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 270 FLEURY claimed by both sides ; the second, July 1, 1690, between the French under Marshal Luxembourg and the Germans under the prince of Waldeck, the latter being defeated ; the third, June 26, 1794, when the republican French general Jourdan defeated the imperialists under the prince of Coburg; and the fourth, generally known as the battle of Ligny, in which Bliicher was worsted by Napoleon, June 16, 1815. FLEURY, Andre" I ferrule, cardinal de, a French prelate and statesman, born in Lodeve, June 22, 1653, died in Paris, Jan. 29, 1743. He was educated at a Jesuit college in Paris, and was appointed almoner to the queen Marie Therese, then to Louis XIV., who unwillingly promoted him to the bishopric of Frejus in 1698, at the request of the archbishop of Paris. On the king's death the regent appointed him precep- tor to Louis XV., then about five years old. On the death of the regent in 1723 he advised the young king to take the duke de Bourbon as first minister, reserving for himself a seat in the privy council, and the dispensation of ec- clesiastical preferments. In 1726 he caused the duke de Bourbon to be dismissed, and, not- withstanding he was himself in his 73d year, assumed supreme power, with the title of min- ister of state and superintendent of the general post office. In the same year he was created a cardinal. Under his administration France was generally at peace, the disorders of the past reign disappeared, reforms were made in the government, arts and sciences were foster- ed, and the country enjoyed comparative pros- perity at home. But abroad she lost her high place in the councils of Europe, her army de- generated, her navy decayed, and toward the close of his life the cardinal was charged with involving France in the war of the Austrian succession, which had been begun against his wishes, and up to the time of his death had been little more than a series of disasters for his country. He sought to introduce into the public administration the frugality practised in his own household; and with all his oppor- tunities for emolument, he died poor. FLEURY, Claude, abbe, a French ecclesiastical writer, born in Paris, Dec. 6, 1640, died July 14, 1723. For nine years he followed the legal profession, giving much attention to literary and historical pursuits. In 1672, having re- ceived orders, he became preceptor to the sons of the prince de Oonti. In 1674 he published ISHistoire du droit francais ; in 1678, a Latin translation of Bossuet's Exposition de la foi catJiolique; from 1681 to 1683, Les mceurs des Israelites, Les mceurs des Chretiens, and Le grand catechisme historique, three excellent little books which he had prepared for the use of his pupils; and in 1687, V Institution du droit ecclesiastique. In 1685 he accompanied Fenelon to Saintonge, and in 1689 Fenelon procured his appointment as his assistant in the education of the dauphin's son. In this employment he remained 16 years, during which he was also engaged on his Histoire FLIEDNER ecclesiastique, the first volume of which ap- peared in 1691. He spent 30 years in bring- ing this work down to the beginning of the 16th century. It ranks among the most candid histories of Christianity. FLICKER. See WOODPECKER. FLIEDNER, Theodor, a German clergyman and philanthropist, born at Eppstein, Rhenish Prussia, Jan. 21, 1800, died at Kaiserswerth, Oct. 4, 1864. In 1822 he became pastor of the congregation at Kaiserswerth, to which his father had ministered until his death in 1813. Soon after his settlement his parishioners were suddenly impoverished by the failure of a man- ufacturing firm which had employed most of them. Refusing to take another church, he set himself the task of relieving his people, and visited the philanthropic institutions of other countries, particularly those of England. On his return he founded at Kaiserswerth an institution for the relief of the sick, the poor, and the fallen. In 1826 he founded a German society for the improvement of prison discipline, and in 1833 an asylum for discharged female convicts. This asylum at first consisted only of a summer house in his garden, which soon proved too small, and was exchanged for a more substantial edifice. His next idea was to re- establish the ministry of women in the Protes- tant church, and in 1836 he inaugurated the in- stitution of deaconesses which is still flourish- ing at Kaiserswerth. "We had no money wherewith to buy the house," writes Fliedner ; " my wife had been confined only three days before ; but nevertheless she laid it upon me, in the name of the Lord, to buy the house, and the sooner the better. I bought it cheerfully on the 20th of April, 1836. The money was to be paid before Martinmas of the same year." The money was paid before that time, although the price was more than $1,600 a large sum for that country and class. Two friends, single women, who offered themselves for nursing in the hos- pital, were the first Kaiserswerth deaconesses. In 1838 Fliedner first sent out deaconesses to work in other places. In 1849 he visited the United States, and established a "mother house " at Pittsburgh, Pa. (See DEACONESS.) He also established at Kaiserswerth a lunatic asylum, a boys' school, and training colleges for schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, train- ing his deaconesses as teachers in all of them. He himself frequently taught in them, and is said to have been fond of striking and often laughable illustrations, such as falling on the floor when telling the story of Goliah, or sud- denly sending a boy under the table to repre- sent the fall of a traveller over a precipice. De Liefda says that when he visited the Kai- serswerth establishment in 1864 it took him three hours to walk over the premises and peep into the principal apartments. From 1836 Fliedner published a monthly called Der Ar- men- und Kranlcenfreund, and was the author of Buch der Martyrer und anderer Glaubens- zeugen der evangelischen Kirche von den