master of Douglas, who was killed at Flodden, succeeded on his
grandfather's death. In 1509 he had married Margaret (d. 1513),
daughter of Patrick Hepburn, 1st earl of Bothwell; and in 1514 he
married the queen dowager Margaret of Scotland, widow of James IV.,
and eldest sister of Henry VIII. By this latter act he stirred up the
jealousy of the nobles and the opposition of the French party, and
civil war broke out. He was superseded in the government on the
arrival of John Stewart, duke of Albany, who was made regent. Angus
withdrew to his estates in Forfarshire, while Albany besieged the
queen at Stirling and got possession of the royal children; then he
joined Margaret after her flight at Morpeth, and on her departure for
London returned and made his peace with Albany in 1516. He met her
once more at Berwick in June 1517, when Margaret returned to Scotland
on Albany's departure in vain hopes of regaining the regency.
Meanwhile, during Margaret's absence, Angus had formed a connexion
with a daughter of the laird of Traquair. Margaret avenged his neglect
of her by refusing to support his claims for power and by secretly
trying through Albany to get a divorce. In Edinburgh Angus held his
own against the attempts of James Hamilton, 1st earl of Arran, to
dislodge him. But the return of Albany in 1521, with whom Margaret now
sided against her husband, deprived him of power. The regent took the
government into his own hands; Angus was charged with high treason in
December, and in March 1522 was sent practically a prisoner to France,
whence he succeeded in escaping to London in 1524. He returned to
Scotland in November with promises of support from Henry VIII., with
whom he made a close alliance. Margaret, however, refused to have
anything to do with her husband. On the 23rd, therefore, Angus forced
his way into Edinburgh, but was fired upon by Margaret and retreated
to Tantallon. He now organized a large party of nobles against
Margaret with the support of Henry VIII., and in February 1525 they
entered Edinburgh and called a parliament. Angus was made a lord of
the articles, was included in the council of regency, bore the king's
crown on the opening of the session, and with Archbishop Beaton held
the chief power. In March he was appointed lieutenant of the marches,
and suppressed the disorder and anarchy on the border. In July the
guardianship of the king was entrusted to him for a fixed period
till the 1st of November, but he refused at its close to retire, and
advancing to Linlithgow put to flight Margaret and his opponents. He
now with his followers engrossed all the power, succeeded in gaining
over some of his antagonists, including Arran and the Hamiltons,
and filled the public offices with Douglases, he himself becoming
chancellor. "None that time durst strive against a Douglas nor
Douglas's man."[1] The young king James, now fourteen, was far from
content under the tutelage of Angus, but he was closely guarded,
and several attempts to effect his liberation were prevented, Angus
completely defeating Lennox, who had advanced towards Edinburgh with
10,000 men in August, and subsequently taking Stirling. His successes
were consummated by a pacification with Beaton, and in 1527 and 1528
he was busy in restoring order through the country. In the latter
year, on the 11th of March, Margaret succeeded in obtaining her
divorce from Angus, and about the end of the month she and her lover,
Henry Stewart, were besieged at Stirling. A few weeks later, however,
James succeeded in escaping from Angus's custody, took refuge with
Margaret and Arran at Stirling, and immediately proscribed Angus and
all the Douglases, forbidding them to come within seven miles of his
person. Angus, having fortified himself in Tantallon, was attainted
and his lands confiscated. Repeated attempts of James to subdue
the fortress failed, and on one occasion Angus captured the royal
artillery, but at length it was given up as a condition of the truce
between England and Scotland, and in May 1529 Angus took refuge
with Henry, obtained a pension and took an oath of allegiance, Henry
engaging to make his restoration a condition of peace. Angus had
been chiefly guided in his intrigues with England by his brother, Sir
George Douglas of Pittendriech (_d._ 1552), master of Angus, a far
cleverer diplomatist than himself. His life and lands were also
declared forfeit, as were those of his uncle, Archibald Douglas of
Kilspindie (_d._ 1535), who had been a friend of James and was known
by the nickname of "Greysteel." These took refuge in exile. James
avenged himself on such Douglases as lay within his power. Angus's
third sister Janet, Lady Glamis, was summoned to answer the charge
of communicating with her brothers, and on her failure to appear her
estates were forfeited. In 1537 she was tried for conspiring against
the king's life. She was found guilty and burnt on the Castle Hill,
Edinburgh, on the 17th of July 1537. Her innocence has been generally
assumed, but Tytler (_Hist, of Scotland_, iv. pp. 433, 434) considered
her guilty. Angus remained in England till 1542, joining in the
attacks upon his countrymen on the border, while James refused all
demands from Henry VIII. for his restoration, and kept firm to his
policy of suppressing and extirpating the Douglas faction. On James
V.'s death in 1542 Angus returned to Scotland, with instructions
from Henry to accomplish the marriage between Mary and Edward. His
forfeiture was rescinded, his estates restored, and he was made a
privy councillor and lieutenant-general. In 1543 he negotiated the
treaty of peace and marriage, and the same year he himself married
Margaret, daughter of Robert, Lord Maxwell. Shortly afterwards strife
between Angus and the regent Arran broke out, and in April 1544
Angus was taken prisoner. The same year Lord Hertford's marauding
expedition, which did not spare the lands of Angus, made him join the
anti-English party. He entered into a bond with Arran and others to
maintain their allegiance to Mary, and gave his support to the
mission sent to France to offer the latter's hand. In July 1544 he
was appointed lieutenant of the south of Scotland, and distinguished
himself on the 27th of February 1545 in the victory over the
English at Ancrum Moor. He still corresponded with Henry VIII., but
nevertheless signed in 1546 the act cancelling the marriage and peace
treaty, and on the 10th of September commanded the van in the great
defeat of Pinkie, when he again won fame. In 1548 the attempt by
Lennox and Wharton to capture him and punish him for his duplicity
failed, Angus escaping after his defeat to Edinburgh by sea, and
Wharton being driven back to Carlisle. Under the regency of Mary of
Lorraine his restless and ambitious character and the number of his
retainers gave cause for frequent alarms to the government. On the
31st of August 1547 he resigned his earldom, obtaining a regrant _sibi
et suis haeredibus masculis et suis assignatis quibuscumque_. His
career was a long struggle for power and for the interests of his
family, to which national considerations were completely subordinate.
He died in January 1557. By Margaret Tudor he had Margaret, his only
surviving legitimate child, who married Matthew, 4th earl of Lennox,
and was mother of Lord Darnley. He was succeeded by his nephew David,
son of Sir George Douglas of Pittendriech.
[Footnote 1: Lindsay of Pitscottie (1814), ii. 314.]
[v.02 p.0044]
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, 8th earl, and earl of Morton (1555-1588), was the
son of David, 7th earl. He succeeded to the title and estates in 1558,
being brought up by his uncle, the 4th earl of Morton, a Presbyterian.
In 1573 he was made a privy councillor and sheriff of Berwick, in 1574
lieutenant-general of Scotland, in 1577 warden of the west marches and
steward of Fife, and in 1578 lieutenant-general of the realm. He gave
a strong support to Morton during the attack upon the latter, made a
vain attempt to rescue him, and was declared guilty of high treason
on the 2nd of June 1581. He now entered into correspondence with the
English government for an invasion of Scotland to rescue Morton,
and on the latter's execution in June went to London, where he
was welcomed by Elizabeth. After the raid of Ruthven in 1582 Angus
returned to Scotland and was reconciled to James, but soon afterwards
the king shook off the control of the earls of Mar and Gowrie,
and Angus was again banished from the court. In 1584 he joined
the rebellion of Mar and Glamis, but the movement failed, and the
insurgents fled to Berwick. Later they took up their residence at
Newcastle, which became a centre of Presbyterianism and of projects
against the Scottish government, encouraged by Elizabeth, who regarded
the banished lords as friends of the English and antagonists of the
French interest. In February 1585 they came to London, and cleared
themselves of the accusation of plotting against James's life; a plan
was prepared for their restoration and for the overthrow of James
Stewart, earl of Arran. In October they invaded Scotland and gained
an easy victory over Arran, captured Stirling Castle with the king in
November, and secured from James the restoration of their estates and
the control of the government. In 1586 Angus was appointed warden of
the marches and lieutenant-general on the border, and performed good
services in restoring order; but he was unable to overcome the king's
hostility to the establishment of Presbyterian government. In January
1586 he was granted the earldom of Morton with the lands entailed upon
him by his uncle. He died on the 4th of August 1588. He was succeeded
in the earldom by his cousin William, a descendant of the 5th earl.
(For the Morton title, see MORTON, JAMES DOUGLAS, 4th EARL OF.)
WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 10th earl (c. 1554-1611), was the son of William, the
9th earl (1533-1591). He studied at St. Andrews University and joined
the household of the earl of Morton. Subsequently, while visiting the
French court, he became a Roman Catholic, and was in consequence, on
his return, disinherited and placed under restraint. Nevertheless he
succeeded to his father's titles and estates in 1591, and though in
1592 he was disgraced for his complicity in Lord Bothwell's plot,
he was soon liberated and performed useful services as the king's
lieutenant in the north of Scotland. In July 1592, however, he was
asking for help from Elizabeth in a plot with Erroll and other lords
against Sir John Maitland, the chancellor, and protesting his absolute
rejection of Spanish offers, while in October he signed the Spanish
Blanks (see ERROLL, FRANCIS HAY, 9th EARL OF) and was imprisoned (on
the discovery of the treason) in Edinburgh Castle on his return in
January 1593. He succeeded on the 13th in escaping by the help of his
countess, joining the earls of Huntly and Erroll in the north.
They were offered an act of "oblivion" or "abolition" provided
they renounced their religion or quitted Scotland. Declining these
conditions they were declared traitors and "forfeited." They remained
in rebellion, and in July 1594 an attack made by them on Aberdeen
roused James's anger. Huntly and Erroll were subdued by James himself
in the north, and Angus failed in an attempt upon Edinburgh in concert
with the earl of Bothwell. Subsequently in 1597 they all renounced
their religion, declared themselves Presbyterians, and were restored
to their estates and honours. Angus was again included in the privy
council, and in June 1598 was appointed the king's lieutenant
in southern Scotland, in which capacity he showed great zeal and
conducted the "Raid of Dumfries," as the campaign against the
Johnstones was called. Not long afterwards, Angus, offended at the
advancement of Huntly to a marquisate, recanted, resisted all the
arguments of the ministers to bring him to a "better mind," and was
again excommunicated in 1608. In 1609 he withdrew to France, and
died in Paris on the 3rd of March 1611. He was succeeded by his son
William, as 11th earl of Angus, afterwards 1st marquis of Douglas
(1580-1660). The title is now held by the dukes of Hamilton.
AUTHORITIES.--_The Douglas Book_, by Sir W. Fraser (1885); _History
of the House of Douglas and Angus_, by D. Hume of Godscroft (1748,
legendary in some respects); _History of the House of Douglas_, by Sir
H. Maxwell (1902).
ANGUSSOLA or ANGUSSCIOLA, SOPHONISBA, Italian portrait painter of the
latter half of the 16th century, was born at Cremona about 1535, and
died at Palermo in 1626. In 1560, at the invitation of Philip II.,
she visited the court of Madrid, where her portraits elicited great
commendation. Vandyck is said to have declared that he had derived
more knowledge of the true principles of his art from her conversation
than from any other source. She painted several fine portraits of
herself, one of which is at Althorp. A few specimens of her painting
are to be seen at Florence and Madrid. She had three sisters, who were
also celebrated artists.
ANHALT, a duchy of Germany, and a constituent state of the German
empire, formed, in 1863, by the amalgamation of the two duchies
Anhalt-Dessau-Cöthen and Anhalt-Bernburg, and comprising all the
various Anhalt territories which were sundered apart in 1603. The
country now known as Anhalt consists of two larger portions--Eastern
and Western Anhalt, separated by the interposition of a part
of Prussian Saxony--and of five enclaves surrounded by Prussian
territory, viz. Alsleben, Mühlingen, Dornburg, Gödnitz and
Tilkerode-Abberode. The eastern and larger portion of the duchy
is enclosed by the Prussian government district of Potsdam (in
the Prussian province of Brandenburg), and Magdeburg and Merseburg
(belonging to the Prussian province of Saxony). The western or smaller
portion (the so-called Upper Duchy or Ballenstedt) is also enclosed by
the two latter districts and, for a distance of 5 m. on the west,
by the duchy of Brunswick. The western portion of the territory is
undulating and in the extreme south-west, where it forms part of the
Harz range, mountainous, the Ramberg peak attaining a height of 1900
ft. From the Harz the country gently shelves down to the Saale; and
between this river and the Elbe there lies a fine tract of fertile
country. The portion of the duchy lying east of the Elbe is mostly a
flat sandy plain, with extensive pine forests, though interspersed, at
intervals, by bog-land and rich pastures. The Elbe is the chief river,
and intersecting the eastern portion of the duchy, from east to west,
receives at Rosslau the waters of the Mulde. The navigable Saale takes
a northerly direction through the western portion of the eastern part
of the territory and receives, on the right, the Fuhne and, on the
left, the Wipper and the Bode. The climate is on the whole mild,
though somewhat inclement in the higher regions to the south-west. The
area of the duchy is 906 sq. m., and the population in 1905 amounted
to 328,007, a ratio of about 351 to the square mile. The country is
divided into the districts of Dessau, Cöthen, Zerbst, Bernburg and
Ballenstedt, of which that of Bernburg is the most, and that of
Ballenstedt the least, populated. Of the towns, four, viz. Dessau,
Bernburg, Cöthen and Zerbst, have populations exceeding 20,000. The
inhabitants of the duchy, who mainly belong to the upper Saxon race,
are, with the exception of about 12,000 Roman Catholics and 1700 Jews,
members of the Evangelical (Union) Church. The supreme ecclesiastical
authority is the consistory in Dessau; while a synod of 39 members,
elected for six years, assembles at periods to deliberate on internal
matters touching the organization of the church. The Roman Catholics
are under the bishop of Paderborn. There are within the duchy four
grammar schools (gymnasia), five semi-classical and modern schools,
a teachers' seminary and four high-grade girls' schools. Of the whole
surface, land under tillage amounts to about 60, meadowland to 7 and
forest to 25%. The chief crops are corn (especially wheat), fruit,
vegetables, potatoes, beet, tobacco, flax, linseed and hops. The land
is well cultivated, and the husbandry on the royal domains and the
large estates especially so. The pastures on the banks of the Elbe
yield cattle of excellent quality. The forests are well stocked
with game, such as deer and wild boar, and the open country is well
supplied with partridges. The rivers yield abundant fish, salmon (in
the Elbe), sturgeon and lampreys. The country is rich in lignite, and
salt works are abundant. Of the manufactures of Anhalt, the chief
are its sugar factories, distilleries, breweries and chemical works.
Commerce is brisk, especially in raw products--corn, cattle, timber
or wool. Coal (lignite), guano, oil and bricks are also articles of
export. The trade of the country is furthered by its excellent roads,
its navigable rivers and its railways (165 m.), which are worked in
connexion with the Prussian system. There is a chamber of commerce in
Dessau.
[v.02 p.0045]
_Constitution_.--The duchy, by virtue of a fundamental law, proclaimed
on the 17th of September 1859 and subsequently modified by various
decrees, is a constitutional monarchy. The duke, who bears the
title of "Highness," wields the executive power while sharing the
legislation with the estates. The diet (_Landtag_) is composed of
thirty-six members, of whom two are appointed by the duke, eight are
representatives of landowners paying the highest taxes, two of the
highest assessed members of the commercial and manufacturing classes,
fourteen of the other electors of the towns and ten of the rural
districts. The representatives are chosen for six years by indirect
vote and must have completed their twenty-fifth year. The duke
governs through a minister of state, who is the praeses of all the
departments--finance, home affairs, education, public worship and
statistics. The budget estimates for the financial year 1905-1906
placed the expenditure of the estate at £1,323,437. The public debt
amounted on the 30th of June 1904 to £226,300. By convention with
Prussia of 1867 the Anhalt troops form a contingent of the Prussian
army. Appeal from the lower courts of the duchy lies to the appeal
court at Naumburg in Prussian Saxony.
_History_.--During the 11th century the greater part of Anhalt was
included in the duchy of Saxony, and in the 12th century it came
under the rule of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg. Albert was
descended from Albert, count of Ballenstedt, whose son Esico (d. 1059
or 1060) appears to have been the first to bear the title of count of
Anhalt. Esico's grandson, Otto the Rich, count of Ballenstedt, was the
father of Albert the Bear, by whom Anhalt was united with the mark of
Brandenburg. When Albert died in 1170, his son Bernard, who received
the title of duke of Saxony in 1180, became count of Anhalt. Bernard
died in 1212, and Anhalt, separated from Saxony, passed to his son
Henry, who in 1218 took the title of prince and was the real founder
of the house of Anhalt. On Henry's death in 1252 his three sons
partitioned the principality and founded respectively the lines of
Aschersleben, Bernburg and Zerbst. The family ruling in Aschersleben
became extinct in 1315, and this district was subsequently
incorporated with the neighbouring bishopric of Halberstadt. The last
prince of the line of Anhalt-Bernburg died in 1468 and his lands
were inherited by the princes of the sole remaining line, that of
Anhalt-Zerbst. The territory belonging to this branch of the family
had been divided in 1396, and after the acquisition of Bernburg
Prince George I. made a further partition of Zerbst. Early in the 16th
century, however, owing to the death or abdication of several
princes, the family had become narrowed down to the two branches
of Anhalt-Cöthen and Anhalt-Dessau. Wolfgang, who became prince of
Anhalt-Cöthen in 1508, was a stalwart adherent of the Reformation,
and after the battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under the ban and
deprived of his lands by the emperor Charles V. After the peace
of Passau in 1552 he bought back his principality, but as he was
childless he surrendered it in 1562 to his kinsmen the princes of
Anhalt-Dessau. Ernest I. of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516) left three sons,
John II., George III., and Joachim, who ruled their lands together
for many years, and who, like Prince Wolfgang, favoured the reformed
doctrines, which thus became dominant in Anhalt. About 1546 the three
brothers divided their principality and founded the lines of Zerbst,
Plötzkau and Dessau. This division, however, was only temporary, as
the acquisition of Cöthen, and a series of deaths among the ruling
princes, enabled Joachim Ernest, a son of John II., to unite the whole
of Anhalt under his rule in 1570.
Joachim Ernest died in 1586 and his five sons ruled the land in common
until 1603, when Anhalt was again divided, and the lines of Dessau,
Bernburg, Plötzkau, Zerbst and Cöthen were refounded. The principality
was ravaged during the Thirty Years' War, and in the earlier part of
this struggle Christian I. of Anhalt-Bernburg took an important part.
In 1635 an arrangement was made by the various princes of Anhalt,
which gave a certain authority to the eldest member of the family,
who was thus able to represent the principality as a whole. This
proceeding was probably due to the necessity of maintaining an
appearance of unity in view of the disturbed state of European
politics. In 1665 the branch of Anhalt-Cöthen became extinct, and
according to a family compact this district was inherited by Lebrecht
of Anhalt-Plötzkau, who surrendered Plötzkau to Bernburg, and took
the title of prince of Anhalt-Cöthen. In the same year the princes
of Anhalt decided that if any branch of the family became extinct its
lands should be equally divided between the remaining branches. This
arrangement was carried out after the death of Frederick Augustus
of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1793, and Zerbst was divided between the three
remaining princes. During these years the policy of the different
princes was marked, perhaps intentionally, by considerable uniformity.
Once or twice Calvinism was favoured by a prince, but in general the
house was loyal to the doctrines of Luther. The growth of Prussia
provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the establishment
and practice of primogeniture by all branches of the family
prevented further divisions of the principality. In 1806 Alexius of
Anhalt-Bernburg was created a duke by the emperor Francis II., and
after the dissolution of the Empire each of the three princes took
this title. Joining the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807, they
supported Napoleon until 1813, when they transferred their
allegiance to the allies; in 1815 they became members of the Germanic
Confederation, and in 1828 joined, somewhat reluctantly, the Prussian
_Zollverein_.
[v.02 p.0046]
Anhalt-Cöthen was ruled without division by a succession of princes,
prominent among whom was Louis (d. 1650), who was both a soldier and a
scholar; and after the death of Prince Charles at the battle of
Semlin in 1789 it passed to his son Augustus II. This prince sought to
emulate the changes which had recently been made in France by dividing
Cöthen into two departments and introducing the Code Napoléon. Owing
to his extravagance he left a large amount of debt to his nephew and
successor, Louis II., and on this account the control of the finances
was transferred from the prince to the estates. Under Louis's
successor Ferdinand, who was a Roman Catholic and brought the Jesuits
into Anhalt, the state of the finances grew worse and led to the
interference of the king of Prussia and to the appointment of a
Prussian official. When the succeeding prince, Henry, died in 1847,
this family became extinct, and according to an arrangement between
the lines of Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Bernburg, Cöthen was added to
Dessau.
Anhalt-Bernburg had been weakened by partitions, but its princes had
added several districts to their lands; and in 1812, on the extinction
of a cadet branch, it was again united under a single ruler. The
feeble rule of Alexander Charles, who became duke in 1834, and the
disturbed state of Europe in the following decade, led to considerable
unrest, and in 1849 Bernburg was occupied by Prussian troops. A
number of abortive attempts were made to change the government, and
as Alexander Charles was unlikely to leave any children, Leopold of
Anhalt-Dessau took some part in the affairs of Bernburg. Eventually
in 1859 a new constitution was established for Bernburg and Dessau
jointly, and when Alexander Charles died in 1863 both were united
under the rule of Leopold.
Anhalt-Dessau had been divided in 1632, but was quickly reunited;
and in 1693 it came under the rule of Leopold I. (see ANHALT-DESSAU,
LEOPOLD I., PRINCE OF), the famous soldier who was generally known
as the "Old Dessauer." The sons of Leopold's eldest son were excluded
from the succession on account of the marriage of their father being
morganatic, and the principality passed in 1747 to his second son,
Leopold II. The unrest of 1848 spread to Dessau, and led to the
interference of the Prussians and to the establishment of the new
constitution in 1859. Leopold IV., who reigned from 1817 to 1871, had
the satisfaction in 1863 of reuniting the whole of Anhalt under his
rule. He took the title of duke of Anhalt, summoned one _Landtag_
for the whole of the duchy, and in 1866 fought for Prussia against
Austria. Subsequently a quarrel over the possession of the ducal
estates between the duke and the _Landtag_ broke the peace of the
duchy, but this was settled in 1872. In 1871 Anhalt became a state of
the German Empire. Leopold IV. was followed by his son Frederick I.,
and on the death of this prince in 1904 his son Frederick II. became
duke of Anhalt.