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and being joined by several women, they formed | istence as a prisoner, for thirteen months; and themselves into a religious community, which having in vain attempted to escape to join Brunebranched out into several other nunneries through- haut, who does not seem to have made any great out Ireland, all of which acknowledged her as effort to come to his assistance, was killed by one their foundress. She is commemorated in the of his servants, some say by his own request, and Roman martyrology on the first of February. others, by order of Fredegonde.

BRUNEHAUT,

YOUNGER daughter of Athanagilde, king of the Visigoths of Spain, married, in 565, Siegbert, the Frankish king of Metz or Austrasia. Siegbert had resolved to have but one wife, and to choose her from a royal family; his choice fell on Brunehaut, who fully justified his preference. She was beautiful, elegant in her deportment, modest and dignified in her conduct, and conversed not only agreeably, but with a great deal of wisdom. Her husband soon became exceedingly attached to her. Her elder sister, Galsuinda, had married Chilperic, Siegbert's brother, and king of Normandy. Galsuinda was murdered, through the instigation of Fredegonde, Chilperic's mistress, who then in- | duced Chilperic to marry her. Brunehaut, to avenge her sister's death, persuaded Siegbert to make war upon his brother; and he had succeeded in wresting Chilperic's territories from him, and besieging him in Tournai, when two assassins, hired by Fredegonde, murdered Siegbert in his camp, in 575.

As soon as Brunehaut heard of this misfortune, she hastened to save her son, the little Childebert, heir to the kingdom of Austrasia. She hid him in a basket, which was let down out of a window of the palace she occupied in Paris, and confided him to a servant of the Austrasian duke Gondebald, who carried him behind him on horseback to Metz, where he was proclaimed king, on Christmas day, 575. When Chilperic and Fredegonde arrived at Paris, they found only Brunehaut, with her two daughters and the royal treasure. Her property was taken from her, her daughters were exiled to Meaux, and she was sent to Rouen.

But during the few days that Brunehaut, then a beautiful widow of twenty-eight, had remained at Paris, she had inspired Meroveus, Chilperic's second son by his first wife Andowere, with a violent passion, so that soon after she had reached Rouen, he abandoned the troops his father had placed under his charge, and hastened to join her. They were married by the bishop of Rouen, although it was contrary to the canons of the church to unite a nephew and aunt. Chilperic, furious at this step, came with great haste to separate them; but they took refuge in a little church, and the king, not daring to violate this asylum, was at last obliged to promise, with an oath, that he would leave them together. "Since God allows them to be united," said he, "I swear never to separate them."

Reassured by this solemn promise, Meroveus and Brunehaut left their asylum, and gave themselves up to Chilperic. At first he treated them kindly; but in a few days he returned to Soissons, taking his son with him as a prisoner, and leaving Brunehaut under a strong guard at Rouen. Meroveus, after having dragged out a miserable ex

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Meanwhile, Childebert had demanded and obtained from the king of Normandy his mother's release; and Brunehaut returned to her son's court, where she commenced that struggle, which afterwards proved fatal to her, against the nobles of Austrasia. At one time, her own party, and that of the nobles, were drawn up in battle array against each other, when she, seeing that the combat would be a bloody one, and that her own side was the weakest, boldly rushed between them, calling to them to desist. "Woman, retire!" exclaimed one of the dukes, "You have reigned long enough under the name of your husband; let that suffice you. Your son is now our king; Austrasia is under our guardianship, not yours. Retire, directly, or our horses' feet shall trample you to the earth."

But the intrepid Brunehaut, unmoved by this savage address, persisted, and at last succeeded in preventing the combat. Although obliged to yield to her turbulent subjects for a short time, Brunehaut soon regained her authority, which she used with great cruelty. In her anger, she spared no one, but put to death or exiled all persons of rank who fell in her power. She also raised an army, which she sent against Clotaire, the young son of Fredegonde; but she was defeated, and Fredegonde took advantage of the intestine commotion in Austrasia, to regain all that her husband had lost.

Childebert died in 596, and the kingdom was divided between Theodebert and Theodoric. Brunehaut remained with Theodebert, to whom Austrasia had fallen; and on the death of Fredegonde, in 597, she bent all her energies towards the recovery of those dominions that her rival had obtained from her, and she partially succeeded. She treated with the utmost cruelty all the relations of Fredegonde who fell in her power, and every one who resisted her authority.

But the day of retribution came at last; a murder, committed in 599, upon Wintrion, duke of Champagne, roused against her all the powerful men of her nation. They seized her, and, carrying her across the frontiers, abandoned her alone in the midst of an uncultivated part of the country. A beggar, whom she met, conducted her to Theodoric, her other grandson, king of Burgundy, by whom she was but too well received.

Here she attempted, by surrounding him with infamous women of all classes, to prevent him from taking a wife, who might interfere with her authority; and she drove away, with insults, St. Colomban, abbé of Luxeuil, and St. Didier, bishop of Vienne, who had addressed remonstrances both to her and Theodoric on their mode of life. St. Didier, after an exile of three years, returned to his church, and, displaying the same zeal in the performance of his duty, she had him stoned.

To raise her favourite, Protadius, to the dignity

of mayor of the palace, she procured the death of Bertoald, who held that position, by sending him with a handful of men against a large army, where he was killed after making a brave resistance. In 612, she armed her grandsons against each other. Theodebert was pursued by Theodoric to Cologne, and there assassinated. His children, one of whom was an infant, were slain by order of Brunehaut. Theodoric died in 613, and Brunehaut, betrayed by her subjects, and abandoned by her nobles, fell into the hands of Clotaire, son of Fredegonde. He loaded her with insults, accused her of having caused the death of ten kings, or sons of kings, and gave her up to the vengeance of his infuriated soldiery. This queen, then eighty years old, was carried naked on a litter for three days, and then bound by one arm and one leg to the tail of an unbroken colt, who dragged her over rocks and stones till she was nothing but a shapeless mass. Her remains were then burnt.

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the loveliness of a girl of about fifteen. Upon entering into conversation with her, he was surprised at the ingenuity and spirited tone of her replies. Speaking of the adventure on his return home, every body told him that Bona Lombardi had acknowledged claims to admiration. Brunoro, remaining through the summer in that district, found many opportunities of seeing the fair peasant; becoming acquainted with her worth and character, he at last determined to make her the companion of his life; their marriage was not declared at first, but, to prevent a separation, however temporary, Bona was induced to put on the dress of an officer. Her husband delighted in teaching her horsemanship, together with all military exercises. She accompanied him in battle, fought by his side, and, regardless of her own safety, seemed to be merely an added arm to shield and assist Brunoro. As was usual in those times, among the condottieri, Brunoro adopted different lords, and fought sometimes in parties to which, at others, he was opposed. In these vicissitudes, he incurred the anger of the king of Naples, who, seizing him by means of an ambuscade, plunged him into a dungeon, where he would probably have finished his days, but for the untiring and well-planned efforts of his wife. To effect his release, she spared no means; supplications, threats, money, all were employed, and, at last, with good success. She had the happiness of recovering her husband.

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BONA LOMBARDI, was born in 1417, in Sacco, a little village in Vattellina. Her parents were obscure peasants, of whom we have but little information. The father, Gabriel Lombardi, a private soldier, died while she was an infant; and her mother not surviving him long, the little girl was left to the charge of an aunt, a hard-working country woman, and an uncle, an humble curate.

Bona was not only gifted with the feminine qualities of domestic affection and a well-balanced intellect; in the hottest battles, her bravery and power of managing her troops were quite remarkable; of these feats there are many instances recorded. We will mention but one. In the course of the Milanese war, the Venetians had been, on one occasion, signally discomfited in an attack upon the castle of Povoze, in Brescia. Brunoro himself was taken prisoner, and carried into the castle. Bona arrived with a little band of fresh soldiers; she rallied the routed forces, inspired them with new courage, led them on herself, took the castle, and liberated her husband, with the other prisoners. She was, however, destined to lose her husband without possibility of recovering him; he died in 1468. When this intrepid heroine, victor in battles, and, rising above all adversity, was bowed by a sorrow resulting from affection, she declared she could not survive Bru

Bona, in her simple peasant station, exhibited intelligence, decision of character, and personal beauty, which raised her to a certain consideration in the estimation of her companions; and the neighbourhood boasted of the beauty of Bona, when an incident occurred which was to raise her to a most unexpected rank. In the war between the duke of Milan and the Venetians, the latter had been routed and driven from Vattellina. Piccinino, the Milanese general, upon departing to follow up his advantages, left Captain Brunoro, a Parmesan gentleman, to maintain a camp in Morbegno, as a central position to maintain the conquered country. One day, after a hunting party, he stopped to repose himself, in a grove where many of the peasants were assembled for some rustic festival; he was greatly struck with

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CALPHURNIA,

WIFE of the celebrated philosopher Pliny the Elder, who was killed, in 79, in consequence of approaching too near to Mount Vesuvius, when it was in a state of eruption, must have been a woman of superior character, by the manner in which her husband spoke of her, and the strong affection he seems to have borne her; in a letter to her aunt Hispulla, he says:

"As you are an example of every virtue, and as you tenderly loved your excellent brother, whose daughter (to whom you supplied the place of both parents) you considered as your own, I doubt not but you will rejoice to learn, that she proves worthy of her father, worthy of you, and worthy of her grandfather. She has great talents; she is an admirable economist; and she loves me with an entire affection: a sure sign of her chastity. To these qualities, she unites a taste for literature, inspired by her tenderness for me. She has collected my works, which she reads perpetually, and even learns to repeat. When I am to speak in public, she places herself as near to me as possible, under the cover of her veil, and listens with delight to the praises bestowed upon me. She sings my verses, and, untaught, adapts them to her lute: love is her only instructor."

In a letter to Calphurnia, Pliny writes: "My eager desire to see you is incredible. Love is its first spring; the next, that we have been so sel- | dom separated. I pass the greater part of the night in thinking of you. In the day also, at those hours in which I have been accustomed to see you, my feet carry me spontaneously to your apartment, whence I constantly return out of humour and dejected, as if you had refused to admit me. There is one part of the day only that affords relief to my disquiet; the time dedicated to pleading the causes of my friends. Judge what a life mine must be, when labour is my rest, and when cares and perplexities are my only comforts. Adieu."

CAPILLANA,

A PERUVIAN princess, who, having become a widow very young, retired from court to the country, about the time that Pizarro appeared on the coast. Capillana received kindly the persons he had sent to reconnoitre, and expressed a desire to see the general. Pizarro came, and an attachment soon sprang up between them. He endeavoured to convert Capillana to the Christian faith, but for some time without success; however, while studying the Spanish language, she became a Christian. On the death of Pizarro, in 1541, she retired again to her residence in the country. In the library of the Dominicans of Peru, a manuscript of hers is preserved, in which are painted, by her, ancient Peruvian monuments, with a short historical explanation in Castilian. There is also a representation of many of their plants, with curious dissertations on their properties.

CARTISMANDUA,

QUEEN of the Brigantes, in Britain, is known in history for treacherously betraying Caractacus,

who had taken refuge in her dominions, to the Romans, and for discarding her husband Venusius to marry his armour-bearer Velocatus. When her subjects revolted against her, she solicited aid from the Romans, who thus obtained possession of the whole country. But she at last met with the reward of her perfidies; being taken prisoner by Corbred I., king of Scots, and buried alive, about the year 57.

CASTRO,

INEZ DE, who was descended from the royal line of Castile, became first the mistress of Pedro, son of Alphonso IV., king of Portugal, and after the death of his wife Constance, in 1344, he married her. As Pedro rejected all proposals for a new marriage, his secret was suspected, and the king was persuaded, by those who dreaded the influence of Inez and her family, that this marriage would be injurious to the interests of Pedro's eldest son. He was induced to order Inez to be put to death; and, while Pedro was absent on a hunting expedition, Alphonso went to Coimbra, where Inez was living in the convent of St. Clara, with her children. Inez, alarmed, threw herself with her little ones at the king's feet, and sued for mercy. Alphonso was so touched by her prayers that he went away, but he was again persuaded to order her assassination. She was killed in 1355, and buried in the convent. Pedro took up arms against his father, but was at length reconciled to him. After Alphonso's death, Pedro, then king of Portugal, executed summary vengeance on two of the murderers of Inez; and two years after, in 1362, he declared before an assembly of the chief men of the kingdom, that the pope had consented to his union with Inez, and that he had been married to her. The papal document was exhibited in public. The body of Inez was disinterred, placed on a throne, with a diadem on her head and the royal robes wrapt around her, and the nobility were required to approach and kiss the hem of her garment. The body was then carried in great pomp from Coimbra to Alcobaça, where a monument of white marble was erected, on which was placed her statue, with a royal crown on her head.

Mrs. Hemans has described this scene with great pathos and touching beauty. Her poem ends thus: There is music on the midnight

A requiem sad and slow,

As the mourners through the sounding aisle
In dark procession go;

And the ring of state, and the starry crown,
And all the rich array,

Are borne to the house of silence down,
With her, that queen of clay!

And tearlessly and firmly

King Pedro led the train,

But his face was wrapt in his folding robe,
When they lower'd the dust again.
'Tis hush'd at last the tomb ahove,
Hymns die, and steps depart :

Who call'd thee strong as Death, O Love?
Mightier thou wast and art.

CATHARINE OF ARRAGON, QUEEN of England, was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain. She was born in 1483, and, in November, 1501, was

married to Arthur, prince of Wales, son to Henry VII., of England. He died April 2d, 1502, and his widow was then betrothed to his brother Henry, then only eleven years old, as Henry VII. was unwilling to return the dowry of Catharine. In his fifteenth year the prince publicly protested against the marriage; but, overpowered by the solicitations of his council, he at length agreed to ratify it, and gave his hand to Catharine, June 3d, 1505, immediately after his accession to the throne; having first obtained a dispensation from the pope, to enable him to marry his brother's widow.

The queen, by her sweetness of manners, good sense, and superior endowments, contrived to retain the affections of this fickle and capricious monarch for nearly twenty years. She was devoted to literature, and was the patroness of literary men. She bore several children, but all, excepting a daughter, afterwards queen Mary, died in their infancy. Scruples, real or pretended, at length arose in the mind of Henry concerning the legality of their union, and they were powerfully enforced by his passion for Anne Boleyn. In 1527, he resolved to obtain a divorce from Catharine on the grounds of the nullity of their marriage, as contrary to the Divine Laws. Pope Clement VII. seemed at first disposed to listen to his application, but overawed by Charles V., emperor of Germany and nephew to Catharine, he caused the negotiation to be so protracted, that Henry became very impatient. Catharine conducted herself with gentleness, yet firmness, in this trying emergency, and could not be induced to consent to an act which would stain her with the imputation of incest, and render her daughter illegitimate.

Being cited before the papal legates, Wolsey and Campeggio, who had opened their court at London, in May 1529, to try the validity of the king's marriage, she rose, and kneeling before her husband, reminded him, in a pathetic yet resolute speech, of her lonely and unprotected state, and of her constant devotion to him, in proof of which she appealed to his own heart; then protesting against the proceedings of the court, she rose and withdrew, nor could she ever be induced to appear again. She was declared contumacious, although she appealed to Rome. The pope's subterfuges and delays induced Henry to take the matter in his own hands: he threw off his submission to the court of Rome, declared himself head of the Church of England, had his marriage formally annulled by archbishop Cranmer, and in 1532 married Anne Boleyn.

Catharine took up her abode at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, and afterwards at Kimbolton-castle in Huntingdonshire. She persisted in retaining the title of queen, and in demanding the honours of royalty from her attendants; but in other respects employing herself chiefly in her religious duties, and bearing her lot with resignation. She died in January, 1536. The following letter, which she wrote to the king on her death-bed, drew tears from her husband, who always spoke in the highest terms of his injured consort.

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"My King and Dearest Spouse,— "Insomuch as already the hour of my death approacheth, the love and affection I bear you causeth me to conjure you to have a care of the eternal salvation of your soul, which you ought to prefer before mortal things, or all worldly blessings. It is for this immortal spirit you must neglect the care of your body, for the love of which you have thrown me headlong into many calamities, and your own self into infinite disturbances. But I forgive you with all my heart, humbly beseeching Almighty God he will in heaven confirm the pardon I on earth give you. I recommend unto you our most dear Mary, your daughter and mine, praying you to be a better father to her than you have been a husband to me. Remember also the three poor maids, companions of my retirement, as likewise all the rest of my servants, giving them a whole year's wages besides what is their due, that so they may be a little recompensed for the good service they have done me; protesting unto you, in the conclusion of this my letter and life, that my eyes love you, and desire to see you more than any thing mortal."

By her will she appointed her body to be privately interred in a convent of observant friars who had suffered in her cause; five hundred masses were to be performed for her soul; and a pilgrimage undertaken, to our lady of Walsingham, by a person who, on his way, was to distribute twenty nobles to the poor. She bequeathed considerable legacies to her servants, and requested that her robes might be converted into ornaments for the church, in which her remains were to be deposited. The king religiously performed her injunctions, excepting that which respected the disposal of her body, resenting, probably, the opposition which the convent had given to his divorce. The corpse was interred in the abbey church at Peterburgh, with the honours due to the birth of Catharine.

It is recorded by lord Herbert, in his history of Henry VIII., that, from respect to the memory of Catharine, Henry not only spared this church at the general dissolution of religious houses, but advanced it to be a cathedral.

CATHARINE SFORZA,

NATURAL daughter of Galeas Sforza, duke of Milan, in 1466 acquired celebrity for her courage and presence of mind. She married Jerome Riario, prince of Forli, who was some time after assassinated by Francis Del Orsa, who had revolted against him. Catharine, with her children, fell into the hands of Orsa, but contrived to escape to Rimini, which still continued faithful to her, which she defended with such determined bravery against her enemies, who threatened to put her children to death if she did not surrender, that at last she restored herself to sovereign power. then married John de Medicis, a man of noble family, but not particularly distinguished for talents or courage. Catharine still had to sustain herself; and, in 1500, ably defended Forli against Cæsar Borgia, duke Valentino, the illegitimate son of pope Alexander VI. Being obliged to sur

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render, she was confined in the castle of San Angelo, but soon set at liberty, though never restored to her dominions. She died soon after. She is praised by a French historian for her talents, courage, military powers, and her beauty.

SFORZA, ISABELLA, of the same family as the preceding, was distinguished in the sixteenth century for her learning. Her letters possessed great merit. One of them is a letter of consolation, written to Bonna Sforza, widow of the king of Poland; and one was in vindication of poetry.

CATHARINE,

DAUGHTER of Charles VI. of France, and Isabella of Bavaria, married Henry V. of England, and after his death, Owen Tudor, a Welshman, by whom she had Edmund, the father of Henry VII. She died in 1438. She was celebrated for her beauty.

CATHARINE, ST.,

Was born at Sienna, in 1347. The monks relate of this saint, that she became a nun of St. Dominic at the age of seven, that she saw numberless visions, and wrought many miracles while quite young, and that she conversed face to face with Christ, and was actually married to him. Her influence was so great that she reconciled pope Gregory XI. to the people of Avignon, in 1376, after he had excommunicated them; and in 1377, she prevailed on him to re-establish the pontifical seat at Rome, seventy years after Clement V. had removed it to France. She died April 30th, 1380, aged thirty-three, and was canonized by Pius II., in 1461. Her works consist of letters, poems, and devotional pieces.

CATHARINE, ST.,

in consequence. From this circumstance, and her great learning, she is considered in the Romish church as the patron saint of philosophy, literature, and schools. She was afterwards condemned to suffer death, and the emperor ordered her to be crushed between wheels of iron, armed with sharp blades; the wheels, however, were marvellously broken asunder, as the monks declare, and, all other means of death being rendered abortive, she was beheaded in the year 310, at the age of eighteen. Her body being afterwards discovered on Mount Sinai, gave rise to the order of the Knights of St. Catharine.

CATHARINE OF VALOIS,

SURNAMED the Fair, was the youngest child of Charles VI. and Isabeau of Bavaria. She was born October 27th, 1401, at the Hotel de St. Paul, Paris, during her father's interval of insanity. She was entirely neglected by her mother, who joined with the king's brother, the duke of Orleans, in pilfering the revenues of the household. On the recovery of Charles, Isabeau fled with the duke of Orleans to Milan, followed by her children, who were pursued and brought back by the duke of Burgundy. Catharine was educated in the convent at Poissy, where her sister Marie was consecrated, and was married to Henry V. of England, June 3, 1420. Henry V. had previously conquered nearly the whole of France, and received with his bride the promise of the regency of France, as the king was again insane, and on the death of Charles VI. the sovereignty of that country, to the exclusion of Catharine's brother and three older sisters. Catharine was crowned in 1421, and her son, afterwards Henry VI., was born at Windsor in the same year, during the absence of Henry V. in France. The queen joined her husband at Paris in 1422, leaving her infant son in England, and was with him, when he died, at the Castle of Vincennes, in August 1422. Some years afterwards Catharine married Owen Tudor, an officer of Welsh extraction, who was clerk of the queen's wardrobe. This marriage was kept concealed several years, and Catharine, who was a devoted mother, seems to have lived very happily with her husband. The guardians of her son, the young Henry VI., at length suspected it, and exhibited such violent resentment, that Catharine either took refuge, during the summer of 1436, in the abbey of Bermondsey, or was sent there under some restraint. Her children (she had four by Owen Tudor) were torn from her, which cruelty probably hastened the death of the poor queen. She was ill during the summer and autumn, and died January, 1437. The nuns, who piously attended her, declared she was a sincere penitent. She had disregarded the injunctions of her royal husband, Henry V., in choosing Windsor as the birth-place of the heir of England; and she had never believed the prediction, that "Henry of Windsor shall lose all that Henry of Monmouth had gained." But during her illness she became fearful of the result, and sorely repented her dis

WAS a noble virgin of Alexandria. Having been instructed in literature and the sciences, she was afterwards converted to Christianity, and by order of the emperor Maximinian she disputed with fifty heathen philosophers, who, being reduced to silence by her arguments and her eloquence, were all to a man converted, and suffered martyrdom obedience of her husband.

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