[1] A passage in the inscription runs:--"Thus saith Darius the king:
That which I have done I have done altogether by the grace of
Ahuramazda. Ahuramazda, and the other gods that be, brought aid to
me. For this reason did Ahuramazda, and the other gods that be, bring
aid to me, because I was not hostile, nor a liar, nor a wrongdoer,
neither I nor my family, but according to Rectitude (_arstam_) have I
ruled." (A.V. Williams Jackson, _Persia, Past and Present_)
BEHN, APHRA (otherwise AFRA, APHARA or AYFARA) (1640-1689), British
dramatist and novelist, was baptized at Wye, Kent, in 1640. Her father,
John Johnson, was a barber. While still a child she was taken out to
Surinam, then an English possession, from which she returned to England
in 1658, when it was handed over to the Dutch. In Surinam Aphra learned
the history, and acquired a personal knowledge of the African prince
Oroonoko and his beloved Imoinda, whose adventures she has related in
her novel, _Oroonoko_. On her return she married Mr Behn, a London
merchant of Dutch extraction. The wit and abilities of Mrs Behn brought
her into high estimation at court, and--her husband having died by this
time--Charles II. employed her on secret service in the Netherlands
during the Dutch war. At Antwerp she successfully accomplished the
objects of her mission; and in the latter end of 1666 she wormed out of
one Van der Aalbert the design formed by De Ruyter, in conjunction with
the DeWitts, of sailing up the Thames and burning the English ships in
their harbours. This she communicated to the English court, but although
the event proved her intelligence to have been well founded, it was at
the time disregarded. Disgusted with political service, she returned to
England, and from this period she appears to have supported herself by
her writings. Among her numerous plays are _The Forced Marriage, or the
Jealous Bridegroom_ (1671); _The Amorous Prince_ (1671); _The Town Fop_
(1677); and _The Rover, or the Banished Cavalier_ (in two parts, 1677
and 1681); and _The Roundheads_ (1682). The coarseness that disfigures
her plays was the fault of her time; she possessed great ingenuity, and
showed an admirable comprehension of stage business, while her wit and
vivacity were unfailing. Of her short tales, or novelettes, the best is
the story of _Oroonoko_, which was made the basis of Thomas Southerne's
popular tragedy. Mrs Behn died on the 16th of April 1689, and was buried
in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
See _Plays written by the Late Ingenious Mrs Behn_ (1702; reprinted,
1871); also "Aphra Behn's Gedichte und Prosawerke," by P. Siegel in
_Anglia_ (Halle, vol. xxv., 1902, pp. 86-128,329-385); and A.C.
Swinburne's essay on "Social Verse" in _Studies in Prose and Poetry_
(1894).
BEHR, WILLIAM JOSEPH (1775-1851), German publicist and writer, was born
at Salzheim on the 26th of August 1775. He studied law at Wurzburg and
Gottingen, became professor of public law in the university of Wurzburg
in 1799, and in 1819 was sent as a deputy to the _Landtag_ of Bavaria.
Having associated himself with the party of reform, he was regarded with
suspicion by the Bavarian king Maximilian I. and the court party,
although favoured for a time by Maximilian's son, the future King Louis
I. In 1821 he was compelled to give up his professorship, but he
continued to agitate for reform, and in 1831 the king refused to
recognize his election to the _Landtag_. A speech delivered by Behr in
1832 was regarded as seditious, and he was arrested. In spite of his
assertion of loyalty to the principle of monarchy he was detained in
custody, and in 1836 was found guilty of seeking to injure the king. He
then admitted his offence; but he was not released from prison until
1839, and the next nine years of his life were passed under police
supervision at Passau and Regensburg. In 1848 he obtained a free pardon
and a sum of money as compensation, and was sent to the German national
assembly which met at Frankfort in May of that year. He passed his
remaining days at Bamberg, where he died on the 1st of August 1851.
Behr's chief writings are: _Darstellung der Bedurfnisse, Wunsche und
Hoffnungen deutscher Nation_ (Aschaffenburg, 1816); _Die Verfassung und
Verwaltung des Staates_ (Nuremberg, 1811-1812); _Von den rechtlichen
Grenzen der Einwirkung des Deutschen Bundes auf die Verfassung,
Gesetzgebung, und Rechtspflege seiner Gliederstaaten_ (Stuttgart, 1820).
BEIRA, a seaport of Portuguese East Africa, at the mouth of the Pungwe
river, in 19 deg. 50' S., 34 deg. 50' E., 488 m. N. of Delagoa Bay, in
communication by railway with Cape Town via Umtali, Salisbury and
Bulawayo. Pop. about 4000, of whom a third are Europeans, and some 300
Indians. The town is built on a tongue of sand extending into the river,
and is comparatively healthy. The sea front is protected by a masonry
wall, and there are over 13,000 ft. of wharfage. Vessels drawing 24 ft.
can enter the port at high tide. Between the customs house and the
railway terminus is the mouth of a small river, the Chiveve, crossed by
a steel bridge, the centre span revolving and giving two passages each
of 40 ft. The town is without any architectural pretensions, but
possesses fine public gardens. It is the headquarters of the Companhai
de Mocambique, which administers the Beira district under charter from
the Portuguese crown. The business community is largely British.
Beira occupies the site of a forgotten Arab settlement. The present port
sprang into being as the result of a clause in the Anglo-Portuguese
agreement of 1891 providing for the construction of a railway between
Rhodesia and the navigable waters of the Pungwe. The railway at first
began at Fontesvilla, about 50 m. by river above Beira, but was
subsequently brought down to Beira. The completion in 1902 of the line
connecting Salisbury with Cape Town adversely affected the port of
Beira, the long railway route from the Cape being increasingly employed
by travellers to and from Mashonaland. Moreover, the high freights on
goods by the Beira route enabled Port Elizabeth to compete successfully
for the trade of Rhodesia. In October 1905 a considerable reduction was
made in railway rates and in port dues and customs, with the object of
re-attracting to the port the transit trade of the interior, and in 1907
a branch of the Rhodesian customs was opened in the town. In that year
goods valued at L647,000 passed through the port to Rhodesia. Efforts
were also made to develop the agricultural and mineral resources of the
Beira district itself. The principal exports are rubber, sugar,
ground-nuts and oil seeds, beeswax, chromite (from Rhodesia), and gold
(from Manica). The imports are chiefly rice (from India) and cotton
goods for local use, and food stuffs, machinery, hardware and
manufactured goods for Rhodesia. For the three years, 1905-1907, the
average annual value of the imports and exports, excluding the transit
trade with Rhodesia, was, imports L200,000, exports L90,000. Direct
steamship communication with Europe is maintained by German and British
lines.
See PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA; also the reports issued yearly by the
British Foreign Office on the trade of Beira.
BEIRA, an ancient principality and province of northern and central
Portugal; bounded on the N. by Entre Minho e Douro and by Traz os
Montes, E. by the Spanish provinces of Leon and Estremadura, S. by
Alemtejo and Portuguese Estremadura, and W. by the Atlantic Ocean. Pop.
(1900) 1,515,834; area, 9208 sq. m. Beira is administratively divided
into the districts of Aveiro, Coimbra, Vizeu, Guarda and Castello
Branco, while it is popularly regarded as consisting of the three
sections--Beira Alta or Upper Beira (Vizeu), north and west of the Serra
da Estrella; Beira Baixa or Lower Beira (Guarda and Castello Branco),
south and east of that range; and Beira Mar or Maritime Beira (Aveiro
and Coimbra), coinciding with the former coastal province of Douro. The
coast line, about 72 m. long, is uniformly flat, with long stretches of
sandy pine forest, heath or marshland bordered by a wide and fertile
plain. Its most conspicuous features are the lagoon of Aveiro (q.v.) and
the bold headland of Cape Mondego; in the south Aveiro, Murtosa, Ovar
and Figueira da Foz are small seaports. Except along the coast, the
surface is for the most part mountainous,--the highest point in the
Serra da Estrella, which extends from north-east to south-west through
the centre of the province, being 6532 ft. The northern and
south-eastern frontiers are respectively marked by the two great rivers
Douro and Tagus, which rise in Spain and flow to the Atlantic. The
Agueda and Coa, tributaries of the Douro, drain the eastern plateaus of
Beira; the Vouga rises in the Serra da Lapa, and forms the lagoon of
Aveiro at its mouth; the Mondego springs from the Serra da Estrella,
passes through Coimbra, and enters the sea at Figueira da Foz; and the
Zezere, a tributary of the Tagus, rises north-north-east of Covilha and
flows south-west and south.
Beira has a warm and equable climate, except in the mountains, where the
snowfall is often heavy. The soil, except in the valleys, is dry and
rocky, and large stretches are covered with heath. The principal
agricultural products are maize, wheat, garden vegetables and fruit. The
olive is largely cultivated, the oil forming one of the chief articles
of export; good wine is also produced. In the flat country between
Coimbra and Aveiro the marshy land is laid out in rice-fields or in
pastures for herds of cattle and horses. Sheep farming is an important
industry in the highlands of Upper Beira; while near Lamego swine are
reared in considerable numbers, and furnish the well-known Lisbon hams.
Iron, lead, copper, coal and marble are worked to a small extent, and
millstones are quarried in some places. Salt is obtained in considerable
quantities from the lagoons along the coast. There are few manufactures
except the production of woollen cloth, which occupies a large part of
the population in the district of Castello Branco. Three important lines
of railway, the Salamanca-Oporto, Salamanca-Lisbon and Lisbon-Oporto,
traverse parts of Beira; the two last named are also connected by the
Guarda-Figueira da Foz railway, which has a short branch line going
northwards to Vizeu. The chief towns, Aveiro (pop. 1900, 9979), Castello
Branco (7288), Coimbra (18,144), Covilha (15,469), Figueira da Foz
(6221), Guarda (6124), Ilhavo (12,617), Lamego (9471), Murtosa (9737),
Ovar (10,462) and Vizeu (8057), with the frontier fortress of Almeida
(2330), are described in separate articles. There is a striking
difference of character between the inhabitants of the highlands, who
are grave and reserved, hardy and industrious, and those of the
lowlands, who are more sociable and courteous, but less energetic. The
heir-apparent to the throne of Portugal has the title of prince of
Beira.
BEIRUT or BEYROUT. (1) A vilayet of Syria, constituted as recently as
1888, which stretches along the sea-coast from Jebel el-Akra, south of
the Orontes, to the Nahr Zerka, south of Mount Carmel, and towards the
south extends from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. It includes five
_sanjaks_, Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Acre and Buka'a. (2) The chief town
of the vilayet (anc. _Berytus_), the most important seaport town in
Syria, situated on the south side of St George's Bay, on rising ground
at the foot of Lebanon. Pop. 120,000 (Moslems, 36,000; Christians,
77,000; Jews, 2500; Druses, 400; foreigners, 4100). Berytus, whether it
is to be identified with Hebrew _Berothai_ or not (2 Sam. viii. 8; Ezek.
xlvii. 16), was one of the most ancient settlements on the Phoenician
coast; but nothing more than the name is known of it till B.C. 140, when
the town was taken and destroyed by Tryphon in his contest with
Antiochus VII. for the throne of the Seleucids. It duly passed under
Rome, was much favoured by the Herods and became a _colonia_. It was
famous for its schools, especially that of law, from the 4th century
A.D. onwards. Justinian recognized it as one of the three official law
schools of the empire (A.D. 533), but within a few years, as the result
of a disastrous earthquake (551), the students were transferred to
Sidon. In the following century it passed to the Arabs (635), and was
not again a Christian city till 1111, when Baldwin captured it. Saladin
retook it in 1187, and thenceforward, for six centuries and a half,
whoever its nominal lords may have been, Saracen, Crusader, Mameluke or
(from the 16th century) Turk, the Druse emirs of Lebanon dominated it
(see DRUSES). One of these, Fakr ed-Din Maan II., fortified it early in
the 17th century; but the Turks asserted themselves in 1763 and occupied
the place. During the succeeding epoch of rebellion at Acre under Jezzar
and Abdullah pashas, Beirut declined to a small town of about 10,000
souls, in dispute between the Druses, the Turks and the pashas,--a state
of things which lasted till Ibrahim Pasha captured Acre in 1832. When
the powers moved against the Egyptians in 1840, Beirut had recently been
occupied in force by Ibrahim as a menace to the Druses; but he was
easily driven out after a destructive bombardment by Admiral Sir Robert
Stopford (1768-1847). Since the pacification of the Lebanon after the
massacre of the Christians in 1860 (for later history, see LEBANON),
Beirut has greatly increased in extent, and has become the centre of the
transit trade for all southern Syria. In 1894 a harbour, constructed by
a French company, was opened, but the insecurity of the outer roadstead
militates against its success. Nevertheless trade is on the increase. In
1895 a French company completed a railway across the Lebanon to
Damascus, and connected it with Mezerib in the Hauran, whence now starts
the line to the Hejaz. Since 1907 it has also had railway communication
with Aleppo; and a narrow-gauge line runs up the coast to Tripoli. The
steepness of the Lebanon railway, and the break of gauge at Rayak, the
junction for Aleppo, have prevented the diversion of much of the trade
of North Syria to Beirut. The town has been supplied with water, since
1875, by an English company, and with gas, since 1888, by a French
company. There are many American and European institutions in the city:
the American Presbyterian mission, with a girls' school and a printing
office, which published the Arabic translation of the Bible, and now
issues a weekly paper and standard works in Arabic; the Syrian
Protestant college with its theological seminary, medical faculty,
training college and astronomical observatory; the Scottish mission, and
St George's institute for Moslem and Druse girls; the British Syrian
mission schools; the German hospital, orphanage and boarding school; the
French hospital and schools, and the Jesuit "Universite de St Joseph"
with a printing office. In summer most of the richer residents reside on
the Lebanon, and in winter the governor of the Lebanon and many Lebanon
notables inhabit houses in Beirut. The town has many fine houses, but
the streets are unpaved and the bazaars mean. The Moslem inhabitants,
being in a minority, have often shown themselves fanatical and
turbulent. There are several fairly good hotels for tourists.
(C. W. W.; D. G. H.)
BEIT, ALFRED (1853-1906), British South African financier, was the son
of a well-to-do merchant of Hamburg, Germany, and in 1875, after a
commercial education at home, was sent out to Kimberley, South Africa,
to investigate the diamond prospects. He had relatives, the Lipperts,
out there in business, and in conjunction with Mr (afterwards Sir)
Julius Wernher (b. 1850) he rapidly acquired a leading position on the
diamond fields, and became closely allied with the ideals of Cecil
Rhodes (q.v.). In 1889 Rhodes and Beit effected the amalgamation of
various interests in the De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. It was
largely owing to the capital and enterprise of Beit that the deep-level
mining in the Witwatersrand district of the Transvaal was started, and
he had a large share in the principal company, the Rand Mines Limited.
The firm of Wernher, Beit & Co. gradually transferred the centre of
their financial operations to London, where they became the leading
house in the dealings in South African mines. The rapid progress made in
developing the diamond and gold output made Beit a man of enormous
wealth, and he utilized it lavishly in pursuit of Rhodes's South African
policy. He was one of the original directors of the British South Africa
company, and was included with Rhodes in the censure passed by the House
of Commons Commission of Inquiry on the Jameson Raid (1896). He was
subsequently one of Rhodes's trustees. Personally of a modest, gentle,
generous and retiring disposition, and strongly imbued with Rhodes's
ideas of British imperialism, he was one of the South African
millionaires of German birth against whom the anti-imperialist section
in England were never tired of employing their sarcastic invective. But
though shrinking from ostentation in any form, his purse was continually
opened for public objects, notably his support of the Imperial Light
Horse and Imperial Yeomanry in the South African War of 1899-1902, and
his endowment of the professorship of colonial history at Oxford (1905).
He gave L100,000 to establish a university in his native city of Hamburg
and L200,000 for a university in Johannesburg. He built a fine house in
Park Lane, London, but was never prominent in social life. He died,
unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906.
BEJA (or BIJA), the name under which is comprised a widespread family of
tribes, usually classed as Hamitic. They may, however, represent very
early Semitic immigrants (see HAMITIC RACES). When first recorded the
Beja occupied the whole region between the Nile and the Red Sea from the
border of Upper Egypt to the foot of the Abyssinian plateau. They were
known to the ancient Egyptians, upon whose monuments they are
represented. They are the Blemmyes of Strabo (xvii. 53), and have also
been identified with the Macrobii of Herodotus, "tallest and finest of
men" (iii. 17). It has been suggested, though on insufficient grounds,
that the Beja, rather than the Abyssinians, are the "Ethiopians" of
Herodotus, the civilized people who built the city of Meroe and its
pyramids. During the Roman period the Beja were much what they are
to-day, nomadic and aggressive, and were constantly at war. In 216 A.H.
(A.D. 832) the Moslem governor of Assuan made a treaty with the Beja
chief, by which the latter undertook to guard the road to Aidhab and pay
an annual tribute of one hundred camels. This is the earliest record of
a government engagement with the northern section of the Beja, now the
Ababda. Ibn Batuta, early in the 14th century, mentions a king of Beja,
El Hadrabi, who received two-thirds of the revenue of Aidhab, the other
third going to the king of Egypt. The Beja territory contained gold and
emerald mines. The tribesmen were the usual escort for pilgrims to Mecca
from Kus to Aidhab. According to Leo Africanus, at the close of the 14th
or very early in the 15th century their rich town of Zibid (Aidhab?) on
the Red Sea was destroyed. This seems to have broken up the tribal
cohesion. Leo Africanus describes the Beja as "most base, miserable and
living only on milk and camels' flesh." In the middle ages the Beja,
partially at any rate, were Christians. The kingdom of Meroo was
succeeded by that of "Aloa," the capital of which, Soba, was on the Blue
Nile, about 13 m. above Khartum. The country was conquered by the Funj
(q.v.), a negroid people who subsequently became Mahommedan and
compelled the Beja to adopt that religion. Until the invasion of the
Egyptians, under Ismail, son of Mehemet Ali (1820), the Funj remained in
possession.
All the Beja are now Mahommedans, but generally only so in name, though
some of the tribes enthusiastically fought for Mahdiism (1883-99). As a
race the Beja are remarkable for physical beauty, with a colour more red
than black, and of a distinctly Caucasic type of face. The chiefs are,
as a rule, of much fairer complexion than the tribesmen. In spite of
their claim to Arab origin, the tribes have preserved many negro customs
in the matter of costume and scarring the body. Their hair-dressing is
very characteristic. The hair, worn thick as a protection against the
sun, is parted in a circle round the head on a level with the eyes,
above which the hair, saturated with mutton fat or butter, is trained
straight up like a mop, with separate tufts at sides and back. Most of
the tribes are nomadic shepherds, driving their cattle from pasture to
pasture; some few are occupied in agriculture.
They are polygynous, but, unlike the Arabs, great independence is
granted their women. Among most of the Beja peoples the wife can return
to her mother's tent whenever she likes, and after a birth of a child
she can repudiate the husband, who must make a present to be
re-accepted. Cases are said to have occurred where the woman has thus
obtained all her husband's possessions. The whole social position of the
Beja women points, indeed, to an earlier matriarchal system. Among some
of the tribes the custom of the "fourth day free" is observed, by which
the women are only considered married for so many days a week, forming
what liaisons they please on the odd day. The chief Beja tribes are the
Ababda, Bisharin, Hadendoa, Beni-Amer, Amarar, Shukuria, Hallenga and
Hamran.
BEJA (probably the ancient _Pax Julia_), the capital of an
administrative district formerly included in the province of Alemtejo,
Portugal; situated 95 m. S.S.E. of Lisbon by the Lisbon-Faro railway,
and at the head of a branch line to Pias e Orada (3855), 26 m. E. Pop.
(1900) 8885. Beja is an episcopal city, built on an isolated hill, and
partly enclosed by walls of Roman origin; on the south it has a fine
Roman gateway. Its cathedral is modern, but the citadel, with its
beautiful Gothic tower of white marble, was founded by King Diniz
(1279-1325). The city is surrounded by far-reaching plains, known as the
Campo de Beja, and devoted partly to the cultivation of grain and fruit,
partly to the breeding of cattle and pigs; copper, iron and manganese
are also mined to a small extent, and Beja is the central market for all
these products. Cloth, pottery and olive oil are manufactured in the
city.
The administrative district of Beja, the largest and most
thinly-populated district in Portugal, coincides with the southern part
of Alemtejo (q.v.); pop. (1900) 163,612; area, 3958 sq. m.; 41.3
inhabitants per sq. m.
BEJAN (Fr. _bejaune_, from _bec jaune_, "yellow beak," in allusion to
unfledged birds; the equivalent to Ger. _Gelbschnabel_, Fr. _blanc-bec_,
a greenhorn), a term for freshmen, or undergraduates of the first year,
in the Scottish universities. The phrase was introduced from the French
universities, where the levying of _bejaunium_ "footing-money" had been
prohibited by the statutes of the university of Orleans in 1365 and by
those of Toulouse in 1401. In 1493 the election of an _Abbas
Bejanorum_ (Abbot of the Freshmen) was forbidden in the university of
Paris. In the German and Austrian universities the freshman was called
_beanus_. In Germany the freshman was anciently called a _Pennal_ (from
Med. Lat. _pennale_, a box for pens), in allusion to the fact that the
newly-arrived student had to carry such for the older pupils. Afterwards
_Fuchs_ (fox) was substituted for _Pennal_, and then _Goldfuchs_ because
he is supposed still to have a few gold coins from home.
BEJART, the name of several French actors, children of Marie Herve and
Joseph Bejart (d. 1643), the holder of a small government post. The
family--there were eleven children--was very poor and lived in the
Marais, then the theatrical quarter of Paris. One of the sons, JOSEPH
BEJART (c. 1617-1659), was a strolling player and later a member of
Moliere's first company (l'Illustre Theatre), accompanied him in his
theatrical wanderings, and was with him when he returned permanently to
Paris, dying soon after. He created the parts of Lelie in _L'Etourdie_,
and Eraste in _Le Depit amoureux_. His brother Louis BEJART (c.
1630-1678) was also in Moliere's company during the last years of its
travels. He created many parts in his brother-in-law's plays--Valere in
_Le Depit amoureux_, Dubois in _Le Misanthrope_, Alcantor in _Le Mariage
force_, and Don Luis in _Le Festin de Pierre_--and was an actor of
varied talents. In consequence of a wound received when interfering in a
street brawl, he became lame and retired with a pension--the first ever
granted by the company to a comedian--in 1670.
The more famous members of the family were two sisters.
MADELEINE BEJART (1618-1672) was at the head of the travelling company
to which her sister Genevieve (1631-1675)--who played as Mlle Herve--and
her brothers belonged, before they joined Moliere in forming l'Illustre
Theatre (1643). With Moliere she remained until her death on the 17th of
February 1672. She had had an illegitimate daughter (1638) by an Italian
count, and her conduct on her early travels had not been exemplary, but
whatever her private relations with Moliere may have been, however
acrimonious and violent her temper, she and her family remained faithful
to his fortunes. She was a tall, handsome blonde, and an excellent
actress, particularly in soubrette parts, a number of which Moliere
wrote for her. Among her creations were Marotte in _Les Precieuses
ridicules_, Lisette in _L'Ecole des maris_, Dorine in _Tartuffe_.
Her sister, ARMANDE GRESINDE CLAIRE ELIZABETH BEJART (1645-1700), seems
first to have joined the company at Lyons in 1653. Moliere directed her
education and she grew up under his eye. In 1662, he being then forty
and she seventeen, they were married. Neither was happy; the wife was a
flirt, the husband jealous. On the strength of a scurrilous anonymous
pamphlet, _La Fameuse Comedienne, ou histoire de la Guerin_ (1688), her
character has been held perhaps unduly low. She was certainly guilty of
indifference and ingratitude, possibly of infidelity; they separated
after the birth of a daughter in 1665 and met only at the theatre until
1671. But the charm and grace which fascinated others, Moliere too could
not resist, and they were reconciled. Her portrait is given in a
well-known scene (Act iii., sc. 9) in _Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_. Mme
Moliere's first appearance on the stage was in 1663, as Elise in the
_Critique de l'ecole des femmes_. She was out of the cast for a short
time in 1664, when she bore Moliere a son--Louis XIV. and Henrietta of
England standing sponsors. But in the spring, beginning with the fetes
given at Versailles by the king to Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa,
she started her long list of important roles. She was at her best as
Celimene--really her own highly-finished portrait--in _Le Misanthrope_,
and hardly less admirable as Angelique in _Le Malade imaginaire_. She
was the Elmire at the first performance of _Tartuffe_, and the Lucile of
_Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_. All these parts were written by her husband
to display her talents to the best advantage and she made the most of
her opportunities. The death of Moliere, the secession of Baron and
several other actors, the rivalry of the Hotel de Bourgogne and the
development of the Palais Royal, by royal patent, into the home of
French opera, brought matters to a crisis with the _comediens du roi_.
Well advised by La Grange (Charles Varlet, 1639-1692), Armande leased
the Theatre Guenegaud, and by royal ordinance the residue of her company
were combined with the players from the Theatre du Marais, the fortunes
of which were at low ebb. The combination, known as the _troupe du roi_,
at first was unfortunate, but in 1679 they secured Mlle du Champmesle,
later absorbed the company of the Hotel de Bourgogne, and in 1680 the
Comedie Francaise was born. Mme Moliere in 1677 had married Eustache
Francois Guerin (1636-1728), an actor, and by him she had one son
(1678-1708). She continued her successes at the theatre until she
retired in 1694, and she died on the 30th of November 1700.
BEK, ANTONY (d. 1311), bishop of Durham, belonged to a Lincolnshire
family, and, having entered the church, received several benefices and
soon attracted the attention of Edward I., who secured his election as
bishop of Durham in 1283. When, after the death of King Alexander III.
in 1285, Edward interfered in the affairs of Scotland, he employed Bek
on this business, and in 1294 he sent him on a diplomatic errand to the
German king, Adolph of Nassau. Taking part in Edward's campaigns in
Scotland, the bishop received the surrender of John de Baliol at Brechin
in 1296, and led one division of the English army at the battle of
Falkirk in 1298. Soon after his return to England he became involved in
a quarrel with Richard de Hoton, prior of Durham. Deposed and
excommunicated by Bek, the prior secured the king's support; but the
bishop, against whom other complaints were preferred, refused to give
way, and by his obstinacy incurred the lasting enmity of Edward. In
1302, in obedience to the command of Pope Boniface VIII., he visited
Rome on this matter, and during his absence the king seized and
administered his lands, which, however, he recovered when he returned
and submitted to Edward. He continued, however, to pursue Richard with
unrelenting hostility, and was in his turn seriously harassed by the
king. Having been restored to the royal favour by Edward II. who made
him lord of the Isle of Man, the bishop died at Eltham on the 3rd of
March 1311. A man of great courage and energy, chaste and generous, Bek
was remarkable for his haughtiness and ostentation. Both as a bishop and
as a private individual he was very wealthy, and his household and
retinue were among the most magnificent in the land. He was a soldier
and a hunter rather than a bishop, and built castles at Eltham and
elsewhere.
Bek's elder brother, THOMAS BEK (d. 1293), bishop of St David's, was a
trusted servant of Edward I. He obtained many important and wealthy
ecclesiastical positions, was made treasurer of England in 1279, and
became bishop of St David's in 1280. He was a benefactor to his diocese
and died on the 12th of May 1293.
Another THOMAS BEK (1282-1347), who was bishop of Lincoln from 1341
until his death on the 2nd of February 1347, was a member of the same
family.
Antony Bek must not be confused with his kinsman and namesake, ANTONY
BEK (1279-1343), who was chancellor and dean of Lincoln cathedral, and
became bishop of Norwich after a disputed election in 1337. He was a
quarrelsome man, and after a stormy episcopate, died on the 19th of
December 1343.
See Robert of Graystanes, _Historia de statu ecclesiae Dunelmensis_,
edited by J. Raine in his _Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores_ (London,
1839); W. Hutchinson, _History of Durham_ (Newcastle, 1785-1794); J.L.
Low, _Diocesan History of Durham_ (London, 1881); and M. Creighton in
the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. iv. (London, 1885).
BEKE, CHARLES TILSTONE (1800-1874), English traveller, geographer and
Biblical critic, was born in Stepney, Middlesex, on the 10th of October
1800. His father was a merchant in London, and Beke engaged for a few
years in mercantile pursuits. He afterwards studied law at Lincoln's
Inn, and for a time practised at the bar, but finally devoted himself to
the study of historical, geographical and ethnographical subjects. The
first-fruits of his researches appeared in his work entitled _Origines
Biblicae, or Researches in Primeval History_, published in 1834. An
attempt to reconstruct the early history of the human race from
geological data, it raised a storm of opposition on the part of
defenders of the traditional readings of the book of Genesis; but in
recognition of the value of the work the university of Tubingen
conferred upon him the degree of Ph.D. For about two years (1837-1838)
Beke held the post of acting British consul in Saxony. From that time
till his death his attention was largely given to geographical studies,
chiefly of the Nile valley. Aided by private friends, he visited
Abyssinia in connexion with the mission to Shoa sent by the Indian
government under the leadership of Major (afterwards Sir) William
Cornwallis Harris, and explored Gojam and more southern regions up to
that time unknown to Europeans. Among other achievements, Beke was the
first to determine, with any approach to scientific accuracy, the course
of the Abai (Blue Nile). The valuable results of this journey, which
occupied him from 1840 to 1843, he gave to the world in a number of
papers in scientific publications, chiefly in the _Journal_ of the Royal
Geographical Society. On his return to London, Beke re-engaged in
commerce, but devoted all his leisure to geographical and kindred
studies. In 1848 he planned an expedition from the mainland opposite
Zanzibar to discover the sources of the Nile. A start was made, but the
expedition accomplished little. Beke's belief that the White Nile was
the main stream was, however, shown to be accurate by subsequent
exploration. In 1856 he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to establish
commercial relations with Abyssinia through Massawa. In 1861-1862 he and
his wife travelled in Syria and Palestine, and went to Egypt with the
object of promoting trade with Central Africa and the growth of cotton
in the Sudan. In 1865 he again went to Abyssinia, for the purpose of
obtaining from King Theodore the release of the British captives. On
learning that the captives had been released, Beke turned back, but
Theodore afterwards re-arrested the party. To the military expedition
sent to effect their release Beke furnished much valuable information,
and his various services to the government and to geographical research
were acknowledged by the award of L500 in 1868 by the secretary for
India, and by the grant of a civil list pension of L100 in 1870. In his
seventy-fourth year he undertook a journey to Egypt for the purpose of
determining the real position of Mount Sinai. He conceived that it was
on the eastern side of the Gulf of Akaba, and his journey convinced him
that his view was right. It has not, however, commended itself to
general acceptance. Beke died at Bromley, in Kent, on the 31st of July
1874.
Beke's writings are very numerous. Among the more important, besides
those already named, are: _An Essay on the Nile and its Tributaries_
(1847), _The Sources of the Nile_ (1860), and _The British Captives in
Abyssinia_ (1865). He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society,
and for his contributions to the knowledge of Abyssinia received its
gold medal, and also that of the Geographical Society of France. As a
result of a controversy over the statements of another Abyssinian
explorer, Antoine Abbadie, Beke returned the medal awarded him by the
French Society.
See _Summary of the late Dr Beke's published works and ... public
services_, by his widow (Tunbridge Wells, 1876).
BESKESCSABA, a market-town of Hungary, 123 m. S.E. of Budapest by rail.
Pop. (1900) 37,108, mostly Slovaks and Lutherans, who form the largest
Lutheran community in Hungary. The town is situated near the White
Koros, with which it is connected by a canal, and is an important
railway-junction in central Hungary. Bekescsaba possesses several large
milling establishments, while the weaving of hemp and the production of
hemp-linen is largely pursued as a home industry. The town carries on an
active trade in cereals, wines and cattle.
BEKKER, AUGUST IMMANUEL (1785-1871), German philologist and critic, was
born on the 21st of May 1785. He completed his classical education at
the university of Halle under F.A. Wolf, who considered him as his most
promising pupil. In 1810 he was appointed professor of philosophy in the
university of Berlin. For several years, between 1810 and 1821, he
travelled in France, Italy, England and parts of Germany, examining
classical manuscripts and gathering materials for his great editorial
labours. He died at Berlin on the 7th of June 1871. Some detached fruits
of his researches were given in the _Anecdota Graeca_, 1814-1821; but
the full result of his unwearied industry and ability is to be found in
the enormous array of classical authors edited by him. Anything like a
complete list of his works would occupy too much space, but it may be
said that his industry extended to nearly the whole of Greek literature
with the exception of the tragedians and lyric poets. His best known
editions are: Plato (1816-1823), Oratores Attici (1823-1824), Aristotle
(1831-1836), Aristophanes (1829), and twenty-five volumes of the Corpus
Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. The only Latin authors edited by him
were Livy (1829-1830) and Tacitus (1831). Bekker confined himself
entirely to textual recension and criticism, in which he relied solely
upon the MSS., and contributed little to the extension of general
scholarship.
See Sauppe, _Zur Erinnerung an Meineke und Bekker_ (1872); Haupt,
"Gedachtnisrede auf Meineke und Bekker," in his _Opuscula_, iii.; E.I.
Bekker, "Zur Erinnerung an meinen Vater," in the _Preussisches
Jahrbuch_, xxix.
BEKKER, BALTHASAR (1634-1698), Dutch divine, was born in Friesland in
1634, and educated at Groningen, under Jacob Alting, and at Franeker. He
was pastor at Franeker, and from 1679, at Amsterdam. An enthusiastic
disciple of Descartes, he wrote several works in philosophy and
theology, which by their freedom of thought aroused considerable
hostility. His best known work _Die Betooverde Wereld_ (1691), or _The
World Bewitched_ (1695; one volume of an English translation from a
French copy), in which he examined critically the phenomena generally
ascribed to spiritual agency, and attacked the belief in sorcery and
"possession" by the devil, whose very existence he questioned. The book
is interesting as an early study in comparative religion, but its
publication in 1692 led to Bekker's deposition from the ministry. He
died at Amsterdam.
BEKKER (or WOLFF), ELIZABETH (1738-1804), Dutch novelist, was married to
Adrian Wolff, a Reformed clergyman, but is always known under her maiden
name. After the death of her husband in 1777, she resided for some time
in France, with her close friend, Agatha Deken. She was exposed to some
of the dangers of the French Revolution, and, it is said, escaped the
guillotine only by her great presence of mind. In 1795 she returned to
Holland, and resided at the Hague till her death. Her novels were
written in conjunction with Agatha Deken, and it is somewhat difficult
to determine the exact qualities contributed by each. The _Historie van
William Levend_ (1785), _Historie van Sara Burgerhart_ (1790), _Abraham
Blankaart_ (1787), _Cornelie Wildschut_ (1793-1796), were extremely
popular.
BEL, the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, the counterpart
of the Phoenician Baal (q.v.) ideographically written as En-lil. Since
Bel signifies the "lord" or "master" _par excellence_, it is, therefore,
a title rather than a genuine name, and must have been given to a deity
who had acquired a position at the head of a pantheon. The real name is
accordingly to be sought in En-lil, of which the first element again has
the force of "lord" and the second presumably "might," "power," and the
like, though this cannot be regarded as certain. En-lil is associated
with the ancient city of Nippur, and since En-lil with the determinative
for "land" or "district" is a common method of writing the name of the
city, it follows, apart from other evidence, that En-lil was originally
the patron deity of Nippur. At a very early period--prior to 3000
B.C.--Nippur had become the centre of a political district of
considerable extent, and it is to this early period that the designation
of En-lil as Bel or "the lord" reverts. Inscriptions found at Nippur,
where extensive excavations were carried on during 1888-1900 by Messrs
Peters and Haynes, under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania,
show that Bel of Nippur was in fact regarded as the head of an extensive
pantheon. Among the titles accorded to him are "king of lands," "king of
heaven and earth" and "father of the gods." His chief temple at Nippur
was known as E-Kur, signifying "mountain house," and such was the
sanctity acquired by this edifice that Babylonian and Assyrian rulers,
down to the latest days, vied with one another in embellishing and
restoring Bel's seat of worship, and the name itself became the
designation of a temple in general. Grouped around the main sanctuary
there arose temples and chapels to the gods and goddesses who formed his
court, so that E-Kur became the name for an entire sacred precinct in
the city of Nippur. The name "mountain house" suggests a lofty structure
and was perhaps the designation originally of the staged tower at
Nippur, built in imitation of a mountain, with the sacred shrine of the
god on the top. The tower, however, also had its special designation of
"Im-Khar-sag," the elements of which, signifying "storm" and "mountain,"
confirm the conclusion drawn from other evidence that En-lil was
originally a storm-god having his seat on the top of a mountain. Since
the Euphrates valley has no mountains, En-lil would appear to be a god
whose worship was carried into Babylonia by a wave of migration from a
mountainous country--in all probability from Elam to the east.
When, with the political rise of Babylon as the centre of a great
empire, Nippur yielded its prerogatives to the city over which Marduk
presided, the attributes and the titles of En-lil were transferred to
Marduk, who becomes the "lord" or Bel of later days. The older Bel did
not, however, entirely lose his standing. Nippur continued to be a
sacred city after it ceased to have any considerable political
importance, while in addition the rise of the doctrine of a triad of
gods symbolizing the three divisions--heavens, earth and water--assured
to Bel, to whom the earth was assigned as his province, his place in the
religious system. The disassociation from his local origin involved in
this doctrine of the triad gave to Bel a rank independent of political
changes, and we, accordingly, find Bel as a factor in the religion of
Babylonia and Assyria to the latest days. It was no doubt owing to his
position as the second figure of the triad that enabled him to survive
the political eclipse of Nippur and made his sanctuary a place of
pilgrimage to which Assyrian kings down to the days of Assur-baui-pal
paid their homage equally with Babylonian rulers.
See also BELIT and BAAL. For the apocryphal book of the Bible, _Bel
and the Dragon_, see DANIEL: _Additions to Daniel_. (M. Ja.)
BELA III. (d. 1196), king of Hungary, was the second son of King Geza
II. Educated at the Byzantine court, where he had been compelled to seek
refuge, he was fortunate enough to win the friendship of the brilliant
emperor Manuel who, before the birth of his own son Alexius, intended to
make Bela his successor and betrothed him to his daughter. Subsequently,
however, he married the handsome and promising youth to Agnes of
Chatilion, duchess of Antioch, and in 1173 placed him, by force of arms,
on the Hungarian throne, first expelling Bela's younger brother Geza,
who was supported by the Catholic party. Initiated from childhood in all
the arts of diplomacy at what was then the focus of civilization, and as
much a warrior by nature as his imperial kinsman Manuel, Bela showed
himself from the first fully equal to all the difficulties of his
peculiar position. He began by adopting Catholicism and boldly seeking
the assistance of Rome. He then made what had hitherto been an elective
a hereditary throne by crowning his infant son Emerich his successor. In
the beginning of his reign he adopted a prudent policy of amity with his
two most powerful neighbours, the emperors of the East and West, but the
death of Manuel in 1180 gave Hungary once more a free hand in the
affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, her natural sphere of influence. The
attempt to recover Dalmatia, which involved Bela in two bloody wars with
Venice (1181-88 and 1190-91), was only partially successful. But he
assisted the Rascians or Serbs (see HUNGARY: _History_) to throw off the
Greek yoke and establish a native dynasty, and attempted to made Galicia
an appanage of his younger son Andrew. It was in Bela's reign that the
emperor Frederick I., in the spring of 1189, traversed Hungary with
100,000 crusaders, on which occasion the country was so well policed
that no harm was done to it and the inhabitants profited largely from
their commerce with the German host. In his last years Bela assisted the
Greek emperor Isaac II. Angelus against the Bulgarians. His first wife
bore Bela two sons, Emerich and Andrew. On her death he married Margaret
of France, sister of King Philip Augustus. Bela was in every sense of
the word a great statesman, and his court was accounted one of the most
brilliant in Europe.
For an account of his internal reforms see HUNGARY. Though the poet
Ede Szigligeti has immortalized his memory in the play _Bela III_., we
have no historical monograph of him, but in Ignacz Acsady, _History of
the Hungarian Realm_ (Hung.), i. 2 (Budapest, 1903), there is an
excellent account of his reign. (R. N. B.)
BELA IV. (1206-1270), king of Hungary, was the son of Andrew II., whom
he succeeded in 1235. During his father's lifetime he had greatly
distinguished himself by his administration of Transylvania, then a
wilderness, which, with incredible patience and energy, he colonized and
christianized. He repaired as far as possible the ruinous effects of his
father's wastefulness, but on his accession found everything in the
utmost confusion, "the great lords," to cite the old chronicler Rogerius
(c. 1223-1266), "having so greatly enriched themselves that the king was
brought to naught." The whole land was full of violence, the very
bishops storming rich monasteries at the head of armed retainers. Bela
resolutely put down all disorder. He increased the dignity of the crown
by introducing a stricter court etiquette, and its wealth by recovering
those of the royal domains which the magnates had appropriated during
the troubles of the last reign. The pope, naturally on the side of
order, staunchly supported this regenerator of the realm, and in his own
brother Coloman, who administered the district of the Drave, Bela also
found a loyal and intelligent co-operator. He also largely employed Jews
and Ishmaelites,[1] the financial specialists of the day, whom he
rewarded with lands and titles. The salient event of Bela's reign was
the terrible Tatar invasion which reduced three-quarters of Hungary to
ashes. The terror of their name had long preceded them, and Bela, in
1235 or 1236, sent the Dominican monk Julian, by way of Constantinople,
to Russia, to collect information about them from the "ancient Magyars"
settled there, possibly the Volgan Bulgarians. He returned to Hungary
with the tidings that the Tatars contemplated the immediate conquest of
Europe. Bela did his utmost to place his kingdom in a state of defence,
and appealed betimes to the pope, the duke of Austria and the emperor
for assistance; but in February and March 1241 the Tatars burst through
the Carpathian passes; in April Bela himself, after a gallant stand, was
routed on the banks of the Sajo and fled to the islands of Dalmatia; and
for the next twelve months the kingdom of Hungary was merely a
geographical expression. The last twenty-eight years of Bela's reign
were mainly devoted to the reconstruction of his realm, which he
accomplished with a single-minded thoroughness which has covered his
name with glory. (See HUNGARY: _History_.)
Perhaps the most difficult part of his task was the recovery of the
western portions of the kingdom (which had suffered least) from the
hands of Frederick of Austria, who had seized them as the price of
assistance which had been promised but never given. First Bela solicited
the aid of the pope, but was compelled finally to resort to arms, and
crossing the Leitha on the 15th of June 1246, routed Frederick, who was
seriously wounded and trampled to death by his own horsemen. With him
was extinguished the male line of the house of Babenberg. In the south
Bela was less successful. In 1243 he was obliged to cede to Venice,
Zara, a perpetual apple of discord between the two states; but he kept
his hold upon Spalato and his other Dalmatian possessions, and his wise
policy of religious tolerance in Bosnia enabled Hungary to rule that
province peaceably for many years. The new Servian kingdom of the
Nemanides, on the other hand, gave him much trouble and was the occasion
of many bloody wars. In 1261 the Tatars under Nogai Khan invaded Hungary
for the second time, but were defeated by Bela and lost 50,000 men. Bela
reached the apogee of his political greatness in 1264 when, shortly
after his crushing defeat of the Servian king, Stephen Urosh, he
entertained at his court, at Kalocsa, the ambassadors of the newly
restored Greek emperor, of the kings of France, Bulgaria and Bohemia and
three Tatar _mirzas_. For a time Bela was equally fortunate in the
north-west, where the ambitious and enterprising Poemyslidae had erected
a new Bohemian empire which absorbed the territories of the old
Babenbergers and was very menacing to Hungary. With Ottakar II. in
particular, Bela was almost constantly at war for the possession of
Styria, which ultimately fell to the Bohemians. The last years of Bela's
life were embittered by the ingratitude of his son Stephen, who rebelled
continuously against his father and ultimately compelled him to divide
the kingdom with him, the younger prince setting up a capital of his own
at Sarospatak, and following a foreign policy directly contrary to that
of his father. Bela died on the 3rd of May 1270 in his sixty-fourth
year. With the people at large he was popular to the last; his services
to his country had been inestimable. He married, while still
crown-prince, Maria, daughter of the Nicaean emperor, Theodore Lascaris,
whom his own father brought home with him from his crusade. She bore
him, besides his two sons Stephen and Bela, seven daughters, of whom St
Margaret was the most famous.
No special monograph for the whole reign exists. For the Tatar
invasion see the contemporary Rogerius, _Epistolae super destructione
Regni Hungarias per Tartaros facta_ (Budapest, 1885). A vivid but
somewhat chauvinistic history of Bela's reign will be found in
Acsady's _History of the Hungarian Realm_ (Hung.), i. 2 (Budapest,
1903). (R. N. B.)