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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:gortz:c81f9431bd46",
    "title": "GORTZ",
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    "verified_text": "gortz, georg heinrich von, baron von schlitz (1668-1719), holstein statesman, was educated at jena. he entered the holstein-gottorp service, and after the death of the duchess hedwig sophia, charles xii.'s sister, became very influential during the minority of her son duke charles frederick. his earlier policy aimed at strengthening holstein-gottorp at the expense of denmark. with this object, during charles xii.'s stay at altranstadt (1706-1707), he tried to divert the king's attention to the holstein question, and six years later, when the swedish commander, magnus stenbock, crossed the elbe, gortz rendered him as much assistance as was compatible with not openly breaking with denmark, even going so far as to surrender the fortress of tonning to the swedes. gortz next attempted to undermine the grand alliance against sweden by negotiating with russia, prussia and saxony for the purpose of isolating denmark, or even of turning the arms of the allies against her, a task by no means impossible in view of the strained relations between denmark and the tsar. the plan foundered, however, on the refusal of charles xii. to save the rest of his german domains by ceding stettin to prussia. another simultaneous plan of procuring the swedish crown for duke charles frederick also came to nought. gortz first suggested the marriage between the duke of holstein and the tsarevna anne of russia, and negotiations were begun in st petersburg with that object. on the arrival of charles xii. from turkey at stralsund, gortz was the first to visit him, and emerged from his presence chief minister or \"grand-vizier\" as the swedes preferred to call the bold and crafty satrap, whose absolute devotion to the swedish king took no account of the intense wretchedness of the swedish nation. gortz, himself a man of uncommon audacity, seems to have been fascinated by the heroic element in charles's nature and was determined, if possible, to save him from his difficulties. he owed his extraordinary influence to the fact that he was the only one of charles's advisers who believed, or pretended to believe, that sweden was still far from exhaustion, or at any rate had a sufficient reserve of power to give support to an energetic diplomacy--charles's own opinion, in fact. gortz's position, however, was highly peculiar. ostensibly, he was only the holstein minister at charles's court, in reality he was everything in sweden except a swedish subject--finance minister, plenipotentiary to foreign powers, factotum, and responsible to the king alone, though he had not a line of instructions. but he was just the man for a hero in extremities, and his whole course of procedure was, of necessity, revolutionary. his chief financial expedient was to debase, or rather ruin, the currency by issuing copper tokens redeemable in better times; but it was no fault of his that charles xii., during his absence, flung upon the market too enormous an amount of this copper money for gortz to deal with. by the end of 1718 it seemed as if gortz's system could not go on much longer, and the hatred of the swedes towards him was so intense and universal that they blamed him for charles xii.'s tyranny as well as for his own. gortz hoped, however, to conclude peace with at least some of sweden's numerous enemies before the crash came and then, by means of fresh combinations, to restore sweden to her rank as a great power. it must be admitted that, in pursuance of his \"system,\" gortz displayed a genius for diplomacy which would have done honour to a metternich or a talleyrand. he desired peace with russia first of all, and at the congress of aland even obtained relatively favourable terms, only to have them rejected by his obstinately optimistic master. simultaneously, gortz was negotiating with cardinal alberoni and with the whigs in england; but all his ingenious combinations collapsed like a house of cards on the sudden death of charles xii. the whole fury of the swedish nation instantly fell upon gortz. after a trial before a special commission which was a parody of justice--the accused was not permitted to have any legal assistance or the use of writing materials--he was condemned to decapitation and promptly executed. perhaps gortz deserved his fate for \"unnecessarily making himself the tool of an unheard-of despotism,\" but his death was certainly a judicial murder, and some historians even regard him as a political martyr. see r. n. bain, _charles xii._ (london, 1895), and _scandinavia_, chap. 12 (cambridge, 1905); b. von beskow, _freherre georg heinrich von gortz_ (stockholm, 1868). (r. n. b.) gorz (ital. _gorizia_; slovene, _gorica_), the capital of the austrian crownland of gorz and gradisca, about 390 m. s.w. of vienna by rail. pop (1900) 25,432, two-thirds italians, the remainder mostly slovenes and germans. it is picturesquely situated on the left bank of the isonzo in a fertile valley, 35 m. n.n.w. of trieste by rail. it is the seat of an archbishop and possesses an interesting cathedral, built in the 14th century and the richly decorated church of st ignatius, built in the 17th century by the jesuits. on an eminence, which dominates the town, is situated the old castle, formerly the seat of the counts of gorz, now partly used as barracks. owing to the mildness of its climate gorz has become a favourite winter-resort, and has received the name of the nice of austria. its mean annual temperature is 55 deg. f.; while the mean winter temperature is 38.7 deg. f. it is adorned with several pretty gardens with a luxuriant southern vegetation. on a height to the n. of the town is situated the franciscan convent of castagnavizza, in whose chapel lie the remains of charles x. of france (d. 1836), the last bourbon king, of the duke of angouleme (d. 1844), his son, and of the duke of chambord (d. 1883). seven miles to the north of gorz is the monte santo (2275 ft.), a much-frequented place on which stands a pilgrimage church. the industries include cotton and silk weaving, sugar refining, brewing, the manufacture of leather and the making of rosoglio. there is also a considerable trade in wooden work, vegetables, early fruit and wine. gorz is mentioned for the first time at the beginning of the 11th century, and received its charter as a town in 1307. during the middle ages the greater part of its population was german.",
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