Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

MAURETANIA, the ancient name of the north-western angle of the African continent, and under the Roman Empire also of a large territory eastward of that angle. The name had different significations at different times; but before the Roman occupation, Mauretania comprised a considerable part of the modern Morocco i.e. the northern portion bounded on the east by Algiers. Towards the south we may suppose it bounded by the Atlas range, and it seems to have been regarded by geographers as extending along the coast to the Atlantic as far as the point where that chain descends to the sea, in about 30 N. lat. (Strabo, p. 825). The magnificent plateau in which the city of Morocco is situated seems to have been unknown to ancient geographers, and was certainly never included in the Roman Empire. On the other hand, the Gaetulians to the south of the Atlas range, on the date-producing slopes towards the Sahara, seem to have owned a precarious subjection to the kings of Mauretania, as afterwards to the Roman government. A large part of the country is of great natural fertility, and in ancient times produced large quantities of corn, while the slopes of Atlas were clothed with forests, which, besides other kinds of timber, produced the celebrated ornamental wood called _citrum_ (Plin. _Hist. Nat._ 13-96), for tables of which the Romans gave fabulous prices. (For physical geography, see MOROCCO.)

Mauretania, or Maurusia as it was called by Greek writers, signified
the land of the Mauri, a term still retained in the modern name of
Moors (q.v.). The origin and ethnical affinities of the race are
uncertain; but it is probable that all the inhabitants of this
northern tract of Africa were kindred races belonging to the great
Berber family, possibly with an intermingled fair-skinned race from
Europe (see Tissot, _Géographie comparée de la province romaine
d'Afrique_, i. 400 seq.; also BERBERS). They first appear in history
at the time of the Jugurthine War (110-106 B.C.), when Mauretania was
under the government of Bocchus and seems to have been recognized as
organized state (Sallust, _Jugurtha_, 19). To this Bocchus was given,
after the war, the western part of Jugurtha's kingdom of Numidia,
perhaps as far east as Saldae (Bougie). Sixty years later, at the time
of the dictator Caesar, we find two Mauretanian kingdoms, one to the
west of the river Mulucha under Bogud, and the other to the east under
a Bocchus; as to the date or cause of the division we are ignorant.
Both these kings took Caesar's part in the civil wars, and had their
territory enlarged by him (Appian, B.C. 4, 54). In 25 B.C., after
their deaths, Augustus gave the two kingdoms to Juba II. of Numidia
(see under JUBA), with the river Ampsaga as the eastern frontier
(Plin. 5. 22; Ptol. 4. 3. 1). Juba and his son Ptolemaeus after him
reigned till A.D. 40, when the latter was put to death by Caligula,
and shortly afterwards Claudius incorporated the kingdom into the
Roman state as two provinces, viz. Mauretania Tingitana to the west
of the Mulucha and M. Caesariensis to the east of that river, the
latter taking its name from the city Caesarea (formerly Iol), which
Juba had thus named and adopted as his capital. Thus the dividing line
between the two provinces was the same as that which had originally
separated Mauretania from Numidia (q.v.). These provinces were
governed until the time of Diocletian by imperial procurators, and
were occasionally united for military purposes. Under and after
Diocletian M. Tingitana was attached administratively to the
_dioicesis_ of Spain, with which it was in all respects closely
connected; while M. Caesariensis was divided by making its eastern
part into a separate government, which was called M. Sitifensis from
the Roman colony Sitifis.

In the two provinces of Mauretania there were at the time of Pliny a
number of towns, including seven (possibly eight) Roman colonies in M.
Tingitana and eleven in M. Caesariensis; others were added later.
These were mostly military foundations, and served the purpose of
securing civilization against the inroads of the natives, who were not
in a condition to be used as material for town-life as in Gaul and
Spain, but were under the immediate government of the procurators,
retaining their own clan organization. Of these colonies the most
important, beginning from the west, were Lixus on the Atlantic, Tingis
(Tangier), Rusaddir (Melila, Melilla), Cartenna (Tenes), Iol or
Caesarea (Cherchel), Icosium (Algiers), Saldae (Bougie), Igilgili
(Jijelli) and Sitifis (Setif). All these were on the coast but the
last, which was some distance inland. Besides these there were many
municipia or _oppida civium romanorum_ (Plin. 5. 19 seq.), but, as has
been made clear by French archaeologists who have explored these
regions, Roman settlements are less frequent the farther we go west,
and M. Tingitana has as yet yielded but scanty evidence of Roman
civilization. On the whole Mauretania was in a flourishing condition
down to the irruption of the Vandals in A.D. 429; in the _Notitia_
nearly a hundred and seventy episcopal sees are enumerated here, but
we must remember that numbers of these were mere villages.

In 1904 the term Mauretania was revived as an official designation by
the French government, and applied to the territory north of the lower
Senegal under French protection (see SENEGAL).

To the authorities quoted under AFRICA, ROMAN, may be added here
Göbel, _Die West-küste Afrikas im Alterthum_. (W. W. F.*)

MAURIAC, a town of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Cantal, 39 m. N.N.W. of Aurillac by rail. Pop. (1906), 2558. Mauriac, built on the slope of a volcanic hill, has a church of the 12th century, and the buildings of an old abbey now used as public offices and dwellings; the town owes its origin to the abbey, founded during the 6th century. It is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. There are marble quarries in the vicinity.

MAURICE [or MAURITIUS], ST (d. c. 286), an early Christian martyr, who, with his companions, is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church on the 22nd of September. The oldest form of his story is found in the _Passio_ ascribed to Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, c. 450, who relates how the "Theban" legion commanded by Mauritius was sent to north Italy to reinforce the army of Maximinian. Maximinian wished to use them in persecuting the Christians, but as they themselves were of this faith, they refused, and for this, after having been twice decimated, the legion was exterminated at Octodurum (Martigny) near Geneva. In late versions this legend was expanded and varied, the martyrdom was connected with a refusal to take part in a great sacrifice ordered at Octodurum and the name of Exsuperius was added to that of Mauritius. Gregory of Tours (c. 539-593) speaks of a company of the same legion which suffered at Cologne.

The _Magdeburg Centuries_, in spite of Mauritius being the patron
saint of Magdeburg, declared the whole legend fictitious; J. A. du
Bordien _La Légion thébéenne_ (Amsterdam, 1705); J. J. Hottinger in
_Helvetische Kirchengeschichte_ (Zürich, 1708); and F. W. Rettberg,
_Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_ (Göttingen, 1845-1848) have also
demonstrated its untrustworthiness, while the Bollandists, De Rivaz
and Joh. Friedrich uphold it. Apart from the a priori improbability of
a whole legion being martyred, the difficulties are that in 286
Christians everywhere throughout the empire were not molested, that at
no later date have we evidence of the presence of Maximinian in the
Valais, and that none of the writers nearest to the event (Eusebius,
Lactantius, Orosius, Sulpicius Severus) know anything of it. It is of
course quite possible that isolated cases of officers being put to
death for their faith occurred during Maximinian's reign, and on some
such cases the legend may have grown up during the century and a half
between Maximinian and Eucherius. The cult of St Maurice and the
Theban legion is found in Switzerland (where two places bear the name
in Valais, besides St Moritz in Grisons), along the Rhine, and in
north Italy. The foundation of the abbey of St Maurice (Agaunum) in
the Valais is usually ascribed to Sigismund of Burgundy (515). Relics
of the saint are preserved here and at Brieg and Turin.

MAURICE (MAURICIUS FLAVIUS TIBERIUS) (c. 539-602), East Roman emperor from 582 to 602, was of Roman descent, but a native of Arabissus in Cappadocia. He spent his youth at the court of Justin II., and, having joined the army, fought with distinction in the Persian War (578-581). At the age of forty-three he was declared Caesar by the dying emperor Tiberius II., who bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter Constantina. Maurice brought the Persian War to a successful close by the restoration of Chosroes II. to the throne (591). On the northern frontier he at first bought off the Avars by payments which compelled him to exercise strict economy in his general administration, but after 595 inflicted several defeats upon them through his general Crispus. By his strict discipline and his refusal to ransom a captive corps he provoked to mutiny the army on the Danube. The revolt spread to the popular factions in Constantinople, and Maurice consented to abdicate. He withdrew to Chalcedon, but was hunted down and put to death after witnessing the slaughter of his five sons.

The work on military art ([Greek: stratêgika]) ascribed to him is a
contemporary work of unknown authorship (ed. Scheffer, _Arriani
tactica et Mauricii ars militaris_, Upsala, 1664; see Max Jähns,
_Gesch. d. Kriegswissensch._, i. 152-156).

See Theophylactus Simocatta, _Vita Mauricii_ (ed. de Boor, 1887); E.
Gibbon, _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (ed. Bury, London,
1896, v. 19-21, 57); J. B. Bury, _The Later Roman Empire_ (London,
1889, ii. 83-94); G. Finlay, _History of Greece_ (ed. 1877, Oxford, i.
299-306).

MAURICE (1521-1553), elector of Saxony, elder son of Henry, duke of Saxony, belonging to the Albertine branch of the Wettin family, was born at Freiberg on the 21st of March 1521. In January 1541 he married Agnes, daughter of Philip, landgrave of Hesse. In that year he became duke of Saxony by his father's death, and he continued Henry's work in forwarding the progress of the Reformation. Duke Henry had decreed that his lands should be divided between his two sons, but as a partition was regarded as undesirable the whole of the duchy came to his elder son. Maurice, however, made generous provision for his brother Augustus, and the desire to compensate him still further was one of the minor threads of his subsequent policy. In 1542 he assisted the emperor Charles V. against the Turks, in 1543 against William, duke of Cleves, and in 1544 against the French; but his ambition soon took a wider range. The harmonious relations which subsisted between the two branches of the Wettins were disturbed by the interference of Maurice in Cleves, a proceeding distasteful to the Saxon elector, John Frederick; and a dispute over the bishopric of Meissen having widened the breach, war was only averted by the mediation of Philip of Hesse and Luther. About this time Maurice seized the idea of securing for himself the electoral dignity held by John Frederick, and his opportunity came when Charles was preparing to attack the league of Schmalkalden. Although educated as a Lutheran, religious questions had never seriously appealed to Maurice. As a youth he had joined the league of Schmalkalden, but this adhesion, as well as his subsequent declaration to stand by the confession of Augsburg, cannot be regarded as the decision of his maturer years. In June 1546 he took a decided step by making a secret agreement with Charles at Regensburg. Maurice was promised some rights over the archbishopric of Magdeburg and the bishopric of Halberstadt; immunity, in part at least, for his subjects from the Tridentine decrees; and the question of transferring the electoral dignity was discussed. In return the duke probably agreed to aid Charles in his proposed attack on the league as soon as he could gain the consent of the Saxon estates, or at all events to remain neutral during the impending war. The struggle began in July 1546, and in October Maurice declared war against John Frederick. He secured the formal consent of Charles to the transfer of the electoral dignity and took the field in November. He had gained a few successes when John Frederick hastened from south Germany to defend his dominions. Maurice's ally, Albert Alcibiades, prince of Bayreuth, was taken prisoner at Rochlitz; and the duke, driven from electoral Saxony, was unable to prevent his own lands from being overrun. Salvation, however, was at hand. Marching against John Frederick, Charles V., aided by Maurice, gained a decisive victory at Mühlberg in April 1547, after which by the capitulation of Wittenberg John Frederick renounced the electoral dignity in favour of Maurice, who also obtained a large part of his kinsman's lands. The formal investiture of the new elector took place at Augsburg in February 1548.

The plans of Maurice soon took a form less agreeable to the emperor. The continued imprisonment of his father-in-law, Philip of Hesse, whom he had induced to surrender to Charles and whose freedom he had guaranteed, was neither his greatest nor his only cause of complaint. The emperor had refused to complete the humiliation of the family of John Frederick; he had embarked upon a course of action which boded danger to the elector's Lutheran subjects, and his increased power was a menace to the position of Maurice. Assuring Charles of his continued loyalty, the elector entered into negotiations with the discontented Protestant princes. An event happened which gave him a base of operations, and enabled him to mask his schemes against the emperor. In 1550 he had been entrusted with the execution of the imperial ban against the city of Magdeburg, and under cover of these operations he was able to collect troops and to concert measures with his allies. Favourable terms were granted to Magdeburg, which surrendered and remained in the power of Maurice, and in January 1552 a treaty was concluded with Henry II. of France at Chambord. Meanwhile Maurice had refused to recognize the _Interim_ issued from Augsburg in May 1548 as binding on Saxony; but a compromise was arranged on the basis of which the Leipzig _Interim_ was drawn up for his lands. It is uncertain how far Charles was ignorant of the elector's preparations, but certainly he was unprepared for the attack made by Maurice and his allies in March 1552. Augsburg was taken, the pass of Ehrenberg was forced, and in a few days the emperor left Innsbruck as a fugitive. Ferdinand undertook to make peace, and the Treaty of Passau, signed in August 1552, was the result. Maurice obtained a general amnesty and freedom for Philip of Hesse, but was unable to obtain a perpetual religious peace for the Lutherans. Charles stubbornly insisted that this question must be referred to the Diet, and Maurice was obliged to give way. He then fought against the Turks, and renewed his communications with Henry of France. Returning from Hungary the elector placed himself at the head of the princes who were seeking to check the career of his former ally, Albert Alcibiades, whose depredations were making him a curse to Germany. The rival armies met at Sievershausen on the 9th of July 1553, where after a fierce encounter Albert was defeated. The victor, however, was wounded during the fight and died two days later.

Maurice was a friend to learning, and devoted some of the secularized church property to the advancement of education. Very different estimates have been formed of his character. He has been represented as the saviour of German Protestantism on the one hand, and on the other as a traitor to his faith and country. In all probability he was neither the one nor the other, but a man of great ambition who, indifferent to religious considerations, made good use of the exigencies of the time. He was generous and enlightened, a good soldier and a clever diplomatist. He left an only daughter Anna (d. 1577), who became the second wife of William the Silent, prince of Orange.

The elector's _Politische Korrespondenz_ has been edited by E.
Brandenburg (Leipzig, 1900-1904); and a sketch of him is given by
Roger Ascham in _A Report and Discourse of the Affairs and State of
Germany_ (London, 1864-1865). See also F. A. von Langenn, _Moritz
Herzog und Churfürst zu Sachsen_ (Leipzig, 1841); G. Voigt, _Moritz
von Sachsen_ (Leipzig, 1876); E. Brandenburg, _Moritz von Sachsen_
(Leipzig, 1898); S. Issleib, _Moritz von Sachsen als protestantischer
Fürst_ (Hamburg, 1898); J. Witter, _Die Beziehung und der Verkehr des
Kurfürsten Moritz mit König Ferdinand_ (Jena, 1886); L. von Ranke,
_Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation_, Bde. IV. and V.
(Leipzig, 1882); and W. Maurenbrecher in the _Allgemeine deutsche
Biographie_, Bd. XXII. (Leipzig, 1885). For bibliography see
Maurenbrecher; and _The Cambridge Modern History_, vol. ii.
(Cambridge, 1903).

MAURICE, JOHN FREDERICK DENISON (1805-1872), English theologian, was born at Normanston, Suffolk, on the 29th of August, 1805. He was the son of a Unitarian minister, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1823, though it was then impossible for any but members of the Established Church to obtain a degree. Together with John Sterling (with whom he founded the Apostles' Club) he migrated to Trinity Hall, whence he obtained a first class in civil law in 1827; he then came to London, and gave himself to literary work, writing a novel, _Eustace Conyers_, and editing the _London Literary Chronicle_ until 1830, and also for a short time the _Athenaeum_. At this time he was much perplexed as to his religious opinions, and he ultimately found relief in a decision to take a further university course and to seek Anglican orders. Entering Exeter College, Oxford, he took a second class in classics in 1831. He was ordained in 1834, and after a short curacy at Bubbenhall in Warwickshire was appointed chaplain of Guy's Hospital, and became thenceforward a sensible factor in the intellectual and social life of London. From 1839 to 1841 Maurice was editor of the _Education Magazine_. In 1840 he was appointed professor of English history and literature in King's College, and to this post in 1846 was added the chair of divinity. In 1845 he was Boyle lecturer and Warburton lecturer. These chairs he held till 1853. In that year he published _Theological Essays_, wherein were stated opinions which savoured to the principal, Dr R. W. Jelf, and to the council, of unsound theology in regard to eternal punishment. He had previously been called on to clear himself from charges of heterodoxy brought against him in the _Quarterly Review_ (1851), and had been acquitted by a committee of inquiry. Now again he maintained with great warmth of conviction that his views were in close accordance with Scripture and the Anglican standards, but the council, without specifying any distinct "heresy" and declining to submit the case to the judgment of competent theologians, ruled otherwise, and he was deprived of his professorships. He held at the same time the chaplaincy of Lincoln's Inn, for which he had resigned Guy's (1846-1860), but when he offered to resign this the benchers refused. Nor was he assailed in the incumbency of St. Peter's, Vere Street, which he held for nine years (1860-1869), and where he drew round him a circle of thoughtful people. During the early years of this period he was engaged in a hot and bitter controversy with H. L. Mansel (afterwards dean of St Paul's), arising out of the latter's Bampton lecture upon reason and revelation.

During his residence in London Maurice was specially identified with two important movements for education. He helped to found Queen's College for the education of women (1848), and the Working Men's College (1854), of which he was the first principal. He strongly advocated the abolition of university tests (1853), and threw himself with great energy into all that affected the social life of the people. Certain abortive attempts at co-operation among working men, and the movement known as Christian Socialism, were the immediate outcome of his teaching. In 1866 Maurice was appointed professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge, and from 1870 to 1872 was incumbent of St Edward's in that city. He died on the 1st of April 1872.

He was twice married, first to Anna Barton, a sister of John Sterling's wife, secondly to a half-sister of his friend Archdeacon Hare. His son Major-General Sir J. Frederick Maurice (b. 1841), became a distinguished soldier and one of the most prominent military writers of his time.

Those who knew Maurice best were deeply impressed with the spirituality of his character. "Whenever he woke in the night," says his wife, "he was always praying." Charles Kingsley called him "the most beautiful human soul whom God has ever allowed me to meet with." As regards his intellectual attainments we may set Julius Hare's verdict "the greatest mind since Plato" over against Ruskin's "by nature puzzle-headed and indeed wrong-headed." Such contradictory impressions bespeak a life made up of contradictory elements. Maurice was a man of peace, yet his life was spent in a series of conflicts; of deep humility, yet so polemical that he often seemed biased; of large charity, yet bitter in his attack upon the religious press of his time; a loyal churchman who detested the label "Broad," yet poured out criticism upon the leaders of the Church. With an intense capacity for visualizing the unseen, and a kindly dignity, he combined a large sense of humour. While most of the "Broad Churchmen" were influenced by ethical and emotional considerations in their repudiation of the dogma of everlasting torment, he was swayed by purely intellectual and theological arguments, and in questions of a more general liberty he often opposed the proposed Liberal theologians, though he as often took their side if he saw them hard pressed. He had a wide metaphysical and philosophical knowledge which he applied to the history of theology. He was a strenuous advocate of ecclesiastical control in elementary education, and an opponent of the new school of higher biblical criticism, though so far an evolutionist as to believe in growth and development as applied to the history of nations.

As a preacher, his message was apparently simple; his two great
convictions were the fatherhood of God, and that all religious systems
which had any stability lasted because of a portion of truth which had
to be disentangled from the error differentiating them from the
doctrines of the Church of England as understood by himself. His love
to God as his Father was a passionate adoration which filled his whole
heart. The prophetic, even apocalyptic, note of his preaching was
particularly impressive. He prophesied in London as Isaiah prophesied
to the little towns of Palestine and Syria, "often with dark
foreboding, but seeing through all unrest and convulsion the working
out of a sure divine purpose." Both at King's College and at Cambridge
Maurice gathered round him a band of earnest students, to whom he
directly taught much that was valuable drawn from wide stores of his
own reading, wide rather than deep, for he never was, strictly
speaking, a learned man. Still more did he encourage the habit of
inquiry and research, more valuable than his direct teaching. In his
Socratic power of convincing his pupils of their ignorance he did more
than perhaps any other man of his time to awaken in those who came
under his sway the desire for knowledge and the process of independent
thought.

As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager
support to schemes for which the world was not ready. From an early
period of his life in London the condition of the poor pressed upon
him with consuming force; the enormous magnitude of the social
questions involved was a burden which he could hardly bear. For many
years he was the clergyman whom working men of all opinions seemed to
trust even if their faith in other religious men and all religious
systems had faded, and he had a marvellous power of attracting the
zealot and the outcast.

His works cover nearly 40 volumes, often obscure, often tautological,
and with no great distinction of style. But their high purpose and
philosophical outlook give his writings a permanent place in the
history of the thought of his time. The following are the more
important works--some of them were rewritten and in a measure recast,
and the date given is not necessarily that of the first appearance of
the book, but of its more complete and abiding form: _Eustace Conway,
or the Brother and Sister_, a novel (1834); _The Kingdom of Christ_
(1842); _Christmas Day and Other Sermons_ (1843); _The Unity of the
New Testament_ (1844); _The Epistle to the Hebrews_ (1846); _The
Religions of the World_ (1847); _Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy_
(at first an article in the _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_, 1848); _The
Church a Family_ (1850); _The Old Testament_ (1851); _Theological
Essays_ (1853); _The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament_ (1853);
_Lectures on Ecclesiastical History_ (1854); _The Doctrine of
Sacrifice_ (1854); _The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament_
(1855); _The Epistles of St John_ (1857); _The Commandments as
Instruments of National Reformation_ (1866); _On the Gospel of St
Luke_ (1868); _The Conscience: Lectures on Casuistry_ (1868); _The
Lord's Prayer, a Manual_ (1870). The greater part of these works were
first delivered as sermons or lectures. Maurice also contributed many
prefaces and introductions to the works of friends, as to Archdeacon
Hare's _Charges_, Kingsley's _Saint's Tragedy_, &c.

See _Life_ by his son (2 vols., London, 1884), and a monograph by C.
F. G. Masterman (1907) in "Leader of the Church" series; W. E. Collins
in _Typical English Churchmen_, pp. 327-360 (1902), and T. Hughes in
_The Friendship of Books_ (1873).

MAURICE OF NASSAU, prince of Orange (1567-1625), the second son of William the Silent, by Anna, only daughter of the famous Maurice, elector of Saxony, was born at Dillenburg. At the time of his father's assassination in 1584 he was being educated at the university of Leiden, at the expense of the states of Holland and Zeeland. Despite his youth he was made stadtholder of those two provinces and president of the council of state. During the period of Leicester's governorship he remained in the background, engaged in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the military art, and in 1586 the States of Holland conferred upon him the title of prince. On the withdrawal of Leicester from the Netherlands in August 1587, Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, the advocate of Holland, became the leading statesman of the country, a position which he retained for upwards of thirty years. He had been a devoted adherent of William the Silent and he now used his influence to forward the interests of Maurice. In 1588 he was appointed by the States-General captain and admiral-general of the Union, in 1590 he was elected stadtholder of Utrecht and Overysel, and in 1591 of Gelderland. From this time forward, Oldenbarneveldt at the head of the civil government and Maurice in command of the armed forces of the republic worked together in the task of rescuing the United Netherlands from Spanish domination (for details see HOLLAND). Maurice soon showed himself to be a general second in skill to none of his contemporaries. He was especially famed for his consummate knowledge of the science of sieges. The twelve years' truce on the 9th of April 1609 brought to an end the cordial relations between Maurice and Oldenbarneveldt. Maurice was opposed to the truce, but the advocate's policy triumphed and henceforward there was enmity between them. The theological disputes between the Remonstrants and contra-Remonstrants found them on different sides; and the theological quarrel soon became a political one. Oldenbarneveldt, supported by the states of Holland, came forward as the champion of provincial sovereignty against that of the states-general; Maurice threw the weight of his sword on the side of the union. The struggle was a short one, for the army obeyed the general who had so often led them to victory. Oldenbarneveldt perished on the scaffold, and the share which Maurice had in securing the illegal condemnation by a packed court of judges of the aged patriot must ever remain a stain upon his memory.

Maurice, who had on the death of his elder brother Philip William, in February 1618, become prince of Orange, was now supreme in the state, but during the remainder of his life he sorely missed the wise counsels of the experienced Oldenbarneveldt. War broke out again in 1621, but success had ceased to accompany him on his campaigns. His health gave way, and he died, a prematurely aged man, at the Hague on the 4th of April 1625. He was buried by his father's side at Delft.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. Commelin, _Wilhelm en Maurits v. Nassau, pr. v.
Orangien, haer leven en bedrijf_ (Amsterdam, 1651); G. Groen van
Prinsterer, _Archives ou correspondance de la maison d'Orange-Nassau_,
1^e série, 9 vols. (Leiden, 1841-1861); G. Groen van Prinsterer,
_Maurice et Barneveldt_ (Utrecht, 1875); J. L. Motley, _Life and Death
of John of Barneveldt_ (2 vols., The Hague, 1894); C. M. Kemp, v.d.
_Maurits v. Nassau, prins v. Oranje in zijn leven en verdiensten_ (4
vols., Rotterdam, 1845); M. O. Nutting, _The Days of Prince Maurice_
(Boston and Chicago, 1894).

MAURISTS, a congregation of French Benedictines called after St Maurus (d. 565), a disciple of St Benedict and the legendary introducer of the Benedictine rule and life into Gaul.[1] At the end of the 16th century the Benedictine monasteries of France had fallen into a state of disorganization and relaxation. In the abbey of St Vaune near Verdun a reform was initiated by Dom Didier de la Cour, which spread to other houses in Lorraine, and in 1604 the reformed congregation of St Vaune was established, the most distinguished members of which were Ceillier and Calmet. A number of French houses joined the new congregation; but as Lorraine was still independent of the French crown, it was considered desirable to form on the same lines a separate congregation for France. Thus in 1621 was established the famous French congregation of St Maur. Most of the Benedictine monasteries of France, except those belonging to Cluny, gradually joined the new congregation, which eventually embraced nearly two hundred houses. The chief house was Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, the residence of the superior-general and centre of the literary activity of the congregation. The primary idea of the movement was not the undertaking of literary and historical work, but the return to a strict monastic régime and the faithful carrying out of Benedictine life; and throughout the most glorious period of Maurist history the literary work was not allowed to interfere with the due performance of the choral office and the other duties of the monastic life. Towards the end of the 18th century a tendency crept in, in some quarters, to relax the monastic observances in favour of study; but the constitutions of 1770 show that a strict monastic régime was maintained until the end. The course of Maurist history and work was checkered by the ecclesiastical controversies that distracted the French Church during the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the members identified themselves with the Jansenist cause; but the bulk, including nearly all the greatest names, pursued a middle path, opposing the lax moral theology condemned in 1679 by Pope Innocent XI., and adhering to those strong views on grace and predestination associated with the Augustinian and Thomist schools of Catholic theology; and like all the theological faculties and schools on French soil, they were bound to teach the four Gallican articles. It seems that towards the end of the 18th century a rationalistic and free-thinking spirit invaded some of the houses. The congregation was suppressed and the monks scattered at the revolution, the last superior-general with forty of his monks dying on the scaffold in Paris. The present French congregation of Benedictines initiated by Dom Guéranger in 1833 is a new creation and has no continuity with the congregation of St Maur.

The great claim of the Maurists to the gratitude and admiration of posterity is their historical and critical school, which stands quite alone in history, and produced an extraordinary number of colossal works of erudition which still are of permanent value. The foundations of this school were laid by Dom Tarisse, the first superior-general, who in 1632 issued instructions to the superiors of the monasteries to train the young monks in the habits of research and of organized work. The pioneers in production were Ménard and d'Achery.

The following tables give, divided into groups, the most important
Maurist works, along with such information as may be useful to
students. All works are folio when not otherwise noted:--

I.--THE EDITIONS OF THE FATHERS

Epistle of Barnabas Ménard 1645 1 in 4^to
(editio princeps)
Lanfranc d'Achery 1648 1
Guibert of Nogent d'Achery 1651 1
Robert Pulleyn and Peter
of Poitiers Mathou 1655 1
Bernard Mabillon 1667 2
Anselm Gerberon 1675 1
Cassiodorus Garet 1679 1
Augustine (see Kukula, Delfau, Blampin,
_Die Mauriner-Ausgabe Coustant, Guesnie 1681-1700 11
des Augustinus_, 1898)
Ambrose du Frische 1686-1690 2
Acta martyrum sincera Ruinart 1689 1
Hilary Coustant 1693 1
Jerome Martianay 1693-1706 5
Athanasius Loppin and Mont-
faucon 1698 3
Gregory of Tours Ruinart 1699 1
Gregory the Great Sainte-Marthe 1705 4
Hildebert of Tours Beaugendre 1708 1
Irenaeus Massuet 1710 1
Chrysostom Montfaucon 1718-1738 13
Cyril of Jerusalem Touttée and Maran 1720 1
Epistolae romanorum Coustant 1721 1
pontificum[2]
Basil Garnier and Maran 1721-1730 3
Cyprian (Baluze, not a
Maurist) finished
by Maran 1726 1
Origen Ch. de la Rue (1, 2,
3) V. de la Rue (4) 1733-1759 4
Justin and the Apologists Maran 1742 1
Gregory Nazianzen[3] Maran and Clémencet 1778 1

II.--BIBLICAL WORKS

St Jerome's Latin Bible Martianay 1693 1
Origen's Hexapla Montfaucon 1713 2
Old Latin versions Sabbathier 1743-1749 3

III.--GREAT COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

Spicilegium d'Achery 1655-1677 13 in 4^to
Veterae analecta Mabillon 1675-1685 4 in 8^vo
Musaeum italicum Mabillon 1687-1689 2 in 4^to
Collectio nova patrum Montfaucon 1706 2
graecorum
Thesaurus novus Martène and Durand 1717 5
anecdotorum
Veterum scriptorum Martène and Durand 1724-1733 9
collectio
De antiquis Martène 1690-1706
ecclesiaeritibus (Final form) 1736-1738 4

IV.--MONASTIC HISTORY

Acta of the Benedictine d'Achery, Mabillon
Saints and Ruinart 1668-1701 9
Benedictine Annals (to Mabillon (1-4),
1157) Massuet (5),
Martène (6) 1703-1739 6

V.--ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FRANCE

A.--_General._

Gallia Christiana (3 other Sainte-Marthe
vols. were published (1, 2, 3) 1715-1785 13
1856-1865)
Monuments de la monarchie Montfaucon 1729-1733 5
française
Histoire littéraire de la Rivet, Clémencet,
France (16 other vols. Clément 1733-1763 12 in 4^to
were published 1814-1881)
Recueil des historiens de Bouquet (1-8), Brial
la France (4 other vols. (12-19) 1738-1833 19
were published 1840-1876)
Concilia Galliae (the Labbat 1789 1
printing of vol. ii. was
interrupted by the
Revolution; there were
to have been 8 vols.)

B.--HISTORIES OF THE PROVINCES.

Bretagne Lobineau 1707 2
Paris Félibien and
Lobineau 1725 5
Languedoc Vaissette and de Vic 1730-1745 5
Bourgogne Plancher (1-3), 1739-1748 4
Merle (4) 1781
Bretagne Morice 1742-1756 5

VI.--MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF TECHNICAL ERUDITION

De re diplomatica Mabillon 1681 1
Ditto Supplement Mabillon 1704 1
Nouveau traité de Toustain and Tassin 1750-1765 6 in 4^to
diplomatique
Paleographia graeca Montfaucon 1708 1
Bibliotheca coisliniana Montfaucon 1715 1
Bibliotheca bibliothecarum Montfaucon 1739 2
manuscriptorum nova
L'Antiquité expliqué Montfaucon 1719-1724 15
New ed. of Du Cange's Dantine and
glossarium Carpentier 1733-1736 6
Ditto Supplement Carpentier 1766 4
Apparatus ad bibliothecam le Nourry 1703 2
maximam patrum
L'Art de vérifier les Dantine, Durand,
dates Clémencet 1750 1 in 4^to
Ed. 2 Clément 1770 1
Ed. 3 Clément 1783-1787 3

The 58 works in the above list comprise 199 great folio volumes and 39
in 4^to or 8^vo. The full Maurist bibliography contains the names of
some 220 writers and more than 700 works. The lesser works in large
measure cover the same fields as those in the list, but the number of
works of purely religious character, of piety, devotion and
edification, is very striking. Perhaps the most wonderful phenomenon
of Maurist work is that what was produced was only a portion of what
was contemplated and prepared for. The French Revolution cut short
many gigantic undertakings, the collected materials for which fill
hundreds of manuscript volumes in the Bibliothèque nationale of Paris
and other libraries of France. There are at Paris 31 volumes of
Berthereau's materials for the Historians of the Crusades, not only in
Latin and Greek, but in the oriental tongues; from them have been
taken in great measure the _Recueil des historiens des croisades_,
whereof 15 folio volumes have been published by the Académie des
Inscriptions. There exist also the preparations for an edition of
Rufinus and one of Eusebius, and for the continuation of the Papal
Letters and of the Concilia Galliae. Dom Caffiaux and Dom Villevielle
left 236 volumes of materials for a _Trésor généalogique_. There are
Benedictine Antiquities (37 vols.), a Monasticon Gallicanum and a
Monasticon Benedictinum (54 vols.). Of the Histories of the Provinces
of France barely half a dozen were printed, but all were in hand, and
the collections for the others fill 800 volumes of MSS. The materials
for a geography of Gaul and France in 50 volumes perished in a fire
during the Revolution.

When these figures were considered, and when one contemplates the
vastness of the works in progress during any decade of the century
1680-1780; and still more, when not only the quantity but the quality
of the work, and the abiding value of most of it is realized, it will
be recognized that the output was prodigious and unique in the history
of letters, as coming from a single society. The qualities that have
made Maurist work proverbial for sound learning are its fine critical
tact and its thoroughness.

The chief source of information on the Maurists and their work is Dom
Tassin's _Histoire littéraire de la congregation de Saint-Maur_
(1770); it has been reduced to a bare bibliography and completed by de
Lama, _Bibliothèque des écrivains de la congr. de S.-M._ (1882). The
two works of de Broglie, _Mabillon_ (2 vols., 1888) and _Montfaucon_
(2 vols., 1891), give a charming picture of the inner life of the
great Maurists of the earlier generation in the midst of their work
and their friends. Sketches of the lives of a few of the chief
Maurists will be found in McCarthy's _Principal Writers of the Congr.
of S. M._ (1868). Useful information about their literary undertakings
will be found in De Lisle's _Cabinet des MSS. de la Bibl. Nat. Fonds
St Germain-des-Prés_. General information will be found in the
standard authorities: Helyot, _Hist. des ordres religieux_ (1718), vi.
c. 37; Heimbucher, _Orden und Kongregationen_ (1907) i. § 36; Wetzer
und Welte, Kirchenlexicon (ed. 2) and Herzog-Hauck's
_Realencyklopädie_ (ed. 3), the latter an interesting appreciation by
the Protestant historian Otto Zöckler of the spirit and the merits of
the work of the Maurists. (E. C. B.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] His festival is kept on the 15th of January. He founded the
monastery of Glanfeuil or St Maur-sur-Loire.

[2] 14 vols. of materials collected for the continuation are at
Paris.

[3] The printing of vol. ii. was impeded by the Revolution.

MAURITIUS, an island and British colony in the Indian Ocean (known whilst a French possession as the _Île de France_). It lies between 57° 18´ and 57° 49´ E., and 19° 58´ and 20° 32´ S., 550 m. E. of Madagascar, 2300 m. from the Cape of Good Hope, and 9500 m. from England via Suez. The island is irregularly elliptical--somewhat triangular--in shape, and is 36 m. long from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and about 23 m. broad. It is 130 m. in circumference, and its total area is about 710 sq. m. (For map see MADAGASCAR.) The island is surrounded by coral reefs, so that the ports are difficult of access.

From its mountainous character Mauritius is a most picturesque island, and its scenery is very varied and beautiful. It has been admirably described by Bernardin de St Pierre, who lived in the island towards the close of the 18th century, in _Paul et Virginie_. The most level portions of the coast districts are the north and north-east, all the rest being broken by hills, which vary from 500 to 2700 ft. in height. The principal mountain masses are the north-western or Pouce range, in the district of Port Louis; the south-western, in the districts of Rivière Noire and Savanne; and the south-eastern range, in the Grand Port district. In the first of these, which consists of one principal ridge with several lateral spurs, overlooking Port Louis, are the singular peak of the Pouce (2650 ft.), so called from its supposed resemblance to the human thumb; and the still loftier Pieter Botte (2685 ft.), a tall obelisk of bare rock, crowned with a globular mass of stone. The highest summit in the island is in the south-western mass of hills, the Piton de la Rivière Noire, which is 2711 ft. above the sea. The south-eastern group of hills consists of the Montagne du Bambou, with several spurs running down to the sea. In the interior are extensive fertile plains, some 1200 ft. in height, forming the districts of Moka, Vacois, and Plaines Wilhelms; and from nearly the centre of the island an abrupt peak, the Piton du Milieu de l'Île rises to a height of 1932 ft. Other prominent summits are the Trois Mamelles, the Montagne du Corps de Garde, the Signal Mountain, near Port Louis, and the Morne Brabant, at the south-west corner of the island.

The rivers are small, and none is navigable beyond a few hundred yards from the sea. In the dry season little more than brooks, they become raging torrents in the wet season. The principal stream is the Grande Rivière, with a course of about 10 m. There is a remarkable and very deep lake, called Grand Bassin, in the south of the island, it is probably the extinct crater of an ancient volcano; similar lakes are the Mare aux Vacois and the Mare aux Joncs, and there are other deep hollows which have a like origin.

_Geology._--The island is of volcanic origin, but has ceased to show
signs of volcanic activity. All the rocks are of basalt and
greyish-tinted lavas, excepting some beds of upraised coral. Columnar
basalt is seen in several places. The remains of ancient craters can
be distinguished, but their outlines have been greatly destroyed by
denudation. There are many caverns and steep ravines, and from the
character of the rocks the ascents are rugged and precipitous. The
island has few minerals, although iron, lead and copper in very small
quantities have in former times been obtained. The greater part of the
surface is composed of a volcanic breccia, with here and there
lava-streams exposed in ravines, and sometimes on the surface. The
commonest lavas are dolerites. In at least two places sedimentary
rocks are found at considerable elevations. In the Black River
Mountains, at a height of about 1200 ft., there is a clay-slate; and
near Midlands, in the Grand Port group of mountains, a chloritic
schist occurs about 1700 ft. above the sea, forming the hill of La
Selle. This schist is much contorted, but seems to have a general dip
to the south or south-east. Evidence of recent elevation of the island
is furnished by masses of coral reef and beach coral rock standing at
heights of 40 ft. above sea-level in the south, 12 ft. in the north
and 7 ft. on the islands situated on the bank extending to the
north-east.[1]

_Climate._--The climate is pleasant during the cool season of the
year, but oppressively hot in summer (December to April), except in
the elevated plains of the interior, where the thermometer ranges from
70° to 80° F., while in Port Louis and on the coast generally it
ranges from 90° to 96°. The mean temperature for the year at Port
Louis is 78.6°. There are two seasons, the cool and comparatively dry
season, from April to November, and the hotter season, during the rest
of the year. The climate is now less healthy than it was, severe
epidemics of malarial fever having frequently occurred, so that
malaria now appears to be endemic among the non-European population.
The rainfall varies greatly in different parts of the island. Cluny in
the Grand Port (south-eastern) district has a mean annual rainfall of
145 in.; Albion on the west coast is the driest station, with a mean
annual rainfall of 31 in. The mean monthly rainfall for the whole
island varies from 12 in. in March to 2.6 in. in September and
October. The Royal Alfred Observatory is situated at Pamplemousses, on
the north-west or dry side of the island. From January to the middle
of April, Mauritius, in common with the neighbouring islands and the
surrounding ocean from 8° to 30° of southern latitude is subject to
severe cyclones, accompanied by torrents of rain, which often cause
great destruction to houses and plantations. These hurricanes
generally last about eight hours, but they appear to be less frequent
and violent than in former times, owing, it is thought, to the
destruction of the ancient forests and the consequent drier condition
of the atmosphere.

_Fauna and Flora._--Mauritius being an oceanic island of small size,
its present fauna is very limited in extent. When first seen by
Europeans it contained no mammals except a large fruit-eating bat
(_Pteropus vulgaris_), which is plentiful in the woods; but several
mammals have been introduced, and are now numerous in the uncultivated
region. Among these are two monkeys of the genera _Macacus_ and
_Cercopithecus_, a stag (_Cervus hippelaphus_), a small hare, a
shrew-mouse, and the ubiquitous rat. A lemur and one of the curious
hedgehog-like _Insectivora_ of Madagascar (_Centetes ecaudatus_) have
probably both been brought from the larger island. The avifauna
resembles that of Madagascar; there are species of a peculiar genus of
caterpillar shrikes (_Campephagidae_), as well as of the genera
_Pratincola_, _Hypsipetes_, _Phedina_, _Tchitrea_, _Zosterops_,
_Foudia_, _Collocalia_ and _Coracopsis_, and peculiar forms of doves
and parakeets. The living reptiles are small and few in number. The
surrounding seas contain great numbers of fish; the coral reefs abound
with a great variety of molluscs; and there are numerous land-shells.
The extinct fauna of Mauritius has considerable interest. In common
with the other Mascarene islands, it was the home of the dodo (_Didus
ineptus_); there were also _Aphanapteryx_, a species of rail, and a
short-winged heron (_Ardea megacephala_), which probably seldom flew.
The defenceless condition of these birds led to their extinction after
the island was colonized. Considerable quantities of the bones of the
dodo and other extinct birds--a rail (_Aphanapteryx_), and a
short-winged heron--have been discovered in the beds of some of the
ancient lakes (see DODO). Several species of large fossil tortoises
have also been discovered; they are quite different from the living
ones of Aldabra, in the same zoological region.

Owing to the destruction of the primeval forests for the formation of
sugar plantations, the indigenous flora is only seen in parts of the
interior plains, in the river valleys and on the hills; and it is not
now easy to distinguish between what is native and what has come from
abroad. The principal timber tree is the ebony (_Diospyros ebeneum_),
which grows to a considerable size. Besides this there are bois de
cannelle, olive-tree, benzoin (_Croton Benzoe_), colophane
(_Colophonia_), and iron-wood, all of which arc useful in carpentry;
the coco-nut palm, an importation, but a tree which has been so
extensively planted during the last hundred years that it is extremely
plentiful; the palmiste (_Palma dactylifera latifolia_), the latanier
(_Corypha umbraculifera_) and the date-palm. The vacoa or vacois,
(_Pandanus utilis_) is largely grown, the long tough leaves being
manufactured into bags for the export of sugar, and the roots being
also made of use; and in the few remnants of the original forests the
traveller's tree (_Urania speciosa_), grows abundantly. A species of
bamboo is very plentiful in the river valleys and in marshy
situations. A large variety of fruit is produced, including the
tamarind, mango, banana, pine-apple, guava, shaddock, fig,
avocado-pear, litchi, custard-apple and the mabolo (_Diospyros
discolor_), a fruit of exquisite flavour, but very disagreeable odour.
Many of the roots and vegetables of Europe have been introduced, as
well as some of those peculiar to the tropics, including maize,
millet, yams, manioc, dhol, gram, &c. Small quantities of tea, rice
and sago, have been grown, as well as many of the spices (cloves,
nutmeg, ginger, pepper and allspice), and also cotton, indigo, betel,
camphor, turmeric and vanilla. The Royal Botanical Gardens at
Pamplemousses, which date from the French occupation of the island,
contain a rich collection of tropical and extra-tropical species.

_Inhabitants._--The inhabitants consist of two great divisions, those of European blood, chiefly French and British, together with numerous half-caste people, and those of Asiatic or African blood. The population of European blood, which calls itself Creole, is greater than that of any other tropical colony; many of the inhabitants trace their descent from ancient French families, and the higher and middle classes are distinguished for their intellectual culture. French is more commonly spoken than English. The Creole class is, however, diminishing, though slowly, and the most numerous section of the population is of Indian blood.

The introduction of Indian coolies to work the sugar plantations dates
from the period of the emancipation of the slaves in 1834-1839. At
that time the negroes who showed great unwillingness to work on their
late masters' estates, numbered about 66,000. Immigration from India
began in 1834, and at a census taken in 1846, when the total
population was 158,462, there were already 56,245 Indians in the
island. In 1851 the total population had increased to 180,823, while
in 1861 it was 310,050. This great increase was almost entirely due to
Indian immigration, the Indian population, 77,996 in 1851, being
192,634 in 1861. From that year the increase in the Indian population
has been more gradual but steady, while the non-Indian population has
decreased. From 102,827 in 1851 it rose to 117,416 in 1861 to sink to
99,784 in 1871. The figures for the three following census years
were:--

1881. 1891. 1901.

Indians 248,993 255,920 259,086
Others 110,881 114,668 111,937
------- ------- -------
Total 359,874 370,588 371,023
------- ------- -------

Including the military and crews of ships in harbour, the total
population in 1901 was 373,336.[2] This total included 198,958
Indo-Mauritians, i.e. persons of Indian descent born in Mauritius, and
62,022 other Indians. There were 3,509 Chinese, while the remaining
108,847 included persons of European, African or mixed descent,
Malagasy, Malays and Sinhalese. The Indian female population increased
from 51,019 in 1861 to 115,986 in 1901. In the same period the
non-Indian female population but slightly varied, being 56,070 in 1861
and 55,485 in 1901. The Indo-Mauritians are now dominant in
commercial, agricultural and domestic callings, and much town and
agricultural land has been transferred from the Creole planters to
Indians and Chinese. The tendency to an Indian peasant proprietorship
is marked. Since 1864 real property to the value of over £1,250,000
has been acquired by Asiatics. Between 1881 and 1901 the number of
sugar estates decreased from 171 to 115, those sold being held in
small parcels by Indians. The average death-rate for the period
1873-1901 was 32.6 per 1000. The average birth-rate in the Indian
community is 37 per 1000; in the non-Indian community 34 per 1000.
Many Mauritian Creoles have emigrated to South Africa. The great
increase in the population since 1851 has made Mauritius one of the
most densely peopled regions of the world, having over 520 persons per
square mile.