Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/247

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BAIUS BAKAC8 227 bronze statue of Richter, who died and was buried here in 1825, is in the Gymnasiums- platz, and an inscription in gold letters marks his house in the Fried richsstrasse. In front of the old castle, now used for government offices, is a monument in honor of Maximil- ian II. erected in I860, and in the square in front of the new castle stands an equestrian statue of the margrave Christian Ernst. The corner stone of a great festival theatre, design- ed by Richard Wagner for the promotion of the German lyric drama, and especially for the performance of his own Nibelungen trilogy, was laid at Baireuth in 1872. Baireuth was formerly the capital of the principality of the same name (previously of Kulmbach), the his- tory of which was long associated with that of the principality of Anspach. Christian, a son of the elector John George of Branden- burg, who at the beginning of the 17th century succeeded as ruler of Baireuth, while his brother became prince of Anspach, removed the capital from Kulmbach to Baireuth. In 1763, on the death of the margrave Frederick, who had greatly promoted public prosperity, Baireuth and Anspach were united into one princi- pality, and both ceded to Prussia in 1791. After passing under the power of the French in 1806, Baireuth was transferred to Bavaria in 1810. I! Ill S, or De Bay, Michael, a Flemish theolo- gian, born at Melin in Hainault in 1513, died Sept. 16, 1589. He was educated at the uni- versity of Louvain, in which he became a professor and ultimately chancellor. His zeal- ous advocacy of the doctrine of St. Augustine brought him into collision with his colleagues, who in 1552 laid 18 of his most objectionable dogmas before the university of Paris, which in 1560 condemned 15 of them as heretical and the other three as false. Notwithstanding this decision, the Spanish court sent Baius as its representative to the council of Trent in 1563. In the two following years he published various controversial works, which called forth on Nov. 1, 1567, the denunciatory bull of Pope Pius V., which anathematized 76 of his fa- vorite dogmas, but did not name him. Baius afterward recanted and professed obedience, was engaged a few years later in similar con- troversies, and made a second retraction in 1580. The contest was renewed from time to time until his death. His works were pub- lished at Cologne in 1696, and his doctrines subsequently became the basis of Jansenism. BAJAZET, Itajfuid. or Bayazid. I. An Otto- man sultan, born in 1347, died in 1403. He succeeded his father Amurath I., who was killed at the hour of victory in the battle of Kosovo in 1389, and to prevent any trouble with his family strangled his younger brother. He was incessantly occupied in the first years of his reign in subduing his rebellious subjects or adding to his conquests. In Europe his armies penetrated beyond the Danube, into Wallachia and Hungary, subdued the countries around the Balkan, and devastated parts of Greece. He brought the whole of Asia Minor under the Turkish government. In 1391 he subdued Philadelphia, the last of the Greek cities of Asia, and in 1394 laid siege to Constantino- ple, continuing it for years. European nations became alarmed at his progress, and Sigis- mund, king of Hungary, with a large army reenforced by a select body of French troops, set out to check his progress; but in 1396 Bajazet utterly routed his army near Nico- polis. He overran the whole of the Morea, but his career of conquest was checked by Tamerlane, who invaded his possessions in Asia Minor. The two conquerors met on the plains of Angora in Galatia with im- mense armies in 1402, and Bajazet was total- ly defeated and taken prisoner, and, accord- ing to accounts which modern historians do not consider literally true, was carried about in an iron cage till his death. On account of the rapidity of his movements Bajazet was called Ilderim (the lightning). He was succeeded by Mohammed I. II. An Ottoman sultan, son of Mohammed II., the conqueror of Constantino- ple, born in 1447, died in 1512. On his father's death in 1481, his brother Zizim disputed the succession. He was defeated, however, and fled to Egypt, and afterward to Rhodes, whenc'e D'Aubusson, the grand master, sent him to France. Bajazet's hatred pursued him in his exile, and is believed to have procured his death by poison. Bajazet was continually en- gaged in war, with varying success, against the Venetians, the Egyptians, and the Per- sians. His reign was brought to a close by the rebellion of three of'his sons, claimants of the throne, in which Selim, the youngest, was at last successful, and Bajazet abdicated in his favor, and was poisoned by him a few days later. During the reign of Bajazet II. the Venetians obtained the right to appoint a con- sul at the Sublime Porte, and treaties were concluded with Poland and the czar. BAJAZID, or Bayazid, a fortified town of Turkish Armenia, 150 m. E. S. E. of Erze- rum, S. W. of Mount Ararat ; pop. variously estimated at from 5,000 to 15,000, mostly Kurds. It lies around a hill crowned by a citadel, and has a palace, arsenal, mosque, and monastery. The town, which is the cap- ital of a sanjak, has declined since the Rus- sian conquest of Georgia. BAKACS, Tamiis a Hungarian statesman and prelate, died in 1521. The son of a serf, he became by his talents secretary of King Mat- thias Corvinus, who ennobled him, and after whose death he labored for the accession of Ladislas II. of Bohemia to the throne (1490). The latter accordingly made him chancellor, which office he relinquished in 1505 for a car- dinal's hat, having previously been the in- cumbent of various episcopal sees, and finally of the archbishopric of Gran. He even as- pired to the holy see, but succeeded only in being appointed legate in Hungary, and in