CHIPPING CAMPDEN, a market town in the northern parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, on the Oxford and Worcester line of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1542. It is picturesquely situated towards the north of the Cotteswold hill-district. The many interesting ancient houses afford evidence of the former greater importance of the town. The church of St James is mainly Perpendicular, and contains a number of brasses of the 15th and 16th centuries and several notable monumental tombs. A ruined manor house of the 16th century and some almshouses complete, with the church, a picturesque group of buildings; and Campden House, also of the 16th century, deserves notice.
Apart from a medieval tradition preserved by Robert de Brunne that it was the meeting-place of a conference of Saxon kings, the earliest record of Campden (Campedene) is in Domesday Book, when Earl Hugh is said to hold it, and to have there fifty villeins. The number shows that a large village was attached to the manor, which in 1173 passed to Hugh de Gondeville, and about 1204 to Ralph, earl of Chester. The borough must have grown up during the 12th century, for both these lords granted the burgesses charters which are known from a confirmation of 1247, granting that they and all who should come to the market of Campedene should be quit of toll, and that if any free burgess of Campedene should come into the lord’s amerciament he should be quit for 12d. unless he should shed blood or do felony. Probably Earl Ralph also granted the town a portman-mote, for the account of a skirmish in 1273 between the men of the town and the county mentions a bailiff and implies the existence of some sort of municipal government. In 1605 Campedene was incorporated, but it never returned representatives to parliament. Camden speaks of the town as a market famous for stockings, a relic of that medieval importance as a mart for wool that had given the town the name of Chipping.
CHIPPING NORTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Banbury parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 26 m. N.W. of Oxford by a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3780. It lies on the steep flank of a hill, and consists mainly of one very wide street. The church of St Mary the Virgin, standing on the lower part of the slope, is a fine building of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, the hexagonal porch and the clerestory being good examples of the later style. The town has woollen and glove factories, breweries and an agricultural trade. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2456 acres. Chipping Norton (Chepyngnorton) was probably of some importance in Saxon times. At the Domesday Survey it was held in chief by Ernulf de Hesding; it was assessed at fifteen hides, and comprised three mills. It returned two members to parliament as a borough in 1302 and 1304-1305, but was not represented after this date, and was not considered to be a borough in 1316. The first and only charter of incorporation was granted by James I., in 1608; it established a common council consisting of 2 bailiffs and 12 burgesses; a common clerk, 2 justices of the peace, and 2 serjeants-at-mace; and a court of record every Monday. In 1205 William Fitz-Alan was granted a four days’ fair at the feast of the Invention of the Cross; and in 1276 Roger, earl of March, was granted a four days’ fair at the feast of St Barnabas. In the reign of Henry VI. the market was held on Wednesday, and a fair was held at the Translation of St Thomas Becket. These continued to be held in the reign of James I., who annulled the former two fairs, and granted fairs at the feasts of St Mark, St Matthew, St Bartholomew, and SS. Simon and Jude.
CHIQUITOS (Span, “very small”), a group of tribes in the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and between the head waters of the rivers Mamoré and Itenez. When their country was first invaded they fled into the forests, and the Spaniards, coming upon their huts, the doorways of which are built excessively low, supposed them to be dwarfs: hence the name. They are in fact well formed and powerful, of middle height and of an olive complexion. They are an agricultural people, but made a gallant resistance to the Spaniards for nearly two centuries. In 1691, however, they made the Jesuit missionaries welcome, and rapidly became civilized. The Chiquito language was adopted as the means of communication among the converts, who soon numbered 50,000, representing nearly fifty tribes. Upon the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 the Chiquitos became decadent, and now number short of 20,000. Their houses, regularly ranged in streets, are built of adobes thatched with coarse grass. They manufacture copper boilers for making sugar and understand several trades, weave ponchos and hammocks and make straw hats. They are fond of singing and dancing, and are a gentle-mannered and hospitable folk. The group is now divided into forty tribes.
CHIROMANCY (from Gr. χεἰρ, hand, and μαντεία, divination), the art of telling the character or fortune of persons by studying the lines of the palms of the hands (see [Palmistry]).