Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/357

 LEO VI. LEO AFRICANUS 351 herent, but after repeated warnings was found guilty of treason, and was sentenced to death. On the day appointed for his execution a band of priests and chanters was admitted into the palatial chapel to sing matins. A body of con- spirators, friends of Michael, mingled with this procession, in the ecclesiastical habit, with swords under their robes, and at a given signal they rushed upon the emperor, who perished at the altar, after bravely defending himself with the great cross. LEO VI., Flavins, surnamed the Philosopher, a Byzantine emperor, born about 865, ascended the throne in 886, died in 911. He was associa- ted with his father Basil I. in the government two years before he succeeded him. Narrow- ly escaping from a false accusation of parricide made by the minister Santabaren and the patri- arch Photius, he began his reign by banishing one of them and deposing the other. From 887 to 891 he warred against the Saracens in Asia Minor and Italy. The mismanagement of the prime minister Stylianus, who disregarded the privileges of Bulgarian merchants, occasioned a severe war with that people, which Leo ter- minated in 894 by involving the Bulgarians in hostilities with the Hungarians. The inactiv- ity of the emperor exposed Mm to a series of conspiracies, and invited new attacks by the Saracens, who in 904 captured and plundered Thessalonica, In 911 they defeated the Greek fleet near Samos. Leo combined the legislative and executive powers in his own person, and extinguished the last remains of the authority of the senate. He was excluded from the com- munion of the faithful on account of his fourth nuptials, the Greek church tolerating only a second marriage. His title of Philosopher he received for having written several works on theological and profane subjects. The " Basi- lics," or imperial constitutions, being a Greek translation and revision of Justinian's Corpus Juris, with the addition of subsequent consti- tutions, were begun under Basil L, and com- pleted under Leo and Constantino Porphyro- genitus. The principal writings attributed to Leo are 33 orations, chiefly on theological sub- jects, an important treatise on military tactics, and a work on " Oracles," in which the fates of the empire are foretold by the arts of as- trology and divination. LEO, Andre, a French novelist (who adopted the Christian names of her twins as her nom deplume, her real name being LEONIE CHAMP- SEIX), born at Champagne^ Vienne, about 1832. She is the daughter of M. Bera, a naval offi- cer, and she married in 1851 Pierre GrSgoire Champseix, a socialistic publicist, who then lived in exile at Lausanne, and who died in Paris, Dec. 4, 1863. Her principal works are: Le mariage scandaleux (1863) ; line meillefille et les deuxfilles de M. Plichon (1864) ; Le di- vorce, and Jacques Galleron (1865). She also appeared as a lecturer on social questions and on woman's rights, and during the siege of Paris in 1870-'7l she was one of the most im- 490 VOL. x. 23 passioned speakers in political clubs. In con- junction with Mme. Jaclard, wife of a member of the commune, she founded in March, 1871, La Sociale newspaper. She was under arrest for a short time at Versailles after the over- throw of the commune, and subsequently went to Switzerland, where she took a prominent part in the meetings of the Internationale. LEO, Heinrich, a German historian, born in Rudolstadt, March 19, 1799. He was educated at Breslau and Jena, and went to Berlin in 1822, where he -was an enthusiastic disciple of Hegel. In 1824 he published EntwicJcelung der Verfassung der lombardischen Stadte. In 1830 he was elected professor of history in the university of Halle, which post he still held in 1874. In 1863 he was made perpetual mem- ber of the Prussian house of lords. In early life he vigorously defended Hegelianism and political liberalism, and in later years as ear- nestly opposed them. His principal contro- versial writings against liberal tendencies are : Herr Dr. Diesterweg vnd die deutschen Uni- versitaten (1836) ; Sendschreiben an Gorres (1838) ; Die Hegelingen (1838) ; and Signatura Temporis (1849). He has also written several works pertaining to Germanic and Celtic an- tiquities. He has contributed largely to the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung and other peri- odicals. Among his more important historical works are : Handbuch der Geschichte des Mit- telalters (1830); Geschichte der italienischen Staaten (5 vols., 1829-'80); Zwolf Bucher nie- dtrlandischer GescMchte (2 vols., 1832-'5); Lehrluch der Universalgeschichte (3d ed., 6 vols., 1849-'53); Leitfaden fur den Unter- richt in der Universalgeschichte (4 vols., 1838- '40) ; and Vorlesungen uber die Geschichte des deutschen Voiles und Reichs (5 vols., 1854-'67). LEO AFRICAJNTS (originally AL-HASSAN IBN MOHAMMED), a Moorish traveller, born in Gra- nada, Spain, about 1485, died about 1526. While he was a child, his parents removed to Africa, and settled at Fez, then a magnificent Mohammedan city. At the age of 16 he ac- companied his uncle on a mission to Timbuctoo, and remained there four years. Afterward he explored various parts of the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, and journeyed among the wild Arab tribes of the desert. In 1513 he visited the kingdoms of Tlemcen and Algiers. On his return from this journey, which extended to Tunis and the desert of Barca, he went to Tim- buctoo for the second time, and thence pro- ceeded 400 miles southward as far as the city of Gago. Thence turning to the eastward, he traversed Borneo and Nubia, and visited the ruins of Thebes. From Egypt he travelled into Turkey, Persia, and other oriental coun- tries, but we have no narrative of his adven- tures there. Returning by sea from Constanti- ' nople, he was captured by Christian corsairs and carried to Rome in 1517. Here he was E resented to Pope Leo X., who bestowed upon im a handsome pension, had him instructed in the principles of Christianity, and gave him