Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/288

 BALUZE

242

BAMBERG

But his end was near; he died in 1491 and was buried at Rome. He had attained numerous dignities and amassed wealth, but dishonoured the Churcli.

FoRGEOT, Jean Bahie (Paris, 1895): Pastor, Gearh. der Pdpste (Freiburg, 1904), 4th ed., II, 372-375; tr. IV, 102-105 (London, 1894).

N. A. Weber.

Baluze, Etienne, a French scholar and historian, b. at Tulle, 24 December, 1630; d. in Paris, 28 July, 1718. His education was commenced at the Jesuit ■college of his native town, where he distinguished liim- ■self by his intelligence, his constant devotion to study, and his prodigious memory. Obtaining a scholarship •on the recommendation of his professors, he com- pleted Ills classical courses at the College of St. Martial, which had been founded at Toulouse, in the ■fourteenth century, by Pope Innocent VI for twenty Limousin students. Resolved to devote himself to the study of literature and history, Baluze set to work with great zeal, perseverance, and success. Critical and painstaking in the investigation of facts, he imdertook to study the origins of the French nation, its customs, laws, and institutions, using for this purpose only genuine documents and original records instead of fanciful legends and fabulous stories, thus introducing a scientific spirit into historical research, philology, and chronology.

At the age of twenty-two he wrote a remarkable work of historical criticism. A Jesuit, Father Frizon, had just published a book, "Gallia purpurata", con- taining the lives of the French cardinals, which met with great success until Baluze gave out (1652) his " Anti-Frizonius " in which he pointed out and cor- rected many errors made by Father Frizon. In 1654, Pierre de Marca, Archbishop of Toulouse, one (Of the greatest French scholars in the seventeenth icentury, appointed Baluze his secretary. Upon the death of his patron, in June, 1662, Baluze published the "Marca Hispanica", a remarkable historical and geographical description of Catalonia. This work made him known to Colbert, who appointed him his librarian, a position he held for tliirty years, many years, that is. after Colbert's death. The excellent collection of manuscripts and books which was found in the latter's library was the fruit of his care and advice. His own collection was also very important; it comprised about 1100 printed books, 957 manu- scripts, more than 500 charters, and seven cases full J3f various documents. Baluze is to be ranked among those benefactors of literature who have .employed their time and knowledge in collecting from all sources ancient manuscripts, valuable books, and state papers. He annotated them with valuable comments, being very well acquainted with profane and ecclesiastical history as well as with canon law, both ancient and modern.

The number of works Baluze published is con- siderable; we shall mention the most important .among them: (1) " Marii Mercatoris opera " (1684), collated with manuscripts and enriched with notes illustrative of the history of the Middle Ages. (2) "Regum Francorum capitularia" (1677). This collection contains several capitularies never pub- lished before. Baluze corrected them with great accuracy and in his preface gave an aecoimt of the (Original documents and of the authority of the .several collections of the capitularies. (3) " Epistolse Innocentii Papa; III" (1682); not a complete col- lection, as Baluze was refused the use of the letters preserved in the Vatican. (4) "Conciliorum nova coUectio" (1683), containing such pieces as are want- ing in Labbe's collection. (5) "Les vies des papes d'Avignon" (1693), in which he gave a preference ■to Avignon over Rome as the seat of the Popes. (6) "Miscellanea" (1680), of which Mansi published a new edition in 1761. (7) "Historia Tutelensis" (1717), or the liistory of Tulle. This was Baluze's

favourite work. He wrote it out of love for his native place, "ne in nostra patria peregrini atque hospites esse videamur". It embraces a period of eight centuries, from the founding of the city (900), to the episcopate of Daniel de Saint-.\ulaire (1702). The history of Tulle is divided into three books, the first deaUng with the counts, the second with the abbots, and the third with the bishops.

In 1670, Baluze was appointed professor of canon law at the College de France, of which he became director in 1707. with a pension awarded by the king. But he soon felt the uncertainty of courtly favours. Having attached himself to Cardinal de Bouillon, who had engaged him to write the history of his i family, he became involved in the cardinal's disgrace. Baluze was accused of having used spurious papers in his patron's interest. Consequently he received a lettre de cachet ordering him to retire to Lyons. Being expelled from the university and deprived of his personal fortune, he wandered from Rouen to Blois, from Blois to Tours, and later to Orleans, where he lived until 1713. After the peace of Utrecht, the family of Cardinal de Bouillon recovered the favour of the king, and Baluze was recalled, but never again employed as a professor or as a Director of the College de France. He Uved far from Paris and was engaged in publishing St. Cyprian's works at the time of his death. Baluze, together with Luc d'.\ch^ry, Mabillon, Sainte-Marthe, Ducange, Mont- faucon, and others, gathered an immense quantity of rich materials which the historians of the nineteenth century, such as Sismondi, Guizot, Augustin and .\med6e Thierry, Michelet, Henri Martin, Fustel de Coulanges, were to use with the greatest skill.

Page, Etienrie Baluze, sa vie, aes ouvragea, aon exil, aa de- ienae in Bulletin de la aociete dea lettrea, sciencea, et arts de la Corrize (Tulle, 1898), V, 20: Michaud, Biographic univeraelle. II. s. v.: Face, Lea teuvres de Baluze catalogueea et decritea; Memoire de I'Academie dea Inacriptiona, XVIII; Delisle, Le cabinet dea manuacrita, Baluze, Colbert, I.

Jean Le Bars.

Bamber (alias Reading), Edward, Venerable, priest and martjT, b. at the Moor, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire; executed at Lancaster 7 August, 1646. Educated at the English College, VaUadohd, he was ordained and sent to England. On landing at Dover, he knelt down to thank Ciod, which act, observed by the Governor of the Castle, was the cause of his ap- prehension and banishment. He returned again, and was soon afterwards apprehended near Standish, Lancashire; he had probably been chaplain at Stand- ish Hall. On his way to Lancaster Castle he was lodged at the Old-Green-Man Inn near Claughton-on- Brock, and thence managed to escape, his keepers being drunk. He was found wandering in the fields by one Mr. Singleton of Broughton Tower (who had been warned in a dream to help him), and was as- sisted and sheltered by him. Arrested the third time, he was committed to Lancaster Castle, where he remained in close confinement for three years, once escaping, but recaptured. At his trial with two other priests, Whitaker and Woodcock, two apostates wit- nessed against him that he had administered the sacraments, and he was condemned to die. He suffered ■with great constancy, reconciling to the Church a felon executed with him, and encouraging his fellow-martyrs to die bravely. His conduct so enraged the persecutors that they urged the ex- ecutioner to butcher him in a more than usually cruel and savage manner. An ode composed on his death is still extant.

Challoner, Memoira (1750); Watson, Decacordon of ten QiMdlibet Quealiona (1602); GiLLO-w, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Calh. (London, 1885).

Bede Camm.

Bamberg, Archdiocese of, in the kingdom of Bavaria, embraces almost the whole of the presi- dency of Upper Franconia, the northern part of