Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/714

 RAMSEY

638

RAMUS

thin, so that he luul more tlic appearance of a gliost than of a human boing. He was a great thinker, fond of sohtudo, and out of place in society. In 172tj he married Marie-Louise Mangot, and had four children, a son and llirce dauglilers, one of whom en- tered the Order of the \isilation. Without denying the merits of Lully (l(i;i:i-lti8T) and Couperin (1063- 1733), the founders of the French opera, and even adiuilling that Hameau was not riglit in all the de- tails of his theory, we must acknowledge that he opened u]) a new road, which was followed by all who came afl<r him. His main principle, for the defence of whi(^h he had to sustain hard struggles, was that melody, far from being sufhcient for a good piece of music, itself dei)enils on the rules of harmony, BO that the real guide of e\ery composer is harmony, not melody. His eliief merit consists in having es- tablishi'd (he relations between science and art, and in having highly developed the symphonic part of the opera. Ills niost famous theoretical works are: "Trait6 de I'hannonie r(5duite k son principe na- turel" (1722); "Generation harmonique" (1737); " Demonstration du principe de 1 'harmonic" (1750); "Code de musique pratique" (1760). Only at the age of fifty diil he begin to write for the stage, and in sixteen years (1733-1749) he composed about thirty operas and ballets, the best of which are: "Castor et Pollux", "Les Indes Galantes", "Dar- danus and Zoroastre". Of his church music some motets only are known. He left miiny compositions for the i)iano, either alone or with other inslruments, eighteen of which have been lately published by Vincent d'lndy. Durand, in Paris, has undertaken a complete edition of Rameau's works, under the direction of Saint-Saens.

Mabet, Elooe hisloriguc de M. Rameau (Paris, 1766); PotiaiN, Rameau EMai sur .so vie et ses auvres (Paris. 1878); LAnRENCiE, Mt-mire mu«iml rfu IS Juin (1907); Laloy, Rameau (Paris, 1909), 2 edit.

A. Walter.

Ramsey Abbey, Huntingdonshire, England, was founded l>v .ViKvine (Ethelwine, lOgclwine), a Saxon noble, in "Ki'.). He was encouraged in the im<ler- taking l)y St. Oswald of York, who advised hini that where men have renounced the world "the air be- comes salubrious, the fruits of the earth are gatliored in abvmdance, famines and pestilence disappear, the State is duly governed, jirisons are opened, an<l captives set free, thos(^ wrecked at sea are relieved, the sick are healed and the weak find means for their convalescence". The site chosen, Ramsey (Ram + eie, iH.li//ii ariilis], was then the largest and finest of the islands of a great, marsh formed by the waters of the Ouse. It was afterwards coimected with the mainland by a causeway constructed by the monks. Here Aedmith, nephew of Ailwine, connnissioned by Oswald to make preparations, built a wooden cIumm'Ii and offices, and as soon as all was ready, the s.iint Bent twelv(- monks from his monastery of West bury (Worcester) to take ixissession. The wov Si. Oswald, Archbi.sliop of ^ ork, assisted by Ae.s.^wio, Bishop of Dorchester, m DDL The year following (992) the two founders, Adwin(' and Oswald, died, and the monastery, governed till then by priors (Germanus and Aednoth), wsus per- mitted to elect an abbot. Aednoth, son of Aednoth the prior, wsis the first to hold the office.

Ailwine handsomely endowed his foundation with lands and privileges! He also presented the new church with an altar-frontal (tahiiln in fmulc cmitu-u- lioriK altiiris) of wood, covered with silver i)lates and many-coloured jewels. King Edgar, Henry I, Henry II, and others exteTide<l and confirmed the possessions and liberties. In 1002 the body of St.

Ives (Ivo) was miraculously discovered in the neigh- bourhood and this led to the establishment of the dependent priory of St. Ives. Another dependent priory or cell was Modney, in Norfolk. The abbot had a seat in Parliament and ranked next after Glastonbury and St. Alban's. At the Dissolution (15.39) John Wardeboys, alias Lawrence, willingly resigned the abbey into the king's hands and re- ceived a pension of £266. 13s. 4d. per annum. The estates were granted by Henry VIII to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell. The revenue, according to Dugdale, was £1716. 12s. 4d., but according to Speed, £983. 15s. 3Hd. Nothing important remains of the buildings but a ruined Late Gothic gateway.

Chn>ino,n AhlmtiiT Rameseiensis in Rolls Series (1880); Cnrlulitniim Mond^lirii de Ramscaia in Rolls Series (3 vol.f.) ; DuciDALK, MonnstifoH Anglicanum, II (London. 1846); Reyner, Apustulatus Benedictinorum, 149; Wise, Ramsey Abbey, its rise and /all (1881).

J. C. Almond.

Ramus, Peter (Pierre de la Ram^e), Humanist and logician, b. at Cuth in Picardy, 1515; d. in Paris, 1572. In spite of many difficulties, including poverty and the loss of both his parents at an early age, he succeeded in obtaining a good education, and grad- uated at the Uni- versity of Paris in ^^^\'^j 1.536 as Master of Sfii'rfa. Arts. The thesis which he defended ^ , "Qu«cumque ab V^ / Aristotele dicta sunt, comment it ia sunt" ("All Aris- totle's doctrines are false") indi- cates the direction of his thoughts even at that time. He was an out- spoken and un- comi)romising op- poiient of the Aristotelean phi- losophy which was at that time the authoritative phi- losophy in every European centre of learning. His two principal works, " AristoteliciB Aniinadver- siones" and "Dialecticje Institutiones", both of whic^h wore written in elegant humanistic Latin and published in Paris in 1543, brought him into still sharper conflict with the official world of schdkuship. Thi' books wen^ eomlenmed by the lIniv<Tsitv of Paris, an act which was made the sub- ject of debide in \\w French l'arli:iinenl, until Francis 1 inter|)oscd by :ipii(iinting a conimitlee to listen to a disputation lietweeii R;iinus ;inil his princi|)al oppo- nent, .\nl hony of ( lovca. The majority of the connnit- tee decided ag;unst Ramus, and condemned hnn as "r;ish, arrogant and impudent". This decision was confirmed by the king. In 1.547, after the accession of Henry II, and owing to the protection of the Car- dinal of Lorraine, Ramus was accordeil gre:iler liberty, and succeeded in obtaining a position as teacher, or "royal lecturer", at the College of Niivarre. In 15(52, ho renounced Catholicism and became a Cal- vinist. In the ma.ssacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, he was singl(\d out by his enemies and put to death with every circ\nnstance of cruelty :uul brutal- ity. Hannis was a writer of more th.an ordiuiiry brilliancy and elTectivene.ss. He sought out (he weak points in the method of teaching logic then in vogue, and direct<'d his attack ;ig;iinst them with the ability, and indeed, very much in the manner, of the cele- brated Italian Hinnanist, \'ives. H(> objected es- pecially to what lie called llu' sterility of the logic