NEW UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY.

PERIOD XXXI.

[CENT. XVI.]

REMARKABLE FACTS, EVENTS, AND DISCOVERIES.

A.D.

1500 Maximilian divides the empire of Germany into six circles. Brazil discovered by the Portuguese. Florida discovered by John Ca bot, an Englishman. Painting in chiaro obscuro discovered.

1507 The Portuguese discover Madagascar,

1512 Maximilian adds four more circles to the German empire. 1513 The battle of Flodden, in which James IV., king of Scotland, is killed, with the flower of his nobility.

1515 The first Polyglot Bible printed at Alcala. Navarre annexed to Castile by Ferdinand.

1516 Algiers seized by Barbarossa.

1517 Martin Luther began the Reformation. Egypt conquered, and the kingdom of the Mamelukes overthrown by the Turks.

1518 New Spain, and the Straits of Magellan discovered.

1521 Henry VIII., for his writings in favour of Popery, receives the title of Defender of the Faith from his holiness.

1522 Rhodes taken by the Turks. The first voyage round the world performed by a ship of Magellan's squadron.

1526 The inquisition established in Portugal. Lutheranism established in Germany.

1527 Rome taken and plundered by the imperial army.

1528 Popery abolished in Sweden.

1529 The name of Protestant takes its rise from the reformed protesting against the church of Rome, at the diet of Spires in Germany. 1530 Union of the Protestants at Smalcald, December 22d. Secretary of State established in England.

1632, The Court of Session instituted in Scotland.

1533 Insurrection of the Anabaptists in Westphalia.

1534 The Reformation takes place in England, under Henry VIII. Silk first worn by the clergy. Barbarossa seized the kingdom of Tunis.

1535 The Reformation introduced into Ireland. The Society of Jesus

formed.

1539 The first English edition of the Bible authorised,

VOL. V.

B

1540 The variation of the compass discovered by Sebastian Cabot. Society of the Jesuits established, September 27.

1544 Good lands let in England at one shilling per acre. 1545 The council of Trent begins, and continues 18 years. 1548 The Reformation gained ground in Poland.

1549 Lord Lieutenants of counties instituted in England.

1552 Books of geography and astronomy destroyed in England, as being infected with magic. The book of Common Prayer established in England by act of Parliament.

1553 Servetus, a French physician, first broaches the circulation of the

blood.

1554 Astracan conquered by the Russians.

1555 The Russian company established in England.

1558 Queen Elizabeth begins her reign.

1560 The Reformation in Scotland completed by John Knox.

1561 Livonia ceded to Poland.

1565 Revolt of the Low Countries. Malta attacked by the Turks. 1566 The 39 articles of the church of England established. Lord Darnley murdered.

1568 Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in England. Liberty of exercising the reformed religion granted to the Low Countries. 1571 The island of Cyprus taken by the Turks. They are defeated at Lepanto.

1572 The dreadful massacre of Protestants at Paris.

1576 The exercise of the Protestant religion authorised in France. This toleration followed by a civil war.

1578 The first treaty of alliance between England and the States General, January 7th.

1579 The Dutch shake off the Spanish yoke, and the republic of Holland begins. English East India company incorporated. Turkey company incorporated.

1580 Sir Francis Drake returns from his voyage round the world. Parochial registers first appointed in England. The kingdom of Portugal seized by Philip II. of Spain.

1582 Pope Gregory XIII. introduces the new style in Italy.

1587 Mary, queen of Scots beheaded by order of Elizabeth, after 18 years imprisonment.

1588 The Spanish armada destroyed by Drake and other English admirals. Paper first made in England, at Deptford. Duelling with small swords introduced into England.

1589 Henry of Bourbon, king of Navarre, succeeds Charles IX. of France. 1590 Band of Pensioners instituted in England. Telescopes invented by Jansen, a spectacle maker in Germany.

1591 Trinity college, Dublin, founded.

1594 The Jesuits expelled from France.

1598 The edict of Nantes passed by Henry IV. of France, tolerating the Protestants.

THE preceding table will inform the reader of the leading events which took place during this period, the history of which will be fully detailed in the lives of the most prominent personages which follow; it is therefore not necessary to add any further introduction.

GOVERNMENT.

TURKS, PERSIANS, &c.

DRAGUT, was born of obscure parents at a village of Na tolia, opposite the isle of Rhodes. At an early age he showed an attachment to the business of warfare, and entered when he was only 12 years of age under an officer of artillery in the grand signior's galley. Here he became expert in all the business connected with his station, and was enabled from his gains to save as much money as would purchase a galley of his own, with which he made several successful cruises. The skill and prowess which he exhibited on every occasion of difficulty and danger obtained for him the patronage of Barbarossa, the admiral of the Turkish fleet, who in a short time raised him to the command of a squadron of twelve galleys. With this force he did incredible mischief on the coasts of Italy, and the neighbouring islands, till he was attacked by Giannetino Doria in 1548. To him Dragut was forced to surrender prisoner. Offers to a great amount were made as a ransom, which were refused, and Dragut suffered a most rigorous confinement for four years, when he was delivered to H. Barbarossa, who reinstated him in his former command. Dragut now looked for revenge; he renewed his ravages with augmented fury, and in 1552 his good fortune prevailed over the celebrated Andrew Doria, from whom he took several ships, sent out to oppose him. On the death of Barbarossa, Dragut succeeded to the full command of the Barbary corsairs, with which he performed prodigies of valour. He was afterwards unable, by his utmost efforts, to defend himself in the strong fortress of Mehodia, which he had seized, and made use of as the repository of his treasures and stores, all which fell into the hands of the Christians. At the siege of Malta he was wounded in the head which proved fatal to him. In history Dragut is considered rather as a private than a regular commander.

ABDEMELEK, king of Fez and Morocco, was dethroned by his nephew Mahomet, but he afterwards defeated Sebastian, king of Portugal, who had landed in Africa to support the usurper. The two African monarchs and Sebastian fell on the field, in 1578.

SELIM II., emperor of the Turks, succeeded his father Solyman, in 1566. He was of such an indolent disposition, and so much addicted to excess in wine, that he acquired the surname of Mest, or Drunkard; the actions of his reign are those of his viziers and generals. Of these the principal was

the capture of Cyprus, then belonging to the Venetians, which, after a vigorous resistance, was reduced in 1571. The European powers, however, who had combined for his relief, gained in the same year the famous naval battle of Lepanto, which almost ruined the Turkish marine. Notwithstanding this success, the Venetians found it expedient to make peace upon unfavourable terms with the Turks in 1574; and the Ottoman affairs were for the most part prosperous during the latter years of Selim's reign. Selim died of an apoplexy, probably occasioned by intemperance, in 1574, at the age of fifty-two. He is represented as not destitute of good qualities, and especially as being of a more merciful nature than most of his predecessors.

AMURATH, or MORAD III., succeeded his father sultan Selim II. in 1575, commencing his reign with causing his five brothers to be strangled in his presence. His reign was eventful in military transactions, but as he took no part in them, he is not much noticed by the Turkish historians. Amurath contributed to the election of Stephen Battori, as king of Poland; and this circumstance favoured his own designs against Persia. The invasion of this empire by the Turks began in 1578, and after much slaughter, terminated in Amurath's possession of Tauris, and three contiguous provinces of Persia. The Krim Tartars, who revolted from the Turkish dominion, were reduced. In 1590, Amurath being at peace with the other powers declared war against the emperor of Germany, which was the cause of much devastation and bloodshed; and the Turks triumphed in the capture of the important town of Raab, in Upper Hungary. During this war, Amurath died, in January, 1596, at the age of 52. Christian authors represent him as of a mild disposition, a lover of justice, zealous in his religion, and a friend to temperance and order.

ISHMAEL II., sophy of Persia, succeeded Hames in 1575. He was a bloody prince, and murdered eight of his brothers. He was poisoned in 1579 by his sister, out of zeal for the Turkish religion, Ishmael being of a sect considered heretical by the other Mahometans.

SOCINIOS, an emperor of Abyssinia, who sent an embassy to pope Paul V., and for some time established the Roman Catholic religion in Abyssinia.

SULTAN AKBAR, or AKBER SULTAN, the sixth of the descendants of Timur Bek, or Tamerlane, who reigned in Hindoostan under the appellation of the Moguls, was born in 1542, and succeeded his father Hemaiun in 1556. He was proclaimed emperor at Cabanor in the province of Lahore, and assumed the title of Jibal O'din, q. d. the aggrandizer of religion. Having overthrown the Patans and taken possession of Delhi, he was inaugurated in that city, and assumed the

government which had first been administered by his tutor, Beyram Khan. He then made himself master of the strong fortress of Chitor, after a severe engagement with a rebel chief, and quelled other insurrections; and having obtained an interval of tranquillity, he made a pilgrimage barefoot to Azrum, at the distance of 200 miles, for the purpose of visiting the tomb of Haji Mondi, and of obtaining children by the intercession of this saint. During his abode at Fettipur, or at his return, he was informed of a rebellion at Puzerat, which hastened his march to this province; and having subdued the rebels, reduced the castle of Surat, and secured the province by fortifying Ahmedabad, he returned to Hindoostan. In this year he finished the castle of Agra at an expense of two millions five hundred thousand rupees, laid out one million and a half on the walls and palace of Fettipur, and began to erect sumptuous sepulchres for his family at Scharder, five miles from Agra. At this time he directed his views to the conquest of Bengal, and having, after a long siege, taken possession of Patan, he became master of the whole country. His next acquisitions were Kabul, Kandahar, Kashmir, and Sindi. Having united these countries to his empire, he employed a powerful army for the invasion of Dekan, where, notwithstanding a vigorous resistance on the part of the queen of the country, he subdued several provinces, and annexed them to the Mogul empire. Whilst Akbar was engaged in the prosecution of the Dekan event, his prosperity was interrupted by a concurrence of domestic misfortunes. He was deprived of two of his sons, viz. Sultan Morad, in 1598, and Sultan Danul, in 1604, by intemperance; and his son Selim took the advantage of his absence, by seizing his treasures and marching a numerous army against Agra, in order to take possession of his father's throne. Akbar, as soon as he received intelligence of his son's rebellion, hastened back to Agra, and having made ineffectual overtures of accommodation, in enforcing which his vizier Abul Fazi lost his life, he resolved to turn his arms against Selim. But as he had no other progeny, he once more attempted to persuade his son into submission. With this view he employed the tutor of Selim to carry a letter to him, in which he reproached him for his rebellion; but at the same time declared, that, as he was his only son and heir, he was ready to receive him into favour. The father's letter, and the tutor's arguments, produced effect; Selim returned to Agra and submitted. Akbar at first treated him with austerity, but at length pardoned him, though he still retained suspicion of his son's fidelity. The emperor did not long survive this reconciliation. Being incensed against Mirza, who governed one of his provinces, he resolved to remove him by poison; and for this purpose he ordered two pills of opium, in