136 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



shiped nowhere; second, those who attended 

 the services of some other religious denomina- 

 tion than the Established Church. It was more 

 frequently used of the latter class. The name 

 was first applied to those who declined to con- 

 form to the enactment of the Act of Uniformity 

 of Edward VI., passed in 1549. It was revived 

 and applied to the 2,000 clergymen, who had to 

 surrender their livings on account of their in- 

 ability to conform to the more celebrated Act of 

 Uniformity of Charles II., first enforced on 

 August 24, 1662. Etymologically viewed, a 

 Dissenter and Nonconformist somewhat differ. 

 The former word denotes that he feels differ- 

 ently from Churchmen, that his sympathies go 

 in a different direction; the latter word refers, 

 not to his feelings, but to his action with respect 

 to public worship. The laws formerly existing 

 required him to conform to that of the Estab- 

 lished Church by attending the services and 

 partaking of the communion. The two words, 

 dissenter and non-conformist, as generally refer- 

 ring to the same individual, became inter- 

 changeable. 



Normandy. An ancient northwest pro- 

 vince of France, extending along the English 

 channel, from a point south of the mouth of the 

 Somme to the bay of Cancale, now divided .into 

 the departments of Seine-Inferieure, Eure, Cal- 

 vados, Orne, and La Manche. Rouen was the 

 capital and the chief town of Upper Normandy, 

 and Caen the chief town of Lower Normandy. 

 The Romans included the territory in Gallia 

 Lugdunensis Secunda. It formed part of Neus- 

 tria under the Merovingians, and received the 

 name of Normandy from the Northmen, who 

 occupied it in the beginning of the Tenth Century. 

 In 912, Charles the Simple gave his sanction to 

 their conquests, and Rollo, their chief, received 

 the title of Duke of Normandy. The sixth suc- 

 cessor of Rollo, William, became in 1066 the 

 conqueror and first Norman king of England. 

 On his death (1087) England and Normandy were 

 separated, the latter reverting to Robert Courte- 

 heuse, while William Rufus seized upon the 

 former. Henry I. ruled over both, but his 

 daughter Matilda was only Duchess of Normandy. 

 Her son, Henry II., accomplished another re- 

 union. From King John Normandy was wrested 

 by Philip Augustus of France; but it was twice 

 again held by the English, first under Edward III. , 

 and a second time, from 1417 to 1450, under 

 Henry V. and Henry VI. Charles VII. of France 

 made it an integral portion of his kingdom. 



North Carolina. In 1663 eight noble- 

 men received from Charles II. the patent of the 

 province of Carolina, but a few years prior to this 

 settlements had been made by Dissenters from 

 Virginia and from New England. Albemarle, 

 the name gi.ven to the p'ortion now North 

 Carolina, was rapidly augmented by settlers 

 from Virginia, New England, and Bermuda. In 

 1729, Carolina became a royal government, all 

 but one of the proprietors having sold out to the 

 Crown, and North and South Carolina were 

 formally declared distinct provinces. In 17r">, 

 North Carolina received large accessions in 

 parties of Irish Presbyterians, Scotch High- 

 landers, and Moravians. In 1769, the Provincial 

 Assembly declared against the right of taxation 



without representation, and in 1774 represen- 

 tatives were sent to the first Continental Con- 

 gress, which adopted the declaration of colonial 

 .rights. Scotch Loyalists, under McLeod and 

 McDonald, were defeated by the Whigs or Pa- 

 triots at King's Mountain in 1775, the first bat- 

 tle of the Revolution. In 1776, North Carolina 

 united with the other colonies in the Declaration 

 of Independence, and a State constitution \\as 

 formed the same year. Aside from partisan 

 warfare, the only battle fought in the State was 

 that of Guilford Court-House in 1781, between 

 Generals Green and Cornwallis. The State 

 seceded from the Union May 21, 1861, and the 

 military operations which followed were notable. 

 The most important were the capture of Fort 

 Hatteras in 1861, of Roanoke Island and Fort 

 Macon in 1862, and the combined land and naval 

 assault ending in the capture of Fort Fisher 

 in 1865. The State ratified the L4th Amend- 

 ment in 1868, and the 15th Amendment in 1869. 



North Dakota. The Territory of North 

 Dakota, of which North and South Dakotas 

 were formed, originally constituted part of the 

 Territory of Minnesota, which was organized in 

 1849 from part ' of the Louisiana Purchase of 

 1803. In 1854 the Territory of Nebraska was 

 formed, comprising then the present State of 

 Nebraska and all of Dakota. On March 2, 1861, 

 the Territory of Dakota was organized, com- 

 prising then the States of Montana and Wyom- 

 ing. The first permanent settlements by whites 

 were made in 1859 in Clay, Union, and Yankton 

 counties. On November 2, 1899. the Ter- 

 ritory was divided and the States of North and 

 South Dakota formed and admitted to the Union 

 at the same time. The history of the settlement 

 and growth of the country is identical with that 

 of the territories of which it originally formed 

 a part. 



North German Confederation, The 

 (1866). After the famous "Seven Weeks' War" 

 and the "Peace of Prague," when Austria was 

 entirely excluded from Germany. The confed- 

 eration included Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau 

 and Frankford (all incorporated with Prussia), 

 and the states north of the Main united to 

 Prussia in a bund. Strictly speaking, therefore, 

 the confederation was Prussia and the states 

 north of the Main. In 1870, during the Franco- 

 German War, the "North German Confedera- 

 tion/' being joined by Bavaria, Wtirtemberg, 

 Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, became the "Ger- 

 man Confederation," and two months afterwards 

 (January 18, 1871), the King of Prussia had the 

 title of "German Emperor" given him. 



Northmen. A name applied to the ancient 

 inhabitants of Scandinavia, or Norway, Sweden, 

 and Denmark, but more generally restricted to 

 those searovers called Danes by the Saxons, 

 who sailed on piratical expeditions to all pnrts 

 of the European seas, made their first appear- 

 ance on the coast of England in 787, and from 

 the year 832 repeated their invasion almost 

 every year, till they became masters of all the 

 country under their King Canute, and reigned 

 in England during the next fifty years, down 

 to 1042, when the Saxon Dynasty was restored 

 in the person of Edward the Confessor. In 885, 

 they laid siege to Paris, but were at length 



