CARRINGTON

carrington, richard christopher (1826-1875), english astronomer, son of a brewer at brentford, was born in london on the 26th of may 1826. though intended for the church, his studies and tastes inclined him to astronomy, and with a view to gaining experience in the routine of an observatory he accepted the post of observer in the university of durham. finding, however, that there was little chance of obtaining instruments suitable for the work which he wished to undertake, he resigned that appointment and established in 1853 an observatory of his own at redhill. here he devoted three years to a survey of the zone of the heavens within 9 degrees of the north pole, the results of which are contained in his _redhill catalogue of 3735 stars_. but his name is chiefly perpetuated through his investigation of the motions of sun-spots, by which he determined the elements of the sun's rotation and made the important discovery of a systematic drift of the photosphere, causing the rotation-periods of spots to lengthen with increase of solar latitude. he died on the 27th of november 1875. for further information see _month. notices roy. astr. society_, xiv. 13, xviii. 23, 109, xix. 140, 161, xxxvi. 137; _memoirs roy. astr. soc._, xxvii. 139; _the times_, nov. 22 and dec. 7, 1875; _roy. society's cat. scient. papers_, vols. i. and vii.; introductions to works. carroccio; a war chariot drawn by oxen, used by the medieval republics of italy. it was a rectangular platform on which the standard of the city and an altar were erected; priests held services on the altar before the battle, and the trumpeters beside them encouraged the fighters to the fray. in battle the carroccio was surrounded by the bravest warriors in the army and it served both as a rallying-point and as the palladium of the city's honour; its capture by the enemy was regarded as an irretrievable defeat and humiliation. it was first employed by the milanese in 1038, and played a great part in the wars of the lombard league against the emperor frederick barbarossa. it was afterwards adopted by other cities, and first appears on a florentine battlefield in 1228. the florentine carroccio was usually followed by a smaller car bearing the _martinella_, a bell to ring out military signals. when war was regarded as likely the _martinella_ was attached to the door of the church of santa maria in the mercato nuovo in florence and rung to warn both citizens and enemies. in times of peace the carroccio was in the keeping of some great family which had distinguished itself by signal services to the republic. accounts of the carroccio will be found in most histories of the italian republics; see for instance, m. villani's _chronache_, vi. 5 (florence, 1825-1826); p. villari, _the two first centuries of florentine history_, vol. i. (engl. transl., london, 1894); gino capponi, _storia della repubblica di firenze_, vol. i. (florence, 1875).