CAPITULARIES, collections of royal edicts issued by the Frankish kings of the Carlovingian dynasty, with sanction of the nobles, for the whole Frankish empire, as distinct from the laws for the separate peoples comprising it, the most famous being those issued or begun by Charlemagne and St. Louis.

CAPO D’ISTRIA, COUNT OF, born in Corfu; entered the Russian diplomatic service; played a prominent part in the insurrection of the Greeks against Turkey; made President of the Greek Republic; assassinated at Nauplia from distrust of his fidelity (1776-1831).

CAPO D’ISTRIA, a port of a small island in the government of Trieste, connected with the mainland by a causeway half a mile in length.

CAPPADOCIA, an ancient country in the heart of Asia Minor, of varied political fortune; a plateau with pastures for immense flocks.

CAPRARA, CARDINAL, born at Bologna, legate of Pius VII. in France, concluded the “Concordat” of 1801 (1733-1810).

CAPRE`RA, a small, barren island off the N. coast of Sardinia, the home of Garibaldi, where he died, and his burial-place.

CAPRI, a small island at the entrance from the S. of the bay of Naples, with a capital of the same name on the eastern side; a favourite retreat of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and noted for its fine air and picturesque scenery.

CAPRIVI, COUNT, born in Berlin, entered the army in 1849; held chief posts in the Austrian and Franco-German wars; in 1890 succeeded Bismarck as Imperial Chancellor; resigned in 1894 (1831-1899).

CAPUA (11), a fortified city in Campania, on the Volturno, 27 m.  N. of Naples, where, or rather near which, in a place of the same name, Hannibal, at the invitation of the citizens, retired with his army to spend the winter after the battle of Cannae, 216 B.C., and where, from the luxurious life they led, his soldiers were enervated, after which it was taken by the Romans, destroyed by the Saracens in 840, and the modern city built in its stead.

CAPUCHINS, monks of the Franciscan Order, founded in 1526, so called from a cowl they wear; they were a mendicant order, and were twice over suppressed by the Pope, though they exist still in Austria and Switzerland.

CAPULETS, a celebrated Ghibelline family of Verona at mortal feud with that of the Montagues, familiar to us through Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo being of the latter and Juliet of the former.

CAPYBA`RA, the water-hog, the largest rodent extant, in appearance like a small pig.

CARACALLA, a Roman emperor, son of Septimius Severus, born at Lyons; his reign (211-217) was a series of crimes, follies, and extravagances; he put to death 20,000 persons, among others the jurist Papinianus, and was assassinated himself by one of his guards.

CARACAS or CARRACAS (72), the cap. of Venezuela, stands at an altitude 3000 ft. above the level of the sea; subject to earthquakes, in one of which (1812) 12,000 perished, and great part of the city was destroyed; it contains the tomb of Bolivar.