OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Hohenburg

From volume 7 of the work.
(ODILIENBERG; ALTITONA)
A suppressed nunnery, situated on the Odilienberg, the most famous of the Vosges mountains in Alsace. It was founded about 690 by St. Odilia, who also was its first abbess. On the eastern slope of the Odilienberg she built a hospice called Niedermünster or Nieder-Hohenburg, which afterwards became a convent for ladies of nobility and was destroyed by lightning in 1572. Originally Hohenburg seems to have been occupied by Benedictine nuns who were replaced by canonesses in the eleventh century. In the first half of the twelfth century it began to decline, but its discipline was restored by Abbess Relindis of Bergen near Neuburg on the Danube, who became Abbess of Hohenburg about 1140. During her rule Hohenburg became famous for its strict discipline as well as the great learning of its nuns. She was succeeded in 1167 by Herrad von Landsperg under whose rule the fame of Hohenburg continued to increase. She built the Premonstratensian monastery of St. Gorgon on the slope of the mountain in 1178, and the Augustinian monastery of Truttenhausen at its foot. Herrad is the author of "Hortus deliciarum", a collection of short treatises on theology, astronomy, philosophy, and other branches of learning. It also contained some original Latin poems with musical accompaniment, and some beautiful drawings. The work was destroyed at the conflagration of the Strasburg library in 1870. When Hohenburg perished by fire in 1546 some of the nuns returned to their parents, others became Protestants and married. In 1661 Hohenburg was rebuilt and occupied by Premonstratensians. During the French Revolution it was confiscated by the Government and sold as national property in 1791. Mgr. Räss, Bishop of Strasburg, purchased the buildings in 1853 for his diocese.
SILBERMANN, Beschreibung von Hohenburg (Strasburg, 1781 sad 1835); FORRER, Der Odilienberg (Strasburg, 1899); REINHARD, Le mont Ste-Odile et ses environs (Strasburg, 1888).
MICHAEL OTT
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Scriptural Tropology

From volume 15 of the work.
The theory and practice of interpreting the figurative meaning of Holy Writ. The literal meaning, or God-intended meaning of the words of the Bible, may be either figurative or non-figurative; for instance, in Canticles, the inspired meaning is always figurative. The typical meaning is the inspired meaning of words referring to persons, things, and actions of the Old Testament which are inspired types of persons, things, and actions of the New (cf. ).
WALTER DRUM
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sebaste

From volume 13 of the work.
A titular see in Phrygia Pacatiana, suffragan of Laodicea. Sebaste is known to us, apart from Hierocles, "Synecdemus", 667-8, by its coins and more so by its inscriptions; the latter identify it with the present village of Sivasli, in a fertile region at the foot of Bourgas Dagh, in the eastern portion of the plain of Banaz Ova, a vilayet of Brousse. The neighouring village of Sedjukler, a mile and a half distant, is also full of its ruins. Sebaste owes its name and foundation to Emperor Augustus, who established inhabitants of the adjacent villages in it; the Phrygian god Mên and his Grecian equivalent Zeus, as well as Apollo and Artemis, were adored there. The town was governed by strategi or archons, and in A.D. 99 a gerousia or council was established. Several of the inscriptions, which have been discovered in Sebaste, are Christian.
Le Quien (Oriens christ., I, 805) mentions seven bishops, six of whom are known to have taken part in councils, by their signatures: Modestus at Chalcedon, 451; Anatolius at Constantinople, 553 (possible Bishop of Sebaste in Cilicia); Plato at Constantinople, 692; Leo at Nicaea, 787; Euthymius at Constantinople, 869; Constantine at the Photian Council, Constantinople, 879; Theodore, the author of a lost historical work, in the tenth century. The see is mentioned in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" until the thirteenth century, sometimes under the name of Sebastia.
Another Sebaste occurs in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" as a bishopric in Cilicia Prima, Tarsus being its metropolis, and also a Julio-Sebaste, a see in Isauria, suffragan of Seleucia.
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog. s.v.; RAMSAY, Asia Minor, 381, etc.; IDEM, The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, 560, 581 seq., 600 seq., 616, 791, and passim.
S. Pétridès.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Scrutiny

From volume 13 of the work.
(Lat. scrutinium from scrutari to search, to investigate)
A term variously employed in canon law.
(1) In promotion to orders a scrutiny or examination of the candidate is to be made according to the warning of the Apostle: "Impose not hands lightly upon any man" (I Tim., v 22). That the practice is ancient is testified to by St. Cyprian (who died in 258) in his thirty-eighth epistle. The ninth canon of the Council of Nicæa (325) supposes the scrutiny of candidates to be already in use. Many later synods enforced and defined more exactly this scrutiny of those who aspired to orders. The present discipline is laid down by the Council of Trent (Sess. XXIII, Cap. v, de ref.), though its observance in every detail has not been reduced to practice in all countries. A three-fold scrutiny is ordered: first, through the inquiry into the qualities of the candidates by the parish priest and teachers and by public proclamation in the Church. The information thus obtained is to be embodied in a testimonial letter to the bishop. Secondly, shortly before ordination through the bishop himself and ecclesiastical persons appointed to examine into the morals, faith, and doctrine of the candidates. Thirdly, through the ceremonial form prescribed by the Pontificale Romanum for the ordination of a deacon or priest.
(2) Scrutiny is also a form of ecclesiastical election and is made either by written ballot or by pronouncing the chosen name before legitimate scrutators alone. It is the usual form for electing the pope.
(3) Scrutiny is also the term for the examination of catechumens before baptism. In ancient times there were three such scrutinies and later on the number was increased to seven. From the Middle Ages onwards owing to the fact that most who received baptism were infants the prescribed scrutinies were reduced to that now found in the ritual for conferring baptism. The subject-matter of these scrutinies was the faith and dispositions of the candidate.
WERNZ, Jus Decretalium, II (Rome, 1899).
WILLIAM H.W. FANNING
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Jumièges

From volume 15 of the work.
(Surnamed CALCULUS.)
Benedictine historian of the eleventh century. Practically nothing seems to be known of his life except that he was apparently a Norman by birth and became a monk at the royal abbey of Jumièges, in Normandy, where he died about 1090. His only claim to fame consists in his "Historia Normannorum", in eight books, which is the chief authority for the history of the Norman people from 851 to 1127. One of the earliest manuscripts of this work still extent was preserved at Rousen up to the Revolution and is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The first four books of the "Historia" were taken from an earlier work on the same subject, written by Dudon of St. Quentin, whose labours are praised by William. The verdict of more recent times, however, with regard to Dudon,, is that he was given to romancing and that his work was not particularly reliable. Many of his exaggerations have been modified and corrected by William, who made full use of all that was trustworthy in his predecessor's account. Only seven out of the eight books of the "Historia" are from William's own hand, comprising events down to the year 1087. The eighth book, continuing the history as far as the death of Boson, Abbot of Bec, which occurred in 1137, was added by an anonymous author, although his continuation is usually printed as an integral part of the complete work. Ordericus Vitalis drew largely from William's history for the portions of his work that deal with the Normans, as did also Thomas Walsingham inn his "Ypodigma neustriae". The "Historia Normannorum" was first edited and printed at Frankfurt in 1603 and is also included in Camden's collection of English and Norman historians. The style is considered passable for the age in which the writer lived, though it does not come up to the requirements of modern criticism.
DUCHESNE, Hist. Normannorum scriptores (Paris, 1619); BOUQUET, Recueil des historiens de France (Paris, 1752-81); CEILLIER, Hist. gen. des auteurs sacres (Paris, 1757); P.L., CXLIX.
G. CYPRIAN ALSTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Nangis

From volume 15 of the work.
(GUILHELMUS).
A medieval chronicler, who takes his name from the City of Nancy, France. All that is known of him is that he was a Benedictine monk and lived in the thirteenth century in the Abbey of Saint-Denis at Paris. According to some scholars he died before 22 July, 1300; according to others not until after 1303. A chronicle by him exists, extending from the creation to the year 1300, but which before the year 1133 has little independent value, as up to this point it depends completely upon the chronicle of Sigbertus of Gemblours. Even for the succeeding period it is only of subordinate importance. After William's death the chronicle was continued to 1340 by an unknown monk of Saint-Denis, and was then carried to 1368 by Johannes of Venette. The best edition is that of Hercule Geraud issued under the title: "Chronique latine de G. de Nangis de 1113 a' 1300 avec les continuations de cette chronique de 1300 à 1368" (2 vols., Paris, 1843). William wrote a brief summary of the chronicle, which included the years 845-1300, and is called "Chronicon abbreviatum regum Francorum". Recently Delisle seems to have found the original of this compendium in the Vatican Library; before this discovery it was only known in a French translation (Chronique abrégéé) made by the author himself. William also wrote the biographies of three kings: the "Gesta Ludovici VIII, Francorum regis", the "Gesta Ludovici IX", and the "Gesta Philippi III sive Audacis, regis Franciae", ed. by A. Duchesne in the "Historiae Francorum: Scriptores coaetanei" (5 vols., Paris). The exhaustive researches of Hermann Brosien published in the "Neues Archiv fur altere deutsche Geschichte", IV (1879), 426-509, show that the two latter biographies, like the chronicle, can be traced back to another author, to the chronicle of the monk Primatus, and are only enlarged by long extracts from Geoffrey of Beaulieu and Gilo de Reims. The "Gesta Ludovici IX", however, seems to have been used in common with Primatus, an earlier authority.
PATRICIUS SCHLAGER
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Malmesbury

From volume 15 of the work.
Born 30 November, about 1090; died about 1143. He was educated at Malmesbury, where he became a monk. From his youth he showed a special bent towards history, "Thence it came that not being satisfied with the writing of old I began to write myself". By 1125 he had completed his two works, "Gesta Regum" and "Gesta Pontificum". After this he spent ten years in forming a collection of historical and legal materials, now in the Bodleian library, and writing a history of Glastonbury and its saints, in which he speaks as though he were, for the time at least, an inmate of that abbey. He records that he might more than once have become Abbot of Malmesbury, but he contented himself with the office of librarian. About 1140 he made revisions of the two works "Gesta Regum" and "Gesta Pontificum", and began a new work "Historia novella", a sequel to the former, dealing with the period 1125-42, but in such a desultory way as to show that we have rather the first draft of a book than a completed work. William's authority as a historian is invaluable for the contemporary reign of Stephen, and his records of the earlier Norman kings, being based either on personal knowledge or direct hearsay, are of importance. The "Gesta Pontificum", which owes much to Bede, is the source from which all later writers of early ecclesiastical history of England have chiefly drawn. His method, also derived from Bede, was to recount events so as to show their cause and effect, and in returning to this sound principle he made a great advance on the works of his predecessors. The anecdotes, occasionally irrelevant, which he weaves into his narrative, helped much to preserve its popularity through the Middle Ages. His chief works have been printed by Migne, but the Rolls Series includes the critical edition.
SHARPE, introduction to translation of Gesta Regum (London, 1815); BIRCH, Life and Writings of William of Malmesbury in Trans. of Soc. of Lit., X, new series; HAMILTON, introduction to Gesta Pontificum in R. S. (London, 1887-9); NORGATE in Dict. Nat. Biog., with list of his works, whether published or still in MS.
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Ramsey

From volume 15 of the work.
Flourished about 1219. Nothing is known of his life except that he was a monk of Crowland Abbey who had been born at Ramsey, and who wrote lives of saints, some of which are in verse. He has been confused with William of Crowland, Abbot of Ramsey and afterwards of Cluny, who died in 1179. William of Ramsey wrote a poem on the translation of St. Guthlac, a prose account of the translation of St. Neot (printed in Acta SS., VII July, 330), a prose life of St. Waltheof (printed in Michel, "Chroniques anglo-normandes"). Liebermann ascribes to him other works on Waltheof found in the same manuscript, and Baronius regarded him as the author of the Life of St. Edmund of Canterbury published by Surius. Verified lives of St. Fremund, St. Edmund the King, and St. Birinus are attributed to him by Leland.
LELAND, De rebus britannicis collect. (London, 1774); HARDY, Descriptive Catalogue, I (London, 1862).
EDWIN BURTON
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Conches

From volume 15 of the work.
​William of Conches, a twelfth-century Scholastic philosopher and theologian, b. about the year 1100. After having been a teacher of theology in Paris he became, about the year 1122, the tutor of Henry Plantagenet. Warned by a friend of the danger implied in his Platonic realism as he applied it to theology, he took up the study of philosophy and the physical science of the Arabians. When and where he died is a matter of uncertainty. There is a good deal of discussion in regard to the authorship of the works ascribed to him. It seems probable, however, that he wrote glosses on Plato's "Timaeus", a commentary on Boethius's "Consolations of Philosophy", a dialogue called "Dragmaticon", and a treatise, "Magna de naturis philosophia". William devoted much attention to cosmology and psychology. Having been a student of Bernard of Chartres, he shows the characteristic Humanism, the tendency towards Platonism, and the taste for natural science which distinguish the "Chartrains". He is one of the first of the medieval Christian philosophers to take advantage of the physical and physiological lore of the Arabians. He had access to the writings of the Arabians in the translations made by Constantine the African.
P. L., XC; De Wulf, Hist. of Medieval Phil., tr. Coffey (New York, 1909), 184; Turner, Hist. of Phil. (Boston, 1903), 295 sq.
William Turner.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Digullevile

From volume 15 of the work.
(DEGULLEVILLE).
A French poet of the fourteenth century. Nothing is known of his life, except that he was a monk in the celebrated Cistercian abbey of Chalis. Three allegorical poems are attributed to him with some certainty: "Pélerinage de vie humaine", a description of a journey to Paradise, composed between 1330 and 1332, revised by the author in 1355; "Pélerinage de l'ame", a vision of hell, purgatory, and heaven; "Pélerinage de Jésus-Christ", a verse transposition of the Gospel with the addition of a few allegories, probably composed in 1358. We possess numerous manuscripts of these poems adorned with splendid miniatures, said to be the finest ever made. Several editions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries do not give the original text of the author, but a text amended by Peter Virgin, a monk of Clairvaux, or even a prose version made by John Gallopes, at the request of the Duchess of Anjou. These allegorical poems, containing not less than thirty thousand lines, met with a tremendous success in the Middle Ages, and were circulated throughout France and England. John Lydgate translated them into English, and Chaucer put a few passages into English verse, while John Bunyan imitated them in his famous poem, "Pilgrim's Progress". A new edition has been made by Stürzinger for the Roxburghe Club, London, 1893.
PIAGET in DE JUELEVILLE, Histoire de la litterature francaise, II (Paris, 1896); Histoire litteraire de la France, XXIV (Paris, 1856 sqq.).
LOUIS N. DELAMARRE
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Newburgh

From volume 15 of the work.
Historian, b. at Bridlington, Yorkshire, 1136; d. at Newburgh, Yorkshire, 1198, where he went as a boy to the small and recently-founded Augustinian priory. There he remained to the end as an Augustinian canon. There is no evidence that he travelled, and hardly anything is known of what was probably a very uneventful life. It would appear that he wrote his history within a short period of his death; if this was the case he must have long been preparing his materials. His "Historia rerum anglicarum" opens with a short introductory sketch of the reigns of the Conqueror and his sons, followed by a fuller account of that of Stephen. The main purpose of the writer was to produce a philosophical commentary on the history of his own times, and books II-V cover the period 1154-98. They are more than a mere chronicle; they form a real history in which the connection of events is traced, a proper sense of proportion observed, and men and their actions judged from an intelligent and independent point of view.
William of Newburgh, with his contemporary Roger of Hoveden, belongs to the northern school of historians, who carried on the admirable traditions of the Venerable Bede. This was a spirit very unlike that which inspired Geoffrey of Monmouth's mythical "History of the British Kings" with its tales of King Arthur, and William attacks Geoffrey and his legends with great indignation, calling the latter "impudent and shameless lies". This striking illustration of his historic integrity won for him from Freeman the title of "the father of historical criticism", and the compliment is not altogether undeserved. Living in a remote Yorkshire monastery William could not have had an intimate first-hand knowledge of public events, but he used his authorities, such as Symeon of Durham and Henry of Huntingdon, with excellent judgment. Though his chronology is confused and untrustworthy his work is of the greatest value, especially for the early years of the reign of Henry II. The best edition of the History is that edited by R. Howlett for the Rolls Series (Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, vols. I and II).
HOWLETT, preface to Rolls Series; NORGATE in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; JONES in the Cambridge History of English Literature, I, 171.
F. F. Urquhart.
# Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/William of Poitiers

From volume 15 of the work.
Norman historian, born of a noted family, at Préaux near Pont Audemer, Normandy, about 1020. One of his sisters was abbess of a monastery at Préaux. About 1040 he went to make his studies at Poitiers (whence his surname). After leading the life of a knight and taking part in several battles, he took orders, and became chaplain to Duke , whose history he resolved to write. Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, brought him to his cathedral and appointed him archdeacon. He fulfilled these duties under Hugh and his successor Gilbert Maminot, who had founded a sort of scholarly academy where astronomical and mathematical questions were discussed. William was considered one of the best informed men of his time; he knew the Greek and Latin authors. He lived to an extreme old age, the date of his death being unknown, but it is placed about 1087. He is chiefly known through Ordericus Vitalis (I, IV, passim), who speaks of his talent for versification and says that he communicated his verses to young students in order to instruct them in the poetic art. His sole extant work is his Life of William the Conqueror, "Gesta Guilelmi II, ducis Normannorum, regis Anglorum I". It exists only in a single manuscript (Cottonian Manuscript, British Museum), almost destroyed, according to which the work has been published (ed. Duchesne, "Norman. Scriptores", 178-213). This work was composed as a single writing, and was offered to King William by the author between 1071 and 1077. The beginning (as far as 1047) and the end of the work (from 1068) are lost. According to Ordericus Vitalis the account stopped at 1071. As sources he made use of Dudon de St. Quentin and annals now lost. He also interrogated the witnesses of events and reproduced in part personal recollections. Hence his work has the value of a contemporary source based on direct testimonies. Although the style has the pretentious character of the writings of that period, the composition is careful; the tone is that of a panegyric of William. Among the most important passages must be mentioned the sojourn of Harold in Normandy and the Conquest of England. Unfortunately the first part, dealing with the early life of Duke William, has disappeared. Editions of his work are: A. Duchesne, "Normannorum Scriptores" (Paris, 1619, 178-213), reproduced in P. L., XLIX, 1216-70; Giles, "Scriptores rerum gestarum Willelmi Conquestoris" (London, 1845), 78-159, French tr. Guizot, "Collection de mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France" (Paris, 1826), XXIX.
KÖRTING, Wilhelms von Poitiers Gesta Guilelmi...Ein Beitrag zur anglonormann. Historiographie (Dresden, 1875); Histoire littéraire de la France, VIII, 192-97; DAWSON, History of Hastings Castle, the castlery, rape and battle of Hastings (London, 1909).
LOUIS BRÉHIER