Hue and Cry. In Great Britain, an official gazette, which serves to advertise deserters from her majesty’s service.
Huguenots. A term (derived by some from the German Eidgenossen, “confederates,” by others from Hugues, a Genevese Calvinist) applied to the Reformed party in France, followers of Calvin. They took up arms against their persecutors in 1561. After a delusive edict of toleration, a great number were massacred at Vassy, March 1, 1562, when the civil wars began, which lasted with some intermission till the edict of Nantes in 1598 (revoked in 1685). The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s day, August 24, 1572, occurred during a truce.
Huissier d’Armes (Fr.). Tipstaff; an officer formerly so called in France, who was attached to the royal household. They were at first distinguished by the name of sergens d’armes, or sergeants-at-arms. Some were directed to bear the mace before the king during the day, and obtained on that account the appellation of huissiers d’armes; in later times they were called the huissiers, or tipstaffs of the king’s chamber. Others kept watch in the king’s bed-chamber during the night, and were sworn to expose their lives for the safety of his person, whence they obtained the name of archers de la garde, which term was changed to gardes du corps, or body-guards.
Hulan. See [Uhlan].
Hull, or Kingston-upon-Hull. A seaport town of England, in Yorkshire, situated on the great inlet of the Humber, at the point where it is entered by the river Hull. It is a very ancient town; during the civil war it declared for the Parliament, and sustained two severe sieges by the royalists.
Humaitá. A strong post on the river Paraguay, defended by a battery of 300 cannon, and believed to be impregnable by Lopez, the president of Paraguay; was forced by the Brazilian ironclads February 17, 1868. On the 19th, Caxias, the Brazilian general, stormed a work to the north of Humaitá, and captured many stores.
Hungary. A portion of the Austrian empire. It was a part of the ancient Pannonia and Dacia; was subjected to the Romans about 106, and retained by them till the 3d century, when it was seized by the Goths, who were expelled about 376 by the Huns, under Attila. After his death in 453, the Gepidæ, and in 500 the Lombards held the country. It was acquired by the Avars about 568, and retained by them till their destruction by Charlemagne in 799. About 890 the country was settled by a Scythian tribe, named Vingours, or Ungri (whence the German name Ungarn), and the Magyars of Finnish origin. The progress of the Magyars westward was checked by their defeat by the emperor Henry the Fowler, 934. After various changes of rulers it came permanently under the dominion of Austria in 1526. A revolution took place in Hungary in 1848 under the leadership of Kossuth.
Huns. The name of a considerable nation of antiquity, which from time to time made incursions on the Roman dominions, and which eventually, under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, brought in the 5th century the Eastern and Western empires to the verge of destruction. They were originally of Asiatic origin, and probably akin to the Scythians and Turks. In the latter part of the 4th century they settled along the Danube, in the territory abandoned by the Goths, and subsequently they pressed onward towards further conquests. In the 5th century they had acquired considerable power, but after Attila’s death it was broken. Many of them afterwards took service with the Romans; others joined the invaders from the north and east that were attacking the moribund Roman empire.
Hunters, Death-. Followers of an army, who, after an engagement, look for dead bodies in order to strip them.
Hurdices. Ramparts, scaffolds, fortifications, etc.