neighbouring coasts of the Baltic. He fell at the siege of Demmin, a fortress in Pomerania, in 1164. His son Adolphus III. was his successor, who had the misfortune to quarrel with Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, and to become involved in the civil wars of Denmark, which ultimately led to his losing the county of Holstein, and retiring to his hereditary county of Shaumburg, where he soon died. Holstein was, however, recovered by his son Adolphus IV. from Waldemar the Great, king of Denmark, into whose hands it had fallen. The decisive battle was fought at Bornhöved, a village in the neighbourhood of Eutin. Adolphus IV. retired in 1238 to a Franciscan monastery, and spent the last fourteen years of his life as a friar.—J. B.
ADOLPHUS, the 8th duke of Schleswig, noted for his moderation in refusing the crown of Denmark, when it was offered to him in 1448 at the death of Christopher of Bavaria, and for his labours for the good of his people. Died in 1459.
ADOLPHUS, count of Clèves and la Marck, and afterwards made duke of Clèves by the Emperor Sigismund in 1417, at the council of Constance, was born in 1371. With his eldest son, he was one of the parties to the treaty of Arras in 1435. He was much engaged in hostilities, either as principal or ally, and from his almost unvaried success, obtained the name of "the Victorious." He enlarged his dominions by various acquisitions, provided for their security by the erection of fortresses, and promoted their internal prosperity by a wise and firm administration. Died in 1448.—E. M.
ADOLPHUS, Frederick, of Holstein-Gottorp-Eutin, born in 1710, was elected crown prince of Sweden in 1743, and ascended the Swedish throne in 1751. Of an amiable disposition and enlightened mind, he zealously endeavoured to promote the welfare of his adopted country, but was thwarted by the grasping nobles, who hardly left him the shadow of power. Disgusted with his position and the party contentions that continued to convulse the kingdom, he determined in 1768 to abdicate, but was induced, by promises and some concessions, to relinquish his intention. He died in February, 1771, sincerely regretted by the Swedish nation, and was succeeded by his son, Gustavus III.—E. M.
ADOLPHUS, duke of Gueldres, born in 1438. In 1464 he deposed and imprisoned his father Arnold, who was delivered by John, duke of Clèves. Charles, duke of Burgundy, and Adolphus's brother-in-law, endeavoured to reconcile father and son; but Adolphus would listen to no terms, and was confined in the castle of Vilvorden till his father's death. After various adventures, the unnatural son lost his life in a skirmish near Doornick, at the age of thirty-eight.—E. M.
ADOLPHUS, John, duke of Saxony, born in 1685. After serving several years in the Hessian army, he entered the service of Augustus II., king of Poland. He distinguished himself against the Turks, repeatedly defeated the generals of Charles XII., established tranquillity in Lithuania and Poland, took Dantzic in the reign of Augustus III., and, after a career of unvaried heroism, fell, while exhibiting his usual gallantry, at the battle of Wildorf in 1744.—E. M.
ADOLPHUS, John, an English barrister and author, born in 1770. His pleadings were distinguished for logical acumen, clearness and fluency of expression, and extent and accuracy of l egal knowledge. He attained a high reputation and very extensive practice in the criminal courts. His defence of the Cato Street conspirators in 1820, added greatly to his legal reputation. His principal works are—"History of England from the Accession of George III;" "Biographical Memoirs of the French Revolution;" "Political State of the British Empire;" and "Memoirs of John Bannister." Died in 1845.—E. M.
ADOLPHUS of Nassau, emperor of Germany, was elected in May, 1292, and the following June solemnly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle. Without hereditary dominions, and without private fortune, Adolphus owed his election partly to his military reputation, to the desire of the electors to place on the imperial throne a prince they hoped to control, to private stipulations in favour of the elector-archbishops of Cologne and Mentz, but mainly to the overbearing character of his competitor, Albert of Austria. Destitute of resources, he had recourse to extortions and ignominious expedients to procure supplies. Promising to invade France with a large army, he obtained from the king of England £100,000. He excused himself from executing the compact under pretext of a papal interdict, but kept the money. Disregarding, or unable to perform his promises of ceding towns and territories to the archbishops whose influence had secured his election, he converted them into implacable enemies. Moreover, by his vices and follies, he gave great advantage to his disappointed competitor, who had been vigorously concerting Adolphus's overthrow and his own appointment to the imperial throne. With part of the English subsidy, Adolphus purchased the landgraviates of Thuringia and Misnia from Albert, surnamed "the Depraved," who, at the instigation of a mistress, had divorced his wife and disinherited his children. Thuringia and Misnia declaring in favour of the disinherited children of the landgrave, Adolphus, to obtain possession, had to undertake a five years' war, during which his mercenary troops committed appalling atrocities. All these circumstances, added to his arrogance and tyranny, made him generally odious. A confederation was formed against him, a diet was convoked, and by a majority of the electors he was deposed, and Albert of Austria elected in his stead in June, 1298. The illegality of the Diet's proceedings, and aversion to Albert, produced a reaction in Adolphus's favour. His faults were palliated, his delinquencies were overlooked, and in a short time he was at the head of a powerful army to assert his imperial rights. Decoyed, however, into an unfavourable position near Spire, he was defeated and slain on the 22nd July, 1298, after so heroic a defence as made one of his bitterest enemies exclaim over his dead body, "There lies the bravest knight of the age."—E. M.
ADORNI, Francis, a jesuit of the 16th century, and a confessor of Charles Boromæus; wrote some poems and sermons, and died in 1586.
ADORNI, Tertius Anselmus Opitius, a historian and good Latin scholar of Flanders. Died at Brügge, 1610.
ADORNO: the name borne by three doges of Genoa:—
Adorno, Antonio, elected in 1384, was an enlightened and public-spirited statesman, favourable to popular rights. He was thrice driven into exile, and as often restored. Unable to maintain himself in power, owing to the opposition of rivals, he induced the citizens, in 1396, to put their country under the sovereignty of France, and governed till his death in 1397.
Adorno, Gabriel, a Genoese merchant, appointed doge in 1356. A few years afterwards he was supplanted and exiled by Dominico Fregoso, one of his lieutenants.
Adorno, Prospero, chosen in 1461. The duke of Milan, Galeas Sforza, having decoyed Adorno to his court, imprisoned him at Cremona, and made himself master of Genoa. On the assassination of Galeas, Adorno was set at liberty, resumed his office, expelled the popular leaders, and governed under the auspices of the young duke of Milan. Subsequently he put himself under the protection of the king of Naples, but was ultimately driven into exile, and died at Naples in 1486. Adorno's career strikingly illustrated the folly of ambition, and the instability of political friendship and popular favour.—E. M.
ADRASTUS, a writer on the works of Aristotle and Plato, and author of a treatise on Harmonics, which has been preserved; was born at Aphrodisias, not later than the beginning of the second century.
ADRETZ, François de Beaumont, Baron des, born at the chateau de la Frette in Dauphiné, in 1513. After serving in the reign of Henry II. with great distinction in the Piedmontese wars, he astonished all parties by putting himself at the head of the Huguenots of Dauphiné in 1562. This step, it is usually supposed, he took from resentment to the duke of Guise for a real or supposed injury; but some writers assert, with greater probability, that he acted as the secret agent of Catherine de Medicis, whose policy was to destroy the influence both of the Guise faction and of the Huguenots, by urging both parties to mutual extermination. By his enterprising valour, influence, and military skill, Adretz rendered great service to the Huguenot cause, but disgraced it by unparalleled atrocities. He displayed singular ingenuity in devising new modes of inflicting tortures, and enjoyed the agonies of his victims. He ultimately resolved to betray the Huguenots, either from resentment on being disappointed of a position he desired, or in pursuance of secret instructions from Catherine de Medicis. His eldest son perished in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and his second was killed at the siege of Rochelle. Detected in corresponding with the enemy, Adretz was arrested by the Huguenot leaders in 1563, but obtained his liberty at the peace concluded the same year. He now professed himself a Romanist, and spent the remainder of his life despised and abhorred by all. Died in 1587.—E. M.
