Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/544

BEN painter, born at St. Germain about 1770, studied under that cold, sanguinary classicalist, David. She painted Napoleon, whose face was the ideal of the conqueror's, and his pretty, fair Austrian wife. She obtained a medal in 1804 for her "Sleep of Infancy."—W. T.  BENOIST,, born at Angers, 1758. Having attracted the attention of Buonaparte by articles in a newspaper opposed to the principles of the revolutionists, the former, as soon as the coup d'etat of the 18th brumaire raised him to the height of power, appointed Benoist to an important post in the home department. After the abdication of the emperor at Fontainebleau, Benoist preserved his place by swearing fidelity to the Bourbons, fell into disgrace during the Hundred Days, and after Waterloo was restored to office. Elected a member of the chamber of deputies, he supported the government with such zeal, that in 1828 he was raised to the peerage. All this time he carried on his contributions to the government journals, and translated English works, while his wife sought distinction as a painter. He died in Paris, 1834.—J. F. C.  BENOIST,, a French admiral, lived in the second half of the thirteenth century. He was descended from an ancient family of Genes, and became celebrated by two victories which he obtained over the Pisans in 1284 and 1286.  BENOIT,, a troubadour at the court of Henry II. He wrote in verse a chronicle of the dukes of Normandy, which was long held in high repute, is preserved in the Harleian Library, and was translated into prose in the fourteenth century. It seems to have been written at royal command; our author being thus historically the first of the English poet laureates. There is there also a life of Thomas a'Becket, which has sometimes been ascribed to Benoit.  BENOIT,, a French protestant theologian, born at Paris in 1640; died in 1728. On the revocation of the edict of Nantes he fled from Alençon to Delft. He wrote "Histoire de l'edit de Nantes," and "Histoire et apologie de la retraite des pasteurs, à cause de la persecution."  BENOIT,, surnamed , a French monk of the order of St. Dominic, author of "Introductiones Dialecticæ," was professor of theology at Paris, and afterwards abbé du Val des Ecoliers. Died in 1563.  BENOIT,, a French preacher and historian, born at Carcasonne in 1632, belonged to the order of St. Dominic. He published "Histoire des Albigeois et des Vaudois," 1691, with a continuation, 1693. Died in 1705.  BENOIT,, a learned French jesuit, missionary of his order in China from 1745 till his death in 1774. He ingratiated himself with the emperor, Kien-Long, by his skill in chemistry and mechanics; under cover of a zeal for which sciences, he laboured industriously as a propagandist. <section end="544H" /> <section begin="544I" />BENOIT,, a French theologian, confessor to Henry IV., was born at Savenieres, near Augers, in 1521, and died in 1608. While deacon of the faculty of theology, he published a translation of the bible with notes, which, on account of its resemblance to that of Geneva, was condemned by the pope and the doctors of the Sorbonne. He was afterwards named bishop of Troyes, but the pope refused to ratify the nomination.—J. S., G. <section end="544I" /> <section begin="544J" />BENOIT XIII., antipope, Pedro de Luna, cardinal of Aragon, a Spaniard, and one of the principal actors in the great schism in the papacy at the close of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, was elected by the cardinals at Avignon in September, 1394, in succession to the antipope, Clement VII. The schism had already lasted for sixteen years; and de Luna, who was insatiably ambitious and a consummate hypocrite, had, up to the time of his election, uniformly professed the greatest anxiety to terminate the dispute, and restore peace to the church. But after he had once assumed the tiara, he quickly showed that nothing was farther from his thoughts than to resign it. In vain did a council held at Paris, whose decision was assented to by the kings of France and England, urge the necessity for the resignation of both pontiffs, and send an embassy to Benoit, consisting of the dukes of Berri, Burgundy, and Orleans, and several prelates, to induce him to comply with their proposal. Benoit rejected this plan altogether, and, as a substitute, merely proposed a conference between himself and Boniface IX., the true pope, a measure manifestly inadequate to meet the emergency. It is unnecessary here to enter into the maze of negotiations and intrigues, and the various political combinations, which enabled Benoit—though his claims were more than once formally repudiated, even by the French king and clergy and the university of Paris—still to maintain for many years a precarious and doubtful standing, and even at times to extend his "obedience," not only over France and Spain, but even over Scotland and a part of Italy. The scandals and perplexities occasioned by such a state of things throughout Europe, and the loss of authority and influence of every kind which it entailed on the papacy, may be readily conceived. At length the cardinals of the Roman obedience, acting independently of the reigning pope, Gregory XII., who had succeeded Boniface IX., convoked the council of Pisa, in the year 1409, for the purpose of terminating the schism. This council, the legality of whose convocation remains doubtful, passed sentence of deposition against both Benoit and Gregory XII., and raised to the papacy Peter of Candia, a Greek, who took the name of Alexander V. But the remedy applied by the council of Pisa proved to be worse than the disease; for neither Benoit nor Gregory would acknowledge the validity of their sentence, so that the spectacle was now seen in Christendom of three pontiffs, each claiming to be the true successor of St. Peter, whose clashing decrees and conflicting anathemas tended to destroy all respect for the apostolic see. The restoration of order was mainly owing to the exertions of the Emperor Sigismund, who prevailed upon John XXIII., the successor of Alexander V., to summon the great council of Constance in 1415. By this council John and Benoit were formally and finally deposed, while Gregory resigned, and the pious Cardinal Colonna was elected pope, taking the name of Martin V. The schism was thus terminated. Benoit, indeed, still maintained his pretensions, asserting that the entire church was at Peniscola (the small Spanish town to which he had retired), as formerly the entire human race was with Noah in the ark; but he retained only an insignificant number of adherents. He died in the year 1424, having taken care, as the last act of his life, to perpetuate, as far as lay in his power, the misery and mischief of which his conduct had been the fruitful source for thirty years, by creating four new cardinals. These cardinals elected the antipope, Clement VIII., who, however, in a short time gave in his submission to Martin V.—T. A. <section end="544J" /> <section begin="544K" />BENOLO,, a painter of the Valdarno, an imitator of Lamazzo.—W. T. <section end="544K" /> <section begin="544L" />BENOMONT,, a French physician and philanthropist, born at Machault (Ardennes) on 4th March, 1679, studied medicine under Duverney and Sardy, and practised his profession at Paris, where he acquired an immense fortune. Of this he made a most liberal use, freely assisting his necessitous friends, the poor inhabitants, and the schools of his native place. He was also a liberal benefactor to the Hospital of Incurables. He died in Paris on the 27th June, 1772, his only works being some memoirs and observations read before the old Academy of Surgery, of which he was dean.—W. S. D. <section end="544L" /> <section begin="544M" />BENOZZO, a Florentine painter of history and portraits, born in 1539; died in 1617.—W. T. <section end="544M" /> <section begin="544N" />BENSEN,, a learned German born in 1761. He filled the chair of financial science at Würtzburg with great credit and popularity, and has left several works on the subjects connected with his professorship, which are highly esteemed. He died at Würtzburg in 1805.—J. F. W. <section end="544N" /> <section begin="544Zcontin" />BENSERADE,, born at Lyons-La Forest, in Upper Normandy; of a protestant family, but educated in the religion of the state. Cardinal Richelieu, to whom he was described to be a relative on very doubtful evidence, provided for him in the church. Means were thus found to enable him to pursue occupations, which, if not discreditable, can scarcely be regarded as consistent with the proprieties of the ecclesiastical profession. For twenty years he wrote verses for the "ballets," then the fashionable amusement of the court. It was a pleasant pastime, in which gods and heroes were introduced discussing the incidents of some old mythological story with well understood allusions to the passing topics of the day. These dialogues are now dull enough when the key to their true meaning is lost. For rude things rapid and lively talents were of more use than genius, and these Benserade had abundantly. Benserade was popular enough to have provoked a satire of Moliere, who sought to bring him into ridicule by exaggerating the peculiarities of his style. Richelieu gave him a pension of one hundred crowns, which he lost by an epigram. The queen gave him a pension of a thousand crowns; and in bounties of this kind he is said to have received ten thousand crowns a year. The names of tragedies <section end="544Zcontin" />