The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 239

HELST, BARTHOLOMaeUS VAN DER, one of the greatest of the Dutch portrait-painters, born at Haarlem, but spent his life in Amsterdam; he enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and many of his pictures are to be found in European galleries; his "Muster of the Burgher Guard" was considered by Sir Joshua Reynolds to be "the first picture of portraits in the world" (1613-1670).

HELVELLYN, one of the c.u.mberland mountains, 3118 ft. high, rises at the side of Ulleswater, midway between Keswick and Ambleside.

HELVETII, a Celtic people mentioned by Caesar as occupying territory in Central Europe now embraced in Switzerland; they suffered tremendous slaughter at the hands of Caesar when endeavouring to make their way to a wider territory in Southern Gaul.

HELVeTIUS, a French philosophe, born in Paris, of Swiss origin; author of a book ent.i.tled "De l'Esprit," which was condemned by the Parlement of Paris for views advocated in it that were considered derogatory to the dignity of man, and which exposed him to much bitter hostility, especially at the hands of the priests; man he reduced to a mere animal, made self-love the only motive of his actions, and the satisfaction of our sensuous desires the principle of morals, notwithstanding which he was a man of estimable character and of kindly disposition (1715-1771).

HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA, _nee_ Browne, poetess, born in Liverpool; her marriage was an unhappy one, and after the birth of five children ended in permanent separation; she was the auth.o.r.ess of a number of works, a complete edition of which occupies 7 vols., the best of her productions being lyrics; and she enjoyed the friends.h.i.+p of Wordsworth, Scott, and other literary celebrities of the time (1791-1835).

HeNAULT, French historian, born in Paris, president of the Parlement of Paris; was author of "Abrege Chronologique de l'Histoire de France"

(1685-1770).

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (10), a busy market-town in Herts, 23 m. NW. of London; noted for its straw-plaiting, and has paper-mills, foundries, &c.

HEMS or HOMS (35), a noted Syrian city known to the Romans as Emesa, on the Orontes, 63 m. NE. of Tripoli; here stood in ancient times a famous temple of the Sun, one of whose priests, HELIOGABALUS (q. v.), became Roman emperor (218); the Crusaders captured it from the Saracens in 1098; it does a good trade in oil, cotton, silk, &c.

HEMSTERHUIS, Dutch philologist, born at Groningen; was professor of Greek at Leyden; one of the greatest Grecians of his day; had for pupils Ruhnken and Valckenaer, and edited a number of cla.s.sical works (1685-1766).

HENDERSON, ALEXANDER, a celebrated Scotch divine; became professor of Rhetoric and Philosophy in St. Andrews, and subsequently held the living of Leuchars, in Fife; he actively espoused the cause of the Covenanters, and became a prominent leader in negotiations with the king; in 1643 he drafted the "Solemn League and Covenant" which pa.s.sed into force, and he was one of Scotland's representatives to the a.s.sembly of Divines at Westminster (1583-1646).

HENDERSON, THOMAS, astronomer, born at Dundee, astronomer first at the Cape and then Astronomer-royal for Scotland, calculated the distance of the nearest fixed star [Greek: alpha] Centauri and found it nearly 19 billions of miles from the sun.

HENGIST AND HORSA, two Saxon brothers who came over to a.s.sist Vortigern against the Picts, and were rewarded by a gift of Thanet, though they were afterwards defeated by Vortigern and the latter slain.

HENGSTENBERG, a German theologian, born in Westphalia; was editor of the _Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, and the valiant unwearied a.s.sailant of Rationalism in its treatment of the Scriptures and the old orthodox faith; his princ.i.p.al works bear on Old Testament literature, such as its Christology and the Psalms, as well as on the New, such as St. John's Gospel and the Apocalypse (1802-1869).

HENLEY, WILLIAM ERNEST, poet and critic, author of a "Book of Verses" and "Song of the Sword," in which he reveals superior powers as a poet, and of a volume ent.i.tled "Views and Reviews," in which he evinces discriminative criticism of the highest order; he has edited, along with T. F. Henderson, in a workmanlike style, the "Centenary Edition of the Poetry of Burns," accompanied it with a "Life of the Poet," and a characterisation somewhat damping to the prevailing enthusiasm in connection with the poet; _b_. 1849.

HENLEY-ON-THAMES (5), a borough of Oxfords.h.i.+re, on the Thames, near the Chiltern Hills, 36 m. W. of London; the river is spanned here by a fine five-arch bridge, and the annual amateur regatta is a noted social event; malting and brewing are the chief industries.

HENOTHEISM, a polytheism which a.s.signs to one G.o.d of the pantheon superiority over the rest.

HENRIETTA MARIA, wife of Charles I., born at the Louvre; daughter of Henry IV. of France and of Marie de Medicis; a beautiful and able woman, much beloved, and deservedly so, by her husband, but from her bigotry as a Roman Catholic disliked and distrusted by the nation, not without good reason; by her imprudent conduct she embroiled matters more seriously than they were; menaced with impeachment by the Commons, had to flee the country; returned, indeed, with a supply of money and ammunition "purchased by crown jewels," but in 1644 was obliged to seek refuge again in France; revisited the country for a short time after the Restoration, and died near Paris at her retreat there (1609-1669).

HENRIETTA MARIA, daughter of Charles I., and wife of the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV., born at Exeter; she had an itch for political intrigue like her mother, and was successful in persuading her brother, Charles II., into league with France by signing the treaty of Dover; on her return to France she died suddenly, by poison it is believed (1644-1670).

HENRIOT, a French revolutionary, born at Nanterre; was generalissimo of the National Guard of Paris during the Reign of Terror; marched with his sansculotte following into the Convention one day and escorted 29 of the Girondists to the guillotine; became the satellite of Robespierre, whom he defended at the last, but could not deliver; arrested himself in a state of intoxication, was dragged out of a drain, and despatched by the guillotine (1761-1794).

HENRY I., king of England from 1100 to 1135, youngest son of William the Conqueror, born at Selby, in Yorks.h.i.+re; usurped the crown from his elder but irresolute brother Robert, an act which was confirmed by the Church and the ma.s.s of the people, Robert, after a weak resistance, being pensioned off; the epithets Beauclerc and the Lion of Justice, which were bestowed on him, so far accurately describe him as he appeared to his people; his attainments were scholarly for his times, and his reign was distinguished by the strong and organised administration of justice, although morally his life was a depraved one; after seizing Normandy from his brother Robert, whom he imprisoned for life, he governed his kingdom with a firm hand; the turbulent Norman n.o.bles were subdued, while the administration of the law was greatly improved by the inst.i.tution of the _Curia Regis_ (the King's Court) and of itinerant judges; trade took a start, and the religious life of the nation was deepened through the advent of the Cistercian monks and the influence of Anselm; he was married to Eadgyth (changed to Matilda), daughter of Malcolm of Scotland (1068-1135).

HENRY II., king of England from 1154 to 1189, first of the Plantagenet line; was the son of Matilda, daughter of Henry I., and her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, born at Le Mans; when he came to the throne as Stephen's successor he was already in possession, mainly through his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII., of more than half of France; he set himself with all the vigour of his energetic nature to reform the abuses which had become rampant under Stephen, and Thomas a Becket was his zealous Chancellor; the Great Council was frequently summoned to deliberate on national affairs; the _Curia Regis_ was strengthened, the itinerant judges.h.i.+ps revived, while the oppression and immorality of the n.o.bles was sternly suppressed by the demolition of the "adulterine castles"; a blow was aimed at the privileges and licentiousness of the clergy by the Const.i.tutions of Clarendon, but their enactment brought about a rupture between the king and Becket, now Archbishop of Canterbury, which subsequently ended in the murder of Becket; in 1171 Ireland was invaded and annexed, and three years later William the Lion of Scotland was forced to declare his kingdom a fief to the English throne; some time previously the Welsh princes had done him homage; the last years of his reign were embittered by quarrels and strife with his ungrateful sons; he was a man of many kingly qualities, perhaps the best, taken all in all, that England ever had, and his reign marks an epoch in the development of const.i.tutional law and liberty (1133-1189).

HENRY III., king of England from 1216 to 1272, eldest son of King John; succeeded to the throne at the age of nine; during his minority the kingdom was wisely and faithfully served by the Earl of Pembroke and Hubert de Burgh; when he came to years he proved himself a weak ruler, and, according to Stubbs, his administration was "one long series of impolitic and unprincipled acts"; with the elevation of Peter des Roches, a native of Anjou, to the post of chief adviser, French interlopers soon became predominant at the Court, and the recipients of large estates and pensions, an injustice further stimulated by the king's marriage with Eleanor of Provence; justice was prost.i.tuted, England humiliated under a feeble foreign policy, and the country finally roused by infamous exactions; Simon de Montfort, the king's own brother-in-law, became the leader of the people and the champion of const.i.tutional rights; by the Provisions of Oxford, forced upon the king by Parliament a.s.sembled at Oxford (1258), a wider and more frequent Parliamentary representation was given to the people, and the king's power limited by a permanent council of 15; as an issue of the Barons' War, which resulted in the defeat and capture of the king at Lewes (1264), these provisions were still further strengthened by the Mise of Lewes, and from this time may be dated the birth of representative government in England as it now exists; in 1265 was summoned the first Parliament as at present const.i.tuted, of peers temporal and spiritual, and representatives from counties, cities, and boroughs; internal dissensions ceased with the victory of Prince Edward over the barons at Eastham (1265), the popular leader De Montfort perished on the field (1206-1272).

HENRY IV., king of England from 1399 to 1418, first of the Lancastrian kings, son of John of Gaunt, and grandchild of Edward III., born at Bolingbroke, in Lincolns.h.i.+re; Richard II.'s misrule and despotism had damped the loyalty of his people, and when Henry came to England to maintain his ducal rights he had little difficulty in deposing Richard, and, with the consent of Parliament, in a.s.suming the crown; this act of usurpation--for Richard's true heir was Roger Mortimer, a descendant of an older branch of the family--had two important results; it made Henry more obsequious to the Parliamentary power which had placed him on the throne, and it was the occasion of the b.l.o.o.d.y Wars of the Roses that were to devastate the kingdom during the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV.; Henry's own reign was a troubled one; wars were successfully undertaken against the Welsh under Owen Glendower and against the Scotch; while rebellion was raised by the Percies in unsuccessful attempts to win the crown for Mortimer; the only law of importance pa.s.sed was the statute for burning heretics, the first pa.s.sed in England for the suppression of religious opinion (1366-1413).

HENRY V., king of England from 1413 to 1422, son of preceding, born at Monmouth; during the wars of his father's reign he gave evidence of his abilities as a soldier, distinguis.h.i.+ng himself specially by his conquest of Wales; on his accession to the throne he renewed the claims put forward by Edward III. to the French crown, and with the support of his people embarked on his great struggle to win the kingdom of France; in 1415 he gained the glorious victory of Agincourt, strengthened his position by confirmed military successes, and by marrying Catherine, daughter of the French king, and by the treaty of Troyes got himself appointed regent of France and successor to the throne; he was idolised by his people as the perfect pattern of a warrior king, but he had neither the gifts of statesmans.h.i.+p nor the foresight of Edward I., to whom he is compared, and the English dominion which he established in France was too unsubstantial to endure (1388-1422).

HENRY VI., king of England from 1422 to 1461, son of preceding, born at Windsor; was a child of nine months when his father died, and in the same year was acknowledged king over the N. and E. of France; the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester became regents respectively over the English and French kingdoms; war was resumed with France, and for thirty years the weary struggle continued, by the end of which time England, despite some early successes, had been stripped of her French possessions, mainly owing to the enthusiasm awakened by the heroic and ill-fated JEANNE D'ARC (q. v.); the growing discontent of the people is indicated by Jack Cade's rebellion (1540), and five years later began the famous Wars of the Roses; six battles were fought between the rival houses, and four times victory rested with the Yorkists; after the final victory of the Yorkists at Towton (1461), Henry fled to Scotland and Edward was proclaimed king; Henry was a man of weak intellect, gentle, and of studious nature, and was ill mated in his ambitious and warlike queen, Margaret of Anjou; a futile struggle was made to win his kingdom back, but the hopes of the Lancastrians perished at Tewkesbury; the king was captured and confined in the Tower, where, there is little doubt, he was murdered (1421-1471).

HENRY VII., king of England from 1485 to 1509, son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, first of the Tudor monarchs, born at Pembroke Castle; after defeating and slaying Richard III. on Bosworth Field he a.s.sumed the crown, and by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV., united the claims of the rival roses; his firm and prudent rule established quiet and order in the country; the pretensions of the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck were promptly crushed; a peaceful relations.h.i.+p was established with France, and the Scotch were conciliated by the marriage of his daughter Margaret to their king, James IV.; increased prosperity followed, maritime enterprise was encouraged, but the kingly power grew at the expense of the const.i.tutional authority of Parliament; resort was had to benevolences and other unconst.i.tutional methods of raising funds, and in his latter years the king's exactions became tyrannical; Henry was not a man of fine kingly qualities, but he accomplished much for his country, and is best described in Gardiner's words, "his contemporaries needed a chief-constable to keep order, and he gave them what they needed" (1456-1509).

HENRY VIII., king of England from 1509 to 1547, son of preceding, born at Greenwich; was welcomed to the throne with great enthusiasm, and still further established himself in public favour by his gallant exploits at the Battle of Spurs and at the sieges of Tournay and Terouenne in the war of the Holy Alliance against France; in his absence an invasion of James IV. of Scotland was repulsed and the Scottish army crushed at Flodden (1513); during the first half of the reign public affairs were mainly conducted by the king's favourite minister, Wolsey, whose policy it was to hold the balance of power between Spain and France; but he fell into public disfavour by the heavy burden of taxation which he little by little laid upon the people; Henry, who in 1521 had been named "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for his published defence of the sacraments against the attacks of Luther, was now moving for a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Arragon; a breach with the Pope ensued, Wolsey was deposed for his double-dealing in the matter, and Henry, having defiantly married Anne Boleyn, put an end to the papal jurisdiction in England to secure himself against appeals to the Papal Court, and got himself acknowledged Supreme Head of the Church of England; the suppression of the monasteries soon followed, and their estates were confiscated (1536-1540); in 1536 the movement of the Reformation was continued by the drawing up of _Ten Articles_ and by an authorised translation of the Bible; but the pa.s.sing of the _Six Articles_ three years later, declaring in favour of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, clerical celibacy, private ma.s.ses, auricular confession, &c., was an attempt to stay the rapid spread of Protestant doctrines; in 1541 Henry was declared King of Ireland, and in the two following years successful wars were waged with Scotland and France; the importance of the reign lies in the coincidence of it with the rise and culmination of the Reformation, a movement brought about in the first instance by no higher motive than the king's desire for a divorce as well as for absolute power; but for which a favourable reception had been prepared beforehand by the spread of the new learning and that free spirit of inquiry that was beginning to take possession of men's minds; historians for the greater part agree in representing Henry as a man of versatile powers, considerable intellectual force, but headstrong, selfish, and cruel in the gratification of his desires; he was six times married; Catherine and Anne of Cleves were divorced, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard executed, Jane Seymour died in childbirth, and Catherine Parr survived him; he left behind to succeed him on the throne Mary, daughter of Catherine, Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, and Edward, son of Jane Seymour (1491-1547).

HENRY III., an ill.u.s.trious Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, son of Conrad II.; in 1026 he became king of the Germans, succeeded to the dukedoms of Bavaria and Suabia, and in 1039 a.s.sumed the imperial crown; under his strong and wise government, dissensions, papal and otherwise, were put down, the territory of the empire extended, and many churches and monastic schools established (1017-1056).

HENRY IV., Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, son of preceding; his reign is memorable as witnessing the first open claim on the part of the Papal power to have dominion over the crowned heads of Europe; Henry's attempt to depose Gregory VII. was boldly met by a declaration of excommunication; Henry was forced to do penance and to receive his crown afresh from the Pope; but the struggle broke out anew; Clement III. was put up in opposition, and the contest raged with varying success till the deposition of Henry by his ungrateful son (1050-1106).

HENRY IV., king of France from 1594 till 1610, surnamed "The Great" and "The Good"; during his reign the great struggle between the Huguenots and the Catholics continued with unabated fury; Henry saved his life in the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew's Day by renouncing his early Calvinism, but was imprisoned; four years later he was again at the head of the Huguenot army and defeating the Bourbon claimant for the throne, was crowned king, but not before waiving his Protestant principles to conciliate the people; in 1598 he issued the famous Edict of Nantes, giving freedom of wors.h.i.+p to the Huguenots; during his administration the nation was consolidated, new roads and a growing trade knit the towns together; financial reforms of great importance were carried out by his celebrated minister, DUC DE SULLY (q. v.); Henry was a.s.sa.s.sinated by instigation of the Jesuits (1553-1610).

HENRY OF HUNTINGDON, a noted English chronicler of the 12th century, who became archdeacon of Huntingdon, and wrote a Latin history of England down to the death of Stephen in 1154.

HENRY THE NAVIGATOR, son of John I., king of Portugal, born at Oporto; an able, enterprising man, animated with a zeal for maritime discovery, and who at his own expense sent out voyagers who discovered the Madeira Islands and explored the coast of Africa as far as Cape Blanco; is said to have been the first to employ the compa.s.s for purposes of navigation; his mother was daughter of John of Gaunt (1391-1460).

HENRY, MATTHEW, a Nonconformist divine; was minister at Hackney, London; was the author of a commentary long in repute among pious evangelical people, and to some extent still, as a practical and devotional guide in the study of the Scriptures (1662-1714).