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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:honorius:dec89f8b1ca6",
    "title": "HONORIUS",
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    "verified_text": "honorius, flavius (384-423), son of theodosius i., ascended the throne as \"emperor of the west\" in 395. the history of the first thirteen years of the reign of honorius is inseparably connected with the name of stilicho (q.v.), his guardian and father-in-law. during this period the revolt of the african prince gildo was suppressed (398); italy was successfully defended against alaric, who was defeated at pollentia (402) and verona (403); and the barbarian hordes under the goth radagaisus were destroyed (406). after the downfall and murder of stilicho (408), the result of palace intrigues, the emperor was under the control of incompetent favourites. in the same year rome was besieged, and in 410, for the second time in its history, taken and sacked by alaric, who for a short time set up the city prefect attalus as a rival emperor, but soon deposed him as incapable. alaric died in the same year, and in 412 honorius concluded peace with his brother-in-law and successor, ataulphus (adolphus), who married the emperor's sister placidia and removed with his troops to southern gaul. a number of usurpers laid claim to the throne, the most important of whom was constantine. in 409 britain and armorica declared their independence, which was confirmed by honorius himself, and were thus practically lost to the empire. honorius was one of the feeblest emperors who ever occupied the throne, and the dismemberment of the west was only temporarily averted by the efforts of stilicho, and, later, of constantius, a capable general who overthrew the usurpers and was rewarded with a share in the government. it was only as a supporter of the orthodox church and persecutor of the heathen that honorius displayed any energy. in 399 the exercise of the pagan cult was prohibited, and the revenues of the temples, which were to be appropriated for the use of the public or pulled down, were confiscated to defray the expenses of the army. honorius was equally severe on heretics, such as the donatists and manichaeans. he is also to be credited with the abolition of the gladiatorial shows in 404 (although there is said to be evidence of their existence later), a reduction of the taxes, improvements in criminal law, and the reorganization of the _defensores civitatum_, municipal officers whose duty it was to defend the rights of the people and set forth their grievances. honorius at first established his court at milan, but, on the report of the invasion of italy, fled to ravenna, where he resided till his death on the 27th of august 423. see gibbon, _decline and fall_, chs. 28-33; j. b. bury, _later roman empire_, i. chs. 1-5, ii. chs. 4, 6; e. a. freeman, \"tyrants of britain, gaul and spain\" in _eng. hist. review_ (january 1886); t. hodgkin, _italy and her invaders_ (oxford, 1892), i. chs. 13, 15-18. honour (lat. _honos_ or _honor_, _honoris_; in english the word was spelled with or without the _u_ indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashionable to spell the word \"honor\"; johnson's and webster's dictionaries stereotyped the english and american spellings respectively), a term which may be defined as respect, esteem or deference paid to, or received by, a person in consideration of his character, worth or position; also the state or condition of the person exciting the feeling or expression of such esteem; particularly a high personal character coupled with conduct in accordance with or controlled by a nice sense of what is right and true and due to the position so held. further, the word is commonly used of the dignities, distinctions or titles, granted as a mark of such esteem or as a reward for services or merit, and quite generally of the credit or renown conferred by a person or thing on the country, town or particular society to which he or it belongs. the standard of conduct may be laid down not only by a scrupulous sense of what is due to lofty personal character but also by the conventional usages of society, hence it is that debts which cannot be legally enforced, such as gambling debts, are called \"debts of honour.\" similarly in the middle ages and later, courts, known as \"courts of honour,\" sat to decide questions such as precedence, disputes as to coat armour &c. (see chivalry); such courts, chiefly military, are found in countries where duelling has not fallen into desuetude (see duel). in the british house of lords, when the peers sit to try another peer on a criminal charge or at an impeachment, on the question being put whether the accused be guilty or not, each peer, rising in his place in turn, lays his right hand on his breast and returns his verdict \"upon my honour.\" as a title of address, \"his honour\" or \"your honour\" is applied in the united states of america to all judges, in the united kingdom only to county court judges; in university or other examinations, those who have won particular distinction, or have undergone with success an examination of a standard higher than that required for a \"pass\" degree, are said to have passed \"with honours,\" or an \"honours\" examination or to have taken an \"honours degree.\" in many games of cards the ace, king, queen and knave of trumps are the \"honours.\" funeral or military honours are paid to a dead officer or soldier. the usual features of such a burial are as follows: the coffin is carried on a gun-carriage and attended by troops; it is covered by the national flag, on which rests the soldier's head-dress, sword or bayonet; if the deceased had been a mounted soldier, his charger follows with the boots reversed in the stirrups; three volleys are fired over the grave after committal, and \"last post\" or another call is sounded on the bugles or a roll on the drums is given. a military force is said to be accorded \"the honours of war\" when, after a specially honourable defence, it has surrendered its post, and is permitted, by the terms of capitulation to march out with colours flying, bands playing, bayonets fixed, &c. and retaining possession of the field artillery, horses, arms and baggage. the force remains free to act as combatants for the remainder of the war, without waiting for exchange or being considered as prisoners. usually some point is named to which the surrendering troops must be conveyed before recommencing hostilities; thus, during the peninsular war, at the convention of cintra 1808, the french army under junot was conveyed to france by british transports before being free to rejoin the combatant troops in the peninsula. by far the most usual case of the granting of the \"honours of war\" is in connexion with the surrender of a fortress. of historic examples may be mentioned the surrender of lille by marshal boufflers to prince eugene in 1708, that of huningen by general joseph barbanegre (1772-1830) to the austrians in 1815, and that of belfort by colonel p. denfert rochereau to the germans in 1871. in english law the term \"honour\" is used of a seigniory of several manors held under one baron or lord paramount. the formation of such lordships dates back to the anglo-saxon period, when jurisdiction of sac and soc was frequently given in the case of a group of estates lying close together. the system was encouraged by the norman lords, as tending to strengthen the principles of feudal law, but the legislation of henry ii., which increased the power of the central administration, undoubtedly tended to discourage the creation of new honours. frequently, they escheated to the crown, retaining their corporate existence and their jurisdictions; they then either remained in the possession of the king or were regranted, diminished in extent. although an honour contained several manors, one court day was held for all, but the various manors retained their separate organizations, having their \"quasi several and distinct courts.\" honourable (fr. _honorable_, from lat. _honorabilis_, worthy of honour), a style or title of honour common to the united kingdom, the british colonies and the united states of america. the terms _honorabilis_ and _honorabilitas_ were in use in the middle ages rather as a form of politeness than as a stereotyped style; and though gibbon assimilates the late roman title of _clarissimus_ to \"honourable,\" as applied to the lowest of the three grades of rank in the imperial hierarchy, the analogy was good even in his day only in so far as both styles were applicable to those who belonged to the less exalted ranks of the titled classes, for the title \"honourable\" was not definitely confined to certain classes until later. as a formal address it is found frequently in the _paston letters_ (15th century), but used loosely and interchangeable with other styles; thus john, viscount beaumont, is addressed alternately as \"my worshipful and reverent lord\" (ii. 88, ed. 1904) and as \"my right honorabull lord\" (ii. 118), while john paston, a plain esquire, is \"my right honurabyll maister.\" more than two centuries later selden, in his _titles of honor_ (1672), does not include \"honourable\" among the courtesy titles given to the children of peers. the style was, in fact, used extremely loosely till well on into the 18th century. thus we find in the registers of westminster abbey records of the burial (in 1710) of \"the hon. george churchill, esq.,\" who was only a son of sir winston churchill, and of \"the hon. sir william godolphin,\" who had only been created a baronet; in 1717 was buried \"the hon. colonel henry cornwall,\" who was only an esquire and the son of one; in 1743 a rear-admiral was buried as \"the hon. sir john jennings, kt.\"; in 1746 \"the hon. major-general lowther,\" whose father was only a dublin merchant; and finally, in 1747, \"the hon. lieutenant-general guest,\" who is said to have begun life as an hostler. from this time onwards the style of \"honourable\" tended to become more narrowly applied; but the whole matter is full of obscurity and contradictions. the baronets, for instance, allege that they were usually styled \"the honourable\" until the end of the 18th century, and in 1835 they petitioned for the style as a prefix to their names. the heralds' college officially reported on the petition (31st of october 1835) that the evidence did not prove the right of baronets to the style, and that its use \"has been no more warranted by authority than when the same style has been applied to field officers in the army and others.\" they added that \"the style of the honourable is given to the _judges_ and to the _barons of the exchequer_ with others because by the decree of 10 james i., for settling the place and precedence of the baronets, the judges and barons of the exchequer were declared to have place and precedence before the younger sons of viscounts and barons.\" this seems to make the style a consequence of the precedence; yet from the examples above given it is clear that it was applied, e.g. in the case of field officers, where no question of precedence arose. it is not, indeed, until 1874 that we have any evidence of an authoritative limitation of the title. in this year the wives of lords of appeal, life peers, were granted style and precedence as baronesses; but it was provided that their children were not \"to assume or use the prefix of honourable, or to be entitled to the style, rank or precedence of the children of a baron.\" in 1898, however, this was revoked, and it was ordained \"that such children shall have and enjoy on all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of hereditary barons together with the rank and precedence, &c.\" by these acts of the crown the prefix of \"honourable\" would seem to have been restricted and stereotyped as a definite title of honour; yet in legal documents the sons of peers are still styled merely \"esquire,\" with the addition of \"commonly called, &c.\" this latter fact points to the time when the prefix \"honourable\" was a mark of deference paid by others rather than a style assumed by right, and relics of this doubtless survive in the united kingdom in the conventions by which an \"honourable\" does not use the title on his visiting card and is not announced as such. as to the actual use and social significance of the style, the practice in the united kingdom differs considerably from that in the colonies or in the united states. in the united kingdom marquesses are \"most honourable\"; earls, viscounts and barons \"right honourable,\" a style also borne by all privy councillors, including the lord mayor of london and lord provost of edinburgh during office. the title of \"honourable\" is in the united kingdom, except by special licence of the crown (e.g. in the case of retired colonial or indian officials), mainly confined to the sons and daughters of peers, and is the common style of the younger sons of earls and of the children of viscounts, barons and legal life peers. the eldest sons of dukes, marquesses and earls bear \"by courtesy\" their father's second title, the younger sons of dukes and marquesses having the courtesy title lord prefixed to their christian name; while the daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls are styled lady. the title of \"honourable\" is also given to all present or past maids of honour, and to the judges of the high court being lords justices or lords of appeal (who are \"right honourable\"). a county court judge is, however, \"his honour.\" the epithet is also applied to the house of commons as a body and to individual members during debate (\"the honourable member for x.\"). certain other corporate bodies have, by tradition or grant, the right to bear the style; e.g. the honourable irish society, the inns of court (honourable society of the inner temple, &c.) and the honourable artillery company; the east india company also had the prefix \"honourable.\" the style may not be assumed by corporate bodies at will, as was proved, in the case of the society of baronets, whose original style of \"honourable\" society was dropped by command. in the british colonies the title \"honourable\" is given to members of the executive and legislative bodies, to judges, &c., during their term of service. it is sometimes retained by royal licence after a certain number of years' service. in the united states of america the title is very widespread, being commonly given to any one who holds or has held any office of importance in state or nation, more particularly to members of congress or of the state legislatures, judges, justices, and certain other judicial and executive officials. popular amenity even sometimes extends the title to holders of quite humble government appointments, and consoles with it the defeated candidates for a post. see also the article precedence.",
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