[1] Mr C.A. van Ophuijsen has published (in _Bijd. tot Land-, Taalen
Volken-Kunde_, 1886) an interesting collection of Battak poetry. He
describes a curious leaf language used by Battak lovers, in which the
name of some leaf or plant is substituted for the word with which it
has greatest phonetic similarity.
BATTEL, or BATTELS (of uncertain origin, possibly connected with
"battle," a northern English word meaning to feed, or "batten"), a word
used at Oxford University for the food ordered by members of the college
as distinct from the usual "commons"; and hence college accounts for
board and provisions supplied from kitchen and buttery, and, generally,
the whole of a man's college accounts. "Batteler," now a resident in a
college, was originally a rank of students between commoners and
servitors who, as the name implies, were not supplied with "commons,"
but only such provisions as they ordered for themselves.
BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM (_floruit_ 1626-1667), British sailor, son of Andrew
Batten, master in the royal navy, first appears as taking out letters of
marque in 1626, and in 1638 he obtained the post of surveyor to the
navy, probably by purchase. In March 1642 he was appointed
second-in-command under the earl of Warwick, the parliamentary admiral
who took the fleet out of the king's hands. It was Vice-Admiral Batten's
squadron which bombarded Scarborough when Henrietta Maria landed there.
He was accused (it appears unjustly) by the Royalists of directing his
fire particularly on the house occupied by the queen, and up to the end
of the First Civil War showed himself a steady partisan of the
parliament. To the end of the First Civil War, Batten continued to
patrol the English seas, and his action in 1647 in bringing into
Portsmouth a number of Swedish ships of war and merchantmen, which had
refused the customary salute to the flag, was approved by parliament.
When the Second Civil War began he was distrusted by the Independents
and removed from his command, though he confessed his continued
willingness to serve the state. When part of the fleet revolted against
the parliament, and joined the prince of Wales in Holland, May 1648,
Batten went with them. He was knighted by the prince, but being
suspected by the Royalists, was put ashore mutinously in Holland and
returned to England. He lived in retirement during the Commonwealth
period. At the Restoration Sir William Batten became once more surveyor
of the navy. In this office he was in constant intercourse with Pepys,
whose diary frequently mentions him; but the insinuations of Pepys
against him must not be taken too seriously, as there is no evidence to
show that Batten in making a profit from his office fell below the
standards of the time. In 1661 he became M.P. for Rochester, and in 1663
he was made master of the Trinity House. He died in 1667.
There is no separate life of Batten, but many notices of him will be
found in Penn's _Life of Sir W. Penn_, and in Pepys' _Diary_.
BATTEN, (1) A term (a form of "baton") used in joinery (q.v.) for a
board not more than 4 to 7 in. broad or 3 in. thick, used for various
purposes, such as for strengthening or holding together laths and other
wood-work; and specially, on board ship, a strip of wood nailed to a
mast to prevent rubbing, or fixing down a tarpaulin over a hatchway, in
rough weather, to keep out water. (2) A verb (the root is found in words
of several Teutonic languages meaning profit or improvement, and also in
the English "better" and "boot") meaning to improve in condition,
especially in the case of animals by feeding; so, to feed gluttonously;
the word is used figuratively of prospering at the expense of another.
BATTENBERG, the name of a family of German counts which died out about
1314, whose seat was the castle of Kellerburg, near Battenberg, a small
place now in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. The title was
revived in 1851, when Alexander (1823-1888), a younger son of Louis II.,
grand-duke of Hesse, contracted a morganatic marriage with a Polish
lady, Countess Julia Theresa von Haucke (1825-1895), who was then
created countess of Battenberg. Raised to the rank of a princess in
1858, the countess and her children were allowed to style themselves
princes and princesses of Battenberg, with the addition of _Durchlaucht_
or Serene Highness. The eldest son of this union, Louis Alexander (b.
1854), married in 1884 Victoria, daughter of Louis IV., grand-duke of
Hesse, and became an admiral in the British navy. The second son,
Alexander Joseph (q.v.), was prince of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886. The
third son, Henry Maurice, was born in 1858, and married on the 23rd of
July 1885 Beatrice, youngest daughter of Victoria, queen of England. He
died at sea on the 20th of January 1896 when returning from active
service with the British troops during the Ashanti War, and left three
sons and a daughter, Victoria Eugenie, who was married in 1906 to
Alphonso XIII., king of Spain. The fourth son, Francis Joseph, born in
1861, married in 1897 Anna, daughter of Nicholas I., prince of
Montenegro, and is the author of _Die volkswirtschaftliche Entwickelung
Bulgariens von 1879 bis zur Gegenwart_ (Leipzig, 1891). The only
daughter of the princess of Battenberg, Marie Caroline, born in 1852,
was married in 1871 to Gustavus Ernest, prince and count of
Erbach-Schonberg.
BATTER, an architectural term of unknown origin, used of the face of a
wall which is slightly inclined to the perpendicular. It is most
commonly employed in retaining walls, the lower courses of which are
laid at right angles to the batter, so as to resist the thrust of the
earth inside. For aesthetic reasons it is often adopted in the lowest or
basement porticos of a great building. From a historical point of view
it is the most ancient system employed, as throughout Egypt and Chaldaea
all the temples built in unburnt brick were perforce obliged to be
thicker at the bottom, and this gave rise to the batter or raking side
which was afterwards in Egypt copied in stone. For defensive purposes
the walls of the lower portions of a fortress were built with a batter
as in the case of the tower of David and some of the walls built by
Herod at Jerusalem. The Crusaders also largely adopted the principle,
which was followed in some of the castles of the middle ages throughout
Europe.
BATTERING RAM (Lat. _aries_, ram), a military engine used before the
invention of cannon, for beating down the walls of besieged fortresses.
It consisted of a long heavy beam of timber, armed at the extremity with
iron fashioned something like the head of a ram. In its simplest form
the beam was carried in the hands of the soldiers, who assailed the
walls with it by main force. The improved ram was composed of a longer
beam, in some cases extending to 120 ft., shod with iron at one end, and
suspended, either by the middle or from two points, from another beam
laid across two posts. This is the kind described by Josephus as having
been used at the siege of Jerusalem (_B.J._ iii. 7. 19). The ram was
shielded from the missiles of the besieged by a penthouse (_vinea_) or
other overhead protection. It was often mounted on wheels, which greatly
facilitated its operations. A hundred soldiers at a time, and sometimes
even a greater number, were employed to work it, and the parties were
relieved in constant succession. No wall could resist the continued
application of the ram, and the greatest efforts were always made to
destroy it by various means, such as dropping heavy stones on the head
of the ram and on the roof of the penthouse; another method being to
seize the ram head with grapnels and then haul it up to a vertical
position by suitable windlasses on the wall of the fortress. Sometimes
the besieged ran countermines under the ram penthouse; this if
successful would cause the whole engine to fall into the excavation. In
medieval warfare the low penthouse, called _cat_, was generally employed
with some form of ram.
BATTERSEA, a south-western metropolitan borough of London, England,
bounded N. by the Thames, N.E. by Lambeth, and S.E., S., and W. by
Wandsworth. Pop. (1901) 168,907. The principal thoroughfares are
Wandsworth Road and Battersea Park and York Roads from east to west,
connected north and south with the Victoria or Chelsea, Albert and
Battersea bridges over the Thames. The two first of these three are
handsome suspension bridges; the third, an iron structure, replaced a
wooden bridge of many arches which was closed in 1881, after standing a
little over a century. Battersea is a district mainly consisting of
artisans' houses, and there are several large factories by the river.
The parish church of St Mary, Church Road (1776), preserves from an
earlier building stained glass and monuments, including one to Henry St
John, Viscount Bolingbroke (d. 1751), and his second wife, who had a
mansion close by. Of this a portion remains on the riverside, containing
a room associated with Pope, who is said to have worked here upon the
"Essay on Man." Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common (220 acres) lie
partly within the borough, but the principal public recreation ground is
Battersea Park, bordering the Thames between Albert and Victoria
Bridges, beautifully laid out, containing a lake and subtropical garden,
and having an area of nearly 200 acres. It was constructed with
difficulty by embanking the river and raising the level of the formerly
marshy ground, and was opened in 1858. Among institutions are the
Battersea Polytechnic, the Royal Masonic Institution for girls, founded
in 1788, and Church of England and Wesleyan Training Colleges. Battersea
is in the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, including the
whole of the Battersea division and part of the Clapham division. The
borough council consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen and 54 councillors.
Area, 2160.3 acres.
An early form of the name is _Patricsey_ or Peter's Island; the manor at
the time of the Domesday survey, and until the suppression of the
monasteries, belonging to the abbey of St Peter, Westminster. It next
passed to the crown, and subsequently to the family of St John and to
the earls Spencer. York Road recalls the existence of a palace of the
archbishops of York, occasionally occupied by them between the reigns of
Edward IV. and Mary. Battersea Fields, bordering the river, were
formerly a favourite resort, so that the park also perpetuates a memory.
The art of enamelling was introduced, c. 1750, at works in Battersea,
examples from which are highly valued.
BATTERY (Fr. _batterie_, from _battre_, to beat), the action of beating,
especially in law the unlawful wounding of another (see ASSAULT). The
term is applied to the apparatus used in battering, hence its use in
military organization for the unit of mobile artillery of all kinds.
This consists of from four to eight guns with their _personnel_, wagons
and train. In the British service the term is applied to field, horse,
field-howitzer, heavy and mountain artillery units. "Battery" is also
used to imply a mass of guns in action, especially in connexion with the
military history of the 18th and early 19th centuries. In siegecraft, a
battery is simply an emplacement for guns, howitzers or mortars,
constructed for the purposes of the siege, and protected as a rule by a
parapet. In fortification the term is applied similarly to permanent or
semi-permanent emplacements for the artillery of the defence. In all
these senses the presence of artillery is implied in the use of the word
(see ARTILLERY, and FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT). The word is also used
for the "pitcher" and "catcher" in baseball; for a collection of
utensils, primarily of hammered copper or brass, especially in the
French term _batterie de cuisine_; and for the instruments of percussion
in an orchestra.
_Electric Battery_--This term was applied by the old electricians to a
collection of Leyden jars, but is now used of a device for generating
electricity by chemical action, or more exactly, of a number of such
devices joined up together. There are two main classes of electric
battery. In _primary_ batteries, composed of a number of galvanic or
voltaic "cells," "couples" or "elements," on the completion of the
interactions between the substances on which the production of
electricity depends, the activity of the cells comes to an end, and can
only be restored with the aid of a fresh supply of those substances; in
_secondary_ batteries, also called storage batteries or accumulators
(q.v.), the substances after the exhaustion of the cells can be brought
back to a condition in which they will again yield an electric current,
by means of an electric current passed through them in the reverse
direction. The first primary battery was constructed about 1799 by
Alessandro Volta. In one form, the "voltaic pile," he placed a series of
pairs of copper and zinc disks one above the other, separating each pair
from the one above it by a piece of cloth moistened with a solution of
common salt. In another form, the "couronne de tasses," he took a number
of vessels or cells containing brine or dilute acid, and placed in each
a zinc plate and a copper plate; these plates were not allowed to touch
each other within the vessels, but each zinc plate was connected to the
copper plate of the adjoining vessel. In both these arrangements an
electric current passes through a wire which is connected to the
terminal plates at the two ends of the series. The direction of this
current is from copper to zinc; within each cell itself it is from zinc
to copper. The plate to which the current flows within the cell is the
_negative plate_, and that from which it flows the _positive plate_; but
the point on the negative plate at which the current enters the external
wire is the _positive pole_, and the point on the positive plate at
which it leaves the external circuit the _negative pole_. During the
time that the external connexion is maintained between the two poles and
the current passes in the wire, the zinc or positive plates are
gradually dissolved, and hydrogen gas is liberated at the surface of the
copper or negative plates; but when the external connexion is broken
this action ceases. If the materials used in the cells were perfectly
pure, probably the cessation would be complete. In practice, however,
only impure commercial zinc is available, and with this corrosion
continues to some extent, even though the external circuit is not
closed, thus entailing waste of material. This "local action" is
explained as due to the fact that the impurities in the zinc plate form
miniature voltaic couples with the zinc itself, thus causing its
corrosion by voltaic action; and an early improvement in the voltaic
cell was the discovery, applied by W. Sturgeon in 1830, that the evil
was greatly reduced if the surface of the zinc plates was amalgamated,
by being rubbed with mercury under dilute sulphuric acid. Another
disadvantage of the simple cell composed of copper and zinc in dilute
acid is that the current it yields rapidly falls off. The hydrogen
formed by the operation of the cell does not all escape, but some
adheres as a film to the negative plate, and the result is the
establishment of a counter or reverse electromotive force which opposes
the main current flowing from the zinc plate and diminishes its force.
This phenomenon is known as "polarization," and various remedies have
been tried for the evils it introduces in the practical use of primary
batteries. Alfred Smee in 1839 modified the simple copper-zinc couple
excited by dilute sulphuric acid by substituting for the copper thin
leaves of platinum or platinized silver, whereby the elimination of the
hydrogen is facilitated; and attempts have also been made to keep the
plates free from the gas by mechanical agitation. The plan usually
adopted, however, is either to prevent the formation of the film, or to
introduce into the cell some "depolarizer" which will destroy it as it
is formed by oxidizing the hydrogen to water (see also ELECTROLYSIS).
The former method is exemplified in the cell invented by J.F. Daniell in
1836. Here the zinc stands in dilute sulphuric acid (or in a solution of
zinc sulphate), and the copper in a saturated solution of copper
sulphate, the two liquids being separated by a porous partition. The
hydrogen formed by the action of the cell replaces copper in the copper
sulphate, and the displaced copper, instead of the hydrogen, being
deposited on the copper plate polarization is avoided. The electromotive
force is about one volt. This cell has been constructed in a variety of
forms to suit different purposes. In a portable form, designed by Lord
Kelvin in 1858, the copper plate, soldered to a gutta-percha covered
wire, is placed at the bottom of a glass vessel and covered with
crystals of copper sulphate; over these wet sawdust is sprinkled, and
then mere sawdust, moistened with solution of zinc sulphate, upon which
is placed the zinc plate. The Minotto cell is similar, except that sand
is substituted for sawdust. In these batteries the sawdust or sand takes
the place of the porous diaphragm. In another class of batteries the
diaphragm is dispensed with altogether, and the action of gravity alone
is relied upon to retard the interdiffusion of the liquids. The cell of
J.H. Meidinger, invented in 1859, may be taken as a type of this class.
The zinc is formed into a ring which fits the upper part of a glass
beaker filled with zinc sulphate solution. At the bottom of the beaker
is placed a smaller beaker, in which stands a ring of copper with an
insulated connecting wire. The mouth of the beaker is closed by a lid
with a hole in the centre, through which passes the long tapering neck
of a glass balloon filled with crystals of copper sulphate; the narrow
end of this neck dips into the smaller beaker, the copper sulphate
slowly runs out, and being specifically heavier than the zinc sulphate
it collects at the bottom about the copper ring. In Lord Kelvin's
tray-cell a large wooden tray is lined with lead, and is covered at the
bottom with copper by electrotyping. The zinc plate is enveloped in a
piece of parchment paper bent into a tray shape, the whole resting on
little pieces of wood placed on the bottom of the leaden tray. Copper
sulphate is fed in at the edge of the tray and zinc sulphate is poured
upon the parchment. A battery is formed by arranging the trays in a
stack one above the other.
Various combinations have been devised in which the hydrogen is got rid
of more or less completely by oxidation. Sir W.R. Grove in 1839 employed
nitric acid as the oxidizing agent, his cell consisting of a zinc
positive plate in dilute sulphuric acid, separated by a porous diaphragm
of unglazed earthenware from a platinum negative immersed in
concentrated nitric acid. Its electromotive force is nearly two volts,
but it has the objection of giving off disagreeable nitrous fumes. R.W.
von Bunsen modified Grove's cell by replacing the platinum with the much
cheaper material, gas carbon. Chromic acid is much used as a
depolarizer, and cells in which it is employed are about as powerful as,
and more convenient than, either of the preceding. In its two-fluid form
the chromic acid cell consists of a porous pot containing amalgamated
zinc in dilute sulphuric acid, and a carbon plate surrounded with
sulphuric acid and a solution of potassium or sodium bichromate or of
chromic acid. But it is commonly used in a one-fluid form, the porous
pot being dispensed with, and both zinc and carbon immersed in the
chromic acid solution. Since the zinc is dissolved even when the circuit
is not closed, arrangements are frequently provided by which either the
zinc plate alone or both plates can be lifted out of the solution when
the cell is not in use. In preparing the solution the sodium salt is
preferable to the potassium, and chromic acid to either. In the cell
devised by Georges Leclanche in 1868 a solid depolarizer is employed, in
the shape of manganese dioxide packed with fragments of carbon into a
porous pot round a carbon plate. A zinc rod constitutes the positive
plate, and the exciting fluid is a solution of sal-ammoniac. Sometimes
no porous pot is employed, and the manganese dioxide and granulated
carbon are agglomerated into a solid block round the carbon plate. The
electromotive force is about one and a half volt. The cell is widely
used for such purposes as ringing electric bells, where current is
required intermittently, and for such service it will remain effective
for months or years, only needing water to be added to the outer jar
occasionally to replace loss by evaporation. On a closed circuit the
current rapidly falls off, because the manganese dioxide is unable to
oxidize all the hydrogen formed, but the cell quickly recovers after
polarization. The so-called "dry cells," which came into considerable
use towards the end of the 19th century, are essentially Leclanche cells
in which the solution is present, not as a liquid, but as a paste formed
with some absorbent material or gelatinized. Black oxide of copper is
another solid depolarizer, employed in the Lalande cell. In the
Edison-Lalande form the copper oxide is suspended in a light copper
frame. The exciting solution consists of one part of caustic soda
dissolved in three parts by weight of water, and to prevent it from
being acted on by the carbonic acid of the air it is covered with a
layer of petroleum oil. Sodium zincate, which is soluble, is formed by
the action of the cell, and the hydrogen produced is oxidized by oxygen
from the copper oxide. The electromotive force may be about one volt
initially, but in practice only about three-quarters of a volt can be
relied on.
Primary cells form a convenient means of obtaining electricity for
laboratory experiments, and for such light services as working
telegraphs, bells, &c.; but as a source of the heavy currents required
for electric lighting and traction they are far too expensive in
operation, apart from other considerations, to compete with
dynamoelectric machinery driven by steam or water power. Certain forms,
known as "standard cells," are also used in electrical measurements as
standards of electromotive force (see POTENTIOMETER).
See W.R. Cooper, _Primary Batteries_ (London, 1901); Park Benjamin,
_The Voltaic Cell_ (New York, 1893); W.E. Ayrton, _Practical
Electricity_ (London, 1896).
BATTEUX, CHARLES (1713-1780), French philosopher and writer on
aesthetics, was born near Vouziers (Ardennes), and studied theology at
Reims. In 1739 he came to Paris, and after teaching in the colleges of
Lisieux and Navarre, was appointed to the chair of Greek and Roman
philosophy in the College de France. In 1746 he published his treatise
_Les Beaux-Arts reduits a un meme principe_, an attempt to find a unity
among the various theories of beauty and taste, and his views were
widely accepted. The reputation thus gained, confirmed by his
translation of Horace (1750), led to his becoming a member of the
Academie des Inscriptions (1754) and of the French Academy (1761). His
_Cours de belles lettres_ (1765) was afterwards included with some minor
writings in the large treatise, _Principes de la lilterature_ (1774).
The rules for composition there laid down are, perhaps, somewhat
pedantic. His philosophical writings were _La Morale d'Epicure tiree de
ses propres ecrits_ (1758), and the _Histoire des causes premieres_
(1769). In consequence of the freedom with which in this work he
attacked the abuse of authority in philosophy, he lost his professorial
chair. His last and most extensive work was a _Cours d'etudes a l'usage
des eleves de l'ecole militaire_ (45 vols.). In the _Beaux-Arts_,
Batteux developed a theory which is derived from Locke through
Voltaire's sceptical sensualism. He held that Art consists in the
faithful imitation of the beautiful in nature. Applying this principle
to the art of poetry, and analysing, line by line and even word by word,
the works of great poets, he deduced the law that the beauty of poetry
consists in the accuracy, beauty and harmony of individual expression.
This narrow and pedantic theory had at least the merit of insisting on
propriety of expression. His _Histoire des causes premieres_ was among
the first attempts at a history of philosophy, and in his work on
Epicurus, following on Gassendi, he defended Epicureanism against the
general attacks made against it.
See Dacier et Dupuy, "Eloges," in _Memoires de l'Academie des
Inscriptions_.
BATTHYANY, LOUIS (LAJOS), COUNT (1806-1849), Hungarian statesman, was
born at Pressburg in 1806. He supplied the defects of an indifferent
education while serving in garrison in Italy as a lieutenant of hussars,
and thenceforward adopted all the new ideas, economical and political.
According to Szechenyi, he learnt much from a German tutor of the
radical school, but it was not till after his marriage with the
noble-minded and highly-gifted countess Antonia Zichy that he began
working earnestly for the national cause. When Szechenyi drew nearer to
the court in 1839-1840, Batthyany became the leader of the opposition in
the Upper House, where his social rank and resolute character won for
him great influence. Despite his "sardanapalian inclinations," he
associated himself unreservedly with the extremists, and spent large
sums for the development of trade and industry. In 1847 he fiercely
opposed the government, procured the election of Kossuth as the
representative of Pest, took part in the Great Deputation of the 15th of
March, and on the 31st of March 1848 became the first constitutional
prime-minister of Hungary. His position became extremely difficult when
Jellachich and the Croats took up arms. Convinced that the rigid
maintenance of the constitution was the sole panacea, he did his utmost,
in his frequent journeys to Innsbruck, to persuade the court to condemn
Jellachich and establish a strong national government at Pest.
Unfortunately, however, he was persuaded to consent to the despatch of
Magyar troops to quell the Italian rising, before the Croat difficulty
had been adjusted, and thenceforth, despite his perfect loyalty, and his
admirable services as Honved minister in organizing the national forces,
his authority in Hungary declined before the rising star of Kossuth.
When Jellachich invaded Hungary, Batthyany resigned with the intention
of forming a new ministry excluding Kossuth, but this had now become
impossible. Then Batthyany attempted to mediate between the two extreme
parties, and subsequently raised a regiment from among his peasantry and
led them against the Croats. On the 11th of October he was incapacitated
for active service by a fall from his horse which broke his arm. On his
recovery he returned to Pest, laboured hard to bring about peace, and
was a member of the deputation from the Hungarian diet to Prince
Windischgratz, whom the Austrian commander refused to receive. A few
days later (8th of January 1849) he was arrested at Pest. As a magnate
he was only indictable by the grand justiciary, as a minister he was
responsible to the diet alone. At Laibach, whither he was taken, he
asked that Deak might be his advocate, but this being refused he wrote
his own defence. Sentence of hanging was finally pronounced upon him at
Olmtitz for violating the Pragmatic Sanction, overthrowing the
constitution, and aiding and abetting the rebellion. To escape this fate
he Stabbed himself with a small concealed dagger, and bled to death in
the night of the 5th of October 1849.
See Bertalan Szemere, _Batthyany, Kossuth, Gorgei_ (Ger.), (Hamburg,
1853). (R. N. B.)
BATTICALOA, the provincial capital of the eastern province of Ceylon, on
the E. coast, 69 m. S.S.E. of Trincomalee, situated on an island in lat.
7 deg. 44' N. and long. 81 deg. 52' E. It is of importance for its haven
and the adjacent salt lagoons. The population of the town in 1901 was
9969; of the district (2872 sq. m.) 143,161. The old Dutch fort dates
from 1682. Batticaloa is the seat of a government agent and district
judge; criminal sessions of the supreme court are also held. Rice and
cocoanuts are the two staples of the district, and steamers trading
round the island call regularly at the port. The lagoon is famous for
its "singing fish," supposed to be shell-fish which give forth musical
notes. The district has a remnant of Veddahs or wild men of the wood.
The average annual rainfall is 55-1/2 in.; the average temperature 80.4
deg. F.
BATTISHILL, JONATHAN (1738-1801), one of the best 18th century English
composers of church music. Until 1764 he wrote chiefly for the theatre
(incidental songs, pantomime music, and an opera in collaboration with
Michael Arne, the son of Thomas Arne), but his later compositions are
chiefly glees, part-songs and church music. In 1763 he had married a
singer at Covent Garden theatre where he was harpsichordist. She retired
from her profession when she married; and her death in 1777 so crushed
him that he composed no more.
BATTLE, a market-town in the Rye parliamentary division of Sussex,
England, 54-1/2 m. S.E. by S. from London by the South Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2996. It is pleasantly situated
in an undulating well-wooded district, 7 m. from the sea at Hastings.
Its name is derived from the conflict in 1066, which insured to William
the Norman the crown of England (see also BATTLE ABBEY ROLL). Before the
battle, in which King Harold fell, William vowed to build an abbey on
the spot if he should prove victorious, and in 1094 the consecration
took place with great pomp. The gatehouse, forming a picturesque
termination to the main street of the town, is Decorated; and there also
remain parts of the foundations of the Norman church, of the
Perpendicular cloisters, and of the Early English refectory. A mansion
occupies part of the site, and incorporates some of the ancient
building. The church of St Mary is of various dates, the earliest
portions being transitional Norman.
See _Chronicles of Battle Abbey_. 1066-1176, translated, &c., by M.A.
Lower (London, 1851).
BATTLE, a general engagement between the armed forces, naval or
military, of enemies. The word is derived from the Fr. _bataille_, and
this, like the Ital. _battaglia_, and Span. _batalla_, comes from the
popular Lat. _battalia_ for _battualia_. Cassiodorus Senator (480-?575)
says: _Battualia quae vulgo Batalia dicuntur ... exercitationes militum
vel gladiatorum significant_ (see Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v.
_Batalia_). The verb _battuere_, cognate with "beat," is a rare word,
found in Pliny, used of beating in a mortar or of meat before cooking.
Suetonius (_Caligula_, 54-32) uses it of fencing, _battuebat pugnatoriis
armis_, i.e. not with blunted weapons or foils. _Battalia_ or _batalia_
was used for the array of troops for battle, and hence was applied to
the body of troops so arranged, or to a division of an army, whence the
use of the word "battalion" (q.v.).
A "pitched battle," loosely used as meaning almost a decisive
engagement, is strictly, as the words imply, one that is fought on
ground previously selected ("pitched" meaning arranged in a fixed order)
and in accordance with the intentions of the commanders of both sides;
the French equivalent is _bataille arrangee_, opposed to _bataille
manoeuvree_, which is prearranged but may come off on any ground. With
"battle," in its usual meaning of a general engagement of hostile
forces, are contrasted "skirmish,"[1] a fight between small bodies
("skirmishing" technically means fighting by troops in extended or
irregular order), and "action," a more or less similar engagement
between large bodies of troops. (See also TACTICS and STRATEGY.)