RIANSARES, AUGUSTIN FERNANDEZ MUNOZ, Duke of (1808 or 1810–1873), morganatic husband of Maria Christina, queen and regent of Spain, was born at Tarancén, in the province of Cuenca, in New Castile. His father was the keeper of an “estanco” or office for the sale of the tobacco of the government monopoly. He enlisted in the bodyguard, and attracted the attention of the queen. According to one account, he distinguished himself by stopping the runaway horses of her carriage; according to another, he only picked up her handkerchief; a third and scandalous explanation of his fortune has been given; it is certain that the queen married him privately, very soon after the death of her husband on the 29th of September 1833. By publishing her marriage, Maria Christina would have forfeited the regency; but her relations with Munoz were perfectly well known. When on the 13th of August 1836 the soldiers on duty at the summer, palace, La Granja, mutinied and forced the regent to grant a constitution, it was generally, though wrongly, believed that they overcame her reluctance by seizing Munoz, whom they called her “guapo,” or fancy man, and threatening to shoot him. When in 1840 the queen found her position intolerable and fled the country, Munoz Went with her and the marriage was published, and on the overthrow of Espartero in 1843 the couple returned. In 1844 Queen Isabella II., who was now declared to be of age, gave her consent to her mother’s marriage, which was publicly performed. Munoz was created duke of Riansares and made a knight of the Golden Fleece. By Louis Philippe, king of the French, he was created duke of Mont-Morot and Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Until his wife was finally driven»from Spain by the revolutionary movement of 1854, the duke is credibly reported to have applied himself to making a large fortune out of railway concessions and by judicious stock exchange speculations. Political ambitions he had none, and it is said that he declined the offer of the crown of Ecuador. All authorities agree that he was not only good-looking, but kindly and well-bred. He died five years before his wife at L’Adresse, near Havre, on the 11th of September 1873. Several children were born of the marriage.
RIAZ PASHA (c. 1835–), Egyptian statesman; born about 1835, was of a Circassian family, but said to be of Hebrew extraction. Little is known of his early life save that until the accession of Ismail Pasha to the vice-royalty of Egypt in 1863 he occupied a humble position. Ismail, recognizing in this obscure individual a capacity for hard work and a strong will, made him one of his ministers, to find, to his chagrin, that Riaz was also an honest man possessed of a remarkable independence of character. When Ismail’s financial straits compelled him to agree to a commission of inquiry Riaz was the only Egyptian of known honesty sufficiently intelligent and patriotic to be named as a vice-president of the commission. He filled this office with distinction, but not to the liking of Ismail. The khedive, however, felt compelled, when as a sop to his European creditors he assumed the position of a constitutional monarch, to nominate Riaz as a member
of the first Egyptian cabinet. For the few months this
government lasted (September 11878 to April 1879) Riaz was minister of the interior. When Ismail dismissed the cabinet and attempted to resume autocratic rule, Riaz had to flee the country. Upon the deposition off Ismail, June 1879, Riaz was sent for by the British and French controllers, and he formed the first ministry under the khedive Tewfik. His administration, marked by much ability, lasted only two years, and was overthrown by the agitation which had for figure-head Arabi Pasha (q.v.). The beginnings of this movement Riaz treated as of no consequence. In reply to a warning of what might happen he said, “But this is Egypt; such things
do not happen; you say they have happened elsewhere,
perhaps, but this is Egypt.” On the evening of the 9th of September 1881, after the military demonstration in Abdin
Square, Riaz was dismissed; broken in health he went to
Europe, remaining at Geneva until the fall of Arabi. After
that event Riaz, subordinating his vanity to his patriotism,
accepted office as minister of the interior under Sherif Pasha
(q.v.). Had Riaz had his way Arabi and his associates would
have been executed forthwith, and when the British insisted
that clemency should be extended to the leaders of the revolt
Riaz refused to remain in office, resigning in December 1882.
He took no further part in public affairs until 1888, when, on
the dismissal of Nubar Pasha (q.v.), he was summoned to
form a government. He now understood that the only policy
possible for an Egyptian statesman was to work in harmony
with the British agent (Sir Evelyn Baring—afterwards Lord
Cromer). This he succeeded in doing to a large extent, witnessing
if not initiating the practical abolition of the corvée
and many other reforms. The appointment of an Anglo-Indian
official as judicial adviser to the khedive was, however, opposed
by Riaz, who resigned in May 1891. In the February following
he again became prime minister under Abbas II., being
selected as comparatively acceptable both to the khedivial
and British parties. In April 1894 Riaz finally resigned office
on account of ill-health. Superior, probably, both intellectually
and morally to his great rival Nubar, he lacked the latter’s
broad statesmanship as well as his pliability. Riaz’s standpoint
was that of the benevolent autocrat; he believed that
the"Egyptians=were not fitted for self-government and must
be treated like children, protected from ill-treatment by
others and prevented from injuring themselves. In 1889
"he was made an honorary G.C.M.G. A worthy tribute to
Riaz was paid by Lord Cromer in his farewell speech at Cairo
on the 4th of May 1907. “Little or no courage is now required,”
said Lord Cromer, “on the part of a young Egyptian
who poses as a reformer, but it was not always so. Ismail
Pasha had some very drastic methods of dealing with those
who did not bow before him. Nevertheless, some thirty years
ago Riaz Pasha stood forth boldly to protest against the maladministration
that then prevailed in Egypt. He was not
afraid to bell the cat.”
RIB (from O. Eng. ribb; the word appears in many
Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Rippe, Swed. reb), in anatomy,
the primary meaning, .one of the series of elastic arched bones
(costae) which form the casing or framework of the thorax
(see Skeleton: Axial). The word is in meaning transferred
to many objects resembling a rib in shape or function. In
architecture, it is thus used of the arches of stone which in
medieval work constitute the skeleton of the vault, and carry
the shell or web. Although in the Roman vault the rib played
an important element in its construction, it was generally
hidden in the thickness of the vault and was made subservient
to its geometrical surfaces. The Gothic masons, on the other
hand, reversed the process, and not only made the vaulting
surface subservient to the- rib, but by mouldings rendered
the latter a highly decorative feature. The principal ribs
are the transverse (arc doubleau), the diagonal (arc ogive)
and the wall rib (formeret). Those of less importance are
the intermediate, the ridges and lierne ribs. The ridge-rib
is one first introduced into the vault to resist the thrust of
the intermediate ribs between the wall and diagonal ribs,
it also served to mark the junction of the filling-in or web
of vaults in those cases where the courses dipped toward the
diagonal rib. (See Vault.) A lierne rib (the term is borrowed
from the French) is a short rib, introduced into the vaulting
in the Early Perpendicular period, which coupled together
the transverse and intermediate ribs; in the later period the
“lierne” rib becomes one of the chief features of the “stella”
vault (see further Vault).
RIBADENEIRA, PEDRO A. (1527–1611), hagiologist, was born at Toledo on the 1st of November 1527. As a lad he repaired to Rome for study, and there on the 18th.of September 1540 was admitted by Ignatius Loyola, in his thirteenth year, as one of the Society of (Jesus, which had not yet received papal sanction. He pursued his studies at Paris (1542) in philosophy and theology. Loyola, in 1555, sent him on a mission to Belgium; in pursuance of it he visited England in
