CHAMPAGNE, a former province of the kingdom of France, with an area of about 10,500 square miles, bounded on the N. by Liège and Luxembourg, on the E. by Lorraine, on the S. by Burgundy, and W. by Isle de France and Picardy. It now forms the departments of Ardennes, Marne, Aube, and Haute Marne, with part of Seine-et-Marne, Meuse, Aisne, and Yonne. The details in regard to its physical features will be found under these separate headings. It was divided into three principal parts, Lower Champagne, Upper Champagne, and Brie. Of these the first comprised Champagne Proper, Sénonais, Vallage, and Bas-...
signy, Champagne Proper being the central district, which included the towns of Troyes, Châlons-sur-Marne, Vertus, La Fère, Pleurs, Planci, Arcis-sur-Aube, Pont-sur-Seine, Nogent, Villemaure, and Aumont. That portion of the district which extended from near Rheims in the N. to near Troyes in the S.∙, was further distinguished as Champagne Pouilleuse, on account of the poverty of its soil. Upper Champagne comprised the districts of Rethelois, Rémois, and Pertois, of which the chief towns were respectively Rethel and Mézières, Rheims and Rocroy, Vitry and Saint-Dizier; while Brie included Meaux, Château-Thierry, Coulommiers, Sézanne, Provins, and Bray-sur-Seine. Physically the province belonged for the most part to what is known as the great basin of Paris, only a small part being drained by the Meuse. The eastern portion has consequently the greatest elevation, and the whole surface has a general slope to the west. The principal heights are the mountains of the Meuse, the Forest of Argonne, and the Western Ardennes, which reach an altitude of 1000 or 1500 feet, but have a very irregular formation. The greater part of the province consists of undulating plains, broken here and there by small clusters of gently swelling hills. Its wines have made its name known over the world. The most valuable grapedistricts are the arrondissements of Rheims and Epernay in the department of Marne; and the wine trade is principally centred in Rheims, Epernay, Avise, and Châlons-sur-Marne.
Champagne, which in the time of the Romans was inhabited by the Lingones, the Sinones, the Remi, the Tricasses, and the Catalauni, began to be known by its modem name of Campania, or the Plain-Country, in the 6th century, when it formed a duchy of the kingdom of Austrasia. During the 9th century it was part of the great countship of Vermandois, and on the disintegration of that domain about 943, it took the rank of an independent countship. In 1030 the title passed to the house of Blois in the person of Odo II.
who was succeeded by Stephen IL, Theobald I., Hugh I., Theobald II., surnamed the Great, Henry I., Henry IL, Theobald III., Theobald 1 V., Theobald V., and Henry III. Of these the most important was Theobald I V., famous for his romantic passion for Blanche of Castile, his political versatility, and his poetic skill. By the death of Henry III., who was also king of Navarre, Champagne passed into the hands of his daughter Jeanne, who afterwards married Philip the Fair of France. Assigned to her son Louis (Hutin), it was united to the royal domain on his accession to the throne of France in 1314. By Philip VI. it was incorporated with the kingdom, and it has ever since been one of the most important and truly national districts of France. Its frontier position and its physical configuration have made it the scene of military operations in almost all the French invasions, and more especially in the Austrian war of the 16th century, the campaign of 1814, and the Prussian war of 1870. During the wars of religion it was governed by the Guises, and sided with the Catholic party; and on the accession of Henry IV. it was one of the last provinces to recognize his legitimacy. Up to the Revolution it formed one of the twelve governments of France, and was within the jurisdiction of the parliament of Paris. Its various bailliages were governed by separate “Coutumes,” those of Troyes, Meaux, and Chaumont, being remarkable for the transmission of nobility by the female side.
See Baugier, Mémoires historiques de la province de Champagne, 1721; Pithou, Mém. des comtes héréditaires de Champagne et de Brie, 1572; Debercy, Recherchas sur Champagne; Béraud, Hist, des comtes de Champagne et de Brie, 1839; Arbois de Jubainville, Hist, des ducs et des comtes de Champagne, 1859-63.
CHAMPAGNE, Philippe de (1602-1674), a celebrated painter, was born at Brussels of a poor family. He was a pupil of Fouquier; and, going to Paris in 1621, was employed by Du Chesne to paint along with Nicholas Poussin in the palace of the Luxembourg. His best works are to be found at Vincennes, and in the church of the Carmelites at Paris, where is his celebrated Crucifix, a signal perspective success, on one of the vaultings. After the death of Du Chesne, Philippe became first painter to the queen of France, and ultimately rector of the Academy of Paris. As his age advanced and his health failed, he retired to Port Royal, where he had a daughter cloistered as a nun, of whom he painted a celebrated picture, highly remarkable for its solid unaffected truth. This, indeed, is the general character of his work,—grave reality, without special elevation or depth of character, or charm of warm or stately colour. He painted an immense number of paintings, dispersed over various parts of France, and now over the galleries of Europe. Philippe was a good man, indefatigable, earnest, and scrupulously religious. He died on the 12th August 1674.
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CHAMPEAUX, William of, or GulíelmusCampellen sis. a scholastic philosopher and theologian, so called from his birthplace, the village of Champeaux, near Melun, was born about 1070, and died in 1121. After studying under the realist Anselm of Laon, and the nominalist Roscellin, he commenced to teach in the school of the cathedral of Nôtre Dame, of which he was made canon in 1103. Many scholars gathered round him, and among them was Abelard, who was to prove his great and victorious adversary. In 1108 William, whose attempts to silence his rival had been all in vain, retired into the abbey of St Victor, where he soon resumed his lectures. He afterwards became bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, and took part in the dispute concerning investitures, on the side of Calixtus II. whom he represented at the conference of Mousson. Of William of Champeaux⅛ works one on the Eucharist has been printed by Mabillon, and the Moralia Abbreviata and the De Origine Animae by Martène. In the last of these there is an interesting discussion concerning the fate of children who die unbaptized. He holds that they must be lost, the pure soul being defiled by the grossness of the body; and he silences all objections as to the justice of their condemnation by declaring that God’s will is not to be questioned. Ravaisson has discovered a number of fragments by him, among which the most important is the De Essentia Dei et de Substantia Dei et de tribus ejus Personis ; and a Liber Sententiarum., consisting of discussions as to points of ethics and Scriptural interpretation, is also ascribed to him. William of Champeaux is, however, most important as a representative of realism. We possess no works of his own on philosophical subjects, and his views are only to be discovered in the writings of his ...pupil and rival Abelard. At first he taught that the essence of all the individuals of a genus is the universal (which, as a realist, he held to be an existence independent of the individuals), while the differences between the individuals are not in their essence, but in their accidents. Abelard afterwards—he tells us himself—brought him to admit that there are differences in the essences of different individuals of the same genus, and that the universal is not the whole essence, but only that which is common to the essences of all the individuals—that which exists in them all “ indifferenter.” This admission, though not necessarily involving a surrender of realism, gave rise to suspicions that William was deserting that theory, and it is said that in consequence his popularity greatly diminished.
See Hauréau, De la Philosophie Scolastique; Prantl, Geschichte der Logik; Stöckl, Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters ; Cousin, Abélard; Histoire Littéraire de la France (vol. vii. p. 90, and vol. x. p. 307).
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CHAMPLAIN, a considerable lake of North America, lying between the States of New York and Vermont, aní penetrating for a few miles into Canada. It is 126 miles in length, and from 1 to 15 in breadth, lying nearly north and south, and contains a great number of small islands, most of which belong to Vermont. The Champlain canal, 63 miles in length, connects it with the Hudson; the Sorel, Richelieu, or St John’s River forms a natural outlet towards the St Lawrence, and the Chambly canal communicates with the ocean. The lake owes its name to Samuel Champlain the French explorer, by whom it was discovered about 1608; and during the War of 1812-1815 it was rendered famous by the defeat of the English fleet in the engagement of September 11, 1814. Large steamboats and vessels of considerable tonnage navigate Lake Champlain from end to end. The scenery along its shores is highly picturesque, and its waters abound in salmon, salmon-trout, sturgeon, and other fish,...
CHAMPLAIN, Samuel de (1567-1635), the governor of the first French settlers in Lower Canada, was born at Brouage, in 1567. His father was a sea-captain, and probably he was already skilled in navigation when, while still young, he entered the army of Henry ΓV. On the conclusion of the war he accompanied a Spanish fleet to Mexico and the West Indies, and on his return wrote an account of the expedition. In 1603, he made his first voyage to Canada, being sent out by De Chastes, on whom the king had bestowed some territory in that country. During 1604-1607 he was engaged, together with De Monts, to whom De Chastes’s privileges had been transferred, in exploring the Canadian coast, in seeking a site for a new settlement, and in making surveys and maps. In 1608 he made his third voyage; and in this year he commenced the formation of a settlement at Quebec. But De Monts’s influence was now waning; he had been deprived of some of his privileges; and the merchants who had ventured in the affair were losing heart. Under these circumstances Champlain prevailed upon the Due de Soissons to interest himself in the matter, and to seek the post of Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France. Under him, and under his successor the duke of Condé, Champlain held the office of lieutenant, which made him in reality governor of the colony. Owing, however, to quarrels with the Indians, the settlement seemed likely to fail; but, under the viceroyalty of the Due de Montmorenci, and still more under that of the Due de Ventadour, it began to flourish. In 1629 it met with a reverse, Champlain being forced to surrender to an English fleet commanded by three brothers named Kirk. He was carried to England, but was restored to liberty in 1632. He returned to Canada in the next year, and died there two years afterwards (1635).
Champlain published several volumes containing accounts of his life work. In 1603 appeared his Des Sauvages; in 1613 and 1619 Voyages, with valuable maps; and in 1632 an abridgment of the first two voyages, with a continuation bringing down his stay to 1629, and appendices containing a treatise on seamanship, and specimens of the Huron and Montagnais languages. In 1870 the whole series of his works was published, with the exception of the very interesting account of his visit to Mexico and the West Indies, which was translated by Alice Wilmere from the MS. kept in the public library at Dieppe, and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1859.
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