Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/674

BLU BLUTEAU, D., a Portuguese lexicographer, born in London of French parents, 1638; died at Lisbon, 1734. Author of a Portuguese-Latin Dictionary, Lisbon, 1721, 8 vols.  BLYENBURG,, a Dutch poet, born at Dordrecht, 1558. He succeeded his father as master of the mint; afterwards became councillor to the viceroy of Virginia. Having started on his travels for Bohemia, he was never more heard of. His poems are written in the Latin language.—J. G.  * BLYTT, M. N., a Swedish botanist, now professor of botany at Christiania. He has done much to illustrate the flora of Sweden, and has published an account of the indigenous plants of the vicinity of Christiania.—J. H. B.  BOABDIL, properly called ABU ABDALLA, was surnamed (the Younger), to distinguish him from his uncle, Abu Abdalla el Zagal, with whom he had a long struggle for the throne of the Moorish kingdom of Granada. He was the son of Abul Hassan, the reigning monarch, against whom, however, he conspired; and the troops of the rival relatives were on the field to decide the issue, when some of the nobles procured the rejection of both, and the elevation of Abdalla el Zagal to the sovereignty. The latter was willing to divide the rule with his nephew; but this Boabdil refused, and called in the assistance of Ferdinand, king of Aragon and Castile. This prince, under the pretext thus furnished, made himself master of a number of important places in Granada; and when at length the alarmed people compelled Boabdil and his uncle to unite against the invader, it was too late to retrieve the sinking fortunes of the Alhambra. Abdalla el Zagal was driven to submission in 1489, and in little more than two years Boabdil surrendered his capital to the christian conqueror, and retired into Africa, where he died in the wars of his kinsman, the king of Fez.—W. B.  BOADICEA, sometimes called, or , "The British Warrior Queen," whose wrongs and bravery are still read of with emotion, in the early dawn of our country's history. She lived in the first century, and was the wife of Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, a tribe inhabiting the districts of Norfolk and Suffolk. To insure the favour of the Romans, Prasutagus named the emperor and his wife and two daughters, co-heirs of his wealth and government. His purpose proved vain, for after his death the princesses were treated with every indignity. Suetonius Paulinus, who then commanded the Roman forces in Britain, was absent on an expedition against the druids in Anglesey or Mona. Catus, the procurator, who commanded in his stead, was guilty of great cruelty to Boadicea, causing her to be scourged, and her daughters to be violated. The news of these atrocities spread over the whole country, and a revolt was planned by the queen, in which she was joined by the Trinobantes (the inhabitants of Esses and Middlesex). The insurgents destroyed the colony of Camalodunum (Colchester), and defeated the ninth legion under Petilius Cerialis, which was marching to its relief. They also massacred the Romans at St. Alban's and London; and altogether, 70,000 persons, as Tacitus informs us, perished under their resentment.

Meanwhile, Suetonius, victorious in Anglesey, and hearing of the insurrection which threatened the Roman power, returned to the mainland, and marched with 10,000 men against the army of the queen. He was at first afraid to venture with his small band against the vastly superior forces of the enemy. There were at least 100,000 under Boadicea, but Dio Cassius reckons her forces at 230,000. Suetonius therefore took refuge in London, but abandoning that stronghold, he resolved to try the contest in the open field. He pitched on a narrow tract of ground, guarded in the rear by a forest, and facing the open plain where the Britons were encamped, in strange confusion, with their wives and children brought to witness the victory. Boadicea was mounted on her chariot with her daughters by her side, and riding up and down among her warriors, she cheered them to the contest in burning words of anger and of hope, which Tacitus has preserved. She tells them she comes not to fight, as one of royal blood, but to avenge the loss of their common liberty, the wrong of her scourging, and the violation of her daughters. She prophesies that the Roman power is doomed; tells them it is better to die bravely than to submit to outrage; that so at least it has been determined by a woman; the men might live and be slaves if they choose. "Id mulieri destinatum; viverent viri et servirent." Xiphilinus tells us, that after this heroic speech she let loose a hare as an omen of victory.

Suetonius in his turn exhorts his men to despise the "howlings and vain threats of barbarians," and marching in steady order against the British army, their unmoved bearing soon disconcerted the wild followers of the queen; they fell into disorder, and became an easy prey to their well-disciplined opponents. About 80,000 are said to have fallen under the swords of the Roman soldiers. The queen escaped, but unable to survive a defeat so terrible, she is said to have taken poison and died. This decisive battle took place in the year 61.—(Tacitus, Annalium Lib. xiv.; Agricolæ Vita, cap. 16.)—J. B.  BOARETTI,, a literary man born near Padua in 1748. Having completed his studies in the seminary of that city, so great was his success at his final examination, that he was intrusted with a lectureship in the same institution. His fame as a scholar soon made his name known all through Italy; and the Venetian republic offered him the chair of professor of sacred eloquence, which he filled with distinction for the space of ten years. His professorship having been suppressed in 1795, and his position in life having become much altered, he fell ill and never recovered, although the senate, out of esteem for the learned man, granted him a retiring pension equal to his emoluments. Boaretti was considered an eminent philologist, a profound theologian, and well versed in abstract sciences, and his numerous works reveal a mind of the first order. He has translated the psalms of David into blank verse, many of Euripides' tragedies. Homer's Iliad, highly praised by Bettinelli, and many opuscules, both in Latin and Italian, enumerated at length in Moschini's Vitæ virorum illustrium Seminarii Patavini. He died at Venice on the 15th of May, 1799.—A. C. M.  BOAS,, a German novelist, was born at Landsberg on the Warthe, 18th January, 1815, and died in 1853. He is better known by his Supplements to the works of Schiller, 1838-1840, 3 vols., and Göthe, 1841, 3 vols., than by his own writings. He published also, Schiller and Göthe im Xenienkampf, 1851, &c. Collected writings, 1847-49, in 5 vols.—K. E.  BOATON,, a Swiss writer, born at Longiraud, in the Pays de Vaud, 1734; died in 1794. He was member of the Academy of Berlin. Among his works may be mentioned the Idyls and Daphnis of Gesner, translated into French verse, Berlin, 1775, 8vo; a translation of Wieland's Oberon; a translation of Gesner's Death of Abel, Berlin, 1785. <section end="674H" /> <section begin="674I" />BOBADILLA,, an officer of the household of Ferdinand and Isabella, who was sent out by them to investigate the conduct of Columbus and his brothers, and, if necessary, to supersede them in the government of Hispaniola. He was a needy, passionate, and ambitious person, and his treatment of the great discoverer of the New World has stamped his memory with indelible infamy—a portion of which, however, must be borne by Ferdinand. Bobadilla arrived at St. Domingo on the 23d of August, 1500, and immediately proceeded to deprive Columbus of his authority, without even going through the form of an investigation into his conduct. He seized upon the money and property of Columbus, of which he gave no account, and even his letters and most secret papers. Not contented with these outrages, he caused Columbus and his three brothers to be arrested, put in irons, and confined in a fortress until the month of November, when he sent them home to Spain under the charge of Alonzo de Villejo, with instructions on arriving at Cadiz to deliver his prisoners into the hands either of Bishop Fonseca or his uncle, in order to gratify that malignant prelate, who was the bitter enemy of Columbus, and was believed to have secretly instigated and encouraged Bobadilla in all his violent measures. Bobadilla, however, overshot the mark by the gross injustice and tyranny of his conduct, and the arrival of Columbus in chains from the world he had discovered, excited such strong and general indignation throughout Spain that the government were constrained to disown the proceedings of their miserable agent, and to set Columbus and his brothers at liberty. (See .) Bobadilla was speedily superseded in his command, and in 1502 he embarked, along with a number of the most inveterate enemies of Columbus, in the vessel which brought out the new governor, intending to return to Europe, but the vessel was overtaken by a tempest, and was swallowed up with all its crew and passengers, together with the ill-gotten treasure which Bobadilla had wrung from the Indians.—J. T. <section end="674I" /> <section begin="674Zcontin" />BOBART,, a German botanist, was born at Brunswick, and died at Oxford on 4th February, 1679, aged 81. He was the first superintendent of the botanic garden at Oxford, which had been established in 1632 by the earl of Derby. He published <section end="674Zcontin" />