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 JOHN THE FEAELESS JOHN OF SWABIA 655 JOHN THE FEARLESS, duke of Burgundy, born about 1370, assassinated Sept. 10, 1419. He was the son of Philip the Bold, whom lie succeeded in 1404, and took immediate mea- sures to secure for himself the influence which his father had possessed in the government of France. He was opposed by the queen and the duke of Orleans, brother of the king. The duke of Orleans was murdered in Paris by as- sassins hired by John in 1407. A civil war ensued, in which John was supported by Hen- ry IV. of England (1411); it was suspended by the treaty of Arras in 1414. In 1416 John entered into a secret alliance with Henry V. of England, and soon overran a great part of France, and in 1418 obtained possession of the king's person. A plot was formed to assassi- nate him, in pursuance of which he was invi- ted to meet the dauphin on the bridge of Mon- tereau. He went there with an escort slightly armed, and perished with many of his com- panions, the rest escaping by flight. He was succeeded by his son Philip the Good. JOHN OF GAUNT (or GHENT), duke of Lan- caster, fourth son of Edward III., born in Ghent in 1340, died Feb. 8, 1399. He distin- guished himself for valor in the wars of his brother the Black Prince in France, and suc- ceeded to his government in that country. In 1359 he married the lady Blanche, daughter and heiress of Henry Plantagenet; she bore him a son who in 1399 became the first Eng- lish king of the house of Lancaster, as Henry IV. After her death he married in 1370 Con- stance, daughter of Pedro the Cruel of Cas- tile, and assumed the arms and title of king of Castile, but returned to England within less than a year after his brother. There he de- fended Wycliffe, .and was often suspected of aiming at the crown. He resigned his preten- sions to the throne of Castile when his daugh- ter Catharine married the heir apparent of that kingdom. John of Gaunt's third wife was Catharine Swynford, governess of his chil- dren, by whom he had three sons and one daughter before their marriage. These were legitimated, and one of them, John de Beau- fort, earl of Somerset, was an ancestor of the Tudors. JOHN OF LEIDEN, a Dutch fanatic, born about 1510, put to death in Munster, Westpha- lia, in January, 1536. His true name was John Boccold or Bockelson, and he was the son of a magistrate f the Hague, and worked in that city at the trade of a tailor. In 1533 he joined the Anabaptists in Munster, where he assisted Matthias of Haarlem in the rebellion of that year, and after his death assumed power as a pro- phet. On June 24, 1534, he was crowned with the title king of Zion. He appointed 12 judges to administer his government, assumed prince- ly state and luxury, introduced polygamy, mar- rying 15 wives, and the city was given up to excesses of fanaticism and lust. He issued proclamations against neighboring rulers, and sent out more than 20 apostles, who preached 455 VOL. ix. 42 his doctrine, though they rejected many of his excesses. He coined money, specimens of which, silver pieces with his stamp, are in the museum of Hanover. Being besieged by the bishop of Munster, discontent and rebellion broke out among his followers, which he re- pressed with much cruelty and bloodshed, exe- cuting one of his wives with his own hand. The city was taken by treachery in the night of June 24, 1535, and he was made prisoner. He was sent through the country in an ii>on cage, and at length, together with two of his companions, was tortured to death with hot pincers. Their caged bodies were hung upon the tower of St. Lambert's church, where the cages are still to be seen. His house in Mun- ster is yet standing. (See ANABAPTISTS.) JOHN OF SALISBURY, called also JOHANNES PARVUS (John the Little), an English scholastic philosopher, born in the old town of Salisbury (Old Sarum) about 1120, died in Chartres, France, Oct. 25, 1180. He studied at Oxford, and in 1130 passed over to France, where he attended the lectures of Abelard and others. He opened a school in Paris about 1140, but with little success, and on account of his pov- erty retired to the abbey of Montier-la-Celle. About 1151 he returned to England, and was appointed secretary to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, who introduced him to his future successor Thomas a Becket. He was sent on important diplomatic missions to Popes Euge- nius III., Anastasius IV., and Adrian IV., with the last of whom he was an especial favorite. He was the secretary of Becket when he be- came archbishop of Canterbury, was called his eye and his arm, supported him in his con- test with Henry II., shared his exile and dis- grace, and returned with him to England. In 1176 he was elected bishop of Chartres, and passed the rest of his life in his diocese. He was highly reputed not only as a scholar, but as a poet and orator. His most important works are Polycraticui, sine de Curialium Nugie et Vestigiis Philosophorum, an erudite and caustic satire on the follies of courtiers, and philosophers, and Metalogicus, in which he vindicates the studies of the schools against the sneers and outcries of the ignorant. His complete works were first collected by J. A. Giles (5 vols., Oxford, 1848). JOHN SCOTUS. See ERIOENA. JOHN OF SWABIA, or John the Parricide, a German prince, born in 1289, died in 1313 or 1368. He was a son of Duke Rudolph of Swabia and nephew of the emperor Albert I., the son and successor of Rudolph of Hapsburg. On attaining his majority he claimed the pos- sessions to which he was entitled in Austria and Bohemia, but the emperor would not even surrender the county of Kyburg, which had been bequeathed to John by his mother Agnes of Bohemia. The prince thereupon entered into a conspiracy with a number of discon- tented noblemen, with the assistance of three of whom he murdered his uncle the emperor,