chapter 46, note.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

BELGIUM: A. D. 1425. Acquired by Hungary and fortified against the Turks.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1301-1442.

{279}

BELGIUM: A. D. 1442. First repulse of the Turks.

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1402-1451.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1456. Second repulse of the Turks.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1442-1458; and TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1451-1481.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1521. Siege and capture by Solyman the Magnificent.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1487-1526.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1688-1690. Taken by the Austrians and recovered by the Turks.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1683-1699.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1717. Recovery from the Turks.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1699-1718.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1739. Restored to the Turks.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1725-1739.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1789-1791. Taken by the Austrians and restored to the Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1776-1792.

BELGIUM: A. D. 1806. Surprised and taken by the Servians.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14TH-19TH CENTURIES (SERVIA).

BELGIUM: A. D. 1862. Withdrawal of Turkish troops.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14TH-19TH CENTURIES (SERVIA).

BELGIUM: End----------

BELGRADE, The Peace of.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1725-1739.

BELIK, Battle on the (Carrhæ--B. C. 53).

See ROME: B. C. 57-52.

BELISARIUS, Campaigns of.

See VANDALS: A. D. 533-534, and ROME: A. D. 535-553.

BELIZE, or British Honduras.

See NICARAGUA: A. D. 1850.

BELL ROLAND, The great.

See GHENT: A. D. 1539-1540.

BELLE ALLIANCE, Battle of La. The battle of Waterloo

See FRANCE: A. D. 1815 (JUNE)--is so called by the Prussians.

BELLE ISLE PRISON-PEN, The.

See PRISONS AND PRISON-PENS, CONFEDERATE.

BELLOVACI, The.

See BELGÆ.

BELLVILLE, Battle, of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY: KENTUCKY).

BELMONT, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

Bema, The.

See PNYX.

BEMIS HEIGHTS, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777 (JULY-OCTOBER).

BENARES.

"The early history of Benares is involved in much obscurity. It is, indisputably, a place of great antiquity, and may even date from the time when the Aryan race first spread itself over Northern India. ... It is certain that the city is regarded by all Hindus as coeval with the birth of Hinduism, a notion derived both from tradition and from their own writings. Allusions to Benares are exceedingly abundant in ancient Sanskrit literature; and perhaps there is no city in all Hindustan more frequently referred to. By reason of some subtle and mysterious charm, it has linked itself with the religious sympathies of the Hindus through every century of its existence. For the sanctity of its inhabitants--of its temples and reservoirs--of its wells and streams--of the very soil that is trodden--of the very air that is breathed--and of everything in and around it, Benares has been famed for thousands of years. ... Previously to the introduction of the Buddhist faith into India, she was already the sacred city of the land,--the centre of Hinduism, and chief seat of its authority. Judging from the strong feelings of veneration and affection with which the native community regard her in the present day, and bearing in mind that the founder of Buddhism commenced his ministry at this spot, it seems indisputable that, in those early times preceding the Buddhist reformation, the city must have exerted a powerful and wide-spread religious influence over the land. Throughout the Buddhist period in India--a period extending from 700 to 1,000 years--she gave the same support to Buddhism which she had previously given to the Hindu faith. Buddhist works of that era ... clearly establish the fact that the Buddhists of those days regarded the city with much the same kind of veneration as the Hindu does now."

_M. A. Sherring, The Sacred City of the Hindus, chapter 1._

For an account of the English annexation of Benares,

See INDIA: A. D. 1773-1785.

BENEDICT II., Pope, A. D. 684-685. Benedict III., Pope, A. D. 855-858. Benedict IV., Pope, A. D. 900-903. Benedict V., Pope, A. D. 964-965. Benedict VI., Pope, A. D. 972-974. Benedict VII., Pope, A. D. 975-984. Benedict VIII., Pope, A. D. 1012-1024. Benedict IX., Pope, A. D. 1033-1044, 1047-1048. Benedict X., Antipope, A. D. 1058-1059. Benedict XI., Pope, A. D. 1303-1304. Benedict XII., Pope, A. D. 1334-1342. Benedict XIII., Pope, A. D. 1394-1423 (at Avignon). Benedict XIII., Pope, A. D. 1724-1730. Benedict XIV., Pope, A. D. 1740-1758.

BENEDICTINE ORDERS. The rule of St. Benedict.

"There were many monasteries in the West before the time of St. Benedict of Nursia (A. D. 480); but he has been rightly considered the father of Western monasticism; for he not only founded an order to which many religious houses became attached, but he established a rule for their government which, in its main features, was adopted as the rule of monastic life by all the orders for more than five centuries, or until the time of St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi. Benedict was first a hermit, living in the mountains of Southern Italy, and in that region he afterwards established in succession twelve monasteries, each with twelve monks and a superior. In the year 520 he founded the great monastery of Monte Casino as the mother-house of his order, a house which became the most celebrated and powerful monastery, according to Montalembert, in the Catholic universe, celebrated especially because there Benedict prepared his rule and formed the type which was to serve as a model to the innumerable communities submitting to that sovereign code. ... Neither in the East nor in the West were the monks originally ecclesiastics; and it was not until the eighth century that they became priests, called regulars, in contrast with the ordinary parish clergy, who were called seculars. ... As missionaries, they proved the most powerful instruments in extending the authority and the boundaries of the church. The monk had no individual property: even his dress belonged to the monastery. ... To enable him to work efficiently, it was necessary to feed him well; and such was the injunction of Benedict, as opposed to the former practice of strict asceticism."

_C. J. Stillé, Studies in Mediæval History, chapter 12._

{280}

"Benedict would not have the monks limit themselves to spiritual labour, to the action of the soul upon itself; he made external labour, manual or literary, a strict obligation of his rule. ... In order to banish indolence, which he called the enemy of the soul, he regulated minutely the employment of every hour of the day according to the seasons, and ordained that, after having celebrated the praises of God seven times a-day, seven hours a-day should be given to manual labour, and two hours to reading. ... Those who are skilled in the practice of an art or trade, could only exercise it by the permission of the abbot, in all humility; and if anyone prided himself on his talent, or the profit which resulted from it to the house, he was to have his occupation changed until he had humbled himself. ... Obedience is also to his eyes a work, obedientiae laborem, the most meritorious and essential of all. A monk entered into monastic life only to make the sacrifice of self. This sacrifice implied especially that of the will. ... Thus the rule pursued pride into its most secret hiding-place. Submission had to be prompt, perfect, and absolute. The monk must obey always, without reserve, and without murmur, even in those things which seemed impossible and above his strength, trusting in the succour of God, if a humble and seasonable remonstrance, the only thing permitted to him, was not accepted by his superiors."

_The Count de Montalembert, The Monks of the West, book 4, section 2 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN: _E. L. Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages,