Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/565

 CHRIST'S HOSPITAL 553 the dukedom to the house of Austria, and re- moved Christopher to Vienna. When Solyinan besieged that city in 1529, Christopher was well nigh made a Turkish prisoner. But Charles V., fearing him more than his father, resolved to shut him up in a monastery, and for this pur- pose ordered him in 1532 to Spain. Chris- topher, finding an opportunity to escape, fled to Bavaria, where his uncle, the reigning duke, together with the landgrave of Hesse, took up his cause and that of his father ; and entrea- ty proving unsuccessful, recourse was had to arms, which, through the secret aid of the French king Francis I., and a sudden sortie on the Austrians at Laufen, May 13, 1534, re- sulted in the restoration of Ulric to his duchy. Christopher succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father in 1550, and set himself about establishing the reformed religion in his province. Instead, however, of seizing the church property, and devoting it to his own use, or dividing it among his nobles, like many Protestant princes of his day, he constituted of it a fund called the " Wurtemberg church property," out of the proceeds of which were supported all the public schools of the duchy, the university of Tubingen, and a variety of other public establishments. The duke also enlarged the liberties of the people and gave them a code of laws. See Pfister's Herzog Christoph (Tubingen, 1819). CHRISTOPHER, Saint, a martyr of the early church, beheaded, according to tradition, in the year 250, during the persecution of Decius. His feast is celebrated by the Greek church on May 9, and by the Latin church on July 25. The Mozarabic breviary, attributed to St. Isi- dore, states that a great portion of his re- mains were brought from the East to Tole- do. Compostela, Valencia, and Astorga pride themselves on the possession of a part of his relics. The abbatial church of St. Denis, near Paris, also boasted of a like privilege. A man of gigantic stature and noble birth, he was bap- tized by Babylas, bishop of Antioch, and going into the desert, fixed his abode near a rapid stream, over which he was wont to carry trav- ellers on his back. One day a little child called to him from across the swollen flood, and the hermit went fearlessly into the waters, and in the child whom he carried across discovered the Saviour. Hence his name of Christophoros, or Christ-bearer. Baronius and other histo- rians regard him and his life as an allegory ; the Bollandists and Baillet maintain the fact of his existence and his martyrdom. CHRISTOPULOS, Athanasios, a modern Greek poet, born at Castoria in Macedonia in May, 1772, died in Wallachia, Jan. 29, 1847. His father, a Greek priest, removed from Macedo- nia to Bucharest in Wallachia while his son was yet a child. Athanasios was well educa- ted at Buda in Hungary, where he learned Lat- in, and at Padua in Italy, where he studied medicine. On his return to Bucharest he was appointed tutor to the children of the prince of Wallachia, Alexander Murusi, who on be- ing transferred to Moldavia took Christopulos with him and employed him in various public offices. His first publication was a drama en- titled " Achilles," which, after having been played successfully at Jassy and at Bucharest, was printed at Vienna in 1805. In the same year he published a grammar of modern Greek. Murusi being recalled to Constantinople, Chris- topulos accompanied him thither, and during his residence in that city wrote in modern Greek his love songs and drinking songs, on which his reputation chiefly rests. Prince Caradja who was now appointed hospodar of both principalities, took Christopulos with him to Moldavia, where he gave him official position and charged him with the compilation of a code of laws for Wallachia, a task which occu- pied him two years. After the fall of Prince Caradja Christopulos resided some time at Her- mannstadt in Transylvania, occupied mainly with political and philosophical writings. He went thence to Greece, and in 1836 returned to Wallachia, where he spent his remaining years in literary labor. He translated the first book of the Iliad into modern Greek, and also the first two books of Herodotus. His lyric poems were published at Vienna in 1811, and a new and enlarged edition appeared in 1821. They were published also at Paris in 1833, with a French translation, and with some of his prose writings (2 vols. 8vo). A later and fuller edi- tion appeared at Paris in 1841. A collection of his writings was published at Athens in 1853 under the title 'E/U^vt/ca d/o^atoAuy^ara. His lyric poems are exceedingly popular among the Greeks. CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, commonly called the Blue Coat school, one of the oldest and most famous of the charitable educational establish- ments of London. It was founded in 1552, by the citizens assembling a number of poor chil- dren for education and maintenance. Edward VI. favored the plan, and by charter, dated June 26, 1553, 10 days before his death, incor- porated the three hospitals of Christ for poor fatherless children and foundlings, Bridewell, and St. Thomas the Apostle, vesting lands for their support in the mayor, commonalty, and citizens. Five years afterward Christ's hos- pital was opened, under the charter, in the building in Newgate street belonging to the recently suppressed brotherhood of gray friars. Four hundred children were entered. On en- tering they were clothed in russet, which was subsequently changed to the costume they now wear, namely, a blue tunic reaching to the feet, bright yellow petticoat and yellow stock- ings, red leathern girdle, clerical band around the neck, and a little round cap of black wool- len. Charles II. granted 1,000 for seven years to found a mathematical school for 40 "king's boys," and an annuity of 370 10s. to send 10 others to sea ; 14 additional pupils in mathematics were added on other foundations, and a writing school in 1694, by Sir John Moore,