OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pedro de Añazco

From volume 1 of the work.
Born at Chachapoyas (Peru) in 1550; died at Asuncion, Paraguay, 1605. His father was Pedro de Añazco, a Spanish captain, companion of Belalcazar in the conquest of Ecuador; and through him, it is said, the first notice of the "Dorado" of Guatavitá reached the Spaniards in Ecuador. At the age of twenty-two, Añazco became a Jesuit. In 1577, he was sent to Julí, on Lake Titicaca. Thence he passed to the Chaco tribe among the Abipones and, in 1593, to Paraguay, where he died. He was an indefagitable missionary and a zealous student of Indian languages. Highly respectable authorities like Gonzalez Dávila and Lozano credit him with having composed grammars, "doctrines", and catechisms in nine different Indian languages of South America. Dávila, teatro eclesiastico de la primitiva Iglesia de las Indias occidentales (Madrid, 1649); Lozano, Descripcion del gran Chaco (Cordova, 1733); Mendiburu, Diccionario; Torres Saldamando, Antiguos Jesuitas (Lima, 1882); Relaciones geograficas de Indias (Madrid, 1897), Appendix IV, None of Añazco's linguistic works have been published, and it is to be feared that most, if not all, his manuscripts are lost.
AD. F. BANDELIER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pedro de Calatayud

From volume 3 of the work.
Jesuit missionary, born in Navarre, 1 August, 1689; died in Bologna, 27 February, 1773. He joined the Society of Jesus, 21 October, 1710. In the Academy of Madrid there is an account of one of his missions in Bilbao which is described as "portentosa". He had the title of Master in Theology, and has left a number of pious and theological works. Among them are: "The Flame of Holy Love for the Sacred Heart"; "Various Sentences from the Scriptures for the Use of Missionaries"; "Practice of a Sweet and Reasonable Christian Life"; "Regrets of a Contrite Heart"; "Practical Doctrines for Explaination on the Missions", a book which seems to have been particularly famous; "Doctrinal Compendium", which was an extended edition of Pinamonti's work: "Practical Catechism"; "Spiritual Exercises for Priests and Ordinandi" — one proposition of which (Doctrine IV, p. 111), about restitution by a negligent priest, was made a subject of criticism; "Practical and Doctrinal Methods for Religious". He published a great number of pamphlets and brochures. He was living at the time of the suppression of the Society of Jesus and was expelled from Spain. He died shortly afterwards.
BOERO, Menologio, II, 503; SOMMERVOGEL, Bib. des écr. de la c. de J.
T.J. CAMPBELL
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pedro de Cordova

From volume 11 of the work.
Born at Cordova, Andalusia, Spain, about 1460; died on the Island of Santo Domingo, 1525. He studied theology at the University of Salamanca and there joined the Dominicans. About 1510 he went to Santo Domingo, founding the Santa Cruz province of the order. He was a zealous protector of the Indians and a friend of Las Casas. His book, "Doctrina cristiana para instruccion é informacion de los Indios por manera de historia", was printed in 1544 at Mexico by directions of Bishop Zumárraga. It was destined for the education of the Indians, chiefly of the islands, and is one of the earliest books of catechism known to have been composed in America. Fray Pedro was the first inquisitor appointed in the New World. He enjoyed the reputation of a model priest, highly respected by the clergy, the laity, and the Indians.
AD. F. BANDELIER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pedro Nunez

From volume 11 of the work.
(Pedro Nonius).
Mathematician and astronomer, b. at Alcacer-do-Sol, 1492; d. at Coimbra, 1577. He studied ancient languages, philosophy, and medicine at Lisbon and mathematics at Salamanca. In 1519 he went as inspector-general of customs to Goa, India, returning to become in 1529 royal cosmographer. After lecturing for three years at Lisbon, a professorship of higher mathematics was established for him at the University of Coimbra, which he held from 1544 to 1562. His utterances on science plunged him into discussions with foreign savants, particularly the French mathematician, Oronce Fine. Having been tutor in the reigning family, he was enabled to spend his last years in ease.
To mathematics, astronomy, and navigation, Nunez made important contributions. He devised a method for obtaining the highest common divisor of two algebraic expressions. In his "De crepusculis" he announced a new and accurate solution of the astronomical problem of minimum twilight and suggested an instrument for the measurement of angles. The nonius, never in common use, consisted essentially of forty-six concentric circles divided into quadrants by two diameters at right angles to each other, each quadrantal arc being divided into equal parts, the number of parts diminishing from ninety for the outermost arc to forty-five for the innermost. If one side of any angle is made to coincide with one of the radii, the vertex of the angle falling at the centre of the circles, the other side of the angle will fall on or near some point of division of one of the arcs. If then a is the number of parts intercepted and n is the whole number of parts in the relevant arc, the magnitude of the angle will be 90×(a/n)degrees. In "De arte navigandi" he announced his discovery and analysis of the curve of double curvature called the rumbus, better known as loxodrome, which is the line traced by a ship cutting the meridians at a constant angle. His collected works were published under the title "Petri Nonii Opera" (Basle, 1592). Among them are: "Tratado da sphera com a theorica do sol e da lau e o primeiro livro da geographia de Claudio Ptolomeo Alexandrino" (Lisbon, 1537); "De crepusculis liber unus" (Lisbon, 1542); "De arte atque ratione navigandi" (Coimbra, 1546); "De erratis Orontii Finei" (Coimbra, 1546); "Annotatio in extrema verba capitis de climatibis" (Cologne, 1566); "Livro de algebra em arithmetica e geometria" (Antwerp, 1567); "Annotações á Mechanica de Aristoteles e ás theoricas dos planetas de Purbachio com a arte de Navegar" (Coimbra, 1578).
MONTUCLA, Histoire des Math. (Paris, 1799, 1802); NAVARRETE, Recherches sur les progrès de l'astromonmie et des sciences nautiques en Espagne, Fr. tr. DE MOFRAS (Paris, 1839); STOCKLER, Ensaio historico sobre a origem e progressos das mathematicas em Portugal.
Paul H. Linehan.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Konrad

From volume 8 of the work.
Surnamed DER PFAFFE ("The Priest").
A German epic poet of the twelfth century, author of the "Rolandslied", a version of the famous "Chanson de Roland". We know almost nothing concerning his life. In the epilogue of the Heidelberg manuscript the poet calls himself "der Pfaffe Kuonrat", and informs us that he translated from the French, first into Latin, and then into German, without adding or omitting. We learn further that the French original was procured for him by Duke Henry, at whose request he composed his lay. Formerly it was supposed that this duke was Henry the Lion (1156-80), and that the poem was composed between 1173 and 1177. But it is now agreed that the duke in question was Henry the Proud, who ruled Bavaria from 1126 to 1139; the date of the composition of the poem would then be about 1131, in which year Henry is known to have made a journey to Paris, where he presumably procured the French manuscript. The lay itself was written in Bavaria, probably at Ratisbon, as is indicated also by the frequent mention of Bavarian names and places. That a translation was first made into Latin is shown by the numerous Latin endings that remain. The German version, however, is not slavishly literal. A comparison with the French original, as we know it, reveals quite a number of additions, especially in the way of passages in praise of the Bavarian prince and people. The crusading spirit, already noticeable in the "Chanson", is still more marked in the German poem. The fervour of the crusader has displaced the patriotic enthusiasm of the French epic, and gives the "Rolandslied" a pronounced religious tone. Charlemagne is depicted as the model Christian prince, while Roland is the peerless Christian knight who loses his life in battle for his Faith. Yet the influence of the folk-epic is quite evident, as, for instance, in the passage where the emperor's dazzling eyes are described . Altogether, there are 9094 verses. The form is the short rhymed couplet, the rhyme being often mere assonance. To Konrad has also been ascribed the authorship of the "Kaiserchronik", but not on convincing evidence. We possess no complete manuscript of the poem. The oldest and most important manuscript, that of Strasburg, was burned during the siege of 1870. A portion of it had appeared in print in Schilter's "Thesaurus" as early as 1727. Next in importance is the Heidelberg manuscript, adorned with thirty-nine miniatures. The other extant manuscripts are mere fragments. Editions by Grimm, "Ruolandes liet" (Göttingen, 1838), based on the Heidelberg manuscript; and by Bartsch (Leipzig, 1874), based on the Strasburg manuscript Selections by Piper, "Die Spielmannsdichtung", II, 14-91 (in Kürschner, "Deutsche National Litteratur", II).
GOLTHER, Rolandslied des Pfaffen Konrad (Munich, 1887): BAUMGARTEN, Stilistische Untersuchungen zum deutschen Rolandsliede (Halle, 1899); cf. introduction in Piper's edition.
ARTHUR F.J. REMY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Konrad Sweynheim

From volume 14 of the work.
See also THIS ARTICLE.
(SCHWEINHEIM)
Printer, b. at Schwanheim, Frankfort, Germany; d. in Rome, 1477. Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz of Prague, both of whom were ecclesiastics, were the first printers in Italy. At the invitation of Cardinal John Turrecremata they established a printing-press for books in 1464 at the Abbey of Subiaco; in 1467 they removed their press to the Massimi Palace at Rome, and carried on the business jointly until 1472. The first books they printed were: "Donatus" (1464); Cicero's "De oratore" and the "Divinarum institutionum libri septem" of Lactantius (1465). During the years 1464-72 they issued over 12,000 copies of thirty-seven works, these works being chiefly the classics and the Fathers. This shows the remarkable skill of the two printers, who were entirely dependent on themselves. Being an engraver Sweynheim was probably the die-cutter, the type-founder, and the type-setter of the undertaking, while Pannartz had charge of the actual printing and of matters connected with it. The dies cut by Sweynheim deserve special attention as they embody the preliminary steps of the present type for Latin characters. Sweynheim's typographical capitals are the first to show the forms used in the Roman inscriptions on stone, while some of his small letters repeat the characters used in manuscripts of the ninth to tenth centuries. He also cast the first Greek type; it is to be found in his third book, that of Lactantius, and the type copies the forms of Greek characters found in manuscripts of the seventh to the eight centuries. Notwithstanding the greatest industry and technical skill the two printers had no pecuniary success. In 1472 their patron and fellow-worker as editor and proofreader, Bishop John Andreas Bussi of Aleria, secretary of the Vatican Library, asked Sixtus IV to aid them. The papal assistance was given in the form of an expectancy. Sweynheim received a canonry in the collegiate Church of St. Victor at Mainz to whose secular brotherhood the inventor Gutenberg also belonged. In 1472 Sweynheim and Pannartz dissolved partnership. Sweynheim worked until his death as engraver on the maps of the "Cosmography" of Ptolemy. He was the first to apply copper engraving to the production of maps; twenty-seven of the beautifully executed plates of the edition of the "Cosmography" of 1478 are his work. Especially characteristic of Sweynheim as a maker of matrices is the fact that the beautiful even writing of the names of places are stamped in the engraving plate by means of individual dies. It is certain that Sweynheim was in close connexion with Mainz until his death, although he did not return there to enjoy his benefice. There is no doubt that he learned the art of printing at Mainz.
HARTWIG, Festschrift zum 500 jahr. Geburstage von J. Gutenberg (Mainz, 1900).
Heinrich W. Wallau.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Konrad of Lichtenau

From volume 8 of the work.
A medieval German chronicler, d. at Ursperg, in the year 1240. He descended from a noble Swabian family, and resided for some time at the imperial court, Having become a monk, probably during a temporary residence in Rome at the court of Pope Innocent III, he entered the Premonstratensian Order, and in 1226 became Abbot of the monastery of Ursperg in Bavaria, where he died. For a long time he was reputed the sole author of the so-called "Chronicon Urspergense", which narrates the history of the world from King Ninus to A.D. 1229. But critical investigation has shown that the work consists of several parts, of different authorship. The first part to 1125, was written, in part at least, by Ekkehard of Aura (q.v.); a continuation, from 1126 to 1225, was added by Abbot Burchard (d. 1230), Konrad's predecessor as Abbot of Ursperg. Then Konrad continued the work to 1229 and made the final redaction. Later continuators like Kaspar Hedio brought the chronicle down to 1537. The first edition was brought out by Miller and Foeniseca at Augsburg (1515) from a copy in the possession of Konrad Peutinger. Another edition by Melanchthon and Mylius appeared at Basle (1569). It was this edition that erroneously attributed the sole authorship of the chronicle to Konrad. The last edition was printed at Strasburg in 1609. The "Chronicon" was edited by Abel and Weiland in the "Mon.Germ. Hist. Script." , XXIII, 333-83; separate edition at Hanover, 1874.
GRONAU, Die Urspergerchronik und ihr Verfasser (Berlin, 1890). For critical discussion and bibliography see WATTENBACH, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, II (6th ed., Berlin, 1893), 450; POTTHAST, Bibliotheca Historica Medii vi (Berlin, 1896), s. vv. Burchardus (p. 178), Chronicon Urspergense (p. 296), and Ekkehardus Uraugiensis (p. 400).
ARTHUR F.J. REMY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Konrad of Würzburg

From volume 8 of the work.
A Middle High German poet, b. about 1230; d. at Basle, 1287. He was the most important of the romancers that followed the three great masters of the Middle High German epic. His especial model was Gottfried von Strassburg. He lived mostly at Strasburg and Basle. Like Gottfried he was of burgher rank and hence is called Meister, not Her. His poems consist of metrical romances, minnesongs, and Sprüche or sayings. Among his epics his "Schwanritter" is a version of the well-known Lohengrin legend. It is preserved only in fragmentary form and is based indirectly on the French poem "Chevalier au Cygne". In this version the Grail does not figure at all. Other short narrative poems are "Otto mit dem Barte" (Otto with the Beard), the story of the knight Heinrich von Kempten, and the famous "Herzemäre" (Tale of a Heart), a fantastic tale of knightly loyalty and love. A more ambitious effort is "Engelhart", one of those extravagant stories of friendship so popular in the Middle Ages. For his lengthy epics Konrad used French sources. The "Partonopier", written probably about 1277, is based on the French romance of Denis Pyramus, and has for its subject the loves of the knight Partonopeus and the fairy Meliur. The bulky epic on the Trojan War is is based on Benoit de St. More's "Roman de Troie", with additions from Ovid. It contains upwards of 50,000 verses, but not all of them are Konrad's own. The costumes and atmosphere are not at all antique but thoroughly medieval. Besides these epics Konrad wrote also poems of allegorical or legendary content. "Der Werlte Lön" (The World's Reward) is an allegory showing the vanity of things worldly. From Latin sources Konrad composed epics on the legends of St. Alexis, Pantaleon, and Pope Sylvester, also stories of asceticism and martyrdom. His most important religious poem is in honour of the Blessed Virgin, entitled "Die goldene Schmiede" (The Golden Forge). The poet conceives himself as a smith who is working a precious ornament for the Virgin out of epithets and attributes. Another allegorical poem in strophes, called "Klage der Kunst" (Complaint of Art), laments the decay of taste for poetry. There is little originality in Konrad's work; its chief merit lies in in its technical perfection. The "Partonopier", together with songs and sayings, was edited by Bartsch (Vienna, 1874); the "Schwanritter" by Roth (Frankfort, 1861); "Kaiser Otto" and "Herzemäre" by Lambel in his "Erzählungen und Schwänke" (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1883); "Der Werlte Lön", by Roth (Frankfort, 1843); "Engelhart" by Haupt (Leipzig, 1844); "Die goldene Schmiede" by W. Grimm (Berlin, 1840); "Silvester" by the same (Göttingen, 1841); the "Trojanischer Krieg" by A. von Keller (Stuttgart, 1858).
See the introduction to GRIMM'S edition of Die goldene Schmiede; also VOGT, Geschichte der mittelhochdeutschen Literatur, in PAUL, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie (2nd ed., Strasburg, 1906), 219-23; PIPER, Höfische Epik, pt. III, in Deutsche National-litteratur, ed. KüRSCHNER, IV, 165-344.
ARTHUR F.J. REMY
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Konrad of Megenberg

From volume 8 of the work.
(KUNRAT).
Scholar and writer, b. probably at Mainberg, near Schweinfurt, Bavaria, 2 February, 1309; d. at Ratisbon, 11 April, 1374. The dates of birth and death are not absolutely certain, and Konrad himself calls his native place Megenberg. He studied at Erfurt and Paris; at the latter university he obtained the degree of Master of Arts, and he taught philosophy and theology there for several years. In 1337 he was named head of St. Stephen's school at Vienna. From 1342 he lived at Ratisbon, where he was first a parish priest, proving himself to be an able preacher. Later he became a cathedral canon, and member of the town council. In 1357 he made a journey to the Curia at Avignon. Konrad is one of the most prolific German writers of the fourteenth century. His best-known and most widely read work is his "Buch der Natur", which is still of importance for the history of culture. According to his own statement he was engaged in writing it in 1349. A Latin work, "de naturis rerum", of the Dominican Thomas of Cantimpré (d. 1263), served as model. Konrad, however, prepared his book with considerable freedom; much of the original was omitted, his own observations were introduced, corrections were made, and so on. His work gives a survey of all that was known of natural history at that time and is, besides, the first natural history in the German language. It was widely read up to the sixteenth century, and numerous manuscript copies of it are still extant, eighteen being at Munich. The first printed edition with a date is of 1475, and was issued at Augsburg from the shop of Hans Bämler, under the title of "Puch der Natur". It was printed at least six times before 1500; some of the editions were illustrated, all are now rare incunabula. A new edition of the original text was issued by Franz Pfeiffer (Stuttgart, 1861), with an introduction; an edition in modern German was edited by H. Schulz (Greifswald, 1897). Of Konrad's numerous other writings there should be mentioned: the "Sphære", a small compendium in German of astronomy and physics, prepared from the Latin work of Joannes à Sacrobosco; the poem "Planctus ecclesiæ in Germania" (1337); a hymn in praise of the Virgin, and other poems; a work on morals, "Speculum felicitatis humanæ (1348); "De erroribus Begehardorum et Beguinarum"; "De translatione imperii" (1355); the large work "Oeconomica", written between 1353 and 1363; "Tractatus contra mendicantes ad Papam Urbanum V"; several biographies of saints, and some historical treatises, chiefly dealing with the local history of Ratisbon. In his writings Konrad shows himself to be a strong adherent of the pope, an opponent of the philosophy of Occam, and a stern critic of the moral failings of his age and of the clergy.
PFEIFFER and SCHULZ, see above; BRAUNMÜLLER in Kirchenlex., s. v. Konrad von Megenberg; Allgemeine-Deutsche Biographie, XVI (Leipzig, 1882); CHEVALIER, Bio-bibl., gives the date of death incorrectly as 1398; LORENZ, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, I (3rd ed., 1886).
Joseph Rompel.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Procopius Divisch

From volume 5 of the work.
Premonstratensian, b. at Senftenberg, Bohemia, 26 March, 1698; d. at Prenditz, Moravia, 21 December, 1765. He was christened Wenceslaus, but took the name of Procopius when he became a religious. He began his studies at the Znaym Gymnasium and later entered the cloister school of the Premonstratensians at Bruck, Styria. In 1726 he was ordained and soon after became professor of philosophy at the school. His lectures on physics were illustrated by numerous interesting experiments. he received the doctorate in theology at Salzburg in 1733, his thesis being "Tractatus de Dei unitate sub inscriptione (Alpha) et (Omega)". In 1736 he took charge of the little parish of Prenditz near Znaym. Here he had sufficient leisure for work and experiment in his favourite subjects, hydraulics and electricity, constructing the necessary instruments himself. His fame soon spread abroad, and he was called to Vienna to repeat his electrical experiments before the Emperor Francis an the Empress Maria Theresa. He was one of the first to apply electricity in the treatment of disease. In 1750, prior to the publication of the French translation of Franklin's letters to Collinson (1751), he knew of the discharging property of pointed rods and applied his knowledge to the performance of curious tricks. The first lightning-rod was erected by Divisch at Prenditz, in 1754, before Franklin's suggestions were known and before they had been carried out elsewhere. Divisch's device is quite different from that proposed by the Philadelphian. He petitioned the emperor in 1755 to put up similar rods all over the country and thus protect the land from lightning. This proposal was rejected on the advice of the mathematicians of Vienna. He also constructed the Denydor (Denis, "Divisch", d'or, "of gold"), a musical instrument, imitating string and wind instruments and producing orchestral effects. His theories are expounded in his published work, "Theoretischer Tractat oder die längst verlangte Theorie von der meteorologischen Electricität" (Tübingen, 1765; Frankfort, 1768; Bohemian tr. Prague, 1899).
PELZL, Abbildungen böhm, and mähr. Gel. (Vienna, 1777); NUSL, Prokop Divis (Prague, 1899); POGGENDORFF, Gesch. d. Physik (Leipzig, 1879).
WILLIAM FOX