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RAABE, Wilhelm (1831-1910). German novelist. He wrote under the penname of Jakob Corvinus. His novels were mainly based upon country life in Brunswick. Best known novels were Die Chronik der Sperlingsgasse, 1857, Der Hungerpastor, 1864, Prinzessen Fisch, 1883, Hastenbeck, 1899, and Altershausen, 1911.
RABELAIS, Francois (ca. 1490-1554). Philosopher, humourist, botanist, physician, lawyer, architect and educationist. A Franciscan monk in 1521, transferring to the Benedictines, and in the service of Geoffroy d'Estissac, bishop and abbot of the monastery of S. Pierre. He abandoned the regular priesthood in 1530 and took his degree in medicine, becoming physician and lecturer in anatomy at the Hotel-Dieu. Here he edited works of Galen and Hippocrates. He wrote books about Pantagruel, and Gargantua, two mythical giants, under the name of Alcofribas Nasier. In 1653 the bishop of Paris, Jean du Bellay, engaged Rabelais as his physician and he practised medicine for the next ten years. He was admitted to the doctorate at Montpellier in 1537. In 1548 while with the cardinal in Rome he wote Schiomachie. In that time he worked as a physician in other places as well. Rabelais was not only a satirist, but a great thinker who used his humorous books as a vehicle for his opinions on subjects which it was dangerous to discuss at that time.
RACHEL. Biblical character. The favourite wife of Jacob Gen.29, she bore him Joseph and Benjamin.
RACHEL (1821-58) French actess. Etienne Choron, the musician undertook her training when he heard her singing in the streets. After his death she was admitted into the Paris Conservatoire. She made her debut at the theatre Francais in 1838 and became the idol of Paris. She was to tour all over Europe and Britain, as well as America. She died of consumption.
RACINE, Jean (1639-1699) Left an orphan he was brought up by his grandmother. In his schooling he acquired a love of Hellenism. After graduating from the College d'Harcourt, he went to Paris, giving himself up to pleasure and writing sonnets and madrigals . His uncle sent him to study theology in 1661, but Paris drew him back after 2 years. He wrote plays for the theatre over the next 10 years which brought him fame. Suddenly he abandoned the theatre and thought of becoming a monk, but instead married Catherine de Romanet, who bore him 7 children. He then devoted his life to their education. He was appointed historiographer royal in 1677, and followed the court wherever it went. He was asked by the king's mistress Madame de Maintenon to write Esther, to be performed by the girls who were students at St. Cyr. It encouraged him to write his last play Athalie, published in 1691. After that he published only four Cantiques Spirituels and a history of Port Royal. Racine was considered the Sophocles of France.
RACINE, Louis (1692-1763). French poet. The younger son of Jean Racine he was the author of the poems La Grace and La Religion inspired by his fervent Jansenist faith, and a number of odes. He also wrote a Life of his father, 1747 and translated Paradise Lost into French prose.
RADCLIFFE, Ann (1764-1823). English novelist. He maiden name was Ward. she married william Radcliffe in 1787 who was proprietor of The English Chronicle. She represented the school of the Tale of Terror, and was prominent in the romantic revival in English literature. Author of The Sicilian romance, 1790; The romance of the forest, 1791; The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794; and The Italian, or the confessional of the Black Penitents, 1797.
RADCLIFFE, John (1650-1714). English physician. Medical attendant to William III, Mary and Anne. He bequeathed to Oxford the money which was used to build the library, observatory, and infirmary that bears his name. He also bequeathed a travelling fellowship for 2 medical students.
RADEGUNDA (d.587) Frankish queen. A Thuringian princess she was captured by and married the Frankish king Clotaire about 530, having become a Christian. Because of a feud between her husband and her family, she left him, becoming a nun, and founding a religious house at Poitiers. She was made a saint. Her festival is kept on August 13.
RADETZKY, Johann Josef, Count (1766-1858). Austrian soldier. He was one of the leading Austrian commanders in the Napoleonic Wars, 1795-1815. He distinguished himself by great courage and was extremely popular with his men. Became a field-marshal in 1836, was commander-in-chief at Lombardy when a revolt broke out there in 1848, winning the battles of Custozza and Movara. He was governor of Lombardy till 1857.
RADFORD, Robert (1874-1933). English singer. He sang the principal bass parts in opera at Covent Garden and in the Beecham Operatic companies, being especially effective in Wagnerian roles, and as Boris Godunov and Ivan the Terrible. He became professor of singing at the royal Academy of Music in 1928, and in 1931 helped to found the British National Opera company.
RADIC, Stjepan (1871-1928) Yugoslav statesman. Leader of the Croatian nationalists, suffering several terms of imprisonment for his Pan-Slav and republican views With his nephew Pavle (1880-1928) he was head of a coalition government, from 1926-7. Both were assasinated June 20 1928.
RADOSLAVOFF, Vassil (1854-1929). Bulgarian statesman. He was minister of justice in 1880, minister of the interior 1899-1901 and beczme prime minister in 1913. He committed Bulgaria to alliance with the Central Powers in World War I. 1918 he was forced to fly the country but was given amnesty in 1929 the year he died.
RAE, Henrietta (1859-1928) English artist. She married Ernest Normand in 1884. From 1880 until her death she exhibited each year at the Royal Academy. Her paintings, mainly classical and portraits include Ariadne, 1885, Diana and Calisto, 1899, the Marquesss of Dufferin and Ava, 1901, and Lady McCulloch, 1918.
RAE, Jophn (1813-93) British explorer. He was appointed a surgeon in the Hudson Bay Company's service in 1833, and in 1846-f47 undertook the exploration of Committee Bay, starting the next year to search for Sir John Franklin. In 1850 he charted 700 miles of new territory and in 1853 he completed the survey of the western coast of Boothia, and obtained definite news of Franklin's death, earning the 10,000 pound reward for that information.
RAEBURN, Sir Henry (1756-1823). Scottish painter. He was apprenticed to a goldsmith but in his spare time he begain to paint minatures, and later oils. He received his tuition from David Martin, taking up portrait painting, and freed from the need to work for a living by a marriage with a wealthy sidow, he set out to study painting seriously in Italy, 1785, on the advice of Sir Joshua Reynolds. On his return in 1787 he set up as a portrait painter in Edinburgh and quickly became fashionable. Elected R.A., 1815, knighted in 1822, and was appointed king's painter for Scotland in 1823. It is believed he painted more than a thousand portraits. Some of the most famous were Sir Walter Scott, and Admiral Lord Duncan, but probably his full length portrait of Mrs. James Campbell is his most famous.
RAFF, Joachim (1822-82). Swiss composer. He became director of the Conservatoire of Frankfort-on-Main, 1877.Among his numerous works are violin concertos and sonatas, several operas (including Konig Alfred), and the program symphonics Im Walde and Lenore.
RAFFLES,Sir Thomas Stamford [1781-1826]. British Administrator. He entered the service of the East India Company in 1795, and 10 years later was sent to Penang. He persuaded the company not to abandon Malacca, 1809, persuaded Lord Minto to capture Java 1810, and after the battle near Batavia in 1811 was made lieutenant-governor of Java. After 5 years he was returned to England but in 1818 was sent to Bencoolen, Sumatra as governor. He distinguished himself in spite of Dutch opposition. He founded a settlement at Singapore. He received no credit for this and after his death his widow was charged for the expenses of his action.
RAGLAN, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron [1788-1855]. British soldier. He entered the army in 1804, fought under Wellington during the Peninsula War and at Waterloo, and from 1827 to 1852 was his military secretary, succeeding him as master-general of ordnance. Made a Baron in 1852, commanded the force sent to the Crimea in 1854 where he was distinguished more for diplomacy than generalship, and was blamed for the sufferings of his men. He was made a field-marshal after Inkerman. He married a niece of Wellington and his son became the second Baron.
RAHAB. Biblical character. She was a harlot of Jericho, who harboured the spies sent into that city by Joshua, and was spared by him when the city was taken. The story is told in Joshua 2, and Rahab is mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew I.
RAIFFESEISEN, Friedrich Wilhelm (1818-88). German economist. In 1852 he became burgomaster at Heddesdorf, near Neuwied.. There and at Weyerbusch he established the first agricultural cooperative banks, 1847. These were successful from the first, and in a few years a network of Raiffeisen banks spread over the country.
RAIKES, Robert (1735-1811) English philanthropist. He succeeded his father as proprietor of the Gloucester Journal in 1757, using his paper to draw attention to the question of prison reform and lack of educational facilities for the poor. To rmedy the latter he established in 1780 in Gloucester the first Sunday-school. Before his death the movement had become nation-wide.
RAIMONDI, Marc Antonio (c.1475-1534) Italian engraver. He studied under Francia and later under Raphael at Rome. He was one of the first to engrave the designs of other artists, and while in Venice, 1508-10, he copied on copper many of Duirer's woodcuts, which he signed with the latter's mark; Durer, however, obtained a prohibition against this practice. Marc-antonio's most famous plate is the engraving after Michelangelo's The Climbers; he also engraved after Raphael and Guilio Romano. After the sack of Rome in 1527 he fled to Bologna.
RAINER (1827-1913). Archduke of Austria. The grandson of Leopold II, he became in 1857 head of the iumperial counciul. A Liberal and a democrat, he secured the passage of the Liberal 1861 constitution, and from 1872 was engaged in reorganising the Landwehr, of which he was commander-in-chief.
RAINOLDS, John (1549-1607). English divine. He became president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1598, and was a leader of the Puritans at the Hampton Court conference, 1604. There he suggested the translation of the Authorized Version of the Bible, himself translating much of the Prophets.
RAINY, Robert (1826-1906). Scottish divine. He became a minister of the Free Church in 1851, and in 1862 was chosen professor of church history at New College, Edinburgh, of which he became principal in 1874. He resigned in 1900. From 1875 he was leader of the Free Church, and was prominent in the negotiation for its union with the United Presbyterian Church, becoming first moderator of the united Free Church.
RAISULI, Ahmed Ben Mohammed (1875-1925). Moroccan bandit. Of noble birth, he became chief of a robber gang which in 1904 captured a U.S. citizen, holding him until the U.S. Government paid a ransom. In 1907 he also kidnapped Kaid Maclean for whom he also received a bigger ransom and a quantity of military stores, being also made governor of the province of Fassi. He was said to have caused the disturbances in the Spanish zone in Morocco in 1920-21.
RAKOCZY. Name of a powerful Hungarian family. Sigismund Rakoczy or Ragotsky (1544-1608), prince of Transylvania, was the father of George (1591-1648). The latter elected prince of Transylvania as George I in 1631, freed most of Hungary from the imperial domination, 1644-45, and made his capital a haven for Protestants. He died 1648. His son George II (1621-60), elected prince in 1642, made alliances with the Cossacks and with Sweden against Poland, but, deserted by his allies, was forced to sign an ignominious treaty. He was deposed and killed in battle against the Turks in May, 1660. His only son, Francis I (1645-76) failed to recover the princedom, but his son Francis II (1676-1735), became the leader of the Magyars and the most important member of the family. Born 1676, he fought unsuccessfully against the emperor in 1703-05, but, elected prince of Transylvania in 1704, returned to the attach in 1707. He was defeated and exiled, dying at Rodosto, 1735.
RALEIGH, Sir Walter (c.1552-1618). English soldier, sailor, courtier, and writer. He served with the Huguenots in France and the Netherlands after 1569. In 1578 he went on a voyage of discovery with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey gilbert, who had received a patent to take possession of any lands not owned by Christians, reaching the West Indies. He next took pat in the ruthless suppression of Desmond's rebellion in Ireland, 1580, and in 1581 went with dispatches to the English court. His admission to Queen Elizabeth's favour was rapid. He was given Durham House, in the Strand, ws knighted in 1584, made warden of the Stannaries in 1585, and was granted 40,000 acres in Munster, 1586, proving himself an enlightened landlord both in the Stannaries and in Ireland, where he introduced the potato and tobacco plants. He received a re-grant of his brother's patent in 1584, the latter having died, and fitted out an expedition which planted itself in what is now known as North Carolina, probably on the island of Roanoke. Raleigh named the colony Virginia, a name given for many years to the whole seaboard from Florida to Newfoundland. Other expeditions followed, one under Raleigh's cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, but attempts at colonisation failed, and in 1589 Raleigh made over his rights to a company of merchants. Appointed vice-admiral of Devon and Cornwall 1585, Raleigh helped to draw up a plan of defence against invasion in 1588, but it is doubtful if he took any personal part in the fight with the Spanish Armada. He used his influence to obtain a royal pension for his friend, Edmund Spenser, and also royal aid for the publication of the Faerie Queene, but was supplanted in Elizabeth's affections by the earl of Essex, and was committed to the Tower, 1592, for an intrigue with Elizabeth Throgmorton, one of the queen's maids of honour, his subsequent marriage to whom caused him to be ostracized from court. He had by now by his arrogance and greed and by the suspicion of atheism which his association with Marlowe had provoked, become extremely unpopular in the country. He made his famous voyage to the Orinoco in quest of El Eldorado in 1595, described in his brilliantly written the Discovery of Guiana, and in 1596, being restored to royal, though not popular favour, he took a leading part with Essex in the Cadiz expedition, and distinguished himself at the Azores in 1597. M.P. for Dorset, 1597, and for Cornwall, 1601, he was made governor of Jersey and helped to suppress Essex's rebellion. On the accession of James I, 1603, Raleigh was charged with plotting against the new king, and favouring the cause of Arabella Stuart. After an unfair trial he was found guilty and condemned to death. Reprieved on the scaffold, he was sent to the Bloody Tower, where with his wife and son, he lived until 1616. During this period he wrote the first and only volume of his contemplated History of the World. He obtained his release on condition that he should lead an expedition in search of gold, which the king badly needed, to the Orinoco; but at the same time he promised not to interfere with any Spanish settlements, a promise which both knew he could not fulfil. He left England in 1617, and, as was inevitable, came into collision with the Spaniards, his son Walter being killed. Raleigh returned in 1618 and, his punishment being demanded by the Spanish minister, he was arrested, arraigned on the old charge of treason, and executed in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, October 29, 1618.
RALEIGH, Sir Walter (1861-1922). he became professor of modern literature at University College, Liverpool, and of English literature at Glasgow, 1890, and Oxford, 1904. He was knighted in 1911. His novels include The English Novel, 1894; Style, 1897; Romance, 1917; and books on Stevenson, Milton, Wordsworth and Shakespeare. The first volume of his official History of the War in the Air feed in 1922. His Letters, edited by Lady Raleigh were first published in 1926.
RAMBAUD, Alfred Nicolas (1842-1905). French historian. He became professor of contemporary history at the Sorbonne, 1883, and was elected senator inn 1895. Minister of public instruction, 1896-98 he died in Paris. His works include L'Allemagne sous Napoleon I, 1800-11, 1874; Histoire de la Civilisation Francaise, 1885-87; and the great Histoire Generale, 1893-1901, in which he was associated with E. Lavise.
RAMBOUILLET, Catherine De Vivonne, Marquise De (1588-1665). French socety leader. A member of an aristocratic Roman family, she married the marquis de Rembouillet in 1600, and, as mistress of the famous Hotel Rambouillet, in the rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre, Paris, became from about 1608 the center of a social and intellectual center unrivaled in its day. She was one of the chief of those ladies who were satirized In Moliere's Les Precieuse-Ridicules and Les Femmes Savantes. Her daughter Julie (1607-71) who married the duc de Montausier,1645, was the subject of the Guirlande de Julie, a collection of poems addressed to her by her mother's guests.
RAMEAU, Jean Philippe (1683-1764). French composer. He became a church organist in Lille and Clermont-Ferrand before settling in Paris in 1722. He immediately attracted attention by his Treatise on Harmony, 1722, which was followed by four other important works on musical theory, the best-known being The Demonstration du Principe de l'Harmonie, 1750. The harmonic theories put forward in these works, especially his ideas on cord-buildin thirds and on the fundamental bass, profoundly influenced musical development in the 18th century. Rameau was also a prolific composer of operas which included Hippolyte et Aricie, 1733, and Castor et Pollux, 1737.
RAMESES. Name of eleven ancient Egyptian kings. Rameses I was chosen to succeed Horemheb in 1321 B.C. he was probably of royal blood and reigned for one or two years only. He was succeeded by his son Seti I. Rameses II, the greatest of the name is noticed separately. Rameses III, the Rhampsinitus of Herodotus, and the virtual founder of the XXth dynasty reigned for 32 years from about 1200 B.C. His Naval wars on the Mediterranean and his traffic with the Philistines are recorded in the Harris papyrus in the British Museum.
RAMESES II. (ruled 1300-1225 B.C.). Egyptian pharaoh. Second son of Seti I and fourth king of the XIXth dynasty, he was styled Rameses the Great. A man of vast ambition he attempted to revive the ancient glories of the Egyptian empire in his own person. His campaign against the Hittites begun in 1296, included the famous battle of Kadesh and continued until a formal peace treaty was concluded in 1280. The first of the kind, it is still preserved in Egyptian hieroglyphas and Hittite cuneiform. Rameses' wars won for him glory out of all proportion to his military achievements. His reputation is largely due to his practice of effacing from their monuments the names of his distinguished predecessors and attaching his own. In immense building schemes he destaroyed or usurped much earlier work and built the Ramesseum at Thebes, the vast temple cut out of the cliff sandstone at Abu Simbel, and part of the hypostyle hall at Karnak. A poor statesman Rameses left the empire to sink into decay and died in about his 90th year.
RAMPOLLA, Mariano, Marchese Del Tindaro (1843-1913). Italian statesman He was papal nuncio at Madrid, 1882-87, and became in 1887 Cardinal and papal secretary of state. On the death of Leo XIII, 1903, he was only prevented from succeeding as Pope by the Austrian veto caused by his friendship with Russia and France.
RAMSAY, Allan (1686-1758). Scottish poet. He started his career as a wig maker, but became a bookseller, 1718, publishing in 1724 well-known collections of old Scottish songs and ballads, The Tea Table Miscellany and The Evergreen. In 1725 he published The Gentle Shepherd, a classic in Scottish literature, and, going to Edinburgh, 1726, he opened a bookseller's shop there, which became a favorite literary and social resort.
RAMSAY, Allan (1713-84) Scottish painter. He settled in London about 1757, becoming chief court portrait painter 10 years later. The principal figures of the age sat for him and he acquired a considerable fortune.
RAMSAY, Sir Andrew Crombie (1814-91). Scottish geologist. He was attached to the Geological Survey 1841-81, as director general from 1871, and was president of the Geological Society 1862-64. A notable authority on glacial formations, he wrote Old Glaciers of Switzerland and North Wales, 1860, and Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain 1894.