DICTIONARY OF DATES. CHIEFLY FROM THAT OF JOSEPH HAYDN; WITH REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS. ABBEYS AND MONASTERIES, were first founded in the third century, near the close of which the sister of St. Anthony is said to have retired to one. An abbey was founded by St. Anthony at Phaim, in Upper Egypt, A. D. 305. The first founded in France was at Poitiers, in 360. The first in Ireland was in the fifth century: see Clogher, Elphin, Down. The first in Scotland was in the sixth century: see Isles. And the first in Britain was in 560: see Bangor. The abbey of Mount Cassino, near Naples, founded by St. Benet in 529, was esteemed the richest in the world, and furnished many thousands of saints to the church. 110 monasteries and priories were suppressed in England by order in council, 2 Henry V. 1414.-Salmon. The revenues of 193 abbeys which were dissolved at the Reformation amounted to £2,653,000. These foundations were totally suppressed throughout the realm, 31 Henry VIII. 1539. See Monasteries. ABDICATION OF KINGS. They are numerous in ancient history. Those in later times of most remarkable character and greatest political importance, and to which reference may more frequently be made, are the following:1080 | He again abdicates in favor of the Bonaparte family. See Spain. May 1, 1808 Of Joseph Bonaparte of Naples, to take the crown of Spain, Of Henry IV. of Germany, Of Stephen II of Hungary, surnamed Of Albert of Saxony, Of Lestus V. of Poland,. Of Uladislaus III. of Poland, Of Baliol of Scotland, Of Otho of Hungary,. Of Erie XIII. of Sweden, Of the same (by flying before the British 1114 1142 June 1, 1808 1200 1206 from Madrid), July 29, 1808 1306 Of Louis of Holland, July 1, 1810 1309 Of Jerome of Westphalia, 1439 Of Napoleon of France, 1441 Of Emanuel of Sardinia, Oct. 20, 1813 April 5, 1814 March 13, 1821 Of Charles V. Emperor, Of Christina of Sweden, 1654 1556 Of Pedro of Portugal, Of Charles X. of France, May 2, 1826 Aug. 2, 1830 Of John Casimir of Poland, 1669 Of Pedro of Brazil, April 7, 1831 Of James II. of England, 1688 Of Don Miguel of Portugal (by leaving Of Frederick Augustus II. of Poland,. 1704 the kingdom), May 26, 1834 Of Philip V. of Spain, 1724 Of William I. of Holland, Oct. 8, 1840 Of Victor of Sardinia,. 1730 Of Charles of Naples, 1759 Of Christina of Spain, queen dowager Oct. 12, 1840 Of Stanislaus of Poland, 1795 Of Victor of Sardinia, June 4, 1802 son, Of Louis Phillippe of France, Feb. 24, 1818 Dec. 2, 1848 Aug. 1849 Of Francis II. of Germany, who becomes emperor of Austria only, Aug. 11, 1804 Of Charles IV. of Spain, in favor of his March 19, 1808 ABELARD AND HELOISE. Their amour, so celebrated for its passion and misfortunes, commenced at Paris, A. D. 1118, when Heloise (a canon's daughter) was under 17 years of age. Abelard. after suffering an ignominious injury, became a monk of the abbey of St. Denis, and died at St. Marcel, of grief which never left his heart in 1142. Helofse begged his body, and had it buried in the Paraclete, of which she was abbess, with the view of reposing in death by his side. She was famous for her Latin letters, as well as love, and died in 1163. The ashes of both were carried to the Museum of French Monuments in 1800; and the museum having been subsequently broken up, they were finally removed to the burying-ground of Père La Chaise, in 1817. ABORIGINES, the original inhabitants of Italy; or, as others have it, the nation conducted by Saturn into Latium, founded by Janus, 1450 B. C.-Univ. History. Their posterity was called Latini, from Latinus, one of their kings; and Rome was built in their country. They were called Aborigines, being absque origine, the primitive planters here after the flood.-St. Jerome. The word signifies without origin, or whose origin is not known, and is generally applied to any original inhabitants. ABOUKIR, the ancient Canopus, the point of debarkation of the British expedition to Egypt under general Abercromby. Aboukir surrendered to the British, after an obstinate and sanguinary conflict with the French, March 18, 1801. The bay is famous for the defeat of the French fleet by Nelson, August 1, 1798. See Nile. ABRAHAM, ERA OF. Used by Eusebius; it began October 1, 2016 B. C. To reduce this era to the Christian, subtract 2015 years and three months. ABSTINENCE. St. Anthony lived to the age of 105, on twelve ounces of bread, and water. James the Hermit lived in the same manner to the age of 104. St. Epiphanius lived thus to 115. Simeon, the Stylite, to 112; and Kentigern, commonly called St. Mungo, lived by similar means to 185 years of age.-Spottiswood. A man may live seven, or even eleven, days without meat or drink.-Pliny Hist. Nat. lib. ii. Democritus subsisted for forty days by smelling honey and hot bread, 323 B. c.-Diog. Laert. A woman of Normandy lived for 18 years without food.-Petrus de Albano. Gilbert Jackson, of Carse-grange, Scotland, lived three years without sustenance of any kind, 1719. A religious fanatic, who determined upon fasting forty days, died on the sixteenth, 1789.-Phillips. A country girl, of Osnabruck, abstained four years from all food and drink, 1799.-Hufeland's Practical Journal. Ann Moore, the fasting woman of Tutbury, Staffordshire, supposed to have been an impostor, was said to have lived twenty months without food, Nov. 1808. At Newry, in Ireland, a man named Cavanagh was reported to have lived two years without meat or drink; Aug. 1840; his imposture was afterwards discovered in England, where he was imprisoned as a cheat, Nov. 1841. See instances in Haller's Elementa Physiologia; Cornaro; Pricher's Surgical Library, &c.; and in this volume, see Fasting. ABSTINENTS. The abstinents were a sect that wholly abstained from wine, flesh, and marriage; and were a community of harmless and mild ascetics. They appeared in France and Spain in the third century; and some authorities mention such a sect as having been numerous elsewhere in A. D. 170.— Bossuet. ABYSSINIAN ERA. This era is reckoned from the period of the Creation, which they place in the 5493d year before our era, on the 29th August, old style; and their dates consequently exceed ours by 5491 years and 125 days. To reduce Abyssinian time to the Julian year, subtract 5492 years and 125 days. ACADEMIES, or societies of learned men to promote literature, sciences, and the arts, are of early date. Academia was a shady grove without the walls of Athens (bequeathed to Hecademus for gymnastic exercises), where Plato first taught philosophy, and his followers took the title of Academics 378 B. C.-Stanley. Ptolemy Soter is said to have founded an academy at Alexandria, about 314 B. C. Theodosius the Younger and Charlemagne are also named as founders. Italy has been celebrated for its academies; and Jarckius mentions 550, of which 25 were in the city of Milan. The first philosophical academy in France was established by Père Mersenne, in 1135. Academies were introduced into England by Boyle and Hobbes; and the Royal Society of London was formed in 1660. The following are among the principal academies :-- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1780. American Philosophical Society, 1769. Berlin, Royal Society, 1700; of Princes, Bologna, Ecclesiastical, 1637; Mathematics, Dublin, Arts, 1749; Science and Literature, Florence, Belles Lettres, 1272; Della Crus. Genoa, Painting, &c., 1751; Sciences, 1783. Lisbon, History, 1720; Sciences, 1779. Lyons, Sciences, 1700; had Physic and Ma- Madrid, the Royal Spanish, 1713; History, Mantua, the Vigilanti, Sciences, 1704. Marseilles, Belles Lettres, 1726. Milan, Architecture, 1380; Sciences, 1719. Padua, for Poetry, 1610; Sciences, 1792. Paris, Sorbonne, 1256; Painting, 1391; Mu- Perousa, Insensati, 1561; Filirgiti, 1574. Portsmouth, Naval, 1722; enlarged, 1806. Spain, Royal, 1713; Military, 1751. Turin, Sciences, 1759; Fine Arts, 1778. Upsal, Royal Society, Sciences, 1720. Verona, Music, 1543; Sciences, 1780. Vienna, Sculpture and the Arts, 1705; Sur- Warsaw, Languages and History, 1753. ACCENTS. The most ancient manuscripts are written without accents, and without any separation of words; nor was it until after the ninth century that the copyists began to leave spaces between the words. Michaelis, after Wetstein, ascribes the insertion of accents to Euthalius, bishop of Sulca, in Egypt, A. D. 458; but his invention was followed up and improved upon by other grammarians in the various languages. ACHAIA. This country was governed by a race of kings, but even their names are all forgotten. The capital, Achaia, was founded by Achæus, the son of Xuthus, 1080 B. C. The kingdom was united with Sicyon or subject to the Etolians until about 284 B. C. The Achæi were descendants of Achæus, and originally inhabited the neighborhood of Argos; but when the Heraclidæ drove them thence, they retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their thirteen cities, viz. Peleni, Ægira, Ægeum, Bura, Tritæa, Leontium, Rhypæ, Ceraunia, Olenos, Helice, Patræ, Dymæ, and Pharæ. The constitution of the United States of America bears some analogy to that of the Achæan league; and the Swiss cantons also had a great resemblance to it in their confederacy. ACOUSTICS. The doctrine of the different sounds of vibrating strings, and the communication of sounds to the ear by the vibration of the atmosphere, was probably first explained by Pythagoras, about 500 B. c. Mentioned by Aristotle, 330 B. C. The speaking-trumpet is said to have been used by Alexander the Great, 335 B. C. The discoveries of Galileo were made about A. D. 1600. The velocity of sound was investigated by Newton before 1700. Galileo's theorem of the harmonic curve was demonstrated by Dr. Brook Taylor, in 1714; and further perfected by D'Alembert, Euler, Bernoulli, and La Grange, at various periods of the eighteenth century. See Sound. ACRE, ST. JEAN D'. Taken by Richard I. and other crusaders in 1192, after a siege of two years, with the loss of 6 archbishops, 12 bishops, 40 earls, 500 barons, and 300,000 soldiers. Retaken by the Saracens, when 60,000 Christians perished, 1291. This capture was rendered memorable by the murder of the nuns, who had mangled their faces to repress the lust of the Infidels. Acre was attacked by Bonaparte in July 1798; and was relieved by Sir Sydney Smith, who gallantly resisted twelve attempts during the memorable siege by the French, between March 6 and May 27, 1799, when, baffled by the British squadron on the water and the Turks on shore, Bonaparte relinquished his object and retreated. St. Jean d'Acre is a pachalic subject to the Porte; seized upon by Ibrahim Pacha, who had revolted, July 2, 1832. It became a point of the Syrian war in 1840. Stormed by the British fleet under Sir Robert Stopford, and taken after a bombardment of a few hours, the Egyptians losing upwards of 2,000 in killed and wounded, and 3,000 prisoners, while the British had but 12 killed and 42 wounded, Nov. 3, 1840. See Syria and Turkey. ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS. The citadel of Athens was built on a rock, and accessible only on one side: Minerva had a temple at the bottom.-Paus. in Attic. The roof of this vast pile, which had stood 2,000 years, was destroyed in the Venetian siege, A. D. 1687.-Aspin. The Acropolis of Mycenae was marked by terraces, and defended by ponderous walls, on which were high towers, each at the distance of fifty feet.-Euripides. ACTIUM, BATTLE OF, between the fleets of Octavianus Cæsar on the one side, and of Marc Antony and Cleopatra on the other, and which decided the fate of Antony, 300 of his galleys going over to Cæsar; fought Sept. 2, 31 B. C. This battle made Augustus (the title afterwards conferred by the senate upon Cæsar) master of the world, and the commencement of the Roman empire is commonly dated from this year. In honor of his victory, the conqueror built the city of Nicopolis, and instituted the Actian games.—Blair. ACTRESSES. Women in the drama appear to have been unknown to the ancients; men or eunuchs performing the female parts. Charles II. is said to have first encouraged the public appearance of women on the stage in England, in 1662; but the queen of James I. had previously performed in a theatre at court.-Theat. Biog. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. The first promulgated, 16 John, 1215. See Parliament. For a great period of years the number of acts passed has been annually large, although varying considerably in every session. Between the 4th and 10th of George IV. 1126 acts were wholly repealed, and 443 repealed in part, chiefly arising out of the consolidation of the laws by Mr. Peel (afterwards Sir Robert): of these acts, 1344 related to the kingdom at large and 225 to Ireland solely. ADAMITES, a sect that imitated Adam's nakedness before the fall, arose A. D. 130. They assembled quite naked in their places of worship, asserting that if Adam had not sinned, there would have been no marriages. Their chief was named Prodicus; they doified the elements, rejected prayer, and said it was not necessary to confess Christ.-Eusebius. This sect, with an addition of many blasphemies, and teaching from the text "increase and multiply," was renewed at Antwerp in the thirteenth century, under a chief named Tandeme, who, being followed by 3,000 soldiers, violated females of every age, calling their crimes by spiritual names. A Flandrian, named Picard, again revived this sect in Bohemia, in the fifteenth century, whence they spread into Poland and existed some time.-Bayle; Pardon, ADMINISTRATIONS. Successive administrations of the United States, since the formation of the government: FIRST ADMINISTRATION;-1789 to 1797;-8 years. • Mr. Cabot declined the appointment. The Navy Department was established in 1798. |