Trent, Council of.
A council summoned by Paul III in 1545, to settle, if possible, the religious questions arising out of the Reformation. The council lasted till 1563, and in the end merely emphasised the differences between the Catholic Church and the Reformers, reasserting as essentially Catholic the doctrines of purgatory, transubstantiation, the intercession of saints, and others.
Trent Incident.
The forcible removal from an English steamer, the Trent, by Captain Wilkes, of the U.S. sloop Jacinto, of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, who were on their way to Europe as envoys of the Southern States in 1861. They were subsequently released, but not until considerable public feeling had been aroused on both sides, and the British Government had gone the length of reinforcing the Canadian garrison.
Treuga Dei.
The Truce of God, imposed upon all the vassals of the Empire who were at war amongst themselves by an edict of the Emperor Henry III, issued at the Diet of Constance in 1403. It was to be observed from Wednesday evening till Monday morning in each week.
Tribunal Révolutionnaire.
A tribunal, at first called the Tribunal Extraordinaire, established by the French Convention in March 1793, to deal with Royalist and other suspects and political prisoners. It was composed of five judges, with a standing jury, each member of which had to give his verdict audibly. There was no appeal from the decisions of this court, which sent some two thousand persons to the guillotine.
Tribune of the People.
A sobriquet of John Bright.