KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

knights of the golden circle, a semi-military secret society in the united states in the middle west, 1861-1864, the purpose of which was to bring the civil war to a close and restore the "union as it was." there is some evidence that before the civil war there was a democratic secret organization of the same name, with its principal membership in the southern states. after the outbreak of the civil war many of the democrats of the middle west, who were opposed to the war policy of the republicans, organized the knights of the golden circle, pledging themselves to exert their influence to bring about peace. in 1863, owing to the disclosure of some of its secrets, the organization took the name of order of american knights, and in 1864 this became the sons of liberty. the total membership of this order probably reached 250,000 to 300,000, principally in ohio, indiana, illinois, iowa, wisconsin, kentucky and south-western pennsylvania. fernando wood of new york seems to have been the chief officer and in 1864 clement l. vallandigham became the second in command. the great importance of the knights of the golden circle and its successors was due to its opposition to the war policy of the republican administration. the plan was to overthrow the lincoln government in the elections and give to the democrats the control of the state and federal governments, which would then make peace and invite the southern states to come back into the union on the old footing. in order to obstruct and embarrass the republican administration the members of the order held peace meetings to influence public opinion against the continuance of the war; purchased arms to be used in uprisings, which were to place the peace party in control of the federal government, or failing in that to establish a north-western confederacy; and took measures to set free the confederate prisoners in the north and bring the war to a forced close. all these plans failed at the critical moment, and the most effective work done by the order was in encouraging desertion from the federal armies, preventing enlistments, and resisting the draft. wholesale arrests of leaders and numerous seizures of arms by the united states authorities resulted in a general collapse of the order late in 1864. three of the leaders were sentenced to death by military commissions, but sentence was suspended until 1866, when they were released under the decision of the united states supreme court in the famous case _ex parte milligan_. authorities.--_an authentic exposition of the knights of the golden circle_ (indianapolis, 1863); j. f. rhodes, _history of the united states from the compromise of 1850_ (new york, 1905) vol. v.; e. mcpherson, _political history of the rebellion_ (washington, 1876); and w. d. foulke, _life of o. p. morton_ (2 vols., new york, 1899). (w. l. f.) knipperdollinck (or knipperdolling), bernt (berend or bernhardt) (c. 1490-1536), german divine, was a prosperous cloth-merchant at munster when in 1524 he joined melchior rinck and melchior hofman in a business journey to stockholm, which developed into an abortive religious errand. knipperdollinck, a man of fine presence and glib tongue, noted from his youth for eccentricity, had the ear of the munster populace when in 1527 he helped to break the prison of tonies kruse, in the teeth of the bishop and the civic authorities. for this he made his peace with the latter; but, venturing on another business journey, he was arrested, imprisoned for a year, and released on payment of a high fine--in regard of which treatment he began an action before the imperial chamber. though his aims were political rather than religious, he attached himself to the reforming movement of bernhardt rothmann, once (1529) chaplain of st mauritz, outside munster, now (1532) pastor of the city church of st lamberti. a new bishop directed a mandate (april 17, 1532) against rothmann, which had the effect of alienating the moderates in munster from the democrats. knipperdollinck was a leader of the latter in the surprise (december 26, 1532) which made prisoners of the negotiating nobles at telgte, in the territory of munster. in the end, munster was by charter from philip of hesse (february 14, 1533) constituted an evangelical city. knipperdollinck was made a burgomaster in february 1534. anabaptism had already (september 8, 1533) been proclaimed at munster by a journeyman smith; and, before this, heinrich roll, a refugee, had brought rothmann (may 1533) to a rejection of infant baptism. from the 1st of january 1534 roll preached anabaptist doctrines in a city pulpit; a few days later, two dutch emissaries of jan matthysz, or matthyssen, the master-baker and anabaptist prophet of haarlem, came on a mission to munster. they were followed (january 13) by jan beukelsz (or bockelszoon, or buchholdt), better known as john of leiden. it was his second visit to munster; he came now as an apostle of matthysz. he was twenty-five, with a winning personality, great gifts as an organizer, and plenty of ambition. knipperdollinck, whose daughter clara was ultimately enrolled among the wives of john of leiden, came under his influence. matthysz himself came to munster (1534) and lived in knipperdollinck's house, which became the centre of the new movement to substitute munster for strassburg (melchior hofmann's choice) as the new jerusalem. on the death of matthysz, in a foolish raid (april 5, 1534), john became supreme. knipperdollinck, with one attempt at revolt, when he claimed the kingship for himself, was his subservient henchman, wheedling the munster democracy into subjection to the fantastic rule of the "king of the earth." he was made second in command, and executioner of the refractory. he fell in with the polygamy innovation, the protest of his wife being visited with a penance. in the military measures for resisting the siege of munster he took no leading part. on the fall of the city (june 25, 1535) he hid in a dwelling in the city wall, but was betrayed by his landlady. after six months' incarceration, his trial, along with his comrades, took place on the 19th of january, and his execution, with fearful tortures, on the 22nd of january 1536. knipperdollinck attempted to strangle himself, but was forced to endure the worst. his body, like those of the others, was hung in a cage on the tower of st lamberti, where the cages are still to be seen. an alleged portrait, from an engraving of 1607, is reproduced in the appendix to a. ross's pansebeia, 1655. see l. keller, _geschichte der wiedertaufer und ihres reichs zu munster_ (1880); c. a. cornelius, _historische arbeiten_ (1899); e. belfort bax, _rise and fall of the anabaptists_ (1903). (a. go.*) knitting (from o.e. _cnyttan_, to knit; cf. ger. _knutten_; the root is seen in "knot"), the art of forming a single thread or strand of yarn into a texture or fabric of a loop structure, by employing needles or wires. "crochet" work is an analogous art in its simplest form. it consists of forming a single thread into a single chain of loops. all warp knit fabrics are built on this structure. knitting may be said to be divided into two principles, viz. (1) hand knitting and (2) frame-work knitting (see hosiery). in hand knitting, the wires, pins or needles used are of different lengths or gauges, according to the class of work wanted to be produced. they are made of steel, bone, wood or ivory. some are headed to prevent the loops from slipping over the ends. flat or selvedged work can only be produced on them. others are pointed at both ends, and by employing three or more a circular or circular-shaped fabric can be made. in hand knitting each loop is formed and thrown off individually and in rotation and is left hanging on the new loop formed. the cotton, wool and silk fibres are the principal materials from which knitting yarns are manufactured, wool being the most important and most largely used. "lamb's-wool," "wheeling," "fingering" and worsted yarns are all produced from the wool fibre, but may differ in size or fineness and quality. those yarns are largely used in the production of knitted underwear. hand knitting is to-day principally practised as a domestic art, but in some of the remote parts of scotland and ireland it is prosecuted as an industry to some extent. in the shetland islands the wool of the native sheep is spun, and used in its natural colour, being manufactured into shawls, scarfs, ladies' jackets, &c. the principal trade of other districts is hose and half-hose, made from the wool of the sheep native to the district. the formation of the stitches in knitting may be varied in a great many ways, by "purling" (knitting or throwing loops to back and front in rib form), "slipping" loops, taking up and casting off and working in various coloured yarns to form stripes, patterns, &c. the articles may be shaped according to the manner in which the wires and yarns are manipulated. knobkerrie (from the taal or south african dutch, _knopkirie_, derived from du. _knop_, a knob or button, and _kerrie_, a bushman or hottentot word for stick), a strong, short stick with a rounded knob or head used by the natives of south africa in warfare and the chase. it is employed at close quarters, or as a missile, and in time of peace serves as a walking-stick. the name has been extended to similar weapons used by the natives of australia, the pacific islands, and other places.