the parties of reaction sought salvation in the “union of altar and throne.” Possibly Grégoire’s Gallicanism was fundamentally irreconcilable with the Catholic idea of authority. At least it made their traditional religion possible for those many French Catholics who clung passionately to the benefits the Revolution had brought them; and had it prevailed, it might have spared France and the world that fatal gulf between Liberalism and Catholicism which Pius IX.’s Syllabus of 1864 sought to make impassable.
Besides several political pamphlets, Grégoire was the author of Histoire des sectes religieuses, depuis le commencement du siècle dernier jusqu’à l’époque actuelle (2 vols., 1810); Essai historique sur les libertés de l’église gallicane (1818); De l’influence du Christianisme sur la condition des femmes (1821); Histoire des confesseurs des empereurs, des rois, et d’autres princes (1824); Histoire du mariage des prêtres en France (1826). Grégoireana, ou résumé général de la conduite, des actions, et des écrits de M. le comte Henri Grégoire, preceded by a biographical notice by Cousin d’Avalon, was published in 1821; and the Mémoires . . . de Grégoire, with a biographical notice by H. Carnot, appeared in 1837 (2 vols.). See also A. Debidour, L’Abbé Grégoire (1881); A. Gazier, Études sur l’histoire religieuse de la Révolution Française (1883); L. Maggiolo, La Vie et les œuvres de l’abbé Grégoire (Nancy, 1884), and numerous articles in La Révolution Française; E. Meaume, Étude hist. et biog. sur les Lorrains révolutionnaires (Nancy, 1882); and A. Gazier, Études sur l’histoire religieuse de la Révolution Française (1887).
GREGORAS, NICEPHORUS (c. 1295–1360), Byzantine
historian, man of learning and religious controversialist, was
born at Heraclea in Pontus. At an early age he settled at
Constantinople, where his reputation for learning brought him
under the notice of Andronicus II., by whom he was appointed
Chartophylax (keeper of the archives). In 1326 Gregoras proposed
(in a still extant treatise) certain reforms in the calendar,
which the emperor refused to carry out for fear of disturbances;
nearly two hundred years later they were introduced by Gregory
XIII. on almost the same lines. When Andronicus was dethroned
(1328) by his grandson Andronicus III., Gregoras
shared his downfall and retired into private life. Attacked by
Barlaam, the famous monk of Calabria, he was with difficulty
persuaded to come forward and meet him in a war of words, in
which Barlaam was worsted. This greatly enhanced his reputation
and brought him a large number of pupils. Gregoras
remained loyal to the elder Andronicus to the last, but after
his death he succeeded in gaining the favour of his grandson, by
whom he was appointed to conduct the unsuccessful negotiations
(for a union of the Greek and Latin churches) with the ambassadors
of Pope John XXII. (1333). Gregoras subsequently took
an important part in the Hesychast controversy, in which
he violently opposed Gregorius Palamas, the chief supporter
of the sect. After the doctrines of Palamas had been recognized
at the synod of 1351, Gregoras, who refused to acquiesce, was
practically imprisoned in a monastery for two years. Nothing
is known of the end of his life. His chief work is his Roman
History, in 37 books, of the years 1204 to 1359. It thus partly
supplements and partly continues the work of George Pachymeres.
Gregoras shows considerable industry, but his style is
pompous and affected. Far too much space is devoted to
religious matters and dogmatic quarrels. This work and that
of John Cantacuzene supplement and correct each other, and
should be read together. The other writings of Gregoras, which
(with a few exceptions) still remain unpublished, attest his great
versatility. Amongst them may be mentioned a history of
the dispute with Palamas; biographies of his uncle and early
instructor John, metropolitan of Heraclea, and of the martyr
Codratus of Antioch; funeral orations for Theodore Metochita,
and the two emperors Andronicus; commentaries on the wanderings
of Odysseus and on Synesius’s treatise on dreams;
tracts on orthography and on words of doubtful meaning; a
philosophical dialogue called Florentius or Concerning Wisdom;
astronomical treatises on the date of Easter and the preparation
of the astrolabe; and an extensive correspondence.
Editions: in Bonn Corpus scriptorum hist. Byz., by L. Schopen and I. Bekker, with life and list of works by J. Boivin (1829–1855); J. P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, cxlviii., cxlix.; see also C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).
GREGOROVIUS, FERDINAND (1821–1891), German historian, was born at Neidenburg on the 19th of January 1821, and studied at the university of Königsberg. After spending some years in teaching he took up his residence in Italy in 1852, remaining in that country for over twenty years. He was made a citizen of Rome, and he died at Munich on the 1st of May 1891. Gregorovius’s interest in and acquaintance with Italy and Italian history is mainly responsible for his great book, Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter (Stuttgart, 1859–1872, and other editions), a work of much erudition and interest, which has been translated into English by A. Hamilton (13 vols., 1894–1900), and also into Italian at the expense of the Romans (Venice, 1874–1876). It deals with the history of Rome from about A.D. 400 to the death of Pope Clement VII. in 1534, and in the words of its author it describes “how, from the time of Charles the Great to that of Charles V., the historic system of the papacy remained inseparable from that of the Empire.” The other works of Gregorovius include: Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrian und seiner Zeit (Königsberg, 1851), English translation by M. E. Robinson (1898); Corsica (Stuttgart, 1854), English translation by R. Martineau (1855); Lucrezia Borgia (Stuttgart, 1874), English translation by J. L. Garner (1904); Die Grabdenkmäler der Päpste (Leipzig, 1881), English translation by R. W. Seton-Watson (1903); Wanderjahre in Italien (5 vols., Leipzig, 1888–1892); Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter (1889); Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte der Kultur (Leipzig, 1887–1892); and Urban VIII. im Widerspruch zu Spanien und dem Kaiser (Stuttgart, 1879). This last work was translated into Italian by the author himself (Rome, 1879). Gregorovius was also something of a poet; he wrote a drama, Der Tod des Tiberius (1851), and some Gedichte (Leipzig, 1891).
His Römische Tagebücher were edited by F. Althaus (Stuttgart, 1892), and were translated into English as the Roman Journals of F. Gregorovius, by A. Hamilton (1907).
GREGORY, ST (c. 213–c. 270), surnamed in later ecclesiastical tradition Thaumaturgus (the miracle-worker), was born of noble and wealthy pagan parents at Neocaesarea in Pontus, about A.D. 213. His original name was Theodorus. He took up the study of civil law, and, with his brother Athenodorus, was on his way to Berytus to complete his training when at Caesarea he met Origen, and became his pupil and then his convert (A.D. 233). In returning to Cappadocia some five years after his conversion, it had been his original intention to live a retired ascetic life (Eus. H.E. vi. 30), but, urged by Origen, and at last almost compelled by Phaedimus of Amasia, his metropolitan, neither of whom was willing to see so much learning, piety and masculine energy practically lost to the church, he, after many attempts to evade the dignity, was consecrated bishop of his native town (about 240). His episcopate, which lasted some thirty years, was characterized by great missionary zeal, and by so much success that, according to the (doubtless somewhat rhetorical) statement of Gregory of Nyssa, whereas at the outset of his labours there were only seventeen Christians in the city, there were at his death only seventeen persons in all who had not embraced Christianity. This result he achieved in spite of the Decian persecution (250–251), during which he had felt it to be his duty to absent himself from his diocese, and notwithstanding the demoralizing effects of an irruption of barbarians (Goths and Boranians) who laid waste the diocese in A.D. 253–254. Gregory, although he has not always escaped the charge of Sabellianism, now holds an undisputed place among the fathers of the church; and although the turn of his mind was practical rather than speculative, he is known to have taken an energetic part in most of the doctrinal controversies of his time. He was active at the first synod of Antioch (A.D. 264–265), which investigated and condemned the heresies of Paul of Samosata; and the rapid spread in Pontus of a Trinitarianism approaching the Nicene type is attributed in large measure to the weight of his influence. Gregory is believed to have died in the reign of Aurelian, about the year 270, though perhaps an earlier date is more probable. His festival (semiduplex) is observed by the Roman Catholic Church on the 17th of November.
