Chapter 15

(T. Ba.)

HIGHWAY,a public road over which all persons have full right of way—walking, riding or driving. Such roads in England for the most part either are of immemorial antiquity or have been created under the authority of an act of parliament. But a private owner may create a highway at common law by dedicating the soil to the use of the public for that purpose; and the using of a road for a number of years, without interruption, will support the presumption that the soil has been so dedicated. At common law the parish is required to maintain all highways within its bounds; but by special custom the obligation may attach to a particular township or district, and in certain cases the owner of land is bound by the conditions of his holding to keep a highway in repair. Breach of the obligation is treated as a criminal offence, and is prosecuted by indictment. Bridges, on the other hand, and so much of the highway as is immediately connected with them, are as a general rule a charge on the county; and by 22 Henry VIII. c. 5 the obligation of the county is extended to 300 yds. of the highway on either side of the bridge. A bridge, like a highway, may be a burden on neighbouring landratione tenurae. Private owners so burdened may sometimes claim a special toll from passengers, called a “toll traverse.”

Extensive changes in the English law of highways have been made by various highway acts, viz. the Highway Act 1835, and amending acts of 1862, 1864, 1878 and 1891. The leading principle of the Highway Act 1835 is to place the highways under the direction of parish surveyors, and to provide for the necessary expenses by a rate levied on the occupiers of land. It is the duty of the surveyor to keep the highways in repair; and if a highway is out of repair, the surveyor may be summoned before justices and convicted in a penalty not exceeding £5, and ordered to complete the repairs within a limited time. The surveyor is likewise specially charged with the removal of nuisances on the highway. A highway nuisance may be abated by any person, and may be made the subject of indictment at common law. The amending acts, while not interfering with the operation of the principal act, authorize the creation of highway districts on a larger scale. The justices of a county may convert it or any portion of it into a highway district to be governed by a highway board, the powers and responsibilities of which will be the same as those of the parish surveyor under the former act. The board consists of representatives of the various parishes, called “way wardens” together with the justices for the county residing within the district. Salaries and similar expenses incurred by the board are charged on a district fund to which the several parishes contribute; but each parish remains separately responsible for the expenses of maintaining its own highways. By the Local Government Act 1888 the entire maintenance of main roads was thrown upon county councils. The Public Health Act 1875 vested the powers and duties of surveyors of highways and vestries in urban authorities, while the Local Government Act 1894 transferred to the district councils of every rural district all the powers of rural sanitary authorities and highway authorities (seeEngland:Local Government).

The Highway Act of 1835 specified as offences for which the driver of a carriage on the public highway might be punished by a fine, in addition to any civil action that might be brought against him—riding upon the cart, or upon any horse drawing it, and not having some other person to guide it, unless there be some person driving it; negligence causing damage to person or goods being conveyed on the highway; quitting his cart, or leaving control of the horses, or leaving the cart so as to be an obstruction on the highway; not having the owner’s name painted up; refusing to give the same; and not keeping on the left or near side of the road, when meeting any other carriage or horse. This rule does not apply in the case of a carriage meeting a foot-passenger, but a driver is bound to use due care to avoid driving against any person crossing the highway on foot. At the same time a passenger crossing the highway is also bound to use due care in avoiding vehicles, and the mere fact of a driver being on the wrong side of the road would not be evidence of negligence in such a case.

The “rule of the road” given above is peculiar to the United Kingdom. Cooley’s treatise on theAmerican Law of Tortsstates that “the custom of the country, in some states enacted into statute law, requires that when teams approach and are about to pass on the highway, each shall keep to the right of the centre of the travelled portion of the road.” This also appears to be the general rule on the continent of Europe.

By the Lights on Vehicles Act 1907, all vehicles on highways in England and Wales must display to the front a white light during the period between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. Locomotives and motor cars, being dealt with by special acts, are excluded from the operation of the act, as are bicycles and tricycles (dealt with by the Local Government Act 1888), and vehicles drawn or propelled by hand, but every machine or implement drawn by animals comes within the act. There are two exceptions: (1) vehicles carrying inflammable goods in the neighbourhood of places where inflammable goods are stored, and (2) vehicles engaged in harvesting. The public have a right to pass along a highway freely, safely and conveniently, and any wrongful act or omission which prevents them doing so is a nuisance, for the prevention and abatement of which the highways and other acts contain provisions. Generally, nuisanceto highway may be caused by encroachment, by interfering with the soil of the highway, by attracting crowds, by creating danger or inconvenience on or near the highway, by placing obstacles on the highway, by unreasonable user, by offences against decency and good order, &c.

The use of locomotives, motor cars and other vehicles on highways is regulated by acts of 1861-1903.

Formerly under the Turnpike Acts many of the more important highways were placed under the management of boards of commissioners or trustees. The trustees were required and empowered to maintain, repair and improve the roads committed to their charge, and the expenses of the trust were met by tolls levied on persons using the road. The various grounds of exemption from toll on turnpike roads were all of a public character,e.g.horses and carriages attending the sovereign or royal family, or used by soldiers or volunteers in uniform, were free from toll. In general horses and carriages used in agricultural work were free from toll. By the Highways and Locomotives Act of 1878 disturnpiked roads became “main roads.” Ordinary highways might be declared to be “main roads,” and “main roads” be reduced to the status of ordinary highways.

In Scotland the highway system is regulated by the Roads and Bridges Act 1878 and amending acts. The management and maintenance of the highways and bridges is vested in county road trustees, viz. the commissioners of supply, certain elected trustees representing ratepayers in parishes and others. One of the consequences of the act was the abolition of tolls, statute-labour, causeway mail and other exactions for the maintenance of bridges and highways, and all turnpike roads became highways, and all highways became open to the public free of tolls and other exactions. The county is divided into districts under district committees, and county and district officers are appointed. The expenses of highway management in each district (or parish), together with a proportion of the general expenses of the act, are levied by the trustees by an assessment on the lands and heritages within the district (or parish).

Highway, in the law of the states of the American Union, generally means a lawful public road, over which all citizens are allowed to pass and repass on foot, on horseback, in carriages and waggons. Sometimes it is held to be restricted to county roads as opposed to town-ways. In statutes dealing with offences connected with the highway, such as gaming, negligence of carriers, &c., “highway” includes navigable rivers. But in a statute punishing with death robbery on the highway, railways were held not to be included in the term. In one case it has been held that any way is a highway which has been used as such for fifty years.

See Glen,Law Relating to Highways; Pratt,Law of Highways, Main Roads and Bridges.

See Glen,Law Relating to Highways; Pratt,Law of Highways, Main Roads and Bridges.

HIGINBOTHAM, GEORGE(1827-1893), chief-justice of Victoria, Australia, sixth son of T. Higinbotham of Dublin, was born on the 19th of April 1827, and educated at the Royal School, Dungannon, and at Trinity College, Dublin. After entering as a law student at Lincoln’s Inn, and being engaged as reporter on theMorning Chroniclein 1849, he emigrated to Victoria, where he contributed to theMelbourne Heraldand practised at the bar (having been “called” in 1853) with much success. In 1850 he became editor of theMelbourne Argus, but resigned in 1859 and returned to the bar. He was elected to the legislative assembly in 1861 for Brighton as an independent Liberal, was rejected at the general election of the same year, but was returned nine months later. In 1863 he became attorney-general. Under his influence measures were passed through the legislative assembly of a somewhat extreme character, completely ignoring the rights of the legislative council, and the government was carried on without any Appropriation Act for more than a year. Mr Higinbotham, by his eloquence and earnestness, obtained great influence amongst the members of the legislative assembly, but his colleagues were not prepared to follow him as far as he desired to go. He contended that in a constitutional colony like Victoria the secretary of state for the colonies had no right to fetter the discretion of the queen’s representative. Mr Higinbotham did not return to power with his chief, Sir James M’Culloch, after the defeat of the short-lived Sladen administration; and being defeated for Brighton at the next general election by a comparatively unknown man, he devoted himself to his practice at the bar. Amongst his other labours as attorney-general he had codified all the statutes which were in force throughout the colony. In 1874 he was returned to the legislative assembly for Brunswick, but after a few months he resigned his seat. In 1880 he was appointed a puisne judge of the supreme court, and in 1886, on the retirement of Sir William Stawell, he was promoted to the office of chief justice. Mr Higinbotham was appointed president of the International Exhibition held at Melbourne in 1888-1889, but did not take any active part in its management. One of his latest public acts was to subscribe a sum of £10, 10s. a week towards the funds of the strikers in the great Australian labour dispute of 1890, an act which did not meet with general approval. He died in 1893.

HILARION, ST(c.290-371), abbot, the first to introduce the monastic system into Palestine. The chief source of information is a life written by St Jerome; it was based upon a letter, no longer extant, written by St Epiphanius, who had known Hilarion. The accounts in Sozomen are mainly based on Jerome’sVita; but Otto Zöcker has shown that Sozomen also had at his disposal authentic local traditions (see “Hilarion von Gaza” in theNeue Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie, 1894), the most important study on Hilarion, which is written against the hypercritical school of Weingarten and shows that Hilarion must be accepted as an historical personage and theVitaas a substantially correct account of his career. He was born of heathen parents at Tabatha near Gaza about 290; he was sent to Alexandria for his education and there became a convert to Christianity; about 306 he visited St Anthony and became his disciple, embracing the eremitical life. He returned to his native place and for many years lived as a hermit in the desert by the marshes on the Egyptian border. Many disciples put themselves under his guidance; but his influence must have been limited to south Palestine, for there is no mention of him in Palladius or Cassian. In 356 he left Palestine and went again to Egypt; but the accounts given in theVitaof his travels during the last fifteen years of his life must be taken with extreme caution. It is there said that he went from Egypt to Sicily, and thence to Epidaurus, and finally to Cyprus where he met Epiphanius and died in 371.

An abridged story of his life will be found in Alban Butler’sLives of the Saints, on the 21st of October, and a critical sketch with full references in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(ed. 3).

An abridged story of his life will be found in Alban Butler’sLives of the Saints, on the 21st of October, and a critical sketch with full references in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(ed. 3).

(E. C. B.)

HILARIUS(Hilary1),ST(c.300-367), bishop of Pictavium (Poitiers), an eminent “doctor” of the Western Church, sometimes referred to as the “malleus Arianorum” and the “Athanasius of the West,” was born at Poitiers about the end of the 3rd centuryA.D.His parents were pagans of distinction. He received a good education, including what had even then become somewhat rare in the West, some knowledge of Greek. He studied, later on, the Old and New Testament writings, with the result that he abandoned his neo-platonism for Christianity, and with his wife and his daughter received the sacrament of baptism. So great was the respect in which he was held by the citizens of Poitiers that about 353, although still a married man, he was unanimously elected bishop. At that time Arianism was threatening to overrun the Western Church; to repel the irruption was the great task which Hilary undertook. One of his first steps was to secure the excommunication, by those of the Gallican hierarchy who still remained orthodox, of Saturninus, the Arian bishop of Arles and of Ursacius and Valens, two of his prominent supporters. About the same time he wrote to the emperor Constantius a remonstrance against the persecutions by which the Arians had sought to crush their opponents (Ad Constantium Augustum liber primus, of which the most probable date is 355). His efforts were not at first successful, for at the synod of Biterrae (Beziers), summoned in 356 byConstantius with the professed purpose of settling the longstanding disputes, Hilary was by an imperial rescript banished with Rhodanus of Toulouse to Phrygia, in which exile he spent nearly four years. Thence, however, he continued to govern his diocese; while he found leisure for the preparation of two of the most important of his contributions to dogmatic and polemical theology, theDe synodisorDe fide Orientalium, an epistle addressed in 358 to the Semi-Arian bishops in Gaul, Germany and Britain, expounding the true views (sometimes veiled in ambiguous words) of the Oriental bishops on the Nicene controversy, and theDe trinitate libri xii.,2composed in 359 and 360, in which, for the first time, a successful attempt was made to express in Latin the theological subtleties elaborated in the original Greek. The former of these works was not entirely approved by some members of his own party, who thought he had shown too great forbearance towards the Arians; to their criticisms he replied in theApologetica ad reprehensores libri de synodis responsa. In 359 Hilary attended the convocation of bishops at Seleucia In Isauria, where, with the Egyptian Athanasians, he joined the Homoiousian majority against the Arianizing party headed by Acacius of Caesarea; thence he went to Constantinople, and, in a petition (Ad Constantium Augustum liber secundus) personally presented to the emperor in 360, repudiated the calumnies of his enemies and sought to vindicate his trinitarian principles. His urgent and repeated request for a public discussion with his opponents, especially with Ursacius and Valens, proved at last so inconvenient that he was sent back to his diocese, which he appears to have reached about 361, within a very short time of the accession of Julian. He was occupied for two or three years in combating Arianism within his diocese; but in 364, extending his efforts once more beyond Gaul, he impeached Auxentius, bishop of Milan, and a man high in the imperial favour, as heterodox. Summoned to appear before the emperor (Valentinian) at Milan and there maintain his charges, Hilary had the mortification of hearing the supposed heretic give satisfactory answers to all the questions proposed; nor did his (doubtless sincere) denunciation of the metropolitan as a hypocrite save himself from an ignominious expulsion from Milan. In 365 he published theContra Arianos vel Auxentium Mediolanensem liber, in connexion with the controversy; and also (but perhaps at a somewhat earlier date) theContra Constantium Augustum liber, in which he pronounced that lately deceased emperor to have been Antichrist, a rebel against God, “a tyrant whose sole object had been to make a gift to the devil of that world for which Christ had suffered.” Hilary is sometimes regarded as the first Latin Christian hymn-writer, but none of the compositions assigned to him is indisputable. The later years of his life were spent in comparative quiet, devoted in part to the preparation of his expositions of the Psalms (Tractatus super Psalmos), for which he was largely indebted to Origen; of hisCommentarius in Evangelium Matthaei, a work on allegorical lines of no exegetical value; and of his no longer extant translation of Origen’s commentary on Job. While he thus closely followed the two great Alexandrians, Origen and Athanasius, in exegesis and Christology respectively, his work shows many traces of vigorous independent thought. He died in 367; no more exact date is trustworthy. He holds the highest rank among the Latin writers of his century. Designated already by Augustine as “the illustrious doctor of the churches,” he by his works exerted an increasing influence in later centuries; and by Pius IX. he was formally recognized as “universae ecclesiae doctor” at the synod of Bordeaux in 1851. Hilary’s day in the Roman calendar is the 13th of January.3

Editions.—Erasmus (Basel, 1523, 1526, 1528); P. Coustant (Benedictine, Paris, 1693); Migne (Patrol. Lat.ix., x.). TheTractatus de mysteriis, ed. J. F. Gamurrini (Rome, 1887), and theTractatus super Psalmos, ed. A. Zingerle in the ViennaCorpus scrip. eccl. Lat.xxii. Translation by E. W. Watson inNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ix.Literature.—The life by (Venantius) Fortunatusc.550 is almost worthless. More trustworthy are the notices in Jerome (De vir. illus.100), Sulpicius Severus (Chron.ii. 39-45) and in Hilary’s own writings. H. Reinkens,Hilarius von Poictiers(1864); O. Bardenhewer,Patrologie; A. Harnack,Hist. of Dogma, esp. vol. iv.; F. Loofs, in Herzog-Hauck’sRealencyk.viii.

Editions.—Erasmus (Basel, 1523, 1526, 1528); P. Coustant (Benedictine, Paris, 1693); Migne (Patrol. Lat.ix., x.). TheTractatus de mysteriis, ed. J. F. Gamurrini (Rome, 1887), and theTractatus super Psalmos, ed. A. Zingerle in the ViennaCorpus scrip. eccl. Lat.xxii. Translation by E. W. Watson inNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ix.

Literature.—The life by (Venantius) Fortunatusc.550 is almost worthless. More trustworthy are the notices in Jerome (De vir. illus.100), Sulpicius Severus (Chron.ii. 39-45) and in Hilary’s own writings. H. Reinkens,Hilarius von Poictiers(1864); O. Bardenhewer,Patrologie; A. Harnack,Hist. of Dogma, esp. vol. iv.; F. Loofs, in Herzog-Hauck’sRealencyk.viii.

1The name is derived from Gr.ἱλαρός, gay, cheerful, whence hilarious, hilarity.2Hilary’s own title wasDe fide contra Arianos. It really deals less with the doctrine of the Trinity than with that of the Incarnation. That it is not an easy work to read is due partly to the nature of the subject, partly to the fact that it was issued in detached portions.3“Hilary” was the name of one of the four terms of the English legal year. These terms were abolished by the Judicature Act, 1873, s. 26, and “sittings” substituted. It is now the name of the sitting of the Supreme Court of Judicature which commences on the 11th of January and terminates on the Wednesday before Easter. In the Inns of Court, Hilary is one of the four dining terms; it begins on the 11th of January and ends on the 1st of February. It is also the name of one of the terms at the universities of Oxford (more usually “Lent term”) and Dublin.

1The name is derived from Gr.ἱλαρός, gay, cheerful, whence hilarious, hilarity.

2Hilary’s own title wasDe fide contra Arianos. It really deals less with the doctrine of the Trinity than with that of the Incarnation. That it is not an easy work to read is due partly to the nature of the subject, partly to the fact that it was issued in detached portions.

3“Hilary” was the name of one of the four terms of the English legal year. These terms were abolished by the Judicature Act, 1873, s. 26, and “sittings” substituted. It is now the name of the sitting of the Supreme Court of Judicature which commences on the 11th of January and terminates on the Wednesday before Easter. In the Inns of Court, Hilary is one of the four dining terms; it begins on the 11th of January and ends on the 1st of February. It is also the name of one of the terms at the universities of Oxford (more usually “Lent term”) and Dublin.

HILARIUS,orHilarus(Hilary), bishop of Rome from 461 to 468, is known to have been a deacon and to have acted as legate of Leo the Great at the “robber” synod of Ephesus in 449. There he so vigorously defended the conduct of Flavian in deposing Eutyches that he was thrown into prison, whence he had great difficulty in making his escape to Rome. He was chosen to succeed Leo on the 19th of November 461. In 465 he held at Rome a council which put a stop to some abuses, particularly to that of bishops appointing their own successors. His pontificate was also marked by a successful encroachment of the papal authority on the metropolitan rights of the French and Spanish hierarchy, and by a resistance to the toleration edict of Anthemius, which ultimately caused it to be recalled. Hilarius died on the 17th of November 467, and was succeeded by Simplicius.

HILARIUS(fl. 1125), a Latin poet who is supposed to have been an Englishman. He was one of the pupils of Abelard at his oratory of Paraclete, and addressed to him a copy of verses with its refrain in the vulgar tongue, “Tort avers vos li mestre,” Abelard having threatened to discontinue his teaching because of certain reports made by his servant about the conduct of the scholars. Later Hilarius made his way to Angers. His poems are contained in MS. supp. lat. 1008 of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, purchased in 1837 at the sale of M. de Rosny. Quotations from this MS. had appeared before, but in 1838 it was edited by Champollion Figeac asHilarii versus et ludi. His works consist chiefly of light verses of the goliardic type. There are verses addressed to an English nun named Eva, lines to Rosa, “Ave splendor puellarum, generosa domina,” and another poem describes the beauties of the priory of Chaloutre la Petite, in the diocese of Sens, of which the writer was then an inmate. One copy of satirical verses seems to aim at the pope himself. He also wrote three miracle plays in rhymed Latin with an admixture of French. Two of them,Suscitatio LazariandHistoria de Daniel repraesentanda, are of purely liturgical type. At the end ofLazarusis a stage direction to the effect that if the performance has been given at matins, Lazarus should proceed with theTe Deum, if at vespers, with theMagnificat. The third,Ludus super iconia Sancti Nicholai, is founded on a sufficiently foolish legend. Petit de Julleville sees in the play a satiric intention and a veiled incredulity that put the piece outside the category of liturgical drama.

A rhymed Latin account of a dispute in which the nuns of Ronceray at Angers were concerned, contained in a cartulary of Ronceray, is also ascribed to the poet, who there calls himself Hilarius Canonicus. The poem is printed in theBibliothèque de l’École des Chartes(vol. xxxvii. 1876), and is dated by P. Marchegay from 1121. See also a notice inHist. litt. de la France(xii. 251-254), supplemented (in xx. 627-630),s.v.Jean Bodel, by Paulin Paris; also Wright,Biographia Britannica literaria, Anglo-Norman Period(1846); and Petit de Julleville,Les Mystères(vol. i. 1880).

A rhymed Latin account of a dispute in which the nuns of Ronceray at Angers were concerned, contained in a cartulary of Ronceray, is also ascribed to the poet, who there calls himself Hilarius Canonicus. The poem is printed in theBibliothèque de l’École des Chartes(vol. xxxvii. 1876), and is dated by P. Marchegay from 1121. See also a notice inHist. litt. de la France(xii. 251-254), supplemented (in xx. 627-630),s.v.Jean Bodel, by Paulin Paris; also Wright,Biographia Britannica literaria, Anglo-Norman Period(1846); and Petit de Julleville,Les Mystères(vol. i. 1880).

HILARIUS(Hilary),ST(c.403-449), bishop of Arles, was born about 403. In early youth he entered the abbey of Lérins, then presided over by his kinsman Honoratus (St Honoré), and succeeded Honoratus in the bishopric of Arles in 429. Following the example of St Augustine, he is said to have organized his cathedral clergy into a “congregation,” devoting a great part of their time to social exercises of ascetic religion. He held the rank of metropolitan of Vienne and Narbonne, and attempted to realize the sort of primacy over the church of south Gaulwhich seemed implied in the vicariate granted to his predecessor Patroclus (417). Hilarius deposed the bishop of Besançon (Chelidonus), for ignoring this primacy, and for claiming a metropolitan dignity for Besançon. An appeal was made to Rome, and Leo I. used it to extinguish the Gallican vicariate (A.D.444). Hilarius was deprived of his rights as metropolitan to consecrate bishops, call synods, or exercise ecclesiastical oversight in the province, and the pope secured the edict of Valentinian III., so important in the history of the Gallican church, “ut episcopis Gallicanis omnibusque pro lege esset quidquid apostolicae sedis auctoritas sanxisset.” The papal claims were made imperial law, and violation of them subject to legal penalties (Novellae Valent.iii. tit. 16). Hilarius died in 449, and his name was afterwards introduced into the Roman martyrology for commemoration on the 5th of May. He enjoyed during his lifetime a high reputation for learning and eloquence as well as for piety; his extant works (Vita S. Honorati Arelatensis episcopiandMetrum in Genesin) compare favourably with any similar literary productions of that period.

A poem,De Providentia, usually included among the writings of Prosper, is sometimes attributed to Hilary of Arles.

A poem,De Providentia, usually included among the writings of Prosper, is sometimes attributed to Hilary of Arles.

HILDA, ST,strictly Hild (614-680), was the daughter of Hereric, a nephew of Edwin, king of Northumbria. She was converted to Christianity before 633 by the preaching of Paulinus. According to Bede she took the veil in 614, when Oswio was king of Northumbria and Aidan bishop of Lindisfarne, and spent a year in East Anglia, where her sister Hereswith had married Æthelhere, who was to succeed his brother Anna, the reigning king. In 648 or 649 Hilda was recalled to Northumbria by Aidan, and lived for a year in a small monastic community north of the Wear. She then succeeded Heiu, the foundress, as abbess of Hartlepool, where she remained several years. From Hartlepool Hilda moved to Whitby, where in 657 she founded the famous double monastery which in the time of the first abbess included among its members five future bishops, Bosa, Ætta, Oftfor, John and Wilfrid II. as well as the poet Cædmon. Hilda exercised great influence in Northumbria, and ecclesiastics from all over Christian England and from Strathclyde and Dalriada visited her monastery. In 655 after the battle of Winwæd Oswio entrusted his daughter Ælfled to Hilda, with whom she went to Whitby. At the synod of Whitby in 664 Hilda sided with Colman and Cedd against Wilfrid. In spite of the defeat of the Celtic party she remained hostile to Wilfrid until 679 at any rate. Hilda died in 680 after a painful illness lasting for seven years.

See Bede,Hist. eccl.(ed. C. Plummer, Oxford, 1869), iii. 24, 25, iv. 23; Eddius,Vita Wilfridi(Raine,Historians of Church of York, Rolls Series, vol. i., 1879), c. liv.

See Bede,Hist. eccl.(ed. C. Plummer, Oxford, 1869), iii. 24, 25, iv. 23; Eddius,Vita Wilfridi(Raine,Historians of Church of York, Rolls Series, vol. i., 1879), c. liv.

HILDBURGHAUSEN,a town of Germany, in the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, situated in a wide and fruitful valley on the river Werra, 19 m. S.E. of Meiningen, on the railway Eisenach-Lichtenfels. Pop. (1905) 7456. The principal buildings are a ducal palace, erected 1685-1695, now used as barracks, with a park in which there is a monument to Queen Louisa of Prussia, the old town hall, two Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church and a theatre. A technical college occupies the premises in which Meyer’s Bibliographisches Institut carried on business from 1828, when it removed hither from Gotha, until 1874, when it was transferred to Leipzig. A monument has been erected to those citizens who died in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The manufactures include linen fabrics, cloth, toys, buttons, optical instruments, agricultural machines, knives, mineral waters, condensed soups and condensed milk. Hildburghausen (in recordsHilpershusiaandVilla Hilperti) belonged in the 13th century to the counts of Henneberg, from whom it passed to the landgraves of Thuringia and then to the dukes of Saxony. In 1683 it became the capital of a principality which in 1826 was united to Saxe-Meiningen.

See R. A. Human,Chronik der Stadt Hildburghausen(Hildburghausen, 1888).

See R. A. Human,Chronik der Stadt Hildburghausen(Hildburghausen, 1888).

HILDEBERT,Hydalbert,GildebertorAldebert(c.1055-1133), French writer and ecclesiastic, was born of poor parents at Lavardin, near Vendôme, and was intended for the church. He was probably a pupil of Berengarius of Tours, and became master (scholasticus) of the school at Le Mans; in 1091 he was made archdeacon and in 1096 bishop of Le Mans. He had to face the hostility of a section of his clergy and also of the English king, William II., who captured Le Mans and carried the bishop with him to England for about a year. Hildebert then travelled to Rome and sought permission to resign his bishopric, which Pope Paschal II. refused. In 1116 his diocese was thrown into great confusion owing to the preaching of Henry of Lausanne, who was denouncing the higher clergy, especially the bishop. Hildebert compelled him to leave the neighbourhood of Le Mans, but the effects of his preaching remained. In 1125 Hildebert was translated very unwillingly to the archbishopric of Tours, and there he came into conflict with the French king Louis VI. about the rights of ecclesiastical patronage and with the bishop of Dol about the authority of his see in Brittany. He presided over the synod of Nantes, and died at Tours probably on the 18th of December 1133. Hildebert, who built part of the cathedral at Le Mans, has received from some writers the title of saint, but there appears to be no authority for this. He was not a man of very strict life; his contemporaries, however, had a very high opinion of him and he was calledegregius versificator.

The extant writings of Hildebert consist of letters, poems, a few sermons, two lives and one or two treatises. An edition of his works prepared by the Maurist, Antoine Beaugendre, and entitledVenerabilis Hildeberti, primo Cenomannensis episcopi, deinde Turonensis archiepiscopi, opera tam edita quam inedita, was published in Paris in 1708 and was reprinted with additions by J. J. Bourassé in 1854. These editions, however, are very faulty. They credit Hildebert with numerous writings which are the work of others, while some genuine writings are omitted. The revelation of this fact has affected Hildebert’s position in the history of medieval thought. His standing as a philosopher rested upon his supposed authorship of the importantTractatus theologicus; but this is now regarded as the work of Hugh of St Victor, and consequently Hildebert can hardly be counted among the philosophers. His genuine writings include many letters. TheseEpistolaeenjoyed great popularity in the 12th and 13th centuries, and were frequently used as classics in the schools of France and Italy. Those which concern the struggle between the emperor Henry V. and Pope Paschal II. have been edited by E. Sackur and printed in theMonumenta Germaniae historica. Libelli de lite ii.(1893). His poems, which deal with various subjects, are disfigured by many defects of style and metre, but they too were very popular. Hildebert attained celebrity also as a preacher both in French and Latin, but only a few of his sermons are in existence, most of the 144 attributed to him by his editors being the work of Peter Lombard and others. TheVitaewritten by Hildebert are the lives of Hugo, abbot of Cluny, and of St Radegunda. Undoubtedly genuine is also hisLiber de querimonia et conflictu carnis et spiritus seu animae. Hildebert was an excellent Latin scholar, being acquainted with Cicero, Ovid and other authors, and his spirit is rather that of a pagan than of a Christian writer.

See B. Hauréau,Les Mélanges poétiques d’Hildebert de Lavardin(Paris, 1882), andNotices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque nationale(Paris, 1890-1893); Comte P. de Déservillers,Un Évêque au XIIesiècle, Hildebert et son temps(Paris, 1876); E. A. Freeman,The Reign of Rufus, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1882); tome xi. of theHistoire littéraire de la France, and H. Böhmer in Band viii. of Herzog-Hauck’sRealencyklopädie(1900). The most important work, however, to be consulted is L. Dieudonné’sHildebert de Lavardin, évêque du Mans, archévêque de Tours. Sa vie, ses lettres(Paris, 1898).

See B. Hauréau,Les Mélanges poétiques d’Hildebert de Lavardin(Paris, 1882), andNotices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque nationale(Paris, 1890-1893); Comte P. de Déservillers,Un Évêque au XIIesiècle, Hildebert et son temps(Paris, 1876); E. A. Freeman,The Reign of Rufus, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1882); tome xi. of theHistoire littéraire de la France, and H. Böhmer in Band viii. of Herzog-Hauck’sRealencyklopädie(1900). The most important work, however, to be consulted is L. Dieudonné’sHildebert de Lavardin, évêque du Mans, archévêque de Tours. Sa vie, ses lettres(Paris, 1898).

HILDEBRAND, LAY OF(Das Hildebrandslied), a unique example of Old German alliterative poetry, written about the year 800 on the first and last pages of a theological manuscript, by two monks of the monastery of Fulda. The fragment, or rather fragments, only extend to sixty-eight lines, and the conclusion of the poem is wanting. The theory propounded by Karl Lachmann, that the poem had been written in its present form from memory, has been discredited by later philological investigation; it is clearly a transcript of an older original,which the copyists—or more probably the writer to whom we owe the older version—imperfectly understood. The language of the poem shows a curious mixture of Low and High German forms; as the High German elements point to the dialect of Fulda, the inference is that the copyists were reproducing an originally Low German lay in the form in which it was sung in Franconia.

The fragment is mainly taken up with a dialogue between Hildebrand and his son Hadubrand. When Hildebrand followed his master, Theodoric the Great, who was fleeing eastwards before Odoacer, he left his young wife and an infant child behind him. At his return to his old home, after thirty years’ absence among the Huns, he is met by a young warrior and challenged to single combat. Before the fight begins, Hildebrand asks for the name of his opponent, and discovering his own son in him, tries to avert the fight, but in vain; Hadubrand only regards the old man’s words as the excuse of cowardice. “In sharp showers the ashen spears fall on the shields, and then the warriors seize their swords and hew vigorously at the white shields until these are beaten to pieces....” With these words the fragment breaks off abruptly, giving no clue as to the issue of the combat. There is little doubt, however, that, as in the Old NorseAsmundar saga, where the tale is alluded to, the fight must have been fatal to Hadubrand. But in the later traditions, both of the Old NorseThidreks saga(13th century), and the so-calledJüngere Hildebrandslied—a German popular lay, preserved in several versions from the 15th to the 17th century—Hadubrand is simply represented as defeated, and obliged to recognize his father. The Old High GermanHildebrandsliedis dramatically conceived, and written in a terse, vigorous style; it is the only remnant that has come down from early Germanic times of an undoubtedly extensive ballad literature, dealing with the national sagas.

The MS. of theHildebrandslied, originally in Fulda, is now preserved in the Landesbibliothek at Cassel. The literature on the poem will be found most conveniently in K. Müllenhoff and W. Scherer,Denkmäler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem VIII. bis XI. Jahrh., 3rd ed. (1892), and in W. Braune,Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, 5th ed. (1902), to which authorities the reader is referred for a critical text. The poem was discovered and first printed (as prose) by J. G. von Eckhart,Commentarii de rebus Franciae orientalis(1729), i. 864 ff.; the first scholarly edition was that of the brothers Grimm (1812). Facsimile reproductions of the MS. have been published by W. Grimm (1830), E. Sievers (1872), G. Könnecke in hisBilderatlas(1887; 2nd ed., 1895) and M. Enneccerus (1897). See also K. Lachmann,Über das Hildebrandslied(1833) inKleine Schriften, i. 407 ff.; C. W. M. Grein,Das Hildebrandslied(1858; 2nd ed., 1880); O. Schröder,Bemerkungen zum Hildebrandslied(1880); H. Möller,Zur althochdeutschen Alliterationspoesie(1888); R. Heinzel,Über die ostgotische Heldensage(1889); B. Busse, “Sagengeschichtliches zum Hildebrandslied,” in Paul und Braune’sBeiträge, xxvi. (1901), pp. 1 ff.; R. Koegel,Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters, i. (1894), pp. 210 ff.; and R. Koegel and W. Brückner, in Paul’sGrundriss der germanischen Philologie, 2nd ed., ii. (1901), pp. 71 ff.

The MS. of theHildebrandslied, originally in Fulda, is now preserved in the Landesbibliothek at Cassel. The literature on the poem will be found most conveniently in K. Müllenhoff and W. Scherer,Denkmäler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem VIII. bis XI. Jahrh., 3rd ed. (1892), and in W. Braune,Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, 5th ed. (1902), to which authorities the reader is referred for a critical text. The poem was discovered and first printed (as prose) by J. G. von Eckhart,Commentarii de rebus Franciae orientalis(1729), i. 864 ff.; the first scholarly edition was that of the brothers Grimm (1812). Facsimile reproductions of the MS. have been published by W. Grimm (1830), E. Sievers (1872), G. Könnecke in hisBilderatlas(1887; 2nd ed., 1895) and M. Enneccerus (1897). See also K. Lachmann,Über das Hildebrandslied(1833) inKleine Schriften, i. 407 ff.; C. W. M. Grein,Das Hildebrandslied(1858; 2nd ed., 1880); O. Schröder,Bemerkungen zum Hildebrandslied(1880); H. Möller,Zur althochdeutschen Alliterationspoesie(1888); R. Heinzel,Über die ostgotische Heldensage(1889); B. Busse, “Sagengeschichtliches zum Hildebrandslied,” in Paul und Braune’sBeiträge, xxvi. (1901), pp. 1 ff.; R. Koegel,Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters, i. (1894), pp. 210 ff.; and R. Koegel and W. Brückner, in Paul’sGrundriss der germanischen Philologie, 2nd ed., ii. (1901), pp. 71 ff.

(J. G. R.)

HILDEBRANDT, EDUARD(1818-1868), German painter, was born in 1818, and served as apprentice to his father, a house-painter at Danzig. He was not twenty when he came to Berlin, where he was taken in hand by Wilhelm Krause, a painter of sea pieces. Several early pieces exhibited after his death—a breakwater, dated 1838, ships in a breeze off Swinemünde (1840), and other canvases of this and the following year—show Hildebrandt to have been a careful student of nature, with inborn talents kept down by the conventionalisms of the formal school to which Krause belonged. Accident made him acquainted with masterpieces of French art displayed at the Berlin Academy, and these awakened his curiosity and envy. He went to Paris, where, about 1842, he entered the atelier of Isabey and became the companion of Lepoittevin. In a short time he sent home pictures which might have been taken for copies from these artists. Gradually he mastered the mysteries of touch and the secrets of effect in which the French at this period excelled. He also acquired the necessary skill in painting figures, and returned to Germany, skilled in the rendering of many kinds of landscape forms. His pictures of French street life, done about 1843, while impressed with the stamp of the Paris school, reveal a spirit eager for novelty, quick at grasping, equally quick at rendering, momentary changes of tone and atmosphere. After 1843 Hildebrandt, under the influence of Humboldt, extended his travels, and in 1864-1865 he went round the world. Whilst his experience became enlarged his powers of concentration broke down. He lost the taste for detail in seeking for scenic breadth, and a fatal facility of hand diminished the value of his works for all those who look for composition and harmony of hue as necessary concomitants of tone and touch. In oil he gradually produced less, in water colours more, than at first, and his fame must rest on the sketches which he made in the latter form, many of them represented by chromo-lithography. Fantasies in red, yellow and opal, sunset, sunrise and moonshine, distances of hundreds of miles like those of the Andes and the Himalaya, narrow streets in the bazaars of Cairo or Suez, panoramas as seen from mastheads, wide cities like Bombay or Pekin, narrow strips of desert with measureless expanses of sky—all alike display his quality of bravura. Hildebrandt died at Berlin on the 25th of October 1868.

HILDEBRANDT, THEODOR(1804-1874), German painter, was born at Stettin. He was a disciple of the painter Schadow, and, on Schadow’s appointment to the presidency of a new academy in the Rhenish provinces in 1828, followed that master to Düsseldorf. Hildebrandt began by painting pictures illustrative of Goethe and Shakespeare; but in this form he followed the traditions of the stage rather than the laws of nature. He produced rapidly “Faust and Mephistopheles” (1824), “Faust and Margaret” (1825), and “Lear and Cordelia” (1828). He visited the Netherlands with Schadow in 1829, and wandered alone in 1830 to Italy; but travel did not alter his style, though it led him to cultivate alternately eclecticism and realism. At Düsseldorf, about 1830, he produced “Romeo and Juliet,” “Tancred and Clorinda,” and other works which deserved to be classed with earlier paintings; but during the same period he exhibited (1829) the “Robber” and (1832) the “Captain and his Infant Son,” examples of an affected but kindly realism which captivated the public, and marked to a certain extent an epoch in Prussian art. The picture which made Hildebrandt’s fame is the “Murder of the Children of King Edward” (1836), of which the original, afterwards frequently copied, still belongs to the Spiegel collection at Halberstadt. Comparatively late in life Hildebrandt tried his powers as an historical painter in pictures representing Wolsey and Henry VIII., but he lapsed again into the romantic in “Othello and Desdemona.” After 1847 Hildebrandt gave himself up to portrait-painting, and in that branch succeeded in obtaining a large practice. He died at Düsseldorf in 1874.

HILDEGARD, ST(1098-1179), German abbess and mystic, was born of noble parents at Böckelheim, in the countship of Sponheim, in 1098, and from her eighth year was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg by Jutta, sister of the count of Sponheim, whom she succeeded as abbess in 1136. From earliest childhood she was accustomed to see visions, which increased in frequency and vividness as she approached the age of womanhood; these, however, she for many years kept almost secret, nor was it until she had reached her forty-third year (1141) that she felt constrained to divulge them. Committed to writing by her intimate friend the monk Godefridus, they now form the first and most important of her printed works, entitledScivias(probably an abbreviation for “sciens vias” or “nosce vias Domini”)s. visionum et revelatianum libri iii., and completed in 1151. In 1147 St Bernard of Clairvaux, while at Bingen preaching the new crusade, heard of Hildegard’s revelations, and became so convinced of their reality that he not only wrote to her a letter cordially acknowledging her as a prophetess of God, but also successfully advocated her recognition as such by his friend and former pupil Pope Eugenius III. in the synod of Trèves (1148). In the same year Hildegard migrated along with eighteen of her nuns to a new convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, over which she presided during the remainder of her life. By means of voluminous correspondence, as well as by extensive journeys,in the course of which she was unwearied in the exercise of her gift of prophecy, she wielded for many years an increasing influence upon her contemporaries—an influence doubtless due to the fact that she was imbued with the most widely diffused feelings and beliefs, fears and hopes, of her time. Amongst her correspondents were Popes Anastasius IV. and Adrian IV., the emperors Conrad III. and Frederick I., and also the theologian Guibert of Gembloux, who submitted numerous questions in dogmatic theology for her determination. She died in 1179, but has never been canonized; her name, however, was received into the Roman martyrology in the 15th century, September 17th being the day fixed for her commemoration.

Her biography, which was written by two contemporaries, Godefridus and Theodoricus, was first printed at Cologne in 1566. Hildegard’s writings, besides theSciviasalready mentioned and first printed in Paris in 1513, include theLiber divinorum operum,Explanatio regulae S. Benedicti,Physicaandthe Letters, &c., are contained in Migne,Patr. Lat.t. cxcvii., and in Cardinal Pitra’sAnalecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata; Nova S. Hildegardis opera(Paris, 1882).For a modern study of the saint’s writings, seeSainte Hildegardeby Pal Franche, “Les Saints” series (Paris, 1903); and U. Chevalier,Répertoire des sources historiques, bio.-bibl.2153.

Her biography, which was written by two contemporaries, Godefridus and Theodoricus, was first printed at Cologne in 1566. Hildegard’s writings, besides theSciviasalready mentioned and first printed in Paris in 1513, include theLiber divinorum operum,Explanatio regulae S. Benedicti,Physicaandthe Letters, &c., are contained in Migne,Patr. Lat.t. cxcvii., and in Cardinal Pitra’sAnalecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata; Nova S. Hildegardis opera(Paris, 1882).

For a modern study of the saint’s writings, seeSainte Hildegardeby Pal Franche, “Les Saints” series (Paris, 1903); and U. Chevalier,Répertoire des sources historiques, bio.-bibl.2153.

HILDEN,a town in the Prussian Rhine province on the Itter, 9 m. S.E. of Düsseldorf by rail. Pop. (1905) 13,946. It possesses an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church and a monument to the emperor William I. Its manufactures include silks, velvets, carpets, calico-printing, machinery and brick-making.

HILDESHEIM,a town and episcopal see of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, beautifully situated at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, on the right bank of the Innerste, 18 m. S.E. of Hanover by railway, and on the main line from Berlin, via Magdeburg to Cologne. Pop. (1885) 20,386, (1905) 47,060. The town consists of an old and a new part, and is surrounded by ramparts which have been converted into promenades. Its streets are for the most part narrow and irregular, and contain many old houses with overhanging upper storeys and richly and curiously adorned wooden façades. Its religious edifices are five Roman Catholic and four Evangelical churches and a synagogue. The most interesting is the Roman Catholic cathedral, which dates from the middle of the 11th century and occupies the site of a building founded by the emperor Louis the Pious early in the 9th century. It is famous for its antiquities and works of art. These include the bronze doors executed by Bishop Bernward, with reliefs from the history of Adam and of Jesus Christ; a brazen font of the 13th century; two large candelabra of the 11th century; the sarcophagus of St Godehard; and the tomb of St Epiphanius. In the cathedral also there is a bronze column 15 ft. high, adorned with reliefs from the life of Christ and dating from 1022, and another column, at one time thought to be an Irminsäule erected in honour of the Saxon idol Irmin, but now regarded as belonging to a Roman aqueduct. On the wall of the Romanesque crypt, which was restored in 1896, is a rose-bush, alleged to be a thousand years old; this sends its branches to a height of 24 ft. and a breadth of 30 ft., and they are trained to interlace one of the windows. Before the cathedral is the pretty cloister garth, with the chapel of St Anne, erected in 1321 and restored in 1888. The Romanesque church of St Godehard was built in the 12th century and restored in the 19th. The church of St Michael, founded by Bishop Bernward early in the 11th century and restored after injury by fire in 1186, contains a unique painted ceiling of the 12th century, the sarcophagus and monument of Bishop Bernward, and a bronze font; it is now a Protestant parish church, but the crypt is used by the Roman Catholics. The church of the Magdalene possesses two candelabra, a gold cross, and various other works in metal by Bishop Bernward; and the Lutheran church of St Andrew has a choir dating from 1389 and a tower 385 ft. high. In the suburb of Moritzberg there is an abbey church founded in 1040, the only pure columnar basilica in north Germany.

The chief secular buildings are the town-hall (Rathaus), which dates from the 15th century and was restored in 1883-1892, adorned with frescoes illustrating the history of the city; the Tempelherrenhaus, in Late Gothic erroneously said to have been built by the Knights Templars; the Knochenhaueramthaus, formerly the gild-house of the butchers, which was restored after being damaged by fire in 1884, and is probably the finest specimen of a wooden building in Germany; the Michaelis monastery, used as a lunatic asylum; and the old Carthusian monastery. The Römer museum of antiquities and natural history is housed in the former church of St Martin; the buildings of Trinity hospital, partly dating from the 14th century, are now a factory; and the Wedekindhaus (1598) is now a savings-bank. The educational establishments include a Roman Catholic and a Lutheran gymnasium, a Roman Catholic school and college and two technical institutions, the Georgstift for daughters of state servants and a conservatoire of music. Hildesheim is the seat of considerable industry. Its chief productions are sugar, tobacco and cigars, stoves, machines, vehicles, agricultural implements and bricks. Other trades are brewing and tanning. It is connected with Hanover by an electric tram line, 19 m. in length.

Hildesheim owes its rise and prosperity to the fact that in 822 it was made the seat of the bishopric which Charlemagne had founded at Elze a few years before. Its importance was greatly increased by St Bernward, who was bishop from 993 to 1022 and walled the town. By his example and patronage the art of working in metals was greatly stimulated. In the 13th century Hildesheim became a free city of the Empire; in 1249 it received municipal rights and about the same time it joined the Hanseatic league. Several of its bishops belonged to one or other of the great families of Germany; and gradually they became practically independent. The citizens were frequently quarrelling with the bishops, who also carried on wars with neighbouring princes, especially with the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg, under whose protection Hildesheim placed itself several times. The most celebrated of these struggles is the one known as theHildesheimer Stiftsfehde, which broke out early in the 16th century when John, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, was bishop. At first the bishop and his allies were successful, but in 1521 the king of Denmark and the duke of Brunswick overran his lands and in 1523 he made peace, surrendering nearly all his possessions. Much, however, was restored when Ferdinand, prince of Bavaria, was bishop (1612-1650), as this warlike prelate took advantage of the disturbances caused by the Thirty Years’ War to seize the lost lands, and at the beginning of the 19th century the extent of the prince bishopric was 682 sq. m. In 1801 the bishopric was secularized and in 1803 was granted to Prussia; in 1807 it was incorporated with the kingdom of Westphalia and in 1813 was transferred to Hanover. In 1866, along with Hanover, it was annexed by Prussia. In 1803 a new bishopric of Hildesheim, a spiritual organization only, was established, and this has jurisdiction over all the Roman Catholic churches in the centre of north Germany.

In October 1868 a unique collection of ancient Augustan silver plate was discovered on the Galgenberg near Hildesheim by some soldiers who were throwing up earthworks. ThisHildesheimer Silberfundexcited great interest among classical archaeologists. Some authorities think that it is the actual plate which belonged to Drusus himself. The most noteworthy pieces are a crater richly ornamented with arabesques and figures of children, a platter with a representation of Minerva, another with one of the boy Hercules and another with one of Cybele. The collection is in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.


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