SILESinS
791
SILETZ
Upper Silesia, died in 1257 at Cracow. A third
native saint of Silesia was a relative of Hyacinth,
Bronislawa, who became a Premonstratensian in
1217 and passed forty years in the practice of severe
penances. Besides the monastery of Leubus the
Cistercians had monasteries also at Kamenz (1248),
Heinrichau (1228), Rauden (1252), Himmelwitz
(1280), and Griissau (1292). The wealthiest convent
was the Abbey of Trebnitz for Cistercian nuns founded
by St. Hedwig who was buried there. Celebrated
monasteries of the Augustinians were the one on the
Sande at Breslau, which was founded at Gorkau about
1146 and was transferred to Breslau about 1148,
and that at Sagan, established in 1217 at Naumburg
on the Bober and transferred to Sagan in 1284. There
were also a large number of houses belonging to the
Premonstratensians, Franciscans, and orders of
knights, as the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem,
Knights of the Cross, Knights Templar. Up to the
mifldle of the fourteenth century forty-five monas-
teries for men anrl fourteen for women had been es-
tablished. The ruling family, the Piasts, repeatedly
divided their inheritance so that in the fourteenth
century Silesia contained no less than eighteen prin-
cipalities. This made it all the easier for the Bishop
of Breslau as Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau
to become the most important of the ruling princes.
Silesia came under the suzerainty of the kings of
Bohemia in 1327-29. As Bohemia was controlled by
Germany the change was more favourable for coloniza-
tion than if it had fallen to Poland. Silesia suffered
terribly during the Hussite Wars (1420-37). The
Hussites repeatedly undertook marauding expedi-
tions, and hardly any city except Breslau escaped the
havoc they wrought. About forty cities were laid
in ashes. The clergy were burnt or put to death in
other ways; the nobility grew poor; the peasants
became serfs; the fields lay uncultivated; the
"golden" Diocese of Breslau became a diocese of
"filth". In 1409 Silesia came under the suzerainty
of Hungary. However, as in 1526 Hungary, with
Silesia, and Bohemia became at the same time posses-
sions of the Habsburgs, from this time the province
was once more regarded as a dependency of Bohemia.
The Reformation made rapid progress in Silesia.
For the causes of this see Breslau, The Prince-
Bishopric OF. In the same article also the course of
the Reformation and that of the counter-Reformation
are fully treated. A large share of the credit for the
restoration and firm establishment of Catholicism
is due to the Jesuits, who during the years 1622-98
established in Silesia nine large colleges, each with a
gymnasium, four residences, and two missions, and
brought under their control all the higher schools of
the country. This control endured, as Frederick
the Great continued his protection of the Jesuits,
even after the suppression of the order, up to 1800.
In the seventeenth century Silesia obtained great
renown through the two Silesian schools of poetry,
the chief of these poets being Martin Opitz, Friedrich
von Logau, and Andreas Gryphius. In 1702 the
Jesuit college at Breslau was changed into the Leo-
poldine University (see Breslau, University of).
At the close of the three Silesian wars (1740-2,
1744-5, 1756-63) the greater part of Silesia belonged
to Prussia. By this change Catholicism lost the
privileged position which it had regained in the coun-
ter-Reformation, even though Frederick the Great
did not impair the possessions of the Church, as
happened later (1810-40). In 1815 the Congress of
Vienna enlarged Silesia by the addition of about half
of Lausitz (Lusatia). During the decade of the
forties the sect of "German Catholics" developed
from Silesia as the starting-point; this sect was
founded at Laurahiitte in Upper Silesia by the ex-
chaplain, John Ronge. Finally a brief mention
should here be made of the enormous economic de-
velopment of the province in the last fifty years,
especially in the mining of coal, the mining and work-
ing of metals, and the manufacture of chemicals and
machines. In Upper Silesia especially manufac-
tures have advanced with American rapidity. Ec-
clesiastically the entire province belongs to the
Prince Bishopric of Breslau with the following ex-
ceptions: the commissariat of Katscher, which con-
sists of the Archipresbyterates of Katscher, Hult-
schin, and Leobschutz with 44 parishes and 130,944
Catholics, and belongs to the Archdiocese of Olmiitz;
the county of Glatz, which has 51 parishes and 146,673
Catholics, and belongs to the Archdiocese of Prague.
II. Austrian Silesia. — Austrian Silesia is that
part of Silesia which remained an Austrian possession
after 1763. It is a crownland with an area of 1987
square miles and a poi)ulation of 727,000 persons.
Of its population 84-73 per cent are Catholics; 14
per cent are Protestants; 44-69 per cent are Ger-
mans; 33-31 per cent Poles; 22-05 per cent Czechs.
As in Prussian Silesia, agriculture, mining, and manu-
factures are in a very flourishing condition. The
districts of Teschen and Neisse belong to the Prince
Bishopric of Breslau, those of Troppau and Jagern-
dorf to the Archdiocese of Olmiitz.
Scriptores rerum Silesiacarum, I-XVI (Breslau, 1835-97); Codex diplomaticus SilesirB, I-XXV (Breslau, 1857-1909); Grunhagbn, Gesch. Schlesiens, I-II (Gotha, 1884-86); Mor- GENBES8ER, Geschichte von Schlesien (4th ed., Breslau, 1908); Chrzaszcz, Kirchengesch. Schlesiens (Breslau, 1908); Peter, Das Ilerzojjhim Schlesien (Vienna, 1884); SlAma, Oesterreichisch- Schlesien (Prague, 1887).
Klemens Loffler. Silesius, Angelus. See Angelus Silesius.
Siletz Indians, the collective designation for the rapidly dwindling remnant of some thirty small tribes, representing five linguistic stocks — Salishan, Yakonan, Kusan, Takelman, and Athapascan — formerly holding the whole coast country of Oregon from within a few miles of the Columbia southward to the Cahfornia border, extending inland to the main divide of the coast range, together with all the waters of Rogue River. Several of the tribes originally within the range of this territory are now entirely extinct. The others, all on the verge of extinction, are now gathered upon the Siletz Reservation, Lincoln County, North- west Oregon, with the exception of perhaps seventy on the adjoining Grande Ronde reservation to the east. The principal tribes from north to south were the Tillamook (Sal.), Alsea, Siuslaw (Yak.), Coos, Coquille (Kus.), Takelma or Upper Rogue River (Tak.), Six, Joshua, Tututini, Mackanotni, Shasta- costa, Chetco (Ath.). The Athapascan and Takel- man tribes were commonly designated collectively as Rogue River Indians.
Before the beginning of the era of disturbance the Indians of the territory in question may have num- bered 15,000 souls. In 1782-83 a great smallpox epi- demic, which swept the whole Columbian region, re- duced the population by more than one-third. The advent of trading vessels in the Columbia, dating from 1788, introduced disease and dissipation which poi- soned the blood of all the tribes, leading to their rapid and hopeless decline. A visitation of fever and measles about 1823-25 wiped out whole tribes, and by 1850 probably not 6000 survived. In that year gold was discovered in the Rogue River country, resulting in an invasion of miners and the consequent "Rogue River Wars", lasting almost continuously for six years, 1850-56. In these wars the southern tribes of the Oregon coast probably lost over 1000 killed out- right and more than that number through wounds, ex- posure, and starvation due to the destruction of their villages and food stores. On their final subjugation they were removed by military force to the "Coast Reservation", which had been established under vari- ous treaties within the same period, and to which sev-
