ESTREMOZ

estremoz, a town of portugal, in the district of evora, formerly included in the province of alemtejo; 104 m. by rail e. of lisbon, on the casa branca-evora-elvas railway. pop. (1900) 7920. estremoz is built at the base of a hill crowned by a large dismantled citadel; its fortifications, which in the 17th century accommodated 20,000 troops and rendered the town one of the principal defences of the frontier, are now obsolete. there are marble quarries in the neighbourhood, and the estremoz _bilhas_, red earthenware jars, are used throughout portugal as water-holders and exported to spain. at ameixial (1188) and monies claros, near estremoz, the spanish were severely defeated by the portuguese in 1663 and 1665. villa vicosa (3841), 10 m. s.e., is a town of pre-roman origin, containing a royal palace. the altars with latin inscriptions to the iberian god endovellicus, found at villa vicosa, are preserved in the museum of the royal academy of sciences, lisbon. estuary (from the lat. _aestuarium_, a place reached by _aestus_, the tide), an arm of the sea narrowing inwards at the mouth of a river where sea and fresh water meet and are mixed, i.e. the tidal portion of a river's mouth. structurally the estuary may represent the long-continued action of river erosion and tidal erosion confined to a narrow channel, most effective where most concentrated, or an estuary may be the drowned portion of the lower part of a river-valley. in a map of britain showing sea-depths it will be observed that under the severn estuary the sea deepens in a number of steps descending by concentric v's that become blunter towards deep water until the last is a mere indentation pointing towards the long narrow termination of the present estuary. in this and in similar cases the progress of the estuary is indicated upon what is now the continental shelf. the chief interest in estuarine conditions is the mingling of sea and fresh water. where, as in the severn and the thames, the fresh water meets the sea gradually the water is mixed, and there is very little change in salinity at high tide. the fresh water flows over the salt water and there is a continuous rapid change, in salinity towards the sea, for the currents sweeping in and out mix the water constantly. where the river brings down a great quantity of fresh water in a narrow channel, the change of salinity at high and low water is very marked. "when, however, the inlet is very large compared with the river, and there is no bar at the opening, the estuarine character is only shown at the upper end. in the firth of forth, for example, the landward half is an estuary, but in the seaward half the water has become more thoroughly mixed, the salinity is almost uniform from surface to bottom, and increases very gradually towards the sea. the river-water meets the sea diffused uniformly through a deep mass of water scarcely fresher than the sea itself, so that the two mix uniformly, and the sea becomes slightly freshened throughout its whole depth for many miles from land" (h.r. mill, _realm of nature_, 1897). esztergom (ger. _gran_; lat. _strigonium_), a town of hungary, capital of the county of the same name, 36 m. n.w. of budapest by rail. pop. (1900) 16,948, mostly magyars and roman catholics. it is situated on the right bank of the danube, nearly opposite the confluence of the gran, and is divided into the town proper and three suburbs. the town is the residence of the primate of hungary, and its cathedral, built in 1821-1870, after the model of st peter's at rome, is one of the finest and largest in the country. it is picturesquely built on an elevated and commanding position, 215 ft. above the danube, and its dome, visible from a long distance, is 260 ft. high, and has a diameter of 52 ft. the interior is very richly decorated, notably with fine frescoes, and its treasury and fine library of over 60,000 volumes are famous. besides several other churches and two monastic houses, the principal buildings include the handsome palace of the primate, erected in 1883; the archiepiscopal library, with valuable incunabula and old mss.; the seminary for the education of roman catholic priests; the residences of the chapter; and the town-hall. the population is chiefly employed in cloth-weaving, wine-making and agricultural pursuits. an iron bridge, 1664 ft. long, connects esztergom with the market town of parkany (pop. 2836) on the opposite bank of the danube. esztergom is one of the oldest towns of hungary, and is famous as the birthplace of st stephen, the first prince crowned "apostolic king" of hungary. during the early times of the hungarian monarchy it was the most important mercantile centre in the country, and it was the meeting-place of the diets of 1016, 1111, 1114 and 1256. it was almost completely destroyed by tatar hordes in 1241, but was rebuilt and fortified by king bela iv. in 1543 it fell into the hands of the turks, from whom it was recovered, in 1595, by carl von mansfeld. in 1604 it reverted to the turks, who held it till 1683, when it was regained by the united forces of john sobieski, king of poland, and prince charles of lorraine. it was created an archbishopric in 1001. during the turkish occupation of the town the archbishopric was removed to tyrnau, while the archbishop himself had his residence in pressburg. both returned to esztergom in 1820. in 1708 it was declared a free city by joseph i. on the 13th of april 1818 it was partly destroyed by fire. for numerous authorities on the see and cathedral of esztergom see v. chevalier, _repertoire des sources_. _topo-bibliogr._ s.v. "gran." of these may be mentioned especially f. knauz, _monumenta ecclesiae strigoniensis_ (3 vols., eszterg, 1874); joseph danko, _geschichtliches ... aus dem graner domschatz_ (gran, 1880).