OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baldwin II. (emperor of Romania)

See also Baldwin II, Latin Emperor on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. This "Romania" is the Latin Empire of Constantinople and shared no territory with what became the modern country of Romania.
​BALDWIN II. (1217–1273), emperor of Romania, was a younger son of Yolande, sister of Baldwin I. Her husband, Peter of Courtenay, was third emperor of Romania, and had been followed by his son Robert, on whose death in 1228 the succession passed to Baldwin, a boy of eleven years old. The barons chose John of Brienne (titular king of Jerusalem) as emperor-regent for life; Baldwin was to rule the Asiatic possessions of the empire when he reached the age of twenty, was to marry John’s daughter Mary, and on John’s death to enjoy the full imperial sovereignty. The marriage contract was carried out in 1234. Since the death of the emperor Henry in 1216, the Latin empire had declined and the Greek power advanced; and the hopes that John of Brienne might restore it were disappointed. He died in 1237. The realm which Baldwin governed was little more than Constantinople. His financial situation was desperate, and his life was chiefly occupied in begging at European courts. He went to the West in 1236, visited Rome, France and Flanders, trying to raise money and men to recover the lost territory of his realm. His efforts met with success, and in 1240 he returned to Constantinople (through Germany and Hungary) at the head of a considerable army. Circumstances hindered him from accomplishing anything with this help, and in 1245 he travelled again to the West, first to Italy and then to France, where he spent two years. The empress Maria and Philip of Toucy governed during his absence. He was happy to be able to get money from King Louis IX. in exchange for relics. In 1249 he was with King Louis at Damietta. The extremity of his financial straits reduced him soon afterwards to handing over his only son Philip to merchants as a pledge for loans of money. Louis IX. redeemed the hostage. The rest of his inglorious reign was spent by Baldwin in mendicant tours in western Europe. In 1261 Constantinople was captured by Michael Palaeologus, and Baldwin’s rule came to an end. He escaped in a Venetian galley to Negropont, and then proceeded to Athens, thence to Apulia, finally to France. As titular emperor, his rôle was still the same, to beg help from the western powers. In 1267 he went to Italy; his hopes were centred in Charles of Anjou. Charles seriously entertained the idea of conquering Constantinople, though various complications hindered him from realizing it. He made a definite treaty with Baldwin to this intent (May 1267). During the next year Baldwin and his son Philip lived on pensions from Charles. In October 1273 Philip married Beatrice, daughter of Charles, at Foggia. A few days later Baldwin died.
See authorities for Baldwin I. above; also Norden, Das Papsttum und Byzanz (Berlin 1903). (J. B. B.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baldwin V.

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​BALDWIN V., the son of Sibylla (daughter of Amalric I.) by her first husband, William of Montferrat, was the nominal king of Jerusalem from 1183 to 1186, under the regency of Raymund of Tripoli. His reign is marked by the advance of Saladin and by dissensions between the government and Guy of Lusignan.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bale

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​BALE. (1) (A word common to Teutonic languages, in O. Eng. balu, cf. Icelandic böl), evil, suffering, a word obsolete except in poetry, and more common in the adjectival form “baleful.” In early alliterative poetry it is especially used antithetically with “bliss.” (2) (O. Eng. bael, a blazing fire, a funeral pyre), a bonfire, a northern English use more common in the tautological “bale-fire,” with sometimes a confused reference from (1) to evil. (3) (A word of doubtful origin, possibly connected with “ball”), a bundle of merchandise, especially of cotton, wool or hay, packed with a cover, or fastened with bands of metal, &c. for transportation; the weight and capacity varies with the goods. (4) (Properly “bail,” from Fr. baille, possibly connected with Lat. bacula, a tub), to empty water out of a boat by means of a bail or bucket.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ayacucho

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​AYACUCHO, a city and department of central Peru, formerly known as Guamanga or Huamanga, renamed from the small plain of Ayacucho (Quichua, “corner of death”). This lies near the village of Quinua, in an elevated valley 11,600 ft. above sea-level, where a decisive battle was fought between General Sucré and the Spanish viceroy La Serna in 1824, which resulted in the defeat of the latter and the independence of Peru. The city of Ayacucho, capital of the department of that name ​and of the province of Guamanga, is situated on an elevated plateau, 8911 ft. above sea-level, between the western and central Cordilleras, and on the main road between Lima and Cuzco, 394 m. from the former by way of Jauja. Pop. (1896) 20,000. It has an agreeable, temperate climate, is regularly built, and has considerable commercial importance. It is the seat of a bishopric and of a superior court of justice. It is distinguished for the number of its churches and conventual establishments, although the latter have been closed. The city was founded by Pizarro in 1539 and was known as Guamanga down to 1825. It has been the scene of many notable events in the history of Peru.
The department of Ayacucho extends across the great plateau of central Peru, between the departments of Huancavelica and Apurimac, with Cuzco on the E. and Ica on the W. Area, 18,185 sq. m.; pop. (1896) 302,469. It is divided into six provinces, and covers a broken, mountainous region, partially barren in its higher elevations but traversed by deep, warm, fertile valleys. It formed a part of the original home of the Incas and once sustained a large population. It produces Indian corn and other cereals and potatoes in the colder regions, and tropical fruits, sweet potatoes and mandioca (Jatropha manihot, L.) in the low tropical valleys. It is also an important mining region, having a large number of silver mines in operation. Its name was changed from Guamanga to Ayacucho by a decree of 1825.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aylesbury

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​AYLESBURY, a market-town in the Aylesbury parliamentary division of Buckinghamshire, England, 38 m. N.W. by W. of London; served by the Great Central, Metropolitan and Great Western railways (which use a common station) and by a branch of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 9243. It has connexion by a branch with the Grand Junction canal. It lies on a slight eminence in a fertile tract called the Vale of Aylesbury, which extends northward from the foot of the Chiltern Hills. Its streets are mostly narrow and irregular, but picturesque. The church of St Mary, a large cruciform building, is primarily Early English, but has numerous additions of later dates. The font is transitional Norman, a good example; and a small pre-Norman crypt remains beneath part of the church. There are some Decorated canopied tombs, and the chancel stalls are of the 15th century. The central tower is surmounted by an ornate clock-turret dating from the second half of the 17th century. The county-hall and town-hall, overlooking a broad market-place, are the principal public buildings. The grammar school was founded in 1611. Aylesbury is the assize town for the county, though Buckingham is the county town. There is a large agricultural trade, the locality being especially noted for the rearing of ducks; straw-plaiting and the manufacture of condensed milk are carried on, and there are printing works. The Jacobean mansion of Hartwell in the neighbourhood of Aylesbury was the residence of the French king Louis XVIII. during his exile (1810–1814).
Aylesbury (Æylesburge, Eilesberia, Aillesbir) was famous in Saxon times as the supposed burial-place of St Osith. In A.D. 571 it was one of the towns captured by Cuthwulf, brother of Ceawlin, king of the Saxons. At the time of the Domesday survey the king owned the manor. In 1554, by a charter from Queen Mary, bestowed as a reward for fidelity during the rebellion of the duke of Northumberland, Aylesbury was constituted a free borough corporate, with a common council consisting of a bailiff, 10 aldermen and 12 chief burgesses. The borough returned two members to parliament from this date until the Redistribution Act of 1885, but the other privileges appear to have lapsed in the reign of Elizabeth. Aylesbury evidently had a considerable market from very early times, the tolls being assessed at the time of Edward the Confessor at £25 and at the time of the Domesday survey at £10. In 1239 Henry III. made a grant to John, son of Geoffrey FitzPeter of an annual fair at the feast of St Osith (June 3rd), which was confirmed by Henry VI. in 1440. Queen Mary’s charter instituted a Wednesday market and fairs at the feasts of the Annunciation and the Invention of the Holy Cross. In 1579 John Pakington obtained a grant of two annual fairs to be held on the day before Palm Sunday and on the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, and a Monday market for the sale of horses and other animals, grain and merchandise.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ay

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​AY, AYE. The word “aye,” meaning always (and pronounced as in “day”; connected with Gr. ἀεί, always, and Lat. aevum, an age), is often spelt “ay,” and the New English Dictionary prefers this. “Aye,” meaning Yes (and pronounced almost like the word “eye”), though sometimes identified with “yea,” is probably the same word etymologically, though differentiated by usage; the form “ay” for this is also common, but inconvenient; at one time it was spelt simply I (e.g. in Michael Drayton’s Idea, 57; published in 1593).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ayala, Don Pedro Lopez de

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​AYALA, DON PEDRO LOPEZ DE (1332–1407), Spanish statesman, historian and poet, was born at Vittoria in 1332. He first came into prominence at the court of Peter the Cruel, whose cause he finally deserted; he greatly distinguished himself in subsequent campaigns, during which he was twice made prisoner, by the Black Prince at Nájera (1367) and by the Portuguese at Aljubarrota (1385). A favourite of Henry II. and John I. of Castile, he was made grand chancellor of the realm by Henry III. in 1398. A brave officer and an able diplomat, Ayala was one of the most cultivated Spaniards of his time, at once historian, translator and poet. Of his many works the most important are his chronicles of the four kings of Castile during whose reigns he lived; they give a generally accurate account of scenes and events, most of which he had witnessed; he also wrote a long satirical and didactic poem, interesting as a picture of his personal experiences and of contemporary morality. The first part of his chronicle, covering only the reign of Peter the Cruel, was printed at Seville in 1495; the first complete edition was printed in 1779–1780 in the collection of Crónicas Españolas, under the auspices of the Spanish Royal Academy of History. Ayala died at Calahorra in 1407.
See Rafael Floranes, “Vida literaria de Pedro Lopez de Ayala,” in the Documentos inéditos para la historia de España, vols. xix. and xx.; F. W. Schirrmacher, “Über die Glaubwürdigkeit der Chronik Ayalas,” in Geschichte von Spanien (Berlin, 1902), vol. v. pp. 510-532.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aylesford

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​AYLESFORD, a town in the Medway parliamentary division of Kent, England, 31/2 m. N.W. of Maidstone on the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901) 2678. It stands at the base of a hill on the right bank of the Medway. The ancient church of St. Peter (restored in 1878) is principally Perpendicular, but contains some Norman and Decorated portions. It has interesting brasses of the 15th and 16th centuries and an early embattled tower. At a short distance west, a residence occupying part of the site, are remains of a Carmelite friary, founded here in 1240. It is claimed for this foundation (but not with certainty) that it was the first house of Carmelites established in England, and the first general chapter of the order was held here in 1245. Several remains of antiquity exist in the neighbourhood, among them a cromlech called Kit’s Coty House, about a mile north-east from the village. (See Stone Monuments, Plate, fig. 2.) In accordance with tradition this has been thought to mark the burial-place of Catigern, who was slain here in a battle between the Britons and Saxons in A.D. 455; the name has also been derived from Celtic Ked-coit, that is, the tomb in the wood. The name of the larger group of monuments close by, called the Countless Stones, is due to the popular belief, which occurs elsewhere, that they are not to be counted. Large numbers of British coins have been found in the neighbourhood. The supposed tomb of Horsa, who fell in the same battle, is situated at Horsted, about 2 m. to the north.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ayah

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​AYAH, a Spanish word (aya) for children’s nurse or maid, introduced by the Portuguese into India and adopted by the English to denote their native nurses.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aye-Aye

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​AYE-AYE, a word of uncertain signification (perhaps only an exclamation), but universally accepted as the designation of the most remarkable and aberrant of all the Malagasy lemurs (see Primates). The aye-aye, Chiromys (or Daubentonia) madagascariensis, is an animal with a superficial resemblance to a long-haired and dusky-coloured cat with unusually large eyes. It has a broad rounded head, short face, large naked eyes, large hands, and long thin fingers with pointed claws, of which the ​third is remarkable for its extreme slenderness. The foot resembles that of the other lemurs in its large opposable great toe with a flat nail; but all the other toes have pointed compressed claws. Tail long and bushy. General colour dark brown, the outer fur being long and rather loose, with a woolly under-coat. Teats two, inguinal in position. The aye-aye was discovered by Pierre Sonnerat in 1780, the specimen brought to Paris by that traveller being the only one known until 1860. Since then many others have been obtained, and one lived for several years in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. Like so many lemurs, it is completely nocturnal in its habits, living either alone or in pairs, chiefly in the bamboo forests. Observations upon captive specimens have led to the conclusion that it feeds principally on juices, especially of the sugar-cane, which it obtains by tearing open the hard woody circumference of the stalk with its strong incisor teeth; but it is said also to devour certain species of wood-boring caterpillars, which it obtains by first cutting down with its teeth upon their burrows, and then picking them out of their retreat with the claw of its attenuated middle finger. It constructs large ball-like nests of dried leaves, lodged in a fork of the branches of a large tree, and with the opening on one side.
Till recently the aye-aye was regarded as representing a family by itself—the Chiromyidae; but the discovery that it resembles the other lemurs of Madagascar in the structure of the inner ear, and thus differs from all other members of the group, has led to the conclusion that it is best classed as a subfamily (Chiromyinae) of the Lemuridae. (R. L.*)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barbier, Henri Auguste

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​BARBIER, HENRI AUGUSTE (1805–1882), French dramatist and poet, was born in Paris on the 29th of April 1805. Inspired by the revolution of July he poured forth a series of eager, vigorous poems, denouncing, crudely enough, the evils of the time. They are spoken of collectively as the Iambes (1831), though the designation is not strictly applicable to all. As the name suggests, they are modelled on the verse of André Chénier. They include La Curée, La Popularité, L’Idole, Paris, Dante, Quatre-vingt-treize and Varsovie. The rest of Barbier’s poems are forgotten, and when, in 1869, he received the long delayed honour of admission to the Academy, Montalembert expressed the general sentiment in his Barbier? mais il est mort! It was even asserted, though without foundation, that he was not the real author of the Iambes. He died at Nice on the 13th of February 1882. He collaborated with Léon de Wailly in the libretto of Berlioz’s opera, Benvenuto Cellini, and his works include two series of poems on the political and social troubles of Italy and England, printed in later editions of Iambes et poèmes.
See also Sainte-Beuve, Portraits Contemporains, vol. ii.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barbier, Louis

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​BARBIER, LOUIS, known as the Abbé de la Rivière (1593–1670), French bishop, was born of humble parents in Vaudelaincourt, near Compiègne. He entered the church and made his way by his wit and cleverness, until he was appointed tutor, and then became the friend and adviser, of Gaston d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIII. He thus gained an entrance to the court, became grand almoner of the queen, and received the revenue of rich abbeys. In March 1655 he was named bishop of Langres, but he spent his time at court, where his wit was always in demand, and where he gained great sums by gambling. He died very rich.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco

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​BARBIERI, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO (otherwise called Guercino, from his squinting), (1591–1666), Italian historical painter, was born at Cento, a village not far from Bologna. His artistic powers were developed very rapidly, and at the age of seventeen he was associated with Benedetto Gennari (1550–1610), a well-known painter of the Bolognese school. The fame of the young painter spread beyond his native village, and in 1615 he removed to Bologna, where his paintings were much admired. His first style was formed after that of the Caracci; but the strong colouring and shadows employed by Caravaggio made a deep impression on his mind, and for a considerable period his productions showed evident traces of that painter’s influence. Some of his latest pieces approach rather to the manner of his great contemporary Guido, and are painted with more lightness and clearness. Guercino was esteemed very highly in his lifetime, not only by the nobles and princes of Italy, but by his brother artists, who placed him in the first rank of painters. He was remarkable for the extreme rapidity of his execution; he completed no fewer than 106 large altar-pieces for churches, and his other paintings amount to about 144. His most famous piece is thought to be the St Petronilla, which was painted at Rome for Gregory XV. and is now in the Capitol. In 1626 he began his frescoes in the Duomo at Piacenza. Guercino continued to paint and teach up to the time of his death in 1666. He had amassed a handsome fortune by his labours. His life, by J. A. Calvi, appeared at Bologna in 1808.
His brother, Paolo Antonio Barbieri (1603–1649), was a celebrated painter of still life and animals. He chose for his subjects fruits, flowers, insects and animals, which he painted after nature with a lively tint of colour, great tenderness of pencil, and a strong character of truth and life.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barbey d'Aurevilly, Jules Amédée

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​BARBEY D’AUREVILLY, JULES AMÉDÉE (1808–1889), French man of letters, was born at Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte (Manche) on the 2nd of November 1808. His most famous novels are Une Vieille Maîtresse (1851), attacked at the time of its publication on the charge of immorality; L’Ensorcelée (1854), an episode of the royalist rising among the Norman peasants against the first republic; the Chevalier Destouches (1864); and a collection of extraordinary stories entitled Les Diaboliques (1874). Barbey d’Aurevilly is an extreme example of the eccentricities of which the Romanticists were capable, and to read him is to understand the discredit that fell upon the manner. He held extreme Catholic views and wrote on the most risqué subjects, he gave himself aristocratic airs and hinted at a mysterious past, though his parentage was entirely bourgeois and his youth very hum-drum and innocent. In the ’fifties d’Aurevilly became literary critic of the Pays, and a number of his essays, contributed to this and other journals, were collected as Les Œuvres et les hommes du XIXᵉ siècle (1861–1865). Other literary studies are Les Romanciers (1866) and Goethe et Diderot (1880). He died in Paris on the 23rd of April 1889. Paul Bourget describes him as a dreamer with an exquisite sense of vision, who sought and found in his work a refuge from the ​uncongenial world of every day. Jules Lemaître, a less sympathetic critic, finds in the extraordinary crimes of his heroes and heroines, his reactionary views, his dandyism and snobbery, an exaggerated Byronism.
See also Alcide Dusolier, Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly (1862), a collection of eulogies and interviews; Paul Bourget, Preface to d’Aurevilly’s Memoranda (1883); Jules Lemaître, Les Contemporains; Eugène Grelé, Barbey d’Aurevilly, sa vie et son œuvre (1902); René Doumic, in the Revue des deux mondes (Sept. 1902).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barbier, Antoine Alexandre

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​BARBIER, ANTOINE ALEXANDRE (1765–1825), French librarian and bibliographer, was born on the 11th of January 1765 at Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne). He took priest’s orders, from which, however, he was finally released by the pope in 1801. In 1794 he became a member of the temporary commission of the arts, and was charged with the duty of distributing among the various libraries of Paris the books that had been confiscated during the Revolution. In the execution of this task he discovered the letters of Huet, bishop of Avranches, and the MSS. of the works of Fénelon. He became librarian successively to the Directory, to the Conseil d’État, and in 1807 to Napoleon, from whom he carried out a number of commissions. He produced a standard work in his Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes (4 vols., 1806–1809; 3rd edition 1872–1879). Only the first part of his Examen critique des dictionnaires historiques (1820) was published. He had a share in the foundation of the libraries of the Louvre, of Fontainebleau, of Compiègne and Saint-Cloud; under Louis XVIII. he became administrator of the king’s private libraries, but in 1822 he was deprived of all his offices. Barbier died in Paris on the 5th of December 1825.
See also a notice by his son, Louis Barbier, and a list of his works prefixed to the 3rd edition of the Dict. des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes.