Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/252

This page needs to be proofread.
*
208
*

SIXTH. SIXTH. See Intekvai,. 20iS SKALD. SIX'TTJS. The name of five popes. SiXTUS ur Xystus I., Saint, Pope c. 11 6-25, under the reign of Hadrian. — SiXTUS or Xystus 11., Saint, Pope 257-258. Under him the communion be- tween Rome and the Xorth African churches, broken off by the controversy over heretic bap- tism (q.v.) under his predecessor Stephen 1., was restored. He died a martyr under Valerian, three days before his devoted deacon. Saint Lawrence" (q.v.). — SiXTUS III., Saint, Pope 432- 440. To him is due the restoration of the Li- berian basilica (Santa Maria Maggiore), in which his work is extant to-day, as also in the nave of another basilica built b3' him, the present Church of San Lorenzo. He is said to have sent Saint Patrick to Ireland.— SiXTUS IV., Pope 1471-84, Francesco della Rovere. He was born near Savona in 1414, and became general of the Franciscan Order in 1464. Paul II. made him a cardinal three years later and was succeeded by him as Pope. His nepotism is the worst blot upon the memory of his pontificate, and led in- directly, through the ambition of his brother Girolamo. to unfortunate connection with the political affairs of Florence. The Pope's eigh- teen-year-old nephew. Cardinal Sansoni-Rlario, having been arrested in connection with the assas- sination of Giuliano de' Medici in the conspiracy of the Pazzi, Sixtus demanded his release of Lorenzo de' Medici and satisfaction for the execu- tion of the Archbisliop of Pisa, who was suspected of complicity. Interdict, excommunication, and war followed; but after Lorenzo had won over the Pope's ally, the King of Naples, peace was made in 1480, and the Papal forces set free to act against the Turks, who had taken Otranto. Complications with Venice were terminated in favor of the Republic by the Peace of Bagnolo. Sixtus. regarding it as a bitter humiliation and already ill. died five days later. Many public works were furthered by him, of which the most famous is the Sistine Chapel ; the Ponte Sisto also commemorates his reign. Taxation, both civil and ecclesiastical, was so increased to carry out these projects and to provide for the Pope's family that it contributed not a little to dis- affection against the Church. Consult, besides the general histories ^jf the popes, Frantz, Sixtus IV. und die RcpvWik Florenz (Regensburg, 1880).— Sixtus V., Pope 1585-90. Felice Peretti. He was born in 1521 in the March of Ancona, the son of a poor gardener. Like Sixtus IV., he entered the Franciscan Order and rose to high dignities, becoming Bishop of Santa Agata in 1566 and cardinal in 1570. He had lived a quiet and retired life before his election as Pope, and surprised the world by the masterful vigor of his reign. He began by repressing disorder and exterminating bands of outlaws in the Papal States : reformed the administration of the law and the disposal of patronage; and entered on comprehensive projects for the moral and mate- rial improvement of Rome. He laid down new regulations for the college of cardinals, restrict- ing its number to seventy, and organized the modern system of congregations (q.v.). reor- ganizing that of the Inquisition which already existed ; at the same time he strongly disap- proved the e.xcessive rigor of the Spanish Inquisi- tion as a State tribunal under Philip II. He published a new edition of the Septuagint, and an edition of the Vulgate (1590) as ordered by the Council of Trent, which contained so many errors that it had to be recalled and its place suppli.ed by another under Clement VIII. The troubles' of the League in France and the growth of Protestantism in England and Germany caused him great anxiety until his death on August 27, 1590. ilany of the popular stories concerning him are derived from the Life by Gre- gorio Leti (1069). a thoroughly untrustwortliy work, answered by Tempesti, a Franciscan, in 1755. The best modern Life is by Baron von Hflbner (Leipzig, 1871) ; consult also Capranica, Papa Sisto (Milan, 1884). SIZE. See Glue, and Gelatin. SJOBERG, she'bar-y', Ekik (1794-1828). A Swedish poet, born at Ludgo, and known in lit- erature as Vita lis. He was educated at the University of Upsala, in which town he after- wards lived as a private tutor before finally re- moving to Stockholm. His poems — erotic, reli- gious, humorous, melancholy, and satiric, by turns — appeared separately between 1819 and 1826. but were collected after his death by Gei- jer (1828). In 1873 there was a new edition by For-selius. entitled Samlade skrifter of Vita- Us. A German translation was published at Leipzig in 184.3. SKAGEN, ska'gcn. Cape, or The Skaw. The most northerly point of .Jutland, Denmark (Map; Denmark. D 1). It is a narrow, sandy spit on which stands a stone lighthouse 148 feet high. Near the extreme point of the cape is the busy little port of Skagen. SKAGERRAK, skil'ger-rak'. An arm of the North Sea lying between the south coast of Norway and the peninsula of .Jutland. Den- mark, and washing also the coast of Sweden (Map: Denmark. CI). It is the connecting link between the North Sea and the Cattegat. and is about 130 miles long by 80 miles wide. It is shallow near Jutland, where the coast is lined with dangerous sand banks, but deepens north- ward, being 600 feet deep in the middle and over 2000 feet deep near the Norwegian coast. The latter, as well as the .Swedish coasi, is indented with numerous bays affording good harbors. The Skagerrak is suliject to violent northwest storms. SKAG'^WAY. The subport of entry in the southern district of Alaska. 202 miles north of Sitka, at the month of the Skagway River, on Lynn Canal (Map: Alaska. H 4). It is the ter- minus of the Yhite Pass and Yukon Railroad, and of the Seattle and Skagway steamship lines. Skagway lies amid attractive scenery. It has a public library, a United States Govern- ment building, and three hospitals. An army post also is here. There are breweries, bottling works, and a lumber mill ; but the city is chief- ly important as the distributing point of supplies for the interior and the Yukon mining district. The government is administered Ijy a unicameral council, elected annually, which choo.ses one of its number as mayor. Skagway was settled in 1897. and received its present charter in 1900. Populntiim. in 1900, 3117. SKALD (Icel.. poet), or SCALD. The name given in Old Norse specially to that class of poets who exercised their art as a "vocation re- quiring a learned education ; that is, a knowledge of the construction of verse, and of the enigmati-