OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flowerdew, Edward

​FLOWERDEW, EDWARD (d. 1586), judge, fourth son of John Flowerdew of Hethersett, Norfolk, a large landed proprietor, was educated at Cambridge, but took no degree. He became a member of the Inner Temple 11 Oct. 1552, and in the autumn of 1569 and Lent of 1577 was reader, and in 1579 treasurer. He obtained considerable celebrity as a lawyer in his own county. In 1571 he became counsel to the dean and chapter of Norwich, and in 1573 to the town of Great Yarmouth. He was counsel also to Sir Thomas Gresham. The town of Norwich gave him a silver cup in 1571, presumably for professional services, and various grateful clients settled annuities on him, Thomas Grimesdiche settling 40s. and John Thornton 26s. 8d. in 1573, and Simon Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, one third of five marks in 1575. On 12 Feb. 1584 he received a grant from the clerk of the royal kitchen of a buck in summer and a doe in winter yearly from any royal forest in Norfolk or elsewhere. He was M.P. for Castle Rising 1572–84. He became serjeant and recorder of Great Yarmouth, 16 Oct. 1580, and on 23 Oct. 1584 third baron of the exchequer, when he resigned his recordership. On 20 Feb. 1585 he was a member of the special commission for the county of Middlesex, before which Dr. Parry was tried and convicted for high treason. In the winter of 1585 and 1586 he went circuit in South Wales, and in March held the assizes at Exeter. Here gaol fever broke out, and, seizing upon him, carried him off between 14 March and 4 April. He was buried at Hethersett Church. He was a man of grasping temper, but apparently not of fine feelings. In 1564 he purchased Stanfield Hall and its furniture of John Appleyard, in order to live there, and also married Elizabeth, daughter of William Foster of Wymondham, who had long been Appleyard's mistress. In 1575 he acquired the site of the dissolved abbey of Wymondham. The parishioners, wishing to preserve the church, petitioned the crown to be allowed to buy it at a valuation, and paid the money. Flowerdew, however, stripped it of its lead and carried off a quantity of freestone, whereupon the exasperated parishioners dismantled it. His lands were dispersed on his death, and he left no issue. According, however, to another account, he had a daughter, who married Thomas Skelton.
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Floyd, Henry

​FLOYD, HENRY (1563–1641), jesuit, elder brother of Father John Floyd [q. v.], born in Cambridgeshire in 1563, received his education in the English College of Douay during its temporary removal to Rheims. On 8 May 1589, being then a deacon, he was sent with other students by Dr. Richard Barret, president of the college, to assist in commencing the new English College founded by Father Parsons at Valladolid (Records of the English Catholics, i. 220, 224). For a time he was stationed at the ‘residence’ or seminary established by Parsons at Lisbon. He was probably ordained priest in 1592, and he defended universal theology with great applause at Seville on 20 Feb. 1592–3. From Lisbon he crossed over to England about 1597, and for nineteen years he was chaplain to Sir John Southcote. In 1599 he entered the Society of Jesus, and in 1618 was professed of the four vows. He underwent many vicissitudes owing to his great zeal, and at various times was incarcerated in Newgate, the Clink, and the Fleet prisons in London, and in Framlingham and Winchester gaols. On James I's accession, being sent into banishment with many other priests, he returned to Lisbon, but soon revisited England, and again fell into the hands of the pursuivants. After serving the mission in the London district for many years, he died in London on 7 March 1640–1.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flowers, Frederick

​FLOWERS, FREDERICK (1810–1886), police magistrate, third son of the Rev. Field Flowers, rector of Partney, Lincolnshire, 1815–18, was born at Boston in 1810, and educated at Louth grammar school, Lincolnshire. He was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn 10 Nov. 1828, called to the bar 18 Nov. 1839, joined the midland circuit, and for many years practised as a special pleader. In 1862 he was appointed recorder of Stamford, and was for some time revising barrister for the northern division of Nottinghamshire. He was named by Sir George Grey police magistrate at Bow Street, London, 6 July 1864, and sat at that court until his death. He also acted as a magistrate for Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire, and Essex. As a police magistrate he was extremely well known and greatly respected. His common sense, combined with a sound knowledge of the law, prevented him from making many mistakes in his decisions. He possessed kindness, tact, and discrimination, and a strong sense of justice, especially towards those who were poor and weak. He died at his residence, Holmesdale, Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, Middlesex, 26 Jan. 1886, and was buried at Partney on 30 Jan., where on his grave is a monumental cross, and in the church there is a memorial brass. He married in 1841 Ann, only daughter of R. Kirby, by whom he left one son.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Floyd, Thomas

​FLOYD, THOMAS (fl. 1603), author, a Welshman, entered New Inn, Oxford, as a commoner in 1589, graduated B.A. on 9 Feb. 1592–3, afterwards transferred himself to Jesus College, and took the degree of M.A. on 5 Feb. 1595–6. He was the author of ‘The Picture of a Perfect Commonwealth, describing as well the Offices of Princes and inferior Magistrates over their Subjects, as also the Duties of Subjects towards their Governors,’ &c., London, 1600, 12mo. He also wrote some Latin verses in ‘Academiæ Oxoniensis Pietas erga Jacobum Regem,’ 1603.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 744; Fasti, i. 257, 270.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flower, Roger

​FLOWER, ROGER (d. 1428?), speaker of the House of Commons, son of William Flower, sheriff of Rutland in 1386-7, by Elena his wife, was returned to parliament for the county of Rutland in 1396-7, again in 1399, 1402, 1404, 1413-14. He was one of the feoffees of the Brigitine nunnery founded by Henry V in 1414. Still representing Rutland county he was chosen speaker four times—in 1416, 1417, 1419, and 1422—a distinction hitherto unprecedented except in the case of Thomas Chaucer [q. v.] From his holograph will (dated 15 April 1424, proved 20 June 1428) it is clear that he was a lawyer. Not only is it plainly the composition of one well versed in legal technicalities, but it contains a bequest of chattels 'in mine inn' in London, where the inn referred to can only be one of ​the Inns of Court. From this document it appears that besides his ancestral manor of Okeham or Oakham in Rutlandshire, he held estates in Leicestershire; that he had four sons, Robert, Roger, John, and William, and two daughters, Anneys and Joan, the latter being married to Sir Henry Plesyngton of Burley in Rutland, grandson of Sir Robert Plesyngton [q. v.], chief baron of the exchequer in the reign of Richard II, and that his wife, Cecile, daughter of Anneys Sainon, was then living. The latter was his second wife, his first wife being Catherine, daughter and heiress of William Dalby of Exeter, founder of certain almshouses mentioned in the will, and of which Flower seems to have been the patron. The probate of the will being dated 20 June 1428, Flower presumably died in that year. The manor of Okeham was in the possession of Sir Richard Flower, a descendant, who died in 1523. Sir William Flower, Sir Richard's great-great-grandson, distinguished himself during the Irish rebellion of 1641, and was grandfather of William, created Baron of Castle Durrow (Irish peerage) in 1733, whose son Henry was created, in 1751, Viscount Ashbrook (Irish peerage), a title still extant.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flowers, George French

​FLOWERS, GEORGE FRENCH (1811–1872), composer and musical theorist, fourth son of the Rev. Field Flowers, was born in 1811 at Boston, Lincolnshire; he studied music under Rink and Von Wartensee in Germany, graduated Mus. Bac. from Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1839, and proceeded doctor of music in 1865. In the meantime he was organist at the Chapel of the British Embassy, Paris, ​St. Mark's, Myddelton Square, and St. John's, Paddington, successively. Flowers founded the Contrapuntists' Society in 1843, was responsible for some contrapuntal and musical reviews in the ‘Literary Gazette’ about that time, and was author of an analysis of Goss's ‘Harmony’ in the ‘Fine Arts Journal’ (1847, p. 445 et seq.). His ‘Essay on the Construction of Fugue with … new Rules for Harmony’ appeared in London in 1846; the ‘Pictorial Representation of the Science of Harmony,’ a translation of Basler's ‘Reisekarte,’ in 1850; and a poem on ‘Muscular Vocalisation,’ Barrow-on-Humber, in 1861. Flowers introduced and developed Vogler's system of progressive cadences (cf. his papers in Musical World of 1848, pp. 501 and 554). He contributed opinions on musical matters for many years to the ‘Musical Examiner’ and ‘Musical World.’ In 1850 (Mus. World, p. 650) he announced his determination to cultivate and bring forward English vocal talent by means of a British school of vocalisation. His attempt was justified a year or two later by some measure of success, strikingly illustrated by the excellent singing of his young pupils in St. James's Hall, yet no trace remains of the institution which promised so well. The late Mrs. Howard Paul may be cited as having been its most distinguished member. Flowers displayed in the composition of his ‘Organ Fugues,’ ‘Pastoral Chorus,’ and ‘Choral Fugue’ all the erudition expected from so earnest a follower of Bach and Vogler. His elaborate first mass, about 1860, probably marks the date of his reception in the church of Rome. Flowers died of cholera, 14 June 1872.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Urbanus, bishop of Rome

Urbanus (1), bp. of Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus, from 223 (or 222) to 230. The Liberian Catalogue gives 8 years 11 months and 11 days as the length of his episcopate. Nothing certain is known of his life. The Acta S. Urbani cannot be relied on.
The discovery by De Rossi in the papal crypt of the cemetery of St. Callistus of a broken stone (apparently once the mensa of an altar-tomb), bearing the imperfect inscription OVRBANOC E . . . has raised an interest in the question of his burial-place and alleged connexion with St. Caecilia. Lipsius inclines to the view that the Urban of the papal crypt was some other Urban, not necessarily a bishop, since the letter E after his name might have begun some other expression than ἐπίσκοπος, e.g. ἐν εἰρήνῃ. De Rossi, however, thinks that the slab in the papal crypt must have been that of the pope, who was actually buried there; and he attributes the contrary tradition to a confusion between him and the earlier Urban, whom he supposes to have been contemporary with St. Caecilia and buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus.
[J.B—Y.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/V

* Valens, Arian bp. of Mursa
* Valens, emperor
* Valentinianus
* Valentinianus
* Valentinianus III
* Valentinus, founder of a Gnostic sect
* Valerianus, emperor
* Valerianus, martyr
* Valerius
* Verecundus
* Veronica
* Vespasianus, Titus Flavius
* Vettius Epagathus
* Victor, bishop of Rome
* Victor, Claudius Marius
* Victor Vitensis
* Victor, bishop of Capua
* Victor Tununensis
* Victorinus
* Victorinus_Afer
* Victorius of Aquitaine
* Victricius
* Victurinus
* Vigilantius
* Vigilius Thapsensis
* Vigilius, bp. of Rome
* Vincentius
* Vincentius Lirinensis
* Vitalius
* Vitus
* Volusianus
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Trophimus, 1st bishop of Arles

Trophimus (3), St., 1st bp. of Arles, a subject of eager controversy. According to the tradition of the see, he was the disciple of St. Paul mentioned in Acts and II. Tim., and was sent forth as a missionary to Arles by St. Peter or St. Paul, or both. As early as 417 pope Zosimus, in a letter to the bishops of Gaul, speaking of the city of Arles, says, "Ad quam primum ex hâc sede Trophimus summus antistes, ex cujus fonte totae Galliae fidei rivulos acceperunt, directus est" (Ep. 1, Patr. Lat. xx. 645); and in the same pope's letter to Hilary, bp. of Narbonne, Trophimus was "quondam ad Arelatensem urbem ab apostolica sede transmissus" (Ep. 6, Patr. Lat. ib, 667) Again, the 19 bishops of the province of Arles, writing to pope Leo about the middle of 5th cent., assert that it is known to all Gaul and to the church of Rome "prima intra Gallias Arelatensis civitas missum a beatissimo Petro apostolo sanctum Trophimum habere meruit sacerdotem, et exinde aliis paulatim regionibus Galliarum bonum fidei et religionis infusum" (Patr. Lat. liv. 1880), though it should be mentioned that the genuineness of this letter has been questioned. So, too, Ado, in his Martyrologium (Dec. 29) and Chronicon. On the other hand, Gregory of Tours, apparently quoting from the Acta of St. Saturninus, says in effect that Trophimus arrived in Gaul with the first bishops of Tours, Paris, and other cities in the consulate of Decius and Gratus, i.e. after the middle of 3rd cent.; and in a very old catalogue of the archbishops published by Mabillon, Vetera Analecta, p. 220 (Paris, 1723), he is preceded by Dionysius, as though he were the second bishop. The question, to which some bitterness has been imparted as being closely connected with the hotly resented claims of the early archbps. of Arles to a sort of primacy in Gaul, is elaborately discussed by Trichaud (Hist. de l’Eglise d’Arles, i. 21–143). The cathedral church at Arles was dedicated to Trophimus, with St. Stephen (Gall. Christ. i. 519).
[S.A.B.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Ursula

Ursula, a famous British virgin and martyr, celebrated as having suffered with 11,000 other virgins at Cologne. Her notice in the Roman Martyrology is simple: "At Cologne, the natal day of SS. Ursula and her companions, who, being slain by the Huns for their Christianity and their virginal constancy, terminated their life by martyrdom. Very many of their bodies were discovered at Cologne." On this foundation the new Bollandists have raised a prodigious edifice of 230 folio pages, where they discuss (AA. SS. Boll. Oct. t. ix. pp. 73–303) every conceivable fact, topic, or hypothesis concerning these problematical martyrs. Their story, which is purely medieval, is briefly this. Ursula, the daughter of Dionoc, king of Cornwall, was sent by him with her numerous companions to Conan, a British prince, who had followed the tyrant Maximus into Gaul, c. 383. They were somehow carried up the Rhine to Cologne by mistake, where the Huns murdered them all. The enormous number of her companions has been explained as a mistake of the early copyists, who found some such entry as "Ursula et xi. M. V.", which, taking M. for millia, not for martyrs, they read Ursula and 11,000 virgins instead of 11 martyr virgins. Such mistakes frequently occurred in the ancient martyrologies. [Maximus (2).]
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/U

* Ulfilas
* Urbanus, bishop of Rome
* Urbanus, bishop of Sicca Veneria
* Ursacius, bp. of Singidunum
* Ursinus, antipope
* Ursula
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Trophimus, an Italian bishop

Trophimus (1) (Cyp. Ep. 55, 11), an Italian bishop (sacerdotii) who with all his flock offered incense in the Decian persecution. He was restored to lay-communion by Cornelius, bp.
of Rome. It is not denied that his people's attachment to him, and the assurance that they would follow his return, eased the reception of Trophimus. The Novatianists forwarded to Africa the misstatement that Cornelius had restored him to his episcopal orders, and so shook the confidence of some in him; but Cyprian of his own knowledge denies the statement. It is improbable that a lapsed bishop would be obliged or allowed to do public penance. The expression that Trophimus with "penance of entreaty confessed his own fault" is itself against it, and although it is said that he made "satisfaction," it is presently added that "the return of the brethren made satisfaction for him." The restoration seems to have been made at the Roman council of June (or July) a.d. 251, from the words (Ep. 55, ix. [6], H. 11), "Tractatu cum collegis plurimis habito susceptus est." Ritschl (Cyprian von Karthago, p. 79) calls Trophimus a "sacrificatus," though the case of the sacrificati is treated separately in the next section of Ep. 55, and the words "Trofimo et turificatis" do not make it certain that he was even a "Turificatus."
[E.W.B.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lates, John James

​LATES, JOHN JAMES (d. 1777?) musical composer, was son of David Francisco Lates, a teacher of languages at Oxford, and the author of a 'New Method of Easily Attaining the Italian Tongue,' London, 1766. The father seems to be identical with 'Signior Lates, late teacher of Oriental languages,' who died at Oxford 28 April 1777 (Gent. Mag. 1777, p. 247, and 1800, ii. 841). The son became a violinist of repute at Oxford, where he was a teacher of the violin and leader of the concerts. He owed much to the Duke of Marlborough, in whose service he was for many years at Blenheim, and seems to have been at one time organist of St. John's College. He is said to have died in 1777. He published: 'Six Solos for a Violin and Violoncello, with a Thorough-bass for the Harpsichord, humbly inscrib'd to Oldfield Bowles, Esq.,' Op. 3; also duets for two violins, Op. 1; duets for two German flutes, Op. 2, London.
His son, Charles Lates (fl. 1794), born at Oxford in 1771, became a pupil of Dr. Philip Hayes, the university professor of music, matriculated at Magdalen College 4 Nov. 1793, at the age of twenty-two, and graduated Mus.Bac. 28 May 1794, when he described himself as 'organist of Gainsborough.' His exercise for the degree, preserved among the manuscripts in the Oxford Music School (MS. Mus. Sch. Ex. d. 72), is entitled an 'Anthem—"The Lord is my Light"—for Voices and Instruments;' it was performed 7 Nov. 1793. He subsequently published a 'Sett of Sonatas for Pianoforte,' songs in score, &c. He was a fine organist and extempore player, excelling in the art of 'fuguing.'
R. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Latham, James

​LATHAM, JAMES (d. 1750?), portrait-painter, was a native of Tipperary. When young he studied art at Antwerp, and about 1725 began to practise portrait-painting in Dublin. Latham was the earliest native artist who gained any repute in Ireland, and from his skill in painting portraits he was called the 'Irish Vandyck.' It is stated that he also worked for a short time in London. Latham's works are seldom met with out of Ireland, but are to be found in many family mansions there. His portraits of Margaret Woffington and of Geminiani the composer attracted much notice. Several of his portraits were engraved, including those of Bishop Berkeley and Sir John Ligonier by John Brooks, Sir Samuel Cooke by John Faber, jun., and Patrick Quin by Andrew Miller. Latham died in Trinity Street, Dublin, about 1750.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lassels, Richard

​LASSELS, RICHARD (1603?–1668), catholic divine, son of William Lassels of Brackenborough, Lincolnshire, born about 1603, was, according to Wood, 'an hospes for some time in this university [Oxford], as those of his persuasion have told me, but whether before or after he left England they could ​not tell' (Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 818). On 6 Sept. 1623 he was admitted a student in the English College at Douay, where he was known by the name of Bolds. He was made professor of classics in 1629, and was ordained priest 6 March 1631–2. He became tutor to several persons of distinction, with whom he made three journeys into Flanders, six into France, five into Italy, and one tour through Holland and Germany. The last person with whom he travelled was Lord Lumley (afterwards Earl of Scarborough). During his residence in England he was appointed a canon of the chapter and archdeacon of a district. He was recommended for the posts of agent for the clergy at Rome and president of Douay College, but he declined all preferments. He died at Montpelier in France in September 1668, and was buried in the church of the Barefooted Carmelites in the suburb of that city.
He was author of: 1. 'An Account of the Journey of Lady Catherine Whetenhall from Brussels to Italy in 1650,' Birch MS. 4217 in British Museum. 2. 'The Voyage of Italy: or a Compleat Iourney t[h]rough Italy; in two parts. Opus posthumum: Corrected & set forth by his old friend and fellow Traueller S[imon] W[ilson],' a secular priest, Paris, 1670, 12mo. Dedicated to Richard, lord Lumley, viscount Waterford. Some copies have a title-page dated London, 1670, 12mo. Edward Harwood says that John Wilkes described this book as 'one of the best accounts of the curious things of Italy ever delivered to the world in any book of travels' (Lowndes, Bibliographer's Manual, ed. Bohn, p. 1314). A second edition, 'with large additions, by a modern hand,' but according to Dodd 'wretchedly defaced and altered,' appeared in two parts at London, 1698, 8vo. A French translation was published in 2 vols. Paris, 1671, 12mo. The work was reprinted by Dr. John Harris in his 'Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca,' vol. ii. London, 1705, fol. 3. 'A Method to hear Mass' (1686?). There appeared at London in 1864, 12mo, 'St. George's Mass Book: containing the original preface of R. Lassels, printed 1686, with various extracts, 2nd edit., compiled and edited by Thomas Doyle, D.D.' 4. 'A Treatise on the Invocation of Saints.' 5. 'An Apology for Catholics,' 2 vols. 8vo, manuscript.
T. C.