Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/720

Rh 662 N U N N U R of Birmingham. It consists principally of one long street with a cross street leading to the market-place. The church of St Nicholas is a large and handsome structure in various styles of architecture, and consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, with a square embattled tower having pinnacles at the angles. It contains several interesting monuments. The new church of St Mary the Virgin was erected in 1877 on the ruins of the old priory. A free grammar- school was founded in the reign of Edward VI., and an English free school for the instruction of forty boys and thirty girls by Richard Smith in 1712. A library and reading-room was established in 1851, and a literary institute in 1865. The ribbon industry is of less import ance than formerly, but there are ironworks, cotton, hat, elastic, and worsted factories, currieries, and tanneries. Nuneaton derives its name from a priory of nuns founded here in 1150. In the reign of Henry III. a weekly market was granted to the prioress. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 6021 acres) in 1871 was 7399, and in 1881_it was 8465. NUNEZ or NONIUS, PBDRO, Portuguese cosmographer, was born at Alcacer do Sal in 1492, and died at Coimbra, where he was professor of mathematics, in 1577. He published several works, including a copiously-annotated translation of portions of Ptolemy (1537), and a treatise in two books, De arte atqiie ration?, navigandi (1546). See NAVIGATION. NUNEZ CABEZA DE VAC A, ALVAEO (c. 1490-1564), Spanish explorer, was the lieutenant of Pamfilo Narvaez (mpr. p. 234) in the expedition which sailed from Spain in 1527 ; when Narvaez was lost in the Gulf of Mexico, Cabeza de Vaca succeeded in reaching the mainland some where to the west of the mouths of the Mississippi, and, striking inland with three companions, succeeded, after long wandering and incredible hardship, in reaching the Pacific coast in 1536. Returning to Spain in 1537, he was ap pointed &quot; adelantado &quot; or administrator of the province of Rio de la Plata in 1540. Sailing from Cadiz in the end of that year, after touching at Cananea (Brazil), he landed at the island of St Catharine in the end of March 1541. Leaving his ships to proceed to Buenos Ayres, he set out in November with about 150 men to find his way overland to Ascension (Asuncion) for the relief of his countrymen there. After an interesting journey through the country of the Guaranis, the little band reached their destination in the following year. After various successes in war and diplomacy, in his dealings with the Indians, Nunez quar relled with his countryman Domingo de Irala, whose jealousy he had excited, and the final result was that he was sent home under arrest in 1544, and banished to Africa by the council of the Indies. Eight years afterwards he was recalled, and appointed to a judgeship in Seville, where he died in 1564. The NaufragioK (&quot;Shipwrecks&quot;) of Cabeza de Vaca, which re late to the Florida expedition and his journey through what is now New Mexico, appeared at Valladolid in 1544 ; the work has frequently been reprinted, and an annotated English translation was published by 13uckingham Smith in 1851. His Comentarios chronicle the events of the South American expedition. Both works occur in Barcia s Hist. Prim. d. I. Ind. Occ. NUREMBERG (in German, Niirnberg], the second town of Bavaria in size and the first in commercial importance, is situated in the district of Middle Franconia, in a sandy but well-cultivated plain, 95 miles to the north-west of Munich. It is divided by the small river Pegnitz into two parts, called respectively the Lorenzerseite and the Sebalderseite, after the two principal churches. Formerly among the richest and most influential of the free imperial towns, Nuremberg is one of the few cities of Europe that have retained their mediaeval aspect sub stantially unimpaired. It is still surrounded with its ancient feudal walls and moat, though of late several breaches have had to be made to meet the exigencies of modern traffic. Of the 365 towers which formerly strengthened the walls, nearly 100 are still in situ, and a few of the interesting old gateways have also been preserved. Most of the streets are narrow and crooked, and the majority of the houses have their gables turned towards the street. The general type of architecture is Gothic, but the rich details, which are lavished with especial freedom in the interior courts, are usually borrowed from the Renaissance. Most of the private dwellings date from the 16th century, and there are almost none of earlier date than the 1 5th century. A praiseworthy desire to maintain the quaint picturesqueness of the town has induced most of the builders of new houses to imitate the lofty peaked gables, oriel windows, and red -tiled roofs of the older dwellings ; and it is easy for the visitor to Nuremberg to Plan of Nuremberg. 1. Church of St Sebald. 3. Town House. 5. Museum. 2. Library. 4. Church of Our Lady. 6. Church of St Lawrence. fancy himself carried back to the Middle Ages. Altogether it is difficult to conceive of a more piquant contrast than that afforded by the two chief towns of Bavaria Munich, stamped with the brand-new impress of the 19th century, and Nuremberg, presenting a faithful picture of a well-to- do town of 300 years ago. A good survey of this interesting town may be obtained from the old burg or castle, picturesquely perched on the top of a rock on the north side of the town. It is supposed to have been founded by the emperor Conrad II. about the year 1024, and dates in its present form mainly from the reign of Frederick Barbarossa (c. 1158). It was restored in careful harmony with its original appearance in 1854-56, and part of the interior is fitted up as a residence for the royal family. The two Late Romanesque chapels, one above the other, are interesting ; the lower was the burial-place of the burggraves. Among the in struments of torture preserved in the castle is the famous &quot; Iron Virgin &quot; of Nuremberg. In the court is a linden tree said to be over 700 years old. The castle of Nurem berg was a favourite residence of the emperors of Germany, and the imperial regalia were kept here from 1424 to 1806. Nuremberg contains numerous interesting churches, the finest of which are those of St Lawrence, St Sebald, and Our Lady, three Gothic edifices of the 13 -15th centuries. All three are notable for their elaborately-carved doorways, in which free play has been given to the exuberant fancy of the Gothic style, and all three enshrine valuable treasures of art. In the church of St Lawrence, the largest of the three, is &quot;the masterpiece of the sculptor