COSEL, or Kosel, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, at the junction of the Klodnitz and the Oder, 29 m. S.E. of Oppeln by rail. Pop. (1905) 7085. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, an old château and a grammar-school (Progymnasium). Its industries are of some importance, including a manufactory of cellulose (employing 1200 hands), steam saw- and flour-mills and a petroleum refinery. There is a lively trade by river.
The first record of Cosel dates from 1286. From 1306 to 1359 it was the seat of an independent duchy held by a cadet line of the dukes of Teschen. In 1532 it fell to the emperor, was several times besieged during the Thirty Years’ War, and came into Prussian possession by the treaty of Breslau in 1742. Frederick II. converted it into a fortress, which was besieged in vain by the Austrians in 1758, 1759, 1760 and 1762. In 1807 it withstood another siege, by the Bavarian allies of Napoleon. The fortifications were razed and their site converted into promenades in 1874.
COSENZ, ENRICO (1812-1898), Italian soldier, was born at Gaeta, on the 12th of January 1812. As captain of artillery in the Neapolitan army he took part in the expedition sent by Ferdinand II. against the Austrians in 1848; but after the coup d’état at Naples he followed General Guglielmo Pepe in disobeying Ferdinand’s order for the withdrawal of the troops, and proceeded to Venice to aid in defending that city. As commandant of the fort of Marghera, Cosenz displayed distinguished valour, and after the fall of the fort assumed the defence of the Piazzale, where he was twice wounded. Upon the fall of Venice he fled to Piedmont, where he remained until, in 1859, he assumed the command of a Garibaldian regiment. In 1860 he conducted the third Garibaldian expedition to Sicily, defeated two Neapolitan brigades at Piale (August 23), and marched victoriously upon Naples, where he was appointed minister of war, and took part in organizing the plébiscite. During the war of 1866 his division saw but little active service. After the war he repeatedly declined the portfolio of war. In 1881, however, he became chief of the general staff, and held that position until a short time before his death at Rome on the 7th of August 1898.
COSENZA (anc. Consentia), a town and archiepiscopal see of Calabria, Italy, the capital of the province of Cosenza, 755 ft. above sea-level, 43 m. by rail S. by W. of Sibari, which is a station on the E. coast railway between Metaponto and Reggio. Pop. (1901) town, 13,841; commune, 20,857. It is situated on the slope of a hill between the Crati and Busento, just above the junction, and is commanded by a castle (1250 ft.). The Gothic cathedral, consecrated in 1222, on the site of another ruined by an earthquake in 1184, goes back to French models in Champagne, and is indeed unique in Italy. It contains the Gothic tomb of Isabella of Aragon, wife of Philip III. of France, and also the tomb of Louis III., duke of Anjou; but it has been spoilt by restoration both inside and out. S. Domenico has a fine rose window. The Palazzo del Tribunale (law courts) is a fine building, and the upper town contains several good houses of rich proprietors of the province; while the lower portion is unhealthy. Earthquakes, and a fire in 1901, have done considerable damage to the town.
The ancient Consentia is first named as the burial place of Alexander of Epirus in about 330 B.C. In 204 it became Roman, though it was more under the influence of Greek culture. It is mentioned by Strabo as the chief town of the Bruttii, and frequently spoken of in classical authors as an important place. It lay on the Via Popillia. Varro speaks of its apple trees which gave fruit twice in the year and Pliny praises its wine also. It is the more surprising that in the whole of its territory no inscriptions, either Greek or Latin, have ever been found, those that are recorded by some writers being fabrications. in A.D. 410 Alaric fell in battle here and was buried, it is said, in the bed of the Busento, which was temporarily diverted and then allowed to resume its natural course. Cosenza became an archbishopric in the 11th century. In 1461 it was taken by Roberto Orsini, and suffered severely. It was the home of a scientific academy founded by the philosopher Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588). In 1555-1561 it was the centre of the persecution by the Inquisition of the Waldenses who had settled there towards the end of the 14th century.
(T. As.)