Page images
PDF
EPUB

Darmstadt. Teulet has disputed the genuineness of the document in which the statement is contained, because "it exists only in one manuscript of the 15th century, and it contains an evident nachronism." The anachronism, however, is a mistake on the part of Teulet, for he understands by "pedagogium Sancti Bonifacii a school taught by St Boniface, whereas it plainly means & school in the monastery of St Boniface, as Jaffé takes it. The date of his birth can only be conjectured, but it must be somewhere about the year 770 A.D. His parents were noble, and probably their names were Einhart and Engilfrit. He was educated at the monastery of Fulda. There is documentary evidence that he was resident in that place in the years 788 and 791. Owing to his intelligence and ability he was transferred from the monastery by its abbot Baugolfus to the palace, where he became intimate with the emperor and his family, and received commissions of great trust and importance. His removal to the balace took place not later than 796.

He was entrusted by the emperor with the charge or public buildings. He thus became one of the imperial ministers, and resided with the emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle. In reference to his artistic skill he received the Scripture name of Beseleel (Exod. xxxi. 2ff, and xxxv. 30ƒ), according to a fashion then prevalent of giving ancient names to contemporaries. Some suppose that he constructed the basilica at Aix-la-Chapelle and the other buildings mentioned in chapter xvii. of his Life of Charlemagne, but there is no express statement to that effect. The emperor employed him in 806 as legate to Rome to obtain the Pope's signature to a will which he had made in regard to the division of his empire. Hence the inference has been drawn that he was the emperor's secretary; but no contemporary ascribes this office to him.

It was owing to Eginhard's influence that in 813 Charlemagne made his son Louis partner in the empire. Louis, on becoming sole emperor, proved grateful to Eginhard, retained him in the office of head of public works, made him tutor to his son Lothaire in 817, and showed him every mark of respect.

Eginhard married Imma, a noble lady, a sister of Bernharius, who was bishop of Worms and abbot of the monastery of Wizenburg. Later tradition converted Imma into the daughter of Charlemagne, and invented a romantic story in regard to the marriage of Eginhard and Imma.1 It is doubtful whether he had any offspring. Eginhard addresses a letter to a person called Vussin, whom he styles "fili," "mi nate." These expressions and the tenderness of the language almost compel the belief that Vussin was his son; but as Vussin is never mentioned in several deeds in which his interests would have been concerned, and in which the names of Eginhard and Imma appear, some have supposed that Vussin was merely a spiritual son.

On January 11, 815, Louis bestowed on Eginhard and his wife the domains of Michelstadt and Mulinheim in the

1 The story of his courtship, although apocryphal, deserves to be noticed, as it frequently appears in literature. He is said to have made a practice of visiting the emperor's daughter secretly by night. On one of these occasions a fall of snow occurred which made it impossible for him to walk away without leaving footprints that would have led to his detection. The risk was obviated by an expedient of Emma, who carried her lover across the court-yard of the palace on

her back. The scene was witnessed from a window by Charlemagne, who related it next morning to his counsellors and asked their advice. The severest punishments were suggested for the clandestine lover, but Charlemagne rewarded the devotion of the pair by consenting to their marriage. The story is inherently improbable, and it is further discredited by the facts that Eginhard himself does not mention Enima among the number of Charlemagne's children, and that a story similar in its details has been told of a daughter of the emperor Henry IIL

[ocr errors]

Odenwald on the Maine. In the document conveying this property to him he is simply called Einhardus, but in a document of June 2, 815, he is called abbot. In becoming abbot he did not dismiss his wife. After this period we find him at the head of several monasteries, Blandigny of Ghent, Fontenelle in the diocese of Rouen, St Bavon of Ghent, St Servais of Maestricht, and St Cloud (but not the St Cloud near Paris), and he had also charge of the church of St John the Baptist at Pavia.

Eginhard began to grow tired of the intrigues and troubles of court life, and in 830 finally withdrew to Mulinheim, which he named Seligenstadt, where he had erected a church to which he had transported the relics of St Marcellinus and St Peter. His wife helped him in all his efforts, and her death in 836 caused him bitter grief. The emperor Louis visited him in his retreat the same year, probably to console him, but Eginhard did not long survive his wife, for he died March 14, 840.

Eginhard was a man of culture. He had reaped the benefit of the revival of education brought about by Charlemagne, and was on intimate terms with Alcuin. Ha was well versed in Latin literature, and knew Greek. He was very small in bov, a feature on which Alcuin wrote an epigram. F's most famous work is his Vita Caroli Magni, written in imitation of the Lives of Suetonius. It is the most reliable account of Charlemagne that we have, and a work of some artistic merit. It was written soon after the death of the great emperor. It was very popular in the Middle Ages. Pertz collated upwards of sixty MSS. for his edition.

The other works of Eginhard are-(1) Annales Francorum, extending from 741 A.D. to 829 A.D.; some doubt their authenticity, without good reason; (2) Epistola, handed down only in one MS., now at Laon and of considerable importance for the history of the times; (3) Historia Translationis Beatorum Christi Martyrum Marcellini et Petri, written in 830, and giving a curious narrative of how the bones of the martyrs were stolen and conveyed to Seligenstadt, and what miracles they wrought. 'To this is added a poem on the same subject. A treatise written by him, De Adoranda Cruce, has not come down to us.

The literature on Eginhard is very extensive, almost all who deal with Charlemagne, early German literature, and early French literature treating of him. The fullest and best accounts are given by Teulet and Jaffé in their editions.

The modern editions of Eginhard's works are by Pertz in vols. i. and ii. of his Monumenta Germania Historica, Hanover, 18261829; Teulet, Einhardi omnia quæ extant Opera, Paris, 1840; Migne, Patrologia Latina, tom. 104, Paris, 1866 (the Life of Charle magne is in vol. 97); and Philip Jaffé in vol. iv. of his Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, Berlin, 1867. Teulet's is the handiest and most complete edition, and he deserves special praise in connection with the letters. Pertz and Jaffé published the Life of Charlemagne separately for the use of schools. Teulet gives a full account of all previous editions, of the MSS., and of translations. Some of the other editions contain pibliographical references. A translaof the Life of Charlemagne has appeared in English by W. Glaister, London, 1877 (J. D.)

EGLANTINE (E. Frisian, egeltiere; French, aiglantier), a name for the sweet-brier, Rosa rubiginosa, and for R. lutea, another species of Lindley's tribe of Rosa Rubiginosa, and apparently the R. Eglanteria of Linnæus. The bush, the first two syllables probably representing the signification of the word seems to be thorn-tree or thornAnglo-Saxon egla, egle, a prick or thorn, while the termins. tion is the Dutch tere, taere, a tree (see Wedgwood, Dict. Eng. Etymology). Eglantine is frequently alluded to in the writings of English poets, from Chaucer downwards. Milton, in L'Allegro, l. 48, is thought by the term "twisted eglantine" to denote the honeysuckle.

EGLINTON, ARCHIBALD WILLIAM MONTGOMERIE, THIRTEENTH EARL OF (1812–1861), lord lieutenant of Ireland, was born at Palermo, September 29, 1812. He was the grandson of Hugh, the twelfth earl, and only son of Archibald, Lord Montgomerie, who at the time of his son's birth held a diplomatic post in Sicily. He was only in his eighth year when he succeeded to the title and estates on the death of his grandfather, in December 1819. The young earl was educated at Eton College; and for some time his chief object of interest was the turf. He had a large racing stud, and won success and a reputation in the sporting world. In 1839 his name became more widely known in connection with a tournament which he projected, and which was held at his seat in August of that year. At this attempted revival of medieval pageantry, one of the knights was Prince Louis Napoleon, afterwards emperor of the French. The earl of Eglinton was a staunch adherent of the Conservative party, and, on the formation of the first Derby administration in February 1852, he was called from his comparative retirement to fill the office of lord lieutenant of Ireland. He retired with the ministry in the following December, having by the manliness of his character, his affability, and his princely hospitality made himself one of the most popular of Irish viceroys. On the return of the earl of Derby to office in February 1858, the earl of Eglinton was again appointed lord lieutenant, and discharged the duties of this post till June 1859. Before his second retirement he was created earl of Winton in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He had been elected in 1852 lord rector of Glasgow University. The earl was twice married; first, in 1841, to Theresa, widow of Captain R. H. Cockerell, R.N., by whom he had four children. The countess died in December 1853; and in 1858 the earl married the Lady Adela Capel, only daughter of the earl of Essex. He lost his second wife in December 1860, and died suddenly himself at St Andrews, October 1, 1861. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Archibald William, Lord Montgomerie.

EGMONT (EGMOND), LAMORAL, COUNT OF, Prince of Gavre (1522-1568), was born in Hainault in 1522. He was the younger of the two sons of John IV., count of Egmont, by his wife Francisca, princess of Gavre, and succeeded to the title and estates on the death of his elder brother Karl, about 1541. In this year he served his apprenticeship as a soldier in the expedition of the emperor Charles V. to Algiers, distinguishing himself in command of a body of cavalry. In 1545 he married Sabina of Bavaria, sister of the Elector Palatine, and the wedding was celebrated with great pomp at Spiers in the presence of the emperor. Soon afterwards Egmont was invested with the order of the Golden Fleece. He accompanied the emperor in the various campaigns and progresses of the following years, was with him at the unsuccessful siege of Metz (1553), and in 1554 was sent to England as head of an embassy to seek the hand of Queen Mary for Philip (II.) of Spain. He was present at their marriage solemnized shortly after at Winchester. In the summer of 1557 Count Egmont was appointed commander of the Spanish cavalry in the war with France; and it was by his vehement persuasion that the battle of St Quentin was fought. The victory was determined by the brilliant charge which he led against the French. The reputation which he won at St Quentin was raised still higher in 1558, when he encountered the French army under De Thermes at Gravelines, on its march homewards after the invasion of Flanders, totally defeated it, and took Marshal de Thermes and many officers of high rank prisoners. The battle was fought against the advice of the duke of Alva, and the victory made Alva Egmont's enemy. But the count now became the idol of his countrymen, who looked upon him

as the saviour of Flanders from devastation by the French. He was nominated by Philip stadtholder of the provinces of Flanders and Artois. At the conclusion of the war by the treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, Egmont was one of the four hostages selected by the king of France as pledges for its execution. As stadtholder he now showed some sympathy with the popular discontent excited by the Spanish Government, and particularly by Cardinal Granvella, minister to the regent Margaret. As a member of the council of state he joined the prince of Orange in a vigorous protest addressed to Philip (1561) against the proceedings of the minister; and two years later he again protested in conjunction with the prince of Orange and Count Horn. He was invited by Philip to go to Spain to confer with him on the subject of the remonstrance, but he declined. Egmont, however, who was a strict Catholic, afterwards spoke in less hostile terms of the minister; and, at the same time that he was courting the favour of the middle classes, he was becoming more a favourite at the court of the regent. In January 1565 he accepted a special mission to Spain to make known to Philip to some extent the state of affairs in the Netherlands and the demands of the people. At Madrid the king gave him an ostentatiously cordial reception, and all the courtiers vied with each other in lavishing professions of respect upon him. But earnest discussion of the real object of the mission was evaded by the king, and Egmont had to return to the Netherlands loaded only with fine words of flattery and promise. At the very same time instructions were sent to the regent to abate nothing of the severity of persecution, and the Inquisition was reestablished. Egmont was indignant, and the people were in a state of frenzied excitement. In 1566 a confederation of the nobles (Les Gueux) was formed, the document constituting it being known as the Compromise. Egmont then withdrew to his government of Flanders, and showed himself, after some vacillation, an unscrupulous supporter of the Spaniards and fierce persecutor of heretics. In the summer of 1567 the duke of Alva with an army of veterans arrived in the Netherlands, to supersede the regent Margaret, and to crush with the strong hand the popular opposition. One of his first acts was the treacherous seizure of Counts Egmont and Horn, who were imprisoned at Ghent. A sham process was begun against them, and after some months they were removed to Brussels, where sentence was pronounced by Alva himself on the 4th June 1568. Egmont was declared guilty of high treason and condemned to death. It was in vain that the most earnest intercessions had been made in his behalf by the emperor Charles V., the order of the Golden Fleece, the states of Brabant, the electors of the empire, and the regent herself. Vain, too, was the pathetic pleading of Egmont's wife, who with her eleven children was reduced to want, and had taken refuge in a convent. Egmont was beheaded at Brussels the day after the sentence was pronounced, June 5. He met his end with calm resignation; aud in the storm of terror and exasperation to which this tragedy gave rise Egmont's failings were forgotten, and he and his fellow victim to Spanish tyranny were glorified in the popular imagination as martyrs of Flemish freedom. This memorable episode proved to be the prelude to the famous revolt of the Netherlands, the issue of which was independence. Goethe made it the theme of a tragedy. In 1865 a monument to Counts Egmont and Horn, by Fraiken, was erected at Brussels.

Full details may be found in Berchts Geschichte des Graf.n Egmont (1810); Clouet's Eloge historique du Comte d'Egmont (1825); Prescott's History of Philip II. (1855-59); Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856); and Juste's Le Comte d'Egmont et de Comte de Hornes (1862).

EGRET. Sco HERON.

700

EGYPT

E

IGYPT is a country at the north-eastern extremity of | It occurs in the Korán as the name of Egypt (xliii. 50), Africa, bounded on the N. by the Mediterranean Sea, on the S. by Nubia, on the E. by Palestine, Arabia, and the Red Sea, and on the W. by the Great Desert.

The name of Egypt in hieroglyphics is Kem, which becomes Kemi in demotic, a form preserved in the Coptic KHLE (Sahidic), KH! (Bashmuric), and Her (Memphitic), with unimportant variants. The sense is "the black (land)," Egypt being so called from the blackness of its cultivable soil.1

p, occursצור

In Hebrew Egypt is called Mizraim, DP, a dual, sometimes used as a singular. It describes the country with reference to its two great natural divisions, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, or the Delta. In the prophets Mazor, as the singular form, and means Lower Egypt, Pathros being used for Upper Egypt.3 Thus Mizraim may be compared to the two Sicilies, though sometimes we find Mizraim for the lower country where we should expect Mazor. (Gesen. Thes. s. v. Mizraim.) The meaning of Mazor is probably the "fortified," rather than the "border," referring to the natural strength of the country.

The Greek Alyvros first occurs in the Homeric writings. In the Odyssey it is the name of the Nile (masculine) as well as of the country (feminine). Afterwards it is not used for the river. No satisfactory Egyptian or Semitic origin has been proposed for it. The probable origin is the Sanskrit root gup, "to guard," whence may have been formed âgupta, "guarded about," a similar sense to Mazor.5 The Hebrew Mazor is preserved in the Arabic Misr, Ma, pronounced Masr in the vulgar dialect of Egypt.

3

1 Cf. Plut. De Iside et Osiride, cap. 33. Dr Brugsch objects to the idea that Kem may be connected with the biblical patriarchal name Ham D (forming part of poetic names of Egypt in the Psalms:-"the land of Ham," cv. 23, 27, cvi. 22; "the tents of Ham," lxxviii. 51), on the ground that it is philologically difficult to connect the Egyptian K with (Geogr. Inschr., i. p. 74, note*). This objection would be valid were the case one of a Semitic word transcribed in ancient Egyptian; it is not so where we have a root which is common, as this may be, to both (cf. Bunsen's Egypt's Place, v. 757, 758). The meaning of the Hebrew root D is "hot, warm." The Arabic root

but has been applied to the country and to its chief capitals since the Arab conquest, El-Fustát, now called Masr-el'Ateekah, or Old Masr, and El-Káhireh, the Cairo of the Europeans."

This

By the Greeks and Romans Egypt was usually assigned to Asia, though some gave it to Libya, or Africa. difference was owing to the adoption of the Nile as the division of the two continents, which would naturally have given half of the country to each continent.

In ancient times Egypt was the country watered by the Nile north of the First Cataract, the deserts on either side being assigned to Arabia and Libya. The Egyptian name, "the black land," is only applicable to the cultivable land. The Misr of the Arabs is distinctly restricted to the same territory, the adjoining deserts being called the deserts of Egypt. Physically, ethnographically, and politically, the two tracts are markedly different, but it is now usual to treat them as a single country.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Productions, and INHABITANTS. The political advantages of Egypt, in situation, natural strength, and resources, can hardly be overrated. It lies in the very route of the trade between Europe and Asia, and that between Africa and the other two continents. It is the gate of Africa, and the fort which commands the way from Europe to the East Indies. The natural ports on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, selected and improved by the wisdom of Alexander and the Ptolemies, whose enterprises have been eclipsed by those of M. de Lesseps in our own days, have always been enough for its commerce, which the great inland water-way of the Nile has greatly aided. The inhabited country, guarded by deserts and intersected in Lower Egypt by branches of the Nile and canals, in Upper Egypt closely hemmed in by the mountains on either side, is difficult to reach and to traverse; at the same time its extreme fertility makes it independent of supplies from other lands, and thus easier to defend. The ancient wealth and power of Egypt should occasion us no wonder, nor even that the country still prospers in spite of centuries of Turkish misrule.

"The extent of the cultivated land in Egypt [Mr. Lane

signifies "it became hot," and describes blackness as a result calculates] to be equal to rather more than one square

SEU

of heat; and the word "black mud" also occurs.

* The use of Mizraim as the proper name of an individual appears to be as early as the time of Ramses II. Mazrima occurs as the name of a Hittite, the brother of the king (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr., ii. 25, pl. xviii. 77). The Hebrew dual form is similarly transcribed in Mahanema, Mahanaim (ii. 61, pl. xxiv. 22), a word not actually dual, and the Aramaic dual also in Neharina, the Hebrew Naharaim (i. pl.

ix. 333).

Pathros may take its name from the Pathyrite Nome, so called from its metropolis, P-hat-har (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr., i. 188, 189, pl. xxvii. 839). As this nome contained Thebes, it might have a signification like Thebais. De Rongé prefers p-to-res, "the country of the south," or Upper Egypt. (Six Premières Dynasties, Mém. de l'Inst.,

xxv. ii. 231).

Dr Brugsch has conjecturally identified Alyurros with Ha-ke-ptah, the sacred name of Memphis, from which the westernmost branch of the Nile, the Canobic, with its two mouths, the Canobic and the Bolbitine, those best known to the early Greeks, seem to have been called (Geogr. Inschr., i. 83).

The apparent relation of Afyurtos to alyvriós, a vulture, might seem to suggest a mythological origin for the proper name. M. Pictet has, however, most ingeniously traced both to gup, to guard, though his supposition that the name originally was connected with the Shepher rule in Egypt must be regarded as hazardous (Origines IndoEuropéennes, i. 459,seqq.). It is better to consider it a translation Mazor, as Neos of Shihor,

degree and a half; in other words, 5500 square geographiIcal miles. This is less than half the extent of the land which is comprised within the confines of the desert; for many parts within the limits of the cultivable land are too high to be inundated, and consequently are not cultivated; and other parts, particularly in Lower Egypt, are occupied by lakes, or marshes, or drifted sand. Allowance also must be made for the space which is occupied by towns and villages, the river, canals, &c. Lower Egypt comprises about the same extent of cultivated land as the whole of "8 Since the date when this was written, Upper Egypt."

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« EelmineJätka »