WELSER
582
WELSH
Stanley, Sirmi and Palestine (New York, 1SS8) ; Geikie, The
Holy Land and the Bible (New York, 18SS) ; Smith, Diciionary of
the Bible (Hartford, 1S99), 164, 272-3, 992-3; V.i.v Dyke, Out-
of-doors in the Holy Land (New York, 1908) ; H.\GEX in Lexicon
biblicum (Paris, 1905-11) ; de Hamme, La Terre-Sainte (Jerusalem,
1887); Wilson, Travels in Ihe Holy Land (London, 1831); Tris-
THAM, The Land of Moab (New York, 1873); Cursus s. Scriptural
(Paris, 1895) ; Jahn-Upham. Biblical Archeology (New Y'ork, 1856)
A. C. Cotter.
Welser, Bartholomeus, German merchant prince, b. at Augsburg, 1488; d. at Amberg, near Tiirkheim, Swabia, 1561. His father was Anton Welser, an important merchant of Augsburg. Bar- tholomeus entered his father's business at an early age. After Anton's death (1518) he bought the family homestead and with his brother Anton founded the firm of "Welser and Company", which lasted until 1553. Their business constantly in- creased, and the brothers granted large loans to Charles V, who in 1532 made Bartholomeus a noble- man of the empire, and gave him in 1541 a general safe- conduct and in 1546 the privilege of exemption from some local courts. By a treaty dated 27 May, 1528 the Welsers, through their agents, Ehinger and Sailer, received from the Spanish Crown the rights of supremacy in Venezuela; they monopolized the im- port and export trade of the country, and established a colonizing scheme there. The first regent of the colony, Ambrosius Ehinger (Dalfinger), explored the interior of Venezuela. Disputes with the Spanish Government soon arose and banished any hopes for rich profit from the undertaking. In 1541 the Span- ish Government desired to bring suit against the governors of the colony, and in 1546 Bartholomeus'a son was murdered. Although the province was re- garded as their property until 1551, it was taken from the Welsers by legal decision in 1556 and went to the Spanish Crown. The German colonizers have been accused of cruelty, but their uprightness and consci- entiousness are now fully proved. Bartholomeus Welser frequently took part in the public afi'airs of Augsburg. Unwilhng to oppose the emperor in the Smalkaldic War, he obtained from the council three years' leave of absence, and advanced large sums of money to Charles V. In 1547 he returned to Augs- burg and in 1553 retired from business. From 1548- 56 he was a member of the privy council. His interest in learning is evident from marginal notes he made on a copy of the Augsburg edition (1548) of Suetonius. Whereas his near relations accepted Lutheranism, Welser's family remained loyal Catholics.
Kleinschmidt, Auasburg, NiXmberg und ihre Handelsfursten (Cassel, 1S89). 94, 139-42; Schtjmacheh, Die Unlernehmungen der Augsburger Welser in Venezuela (Hamburg, 1892) ; H.ableb, Die aberseeischen Unternehmungen der Welser (Leipzig, 1903) 52-60, 160-397.
Klemens Loffler.
Welsh Church. — In giving separate consideration
to the Church of Wales, we follow a practice common among English historical ^Titers and more particu- larly adopted in the collection of "Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents" of Haddan and Stubbs. There seems^ however, no sufficient reason for empha- sizing the distinction made by these la.st authorities between "the British Church dining the Roman period" (a. d. 200-4.50), "the British Church during the period of Saxon Conquest" (A. D. 4.50-6S1), and "the Churcli of Wales" (a. d. 681-1295). The term Welsh Churcli sutficiently covers these separate head- ings, though it will be convenient to treat the subject according to the same chronological divisions.
Roman Period (200-4.50). — Both TertuUian (c. 208) and Origen (c. 240) use language which implies that the Gospel had been preached in Britain. The former speaks (.\dv. Jud., vii) of "the regions of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subdued to Christ"; the latter of "the power of our Lord and Saviour which is with tliosc who are separated from our world in Britain" (llom. viin Luc, 1,24). These
passages may be somewhat rhetorical, but if we do not
press the question of date there is confirmatory evi-
dence for at least some acceptance of Christianity in
Roman Britain. To begin with, both Conslantius
(a. d. 480), in the uninterpolated portionsof his Life
of St. Germanus of Auxerre, and the British Christian
WTiter Gildas (a. d. 547) speak of the martjTdom of
St. Alban during the Roman period. Again in 314
three British bishops from York, London, and prob-
ably Lincoln seem to have attended the Council of
Aries, and British bishops were present, if not at
Nicoea (325) and at Sardica (343), yet certainly at
Ariminum (359), where the fine they adopted drew
attention to their nationaUty. Arehaeologj' also tells
us something, if not much, of the presence of Chris-
tians in these islands before the close of the Roman
period. The Chi-Rho symbol has been found in
mosaics and building stones as well as upon miscel-
laneous objects; the formulae "Vivas in Deo" and
"Spes in Deo" with the A — occur stamped on rings
or pigs of lead, and in particular the excavations at
Silchester have brought to Ught a small building in
which antiquaries are agreed in recognizing a Christian
basilica. Further, there is the still existing Church of
St. Martin's at Canterbury', which according to the
testimony of Bede (Hist. Eccl., I, xxvi), and in the
opinion of some ex-perts, is of Roman work. (For all
which see Haverfield in "English Historical Review",
XI, 417-430.) It should be added that certain authori-
ties, e. g. Professor Hugh Williams, maintain that
such Christianity as existed in Britain at this early
date attached only to the Roman settlements, and
that there is no e^'idence of anything which could be
called a native or Cymric Christian Church. The
evidence for either view is necessarily inconclusive,
but the importance and numerical strength of the
Welsh Church in the next period seem to point to the
foundations having been laid before the Roman legions
were withdrawn. Moreover, towards the close of the
Roman period, indeed from early in the fourth cen-
tury, the hterarj' evidence for an active Christian
organization in Britain becomes very strong. The
allusions which we find in St. Hilary of Poitiers, St.
Athanasius, Sulpicius Severus, etc. (see Haddan and
Stubbs, I, 8-16), though shght in themselves, cannot
be entirely set aside.
One piece of evidence, however, formerly appealed to by many Catholic controversiahsts, must now be abandoned. Bede tells us (Hist. Eccl., I, 4) that in the year 156, in the time of Marcus AureUus and Lucius Verus, "while Eleatherus, a holy man, presided over the Roman church, Lucius, King of Britain, sent a letter to him entreating that by his command he might be made a Christian. He soon obtained the fulfilment of his pious request and the Britons preserved the faith which they received, imeorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until the time of the emperor Diocletian". These dates, to which Bede himself did not consistently adhere (cf. De sex ;Etat., s. a., 180), are impossible, for St. Eleutherus, at earliest, became pope in 171. But, ap.art from this difficulty, it is now generally admitted, e. g. by Duchesne and Kirsch, that the evidence is inade<iuate to support so startling a conclusion. Bede's statement is at best derived from the recension of the "Liber Pontificalis" known as the "Catalogus Felicianus", compiled about the year 530, in which we are told that I'ope ¥Ani- therus received a letter "a Lueio Britannio rege" asking for Christian instruction. In the earlier re- cension of the "Liber Pontificalis" the Lucius epi- sode is wanting. Ilarnack conjectures that this entry arose from a confusion with Lucius Abgar IX of Edcssa, who seems about this period to have become a Christian and who in somi' earlv document wa.s pos- sibly described as reigning "in Britio Kdc-s-senorum", i. e. in the Hritiutn or Birtha (the iil;idel) of Edcssa. At any rate wo are told that the Apostle St. Thaddeus,
