Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/748

* EDMUND. 650 EDOM. In both battles he was victorious; but a severe defeat which he sustained at Assandun in Es- sex compelled him to make terms with the fiiemv. An arranijemciit was entered into by which Kiigland was divided between tlie two kiii!];s, Canute obtaining ])Ossessionof the north, and the south falling to the share of Edmund. It seems probable that it was also agreed that on the death of either the survivor was to suc- ceed him. Edmund died a few weeks after this agreement had been concluded, and Canute be- came King of England. November 30. lOlG. Ac- ■cording to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Edmund received the surname of Ironside for his ex- traordinary courage and physical strength. Con- sult: Freeman, The yonnan Conquest, vol. i. (2d ed., Oxford, 1870) : Green, The Conquest of £n(ilaiiil (London and New York, 1883). EDMUND, Saint (c.1170-1240). An Eng- lish archbishop and ascetic. His name was Edmund Eich. He was born at Abingdon be- tween 1170 and 1175. He early adopted the ascetic life and followed its rules with a rigor amounting to heroism. He studied at Oxford and Paris and became a priest. In 1227 he was one of the preachers of the sixth crusade. In 1234 he became Archbishop of Canterbury. He -nas involved in many disputes and quarrels, both political and ecclesiastical. In 1240, broken down by such contentions and his severe mode of life, he" left his post and went to Pontigny in France, soon after to Soisy, where he died November IG, 1240. For his life, consult Masse, Eng. trans. (London, 1874). EDMUND. The bastard son of the Earl of Closter, in Shakespeare's Kinp Lear. He sup- plants Edgar in Gloster's affections, works the disgrace and ruin first of his brother and then of liis father, wins the love of both the wolfish daughters of the unhappy King, and is the main •cause of the catastrophe of the play. ED'MUNDS, George Franklin (1828—). An American lawyer and legislator. He was born at Richmond, Vt.; was educated in a com- mon school and by a ])rivate tutor; studied law, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. He set- tled in Burlington in 1851, and from 1854 to 1859 was a member of the State Legislature, being for three years Speaker of the Lower House. In 1861-62 he served in the Slate Sen- ate, and was president pro ton. W lien the Civil War broke out he was a member of the State <.'onvention which met to form a coalition be- tween the Republicans and the War Democrats, and he drew up the resolutions adopted by that ■convention as the basis of union. At the death of Solomon Foot in 1866, Ednmnds was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy from Vermont in the i'nited States Senate, and held olbce until his resignation in 1891. In tlie Senate he served on the committees on Commerce. Public Lands. Pensions. Retrenchments, and the .ludiciary. He was a member of the Electoral Commission (q.v.) in 1877, was for several years at the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and was president pro tent, of the Senate during Arthur's administration. He was the author of the Anti- Polygamy Act of 18S2. known as the 'Edmunds Act.' and of a somewhat similar act passed in 1887. .fter retiring from the .Senate he prac- ticed law and attained great eminence as a con- stitutional lawver. E'DOM (Heb. edom, red. Gk. ndouimla, Idou- muiti). According to the Old Testament, which places the Esauites in possession of Edom, the latter becomes one of the names of Esau, fanci: fully explained because of the 'red' pottage given him by his brother Jacob (Gen. xxv. 211- 34 ). ( .See EsAV. ) The ruddy hue of the sand- stone dill's may have had something to do with the naming of the region. The name, under the form I'dumu, occurs in the TcU-el-.Vmarn.a Tab- lets (c.1400 B.C.). It is designated as a city, and since in later Assyrian inscripticms it is sometimes designated in the same way, though also as a country, it has been concluded that the district received its name from its chief city. Another and ajiparently older name was Seir, which is the designation of the mountain range. Originally in the possession of the Hivites, it passed into the hands of the Esauite group. The latter, liowever. does not drive out the former, but intermarries with it (Deut. ii. 22. and Gen. .x.xvi. 20-21). Edom comprised a strip of country 100 miles long by 20 miles broad, lying betwetn the south of Palestine and the Gulf of Akabah (an arm of the Red Sea). It is a wild, mountainous region ^X the desert on the east and west of it;. but rugged though it looks, it contains rich glens and terraces, where (lowers and shrubs and trees spring U]) luxuriantly. It^ chief city in later periods was Bozrah (now Buseirah) in the extreme north ; its seaports were Elath and Ezion-geber in the extreme south at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. The relations between the Hebrews and Edomites. despite the recogni- tion of their close relationship, were for the most part hostile, and this hostility is carried back in historical traditions to the time when the Hebrews were refused permission to pass through Edom on tiieir way to Canaan (Num. xx. 14-21 ), and were ol)liged to pass eastward of the land and make their way to Jl6ab. During the reigns of David and Solomon the Edomites were brought under subjection to the Israelites, and despite many uprisings (I. Kings xi. 14-22; II. Kings viii. 20-22 ; xiv. 22 ) . they remained in the power of Israel until the time of Rezin of Damascus (II. Kings xvi. 0) : nevertheless the Edomites repeatedly ravaged the southern bor- der of Palestine and rejoiced when .Judah was destroyed, which circumstance is the reason that they are so terribly denounced by some of the prophets (Lam. iv. 21-22; Ezek. xxxv. 3-15; Obad. 10-16). In the Assyrian inscriptions JSdom is fre- quently mentioned. In B.C. 732 Edomites appear among those who are forced to pay homage to Tiglathpileser lit. at Damascus, while twenty years later we find Edom again joining a league with Moab. .ludah. Philistia. and Egypt, against the Assyrian King Sargon. The allies were obliged to sul)mit and ))ay tribite. Once more, in B.C. 701. when Sennacherib threatened Pales- tine and Syria, Edom joined issue with Hez- ekiah in an attempt to withstand the attack. In view of this, it is rather strange to find the inference in the Old Testament narratives that at the time of the attack of Nebuchadnezzar upon .Jerusalem the Edomites assisted the Baby- lonians. In the post-exilie period the Edomites are enabled to extend (heir domain and occupy a portion of southern .Tudnh. with IIel>rnn as a cipi- tal, and during the Jlaccabean v:u the .Tews