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Rh carry the lance. In the German army of to-day Ulans are classed as heavy cavalry and wear the distinctive lancer dress inherited from the original Polish light horse. (See and .)

ULBACH, LOUIS (1822–1889), French writer, was born at Troyes (Aube) on the 7th of March 1822. He was encouraged to take up a literary career by Victor Hugo. He became dramatic critic of the Temps, and attracted attention by a series of satirical letters addressed to the Figaro over the signature of &ldquo;Ferragus,&rdquo; and published separately in 1868. He edited the Revue de Paris until its suppression in 1858, and in 1868 he founded a paper, La Cloche, which was suppressed in 1869 for its hostility to the empire. Ulbach was imprisoned for six months, and when on his release he revived the paper he got into trouble both with the commune and the government, and was again imprisoned in 1871–1872. In 1878 he was made librarian of the arsenal, and died in Paris on the 16th of April 1889.

ULCER, an open sore (derived from the French from Lat. ulcus, Gr. ἕλκος). When a portion of animal tissue dies in consequence of an infection or injury, the death of that tissue taking place by gradual breaking down or disintegration, the process is termed ulceration and the result an ulcer. When the ulcer is spreading the place is painful and the surrounding parts are flushed with extra blood, but under appropriate treatment the destructive process ceases and the ulcer gradually heals. The bright surface of the ulcer becomes glazed over, and those changes take place in it which occur in an open wound. The ulcer gradually contracts, and round its edges cicatrization, or scarring, occurs. Ulcers may arise from various causes in different parts of the body, and in association with certain specific diseases, such as syphilis, tubercle, cancer and typhoid fever, (for see the separate article.)

ULEÅBORG (Finnish, Oulu), a province in the grand duchy of Finland, including a wide territory to the north of Kuopio and nearly reaching Varangerfjord, taking in the high dreary plateau of Laponia (16,000 sq. m.) and the fertile plains of Österbotten. It has a total area of 63,970 sq. m., with a population, chiefly agricultural in Österbotten and nomadic in Laponia, of (1904) 295,187. The bulk of the inhabitants (99%) are Finnish. There are immense forests, and only 0·4% of the area is under culture. The capital of the government is Uleåborg, a seaport on the Gulf of Bothnia, now connected by railway with Helsingfors (498 m.); pop. (1904), 17,737.  ULEMA (Arab. ‘ulamā, sing. ‘ālim, literally “knowers,” in the sense of scientes), the learned of Islam, theologians, canon lawyers, professors, judges, muftis, &c., all who, whether in office or not, are versed theoretically and practically in Muslim science in general. By “science” in this case is especially meant what is learned from tradition, books or men, and through the intellect. In a narrower sense, Ulema is used, in a Muslim state, of a council of such learned men, holding government appointments, If all conception of intermediary priesthood be eliminated, the Ulema may be said to be equivalent to the secular clergy of Roman Christendom (see ). Opposed to them, again, are the ‘ārifs (“knowers,” “perceivers,” sentientes, as opposed to scientes), to whom religious knowledge comes in the vision of the mystic, not by tradition or reason (see ).

 ULFELDT, KORFITS (1606–1664), Danish statesman, was the son of the chancellor Jacob Ulfeldt. After a careful education abroad he returned to Denmark in 1629 and quickly won the favour of Christian IV. In 1634 he was made a Knight of the Elephant, in 1636 became councillor of state, in 1637 governor of Copenhagen, and in 1643 lord treasurer. In 1637 he married the king's daughter Leonora Christina, who had been betrothed to him from her ninth year. Ulfeldt was the most striking personality at the Danish court in all superficial accomplishments, but his character was marked by ambition, avarice and absolute lack of honour or conscience. He was largely responsible for the disasters of the Swedish war of 1643–45, and when the treaty of Brömsebro was signed there was a violent scene between him and the king, though Ulfeldt's resignation was not accepted. In December 1646 he was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the Hague, but the results of his embassy by no means corresponded to its costliness, and when he returned to Denmark in July 1647 he found the king profoundly irritated. Ulfeldt, supported by the Raad and the nobility, who objected to Christian's fiscal policy, resisted his father-in-law, and triumphed completely. As lord high steward he was the virtual ruler of Denmark during the two months which elapsed between the death of Christian IV. and the election of Frederick III. (July 6, 1648); but the new king was by no means disposed to tolerate the outrageous usurpations of Ulfeldt and his wife, and this antagonism was still further complicated by allegations of a plot (ultimately proved to be false, but believed at the time to be true) on the part of Dina Winhavers, a former mistress of Ulfeldt, to poison the royal family. Dina was. convicted of perjury and executed, but Ulfeldt no longer felt secure at Copenhagen, and on the day after the execution he secretly quitted Denmark (July 14, 1651), with his family. After living for a time in concealment at Amsterdam, he migrated to Barth in Swedish Pomerania, and began the intrigues which have branded his name with infamy. In July 1657 he eagerly responded to the invitation of Charles X. of Sweden, when he invaded Denmark, and entered the service of his country's deadliest foe, for the express purpose of humiliating his sovereign and enriching himself. He persuaded the commandant of Nakskov, the one fortress of Laaland, to surrender to Charles X., and did his best to convince his countrymen that resistance was useless. Finally, as one of the Swedish negotiators at thecongress of Taastrup, he was instrumental in humiliating his native land as she had never been humiliated before. Ulfeldt's treason was rewarded by Charles X. of Sweden with the countship of Solvitsburg in Blekinge; but the discontented renegade began intriguing against his new master, and in May 1659 was condemned to death. The Swedish regents, on the 7th of July, amnestied him, and he returned to Copenhagen to try to make his peace with his lawful sovereign, who promptly imprisoned him and his wife. In the summer of 1660 they were conveyed to Hammershus in Bornholm, as prisoners of state. Their captivity was severe to brutality; and they were only released (in September 1661) on the most degrading conditions. The fallen magnate henceforth dreamed of nothing but revenge, and in the course of 1662, during his residence at Bruges, he offered the Danish crown to the elector of Brandenburg, proposing to raise a rebellion in Denmark for that purpose. Frederick William betrayed Ulfeldt's treason to Frederick III., and the Danish government at once impeached the traitor; on the 24th of July 1663 he and his children were degraded, his property was confiscated, and he was condemned to be beheaded and quartered. He escaped from the country, but the sentence was actually carried out on his effigy; and a pillory was erected on the ruins of his mansion at Copenhagen. He died at Basel, in February 1664.

ULFILAS (c. 311–383), the apostle of Christianity to the Gothic race, and, through his translation of the Scriptures into Gothic, the father of Teutonic literature, was born among the Goths of the trans-Danubian provinces about the year 311. The Arian historian Philostorgius (Hist. eccl. ii. 5) says that his grand-parents were Christian captives from Sadagolthina in Cappadocia, who had been carried off to the lands beyond the Danube in the Gothic raid of 264, and became so naturalized that the boy received a Gothic name, Wulfila (Little Wolf).