The council which assembled at Rome (8th December 1869) was more deserving of the name of “oecumenical” than any which had ever before obeyed the behest of emperor or pope, being attended by delegates from nearly all parts of the world. It included 49 cardinals, 9 patriarchs of the Eastern communion, 4 primates, 121 archbishops, 479 bishops, and 52 abbots and other monastic dignitaries. The total number on the day of opening was 719, increased by the 15th of January to 744. As a representative body it was, however, very unequally composed, the numerous holders of Italian bishoprics (many of which are of but small extent) constituting a large majority of the entire number. A proposal to rectify this practical inequality by dividing the whole council into eight or six sections representing national elements was summarily rejected. On the other hand, the superiority of the minority in learning and reputation was obvious. It included such names as Schwarzenberg, Mathieu, Darboy, Rauscher, Simor, Ginoulhiac, MacHale, Dupanloup, Ketteler, Strossmayer, Clifford, Kenrick, Maret, and Hefele; while in the long list of those who eventually recorded their placets in favour of the new decree scarcely a name of real eminence appears. Dr Döllinger, the foremost scholar of Catholic Germany, was not among the “fathers” of the council, but his disapproval of the new dogma was notorious, as also was that of the Comte de Montalembert in France. After protracted sittings, extending over seven months, and characterized mainly by a series of discreditable manoeuvres designed to break the firm phalanx of the minority, who could only record their protests and utter eloquent remonstrances, the Constitutio (as it was termed) was finally laid before the council, and carried with eighty-eight dissentients, while ninety-one abstained altogether from recording any vote. The supremacy of the Roman pontiff over even an oecumenical council was thus declared in terms more explicit and emphatic than had ever before been employed (Friedrich, Documenta, ii. 316), while the new dogma was enunciated in the following terms :—

“We teach and define . . . that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of his office of Pastor and Doctor of all Christians he defines, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, is endowed with the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, with that infallibility with which our divine Redeemer willed that the church should be furnished in defining doctrine of faith or morals, and, therefore, that such definitions of the Roman pontiff are irreformable of themselves and not in virtue of the consent of the church.”

When the above dogma was promulgated in its entirety (18th July 1870) in the presence of 535 fathers, only two dissentient votes were recorded. The rest of the minority had decided on quitting Rome before the final event, a resolution confirmed by the oppressive heat of the weather and the threatening aspect of the political horizon. It has since been asserted on good authority that the action of the Papal party was largely influenced by the empress of France and her advisers; and it cannot be doubted that at Rome, not less than in Paris, it was ardently hoped that this bold proclamation of Ultramontanist doctrine would have been followed by the triumph of the French arms over those of Prussia.

The conduct of the different members of the opposition on their return to the isolation of their respective dioceses can only be described as a series of pitiable tergiversations. The “sacrificio dell’ intelletto,” as it was termed, was the plausible maxim adopted by one and all. Seventeen of the German bishops almost immediately receded from the position they had taken up at Rome and gave in their assent to the dogma, publishing at the same time a pastoral letter in which they sought to justify their change of sentiment on the ground of expediency in relation to the interests of the church (Michelis, Der neue Fuldaer Hirtenbrief, 1870). Their example was followed by all the other bishops of Germany as well as by those of Bavaria. Darboy and Dupanloup in France adopted a like course and took with them the entire body of the Gallican clergy. Each bishop demanded in turn the same submission from the clergy of his diocese, the alternative being suspension from pastoral functions, to be followed by deprivation of office. It may be urged as some extenuation of this general abandonment of a great principle, that those who had refused to subscribe to the dogma received but languid support, and in some cases direct discouragement, from their respective Governments. The submission of the illustrious Hefele was generally attributed to the influence exerted by the court of Würtemberg.

The universities, being less directly under the control of the church, were prepared to show a bolder front. Dr von Schulte, professor at Prague, was one of the first to publish a formal protest. A meeting of Catholic professors and distinguished scholars convened at Nuremberg (August 1870) recorded a like dissent, and resolved on the adoption of measures for bringing about the assembling of a really free council north of the Alps. The “Appel aux Evêques Catholiques” of Μ. Hyacinthe Loyson (better known as “Father Hyacinthe ”), after referring to the overthrow of “the two despotisms,” “the empire of the Napoleons and the temporal power of the popes,” appealed to the Catholic bishops throughout the world to put an end to the schism by declaring whether the recent decrees were or were not binding on the faith of the church. This appeal, on its appearance in La Libertà early in 1871, was suppressed by the order of the king of Italy. On the 28th of March Dr Döllinger, in a letter of some length, set forth the reasons which compelled him also to withhold his submission alike as “a Christian, a theologian, an historical student, and a citizen.” The publication of this letter was shortly followed by a sentence of excommunication pronounced against Dr Döllinger and Professor Friedrich, and read to the different congregations from the pulpits of Munich. The professors of the university, on the other hand, had shortly before evinced their resolution of affording Dr Döllinger all the moral support in their power by an address (3d April 1871) in which they denounced the Vatican decrees with unsparing severity, declaring that, at the very time when the German people had “won for themselves the post of honour on the battlefield among the nations of the earth,” the German bishops had stooped to the dishonouring task of “forcing consciences in the service of an unchristian tyranny, of reducing many pious and upright men to distress and want, and of persecuting those who had but stood steadfast in their allegiance to the ancient faith” (Friedberg, Aktenstücke z. ersten Vatikanischen Condi, p. 187). An address to the king, drawn up a few days later, received the signatures of 12,000 Catholics. The refusal of the rites of the church to one of the signataries, Dr Zenger, when on his deathbed, elicited strong expressions of disapproval; and when, shortly after, it became necessary to fill up by election six vacancies in the council of the university, the feeling of the electors was indicated by the return of candidates who were all distinguished by their avowed dissent from the new decrees. In the following September the demand for another and a free council was responded to by the assembling of such a congress at Munich. It was composed of nearly 500 delegates, convened from almost all parts of the world; but the Teutonic element was now as manifestly predominant as the Latin element had been at Rome. The proceedings were presided over by Professor von Schulte, and lasted three days. Among those who took a prominent part in the deliberations were Landammann Keller, Windscheid, Döllinger, Reinkens, Maassen (professor of the canon law at Vienna), Friedrich, and Huber. The arrangements finally agreed upon were mainly provisional; but one of the resolutions plainly declared that it was desirable if possible to effect a reunion with the Oriental Greek and Russian Churches, and also to arrive at an “understanding” with the Protestant and Episcopal communions.

In the following year lectures were delivered at Munich by various supporters of the new movement, and the learning and oratorical powers of Reinkens were displayed with marked effect. In France the adhesion of the abbé Michaud to the cause attracted considerable interest, not only from his reputation as a preacher, but also from the notable step in advance made by his declaration that, inasmuch as the adoption of the stand-point of the Tridentine canons would render reunion with the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches impossible, the wisest course would be to insist on nothing more with respect to doctrinal belief than was embodied in the canons of the first seven oecumenical councils. The approximation which took place in the same year between the Old Catholics, as they now began to be termed, and the historical little Church of Utrecht must not be left unnoticed. Dr Döllinger, in delivering his inaugural address as rector of the university of Munich, expressed his conviction that theology had received a fresh impulse and that the religious history of Europe was entering upon a new phase.

Other circumstances contributed to invest Old Catholicism with additional importance in the eyes of mere observers. It was evident that the relations between the Roman curia and the Prussian Government were becoming extremely strained. In February 1872 appeared the first measures of the Falk ministry, having for their object the control of the influence of the clergy in the schools; and when Cardinal Hohenlohe presented himself at Rome in the following May the world was startled at the refusal of Pius IX. to receive the accredited minister of the Prussian court. In the same year two humble parish priests, Renftle of Mering in Bavaria and Tangermann of Unkel in the Rhineland, set an example of independence by refusing to accept the decrees. The former, driven from his parish church, was followed by the majority of his congregation, who, in spite of every discouragement, continued faithful to him; and for years after, as successive members were removed by death, the crosses over their graves recorded that they had died “true to their ancient belief.” Tangermann, the poet, expelled in like manner from his parish by the archbishop of Cologne, before long found himself the minister of a much larger congregation in the episcopal city itself. These examples exercised no little influence, and congregations of Old Catholics were shortly after formed at numerous towns and villages in Bavaria, Baden, Prussia, German Switzerland, and even in Austria. At Warnsdorf in Bohemia a congregation was collected which still represents one of the most important centres of the movement. In September the second congress was held at Cologne. It was attended by some 500 delegates or visitors from all parts of Europe, and the English Church was represented by the bishops of Ely and Lincoln and other distinguished members. The general scope of the proceedings was the formation of a more definite organization; and the question of reunion with other churches was again a prominent topic of discussion. Among those present was the late Dean Stanley, and the striking accounts which he forwarded to The Times of the whole congress did much to awaken in England a more widely-extended interest in the movement.

In the month of May in the following year (1873) the celebrated Falk laws were enacted, whereby the articles 15 and 18 of the Prussian constitution were modified, so as to legalize a systematic state supervision over the education of the clergy of all denominations, and also over the appointment and dismissal of all ministers of religion. The measure, which at the time was interpreted as what Prince Bismarck afterwards openly declared it to have been, viz., a direct response to the Vatican decrees, inspired the Old Catholics with a not unreasonable expectation that the moral support of the Government would henceforth be enlisted on their side. On the 11th of August Dr Reinkens, having been duly elected bishop of the new community, received his consecration at Rotterdam, as “missionary-bishop of Germany,” at the hands of Bishop Heykamp of Deventer. The archbishop of Utrecht, on whom it would otherwise have devolved to perform the ceremony, had died somewhat suddenly a few days before, and the Ultramontanists did not scruple to interpret the event as a sign of the divine displeasure. In the meantime the extension of the movement in Switzerland had been proceeding rapidly, and it was resolved that Constance should be elected as the centre for the third congress. The proceedings occupied three days ( 12th to 14th September), and were of an animated and interesting character,—the intelligence that the Prussian Government had resolved on recognizing the election of Bishop Reinkens contributing not a little to inspirit those who were present. English and American theologians, of widely different schools,, listened to the discussions with sympathizing appréciation, and even bore a part. The subjects which chiefly occupied the consideration of the assembly were the institution of a synod as the legislative and executive organ of the church, and schemes of reunion with the Greek, the African, and the Protestant communions. The unanimity which prevailed was remarkable, and not less so were the indications that the breach between the Papacy and Old Catholicism had become decisive and final. On the 2Oth of September the election of Bishop Reinkens was formally recognized by the German Government, and on the 7th of October he took the oath of allegiance to the king.

The following year (1874) was marked by the assembling of both a synod and a conference at Bonn, and of a congress at Freiburg in the Breisgau. The acts of the synod were mainly directed to modifications of the Roman discipline and the removal of prevalent abuses. At the congress Bishop Reinkens spoke in hopeful terms of the results of his observations during a recent missionary tour throughout Germany. The conference, held on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of September, had for its special object the discussion of the early confessions as a basis of agreement, though not necessarily of fusion, between the different communions above-named. The meetings, presided over by Dr Döllinger with an ability and tact which excited general admiration, successively took into consideration the Filioque, the sacraments, the canon of Scripture, the episcopal succession in the English Church, the confessional, indulgences, prayers for the dead, and the eucharist. Some divergence of views inevitably disclosed itself in the course of the discussions, but the same conciliatory tone and feeling marked the close as well as the commencement of the proceedings, and by both the English and the Continental religious press the final results were hailed as eminently auspicious. As the direct results of these deliberations it has since been decided to abolish compulsory confession and fasting, to employ the vernacular in public worship, to recognize the marriage of priests as lawful, and to allow them to administer in their churches the communion in both kinds to members of the Anglican persuasion.

Since 1874 Old Catholicism has found new adherents in other lands,—in Austria, in Italy, and in Mexico; but the controversial spirit which in past history has either broken up such organizations or largely impaired their efficiency has also marred the success of this interesting movement. In Switzerland, where important conferences were successively convened (at Solothurn in 1871, at Olten in 1872, 1873, and 1874), the unanimity of the ‘ ζ Christian Catholics,” as they preferred to call themselves, seemed at one time in danger of being shipwrecked on the question of episcopacy. It was not until 18th September 1876 that the conflict of opinions was so far composed as to allow of the consecration of Bishop Herzog by Bishop Reinkens. The reforms introduced by Μ. Hyacinthe Loyson in his church at Geneva have received only a partial assent from the general body. Among the more practical results of his example is to be reckoned, however, the fact that in French Switzerland nearly all the clergy, in German Switzerland about one half, are now married men. But the congregations, which in 1876 had reached the number of fifty-five, have dwindled to thirty-five. The number of children in the different schools is stated to be somewhat under 4000 (Nippold, Handbuch der neuesten Kirchengeschichte, ii. 466- 478).

In Germany, since the year 1878, the position of the Old Catholics has been one of considerable difficulty. While their representatives have scrupulously abstained from any course of action which could tend to embarrass the Government in its political contests, the most influential organs of that Government have systematically decried the movement and have undisguisedly aimed at its complete extinction. This change of policy is mainly due to the altered relations with the papal court. The present pontiff, skilfully ignoring the original and genuine causes in which Old Catholicism took its rise, has sought to represent its leaders as actuated by revolutionary designs and aiming at the subversion of existing institutions, while the Papacy itself has been described as the chief bulwark against social democracy and nihilistic tendencies. The Prussian Government has responded by a series of concessions to the Roman Catholic clergy, while the favour once shown to the seceding party is at an end. Bishop Reinkens himself, though he still receives a salary from the state, no longer draws it under the head of expenditure for Catholic worship. In Bavaria Professor Friedrich has been constrained to transfer his services from the theological to the philosophical faculty at Munich, and the little Old Catholic congregation has been deprived of its church. Huber’s valuable literary powers have been lost to the cause by his premature decease. In France the place of Μ. Michaud, who has been appointed professor in the university of Bern, is in some measure filled by the return of Father Hyacinthe from Geneva. Under such conditions the continued progress of the party and even its existence are obviously seriously imperilled. But, even if, like the Albigenses, the Lollards, and other similar movements to which the assumptions of the Papacy have at different times given rise, Old Catholicism should be destined to extinction, it will not the less have left on permanent record an example of loyalty to conscientious convictions the influence of which will long survive.

Authorities.— The literature of the subject is now voluminous, but the following are among the best sources of information, (a) As regards the proceedings...

In Mr Wright’s collection of political songs there are one or two ballads on Sir John Oldcastle, alluding in no very complimentary terms to his Lollardism. Henry’s victories had raised the war-spirit of the English people, and it was thought disgraceful that & knight and a gentleman who in his earlier days had gained the reputation of being a skilful soldier should be associated with people many of whom professed to believe that all wars were sinful. This popular contempt has perhaps led to the idea ably advocated by Mr Gairdner that Shakespeare’s character of Sir John Falstaff was meant to represent Sir John Oldcastle.

Compare Lechler⅛ Johann Wiclif, vol. ii. ch. iii.; Gairdner and Spedding, Studies in English History, ch. iii.

I. The duchy of Oldenburg, comprising fully four-fifths of the entire area and population, lies between 52° 29' and 53° 44' N. lat. and 7° 37' and 8° 40' E. long., and is bounded on the N. by the German Ocean and on the other three sides by Hanover, with the exception of a small strip on the east, where it is conterminous with the territory of the free city of Bremen. It forms part of the north-western German plain defined by the Weser and the Ems, and, except on the south, where the Dammergebirge attain a height of 300 feet, it is almost entirely flat, with a slight inclination towards the sea. In respect of its soil it is divided broadly into two parts,—the higher and inland-lying “Geest,” consisting of sandy plains intermixed with extensive heaths and moors, and the “marsh lands” along the coast, consisting of rich but somewhat swampy alluvial soil. The latter, which compose about one-fifth of the duchy, are protected against the inroads of the sea by dykes as in Holland; and beyond these are the so-called “watten,” generally covered at high tide, but at many points being gradually reclaimed. The climate is temperate and humid; the mean temperature of the coldest month at the town of Oldenburg is 26° Fahr., of the warmest 66°. Storms are numerous and somewhat violent, owing to the almost entire absence of trees; and fogs and ague are prevalent in the marsh lands. The chief rivers are the Hunte, flowing into the Weser, and the Hase and Leda draining into the Ems. The Weser itself forms the eastern boundary for 42 miles, and internal navigation is greatly facilitated by a new canal, passing through the heart of the duchy and connecting the Hunte and the Ems. On the north there are several small coast streams conducted through the dykes by sluices, the only one of importance being the Jade, which empties itself into the Jadebusen, a deep gulf affording admirable accommodation for shipping. The duchy also contains numerous small lakes, the chief of which is the Dümmer See in the south-east corner, measuring 4 miles in length by 2∣ in width. About 30 per cent, of the area of the duchy is under cultivation and 17 per cent, under pasture and meadows, while the rest consists mainly of moor and heath. The forests occupy a very small proportion of the whole, but there are some very fine old oaks. In the Geest the principal crops are rye, oats, potatoes, and buckwheat, for which the heath is sometimes prepared by burning. Large tracts of moorland are, however, useful only as producing an abundant .supply of turf and peat for fuel, or as affording a scanty subsistence to the flocks of small coarse-woolled Oldenburg sheep. The rich soil of the marsh lands produces good crops of wheat, oats, rye, hemp, and rape, but is especially adapted for grazing. The fat cattle and horses raised on it are highly esteemed throughout Germany, and the former are exported in large numbers to England. Bee-keeping is also much in vogue on the moors. The live stock of Oldenburg forms a great part of its wealth, and the ratio of cattle, sheep, and horses to the population is one of the highest among the German states. There are few large estates, and the ground is mostly in the hands of small farmers, who enjoy the right of fishing and shooting on their holdings. Game, however, is scarce; but the fishing is fairly productive. The mineral wealth of Oldenburg is very small, and there are no mineral springs.

The industries are comparatively insignificant, though recently somewhat stimulated by the extension of the railway system and other causes. Woollen and cotton fabrics, stockings, jute, and cigars are made at Varel, Delmenhorst, and Lohne; cork-cutting is extensively practised in some districts, and there are a few iron-foundries. Trade is relatively of more importance, chiefly owing to the proximity of Bremen. The agricultural produce of the duchy is exported to Scandinavia, Russia, England, and the United States, in return for colonial goods and manufactures. Varel, Brake, and Elsfleth are the chief commercial harbours. In 1881 the ports of the duchy owned a merchant fleet of 345 vessels of 70,000 tons, and they are entered and cleared annually by from 2000 to 2500 vessels with an aggregate burden of 125,000 tons. Shipbuilding and boat-building are carried on at the above-named seaports and on the tributaries of the Ems. Before 1866 Oldenburg was destitute of railways, but it is now traversed by various lines. The high-roads are good; in the north some of them are laid with “klinkers” like those in Holland.

II. The principality of Lübeck, formed of the old bishopric of that name, has an area of 209 square miles, and shares in the general physical characteristics of East Holstein, within which it lies. On the north-east it extends to the Baltic Sea, and on the south-west it is bounded by the Trave. The chief rivers are the Schwartau, a tributary of the Trave l and the Schwentine, flowing northwards to the Gulf of Kiel. The scenery of Lübeck is often picturesque, especially in the vicinity of the Plöner See and the Eutiner See, the most important of the small lakes with which it is dotted. Agriculture is practised here even more extensively than in the duchy of Oldenburg, about 7 5 per cent, of the area being cultivated. The population in 1880 was 34,973.

III. The principality of Birkenfeld, 194 square miles in extent, lies in the midst of the Prussian province of the Rhine, about 30 miles to the west of the Rhine at Worms and 150 miles to the south of the duchy of Oldenburg. It is a hilly district, intersected by the spurs of the Hochwald, which attain a height of over 2000 feet; the valleys, however, are fertile and produce wine and grain in considerable abundance. About two-fifths of the surface are covered with forests. Iron-founding, cotton-spinning, and other manufactures are carried on; but the characteristic industry (having its seat in Oberstein) is the polishing of agates, of which great numbers are found within the principality (compare Onyx). Birkenfeld is traversed from end to end, a distance of about 25 miles, by the Nahe, which rises close to its northern frontier. The population in 1880 was 38,685.

The total population of the grand-duchy of Oldenburg in 1880 was 337,478, showing an increase of l ’ 10 per cent, per annum since the census of 1875, and an average of 136 persons to the square mile. The bulk of the inhabitants are of the Saxon stock, but to the north and west there are numerous descendants of the ancient Frisians. The differences between the two races are still to some extent perceptible, but Low German ( “Platt-deutsch ”) is universally spoken, except in one limited district, where a Frisian dialect has maintained itself. In general characteristics the Oldenburg peasants resemble the Dutch, and the absence of large landowners has contributed to make them sturdy and independent. Oldenburg has the credit of showing almost the lowest average of illegitimate births among the German states, amounting in 1881 to only 5 per cent. This is in significant contrast to the high rate (15 per cent. ) among the semi-feudatory peasants of Mecklenburg (q.υ.). The population of Oldenburg is somewhat unequally distributed, some parts of the marsh lands containin ’ over 300 persons to the square mile, ∖yhile in the Geest the number occasionally sinks as low as 40. Nearly 80 per cent, of the inhabitants are returned as belonging to the “rural” population. The only town with more than 10,000 inhabitants is Oldenburg, the capital of the grand-duchy. The war-harbour of Wilhelmshaven, with 12,000 inhabitants, on the shore of the Jadebusen, was built by Prussia on a piece of land bought from Oldenburg. The chief towns of Birkenfeld and Lübeck are Birkenfeld and Eutin, with 2539 and 4574 inhabitants respectively. Oberstein in Birkenfeld has 4803; in the 12th century it was a lordship holding directly of the empire.

Oldenburg is a Protestant country, and the grand-duke is required to be a member of the Lutheran Church. Roman Catholicism, however, preponderates in the south-western provinces, which formerly belonged to the bishopric of Munster. Oldenburg Roman Catholics are under the sway of the bishop of Münster, who is represented by an official at Vechta; and the Catholics of Birkenfeld belong to the diocese of Treves. At the census of 1880 there were in the grand-duchy 260,416 Protestants, 74,254 Homan Catholics, and 1654 Jews. The educational system of Oldenburg is on a similar footing to that of north Germany in general, though the scattered position of the farmhouses interferes to some extent with school attendance. The proportion of Oldenburg recruits in 1882 unable to read or write was only 0 ’ 27 per cent., which compares favourably with ..the average of 154 for the whole empire. There is no university in Oldenburg territory, but an ample supply of primary, secondary, and special schools.

The constitution of Oldenburg, based upon a decree of 1849, revised in 1852, is one of the most liberal in Germany. It provides for a single representative chamber, elected indirectly by universal suffrage and exercising concurrent rights of legislation and taxation with the grand-duke. The chamber, which consists of thirty-four members (twenty-six for Oldenburg and four for each of the principalities), meets at regular intervals of three years. The executive consists of three ministers, who are aided by a committee of the landtag, when that body is not in session. The local affairs of Birkenfeld and Lubeck are entrusted to provincial councils. All citizens are alike in the eye of the law. and all exemptions and privileges have been abolished. The municipal communities enjoy an unusual amount of independence.

The finances of each constituent state of the grand-duchy are managed separately, and there is also a fourth budget concerned with the joint administration. The last generally shows a sum of about £50,000 on each side, the expenditure including a matricular contribution of £33,500 to the imperial treasury. In the budget of 1882 the revenues of the duchy of Oldenburg, the principality of Lübeck, and the principality of Birkenfeld were estimated at £289,965, £40,419, and £43.864, while the estimated expenditure was in each case somewhat less. The duchy of Oldenburg has a debt of nearly £2,000.000 and Lübeck one of £2000, while Birkenfeld and the grand-duchy as a whole are free of debt. An annual allowance of about £13,000 is made to the grand-duke, and he is believed to derive as much more from his private estates. The troops of Oldenburg furnish the German army with a regiment of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery.

History.— The earliest recorded inhabitants of this district were the Germanic Chauci, who were afterwards merged in the Frisians. Old chroniclers delight in tracing the genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg up to Wittekind, the stubborn opponent of Charlemagne; but their first historical representative is Elimar I., who flourished at the close of the 11th century. His descendants appear as vassals of the powerful Saxon dukes, but attained the rank of independent princes of the empire on the dissolution of the Saxon power by Frederick Barbarossa (c. 1180). The countship of Delmenhorst at this time formed part of the Oldenburg dominions, but was afterwards frequently separated from them, and was not lastingly united under the same ruler till the beginning of the 17th century. The northern and western parts of the present duchy of Oldenburg were in the hands of more or less independent Frisian princes, who had generally remained pagans; and Oldenburg history for the next two centuries is largely concerned with feuds with these small potentates, and gradual extension of territory at their expense. Bremen and Münster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg. In 1448 Count Christian VIII. was elected king of Denmark, and, a little later, duke of Holstein and Schleswig, the latter event pregnant with important consequences for future history. Oldenburg was made over to his brother Gerhard, an ambitious prince, whose turbulent disposition resulted in an abdication in favour of his sons, forced on him by a league of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen. Protestantism was introduced by Anton I. (1531-1573), who, however, remained loyal to Charles V. in the Schmalkald war, and was thus enabled to increase his territories. On the accession of Anton Günther in the beginning of the 17th century Oldenburg and Delmenhorst were finally welded into one, and about the same period the last free Frisian states, Jever and Kniphausen, were also absorbed by Oldenburg. Anton Günther proved himself the wisest prince who had ruled in Oldenburg, and by his prudent neutrality in the Thirty Years’ War secured for Lis domains immunity from the devastations to which most other German states were exposed. He also obtained from the emperor the right to levy tolls on vessels passing up the Weser, a lucrative grant, which soon formed one-fifth of his revenues. On his death without issue in 1667 the succession passed to the Danish reigning house, after the claims of the Holstein-Gottorp and Holstein-Sonderburg branches of the family had been compromised. Oldenburg remained under the sway of the Danish monarchs for about a century,— a period, on the whole, of peaceful development. At length, in 1773, the Danish monarch agreed to a family compact, in accordance with which he resigned Oldenburg to the Holstein-Gottorp line in return for a renunciation on their part of all claim to Schleswig and Holstein. The head of the Holstein-Gottorp family at this time was the grand-duke Paul of Russia (afterwards the emperor Paul I.); but he handed over Oldenburg, which was now created a duchy, to his cousin Frederick Augustus, bishop of Lübeck, representative of a younger line. The bishop’s son, who followed his father in 1785, was a man of weak intellect; and his cousin, Peter Frederick Louis, who acted as administrator and eventually succeeded to the t hrone, is the direct progenitor of the present grand-duke. Peter had the task of managing the duchy in the troublous times of the Napoleonic wars, and, though he joined the Confederation of the Rhine, had afterwards to see his domains forcibly annexed to France on his refusal to exchange them for Erfurt. This led him to join the allies, and his services were rewarded at the congress of Vienna by the addition of Birkenfeld to his dominions, which were also raised to the rank of a grand-duchy. The secularized bishopric of Lübeck had been already added to Oldenburg in 1803. Oldenburg did not escape the revolutionary wave that swept over Europe in 1848, but no very serious disturbances took place, and the grandduke granted a constitution in 1849. This constitution was of an ultra-liberal character, and, as the country had hitherto been ruled in the spirit of an enlightened but absolute despotism, strengthened by the absence of a privileged class of nobles, the unimportance of the towns, and the comparative independence of the peasantry, it was inevitable that it should not work at once without friction. In 1852 it had to submit to some modification, which, however, still left it one of the most liberal constitutions in Germany. In 1864 the grand-duke seemed at first inclined to insist upon his claims to the Schleswig-Holstein succession, but he ultimately resigned them in favour of Prussia. In 1866 he sided with that power against Austria, and in 1871 the grand-duchy became a member of the German empire.

See Halem, Gesch. d. Herzogth. Oldenburg (1794-96); Runde, Oldenburgische Chronik (3d ed., 1863); Böse, Das Grossherzogthum Oldenburg (1863); Kollmann, Das Herzogtħum Oldenburg in seiner wirtħschaftlichen Entwickelung während, der letzten S5 Jahre (1879); the publications of the Statistical Bureau of Oldenburg; the annual Hof-und Staatshandbuch des Grossherzogthums Oldenburg. Oldenburg, the capital of the grand-duchy of that name, is a quiet and pleasant-looking town, situated 24 miles to the west of Bremen, on the Hunte, which is navigable for river-craft up to this point. The inner or old town, with its somewhat narrow streets, is surrounded by avenues laid out on the site of the former ramparts, beyond which are the villas, parks, and gardens of the more modern quarters. Oldenburg has almost nothing to show in the shape of interesting old buildings. The Lambertikirche, though dating from the 13th century, has been so transformed in the present century as to show no trace of its antiquity. The palaces of the grand-duke and the town-house are Renaissance buildings of the 17 th and 18th centuries. Among the other prominent buildings—all modern—are the theatre, the law-courts, the gymnasium, the commercial school, the three hospitals, and the new Roman Catholic church. The grand-ducal picture-gallery in the Augusteum includes works by Veronese, Velazquez, Murillo, and Rubens; and there are collections of modern paintings and sculptures in the two palaces. The public library contains 150,000 vols., and the duke’s private library has 50,000. There is also a museum with a collection of antiquities and a cabinet of natural history. The industries of Oldenburg, which are of no great importance, include iron-founding and the making of tobacco, soap, and leather. A considerable trade is carried on in grain, and the horse-fairs are largely frequented. The population in 1880 was 20,575, or, including the suburban village of Osternburg on the other side of the Hunte and the Hunte-Ems Canal, 24,678. About four-fifths of these are Protestants.

According to popular tradition Oldenburg was founded by Walbert, grandson of Wittekind, and named after his wife Altburga; but the first historical mention of it occurs in a document of 1108. It was fortified in 1155, and received a municipal charter in 1345. The subsequent history of the town is merged in that of the grandduchy. (J. F. Μ.)

The name Oldham is of Saxon origin. A Roman road, of which some traces are still left, passes through the township, but it does not appear to have been a Roman station. It is not mentioned in Domesday; but in the reign of Henry III. Alwardus de Aidholme is referred to as holding “two bovats of land in Vernet (Werneth).” A daughter and co-heiress of this Alwardus conveyed Werneth Hall and its manor to the Cudworths, a branch of the Yorkshire family, with whom it remained till the early part of last century. From the Oldhams was descended Hugh Oldham, who died bishop of Exeter in 1519. In 1826 the town was placed under the care of a board of commissioners, and in 1849 it received municipal government. Since 1832 it has returned two members to parliament.

OLDHAM, John (1653-1683), a satirist of the Restoration period, achieved notoriety by his Satires on the Jesuits, published during the heat of the excitement caused by the revelations of Titus Oates and the murder of Godfrey in 1678. In such a time of national panic and hatred “who peppered the highest was surest to please,” and Oldham’s satires could hardly be surpassed for energy of invective and copiousness of coarse extravagant irony. They were extravagant enough to pass in a more sober age for burlesques of anti-Popish frenzy. Oldham was at the time a tutor in a judge’s family. He was the son of a Nonconformist minister, born at Shipton, near Tedbury in Gloucestershire, in 1653, was a B.A. of Oxford (Edmund Hall), and had been for some three years an usher in a school at Croydon. Before he appeared as a satirist, and while he was still an usher, his verses, circulated in MS., had attracted the attention of Will’s Coffee-house, and Rochester with some of his boon companions had sallied down to Croydon to see what the new poet was like. It was probably an extravagantly humorous dithyrambic drunkard’s soliloquy that roused their curiosity, and when they found him a tall, thin, consumptive, harsh-featured cynic they apparently left him to his drudgery. After the success of his Satires on the Jesuits, Oldham wrote more satires, imitations of Horace and Juvenal, and one of them, a satire on poets, setting forth bitterly their degradation, their poverty, their humiliating adulation of patrons, is often quoted as an index to the condition of men of letters in those days. He died prematurely ( 1683) at the age of thirty, and was eloquently lamented by Dryden as the “Marcellus of our tongue.”

‘ ‘ Farewell, too little and too lately known, Whom I began to think and call my own; For sure our souls were near allied, and thine Cast in the same poetic mould as mine.”

Oldham’s verse was rugged, and his rage, as Pope said, “too like Billingsgate”; but “maturing time,” as Dryden hoped, might have softened these faults. Donne and Cowley were his literary models, and he poured into their forms great warmth of feeling, wealth of incident, and commanding force of language.