GODAVARI

godavari, a district of british india, in the north-east of the madras presidency. it was remodelled in 1907-1908, when part of it was transferred to kistna district. its present area is 5634 sq. m. its territory now lies mainly east of the godavari river, including the entire delta, with a long narrow strip extending up its valley. the apex of the delta is at dowlaishweram, where a great dam renders the waters available for irrigation. between this point and the coast there is a vast extent of rice fields. farther inland, and enclosing the valley of the great river, are low hills, steep and forest-clad. the north-eastern part, known as the agency tract, is occupied by spurs of the eastern ghats. the coast is low, sandy and swampy, the sea very shallow, so that vessels must lie nearly 5 m. from cocanada, the chief port. the sabari is the principal tributary of the godavari within the district. the godavari often rises in destructive floods. the population of the present area in 1901 was 1,445,961. in the old district the increase during the last decade was 11%. the chief towns are cocanada and rajahmundry. the forests are of great value; coal is known, and graphite is worked. the population is principally occupied in agriculture, the principal crops being rice, oil-seeds, tobacco and sugar. the cigars known in england as lunkas are partly made from tobacco grown on _lankas_ or islands in the river godavari. sugar (from the juice of the palmyra palm) and rum are made by european processes at samalkot. the administrative headquarters are now at cocanada, the chief seaport; but rajahmundry, at the head of the delta, is the old capital. a large but decreasing trade is conducted at cocanada, rice being shipped to mauritius and ceylon, and cotton and oil-seeds to europe. rice-cleaning mills have been established here and at other places. the district is traversed by the main line of the east coast railway, with a branch to cocanada; the iron girder bridge of forty-two spans over the godavari river near rajahmundry was opened in 1900. there is a government college at rajahmundry, with a training college attached, and an aided college at cocanada. the godavari district formed part of the andhra division of dravida, the north-west portion being subject to the orissa kings, and the south-western belonging to the vengi kingdom. for centuries it was the battlefield on which various chiefs fought for independence with varying success till the beginning of the 16th century, when the whole country may be said to have passed under mahommedan power. at the conclusion of the struggle with the french in the carnatic, godavari with the northern circars was conquered by the english, and finally ceded by imperial _sanad_ in 1765. the district was constituted in 1859, by the redistribution of the territory comprising the former districts of guntur, rajahmundry and masulipatam, into what are now the kistna and godavari districts. see h. morris, _district manual_ (1878); _district gazetteer_ (1906). godefroy (gothofredus), a french noble family, which numbered among its members several distinguished jurists and historians. the family claimed descent from symon godefroy, who was born at mons about 1320 and was lord of sapigneulx near berry-au-bac, now in the department of aisne. denis godefroy (dionysius gothofredus) (1549-1622), jurist, son of leon godefroy, lord of guignecourt, was born in paris on the 17th of october 1549. he was educated at the college de navarre, and studied law at louvain, cologne and heidelberg, returning to paris in 1573. he embraced the reformed religion, and in 1579 left paris, where his abilities and connexions promised a brilliant career, to establish himself at geneva. he became professor of law there, received the freedom of the city in 1580; and in 1587 became a member of the council of the two hundred. henry iv. induced him to return to france by making him _grand bailli_ of gex, but no sooner had he installed himself than the town was sacked and his library burnt by the troops of the duke of savoy. in 1591 he became professor of roman law at strassburg, where he remained until april 1600, when in response to an invitation from frederick iv., elector palatine, he removed to heidelberg. the difficulties of his position led to his return to strassburg for a short time, but in november 1604 he definitely settled at heidelberg. he was made head of the faculty of law in the university, and was from time to time employed on missions to the french court. his repeated refusal of offers of advancement in his own country was due to his calvinism. he died at strassburg on the 7th of september 1622, having left heidelberg before the city was sacked by the imperial troops in 1621. his most important work was the _corpus juris civilis_, originally published at geneva in 1583, which went through some twenty editions, the most valuable of them being that printed by the elzevirs at amsterdam in 1633 and the leipzig edition of 1740. lists of his other learned works may be found in senebier's _hist. litt. de geneve_, vol. ii., and in niceron's _memoires_, vol. xvii. some of his correspondence with his learned friends, with his kinsman president de thou, isaac casaubon, jean jacques grynaeus and others, is preserved in the libraries of the british museum, of basel and paris. his eldest son, theodore godefroy (1580-1649), was born at geneva on the 14th of july 1580. he abjured calvinism, and was called to the bar in paris. he became historiographer of france in 1613, and was employed from time to time on diplomatic missions. he was employed at the congress of munster, where he remained after the signing of peace in 1648 as charge d'affaires until his death on the 5th of october of the next year. his most important work is _le ceremonial de france ..._ (1619), a work which became a classic on the subject of royal ceremonial, and was re-edited by his son in an enlarged edition in 1649. besides his printed works he made vast collections of historical material which remains in ms. and fills the greater part of the godefroy collection of over five hundred portfolios in the library of the institute in paris. these were catalogued by ludovic lalanne in the _annuaire bulletin_ (1865-1866 and 1892) of the _societe de l'histoire de france_. the second son of denis, jacques godefroy (1587-1652), jurist, was born at geneva on the 13th of september 1587. he was sent to france in 1611, and studied law and history at bourges and paris. he remained faithful to the calvinist persuasion, and soon returned to geneva, where he became active in public affairs. he was secretary of state from 1632 to 1636, and syndic or chief magistrate in 1637, 1641, 1645 and 1649. he died on the 23rd of june 1652. in addition to his civic and political work he lectured on law, and produced, after thirty years of labour, his edition of the _codex theodosianus_. this code formed the principal, though not the only, source of the legal systems of the countries formed from the western empire. godefroy's edition was enriched with a multitude of important notes and historical comments, and became a standard authority on the decadent period of the western empire. it was only printed thirteen years after his death under the care of his friend antoine marville at lyons (4 vols. 1665), and was reprinted at leipzig (6 vols.) in 1736-1745. of his numerous other works the most important was the reconstruction of the twelve tables of early roman law. see also the dictionary of moreri, niceron's _memoires_ (vol. 17) and a notice in the _bibliotheque universelle de geneve_ (dec. 1837). denis godefroy (1615-1681), eldest son of theodore, succeeded his father as historiographer of france, and re-edited various chronicles which had been published by him. he was entrusted by colbert with the care and investigation of the records concerning the low countries preserved at lille, where great part of his life was spent. he was also the historian of the reigns of charles vii. and charles viii. other members of the family who attained distinction in the same branch of learning were the two sons of denis godefroy--denis (1653-1719), also an historian, and jean, sieur d'aumont (1656-1732), who edited the letters of louis xii., the memoirs of marguerite de valois, of castelnau and pierre de l'estoile, and left some useful material for the history of the low countries; jean baptiste achille godefroy, sieur de maillart (1697-1759), and denis joseph godefroy, sieur de maillart (1740-1819), son and grandson of jean godefroy, who were both officials at lille, and left valuable historical documents which have remained in ms. for further details see _les savants godefroy_ (paris, 1873) by the marquis de godefroy-menilglaise, son of denis joseph godefroy.