guru In Hinduism, a personal spiritual teacher. In ancient India, knowl¬ edge of the Vedas was transmitted through oral teaching from guru to pupil. The rise of the bhakti movement further increased the importance of gurus, who were often looked on as living embodiments of spiritual truth and were identified with the deity. They prescribed spiritual disci¬ plines to their devotees, who followed their dictates in a tradition of will¬ ing service and obedience. Men or women may be gurus, though generally only men have established lineages. See also Guru.
Guru Title of the first 10 leaders of Sikhism. The first was Nanak, who before his death (1539) began the tradition that allowed the Guru to name his successor. He was followed by Angad (1539-1552), Amar Das, Ram- das (1574-1581), Arjan, Hargobind, Hari Rai, Hari Krishen (1661-1664), Tegh Bahadur (1664-1675), and Gobind Singh. In time the Guru became as much a military as a spiritual leader. Gobind Singh discontinued the office in 1708 and vested its authority in the Sikh sacred scripture, the Adi Granth. See also guru.
Gustafson \,g3s-'taf-s3n\, Ralph (Barker) (b. Aug. 16, 1909, Lime Ridge, near Sherbrooke, Que., Can.—d. May 29, 1995, North Hatley) Canadian poet. Gustafson attended the University of Oxford; he settled in New York after World War II but later returned to Canada. His work shows a development from traditional form and manner to an elliptical style reflecting the influence of Anglo-Saxon verse and the metrical experiments of Gerard Manley Hopkins. His later works, usually consid¬ ered his better writings, include Rivers Among Rocks (1960), Conflicts of Spring (1981), and Shadows in the Grass (1991). He also published col¬ lections of short stories.
Gustav I Vasa orig. Gustav Eriksson Vasa (b. May 12,
1496?—d. Sept. 29, 1560, Stockholm, Swed.) King of Sweden (1523-60) and founder of the Vasa dynasty. The son of a Swedish senator, Gustav joined the rebellion against Christian II of Denmark, who controlled most of Sweden. He became leader of the rebels (1520) and secured crucial aid from the rich free city of Liibeck. This aid enabled Gustav to establish Sweden’s independence, and in 1523 he was elected king. Gustav imposed heavy taxes to pay his debts to Liibeck and to strengthen royal
authority and lands. He hoped to seize the Roman Catholic church’s wealth, and he pushed Sweden toward becoming a Protestant (Lutheran) country. An autocratic ruler, he built a strong monarchy and an efficient administration.
Gustav II Adolf Latin Gustavus Adolphus (b. Dec. 9, 1594, Stockholm, Swed.—d. Nov. 6, 1632, Liitzen, Saxony) King of Sweden (1611-32) who made Sweden a major European power. The son of Charles IX, Gustav inherited his father’s dynastic quarrels with Sigismund III Vasa and until 1629 faced a legitimist invasion from Poland. He ended the war with Denmark in 1613, but Sweden was forced to pay a crushing war indemnity. He ended the war with Russia (1617) and annexed Ingria and Kexholm. Internal tensions were largely resolved by his trusted chancel¬ lor, Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna. Gustav’s sweeping domestic reforms included establishing an efficient central administration and improving education. Resuming the war with Sigismund in 1621, Gustav obtained much of Polish Livonia (Latvia and Estonia). He saw his Polish cam¬ paigns as part of the struggle of Protestantism against the Counter- Reformation. He entered the Thirty Years' War in 1630 as a defensive maneuver, to secure the Swedish state and church from danger. An out¬ standing military tactician, he led an army of unusual quality, and his position was strengthened by alliances with France, Brandenburg, and Saxony. Success in the Battle of Breitenfeld let him sweep through cen¬ tral Germany and claim large territorial cessions, particularly Pomerania (1631). At Liitzen in 1632, the Swedes defeated Albrecht W.E. von Wal¬ lenstein’s army, but Gustav was killed in battle.
Gustav III (b. Jan. 24, 1746, Stockholm, Swed.—d. March 29, 1792, Stockholm) King of Sweden (1771-92). The son of King Adolf Freder¬ ick (1710-71), he succeeded to a weakened Swedish throne. Unable to mediate between the contending factions of the Riksdag (legislature), in 1772 he established a new constitution that increased the crown’s power. He introduced numerous enlightened reforms, which antagonized the nobility. He waged an unpopular war on Russia (1788-90), and when a group of Swedish officers mutinied, he again augmented royal authority in a new constitution (1789). Gustav planned to form a league of Euro¬ pean monarchs to oppose the French Revolution, but the Swedish nobil¬ ity remained opposed to him and had him assassinated. Gustav was a patron of the arts and a playwright, and his reign was known as the Swed¬ ish enlightenment.
Gustav IV Adolf (b. Nov. 1, 1778, Stockholm, Swed.—d. Feb. 7, 1837, Sankt Gallen, Switz.) King of Sweden (1800-09). Son of the assassinated Gustav III, he came to the throne in 1792 under the regency of his uncle Charles, duke of Sodermanland (later Charles XIII). In 1805 Gustav brought Sweden into the European coalition against Napoleon. When Russia joined with France in 1807, Gustav remained in the field, though he knew it would mean a Russian attack on Finland. Denmark-Norway also declared war on Sweden, causing the loss of additional territory. In 1809 Gustav was overthrown in a coup, and his heirs were declared ineli¬ gible to succeed him. He and his family left Sweden for exile, settling in Switzerland.
Gustav V orig. Oscar Gustaf Adolf (b. June 16, 1858, Stockholm, Swed.—d. Oct. 29, 1950, Stockholm) King of Sweden (1907-50). The son of Oscar II (1829-1907), he entered the army and traveled widely before succeeding his father in 1907. In a period of expanding democracy within his country, Gustav proved a capable constitutional monarch. Though he favoured the Allies in World Wars I and II, he was a firm pro¬ ponent of Swedish neutrality.
Gut of Canso See Strait of Canso
Gutenberg VgU-Un-.borgV Johannes (Gensfleisch zur Laden zum) (b. c. 1395, Mainz—-d. probably Feb. 3, 1468, Mainz) German inventor of a method of printing from movable type. Born to a patrician family in Mainz, he apparently worked at such crafts as goldsmithing and gem cutting in Mainz and Strasbourg and was experimenting with print¬ ing by 1438. He obtained backing in 1450 from the financier Johann Fust (c.. 1400-66); Fust’s impatience and other factors led to Gutenberg’s loss of his establishment to Fust in 1455. Gutenberg’s masterpiece, and the first book ever printed from movable type, is the “Forty-Two-Line” Bible, completed no later than 1455. A magnificent Psalter was published in 1457, after the loss of his press. The only other works still attributed to him are minor. His invention’s unique elements included a mold, with which type could be cast precisely and in large quantities; a type-metal alloy; a new press, derived from those used in winemaking, papermak-
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820 I Guthrie ► Guzman
ing, and bookbinding; and an oil-based printing ink. None of these fea¬ tures existed in Chinese or Korean printing, in the existing European technique of stamping letters on various surfaces, or in woodblock print¬ ing. Gutenberg’s invention, seminal to the course of Western civilization, remained the source of the basic elements of typesetting for 500 years.
Guthrie, Sir (William) Tyrone (b. July 2, 1900, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Eng.—d. May 15, 1971, Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ire.) British theatre director and producer. After his first London production in 1931, he became director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company (1933-34, 1936—45), which performed at the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells theatres. His original approach to Shakespearean drama greatly influenced the 20th-century revival of interest in traditional theatre. He also directed operas such as Peter Grimes (1946) and Carmen (1949) and his own play, Top of the Ladder (1950). He helped found and direct the Stratford Fes¬ tival in Canada (1953-57), influencing the development of Canadian the¬ atre. He also founded and directed (1963-66) the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.