. Among Cufic 

 coins, those are particularly sought for which bear 

 images, because the forms represented upon them 

 appear to be opposed to the precepts of the Koran. 

 But their commerce with the Greeks may, at first, 

 have made the engravers of the Mohammedan coins 

 less strict ; and, in the course of time, they ventured 

 to give them figures agreeable to the peculiarities of 

 the Oriental taste ; in doing which they were aided 

 by the armorial bearings (tamghas) of the prin- 

 ces of the Turkish family. Finally, they marked 

 them with zodiacal and planetary figures, to which 

 they attributed the power of amulets. ^This reminds 

 us of the renowned Nurmahal-rupees.) The ori- 

 ginal use of these coins is made still more manifest 

 from inscriptions in many languages ; even Russian- 

 Arabic coins are found in rich cabinets. Every day 

 adds to our information in this department. Ol. 

 Tychsen's Introductio in Rem Numar. Muhammeda- 

 nor. (Rost., 1794), has, therefore, ceased to be com- 

 plete. The abbe Reinaud, in the Journal Asiatique 

 (1823), has communicated many excellent observa- 

 tions concerning the study of Arabic coins. A work 

 by him, concerning this branch of numismatics, with 

 an historical explanation of the coins in the cabinet 

 of the duke of Blacas, and in the royal French col- 

 lections, had also appeared. 



CUIRASS ; an article of defensive armour, pro- 

 tecting the body both before and behind. Meyrick, 

 in his dissertation on ancient armour, has thus dis- 

 tinguished the cuirasses of different nations: 1. 

 Leathern, with a belt of the same material, worn by 

 the Medes and Persians, before the reign of Cyrus the 

 Great. 2. Plumated or scaled loricce of steel, of 

 which the fore-part covered the breast, the front of 

 the thighs, and foreparts of the hands and legs ; the 

 posterior part, the back, neck, and whole of the 

 head ; both parts being united bjjibula on the sides : 

 these belonged to the Parthian cavalry. 3. Scales 

 made of horses' hoofs, sewed together with the 

 sinews of oxen, were worn by the Sarmatians. 4. 

 The pir^a., padded with wool, covered with flat rings 

 or square pieces of brass, fastened at the sides, and cut 

 round at the loins ; the &wja, or gorget ; the fyainp 

 or girdle, to which was appended the %&>fta, a kind 

 of petticoat, belonged to the Homeric chiefs. 5. 

 The Etruscans wore plain, scaled, laminated, ringed 

 or quilted cuishes, with straps depending from them, 

 either of leather solely, or plated with metal ; and 

 these straps, as well as the cuirasses, were adopted 

 by the Romans, who termed them loricce. On the 

 Trajan column, the lorica of the hastati and principes 

 (the two first ranks) consist of several metal bands 

 wrapped half round the body, and fastened before 

 and behind, over a leathern or quilted tunic. Some- 

 times the Roman cuirass was enriched with embossed 

 figures. The loricce of the triarii (the third rank) 

 were of leather only. Domitian, according to Mar- 

 tial, adopted the Sarmatian cuirass, which he made 

 of the hoofs of boars. The Roman cavalry of the 

 early period did not wear loriccs ; but even before the 

 cataphractes of Constantino (who wore flexible ar- 

 mour of scales and plates and rings, held together 

 by hooks and chains, the lorica hamata of Virgil 

 Loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem, J,n. 

 iii. 4G7), we read of horsemen who were loricati. 

 ii. 



Among the moderns, the Anglo-Saxons wore 

 leathern cuirasses (corietce), which, towards the end 

 of the ninth century, were formed of hides fitted 

 close to the body, and jagged or cut into the shape 

 of leaves below. The leathern cuirass, covered with 

 rings, was appropriated to the blood royal, or chiefs 

 of high rank : it was borrowed from the Gauls, and 

 called mael, whence our coat of mail. The cuirass 

 appears to have been disused in England in the time 

 of Charles II., when bullet-proof silk was introduced. 

 The lance having, of late years, again become an 

 offensive weapon, the cuirass has been revived among 

 the European cavalry. The finest part of Napoleon's 

 cavalry were cuirassiers ; and the weight of these 

 heavily armed soldiers gave great momentum to 

 their charge. The cuirass leaves many vulnerable 

 parts exposed, but, as it protects almost all the trunk, 

 it materially diminishes the chance of wounds, and 

 gives confidence to the soldier. 



CUJAS, JACQUES, or CUJACIUS ; son of Cujaus, 

 a tanner in Toulouse ; born in 1520. While yet a 

 student of law under Arnould Ferrier, he attracted 

 attention by his industry and talents. After having 

 delivered private lectures at Toulouse, he received 

 an invitation to be professor of law at Cahors in 

 1554 ; but he had been there only a year, when 

 Margaret de Valois invited him, through her chan- 

 cellor 1'Hopital, to Bourges, where he lectured till 

 1567. He then went to Valence, and gave great 

 reputation to the university of that place by his in- 

 structions. On account of the civil commotions in 

 France, he returned to Bourges in 1 575, and remain- 

 ed there, after a short stay at Paris, as teacher of the 

 law, notwithstanding the most advantageous invita- 

 tions to Bologna. Cujas owed his great reputation 

 to his profound study of the original works on the 

 Roman law, of which he had collected more than 

 500 manuscripts. The corrections which he made 

 in ancient works on the law (to say nothing of a 

 great many Greek and Latin works on other 

 subjects) were remarkable for number and acuteness. 

 In fact, he may be considered as the founder of 

 cientific jurisprudence. He made himself popular, 

 also, by the interest which he took in the personal 

 fortunes of his disciples, by his prudence in regard 

 to the theological quarrels of his time (Nihil hoc ad 

 edictum pratoris was his maxim), and his faithful 

 adherence to the cause of Henry IV. His grief for 

 the afflictions of his country is said to have accele- 

 rated his death (Oct. 4, 1590). He was in the habit 

 of studying and writing lying on the ground. The 

 booksellers at Lyons purchased his manuscripts for 

 waste paper. The edition of his works, which he 

 published himself in 1577, is correct, but incom- 

 plete ; that by Fabrot (Paris, 1658, 10' vols. folio) is 

 complete. The Promptuarium Operum lac. Cujacii, 

 auctore Dom. Albunensi (Naples, 1763, 2 vols. folio), 

 is of great assistance in the study of this collection. 

 His children, by two marriages, acquired a sort of 

 celebrity by their immorality. See Cvjas and hit 

 Contemporaries, by E. Spangenberg. 



CULDEES; a religious order, which, at one 

 period, had considerable establishments in almost 

 every part of Great Britain and Ireland. The name 

 is of uncertain etymology ; some derive it from the 

 Latin cultor Dei (a worshipper of God), while others 

 think they discover its origin in the Gaelic kyldee 

 (from cylle, a cell, and dee, a house), a building com- 

 posed of cells. The history of the Culdees has 

 acquired a factitious importance in the quarrels of 

 the Episcopalians and Presbyterians ; the latter 

 asserting that they were of very great antiquity, and 

 were Presbyterians in their ecclesiastical policy ; 

 the fonner maintaining that neither of these positions 

 is correct, that there is no mention of them in the 

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