Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/538

 VISDELOU

476

VISIGOTHS

princely house in the cathedral at Meissen, and the episcopal tombs at Breslau and Magdeburg. These works contain some curious details; in one it is the carpet spread out back of the recumbent body with a perspective background and scrolls in the Renais- sance style; in another the horizontal church-doorway in which the recumbent body is, so to speak, placed upright under a baldachino.

From 1505 Vischer was at work on his master- piece, the sepulchral monument to St. Sebaldus, which, according to an inscription, he finished with the aid of his sons in 1519. The structure as a whole has great dignity and a compact unity, although the fundamental Gothic form has some Romanesque additions, and a large number of small Renaissance figures surround the monument. The rectangular base has an ornamental candlestick at each corner; each of the longer sides of the base presents in relief two scenes from the hfe of St. Sebaldus, patron of Nuremberg: Sebaldus draws fire from an icicle, fills an empty jug with wine, gives sight to a blind man, and causes the earth to swallow a mocker. On one of the shorter sides stands an ideal figure of the saint, on the other a figure after real life of Vischer himself wearing a leather apron, as when at work. The structure terminates above in Gothic arches and dome-like pyramids, the one in the centre supporting the Infant Jesus with the orb. Below the top, on a pedestal and clearly seen from all sides, is the silver shrine of the saint. In front of the columns of the structure rise candelabra, which bear figures of the Apostles. The tops of the main columns support figures from the Old Testament. For jirotection the spans of the arches are equipped with two columns, one standing above the other; the lower column rises as high 33 the socle, the upper, which rises much higher, has at its top a stately capital. The other similar parts of this chapel-Uko monument gi\'e proof of the richness of imagination of the master.

The fine statues of King Arthur and King Theo- doric, which form a part of the monument to the Emperor Maximilian in the court church at Inns- bruck, are also, according to the original documents, the work of Vischer's workshop and should be as- cribed chiefly to Peter the elder (1513). In later works the part taken by the sons is more and more evident. The Madonna of Nuremberg is also held to be a production of Vischer's workshop.

Daun, Monographic (Leipzig, 1905): Neudorfeb, Nachrichten von Kiinstlem unci Werkleute zu Niirnberg (1547), ed. LocHNER; Bergau in DoHME, Kunst und KiinftUer, I; LiiBKE, Peter Vischers Werke reproduziert in Photographien (Nuremberg, 1875) ; Auten- BEiTH, Das Sebaldusgrab (Nuremberg, 1887).

G. Geitmann.

Visdelou, Claude db, b. at the Chdteau de Bien- assis, Pleneuf, Brittany, 12 Aug., 1656; d. at Pondi- cherry, 11 Nov., 1737. He entered the Society of Jesus, 5 Sept., 1673, and was one of the missionaries sent to China by Louis XIV in 16S7 (see Verbiest, Ferdinand). He acquired a wide knowledge of the Chinese language and literature. Other learned Jesuits considered that he gave too much credit to modern Chinese commentators, who being atheists and materialists read their own ideas into the ancient Chinese sages. When the pajial legate Mgr. de Tour- non came to China in 170.") chiefly to regulate the question of the Chinese Rites, Visdelou was the only Jesuit favourable to their jirohibition. Tournon appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Kwei-chou with the title of Bishop of Claudiopolis, but his superiors op- posed the nomination, since Visdelou had not received papal dispensation from his vow not to accept eccle- siastical dignity. With the missionaries who had sub- mitted to the decree against the rites, Visdelou fol- lowed thi> legnte to Macao, where he was secretly con- secrated bislicip, 2 Feb., 17<). lie then set out for Pondiclierry where he arrived, 25 June, 1709; he

remained there in great retirement in the house of the French Capuchins until his death. Visdelou took with him over 500 volumes in Chinese and almost his sole occupation consisted in working on these. He sent to Rome several writings on the questions of the rites. The Sinologist, James Legge, says he "was in the habit of writing extravagantly about the Chinese and caricaturing their sentiments" ("Notions of the Chinese concerning God and the spirit", Hong Kong, 1852, 10). His most trustworthy works deal with the history of the Tatars. He collected from Chinese historians unique documents on the peoples of Central and Eastern Asia, Huns, Tatars, Mongols, and Turks. His researches on this subject were first pubUshed as supplement to Herbelot's "Bibliotheque orientale" (1779). However, they must have assisted Deguignes in his history of the Huns, for the geographer Anville who had handled all Visdelou's valuable MSS. on the Tatars tells us that the author had .sent them to the Academician Malet, who died in 1736 ("Mem- oire de M. d'Anville sur la Chine", 1776, 33).

NoBBEBT, Oraison funkhre fie N. de Visdelou, Jesuile, erigue de Claudiopolis, Vicnire Apostolique en Chine et aux hides, etc. in Memoires historiques. . . sur les missions orientates. III (Lucca, 1745), 343^60; De Backer-Sommeevogel, Bibliolhique, VIII, 838-43.

Joseph Brccker.

Visigoths, one of the two principal branches of the Goths. Until 375 their history is combined with that of the Ostrogoths. Ulfilas (Wulfila) laboured among the Visigoths, translated the Bible into their language, and preached Arianism with great success until Prince Athanaric obhged him to withdraw (34S). At the invasion of the Huns some of the Visigoths fled with Athanaric into the mountains of Transylvania, but the majority of the people turned to the Emperor Valens with the entreaty to be taken into the Roman Empire. In 376 a force of 200,0(K) Visigoths crossed the Danube, but their oppression by the governors led to a revolt. They traversed the country plundering as they went, and defeated Valens in 378 near Adrianople. Valens was slain andhissuccess(ir,Theodosius, made peace with the Visigoths in 382. His policy was to unite them with the empire by means of national commanders ap- pointed by the emperor. Desirous of maintaining peace, he endeavoured to unite the Arians with those who held the Nicene faith. After the death of Theodosius (395) the Visigoths elected Alaric of the Baltha family as their king. Alaric sought to establish a Germanic kingdom on Roman soil by bringing his people into connexion with Roman civihzation. In 396 he invaded the Balkan peninsula as far as the Peloponnesus and was given the Province of Illyria. He now turned against the Western Empire, and in 401 entered Italy. He was victorious at Aquileia but after the battle at Pollentia (403) was forced to retreat. In 408 he demanded the cession of Noricum, Illyria, Pannonia, and Venetia, in 410 he plundered Rome, and soon after died in southern Italy. His successor Athaulf (410-15) led the Visi- goths into Gaul, where the following king Wallia (41.5-19) gained the land between the Garonne and the Loire. Under the succeeding rulers the kingdom was enlarged, and, during the reign of Euric (466- 84), the Visigotliic Kingdom of Toukni.se, named after its capital Toulouse, included the southern part of Gaul and a large portion of Spain. The Arian kings found the Cathohc Church firmly established in the country; and the Catholics enjoyed toleration until the reign of Euric. The conflicts whidi then arose have been described by Gregory of Tours as bloody per.secutions, but this is exaggerated. Euric was in general just towards his Catholic subjects, but took steps against individual bisliops and clerics who encouraged religious quarrels ami were political opponents of the kingdom. Catholics who fled