Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/215

Rh M A G M A G 197 Buckau ; the last three of these are separated from the town by the ramparts and glacis, but are all included within the nesv line of advanced bastions. In the Elbe, between the old town and the Friedrichstadt, lies an island called the Werder, occupied by the citadel, and united with both banks by bridges. With the exception of the Breiter Weg, a handsome thoroughfare running from north to south, the streets of the town proper are narrow and crooked. Along the Elbe, however, extends a fine pro menade named the Fiirstenwall, at one end of which stands a monument in commemoration of the Franco-German war. To the south of the inner town is the Friedrich-Wilhelm s Garten, a beautiful park laid out on the site of the cele brated convent of Bergen, which was founded in 937 and suppressed in 1810. By far the most important building in Magdeburg is the cathedral, a handsome and massive structure of the 13th and 14th centuries, exhibiting an 1. St James s Church. 2. Walloon Church. 3. St Catherine s. 4. St Peter s. 5. Statue of A. W. Franke. 6. Statue of Otho the Great. 7. Rathhaus. 8. St John s Churc-h. 9. School of Art. 10. St Ulrich s Church. 11. Town Theatre. 12. St Mary s (Liebfraucn- kirche). 13. Dutch Reformed Church. 14. Higher Courts. 15. Post-Offlce. 16. Government Build ings. 17. Cathedral. interesting blending of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The two fine towers were completed about 1520. The interior contains the tombs of the emperor Otho the Great and his wife Editha, an English princess, and the fine monument of Archbishop Ernest, executed in 1497 by Peter Vischer of Nuremberg. The Liebfrauenkirche, the oldest church in Magdeburg, is an interesting Romanesque edifice of the 12th and 13th centuries. The chief secular buildings are the town hall, built in 1691 and enlarged in 1866, the theatre, the governor s house, the central railway station, and the exchange. The Breiter Weg and the old market contain numerous fine private houses in the style of the Renaissance. In front of the town-hall stands an equestrian statue of the emperor Otho the Great, erected towards the close of the 13~th century. The favourable situation of Magdeburg, in the very heart of Germany, and on the Elbe below all its principal affluents, has made it one of the most important commercial towns in the empire, and it is also the focus of several important railways. The chief articles of commerce are agricultural and colonial products, manufactured goods, and wine. The town and its suburbs contain numerous manufactories of woollen, cotton, and silk goods, sugar, spirits, tobacco, organs and pianos, chocolate, and chicory. Magdeburg is the head quarters of the 4th corps of the German army, and the seat of the provincial court of appeal and administrative offices, of a Lutheran consistory, and of a superintendent general of the Evangelical (Reformed) Church. It also contains two gymnasia, two &quot; Realschulen,&quot; schools of art, medicine, surgery, and mining, and numerous scientific and charitable institutions. The population of Magdeburg in 1880 was 97,539, or, including Neustadt and Buckau, 137,109. Magdeburg, which was in existence as a small trading settlement at the beginning of the 9th century, owes its early prosperity chiefly to the emperor Otho I., who established a Benedictine convent here in 937 (see above). In 968 it became the seat of an archbishop, who was also primate of Germany, and exercised sway over an ex tensive territory. By the 13th century Magdeburg had become a flourishing commercial town and an important member of the Hanseatic League. Its bench of sheriffs (Schoppenstiihl) became celebrated, and &quot; Magdeburg law,&quot; securing the administrative independence of municipalities, was adopted in many parts of Ger many, Poland, and Bohemia. During the Middle Ages the citizens were almost constantly at variance with the archbishops, and by the end of the 15th century had become nearly independent of them. It should, however, be noted that Magdeburg never became a free city of the empire. The town embraced the Reformation in 1524, and was thenceforth governed by Protestant administrators or arch bishops. On the refusal of the citizens to accept the &quot; Interim,&quot; Magdeburg was besieged by Maurice of Saxony in 1550, and capi tulated in 1551 on favourable terms. During the Thirty Years War the city was twice besieged, and suffered terribly. It success fully resisted Wallenstein for seven months in 1629, but was stormed and sacked by Tilly in 1631. The whole town, with the exception of the cathedral, the Frauenkirche, and about 140 houses, was burned to the ground, and 30,000 of its 36,000 inhabitants were butchered without regard to age or sex. The town recovered from this deadly blow with wonderful rapidity. In 1648 the arch bishopric was converted into a secular duchy, to fall to Branden burg on the death of the last administrator, which happened in 1680. In 1806 Magdeburg was taken by the French and annexed to the kingdom of Westphalia, but it was restored to Prussia in 1814, on the downfall of Napoleon. Otto von Guericke, the inventor of the air-pump, was burgomaster of Magdeburg at the time of Tilly s siege. Carnot died here in exile, and is buried in the cemetery, and Luther was at school here and sang in the streets for bread with other poor choristers. See Rathmann, GcschicMe der Stadt Magdeburg, 1800-17; Hoff mann, Chronik dcr Stadt Magdeburg, 1843-50; Barthold, Gcschichle der deutschcn Stddte, 1850. MAGELLAN, FERDINAND, in Portuguese FERNAO BE MAGALHAES (c. 1-470-1521), who, though he did not survive to return home with his ship, well deserves the title of the &quot;first circumnavigator,&quot; was born about 1470, and (accord ing to the somewhat questionable authority of his will, dating from 1504) at Villa de Sabroza in the district of Villa Real, Traz os Montes. His family was &quot; hidalgo,&quot; and he seems to have spent his boyhood in the household of Queen Leonora, consort of John II. of Portugal. For several years he was in active service in the East Indies. It was he who, in 1510, gave Siqueira timely warning of the plot of the people of Malacca, thus probably saving his countrymen from annihilation ; and, along with Serrano, he commanded the ships sent out under Abreu for the dis covery of the Spice Islands. On his return from the East, Magellan was sent to Azamor in Morocco ; and this brier episode in his career is memorable for the wound which left him lame for the rest of his life, and for the beginning of the troubles which determined his future course. Contrary to what he had a right to expect, the king (Manuel) refused Magellan s application for an increase of the pay assigned to him as a member of the royal household ; and the manner of the refusal added insult to what he considered injury. In company with another malcontent of note,