HIDALGO HIERARCHY. 



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natural section, or perliaps genus (carya), differing 

 from the true walnuts, especially in the smooth ex- 

 terior of the nuts. All the species of carya are 

 exclusively confined to North America, and compose 

 one of the characteristic features in the vegetation of 

 that continent. See JValnut. 



HIDALGO; a Spanish nobleman of the lower 

 class. (See Grandees.) To the lower nobility per- 

 tain the cavalleros, escitderos and hidalgos (from kido, 

 son, and algo, something). There are hidalgos de 

 naturaleza, of noble birth, and hidalgos de privilegio, 

 that is, those on whom the king has conferred nobility 

 in reward of distinguished services, and those who 

 purchase nobility. The latter possess all the rights 

 and privileges of the other nobles, but are not so 

 highly respected. With the exception of some old 

 houses and knights of orders, the hidalgos differed 

 little from the commoners. The Portuguese fidalgo 

 has the same signification. The Genealogical, His- 

 torical, and Statistical Almanac for 1830 (Wiemar) 

 gives 484,131 hidalgos in Spain. 



HIDALGO, MIGUEL; a Mexican priest, who, in 

 conjunction with Allende, commenced the war of 

 independence in New Spain, in 1809. Hidalgo was, 

 at that time, curate of Dolores, and possessed great 

 influence over the Indians and Creoles. After raising 

 the standard of independence, he was joined by a 

 large body of men and the garrison of the city of 

 Guanaxuato and of some other towns in the same 

 province. Thence he marched to Valladolid; and, 

 continuing to meet with success, he threw off his 

 clerical robes, and assumed the uniform and rank of 

 generalissimo, Oct. 24, 1809. Continuing his march, 

 he approached Mexico, the capital, which was then 

 poorly defended ; but when circumstances favoured 

 an attack, he drew off his troops, and began to march 

 back towards Guanaxuato. At length the viceroy, 

 Vanegas, collected a sufficient body of troops to be- 

 come the assailant in his turn. Hidalgo was met 

 and defeated by the Spaniards under Calleja, at 

 Aculeo, and here the patriots received their first 

 check. Other engagements followed, between vari- 

 ous chiefs of the two parties. Hidalgo sustained 

 another total defeat near Guadalaxara, Jan. 17, 1811, 

 and was compelled to retire to Zacatecas with his 

 shattered and disheartened forces. Thence he re- 

 treated to San Luis Potosi, with the intention of 

 withdrawing into the Texas, in order to reorganize 

 his army. He was finally overtaken at Acatita de 

 Bajan, having been betrayed by Bustamente, one of 

 his officers, and was made prisoner with all his staff. 

 He was removed to Chihuahua, where, after the form 

 of a trial, he was shot, June 20, 1811, having been 

 deprived of his priest's orders previous to his execu- 

 tion. Poinsett's Mexico. 



HIEN ; a Chinese syllable, which, when added to 

 geographical names, means a city of the third rank. 

 H I Ell ARCH Y (from <t, sacred, and ^ , a govern- 

 ment) : a sacred government, sometimes used to denote 

 the internal government of the church, sometimes the 

 dominion of the church over the state. In the former 

 sense, the hierarchy arose with the establishment of the 

 Christian churchas an independent society. Although 

 elders, called presbyters, stood at the head of the 

 earliest congregations of Christians, their constitution 

 was democratic, each of the members having a part 

 in all the concerns of the association, and voting in 

 the election of elders, on the exclusion of sinners 

 from the communion of the church, or the reception 

 of the repentant into its bosom. The government of 

 the congregations was gradually transferred into the 

 hands of their officers, as was natural when the con- 

 gregations had become societies of great extent In 

 the second century, the bishops acquired a superiority 

 over the elders, and became the supreme officers of 



the congregations, although the presbyters, and, in 

 many cases, all the members of the churches, retained 

 some share in the government. The bishops in the 

 capitals of the provinces, who were called metropo- 

 litans, soon acquired a superiority over the provincial 

 bishops, and exercised a supervision over them. They 

 were themselves subject to the bishops of the princi- 

 pal cities of the Roman empire, Constantinople, 

 Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, who received 

 the title of patriarchs; and thus a complete aristo- 

 cratic constitution was formed, which continued in 

 the Greek church, while, in the Latin, the aristocracy 

 was transformed into a monarchy. The Roman 

 bishop acquired the primacy over the others, and, the 

 opinion having become prevalent that the apostle 

 Peter had founded the Roman church, and that its 

 bishop was his successor, the Roman bishop, more- 

 over, having received, about the close of the eighth 

 century, from the generosity of Pepin the Short, a 

 considerable region in Italy for a permanent, though 

 originally not an independent possession, his authority 

 constantly increased, and he gradually became the 

 monarchical head of Western Christendom. 



The word hierarchy is frequently used in the second 

 sense, viz., of the relations of the church to the state, 

 in which the church is not only independent of the 

 state, but even claims a superiority, and demands the 

 subjection of the political interests to its own. In the 

 first centuries, the church had no connexion with the 

 state. It did not seek to acquire influence over the 

 state, and the state sometimes persecuted the Chris- 

 tian religion. After the church was amalgamated 

 with the state, in the time of Constantine the Great, 

 it obtained protection, but was dependent on the tem- 

 poral rulers, who asserted the right to convoke the 

 eneral councils, and to nominate the metropolitan 

 lishops, and even frequently interfered in the internal 

 affairs of the church and its dogmatic discussions. It 

 was the same in the Gothic, Lombard, and Prankish 

 states, which were erected on the ruins of the Roman 

 empire. The German emperors, and especially 

 Charlemagne, also exercised over the church the 

 rights of sovereignty, which the Roman emperors 

 had possessed; and, after the feudal system had arisen 

 in the German empire, the bishops held the church 

 lands as fiefs received from the temporal princes ; 

 and even the Roman bishop, in his temporal charac- 

 ter, stood in a feudal relation to the Prankish princes. 

 But the germ of the hierarchical system already 

 existed at this period, in the idea of the church as a 

 society always enlightened by the Divine Spirit ; in 

 the idea, borrowed from Judaism, of a priesthood 

 instituted by God himself, by which the clergy ac- 

 quired dignity surpassing all temporal grandeur, and 

 an authority emanating not from the state, but from 

 God himself ; and, finally, in the superiority of the 

 clergy over the laity, resulting from the circumstance 

 that they were the only depositaries of knowledge. 

 But the hierarchical system could not be completely 

 developed from these germs, till the Roman bishop 

 became the undisputed head of Western Christendom, 

 by which unity and strt ngth were infused into the 

 exertions of the spiritual power. For several centu- 

 ries, the importance of the Roman bishop continued 

 to increase : his power was especially augmented in 

 the ninth century, by the Pseudo-Isidorian collection 

 of canons, some forged, some interpolated, the object 

 of which was to exalt the ecclesiastical authority 

 above the secular. (See Papacy) Gregory VII. 

 exerted the most undaunted courage smd liveliest 

 zeal in the eleventh century, to enforce the claims of 

 the hierarchy ; and the principal means which he 

 adopted for attaining this object were, to deprive the 

 princes of the right of investiture (see Investiture), 

 and to introduce celibacy among the clergy. (See 

 Szl 



