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

​GRIBELIN, SIMON (1661–1733), line engraver, appears to have been a son of Jacob Gribelin, an engraver, who died at Paris in 1676. He was born at Blois in 1661, and after having acquired the art of engraving in Paris, came to England about 1680. There is a view of the Old Trinity Hospital at Deptford engraved by him in 1701, but his first work of importance was a copy of Gerard Edelinck's fine engraving of 'Alexander entering the Tent of Darius,' after Le Brun, published in 1707. In the same year he completed a set of seven small plates of the cartoons of Raphael, with a title-page composed of a sectional view of the apartment at Hampton Court in which they were then placed, and a circular portrait of Queen Anne. This series, not having been published before as a whole, met with great success, but the plates are on too small a scale to do justice to the originals. Soon afterwards he engraved a frontispiece and vignettes for a translation by Elizabeth Elstob [q. v.] of 'An English-Saxon Homily on the Birth-Day of St. Gregory' (1709), and within an initial letter he placed a neatly executed portrait of the translator. In 1712 he ​published six engravings from the following pictures in the royal collection at Kensington Palace: ‘Hercules between Virtue and Vice,’ after Paolo de Matteis; ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds,’ after Palma Vecchio; ‘Esther fainting before Ahasuerus,’ and ‘The Nine Muses in Olympus,’ after Tintoretto; ‘The Birth of Jupiter and Juno’ (or rather ‘The Birth of Apollo and Diana’), after Giulio Romano; and ‘The Judgment of Midas,’ after Andrea Schiavone. But his most important work was a large engraving on three plates, finished in 1730, of ‘The Apotheosis of James I,’ from the painting by Rubens on the ceiling of the banquetting house at Whitehall. None of his plates, however, give any adequate idea of the style of the masters from whom they are copied, and, as Vertue remarks, ‘at best are neat memorandums.’ He also engraved some portraits, among which are those of William III and Queen Mary, after Fowler; William, duke of Gloucester, after Sir Godfrey Kneller; Frederick, duke of Schomberg; James, duke of Ormonde, after Dahl; Sir William Dawes, archbishop of York, after Clostermann; and a small full-length of Anthony, third earl of Shaftesbury, after the same painter, for the edition of the ‘Characteristics’ issued in 1714. There is also by him a set of thirty-seven plates of designs for goldsmith's work, as well as a large number of vignettes and head- and tail-pieces for the decoration of books. Gribelin died in Long Acre, London, on 18 Jan. 1733, aged seventy-two, from a cold caught in going to see the king in the House of Lords. There is in the British Museum a volume of all his smaller plates, collected by himself, which was formerly in the possession of George Vertue.
Gribelin had a son who was an engraver, and went as a draughtsman to Turkey in the suite of George Hay,seventh earl of Kinnoull [q.v.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodorus Askidas, archbp. of Caesarea

Theodorus (6) Askidas (ὁ Ἀσκιδᾶς), archbp. of Caesarea in Cappadocia, the chief supporter of Origen's views in the first half of cent. vi. and the originator of the celebrated controversy concerning the "Three Chapters." The general history of his life belongs to that subject; we now give merely a brief outline. He was a monk of the convent of Nova Laura in Palestine, and made, c. 537, archbp. of Caesarea under Justinian. He supported the views of Origen when they were persecuted in Palestine. He secretly favoured Monophysite views, and, when Justinian condemned Origen, saw a chance of condemning the great authorities on the Nestorian side, Theodoret, Theodore, and Ibas. Working, therefore, through the empress Theodora, he persuaded Justinian to attempt to reconcile the Monophysite party; Justinian, at his suggestion, issuing his celebrated edict which gave rise to the great controversy concerning the Three Chapters. At the general council of Constantinople archbp. Theodore subscribed the condemnation of Origen on the one hand, and of Theodoret, Theodore, and Ibas on the other. He died probably c. 558 at Constantinople. The Testimonium of Theodore and of Cethegus the patrician concerning the contradictions of pope Vigilius about the Three Chapters is in Mansi, t. ix. col. 363 (Ceill. xi. 327, 865, 881; Hefele's Councils, § 258).
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodorus of Amasea

Theodorus (83) of Amasea, a young soldier who suffered in the persecution under Maximian and Galerius c. 306; surnamed "Tiro," a recruit. Our authorities are the Encomium of Gregory Nyssen (t. iii. pp. 578–586) and the less trustworthy Acts. He was of humble origin (Gregory says "a poor recruit") and a conscript. In winter quarters at Amasea the capital of Pontus, his refusal to join his comrades in sacrifice declared him a Christian. His trial was deferred some days to offer him time to recant. This interval he employed in firing the temple of the Mother of the Gods on the banks of the Iris in the midst of the city. The building and the statue of the deity were reduced to ashes. At the judgment-seat Theodore boldly acknowledged and gloried in the act. From prison, where he was visited at night by angels who filled the cell with light and song, he passed to death in a furnace. No fewer than three churches were dedicated in his honour at Constantinople (Du Cange, Constantinop. Christ. vol. iv. c. 6, Nos. 100–102). He had also a martyry at Jerusalem (Cyr. Vit. S. Sab. ap. Coteler. Eccl. Gr. Mon. iii. No. 78) and Damascus (Johan. Damasc. de Sacr. Imag. Or. iii.). The little circular church of San Teodoro, popularly known as St. Toto, at the base of the Palatine Hill in Rome, is well known. Zonaras, Annal. lib. xvii. c. 3, p. 213 (ed. Par. 1687); Credenus, Hist. Compend. pars. ii. p. 681 (ed. Par. 1647); Greg. Nyssen. Oratio de Magno Martyre Theodoro, t. iii. pp. 578–586 (ed. Par. 1633); Surius, Nov. 9, p. 231, § 7; Tillem. Mém. eccl. t. v. pp. 369–377, notes 732–735; Ruinart, Acta Martyrum pp. 505–511.
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodorus Lector

Theodorus (64) Lector, reader of the church of Constantinople. He composed in two books a tripartite history out of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, extant in MS. at Venice. It was copied by Leo Allatius, but not published. Valesius used his MS. in his edition of those authors. He also composed a history which extends from the last days of Theodosius the younger to the reign of the elder Justin, A.D. 518; some portions of which remain, and are in Migne's Patr. Gk. lxxxvi. col. 157–2280. They have been collected out of Nicephorus Callistus, John of Damascus, and the fifth action of the seventh general council. His history abounds with wonderful stories in defence of orthodoxy. He tells that Timotheus, bp. of Constantinople, A.D. 571, was the first to ordain the recitation of the Nicene Creed at all celebrations of the Holy Communion. It was previously only recited once a year, at the end of Lent. Evidently the Arian party must have been still strong at Constantinople in cent. vi. A question has been raised whether our Theodore did not live in cent. viii. rather than cent. vi. Combefis in his Originum Rerumque Constant. Manip. and Baudurius in his Imper. Orient. have given some quotations from a Theodorus Lector relating to the statues with which Constantinople was adorned, one containing an incident which proves the writer to have lived in the reign of Philip, 711–713 (Combef. p. 11; Baud. p. 88); but two men of the same name may have occupied the same office. Ceill. xi. 103–105; Fab. Bibl. Graec.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodoricus I., king of the Visigoths

Theodoricus (1) I. (Theodericus), chosen king of the Visigoths on the death of Valia, A.D. 419. He was the real founder of the West Gothic kingdom. On his accession the Visigoths held nothing in Spain, but occupied in Gaul Aquitania Secunda, the region lying, roughly speaking, between the Loire and the Garonne, with some neighbouring cities, of which Toulouse, their capital, was the most important. This territory had been ceded to Valia as the price of the foedus with Rome. The history of Theodoric's reign consists of a series of endeavours to extend this territory when the Romans were otherwise occupied, with intervals of renewal of the foedus, the Goths, however, retaining what they had won. In the great battle of the Mauriac plains Theodoric, who was advanced in life, fell from his horse and was trampled to death by his own troops (A.D. 451). Salvian (de Gub. Dei, vii. 154) praises him for his piety, to which he attributes the defeat of the self-confident Litorius. Though, like the rest of his race, an Arian, he did not persecute the Catholics. Prosper and Idatius, Chronica; Jordanes, Get. 34–40; Isidorus, Hist. Goth., Hist. Suev., Dahn, Die Könige der Germanen, v. 71.
[F.D.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodorus of Tabenna

Theodorus (53), priest and abbat of Tabenna in the Thebaid. Born A.D. 314, of noble parents in the Upper Thebaid, he forsook, at an early age, his worldly prospects, and found asylum with Palaemon the anchorite, and then in the monastery at Tabenna with Pachomius, under whom he became oeconomus. When Pachomius died Theodorus was offered the abbacy, but withdrew in favour of Orsisius, on whose retirement he succeeded, made many reforms, visited the subject monasteries, and founded 5 new ones at or near Ptolemais, Hermothis, Caius, Obi, and Bechre (Boll. AA. SS. Mai, iii. 327–328). During the lifetime of Pachomius Theodorus met St. Athanasius in the Thebaid, and is said to have announced to him the death of the emperor Julian, then occurring in Persia (Athan. Opp. ii. 695). St. Athanasius had a great regard for Theodorus, and bewailed his decease (Epp. ad Orsisium in Patr. Gk. xxvi. 978). St. Nilus (de Orat. c. 8) gives an anecdote of him. He died A.D. 367 (Tillem. H. E. vii. 225) or 368 (Boll. u.s. 291). Gennadius (de Script. Eccl. i. 8) calls him presbyter, and gives the substance of 3 epistles he is said to have addressed to other monasteries. Boll. u.s. 287–362, give the most elaborate account of Pachomius and Theodorus. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. ix. 318; Tillem. H. E. vii. 469 seq. 758 seq.; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 208; Ceill. Aut. Sacr. iv. 233 seq. 391.
[J.G.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodosius, a Monophysite monk

Theodosius (21), a fanatical Monophysite monk. Having been expelled from his monastery for some crime, he repaired to Alexandria, where he stirred up strife, was scourged, and paraded round the city on camelback as a seditious person (Evagr. H. E. ii. 5). He attended the council of Chalcedon in 451, apparently as one of the ruffianly followers of Barsumas. On the termination of the synod Theodosius hastened to Jerusalem, complaining that the council had betrayed the faith, and circulating a garbled translation of Leo's Tome (Leo Magn. Ep. 97 [83]). His protestations were credited by a large number of the monks and people, and having gained the ear of the empress dowager Eudocia, the former patroness of Eutyches, who had settled at Jerusalem, he so thoroughly poisoned the minds of the people of Jerusalem against JUVENAL as a traitor to the truth that they refused to receive him as their bishop on his return from Chalcedon, unless he would anathematize the doctrines he had so recently joined in declaring. On his refusal the malcontents attempted his assassination, and he barely escaped with his life to Constantinople. After Juvenal's flight Theodosius was ordained bp. of Jerusalem in the church of the Resurrection, and at once proceeded to ordain bishops for Palestine, chiefly for those cities whose bishops had not yet returned from Chalcedon. A reign of terror now began in Jerusalem. The public prisons were thrown open and the liberated criminals were employed to terrify by their violence those who refused communion with Theodosius. Those who refused to anathematize the council were pillaged and insulted in the most lawless manner. Finally, the emperor Marcian interposed, and issued orders to Dorotheus to apprehend Theodosius, who, however, managed to escape to the mountain fastnesses of Sinai (Labbe, iv. 879). What ultimately became of him is unknown. Evagr. H. E. ii. 5; Coteler. Mon. Graec. i. 415 seq.; Theophan. Chron. p. 92; Leo Magn. Ep. 126 [157]; Labbe, Concil. iv. 879 seq.; Niceph. H. E. xv. 9; Fleury, H. E. livre 38; Tillem. Mém. eccl. xv. 731 seq.; Le Quien, Or. Christ. iii. 164).
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodoricus I., king of the Franks

Theodoricus (5) I. (Thierry, Theuderich), king of the Franks (511–533), one of the four sons of Clovis, by a concubine. He was considerably older than his three half-brothers, the sons of Clotilda, and had a grown-up son, Theodebert, when his father died (Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc. ii. 28, iii. 1) in 511. The four sons divided the kingdom, nominally into equal portions, but really Theodoric, owing probably to his greater age and capacity, obtained the largest portion. His capital was Metz, and his kingdom comprised the Ripuarian Frankish territory, Champagne, the eastern portion of Aquitaine and the old Salian Frankish possessions to the Kohlenwald (Richter, Annalen, p. 46). Fauriel says that besides Frankish Germany he had so much of Gaul as lies between the Rhine and the Meuse and, as his share of Aquitaine, the Auvergne with the Velai and Gévaudan, its dependencies, the Limousin in part or whole, and certain other cantons of less importance (Hist. de la Gaule Mérid. ii. 92). Theodoric died in 533. He was a strong and capable king, but to the ferocity and lawlessness of his race he added an unscrupulous cunning of his own (ib. iii. 7). His attitude towards the church seems to have been one of indifference, influenced neither by fear nor superstition. Orthodoxy had been so useful a political weapon to his father that the son was presumably a professing Christian, though he is not mentioned among the members of Clovis's family baptized by St. Remigius. He did not shrink from involving churches in his army's pillage and destruction in the Auvergne (iii. 12), and though. he exalted St. Quintian, bp. of Clermont, it was not as a priest, but as a partisan who had suffered in his cause (iii. 2), while he bitterly persecuted Desiderius, bp. of Verdun (iii. 34). He has the credit of reducing to writing and amending the laws of the Franks, Alamanni, and Bavarians (Migne, Patr. Lat. lxxi. 1163).
[S.A.B.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theodorus, bishop of Tyana

Theodorus (50), bp. of Tyana, a fellow countryman and correspondent of Gregory Nazianzen. He was a native of Arianzus. Accompanying Gregory to Constantinople in 379, he shared in the ill-treatment received there from the Arian monks and rabble. He subsequently became bp. of Tyana, but not before 381. After Gregory returned to Arianzus many letters of friendship passed between him and Theodore. On the attempt of the Apollinarians to perpetuate the schism at Nazianzus, by appointing a bishop of their own, Gregory wrote very earnestly (A.D. 382) to Theodore, calling on him, as metropolitan, to appoint a bishop to replace him, as age and ill-health forbad his efficient superintendence of the church there (Ep. 88). After being compelled reluctantly to resume the care of Nazianzus, Gregory felt reason to complain of Theodore apparently siding with his enemies, and expressed his feelings with vehemence (Ep. 83). Their friendship, however, was not weakened, and on the completion, in 382, of the Philocalia—the collection of extracts from Origen made by him and Basil many years before—Gregory sent Theodore a copy as an Easter gift (Ep. 115 al. 87). Theodore was one of the bishops attending the council summoned against Chrysostom by Theophilus at the end of 403. Palladius describes him as a man of much wisdom and authority, who, when he discovered the malicious intention of Theophilus and his partisans, retired to his diocese soon after his arrival (Pallad. p. 23). The Theodorus to whom Chrysostom addressed his Ep. 112 has been identified with Theodore of Tyana by the second council of Constantinople (Labbe, v. 490). Tillemont decides (xi. 608) for Theodore of Mopsuestia.
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Abercromby, John (d.1561?)

Fictional, according to the ODNB.
​ABERCROMBY, JOHN (d. 1561?) , a Scotch monk of the order of St. Benedict, was a staunch opponent of the doctrines of the Reformation, and on that account was condemned to death and executed about the year 1561. He was the author of ‘Veritatis Defensio’ and ‘Hæreseos Confusio.’ It does not appear that either of these works was printed.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Abercromby, Alexander (1784-1853)

1904 Errata appended.
​ABERCROMBY, ALEXANDER (1784–1853), colonel, was youngest son of Sir Ralph Abercromby, and was born in 1784. He entered the army at an early age, and served as a volunteer with the 92nd regiment in the expedition to the Helder in 1799. He soon obtained his commission, and saw service with his regiment in Egypt. He was appointed aide-de-camp to his father's old lieutenant and friend, Sir John Moore, during his command in Sicily in 1806, but was not with him in Spain. Like his brother, Sir John, he was rapidly promoted, and in 1808, when only twenty-four, became lieutenant-colonel of the 28th regiment. He accompanied his regiment when it was sent to Portugal to reinforce Lord Wellington after the battle of Talavera. He commanded it at the battle of Busaco, and in the lines of Torres Vedras, and as senior colonel had the good fortune to command his brigade at the battle of Albuera. His services there were very conspicuous, and his brigade has been immortalised by Napier. He was soon superseded, but commanded his regiment at the surprise of Arroyo de Molinos and the storming of the forts at Almaraz. In 1812 he was removed to the staff of the army, and was present as assistant-quartermaster-general at the battles of Vittoria, the Pyrenees, and Orthes. He served in the same capacity in 1815, and was present at Quatre-Bras, Waterloo, and the storming of Peronne. For his active services he was promoted to a colonelcy in the 2nd or Coldstream guards, and made a companion of the Bath, a knight of the order of Maria Theresa of Austria, of the Tower and Sword of Portugal, and of St. George of Russia. He was returned to parliament in 1817 for the county of Clackmannan in the place of his brother Sir John, but retired in the following year. He was for some time in command of the 2nd guards, but retired on half-pay when there seemed to be no chance of another war, and died at his country seat in Scotland in 1853. He had no small share of the military ability of his family, and was an admirable regimental and staff officer; but the long peace which followed the battle of Waterloo gave him no opportunity to show whether he had his father's ability to command an army.
H. M. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.1 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Abercorn, Earl of

​ABERCORN, Earl of. [See Hamilton.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Abercromby, Alexander (1745-1795)

1904 Errata appended.
​ABERCROMBY, ALEXANDER (1745–1795), Scotch judge and essayist, fourth and youngest son of George Abercromby, of Tullibody, in Clackmannanshire, was born on 15 Oct. 1745. Two of his brothers entered the army, one of them becoming the celebrated general Sir Ralph Abercromby. Alexander studied at the university of Edinburgh, where he seems to have been chiefly distinguished for his handsome person and engaging disposition. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1766, and was soon afterwards appointed sheriff-depute of his native county. Personal residence, however, not being required, he continued the practice of his profession at the bar. In 1780 he resigned his sheriffship and was appointed one of the advocates-depute by Henry Dundas, then lord-advocate of Scotland, and acquired a good practice. He also helped Henry Mackenzie, the author of the ‘Man of Feeling,’ to start the ‘Mirror,’ published at Edinburgh in 1779, and contributed to the ‘Lounger’ in 1785 and 1786. Abercromby's papers show much correctness of style and tenderness of expression. In 1792 he took his seat on the bench of the Court of Session under the judicial title of Lord Abercromby, and a few months afterwards was appointed one of the lords commissioners of justiciary. On 17 Nov. 1795, he died of pulmonary disease at Exmouth. ​Lord Abercromby's known contributions to literature consist of ten papers in the ‘Mirror’ and nine in the ‘Lounger.’
J. B. P.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.1 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ferguson, William (1820-1887)

​FERGUSON, WILLIAM (1820–1887), botanist and entomologist, entered the Ceylon civil service in 1839, arriving in the island in December of that year. Here he ​resided until his death, which occurred on 31 July 1887. He occupied his leisure time in botanical and entomological studies, gaining an intimate knowledge of the flora and insect life of the island, and publishing from time to time the results of his observations and researches in the ‘Ceylon Observer’ and the ‘Tropical Agriculturist.’ His work obtained recognition from Dr. Hooker and other eminent biologists. Ferguson also published: 1. ‘The Palmyra Palm, Borassus flabelliformis. A popular Description of the Palm and its Products, having special reference to Ceylon, with a valuable Appendix, embracing extracts from nearly every Author that has noticed the Tree. Illustrated by wood engravings,’ Colombo, 1880, 4to. 2. ‘Correspondence with Sir J. Emerson Tennent on the Botany of Ceylon.’ 3. ‘A Plan of the Summit of Adam's Peak.’ 4. ‘Scripture Botany of Ceylon.’ 5. ‘The Timber Trees of Ceylon.’ 6. ‘The Reptile Fauna of Ceylon.’ 7. ‘Ceylon Ferns.’ He also left materials for a monograph on luminous beetles, including fireflies and glowworms, and a vast mass of miscellaneous notes of a scientific character.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fergusson, David

​FERGUSSON, DAVID (d. 1598), minister of Dunfermline. [See Ferguson.]