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

1904 Errata appended.
​BLAQUIERE, JOHN, Baron de Blaquiere (1732–1812), politician, the fifth son of John Blaquiere, a French emigrant, who settled in London as a merchant, was born 5 May 1732. He was for some time in the counting-house of a London merchant, and then entered the army. His first official employment was as secretary of legation in France with Lord Harcourt, 1771-2, and when that nobleman went to Ireland in 1772 as lord lieutenant, Blaquiere accompanied him as his chief secretary (1772-7). He represented a number of constituencies in the Irish parliament : Old Leighlin until 1788, Carlingford from that date to 1790, Charleville 1790-7, and Newtown from 1797 until the extinction of the Irish parliament. In 1801 he was elected for Rye in the parliament of the United Kingdom, and in June 1803 he was returned for Downton in Wiltshire. One of Blaquiere's first experiences on Irish soil was a duel with a Mr. Beauchamp Bagenal in 1773, but he soon received considerable advancement. He was sworn of the privy council, invested in 1774 with the military order of the Bath, created a baronet 5 July 1784, and raised to the Irish peerage Baron de Blaquiere on 30 July 1800. He became bailiff of Phoenix Park, alnager of Ireland, and commissioner of the paving board. Many of the chief improvements in Dublin were effected under his care, and even envy allowed that, pluralist as he was, his money was spent in his adopted country. A gourmet with social and convivial tastes, ​possessed of much good sense, with 'no small fund of useful and various knowledge, heightened by many strokes of art,' he enjoyed greater popularity than most of his predecessors and successors in his difficult office. His advocacy in 1773 of the imposition of a tax on absentee landlords caused some excitement among the Irish gentry and peers who habitually lived away from their estates, but did not tend to diminish his popularity among the majority of his neighbours. When he ceased to be in power, it was generally remarked that he was the only secretary who was known to have resided in Ireland when he no longer drew the pay of office. He died at Bray, county Wicklow, on 27 Aug. 1812. By his wife, Eleanor, only daughter of Robert Dobson of Cork, whom he married 24 Dec. 1776, he had numerous children. An engraved portrait of this genial politician is in Barrington's 'Historic Memoirs.'
[Walpole's Letters, vi. 6. 11; Warden Flood's Henry Flood, 85-8, 343; Sir Jonah Barrington's Personal Sketches (1869), i. 101-3, 111-13; Barrington'sHist. Memoirs (1833), i. 216; Correspondence of Rt. Hon. John Beresford, i. 7, 125-7, 151-4, ii. 64, 290; Gent. Mag. 1812, pt. ii. 288; Froude's English in Ireland, ii. 145-87, 394, 490, iii. 29-82, 137, 150. 240-3.]
W. P. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.29 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 205 | ii | 22 f.e. | Blaquiere, John, Baron de Blaquiere: for until 1783 read 1773-83 |
| | | 20 f.e. | for Newtown read Newtownards |
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Dalmatius (4), monk and abbat

​Dalmatius (4), monk and abbat, near Constantinople at the time of the council of Ephesus (A.D. 431). His influence arose from his eminent piety, strength of character, and fiery zeal. Under Theodosius the Great he had served in the 2nd company of Guards, married, had children, and led a virtuous life. Feeling a call to a monastic life, he left his wife and children, except a son Faustus, and went to be instructed by abbat Isaac, who had dwelt in the desert since his infancy. Isaac at his death made him Hegumenus, superior of the monastery, under the patriarch Atticus. Consulted by councils, patriarchs, and emperors, he remained in his cell 48 years without quitting it. He is sometimes addressed as chief of the monasteries of Constantinople; but it is uncertain whether this was a complimentary or official title. He is not to be confounded with Dalmatius, monk at Constantinople, bp. of Cyzicus; because the latter was present at the council of Ephesus in that capacity.
During the supremacy of the Nestorian party at Ephesus, letters were conveyed by a beggar in the hollow of a cane from Cyril and the Athanasian or Catholic bishops to the emperor Theodosius II., the clergy and people at Constantinople complaining that they had been imprisoned three months, that the Nestorians had deposed Cyril and Memnon bp. of Ephesus, and that they were all in the greatest distress. A short memorial was added to the letter of the bishops, probably for Dalmatius. Dalmatius was greatly moved, and believed himself summoned to go forth at length from his retreat in the interests of truth. Accompanied by the monks of all the monasteries, ​led by their abbats, he went to the palace in a long procession, divided into two companies, and singing alternately; a vast crowd of sympathizers followed. The abbats were admitted to the emperor's presence; and the monks remained outside chanting. Returning to the people, the abbats asked them to go to the church of St. Mocius to hear the letter of the council and the emperor's reply. They went through the city, the monks chanting and carrying wax tapers. Great enthusiasm was excited against Nestorius. At the church the abbats read the letter of the bishops, which produced high excitement. Dalmatius, who was a presbyter, then mounted the pulpit, begged them to be patient, and in temperate and modest terms related his conversation with the emperor, and its satisfactory result. The emperor then wrote to Ephesus, ordering a deputation of each party to arrive at Constantinople. In a letter to Dalmatius the council acknowledged that to him only was owing the emperor's knowledge of the truth. Cyril, Ep. 23, etc., Patr. Gk. lxxvii.; Concil. Gen. i.; Dalmatii Apol. p. 477; St. Procl. CP. Episc. Ep. iii.; Patr. Gk. lxv. p. 876, lxxxv. col. 1797-1802; Ceillier, viii. 290, 395, 396, 407, 594; Fleury, bk. xxvi.
[W.M.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/D

* Dalmatius (4), monk and abbat
* Damasus, pope
* Damianus (2), martyr
* Daniel (9) the Stylite
* Dativus (3), celebrated senator
* David (5), St.
* Decius
* Demetrias
* Demetrius (2), bishop of Alexandria
* Demophilus
* Dianius, bp. of Caesarea
* Didymus, head of catechetical school
* Dimoeritae, followers of Apollinarius
* Dinooth, Dinothus, abbat of Bangor Iscoed
* Diocletian, emperor
* Diodorus, presbyter of Antioch
* Diognetus, Epistle to
* Dionysia, virgin martyr at Lampsacus
* Dionysia, martyr at Alexandria
* Dionysia, martyr in Africa
* Dionysius, Pseudo-Areopagita
* Dionysius (2), St., apostle of France
* Dionysius (3), bp. of Corinth
* Dionysius of Alexandria
* Dionysius (7), bp. of Rome
* Dionysius (19), monk in Western church
* Dioscorus (1), patriarch of Alexandria
* Dioscorus, the monk
* Docetism
* Domitianus, emperor
* Domitilla Flavia
* Domnus I., bp. of Antioch
* Domnus II., bp. of Antioch
* Donatus and Donatism
* Dorothea, virgin martyr
* Dorotheus (3), presbyter at Antioch
* Dorotheus (7), bp. of Martianopolis
* Dorotheus (10), bp. of Thessalonica
* Dositheus (1), leader of Jewish sect
* Dubhthach, king's poet
* Dubricius, Dubric, archbp. of Caerleon
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Cyra

​Cyra. [ Marana.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Cyrillus (13), of Scythopolis

​Cyrillus (13), of Scythopolis (Bethshan), so called from his birthplace, a hagiologist, fl. c. 555. His father, John, was famous for his religious life. Cyril commenced an ascetic career at the age of 16. On leaving his monastery to visit Jerusalem and the holy places, his mother bid him put himself under the instruction of John the Silentiary, by whom he was commended to Leontius, abbat of the monastery of St. Euthymius, who admitted him as a monk in 522. Thence Cyril passed to the Laura of St. Saba, where he commenced his sacred biographies with the Lives of St. Euthymius and St. Saba, deriving his information from the elder monks who had known those saints. He also wrote the Life of St. John the Silentiary and other biographies, affording a valuable picture of the inner life of the Eastern church in the 6th cent. They have been unfortunately largely interpolated by Metaphrastes. The following biographies are attributed to Cyril by Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. lib. v. c. 41, x. 155): (1) S. Joannes Silentiarius (ap. Surium, May 13); (2) S. Euthymius (Cotelerius, Eccl. Graec. Monum. ii. 200); (3) S. Sabas. (ib. iii. 220); (4) Theodosius the Archimandrite (only found in Latin, of doubtful authenticity; (5) Cyriacus the Anchoret; (6) S. Theognius the Ascetic, bp. of Cyprus (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. u.s.; Cave, Hist. Lit. p. i. 529).
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Zeno

Zeno (16), emperor of the East a.d. 474–491, is famous in church history for the publication of the HENOTICON and for his active part in the prolonged disputes about Timotheus Aelurus, Timotheus Salofaciolus, Peter Mongus, and Peter the Fuller. Pope SIMPLICIUS and ACACIUS used him very effectually against their opponents. For a full analysis of the letters of popes Simplicius and Felix III. to him see Ceillier, t. x. pp. 410–420.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Zoaras

Zoaras (2), a turbulent Monophysite Syrian monk, a zealous adherent of Severus, associated with him and Peter of Apamea in the petitions of the orthodox clergy of Syria to the council of Constantinople under Mennas, a.d. 536, as leaders of the Monophysite heresy, and condemned with them by the synod. He became a Stylite. On being driven after several years from his pillar by the orthodox party (the "Synodites"), he started for Constantinople with ten of his monks to complain to Justinian, who hastily summoned a synod to give him audience. Zoaras uncompromisingly denounced "the accursed council of Chalcedon." This greatly irritated Justinian, who rebuked him for his presumption. Zoaras in no measured terms denounced the emperor for his support of heresy. A monastery in the suburb of Sykas was assigned as a residence to him and his followers by the emperor, where he lived quietly, exercising great liberality. The embassage of Agapetus, patriarch of Rome, with whom Zoaras held a very stormy encounter which resulted in the deposition of the patriarch Anthimus as a concealed Monophysite and the appointment of Mennas, a.d. 536, caused an outbreak of orthodox fury against Zoaras and his followers. In the various "libelli" presented to the synod under Mennas he and his heresy are denounced in no measured terms. He is described as a leader of the Acephali (Labbe, v. 108). He had been already condemned and excommunicated by Anthimus's predecessor Epiphanius (ib. 251). Mennas and his synod repeated the condemnation, and Justinian banished Zoaras from Constantinople and its vicinity, and from all the chief cities of the empire, charging him to live in solitude. According to the biography in Land, however, Justinian assigned him a monastery in Thrace, named Dokos, 30 miles away. Here Theodorus, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria, was living and propagating his doctrines. The length of Zoaras's residence here is uncertain. After a time he left Thrace, and after some years died, leaving as his successor his disciple the presbyter Ananias. Assem. Bibl. Or. ii. 58, 235; Land, Anecdot. Syr. ii. 12–22; Bar-heb. Chron. Eccl. ed. Abbeloos, i. pp 206-208; Labbe, v. 108, 254, 267.
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Xystus

Xystus. [SIXTUS II.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Z

* Zeno
* Zephyrinus
* Zoaras
* Zosimus, bp. of Rome
* Zosimus (5)
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Compton, Herbert Abingdon Draper

​COMPTON, Sir HERBERT ABINGDON DRAPER (1770–1846), judge, was the son of Walter Abingdon Compton of Gloucestershire. Early in life he entered the army and served with his regiment in India, but returning to England he spent some time in writing for the newspapers, especially for the 'Pilot,' and in studying law; and having been called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 22 Nov. 1808, he went to India and joined the bar at Fort St. George. There he was successively appointed to the posts of advocate-general at Madras, and afterwards at Calcutta, and in 1831 of chief justice of Bombay, on which occasion he was knighted by letters patent. Having won the goodwill of all parties, and received many testimonials from natives as well as English, he returned to England and died at his house in Hyde Park Gardens on 14 Jan. 1846. He was twice married: first in 1798 to a daughter of Dr. Canne, a surgeon in the East India Company's service at Madras, and afterwards to a daughter of Mr. Edward Mullins of Calcutta.
[Gent. Mag. new ser. xxv. 207; Ann. Reg. 1846.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Compotista, Roger

​COMPOTISTA or COMPUTISTA, ROGER (fl. 1360?), was a monk of Bury St. Edmund's, of which abbey he ultimately became prior. He is known chiefly through his compilation of a biblical dictionary, which appears to have enjoyed a wide popularity, and is preserved in several manuscripts. Two are in the Bodleian Library (Cod. Bodl. 238, ff. 200 b, col. 1262 a, col. 1, and Cod. Laud. 176) and one at Magdalen College, Oxford (Cod. cxii. f. 172; H. O. Coxe, Catalogue of Oxford Manuscripts, Magdalen College, pp. 58 b, 59 a). The title of this book is 'Expositiones vocabulorum Bibliæ' (or 'de singulis libris Bibliæ'); and the prologue states that it was compiled for the use of novices by Roger Compotista, and 'corrected' or edited by his brother-monk, Reginald of Walsingham, to whom the prologue is addressed (Cod. Bodl. 238, f. 213 b, col. 1).
Bale says that Roger was the author of three other works, 'Postillationes Evangeliorum,' 'De Excommunicatione maiori,' and 'Constitutiones Cantuarienses,' all of which he says he found at Magdalen College. The Magdalen manuscript of the 'Expositiones vocabulorum' contains a fragment of a 'Liber Constitutionum Cantuariensium,' but separated from it by other matter, and without the least indication that it is by Roger Compotista except the fact that it is included in the same volume with a genuine work by him. Of the other two works ascribed to him no traces are known to exist. ​ Pits (De Angliæ Scriptoribus, 393, p. 488) states that Roger flourished in 1360, but this date is plainly derived from Bale's conjecture, for there is no positive evidence to support it, that he lived under Edward III.
[Manuscripts as above ; Bale's Script. Brit. Cat. vi. 16, pp. 464 et seq.]
R. L. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Comin, Robert de

​COMIN, COMINES, or CUMIN, ROBERT DE, Earl of Northumberland (d. 1069), was apparently a native of Flanders to judge from his name. He was one of the barons who followed William I in his invasion of England, and so commended himself to the king by his military skill that he was chosen at the end of 1068 for the difficult task of reducing the north of England to obedience. William I conferred on him the earldom of Northumberland, vacant by the flight of Gospatric; and in January 1069 Comin set out from Gloucester with forces which are variously estimated at five hundred, seven hundred, and nine hundred men. The winter was severe, and Comin advanced unopposed to the city of Durham. The bishop of Durham, Ethelwin, advanced to meet him, and warned him of the ill-will of the men of the bishopric; he advised him not to enter the city. Comin disregarded his warning, and Ethel win did all he could to protect him from the results of his rashness by lodging him and his chief knights in his own house next to the cathedral. The Normans treated Durham as a captured town, and the news of their doings spread into Northumberland. The men of the Tyne rose, forced the gates of Durham in the night, and massacred the Norman soldiers. Comin vainly took refuge in the bishop's house; it was set on fire, and he was slaughtered. The failure of this expedition was William I's first experience of the intractability of the northern folk, and was one of the causes of his severity in the 'harrying of the north.' Comin was the founder of the family of Comyn, many of whom played an important part in the history of Scotland [see Comyn.]
[Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccl. 512 c; Simeon of Durham, Historia Regum, s. a. 1069, and Hist. Eccl. Dunelmensis, iii. 15; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s. a. 1068; Freeman's Norman Conquest, iv. 234-40.]
M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forrester, David

​FORRESTER, DAVID (1588–1633), Scotch divine, appears to have been descended from a Stirlingshire family. His grandfather, William Forrester, was a burgess of Stirling, and he himself possessed the lands of Blairfachane and Wester Mye in that county. Born in 1588, he studied at the university of St. Andrews, where he graduated as M.A. on 22 July 1608. Alexander, earl of Linlithgow, presented him to the church of Denny, and he was ordained to the pastorate of that parish on 3 April 1610. Three years afterwards he was translated to North Leith, his induction taking place on 16 Dec. 1613. He strenuously opposed the imposition of the five articles of Perth, and so rendered himself obnoxious to King James VI and some of the bishops. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, in whose diocese he served, obtained an order from court to have Forrester cited before the high court of commission, and deposed if he refused compliance; but the Bishop of Glasgow, on whom the archbishop threw the execution of the order, declined the business, and Forrester gained a short respite. Shortly afterwards a conference took place between the bishops and a number of the nonconforming ministers, at the conclusion of which the case of Forrester was ​resumed. The archbishop informed him that the king desired to know if he would conform, but he declined to give a promise. Hereupon the archbishop told him he had a charge to depose him. But Patrick Forbes [q. v.], bishop of Aberdeen, interposed, offering to take Forrester's deposition into his own hands. ‘For this,’ said he, ‘I must needs say that though he be not yet fully resolved, yet he is somewhat more tractable than when he came to us, and though he stand on his own conscience, as every good Christian should do, yet is he as modest, and subject to hear reason, as the youngest scholar in Scotland.’
Forrester was thus obliged to betake himself north to Aberdeen, where Bishop Forbes placed him in the church of Rathven, to which he was admitted on 20 April 1620. Here, however, he signalised himself by his energetic measures against the papists, and James VI again gave orders for a process being laid against him. Through the influence of his wife's cousin, Sir William Alexander [q. v.] of Menstrie, afterwards first earl of Stirling, this was averted, and he was restored to his former charge as ‘minister of the word of God at the north side of the bridge of the town of Leith,’ on 20 Sept. 1627. He died there in June 1633, in the forty-fifth year of his age and twenty-fourth of his ministry. He was twice married: first, on 30 Jan. 1614, to Margaret Paterson of Stirling, by whom he had three sons, Duncan, John, and George; secondly, to Margaret, daughter of Robert Hamilton, brother of the Laird of Preston. Duncan, Forrester's eldest son, was one of the regents in the university of Edinburgh, and was served heir to his father on 13 Nov. 1633.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forrester, Thomas (1635?-1706)

​FORRESTER, THOMAS (1635?–1706), Scotch theologian, brother of David Forrester, a merchant and burgess of Stirling, was born at Stirling about 1635, and admitted minister of Alva in Stirling under the bishop in 1664. The perusal of John Brown's (1610?–1679) [q. v.] ‘Apologetical Relation’ led him to renounce episcopacy, and he became a field preacher. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh, but liberated by the indemnity of March 1674, and was deposed on the 29th of the same month. He was proclaimed a fugitive 5 May 1684, and settled at Killearn. After the revolution he became in succession minister of Killearn (1688) and of St. Andrews (May 1692). He refused calls to Glasgow and other places, and was appointed principal of the new college at St. Andrews on 26 Jan. 1698 (St. Mary's), in which office he died in November 1706. He is well known as one of the ablest advocates of presbyterianism of his day. His principal work is ‘The Hierarchical Bishop's Claim to a Divine Right tried at the Scripture Bar,’ 1699. Here he controverts Dr. Scott, in the second part of his ‘Christian Life,’ Principal Monro's ‘Inquiry,’ and Mr. Honeyman's ‘Survey of Naphtali.’ Other works bore the titles of ‘Rectius Instruendum,’ 1684; ‘A Vindication and Assertion of Calvin and Beza's Presbyterian Judgment and Principles,’ 1692; ‘Causa Episcopatus Hierarchici Lucifuga,’ 1706.
W. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forrest, Thomas (fl.1580)

​FORREST, THOMAS (fl. 1580), was author of 'A Perfite Looking Glasse for all Estates: most excellently and eloquently set forth by the famous and learned Oratour Isocrates, as contained in three Orations of Morall Instructions, written in the Greeke tongue, of late yeeres: Translated into Latine by … Hieronimus Wolfius. And nowe Englished … with sundrie examples of pithy sentences, both of Princes and Philosophers, gathered and collected out of divers writers, Coted in the margent, approbating the Author's intent. … Imprinted in Newgate Market, within the new Rents, at the Signe of the Lucrece, 1580.' The volume is a quarto of forty-six leaves, and is dedicated by the translator, Tho. Forrest, to Sir Thomas Bromley. There are also prefixed 'An Epistle to the Reader;' 'The Author's Enchomion upon Sir Thomas Bromley;' 'J. D. in Commendation of the Author;’ ‘In Praise of the Author, S. Norreis;' 'The Booke to the Reader.' The volume is probably 'certen orations of Isocrates' found in the Stationers' Register under date 4 Jan. 1580. Ritson puts Forrest among the English poets because of the 'Enchomion' above mentioned.
[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), p. 997; Ritson's Bibl. Poet. p. 209; Arber's Stationers' Registers, ii. 165; Hunter's Chorus Vatum, iii. 296 (Addit. MS. Brit. Mus. 24489).]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forrester, Thomas (1588?-1642)

​FORRESTER, THOMAS (1588?–1642), satirist and divine, graduated A.M. at St. Andrews University 22 July 1608. On 10 March 1623 the Archbishop of Glasgow recommended him for the ministry of Ayr, but the session reported ‘that he was not a meet man.’ Thereupon James I presented him to the post (10 April). About 1632 he gave 20l. to the fund for building the library at Glasgow University. He succeeded John Knox, a nephew of the reformer, as minister of Melrose in 1627. As an enthusiastic episcopalian, he took delight in uttering words and performing acts fitted to shock the feelings of presbyterians. At the assembly of 1638 he was accused of popery, Arminianism, &c., and was deposed 11 Dec. 1638. He took his revenge in satire. A mock litany threw ridicule on the leading covenanters and the most solemn of their doings. This was published as ‘A Satire in two parts, relating to public affairs, 1638–9,’ in Maidment's ‘Book of Scottish Pasquils,’ 1828. An epitaph on Strafford, attributed to Forrester, is printed in Cleveland's poems. Forrester died in 1642, aged 54. He married Margaret Kennitie, who died 19 Jan. 1665–6, and had a daughter, Marjory, who married a tailor of Canongate, Edinburgh, named James Alison. She obtained a pension of 20l. from Charles II 14 March 1678–9.
W. G. B.