Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/45

* MORTIER. 33 MORTMAIN. trusted with the j;ovcrnmi'nt of Silesia and fi-eati'd Dul<o of Tiwiso. Sent to Spain in 1808, he took part in the siege of Saragossa and de- feated the Spaniards at Ocaila ( Xovemlx-r 19, ISOil)- After sharing in the Uussiaii eampaignof 1812 Jlortier took a decisive part in the battle of l.iitzen ( Ma.y 2, 181.'{) and in all the subsecpient military events of 1813-14. When Napoleon's cause was lost, Jlortier at last gave in his ad- hesion to the (ioerninent of Louis XVI II. Dur- ing the period of the Hundred D.i s Mortier first saw the King safely out of I^rance and then joined his old leader. After the second Bourbon restoration, he was crossed otV the list of peers for refusing to sit on the court martial of Ney. He became a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 181. and was restored to the Chamber of Peers in 1819. After the Revolution of 1830, he was made Ambassador at Saint Petersburg, be- came Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor in 1833, and Jlinister of War and president of the Council in 1834-3;'). He was killed on the Boulevard du Temple. July 28, 183.5, by a missile from the infernal machine of Fieschi (q.v.). MORTILLET, mor'te'ya', Louis Laurent O.vDRiEL DE ( 1821-98). A French anthropologist, bom at Meylan, Isfere. His interest in prehis- toric archaeology dates from a trip to Italy in 1858, and he began to study the Swiss lake dwellings. In 1804, after his return to France, he founded a review, Materiaux pour I'histoire positive et philosophique de I'homme, and in 1808 became an assistant at the Museum of Saint Germain, In 1870, with Broca, he planned the Eeole d'Anthropologie. His published work in- cludes: ^igne de la croix avant le christianisme (180(i): Ijcs habitations laciistres du lac du Boiii-fict (1807) ; Origine du hronze (1870) ; Le pn'liistorifjiie (1882) : and Origines de la chasse, (Ic la pcclie et de rar/riculture (1890). MOR'TIMER, .JonN Hamilton ( 1741-79). An Englisli painter and engraver, born at East- bourne. He was a pupil of Hiidson and of Reyn- olds, and won the first prize of the Society of Arts in 1703. His vigorous if somewhat uncer- tain talent and his love of the terrible are shown in such works as the "Battle of Agin- court," "Vortigern and Rowena," and "Hercules Slaying the Hydra." in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1779. His etchings are notable for their bold execution. They include several after his own works. He also made de- siuMs for stained-glass windows in Salisl)ury Cathedral and Brasenose College, Oxford. MORTIMER, Roger DE (1287?-13.30) . First Earl of March and eighth Baron of Wigmore. For some years he was a faithful adherent of Edward U. of England, and from 1310 to 1321 his re]n'esentative in Ireland to oppose Edward Bruce; but when recalled in 1.321 Mortimer joined the insurgent barons who were hostile to t!ic Des])ensers. with whom he had been al- lied for a year. In 1322 Mortimer submitted to Edward and was imprisoned in the Tower of Lon- don, but escaped to France two years later. There he met and fascinated Queen Isabella, wife of Edward, became her paramour, and deter- mined upon the overthrow of the King. With a small force the two landed on the English coa.st in 1320, and were soon joined by large numt>ers of the discontented nobles and common people. The King was defeated, taken prisoner, and probably nuirdcrcd in his prison in 1327. Mor- timer look the title of Earl of March in 1328, and received confiscated estates and olfiees of inunense value, while his creatures controlled the administration. Edward III. was a minor, and. though a council held the' regency, Morti- mer's infinenee was supreme. Mortimer became verv unpopular when he made the 'Shameful Peace' witlk the Scots in 1328. Finally Edward 111. resolved to be King in fact as well as in name, had the Earl of March seized at Notting- ham Castle, anil summoned a new Parliament. Jlortimer was tried on charges of treason, con- demned, and in 1330 hanged, drawn, and quar- tered. (See Edward 111.) Consiilt: Stubbs. Con- stitutional Historij, vol. ii. (4th ed., Oxford, 1896), and Longman. Eduard III., vol. i. (Lon- don, 1809), MORTIMER, HIS FALL. A fragment of a tragi'ily i Hen .loiison, consisting of only the argument and a few lines. It was completed in 1091 by W. Mountfort as King Edicard III., with the Full of Mortimer. Co.xeter states that it was written by John Bancroft, who presented it to Mount fort. MORTIMER'S CROSS, Battle of. See Ed- WAiu) IV.; R0.SES, Wars of the. MORTISE (OF. mortaise, mortoise, Fr. mor- tuise, Sp. mortaja, mortise; possibly from Ar. mtirtazz, fixed, p.p. of firlu:;~u. to be fixed, from razxa, to lay) AND TENON (OF., Fr. tenon. from tenir, to hold, from Lat. teuere^ to hold). A form of joint in carpentry. The tenon is a projection, generally rectangular in form, on the end of a piece of wood, cut so as to fit exact- ly into a deep groove (called the mortise) in another piece, so that the two are united at a re- quired angle. The framing of doors, shutters, and such pieces of joinery is usually fitted together with mortise and tenon joints. Mortise holes are also made to receive locks and other fittings, MORTMAIN (OF. morlemain, from ML. mnrtua manus. dead hand), St.tutes OF. The term mortmain is applied to the perpetual tenure of lands by corporations, particularly church cor- porations, whose •members and ofllcers, being ec- clesiastics, were by the early law deemed civilly dead, and hence the derivation of the term as signifying land held by the dead hand of the Church, In later times the term has been ap- plied to the tenure of lands by corporations gen- erally, whether ecclesiastical or lay. Mortmain first became a matter for the seri- ous attention of English legislators and lawyers as early as the reign of Edward 1. The policy of the various ecclesiastical corporations of acquiring large holdings of land and retaining them became a menace to the well being of the State, partly because it afforded a ready means of accumulating wealth and power which were held in strict allegiance to the Church, whose interests were often in conflict with those of the civil authority, but primarily because the ownership of land by ecclesiastical corporations was inconsistent with feudal teinire. The feudal system presupposed the holding of land by a tenant who could render to his overlord certain services or dues upon the happening of certain events. The most important of these were: (a) Ttelief. — A sum which an heir was accus- tomed to pay to the lord upon coming into his ancestor's tenancy. (b) Wardship. — The right