Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/734

BEAUFORT. King, Beaufort was made Chancellor of England, in 1403. But he resigned this office when he removed to Winchester, of which he was made bishop in 1405. For the next forty years he was prominent in every political movement in England. He was twice again chancellor, and as such depended for his strength upon the support of Parliament. He amassed enormous wealth, and lent it freely to the King when the royal treasury was empty. On two occasions his loans to the State amounted to over £20,000, an extremely large sum for any individual at that time. He was present at the Council of Constance, and voted for the election of Pope Martin V., by whom he was subsequently made a cardinal and sent as legate to Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, to organize a crusade against the Hussites. This undertaking failed. The Cardinal soon after fell under the displeasure of the Pope, because he used in France an English army raised for the Crusades. In 1431 Beaufort conducted the young King, Henry VI., to France, and crowned him in Paris as King of France and England. Here he also endeavored, but vainly, to reconcile the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, with the offended Duke of Burgundy. Cardinal Beaufort died at Winchester, April 11, 1447. Consult Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, Vol. III. (Oxford, 1891).

BEAUFORT, bu'fert or bo'fert, , Countess of Richmond and Derby (1441-1,509). She was the daughter of the first Duke of Somerset, and became the wife of the Earl of Richmond (half-brother of Henry VI.), and by him mother of Henry VII. of England. Left a widow, she was successively wife of Sir Henry Stafford and of Thomas, Lord Stanley, afterwards the Earl of Derby. She endowed Christ's and Saint John's colleges at Cambridge. Consult: Halsted, Life of Margaret, Countess of Richmond (1839), and Cooper's Memoir, edited by Mayor ( 1874).

BEAUFORT SCALE. An arbitrary scale of 12 numbers, for use in recording the apparent strength of the wind, introduced into the British Navy by Admiral Beaufort about 1805, and now very generally used by all navigators. Originally the observer was supposed to know the general effect of the wind upon his own vessel or the standard vessel imagined by Admiral Beaufort — namely, the full-rigged man-of-war — but these vessels are not now built, although the wind terms retain their old significance; therefore, the latter are retained, but the numbers expressing the equivalent velocities in miles per hour, as they result from modern investigations, are added in the following table:

Beaufort Scale No. Designation of Wind Approximate Wind Velocity in Miles Per Hour

Calm 3 or less 1 Light air 8 " 2 Light breeze 13 " 3 Gentle 18 " 4 Moderate " 23 " 6 Fresh 28 " 6 Strong 34 " 7 Moderate gale 40 " 8 Fresh 48 9 Strong " 66 " 10 Whole 65 " 11 Storm 75 " IQ Hurricane 90 "

BEAUGARD, Ijo'giird. The hero of Otway's The Soldier's Fortune and The Atheist.

BEAUHARNAIS, bA'iir'na', Vieomte de (1760-94). A French statesman and soldier. He was born in the Island of Mar- tinique, and served under Rochambeau in the American War of Independence. He embraced the cause of the Revolution, was a member of the Constitutional Assembly, and on the night of the fourth of August, 1789, voted for the abolition of feudal privileges. He served with distinction on the Committee for Military Affairs, and presided over the National Assembly when the news came of the flight of Louis XVI. "Gentlemen," he said, "the King has run away. We will proceed with the order of the day." He fought bravely in the north, especially at Mons, but resigned his command in 1793, in accordance with the law which excluded the nobility from the army. After he had lived for some time in retirement, his enemies brought forth the charge that, as commander of the Army of the Rhine, he had been the cause of the loss of Mainz. He was put on trial during the Reign of Terror, convicted, and guillotined, July 23, 1794. His widow, Joséphine, married Napoleon Bonaparte, who adopted Eugène and Hortense, son and daughter of Beauharnais.

BEAUHARNAIS, (1781-1824). A French general. He was the son of the Vicomte de Beauharnais, and after his mother's marriage with Bonaparte he accompanied him in the expedition to Egypt and in his campaigns in Italy. He rapidly rose to the highest military rank, and in 1805, after the erection of the imperial throne, he was made a Prince of France and Viceroy of Italy. In 1806 he married the Princess Amalie Augusta of Bavaria, and not long afterwards was created Prince of Venice, and declared by Napoleon his adoptive son and heir to the Kingdom of Italy. Although his political power was much limited, he conducted himself in Italy with much prudence, energy, and moderation, although he considered himself bound to carry out the decrees of the Emperor. His military talents were displayed in the wars against Austria, and in the retreat from Moscow the preservation of the French Army from total destruction was ascribed to the skill and resolution of the Viceroy and of Ney. The victory of Lützen (1813) was decided by his conduct. From this scene of war, Napoleon sent him to Italy, which he ably defended against Austria and Murat, who had deserted the cause of the French Empire. In the affairs of the Hundred Days he took no part; and in the Treaty of Fontainebleau and at the Congress of Vienna large sums were granted to him in compensation for his Italian possessions, with which he purchased from his father-in-law the landgraviate of Leuchtenberg and the principality of Eichstiidt. His eldest son, Charles Augustus Eugène Napoleon, Duke of Leuchtenberg, married the Queen Maria of Portugal, on January 25, 1835, but died on the 18th of March of the same year. Another son, Max Eugène Joseph Napoléon (died 1852), who succeeded his brother as Duke of Leuchtenberg, married the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia. Consult Memoires du Prince Eugène de Beuaharnais (Paris, 1858-60).